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)