The Odyssey is Complete!

It turns out that I was much closer to finishing Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey than I originally thought.  I just barely finished the main storyline and after 143 hours of play, it's finally time to write up my review.  Odyssey was my first foray into the long-running Assassin's Creed franchise and it has more than piqued my interest in the series (in fact, I just purchased two other AC games on the Steam Autumn sale).  I had largely ignored the series as a console staple that couldn't possibly be good.  I think my 2018 year in gaming would be called "you're wrong and need to stop believing in game stereotypes."  I had an absolute blast playing Odyssey!

Since Odyssey is my first AC game, I have no basis for comparing it to any of the past games in the series.  My review is going to be solely based on my experiences, so if you're hoping for some sort of in-depth comparison to other games in the series...sorry to disappoint.  I have only a slight idea about new features and my only understanding about the series and/or backstory comes from the few things I had read about it prior to picking it up (which was very few).  Several articles have mentioned that Origins and Odyssey seem to have marked a change in the series to make them more RPG-like than previous games.

And, just as an FYI, I did receive Odyssey free as part of a promotion that came with my new graphics card.  This did not sway my opinion in any way (but daaamn if it wasn't the best of the three free games I received!).  The downside of this free offer was that I had to activate it on Uplay (Ubisoft's store/platform) rather than on Steam.

To give you a general idea of my first playthrough and the experience I am basing my review from--I am a completionist to the nth degree--if it can be completed, I will complete it (it might take for-freaking-ever, but it will get done!).  I made it my goal to explore all the locations on the map, to complete all the locations (which I did with mixed success), to complete all marked sidequests, to finish all the major sidetasks (mercenary rankings, cultist hunting, ainigmata ostraka solving, arena fights).  All of this, plus the main storyline, clocked in at 143 hours for me (knowing how the main storyline progresses, I could do it faster now--I repeated many locations).  I feel like I have a good feeling for the game as a whole.

Pros:

Athens is magnificent.

1.) Big, beautiful ancient Greek world.  From the minute I stepped into the game I was completely blown away by the detail and beauty of the world.  Whether you're adventuring in the majesty of the city of Athens or riding through a simple village, it feels absolutely amazing.  The game definitely banks on this fact and all fast travel locations are conveniently located atop breathtaking vistas that are meant to make you stop and take it all in.  You can't help but be impressed.

Kassandra is a great character.

 2.) Kassandra!  I am absolutely in love with Kassandra as the female protagonist.  She's tough, smart, beautiful and extremely well acted (she's my second favorite character next to FemShep from Mass Effect).  As a female gamer, she's exactly the type of character who I want to play and I appreciated the fact that she wasn't overly feminized or sexualized--she's muscular and looks and acts like the brash mercenary that she is.  Even with all this toughness there were still moments where you got to see her softer side--her interactions with kids are great and she does have some emotional moments that are tied to the story.  Usually when I re-play a game I use my second time as a chance to play as the character I didn't choose--I don't know if I can do it with Odyssey...Kassandra is amazing.

3.) Tasks, tasks, and more tasks!  Yes, the world is huge, but there are so many different options for you to choose how you spend your time in the game.  Here is a list to give you an idea:
   --exploration/completing locations
   --conquering regions/conquest battles
   --gathering materials to upgrade your ship, the Adrestia.
   --hunting down unique ships (which can drop unique sail designs, figureheads, or crew designs)
   --completing mission board assignments for cash/orichalcum
   --marked sidequests
   --hunting down cultists
   --competing in arena fights
   --gaining ranks on the mercenary chart
   --hunting down legendary animals
   --finding and solving ainigmata ostraka riddles
   --searching for all the legendary Greek Hero items
   --main storyline missions

Yes, you're going to be busy for a long time.

4.) Talent trees that support several different playstyles.  The hunter tree offers archery-related talents that provide maximal sniping abilities.  The warrior tree leans toward a directly confrontational playstyle and has abilities that range from flaming weapons to coordinated, overpowering melee attacks.  The assassin tree is perfect for players who prefer a stealthier approach.  All three trees can be mixed and matched to provide the abilities you want (and, some you don't).

5.) Armor sets upon armor sets.  Since I was madly completionist I collected the bulk of the sets from the main game.  Each set is uniquely detailed and has an aesthetic that matches the playstyle associated with the matching stats.  Armor sets that favor warrior stats look more heavily armored while the assassin sets are hooded and are made out of lighter materials.  There are so many sets that you can find one that is a good match for whatever unique blend of talents you've chosen.  I went assassin heavy with an emphasis on poison damage and stuck with the Venom set for much of the game.  Epic pieces aren't part of a set, but can also provide a very unique look for your character.

The Adrestia can be personalized with a number of options.

6.) Your ship, the Adrestia.  It's your home base, and it's also a powerful tool for naval warfare.  There are many options for personalization that can be unlocked through exploration or completing specific missions/tasks.  Investing resources in improving your ship also changes the way that it looks.  You can also recruit unique lieutenants who provide special combat boosts.  Another fun feature is the ability to personalize your crew--there are a wide range of male and female crews to find and unlock.  I really liked the fact that you could choose between male and female crews.  My crew of Daughters of Artemis made for fearsome sailors.  I loved the fact that my lady pirates dominated the sea.

7.) Parkour!  I'm pretty sure this is a staple of the series, but I enjoyed the fact that Kassandra could climb (and jump off of) almost anything.  Figuring out the best place to balance and plan an assassination was enjoyable.

8.) Conquest battles.  These battles feel epic.  There's an entire battlefield crawling with enemies and it's your job to help turn the tide.  I don't know that I've played another game that has given me that feeling of being in the middle of a pitched battle.  I also enjoyed the fact that some battles are naval battles--it gives players some variety.

9.) Choices.  There are many major dialogue options where you can choose how to proceed.  You don't have to kill everyone and can opt for something more diplomatic.  It appeared that those choices did have some effect on the story outcome (I can't say exactly to what extent though).

Photo mode lets you capture the beauty of ancient Greece.

10.) Photo mode.  I loved the fact that Odyssey included a built-in photo mode.   Personally, I enjoy taking screenshots and trying to capture the beauty in games.  Photo mode is easy to use, allows you to manipulate the camera to the desired angle, and includes a number of tools help make your images look exactly how you want them to.  (I wish that The Witcher 3 had a photo mode like the one in Odyssey)

11.) Historical fantasy.  As a history nerd, it was fun to see some of the major figures from ancient Greece as characters in a video game.  Is Odyssey an accurate representation of ancient Greece?  Definitely not; but it is a lot of fun!  I liked the fact that they included locations of historical significance and that players could choose to read about those locations on the map.  It was really awesome to see an imagined version of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia or the Parthenon in Athens.

12.) Humorous moments.  The main storyline is very serious, but there are some side quests that include lighter moments.  Arguing about philosophy with Sokrates (Kassandra's eyerolls are freakin' priceless--amazing animation), escorting the Spartan prizefighter Testikles to the Olympics, and generally any hi-jinx featuring Alkibiades (and his sexual innuendos).  Those moments of levity are a nice change of pace.

13.) About half of the main storyline (I will get to the other half).  I am going to try to avoid spoilers, but I genuinely enjoyed the part of the story that was about Kassandra and her family.  There were a lot of highly emotional moments that were well-written and it was a joy to see it all come together.

14.) Mythical creature fights.  As part of the main storyline you must find and defeat several creatures from Greek mythology.  These fights are boss battles and are definitely much more difficult than facing off against another mercenary or elite enemy.  I loved the way the creatures looked (the Sphinx is so cool!) and fighting and defeating them feels like a true accomplishment.

Cons:
1.) How big is too big? (let your inner twelve-year old laugh at this statement....)  The world is huge, but I can't help but think that it's too big.  The map is littered with locations and each one has a set of tasks to accomplish.  It's all too easy to get swept up in the checklist game, but how meaningful are those tasks?  Sure, you could argue that completing them does have a direct tie to nation power, but in the end, how meaningful is the entire concept of which nation rules an area?  In reality, it's not important at all (unless it's one of the main storyline areas).  Odyssey definitely suffers from what I like to call "open-world bloat."  It's a common affliction in many modern, open-world RPG's where developers feel the need to wow gamers with the size and scope of their creation.  I loved the beauty of the game, but I did find that the exploration and completion aspect got tedious.  There are a bajillion military bases and they seem to have the same three-ish designs.

2.) A side consequence of open-world bloat is that the story winds up getting buried.  I'm having a hard time recalling parts of the main storyline because it took place 100+ hours ago!  I think this is where so many open-world games suffer--the story gets lost behind the world itself.  I wish there were more storylines built in to each area as opposed to more places to explore.  Maybe this is a personal preference, but I think story is so much more engaging than exploring your 900th cave.

3.) There's a relationship aspect to the game that I felt mixed about.  Certain characters offer the dialogue option to flirt and I didn't think (in most cases) that there was much point to it--other than providing a cutscene of some nice video game smooching (it's not awkward and well animated, so that's a plus).  There are many female characters to flirt with and not many male options.  These relationships have virtually no consequences (there are a few that have their own story and those are the highlight).  It's my hope that this feature gets fleshed out more--it could provide some relief from open-world bloat.  (I did not get to make out with Brasidas, which was my goal)

4.) Conquest.  I was really thinking that there would be some major tie-in with the main story and the fact that you can fight to change the ruling nation in each area.  Well, SPOILERS, there's not (for the most part, anyway).  The main point seems to be that you can earn some drachmae and a few pieces of epic armor.  Conquest battles are epic, but like exploration, they get tedious after awhile.  Besides getting paid, there's also really no point in completing them.

5.) The backstory that's part of the main storyline.  Maybe it's the fact that I haven't played the entire series, but it made little sense and felt like a distraction.  I really didn't care about whatever modern mumbo-jumbo that was going on--I cared about Kassandra and her story.  I guess they included it to show the link between the games, but I mostly wanted to get past it.  I was also really confused when I finished part of the story and it felt like the end (but it wasn't).

6.) Cultists.  I enjoyed the concept of hunting down cultists and trying to figure out who they were, but I was frustrated by the fact that several times I accidentally killed cultists.  I wish that hunting them down felt more satisfactory and that it was impossible to stumble across them unless they had been revealed.  I also felt like I knew who the central cultist was from very early on in the story.  It wasn't much of a surprise when they were unmasked at the end of the game.

7.) Talent points.  If you are a completionist it's possible that you can earn and discover (through locating stele in tombs) a plethora of talent points.  By the end of my playthrough I had taken every single talent in the assassin tree (maxed out), about 3/4 of the warrior talents, and about 1/3 of the hunter talents.  The reality is that I could only map 8 melee abilities at a time.  This meant that many of my talent points were mostly useless (you can swap out abilities).  Swapping between both melee bars also felt kind of awkward (definitely something that's meant for a controller).

Odyssey isn't perfect, but it is a lot of fun.  I enjoyed it so much that I've become an almost overnight fan of Assassin's Creed.  I think it would be better if the world was trimmed down and more story was injected as opposed to just the sheer number of locations.  It's a beautiful world and I adore Kassandra as a character.  I keep reading that singleplayer RPG's are in their death throes but games like Odyssey give me hope that the genre still has some life left.

It's true....I love stabbing people.

I would recommend Odyssey to a wide variety of gamers--those looking for a strong, awesome female protagonist; those who want a huge, beautiful world to explore; or those who just want to stab a whole bunch of people in a video game.  There's something for everyone.

My Odyssey Wish and Gripes List

Guess what?  Chicken butt!  Just kidding--but I'm about to lead off with the exact same sentiment that I've led off with for the past four weeks--I'm still playing Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey.  According to the horrible counter on Uplay's game dock, I've played for 135 hours, killed 4,389 critters/people, and travelled 1,351,217 meters (kilometers?  I don't know.).  And yet, I'm still not finished.  I'm 72% through the main storyline and still have a stubborn determination to find and complete as many locations as I can.  Oh, the pain of being such an ardent completionist...I've mostly had fun, but there have definitely been some moments of questioning the point of clearing out yet another military outpost or creeping through my billionth cave.  (FYI--There might be some spoilers.  You've probably already finished the game though, because you're not stubbornly clinging to finding and doing everything.  If so, read on!)

This is what it feels like to be the #1 mercenary.

The one major achievement I can chalk up is finally climbing to the top of the ancient Greek mercenary charts.  I mostly ignored the entire concept of gaining ranks until I noticed that some of the discounts offered at higher ranks were actually very good.  Trying to keep my gear upgraded has been a bit of a headache that has required an obscene amount of leather--stupidly, I didn't noticed that at tier 3 rank the material cost for gear upgrades is reduced by 50%.  I could've saved so much leather.....blargh.  I mostly faced off against the other mercenaries in the Pephka arena--a few I killed while they were trying to track me down.  The entire mercenary ranking system culminates with a fight against a "legendary" fighter who is one of the sage level cultists.  You get to become #1 and take out one of the high ranking cultists--bargain!  Sadly, becoming #1 doesn't really provide much in the way of rewards--legendary guy drops a huge, fiery mace and I think you get a legendary skin for your horse--some sort of flaming, underworld type of deal.  Then you get to sit happily on your throne of mercenary bodies.  Hurrah!

I've also managed to slay all four of the mythical creatures.  My favorite fight was against Medusa--you definitely need to be on your toes to avoid her petrification beam and her lightning call down (I don't know what to call it--the red circles you have to avoid).  The two other fights seemed easy compared to Medusa.  I managed to avoid fighting the Sphinx by answering its riddles correctly.

Throughout all this time playing I've been thinking about things that bug me and things that I wish were different or better.  Since I'm still not done playing, I've decided to make that list a thing outside of my own head.  I'm new to the series, so I have no idea if any of the things I'm listing are new features or unique to Odyssey.

Wishes:
1.) Relationships/flirting seems to be mostly (*with a few exceptions) pointless.  I've read that this entire aspect of the game is a new thing, so there's room for improvement.  I wish they would flesh out the relationship part of the game more--maybe something along the lines of a BioWare-esque relationship system.  For example, I think it would be nice to have unique, recruitable lieutenants for your ship.  It would be even better if those lieutenants had some sort of questline that adds backstory and can help develop the relationship between your character and the lieutenant.  To me, it just seems so weird and forced when your character has barely met someone and then they're basically hopping straight into bed with them (or they seem to happen at really awkward times--for example, when someone is sick and you offer to help...but not until after you've made the sweet, sweet love!  It just feels weird/wrong!).  Maybe that's a personal preference, but the relationships I've liked the most have been the ones that develop over the course of a chaining questline (Kyra comes to mind).

Along those same relationship related lines, I've noticed that the ratio of male to female options seems extremely skewed.  There are a ton of options to flirt with women, while there are only a few male characters open to flirtations.  I can only bring to mind four male choices--a cute doctor who wants you to kill his mother-in-law (there's an entire story--it's in one of the early zones), Alkibiades--the Greek playboy who seems to be down for whatever--a horny blacksmith who seems to want sexual favors in exchange for providing you with a sword for a quest--and Mikkos, a guy who is supposed to be taking care of Barnabas' sick nephew (but still brazenly flirts with you while you're offering to help and Neleus lays in bed--this is a prime example of the awkward situation).  I want some more male options!  (I'm not far enough into the main storyline, but I'm really feeling Brasidas--he better be an option!)

2.) More branching/detailed side quests.  I managed to find a few more notable and enjoyable branching sidequests that provided some nice stories, but I'm still finding that many zones are largely lacking in story.  The islands seem to have more to offer than the main Greek peninsula.  Exploration gets really draggy without something to spice it up and add interest.

3.) Morality system.  I will get to this under the "bugs me" section.

Bugs Me:
1.) I've been questioning whether the legendary gear sets are really worth it.  Each set seems to be crafted toward a certain playstyle and I've sided on the assassin heavy sets (the Venom set particularly.  Epic gear seems better though--you get three unique stat buffs plus an engraving.  The main challenge with epic gear is getting the correct combination of stats that you want.  I feel like the legendary gear should feel...more legendary.  There are some really nice looking items--I have to say that.

2.) Accidentally killing cultists.  I know this is a weird thing, but I feel like killing cultists should be more satisfactory and epic feeling.  It felt decidedly lackluster when I accidentally killed two cultists who I thought were guards (one of them was sleeping in a fort, I stabbed him only to discover that he didn't die and was actually quite tough--after a short scuffle, it was revealed that he was a cultist--it was simultaneously surprising and a bit disappointing).  Part of me wishes that the cultists would only appear after you have found the clues to reveal them.  One really weird thing happened with another cultist where he was already dead!  It appeared that he had wandered into a small camp of Spartan soldiers who then killed him.  Stabbing his dead corpse was anticlimactic.

Ask me to stab a cultist guard...OK.  Ask me to burn a silo....ugh.

3.)  Completing some locations requires doing things that I don't like doing.  Yes, it's true that I can choose not to do them, but then I won't get credit for completing the location.  In particular I am thinking of blowing up silos.  Destroying supplies does tie in with the entire idea of there being a war and trying to weaken one side or the other--that doesn't stop it from feeling horrible each time that I do it (I don't know why--I will literally stab a billion guards, but blowing up a silo....it just sucks).  Silos are also usually surrounded by civilians who are working in the fields and tend to get blown up in the process--I don't like that and try not to kill civilians.  I wish the civilians would scare off more easily or run away when they see me toss a torch onto a silo.  This makes me wish for some sort of more comprehensive morality system--it's true that if you are seen committing crimes that your bounty increases, but I don't feel like there is much of a penalty for killing civilians.  I also don't like that some things are stealing while others are just looting.  Maybe I'm just weird.

4.) Only being able to map 8 melee abilities.  It's true that I mostly have 3-4 go to skills, but it feels so pointless to have a bunch of abilities that I can't map because my melee bar is full.

I am hoping that by next week that I will have completed my first full playthrough and can write my review.  Thus far I've been impressed by the sheer size and scope of the game.  There is so much to do--you definitely do not need to worry about running out of tasks.  It's not perfect, but I'm finding Odyssey to be a fun RPG.

BIG SPOILER HERE--DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'RE VERY FAR ADVANCED INTO THE STORY.

I never got to make out with Brasidas and now I'm sad.  Damn you Ubisoft for ruining both Kyra and Brasidas for me!

Epic Odyssey

Yup, that's right, I'm still playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey for the fourth week in a row.  This should be a very good indication of the amazing size of the game.  It's true that I could stop my insane completionist mission to discover every single location in the game, but why would I possibly want to do that?  A recent update just raised the level cap, added a new mythical foe to defeat, and also added a new "hard" mode for other mythical enemies.  The "hard" mode also offers the chance to cobble together a fancy new set of armor from the loot that all those hard-to-kill mythical monsters drop.  There's still so much to do!

I managed to slightly advance the main storyline in between bouts of exploration, but I'm still mostly just wandering around killing everything in sight (but somewhat trying to avoid it...I swear!).  Something that I just recently discovered (which I honestly don't know how I missed it) is the in-game photo mode.  Photo mode is something that most people probably scoff at and don't touch.  I absolutely love trying to capture fantastic photos of beautifully crafted video game worlds.  It has been great to see more and more games include special tools for taking and editing these photographs.  The most recent update also included additional features in photo mode and I'm secretly dying to check them out.  So far, the only photo I've taken is this completely uninspiring picture of a statue that I liked.  There's something about the statues in Odyssey that makes me want to take photos of them--I think it's somewhat related to the cognitive dissonance I have from having the image of the ruined, marble statues in museums not equate to the beautifully painted statues in the game.  It's fun to get to imagine what those statues would have looked like in antiquity.

A statue!

There have been a few compelling moments in my explorations.  I've finally located two mythical creatures--the Minotaur and the Cyclops--and succeeded in killing them.  On normal, the fights weren't too difficult and involved timing dodges correctly and figuring out how to temporarily disable the beasts so I could unload on them.  Each drops a legendary item that can be added to your stash (I think I got some sort of heavy weapon from each of them--nothing I'm particularly interested in.)

There have also been several opportunities to spark up hook-ups with some random characters.  I'm not sure how to feel about these encounters as some of them seem weirdly out of place and others do tie-in with a specific character and their story.  One of the hook-ups that I found the strangest happened on the small, volcanic island of Hydrea.  While exploring, I stumbled across a woman who looked to be sparring (and kicking the pants off of her opponents).  She offered a mission, so why not?  In approaching her, I learned that she was training for this huge battle and so far, couldn't find any training partners who were up to snuff.  As if!  I immediately offered to participate in a few different training activities with her and promptly beat her in all three (not so high and mighty now!).  After completing the training activities, I found my Kassandra sitting atop a hill with a beautiful view and chatting up Roxana.  Things were obviously leaning in a romantic fashion...and it felt kind of weird.  "I really like you."  We literally just hung out for 10 minutes while I kicked your butt in every activity.  Plus, there was this looming reality that if I/Kassandra entered the fighting event with Roxana that we would end up facing off.  That would be a regular Greek tragedy....so, I had Kassandra awkwardly tell Roxana "no thanks."  (I won't spoil the end of this relationship--but it does suck)

Ancient Greek beaches are made for lovin'.

One hook-up that I did opt for and then later regret was with Kyra, the leader of a group of rebels on Mykonos.  She didn't come on as strong and suddenly as Roxana and, there was something definitely charming about her drunken, reckless demeanor.  About midway through her chaining missions on Mykonos there are options to flirt and I went for it.  The result was a retreat to a beautiful beach where there's a cutscene and more options for flirting.  Partially through the dialogue and flirting, Kyra drops a bomb on you--she's in a relationship with Thaletas, the Spartan commander who is helping kick the Athenians off Mykonos.  Then, there's a choice to be made--do you continue your reckless flirting with Kyra, or do you tell her that she shouldn't cheat on Thaletas?  What the heck!  I've already stabbed like 4,000 people, what's breaking one poor guy's heart?  (Yes, I made a horrible person decision)  The night passes with some ancient Greek hookin' up and then you and Kyra part ways amid some goodbye kisses.  It's nice!  Things don't work out so well for poor Thaletas...(yeah, it turns out that my horrible person decision had some consequences)

A Few Exceptions

Last week I lamented the fact that there really didn't seem to be many longer, chaining missions to add depth to the massive world of ancient Greece in Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey.  As I've continued playing, I've stumbled across several that do add some interest to particular areas.  I somewhat bungled two of them and didn't get the exact outcome I was hoping for, but I was glad to finally have a break from my seemingly endless pursuit of discovering and conquering every place on the map.

For quite awhile I had a mission sitting in my log that required me to travel to the far flung corners of the ancient Greek world.  It was a request to travel to the island of Pephka to find an arena that sponsored fights between mercenaries.  I decided it was finally time to find this mysterious arena and see what it had to offer.  The arena is easy to find and offers up fights that include a few waves of mixed enemies (archers, brutes, spearmen, shield bearers, etc.) and then a final round against a "boss" type.  The "boss" can also fall within one of those enemy types and is essentially a bigger, badder version of fighting another mercenary.  I decided to complete two rounds of arena fighting--the initial fights were both well below my current level--and realized that one of the cultists fights in the arena.  So, the arena fighting scenario turned into a "two birds with one stone" kind of thing--I completed one of the five fights to establish myself as the "arena champion," and I killed off another cultist.  I desperately needed one more artifact fragment to level my spear up and unlock the third tier of talents, so it worked out perfectly.  I think there's one more fight within my current level range but that the final two fights will require some more levelling up.  (Spoilers for a set of side quests on Pephka ahead)

The lighting was nice in this location.  Of course I offered to help!

After I finished off my brief stint in the arena, I decided that it was time to explore the rest of the island and check off some location goals.  I made my way across the island and realized that I actually had another set of missions that started in the town of Lato.  These missions revolved around finding and fighting the Minotaur.  Upon arriving at the port in Lato, I was drawn to the enticing exclamation point of a new mission.  There was a kid who was offering tours related to the Minotaur--I decided to bite and take the tour.  Tour kid ran off and I followed--he proceeded to show me a large, half-completed statue of the Minotaur....but offered no real information about where to find the creature.  He then beckoned to follow him into the central market square of Lato and stopped next to a stall where he explained that true heroes might need some of his special "minotaur elixir" to give them some extra "oomph" to defeat it.  I was highly skeptical, but the kid was kind of cute and definitely had some entrepreneurial talents, so I paid 200 drachmae for a vial of the definitely fake elixir.

The tour proceeded and the kid ran off toward a cave near the market.  I followed him and discovered a cave with a large statue of a minotaur and some smaller paraphernalia.  The kid announced that this was the end of the tour and that the fee for his services needed to be paid--that's when two imposing looking brutes sidled in from out of the frame   The little turkey then announced that the price of his tour was 3000 drachmae and that I could either pay it or face his two hulking friends.  Fighting off his muscle wouldn't have been a problem, but I admired the racket that the kid had come up with, so I decided to pay him the money.  Sheesh, getting extorted in ancient Greece!

From here I headed out to the main square in Lato and found the mission target, a guy name Leiandros who was offering warriors a chance to find and fight the Minotaur.  But first....you had to complete a series of "pre-trials" to prove that you had the required skills.  Upon completing the trials, you would receive a token that you could give to Leiandros to prove that you succeeded.  I headed off toward the first task--a trial of strength--and found a burly man in a small fighting arena.  He offered to sell me his token rather than fight him, which seemed kind of odd.  I turned him down (partially because I had just been fleeced of 3000 drachmae by the kid) and faced the task of defeating him.  The fight was over in a matter of seconds and he handed over the token.

The next task, the trial of accuracy, looked like it was going to involve showing off my archery skills.  I mentally prepared myself for some fancy shooting and approached the mission target.  I was surprised when he started explaining the trial and then trailed off.  Instead of completing the trial he offered the chance to skip it if I would locate his three missing sons, who were "little shits" that refused to come home and were hiding on a neighboring farm.  I offered to wrangle the brats in exchange for the trial token and released Ikaros to get a fix on their exact location.  One son was crouched in the middle of a tall wheat field, another was atop a set of scaffolding that was currently surrounded by a group of wild boars, and the last was inside a structure on the farm.  Dispatching the boars was simple and breaking into the structure with the third son revealed a hidden snake that had him trapped inside.  I headed back to the frustrated father/really crappy trial giver and was showered with thanks for getting his kids to return.  He handed over the token and it was time to head to the last trial.

The last trial was to involve endurance and the instructions were to dive down into a large pool of water (that happened to be filled with sharks) and retrieve the token from a chest hidden in the bottom of the pool....or I could pay 1200 drachamae and skip it!  It didn't sound difficult, so I perched myself atop a conveniently protruding post and picked off the sharks using my archery abilities.  Then, I dove into the sinkhole and quickly found the chest with the token.  Possessing all three tokens meant that I could head back to Leiandros and finally receive instructions about where to locate the Minotaur.

I headed back to the main square and presented the tokens to Leiandros.  He promptly offered to sell them to me as souvenirs for 1200 drachmae!  What the hell?  I watched as Kassandra angrily told him to knock off the money grubbing nonsense and reveal the location of the Minotaur.  Leiandros shrunk back, but grudgingly revealed that the Minotaur could be found in a nearby cave known as the "cave of heroes."  Before I was to enter the cave, I was to meet two other warriors who were hoping to take on this legendary creature.  It looked like it was going to be a tough fight.

The fearsome "Minotaur."

I rode into Warrior's Rest and found the two warriors--they were squabbling over who would get to strike the killing blow on the beast and claim the glory.  I mostly ignored them as we mounted up and headed for the nearby cave.  Once inside the cave we started to see signs of what looked like many victims of the Minotaur's brutality--corpses and piles of skulls....but, we also started to hear some strange noises--someone who was yelling "growl!"  and "moo!"  The two warriors who were accompanying me were frightened and fled the cave.  As I proceeded further into the cave and began investigating the corpses, it was obvious that they hadn't been killed by a Minotaur (not that the human voice yelling "growl" and "moo" wasn't completely obvious).  In a large central chamber I finally got to confront the fearsome beast....which, turned out to be a guy in a bull-shaped headdress.   I prepared to attack the "beast" when three shadowy figures emerged from the corner of the cave to attack me.  The fight was quick and they were dead within less than a minute.  The "Minotaur" was cowering behind a fake throne, so I decided to confront him and find out the truth about what was going on.  As he removed his bull's head helmet, he revealed himself to be none other than Leiandros!  He apologized for his deceit and explained that a group of cultists had kidnapped his daughter and forced him to participate in their scheme to fleece and kill thousands of "warriors" who completed the trials.  He then asked if I would rescue his daughter from the cultists and offered up their location.  I convinced him that his daughter would appreciate her father more if he was the one to help rescue her and he agreed to continue his role as the Minotaur and participate in freeing her from the cultists.

From here, Leiandros urged me to follow him to some nearby ruins that were the base of operations for the cultists.  His daughter was being held in some caves below the base.  Leiandros offered to help, but didn't appear to have any actual combat abilities.  I convinced him to distract the guards by pretending to be the Minotaur while I sneaked through the camp and freed his daughter.  Of course there was lots of guard killing--the camp was crawling with guards!  I stealthily killed a few and then proceeded to be spotted by a pack of guards near the cave entrance.  Rather than run away and renew my stealthy approach, I decided to take them on directly and managed to kill almost all of them off.  The remaining few were far enough in the cave that they weren't alerted to my presence and could easily be assassinated.  I unlocked the cage and escorted Leiandroses daughter to a safe location on the outskirts of the camp.  Leiandros, in full Minotaur mode, approached and I forced him to reveal his role as the "Minotaur" to his daughter.  We returned to Lato where the entire family was happily reunited.

I appreciated this mission chain and found it to be funny and enjoyable.  It cracked me up that the entire island appeared to be a P.T. Barnum style humbug that was designed to fleece wannabe warriors from around ancient Greece.  It was nice to have a break from exploring and to have a fun story interjected.  I think a few more zones in Odyssey could benefit from chaining missions, especially the larger ones.  In a way, I have to eat my words from last week about there not really being any notable missions--there are some, and they definitely add something to the world. 

Stabbing Guilt...Literally

Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey is proving to be a massive undertaking.  Sadly, after many more hours of play, I've barely advanced my main storyline progression--damn you enticing question marks!  At this point, I've stabbed so many poor Athenians, Spartans, bandits, cultists, mercenaries, and various other baddies that I've started feeling a bit guilty about it.  I've even started to try to avoid killing people (which never turns out well--usually I end up getting spotted by the guards anyway and the killing turns from a silent, orderly assassination-fest into a chaotic bout of ducking, dodging, and running).  Here's a good indication of my murderousness:

That's right, I've advanced the main storyline by 9% in one week and I've killed 1,323 people.  Sheesh.

Mostly, I'm still having fun, but I will admit that I've found myself getting a bit bored with my personal game of question mark/checklist checkoff.  Like I mentioned last week, the world of ancient Greece is stunningly beautiful, but after I've cleared out my 30th military base (that looks oddly similar to most of the other bases) I find myself getting antsy.  I've also found myself feeling a little weird about killing people in an urban area--it feels wrong to stab someone in the middle of a marketplace (yes, you are playing the role of an assassin--I get that) and I've been steering clear of bounties where you kill civilians.  I'm loving Kassandra as a character, but it does feel quite ruthless to be blatantly stabbing...well, everyone.

Even though I have had those strange, misplaced feelings of guilt, that hasn't stopped me from my ridiculously murderous desire to Spartan Kick anyone and everyone off of any slight incline.  Why is it so stinkin' fun to boot someone off the side of a cliff?  Am I a horrible person for enjoying it so much?  One of my highlight Spartan Kicking moments came in the Forge of Hephaistos (a cultist camp located in a cave within a volcano) where I was accidentally spotted by a patrolling cultist (and a captain at that).  After some brief sparring, I noticed that el capitan was standing right on the edge of the boiling, lava filled cauldron, so I decided to give him the boot.  Much to my satisfaction, he landed perfectly in the lava--no loot, but a much easier fight!  (And, I also have to yell "this...is...Sparta!" like every time)

It's a big, beautiful world in ancient Greece...but it can get boring.

Something that I'm still trying to figure out is the loot system.  Epic gear (purple) seems to have better stats than legendary gear...but, legendary gear can form sets that seem to give out some seriously potent set bonuses.  I've accumulated a bunch of disparate set pieces and now they're all sitting at different levels.  It seems to cost a good chunk of resources to upgrade legendary pieces to your current level.  I have a bad feeling that by the time I finally do get a set together that it's going to require a ridiculous amount of resources to upgrade it to my character level.  Is it even worth it?

Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey seems to suffer from the "open world" problem--Ubisoft have re-created this gorgeous world, but it becomes the main focal point and the story gets lost in the background.  I really wish that each zone/area had more of a story built into it or some sort of chaining quests/missions to make the huge world more interesting.  I always refer back to The Witcher 3, because it's one game where I feel like they succeeded in adding in enough story that the open world didn't start to get old--each area had a story to go with it.  It doesn't necessarily need to be linear (which is like a bad word now), but it needs something to break up the drudgery.

I'm still having a lot of fun (even with my guilty assassin's conscience) and foresee myself spending many, many more hours adventuring in ancient Greece.