The problem with the combat in this game is that dodging and parrying are normal, but they don't work if you've already started the attack. It turns out that the fight is like checkers - parried, hit, wait, parried, hit, wait. If you hit several times in a row, the enemy doesn't care about the damage, he'll kill you on the your third hit, parrying won't work during your attack. This doesn't happen in real life, you can cancel the attack or turn or parry the attack in any way and the fight turns out to be lively, interesting and varied. On easy difficulty, it's the same thing, it's just that the damage to you is small, and to the enemy, it's big. In Valhalla, this was fixed on normal difficulty. For example, i started a new game, saved Phoebe and ran to Talas on the maximum difficulty, being lvl 2, Talas 5th lvl, parried, hit and waited, the fight lasted about 6 minutes, 70 damage per hit with a two-handed axe (some warrior set, either bought or from Ubisoft). He didn't even change his attacks, didn't make a red attack that you can dodge but can't parry. I parried him and hit him with a powerful attack, he flew away from my attack, got up, ran back to me and i just repeated the same thing, he made a normal attack, i parried, made a powerful attack and so on until the end - boring, monotonous. On easy difficulty, it's the same thing, you just don't die from his interception of your attack, but you take damage, which is still not interesting and implausible.
The game feels like an RPG action, that is, not cinematic - not dramatic, despite the fact that this is not a top view, but a realistic third-person camera with cinematic cutscenes, for some reason it's not immersive enough in places, it's just interesting, in places immersive enough and dramatic.
Plot, history, mythology, philosophy, judgment, depth, atmosphere, ancient Greece, conspiracy and mystery - very interesting and dramatic ideas.
Some decisions affect the plot. The decisions are sometimes too confusing, but there are many saves and several autosaves, there are quick saves, there are also several of them. I recommend saving each stage (city) separately.
Good lighting and lighting of faces, facial animations, graphics, sounds, soundtrack, menu, interface.
The controls are very convenient without being meticulous, pleasant, fast, character, horse, ship, eagle, not counting disabling parry and dodging at the most interesting moment.. Very cool, spectacular, convenient and realistic blows, techniques and skills and weapons, close and long range, aiming, tactics, bosses and stealth. Animations, finishing moves, a sense of difficulty, combat, animal adrenaline, sweat, heat, very realistic. You can dodge and parry arrows. Dealing damage to many at once, climb on everything, swim. There are fights with several opponents, there are mass fights, there are outposts, there are many different places and worlds. Engravings don't help in general, but you can make 100% crit chance, crit strength at full health, poison, mass attack, and you will be able to one-shot even bosses on the highest difficulty. Don't sell items with these engravings. And even at maximum difficulty, you can adapt, change weapons during the fight, different tactics and skills that you acquire over time and the fight is already more lively and less checkers. In any case, there is a normal difficulty, i just learned the timings of the opponents in this game, but for beginners i recommend a lower difficulty, so that the fight is based on your reactions and skill, and not on replaying, running again and learning the timings, which are equal to bugs - when the character does not react, at least you won't die through no fault of your own, and the fight will be fair, not about taking damage, but about replaying, fight - fair, plus, dodging and parrying works quite often, fight fair and interesting, unlike Stellar Blade, so the fight is still very interesting, in addition to tactics and skills, especially that the game lasts for tens of hours, the main plot. This is another plus that the timings can be learned quickly, unlike stupid souls and you have the experience of a live adrenaline exciting fight for what i so love this game for. In Origins and Valhalla there are no such skills, engravings and tactics, they are better on easy. Here you don’t feel that masterpiece of plasticity from the first parts (Altair, Ezio) and beautiful combat with delicate counterattacks, but the controls are freer and more ferocious. And the assassins are already on some third plane, background.
The game is large-scale and high-quality, rarity.
In general, the game is very comfortable. The game is not meticulous. HP is restored not in battle, you do not need to look for any heals. And during the battle you have a skill with which you can restore HP.
You can change the view of armor and weapons, make the helmet or hood invisible so as not to spoil the hairstyle.. )
The scale of the mountains, etc. is not felt as good as in Valhalla, for example, but still very beautiful and convenient for the eyes, comfortable.
Many interesting side quests and funny.
Ship, sea battles, also not cinematic, but less realistic, feels more like an RPG, but at the same time very simple and convenient and still beautiful.
Long distances between tasks are not optional, there is a waste of time, but there is often a teleport to the pier and to synchronized viewpoints that you open.
Inconveniences are also added by the instant attack of wild animals, at maximum difficulty this is a problem because you have to run again.
Assassins and the present time are here, but from the 3rd part they are on some second, third, fifth plan, background and do not develop anywhere. There is an interweaving with a character from the past, this is very interesting, there is science fiction, an ancient race, very interesting, but it does not develop anywhere yet. The problems that were already in the first parts in real time are repeated.
One of my favorite games and parts, because of the advantages of which i wrote and the plot with the characters is very interesting. I like to play for Alexios more, besides, he is more suitable for a Spartan. There is no difference in the plot between Alexios and Kassandra.
Atmosphere, ancient Greece and mythology are my favorite. (Hello God of War 1 and 2)
The game is not very stretched, unlike the boring Valhalla, in which the graphics are somehow worse and there is no NG+, which is very funny (try with big discount). Origins and This almost masterpiece (some things are done wrong besides what i wrote, these will be spoilers and too long, there are some wrong decisions and some hack work) part have NG+.
And considering that i have played and am playing this part with DLC many times, despite the several minuses, i give the game a 10.
To the conclusion about the difficulty. It is stupid to make a difficulty that requires studying timings, look for upgrades, etc., the entire plot, plus normal difficulty is interesting even despite the unfair damage as i already explained - because the dodge is turned off unfairly and implausibly or the enemies are abnormally fast or there are too many of them, etc. various implausibility and dishonesty, you might even like it if you don't understand that you're taking damage through no fault of your own, so there is no point in max. difficulty where you will almost always lose and run again many times not through your fault, like an idiot, especially people who play often, who already know how to play well, it will be extremely unfair and uninteresting for them. Maximum difficulty is needed to study timings, for those who want to feel like a beginner, to start a new life in a new world, Odyssey is 100% suitable for this. It is balanced, unlike souls-likes where you spend hours on navigation, on empty running around to find something to help you with an impossible boss, often players cannot find it for weeks, that is, Odyssey, etc. is adequately balanced, and souls-like has the same meaning as max. difficulty, but too much, to put it mildly, and often situations etc. in battle unfairly kill your character even if you have learned the timings, which in addition to being based on replaying, but also on randomness, which makes the game and the player's efforts meaningless, and you can not choose only a difficult fight, everything is difficult there. And in souls-likes there is usually almost no plot and character, you don't know anything about him, a dummy with an iron mask, you can't even see his face, and the world is not beautiful, the character is not beautiful, etc. Good luck in the world of games. )
One more important thing: AC origins, a 7 year old game looks better than Odyssey, and AC Valhalla looks worse than Origins and Odyssey, it's unbelievable, and Origins requires 2 times less from the PC, listen to what is said here, it is impossible to describe this level of stupidity.