Raiding monestaries. With the hero angles, standing like a cool Viking while innocent children and women all around you run for their lives shouting fearfully in Old English.

I know I’m supposed to feel all powerful and get an adrenaline rush killing innocent people because these poor people are supposed to be afraid of their lives for me.

It just doesn’t happen. I realize Ubisoft wants me to feel like an 11 year old boy, all powerful because innocent civilians are screaming away afraid of him. I can’t decide to be an 11 year old boy and feel a sense of accomplishment for something so boring and meaningless. In fact I probably wouldn’t even think “yea coool!” back when I was 11 at this. It’s just virtueless.

This game has none of the honor and virtue of prior AC games (Including Rogue).

Eivor is killing people who WERE YOU in prior AC games.

In Valhalla you are the executioner pulling the lever in Piazza Della Signoria and hanging the auditore family infront of Ezio’s eyes. Causing him to shout: “You have not killed all the Auditore, I AM still here“ and start his revenge quest.

Playing Valhalla, I’m starting to root for the innocent people I’m killing, and hoping one is strong enough to take Eivor out and kill him and his honorless raiders once and for all.

No other AC games (even Rogue and Black Flag) had me (even close to) thinking that.

It’s like the narrative director just thought people wouldn’t notice. It’s the incongruity that is worse of all. Why showcase Eivor to be so heroic and honorable, why not just make him appear as a weasel like Ivarr from the outset so it’s congruent.

On PC there is no notification that the database is updated. Also sometimes the database gets stuck and never updates and you have to start the game from the beginning.

1.02

@cawatrooper9

Yeah. I just never thought it would get to me, but it feels like a betrayal by Ubisoft. I have bought all AC games the moment they came out since 2007(!). So I know the overall vibe of AC.

In the first AC’s you play someone who is out to kill evil people for vengeance, people who have killed his family, etc. In Origins and Odyssey you play a Medjay and Misthios who are PROTECTORS of people. People go to them for help.

I’m just 8 or 10 hours into Valhalla so I probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet. I mean when they capture that priest and Eivor and the others stand in front of him when he says he believes in God and they just slit his throat. A priest just standing there.

To be a simple pillager like this who enjoys torturing and killing priests who are praying and burning innocent people’s homes made me feel sick. It reminded me of some of the sickest things on the internet I’ve seen (like the Dagestan video) or read (like the confession of convicted child murderer Pedro Alonso Lopez who I quoted from in my last post). It literally made me feel as sick as those things.

I love the AC franchise and buy the games as soon as they are released but getting players to identify with a protagonist like this really was a punch in the stomach.

And forget me: there’s probably a bunch of kids who are underage who will play this and be affected by it. The entire Valhalla game is like “No Russian” in COD.

It’s like this time you are the person you hated and fought against in all prior AC games.

Anyway I’m done ranting, but I felt Ubisoft should know how some players feel.

Edit: before people say "it's just a game, smile, consume, and shut up",... I think it's worth Ubisoft knowing that there are people out there who know and who will call them out on dropping quality standards.
The price is still $60 for every game

The quality of the geographical historical research done in AC: Valhalla surprised me. As compared to Origins and Odyssey it is quite subpar.

It starts with the protagonist. I believe it has been mentioned already that Eivør is a female name only. The male version of this name is Eivar

https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Eivor
https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Eivar

But leaving that to one side.

I can't review all of England and Norway, but I can review London (Lūndonjon / Lūndyn / Lunden).
Much of what would have stood there in 873 AD is missing.

It looks like the Ubisoft historian used this map from Wikipedia as a reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Londinium_400_AD-en.svg

Without realizing that map contains a very small amount of the buildings in London at that time.

At this level of historical research a general knowledge site like Wikipedia is insufficient.
If other historians want to chime in with details feel free.

General:

-The game seems to ignore the Saxon social division of the city by the Walbrook, Britons were known to have lived to the east (Cornhill), while the Saxons toward Ludgate Hill to the West (Lundenwic).

-The bustling heart of the city was Lundenwic itself, as the roman ruins of the East were largely uninhabited save for Bretons who lived on the outskirts.

-Why are there so many Persian rugs in every house in every village across Saxon England?

-The Sulis Minerva temple is in Bath, not Lunden.

-The Basiclia and Forum in Lunden was three stories high, but partly destroyed in 4th century. It looks pristine in the game but is too small.


East of the Forum:

-London wall misses the entire Eastern side (Aldgate, etc).

-All Hallows-by-the-Tower church in East London built 675 AD is missing.

-Billingsgate Roman House and Baths in East London built 180 AD is missing.

-Barking Abbey in East London built 650 AD is missing.

-Roman temple in Greenwich Park South East london, built 200 AD is missing.

-Mithraeum is in the wrong place. It was West of the Basilica. The museum is also only underground today.


West of the Forum:

-St Alban's church, 300 yrds North East of St. Pauls, below the north wall. Built 770 AD, is missing.

-St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe between St. Paul's and the Thames. Pre 10th century AD, is missing.

-St. Martin's Le Grand, second largest church in Lunden. 200 yrds North of St. Pauls, below the wall, 700 AD is missing.

-St. Pancras Old Church, North of Cripplegate, built no later than 625 AD, possibly as early as 314 AD, is missing.


Cripplegate:

-Cripplegate Fort Eastern and Southern walls should be square, 200m each side.

-AD 680 onwards confirm that there was a ‘King’s Hall Palace’ although its precise location has never been discovered. Aldermanbury (a.k.a. Ealdorman burgh a.k.a. Palace of the Ealdorman) is theorised to have been this palace,... was by the Eastern Cripplegate wall. Modern name of Aldermanbury is still used there.


Lundenwic:

There is one generic "Lundenwic Abbey" in game. In the 9th century there would have been 5 or possibly 7 abbeys in Lundenwic.

-St Martin-in-the-Fields, South Lundenwic. Built 7th century AD

-St. Bride's church, Lundenwic. 200 yards West of St. Pauls. Built 650 AD.

-St Clement Danes, in Lundenwic. Built 850 AD.

-St Mary Le Strand, in Lundenwic. Unknown date of construction but traces of Saxon remains are found below the foundations of the church.

-St Andrew Holborn, (first wooden version) 200 yds. North West of Newgate. Unknown date of construction but traces of Roman remains are found below the foundations of the church.


Modern Westminster (South of Lundonwic)

-Thorney Island (Trinovantum) / Westminster abbey, a few hundred yards south of Lundenwic doesn't feature the ruins of the Temple of Apollo or nascent Peter's monastery that would have stood there in the late 9th century AD.


Further reading:

If you are interested in this time period of England, you can read further here:

https://www.romanobritain.org/7-maps/map_roman_london.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Londinium_400_AD-en.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Hallows-by-the-Tower
https://clasmerdin.blogspot.com/2012/07/in-search-of-londons-ancient-temples.html
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3A39B1E4FDC498AC4D01ABC79539DD0E/S0003598X00076845a.pdf/lundenwic-the-archaeological-evidence-for-middle-saxon-london.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bride%27s_Church#Origins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Martin-in-the-Fields#Roman_era
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content.gresham.ac.uk/sites/default/files/greshamlec.pdf
http://www.johnchaple.co.uk/temples.html
https://www.thenationalcv.org.uk/rulersbc.html
https://www.academia.edu/24037786/An_archaeological_assessment_of_the_origins_of_St_Pauls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1591
https://www.standrewholborn.org.uk/history.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londinium#1st_century
http://anglosaxon.archeurope.info/index.php?page=aldermanbury
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/the-history-of-old-billingsgate/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3A39B1E4FDC498AC4D01ABC79539DD0E/S0003598X00076845a.pdf/lundenwic-the-archaeological-evidence-for-middle-saxon-london.pdf
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/the-middle-ages/anglosaxon-royal-palace/
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/history-of-westminster-abbey
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2017/07/10-roman-london-locations/116068
www.johnchaple.co.uk › templesWeb resultsPre-Roman London's Temples - Britain's Hidden History
www.thenationalcv.org.uk › rulersbcThe National CV of Britain - Rulers BC
http://www.johnchaple.co.uk/temples.html

These notes scatted through Odyssey. I type them into google and get nothing. Is there a database or wiki of these? There was for Origins.

Can someone tell me what we are supposed to feel in AC Valhalla? 

Every AC has had an emotional rollercoaster, for example, you get revenge on people who kill your family and loved ones. 

What are we supposed to feel in Valhalla?

Who are we supposed to “hate”?

Everytime Alfred speaks I agree with him. The game tries to get me to hate Alfred and various other people, but they speak with wisdom and kindness.

I’m so confused what the script is doing that I started to hate Eivor and the game falls apart. Like when one of Eivor’s friends dies in Hamptunscire I was actually happy and cheering. And the Eivor animation is like “nooooooo”, and I think so what? Good riddance. The game falls apart emotionally for me.

The mission says: help Ljufvina, Guthrum, Broder, etc. and I’m sitting here hoping the next cutscene kills them.

The game has completely lost me, the “beats” aren’t working. The emotions it is shepherding me into feeling are too simple, too 21st century childlike.

Your friend is dying as you carry him and says cheerfully that they are afraid, and the script is trying to drag me into feeling sad for them. But it’s so see through. It’s like “feel this now”. And it's too late for Darby McDevitt, I already hate Eivor and all of these people. It’s like hell no I’m not feeling for this particular person, eventhough my money to Ubisoft is like “you really should”. I hate this game so much. I’ve never had that with an AC game. There were ones I liked less but never outright hated.

I’m hitting B on emotional cutscenes, when the script tries to make it even sadder it’s even more nauseating, especially when Eivor starts crying. 

Why are we fighting Alfred again? The guy speaks with wisdom and kindness.

Are we just ridiculing religious people and laughing at them? That can’t be the entire point as that gets old fast.

Someone tell me what the emotional point is? And yes, all other AC upto Odyssey had an emotional point before the 12 year olds are like just slash slash slash and kill kill kill man, there is no point.

I take it that is there are no real replies then there really is no answer to the question of who we are meant to be fighting and what we are meant to be feeling.

In AC Valhalla is there a way to get a notification when there is a Codex update?

In all other AC games, when a new entry is added to the database or encyclopedia (called Codex in Valhalla) the game usually gave a notification. “Database entry added” or something.

In Valhalla there never is. I decide to check the Codex myself now and then and find like 14 new entries of things that happened days ago.

Is there any way to get the game to notify players when new entries get added to the Codex?

AC Valhalla
PC

@hroozenbeek

You don't have a preference which you have every right to.
I do have a preference, which I have every right to.

Also, according to Ubisoft's Scott Philips; 60% of players chose Alexios as the protagonist.

https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/470983-alexios-commanded-two-thirds-of-assassins-creed-odysseys-playerbase

@kreutzgang I'm a guy and I prefer to play as a man. It's also weird to play Odyssey with a woman and hear them be referenced as misthios which is masculine. The female form would have been misthia.

I heard that ACV doesn't give players feedback that the real world contains updates (new dialogue, cutscenes, files on computer, audio, etc.)

No point waiting for the game to surprise you with content outside the animus. You have to remember to leave the Animus yourself. If you don't remember then that's too bad the cutscenes are gone.

Is there a way to update the HUD to remind the player that there is new content outside the Animus? Should the player themselves decide to exit.

PS: No spoilers please

I missed these:

-The colossal aqueducts are fantasy. Lunden never had elevated aqueducts. Let alone skyscraper high ones. It is right on a river so there is no need.

-London Bridge Fortifications are a fantasy. In all likelihood, the first wooden bridge across the Thames was built in 994 AD. The first stone bridge with fortifications was built in 1209 AD. The fortification (Great Stone Gate) was only on the Southwark side. The gate is 336 years too new and it's also missing the dozens of heads of traitors on pikes displayed on top.

I'm interested if there are other historians that can comment on the London portrayed in the game.

Edit: before people say "it's just a game, smile, consume, and shut up",... I think it's worth Ubisoft knowing that there are people out there who know and who will call them out on dropping quality standards.
The price is still $60 for every game

The quality of the geographical historical research done in AC: Valhalla surprised me. As compared to Origins and Odyssey it is quite subpar.

It starts with the protagonist. I believe it has been mentioned already that Eivør is a female name only. The male version of this name is Eivar

https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Eivor
https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Eivar

But leaving that to one side.

I can't review all of England and Norway, but I can review London (Lūndonjon / Lūndyn / Lunden).
Much of what would have stood there in 873 AD is missing.

It looks like the Ubisoft historian used this map from Wikipedia as a reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Londinium_400_AD-en.svg

Without realizing that map contains a very small amount of the buildings in London at that time.

At this level of historical research a general knowledge site like Wikipedia is insufficient.
If other historians want to chime in with details feel free.

General:

-The game seems to ignore the Saxon social division of the city by the Walbrook, Britons were known to have lived to the east (Cornhill), while the Saxons toward Ludgate Hill to the West (Lundenwic).

-The bustling heart of the city was Lundenwic itself, as the roman ruins of the East were largely uninhabited save for Bretons who lived on the outskirts.

-Why are there so many Persian rugs in every house in every village across Saxon England?

-The Sulis Minerva temple is in Bath, not Lunden.

-The Basiclia and Forum in Lunden was three stories high, but partly destroyed in 4th century. It looks pristine in the game but is too small.


East of the Forum:

-London wall misses the entire Eastern side (Aldgate, etc).

-All Hallows-by-the-Tower church in East London built 675 AD is missing.

-Billingsgate Roman House and Baths in East London built 180 AD is missing.

-Barking Abbey in East London built 650 AD is missing.

-Roman temple in Greenwich Park South East london, built 200 AD is missing.

-Mithraeum is in the wrong place. It was West of the Basilica. The museum is also only underground today.


West of the Forum:

-St Alban's church, 300 yrds North East of St. Pauls, below the north wall. Built 770 AD, is missing.

-St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe between St. Paul's and the Thames. Pre 10th century AD, is missing.

-St. Martin's Le Grand, second largest church in Lunden. 200 yrds North of St. Pauls, below the wall, 700 AD is missing.

-St. Pancras Old Church, North of Cripplegate, built no later than 625 AD, possibly as early as 314 AD, is missing.


Cripplegate:

-Cripplegate Fort Eastern and Southern walls should be square, 200m each side.

-AD 680 onwards confirm that there was a ‘King’s Hall Palace’ although its precise location has never been discovered. Aldermanbury (a.k.a. Ealdorman burgh a.k.a. Palace of the Ealdorman) is theorised to have been this palace,... was by the Eastern Cripplegate wall. Modern name of Aldermanbury is still used there.


Lundenwic:

There is one generic "Lundenwic Abbey" in game. In the 9th century there would have been 5 or possibly 7 abbeys in Lundenwic.

-St Martin-in-the-Fields, South Lundenwic. Built 7th century AD

-St. Bride's church, Lundenwic. 200 yards West of St. Pauls. Built 650 AD.

-St Clement Danes, in Lundenwic. Built 850 AD.

-St Mary Le Strand, in Lundenwic. Unknown date of construction but traces of Saxon remains are found below the foundations of the church.

-St Andrew Holborn, (first wooden version) 200 yds. North West of Newgate. Unknown date of construction but traces of Roman remains are found below the foundations of the church.


Modern Westminster (South of Lundonwic)

-Thorney Island (Trinovantum) / Westminster abbey, a few hundred yards south of Lundenwic doesn't feature the ruins of the Temple of Apollo or nascent Peter's monastery that would have stood there in the late 9th century AD.


Further reading:

If you are interested in this time period of England, you can read further here:

https://www.romanobritain.org/7-maps/map_roman_london.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Londinium_400_AD-en.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Hallows-by-the-Tower
https://clasmerdin.blogspot.com/2012/07/in-search-of-londons-ancient-temples.html
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3A39B1E4FDC498AC4D01ABC79539DD0E/S0003598X00076845a.pdf/lundenwic-the-archaeological-evidence-for-middle-saxon-london.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bride%27s_Church#Origins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Martin-in-the-Fields#Roman_era
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content.gresham.ac.uk/sites/default/files/greshamlec.pdf
http://www.johnchaple.co.uk/temples.html
https://www.thenationalcv.org.uk/rulersbc.html
https://www.academia.edu/24037786/An_archaeological_assessment_of_the_origins_of_St_Pauls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1591
https://www.standrewholborn.org.uk/history.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londinium#1st_century
http://anglosaxon.archeurope.info/index.php?page=aldermanbury
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/the-history-of-old-billingsgate/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3A39B1E4FDC498AC4D01ABC79539DD0E/S0003598X00076845a.pdf/lundenwic-the-archaeological-evidence-for-middle-saxon-london.pdf
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/the-middle-ages/anglosaxon-royal-palace/
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/history-of-westminster-abbey
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2017/07/10-roman-london-locations/116068
www.johnchaple.co.uk › templesWeb resultsPre-Roman London's Temples - Britain's Hidden History
www.thenationalcv.org.uk › rulersbcThe National CV of Britain - Rulers BC
http://www.johnchaple.co.uk/temples.html

@cawatrooper9
True. Although Odyssey didn’t desync if you killed a civillian, it never forced you to. Even Socrates who lamented that you killed guards to free him (even though you could just knock them out and not kill them) every person you “had to” kill was either a soldier, bandit or a mercenary in Odyssey. They were all armed or evidently evil.

In Valhalla the narrative forces you to burn homes of just normal unarmed bystanders, literally women and children running away screaming from their homes that you burn (commenting how you love the smell of burning homes). Or executing unarmed priests who are prisoners or just standing in front of you.

Just breaks immersion for me although I can see how other people might not really care.

@cawatrooper9

Yeah. I just never thought it would get to me, but it feels like a betrayal by Ubisoft. I have bought all AC games the moment they came out since 2007(!). So I know the overall vibe of AC.

In the first AC’s you play someone who is out to kill evil people for vengeance, people who have killed his family, etc. In Origins and Odyssey you play a Medjay and Misthios who are PROTECTORS of people. People go to them for help.

I’m just 8 or 10 hours into Valhalla so I probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet. I mean when they capture that priest and Eivor and the others stand in front of him when he says he believes in God and they just slit his throat. A priest just standing there.

To be a simple pillager like this who enjoys torturing and killing priests who are praying and burning innocent people’s homes made me feel sick. It reminded me of some of the sickest things on the internet I’ve seen (like the Dagestan video) or read (like the confession of convicted child murderer Pedro Alonso Lopez who I quoted from in my last post). It literally made me feel as sick as those things.

I love the AC franchise and buy the games as soon as they are released but getting players to identify with a protagonist like this really was a punch in the stomach.

And forget me: there’s probably a bunch of kids who are underage who will play this and be affected by it. The entire Valhalla game is like “No Russian” in COD.

It’s like this time you are the person you hated and fought against in all prior AC games.

Anyway I’m done ranting, but I felt Ubisoft should know how some players feel.