I upgraded my Bone-Biter Dane axe to "mythical" level to see what kind of final appearance it would have, and then I noticed that almost every time I strike an enemy with it, there's this magical-sounding "shwing" sound instead of a more realistic-sounding, bone-crushing sound. I can't stand this new sound for mythical weapons. Would it be possible, through an update, to deactivate this sound--or, at least, to be able to have weapons appear as their lower-tier forms (such as "flawless")?

While we're at it, a full-blown transbog feature for all weapons and armor would be really useful. I'd like to have certain armor pieces appear as lower-tier versions as well if I don't like higher-tier appearances.

I hope someone from the dev team hears this.

I understand your logic here, but I have a couple of thoughts on this subject.

On the one hand, the whole concept of "levels" is just kind of absurd to me, as your post makes clear. You mean to tell me that in this one town, I can swing my axe at a dude and kill him in one shot, but literally the next town over has dudes who can take 17 swings of my axe before they die? And a lowly peasant with a rake can slaughter me without breaking a sweat? This is one of those RPG-style things I've never really been able to get behind. If I swing an axe at someone, they should react as if they were just hit with an axe. That's it. If they're wearing some kind of heavier armor, then maybe it takes a tad more effort to take them down. Fine.

On the other hand, I've just never understood the desire for enemy level scaling in games like this. I mean, what exactly is the point of leveling up, getting stronger, and upgrading my weapons and armor if it's just not gonna matter anyway? If every enemy I face is just gonna be as strong and damage-spongey as can be, then why does leveling up matter at all? I'm always gonna need 17 swings of my axe to kill someone? Kinda defeats the purpose, huh? I level up, upgrade my gear, etc., so that I can walk around the world feeling powerful, ready to defeat or even dominate anyone I come across.

So, my goodness, if level scaling is ever gonna be in Valhalla, I truly hope it's purely an option--one that I'll never turn on.

Long-time Assassin's Creed fan here, and I think this needs more attention. I was loving this game, but especially after the latest update (December 15), it's reeeally making it harder for me to enjoy and immerse myself in the experience because of the visual noise that I can't turn off on my screen.

In descending order of importance, here are the specific HUD/Interface elements that the devs should REALLY let us turn off in the settings:

Those flashy red "rune" symbols on enemies performing an unblockable attack

Before the December 15 patch, I had this thing off! I believe it was disabled by turning off the "Enemy Info" setting (which usually displays enemy health and stamina bars), and I was blissfully playing for almost 200 hours without EVER seeing that ghastly, cartoony red rune flash on enemies. Now, after the patch, I am forced to see it every time an enemy does a heavy attack. There are now wolves, wild boars, and chickens flying at me like they're on fire. In bareknuckle fist fights, my opponents look like they're on fire when they're about to grab me. This is so distracting, unimmersive, etc. It kills any sense of believability or realism I may have had while playing this game and engaging in combat.

Simply give us the option to turn this thing off. That's it! That's all I'm asking. There's even already a sound effect that plays when an enemy is doing an unblockable attack. I don't need to see this thing!

Mid-screen messages that say, "Ammo is full," "Rations are full," "Adrenaline is full," "This door is barred from the other side," "Find the key for this door," etc.

These mid-screen messages are obnoxious and unnecessary, and they take up a big chunk of my screen. I can tell the door is barred from the other side: there's a red glow on it, it makes a "locked door" sound when I try to open it, and Eivor literally vocalizes the fact by stating, "Hmm. Must be barred from the other side." As for arrows, rations, and adrenaline? I got it! I can figure that out on my own without the constant textual reminder in the middle of my screen, even during hectic combat! Just give us the option to turn these off in the Interface settings. That's all I'm asking!

Colorful weapon trails

Every time I swing my axe with a heavy attack, there's this unsightly, cartoony orange-ish trail left behind my weapon. For similar immersion-killing reasons, I am requested that we get an option in the Interface settings to turn these weapon trails OFF. Again, people who like seeing these things can leave them on for as long as they want. But those of us who want a more immersive, more believable, less-cluttered experience should just have the option to disable them.

Those white sparkly explosions whenever I loot something/someone

Every time I hit the "loot" button to collect something anywhere, there's a small explosion of white sparkles that fly around it. There are irritating, and I would very much appreciate--once again--the option to turn them off in the Interface settings.

Allow us the OPTION of having a more immersive, more realistic visual experience with AC: Valhalla. If you do, I will keep playing this game for months to come. But right now, it's harder for me to appreciate and enjoy it.

I'm seriously hoping a forthcoming update will go a long way toward fixing a glut of glaring clipping issues in AC: Valhalla. There are blades and handles clipping right through cloaks and other fabrics seemingly all the time, especially when walking, jogging, running, or riding on horeseback. Sometimes straps and tunics will clip through when cloaks and hoods are pulled over and you're moving around. It's pretty terrible at times. I know it isn't exactly easy to handle this, but I'm hoping some minor adjustments can address all this.

Earnest request. Some of us would prefer not to have enemies, bosses, etc., automatically be scaled up to be more difficult. The whole point of my leveling up, upgrading my weapons, upgrading my armor, and so on, is so that I can walk around the world ready to dominate anyone I come across. I get that some people would prefer to have lower-level enemies scale up to some extent, but why not just make this a purely optional thing that I can toggle off in the settings? That way, all of us are satisfied. Why force all of us into it?

Agreed. I wish days would last longer in Valhalla, along with sunsets and sunrises.

@gloomseeker I hear ya, and you're right about everything here being totally artificial and arbitrary. All of it is!

I'll have to disagree about Odyssey. I really didn't like Odyssey much--I thought it was a bad departure from the overall greatness of Origins, which was just a much more fluid, more engaging experience that was crafted with more love and care by the Montreal studio. Odyssey is so . . . stiff and lifeless. It's a step backward.

But one of the main things I couldn't stand about Odyssey was the super damage-spongey enemies. Seriously, I could whack a guy 14 times with my sword, and he wouldn't even twitch, no matter what level I was. This is utter nonsense to me. Granted, this sometimes happens in Origins as well--and you can see it happening occasionally in Valhalla too (like if I hit a guy who's in the middle of an attack animation, and literally nothing happens to him). Odyssey had a level-scaling option, but the best I could do was set it to "light" or something, where enemies would always be no more than four levels under me. And no matter how much I leveled up, no matter how many increased-damage engravings I would place on my weapons at the blacksmith, it would still take WAY TOO MANY strikes of my sword or staff to take down even weaker enemies. It's like none of the level-scaling options really mattered there.

I just don't see how that's fun at all. It's too unbelievable to me (and there's a case to be made that all of this was just part of Ubisoft's plan to sell XP boosters). I guess I want a tad more realism and immersion in my open-world games. I hate it when I shoot an arrow into a guy's face, right between the eyes, and all he does is start running after me as if he'd just been bitten by a mosquito. I hate how I could sneak up to someone who's literally sleeping and do an assassination move, only to watch him get up and attack me as if I'd just tickled him instead of stabbing him.

And I guess that gets back to the point about how levels and level-gating are just pretty absurd concepts altogether.

Forgot to add one more item to that list!

The aiming reticle always on when crouching

I don't understand why every time I hit the crouch button, I have to see this white dot in the middle of my screen. Was this left there by mistake? In any case, I would greatly appreciate the simple option to turn that off.

The only time I want to see a reticle is if I'm aiming my bow. Can these relatively easy options be implemented in the next update?

Exactly. I've written about this on this forum as well.

Enemy level scaling should not be forced on us. It should be optional. Let us turn it off in the settings and enjoy the game as we want to enjoy it.

Forced enemy scaling was one reason I couldn't stand Odyssey. Damage-spongey enemies just enrage me. Origins at least gave us the option to turn this off (and I loved Origins).

@renanlindner

I also wish we had more options to turn OFF more on-screen elements. Sure, let anyone who wants to keep them on do so.

But some of us want a more immersive, less cluttered experience by disabling more things that appear on our HUDs.

Ahem . . . like the flashing red rune thing when enemies do an unblockable attack (I hate that thing so much). Just sayin'.

But, yeah, give us more granular HUD/interface options. If we want those colorful light beams shooting up from the ground to be off, then let us turn them off. Give us the options.

I know, I'm becoming a broken record on this, and I've posted about this stuff before.

The December 15th patch forced me to have to see the flaming red rune flash every time an enemy or animal does an unblockable attack. Before that, it could be totally disabled as part of the "Enemy Info" option in the Interface settings. Now, enemies--as well as boars, chickens, and wolves--look like they're ON FIRE when they're attacking me. I can't stand this, it's dumb, it's irritating, it's immersion-killing, and it has basically killed my desire to play Valhalla--after around 200 hours already put into it.

For the next patch, please allow us the option to disable this HUD effect--along with other HUD things too! I want to see options to turn off those obnoxious mid-screen text messages about locked doors, missing keys, full ammo, full adrenaline, "Place on the ground to complete the objective," etc., etc.

I want to turn off the aiming reticle that appears every time I crouch. Why is this even here?

I want to turn off those tacky weapon trails. Every time I swing my axe, I don't want this ugly orange-ish trail following behind it.

I want to turn off those white sparkly explosions every time I loot something.

Let us have a more grounded, more immersive visual experience during gameplay. I don't need to see all those things.

Thanks for your attention.

Sure, but let's all not lose sight of the basic thing we all agree on here: enemy level-scaling should be completely OPTIONAL, not forced upon those of us who don't want it. Let us choose that.

@orcbeard92
Yup, I hear ya. Agreed.

Ubisoft, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to be so repetitive here, but I'd REALLY appreciate it if you could patch in more options for disabling HUD/Interface elements. Seriously, this would go a long way toward making my gameplay experience waaay more enjoyable. I'm just waiting to play this game (which I paid $60 for) again, but the December 15 patch actually made my experience worse.

All right, so the latest patch (from today) didn't address any of this. No matter which HUD settings I disable, I'm still always seeing that irritating flaming red rune flash whenever an enemy does an unblockable attack and those orange explosions when enemies/animals are about to do a regular attack. Guess I'll be putting this game off again for a while. I'd really like to get back to it.

Additionally, of course, I'd still like to see options that let us disable those mid-screen messages, those colorful weapon trails, those white sparkly explosions whenever I loot something/someone, etc.

More HUD options, please. This would go a long way toward making my experience with Valhalla soooo much more enjoyable.

@ubikoality

Thanks for responding! I turn off almost everything I can because I want a more immersive, less cluttered HUD. Of the items mentioned in your list, I have only the "contextual actions" one on, and that's it. "Control hints" (if that refers to control reminders for sailing my longship) is always off.

To be clear, before the December 15th patch, I was NEVER seeing the flaming red rune flash for unblockable attacks on enemies, and I don't know if that was tied to "enemy proximity" or "enemy info" or whatever, which I always have off (because I hate tacky lifebars and cartoony enemy outlines that I can see through walls). Now, after that patch, that flaming red rune always shows during an unblockable attack. I'd appreciate it if I can never see that thing again. I haven't played the game for weeks now because of this.

Thanks again.

I know I've posted about this before, but I'd really like to see some new options to disable a few more HUD/UI elements. I seem to be getting no response about this.

Since the last update (December 15, I think), I now CANNOT turn off that flashing red rune symbol on enemies doing unblockable attacks. Before that update, I was blissfully never seeing that ghastly, cartoony, irritating thing. Now I'm FORCED to see it all the time. When wild boars and chickens attack me, they look like they're literally on fire now. I have no choice.

I can't stand this, and it's killing my desire to play this game, so I stopped. I want to be able to play AC: Valhalla as immersively as I possibly can, and that usually means disabling silly, artificial HUD elements. The last patch made my gameplay experience worse.

In addition, will you finally let us turn off those obnoxious mid-screen messages ("Ammo is full," "Find the key for this door," "This door is barred," "Rations are full," etc.), those colorful weapon trails, the aiming reticle that appears every time I crouch, and (while we're at it) those white sparkly explosions every time I loot something/someone?

Just give us the options. That's all I'm asking. Let us have that.

I realize I've posted about this before, but I'd really like to see some new options to disable a few more HUD/UI elements.

Since the last update (December 15, I think), I now cannot turn off that flashing red rune symbol on enemies doing unblockable attacks. Before that update, I was blissfully never seeing that ghastly, cartoony, irritating thing. Now I'm FORCED to see it all the time. When wild boars and chickens attack me, they all look like they're literally on fire now. I have no choice.

I can't stand this, and it's killing my desire to play this game, so I stopped. I want to be able to play AC: Valhalla as immersively as I possibly can, and that usually means disabling silly, artificial HUD elements. The last patch made my gameplay experience worse.

In addition, will you finally let us turn off those obnoxious mid-screen messages ("Ammo is full," "Find the key for this door," "This door is barred," "Rations are full," etc.), those colorful weapon trails, the aiming reticle that appears every time I crouch, and (while we're at it) those white sparkly explosions every time I loot something/someone?

Just give us the options. That's all I'm asking. Let us have that.

@kormac67
I loved Origins very much. Played start to finish 2.5 times. Sometimes I wonder if I played the same game as Odyssey fans.

I almost hated Odyssey (but just almost). It's so . . . stiff. Origins, by contrast, is a far more fluid and smooth experience, crafted with way more care by the Montreal studio.

Combat was another major factor for me. My goodness, combat in Odyssey is so miserably, ridiculously damage spongey, and that was made worse by the forced level scaling. Literally, what is the point of leveling up, upgrading weapons, and getting stronger if every enemy you come across is just gonna be as strong as you and take 17 whacks of my sword to kill? I remember how frustrating it was to sneak up to a sleeping enemy, do an assassination move, and watch as he'd get up and attack me as if I'd just tickled him.

I also just adored the open-world Egypt depicted in Origins. Such an interesting setting.

Valhalla is more of a return to the style of Origins, which I appreciate. There are still things I object to (like the recently patched-in forced level scaling and certain HUD elements I can't turn off), but I'm enjoying this far more than Odyssey.

@renanlindner

I also wish we had more options to turn OFF more on-screen elements. Sure, let anyone who wants to keep them on do so.

But some of us want a more immersive, less cluttered experience by disabling more things that appear on our HUDs.

Ahem . . . like the flashing red rune thing when enemies do an unblockable attack (I hate that thing so much). Just sayin'.

But, yeah, give us more granular HUD/interface options. If we want those colorful light beams shooting up from the ground to be off, then let us turn them off. Give us the options.

@loomynartyflw47

Yup, couldn't agree more. Enemy level scaling of any kind should NOT be forced. At most, it should be purely optional. I want this off in my game.