The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Is there anything left to do at this point without starting a new game?

There are Daily Quests that pop up every day which have a chance to give you Rare or Legendary item in the game, including Microtransaction items. I have a few friends that have gotten several of those without putting a single cent into Helix Credits, so that's sick.

Once you finish the Main Story a certain special Building/Location opens up and once you drop down into it there's a merchant there that sells you XP directly. 1000 Drachmas for 1000 XP. So you can constantly keep up your Leveling Progression because you'd get an Ability Point each time you hit the threshold. These AP can be injected into one of your Master Skills indefinitely (Seer, Hunter, Warrior) to constantly make yourself stronger.

Trials of the Gods begins tomorrow, and they're gonna be patching in more content into this game on a semi-regular basis, for both Season Pass holders and for all players.

I still have yet to finish the Elite Hippodrome and Elite Cyrene Arena, because they're pretty hard and I'm not sure I'd win. The Seleucid in particular is like... A ridiculous boss. But yeah, there's not tooo much, but there's still quite a bit more to do than other AC games.

Thankfully ACO gives you 3 Save Files like classic ACs, which makes me happy. Might try a casual speedrun or a Fist Only / Monk roleplay. Dunno. But yeah, hype for Trials of the Gods. Anubis is the first one and hopefully it's a good fight.

How the hell did you pull off Archer of the Month?

Is there a level cap? or can my character get all skills?

Is there a level cap for the open world? or will everything eventually become a 1 hit kill no matter what?

Yeah the cap is at 40 but you can still get skill points. Even at lvl 40 you can still get killed rather easily.

So it's a hybrid thing... the cap is 40, so the world doesn't have to level indefinitely (like Fallout, for instance)... but you can still get experience and skill points for doing X, Y and Z allowing your character to progress and get all the skills if you want.

Thanks!

Like this.

Text explanation; Buy the skill "Elite Ranger" from the Hunter Skill Tree. 3 AP. Bayek enters Slow-Motion when aiming Bows in mid-air. Shoot a dude in the face with a Predator bow. Get giddy.

How many hours did you put in before getting all achievements?...

I'm at 40 hours now.

My steam says 101 Hours for it.

Some regions, about three or so, are almost completely empty. These house Isu Temples, as well as Trials of the Gods, the first of which is up now, for a week. If you don't make it to Level 40 and are unable to challenge Anubis before the timed event is over, they will come back later in extra rotations. Killing Anubis now drops Conductor of Souls which is the best Straight-Sword in the game.

Some other ones to ask:

What's your favorite skill?

What skill did you feel like was a waste to unlock?

Were there any skills that surprised you at their usefulness? Like, you didn't know what to expect, but once you got it it was awesome? Or maybe a skill you thought would be good but was terrible?

And finally, what's your standard weapon loadout?
Mine:
Predator Bow
Warrior Bow
Sickle Sword/Shield
Scepter
{no preference on tool yet... usually when I use a tool, I'm not in a hurried situation and can pause, select no problem... really liking the firebomb though)

I'll also answer with a skill I wish I got WAY sooner... Tool Kill XP... with a bow that has fire arrows legendary, and a sword/shield that poisons, I had a lot of kills that were tool kills early in the game that I wish I got the XP for, even though I didn't have the tools!

"What's your favorite skill?"

Sleep Dart, Enhanced Predator Bow, Assassination Loot, Kill Loot.

"What skill did you feel like was a waste to unlock?"

Chariot Owner.

"Were there any skills that surprised you at their usefulness? Like, you didn't know what to expect, but once you got it it was awesome? Or maybe a skill you thought would be good but was terrible?"

I was pleasantly surprised at how many uses and ways to use it the Sleep Dart has, how much it synergizes with the rest of the gameplay. You can tell a lot of thought was put into this item because of the wild things you can do with it, the way you can twist this tiny little projectile through and around the rest of this game's systems. I was comparatively disappointed by Poison Darts. I thought they were less impactful than they should be -- even when fully powered up and when a player has tons of damage, they wouldn't kill enemies or would do it very slowly. I can make a build around them by injecting mass AP into Master Seer, but...

"And finally, what's your standard weapon loadout?"

Eyes of Horus (Daggers)
Conductor of Souls (Straight Sword)
Smoke and Mirrors (Predator Bow)
Composite Bow (Light Bow)
Dress of the Coastal Realm (Outfit)
Sleep Dart (Tool)

"A skill you wish you got sooner?"

Enhanced Predator Arrow. It's extremely powerful and opens more options.
I also wish I got Kill Loot from the Warrior Tree earlier, because it streamlines the experience and leads to less time-waste. Finally, Push Attack from the Warrior Tree as well. It basically adds 25% more moves and options to the combat system, and it's pretty awesome with just about every weapon.

1. Do you have freedom when climbing?

2. How do the RPG elements affect the game? Do they enhance it, ruin it, or not affect it at all?

3. Combat hard, yet satisfying?

4. Still able to perform most of the creative assassinations we've done in previous games?

"1. Do you have freedom when climbing?"

Feels like it. You can't Side Eject or Back Eject at-will, the rules for it are weird. Like you can side eject even into a damaging fall if you're at the Edge of something, but not if you're in the middle. You can Back Eject if it won't lead you to take damage. Not sure about the reasoning behind this. In terms of climbing stuff though, it FEELS GOOD. It's fast, responsive, and it strikes me as being less crazy than Unity and Syndicate's leaps and bounds.

"2. How do the RPG elements affect the game? Do they enhance it, ruin it, or not affect it at all?"

I was someone who really took a deep breath about the RPG elements before the game released, because it's very easy to screw up a Stealth game by putting in token RPG crap. This isn't the case for Origins. Decisively, the RPG elements improve the experience for me. Progression feels meaningful now, finding and looting stuff feels meaningful, scoping out targets (whether an actual Target or just their Guards) feels important because how strong they are and what weapons they carry might help you decide how you want to approach stuff. It's not very deep or anything, but it's "bite-sized" fun.

"3. Combat hard, yet satisfying?"

A lot of people are finding Combat difficult, but that wasn't really the case for me unless I got overwhelmed by Knights and lots of Shield dudes. Combat is *very* satisfying. I fought almost exclusively with Daggers (the game calls them "Dual Swords" but they're Daggers) over my entire playthrough. Every weapon has different ranges and speeds, and fighting with one feels pretty different from fighting with another.

"4. Still able to perform most of the creative assassinations we've done in previous games?"

The answer on this one is a bit nuanced. First of all, there is no Replay Memory/Mission. It's just gone, removed completely. The closest thing you can do is, in a mission you're currently playing, you can hit "Reload Last Quest Objective" and that's functionally similar to "Restart From Checkpoint."

Next, because we still have less aerial control than AC1-Rev, the amount of crazy air-play we have access to still isn't back to those sick levels. However, the game is now pretty systemic. Actions, verbs and items all interact with each other in cool ways. So you can really devise some cool reactions to what you do, like I think I mentioned earlier -- you can create Sleep and Poison Clouds off of your own Torch because the game considers it a Fire Source. Of course it does, it's logical, right? You can Sleep Dart an enemy in shallow water and he'll die from breathing it in, there's all kinds of neat things you can experiment with. It is a different kind of creativity -- and if Ubi makes good on their word and really patches in the ability to Replay Missions (they mentioned they might, if demand was high) then we'll be able to do some cool things, I feel.

Finally, and this is the point that people might not be super huge fans of, some of the Main Targets are straight-up Boss Fights. They're GOOD Boss Fights (for the first time since like... Al Mualim IMO) but they are nonetheless Boss Fights. Other Targets, you can Assassinate but they might be in certain contexts where you only have access to your Hidden Blade with no Tools, for example. Like, there's a lot of variety in gameplay setups for all the targets, which is AMAZING for *experiencing* the game, but maybe not so great for devising the same degree of consistent assassinations for targets we could before.

Overall, ACO is still Assassin's Creed, but some very baseline, core things have changed. As a player, it's one of my favorites. As a content creator... Not so much, especially not with the amount of pain I gotta go through just to replay a cleared section.

I'm actually very relieved to hear you say that. I had the same concerns and from watching some gameplay here and there I wasn't sure exactly how the implementation would work practically. I skipped Unity and Syndicate, but it seems like Origins goes on my list of "I will play these one day when I have time/money/a better PC".

Thank you for going into detail about buying random items in your microtransactions video. When I get around to buying Origins I'll keep an eye out for any exploit that lets me farm money fast.

99h15min for me to get all the achievements. The last 15-20 min was running around to get the BOOM! achievement.

I still have about 80% of the Hippodrome and 80% of the Cyrene arena to go though...

Now that I've played Origins, some questions regarding a few things.

1. After acquiring the hidden blade, are nonlethal takedowns no longer possible?

2. What are you thoughts on trials of the gods? Tried it out, but at lvl 15 I'm no match for them. Less than two days till this one ends, and there's no way I'll grind that much for xp, although missing out on exclusive content will be regrettable.

3. Do you know a lot about how revenge quests work? From my understanding it happens when another player on your friends list gets killed by a guard or guards ingame, and you have a short while to examine their body, accept the quest and kill said guard(s). What I'm wondering is if that always happens and if we can purposely use that to set up a self made assassination contact for people.

4. Any particular missions in the game you really recommend for videos? I'm backing up saves at certain points, so it would be nice to replay any awesome missions.

I can try to answer a couple.

I don't think you can unequip the hidden blade, if that's what you're asking.

I haven't had anyone on my friends list pop up as a revenge contract. It seems to be random people with crazy gamer names. I always stumble onto one without realizing. Often, I'd already killed the murderer(s) and just go confirm the kill.

I don't think there's a way to manipulate it in a creative way, but then again I don't have many AC Origins players on my friends list that played when I did. So something might be possible.

Get the Weapon Bearer skill. This lets you Equip Two Weapons and swap between them. Equip Fists in your Second Slot. Switch to Fists to do Non-Lethal Takedowns. Switching to a Lethal Weapon makes Bayek's Takedown button use the Hidden Blade for Assassinations.

You will not miss out on anything. Trials cycle back in every once in a while, infinitely or until the servers get shut down. You will easily be able to get every piece of gear, in time. They're meant to be end-game boss fights, don't worry about fighting them now. Enjoy the main story and the side content until you're maxed out.

Revenge Quests are completely random. It doesn't even have to be people that are on your Friends List, it can be totally random players from around the Internet. Not much possible here, IMO.

Make backups before every Main Assassination, basically in every single objective that tells you "Assassinate X"

Particular missions that are cool to replay, whether for videos or just for fun;
- The False Oracle
- The Devourer of Souls (Boss Fight)
- The Mission Where You Have To Recover Your Gear And Only Have H.Blade, For Spoiler-Reasons
- Fall of an Empire, Rise of Another (Final Mission)

and plenty more cool stuff in The Hidden Ones DLC and Curse of the Pharaohs DLC, which are BOTH worth the money.

I just want to confirm that we have not come up with a way to do backups on Xbox One. This is currently an obstacle for me making videos for The Ezio Collection and Origins. If anyone has figured this out or heard rumors of a workaround, please speak up.

That's so garbage. I'm sorry, Stab.
I legitimately despise that there is no official support for us on ACO, basically no way to replay specific quests. It wouldn't even have to be every quest in the game or anything like that, but at least the Main Quests, y'know? I wouldn't consider it to be such a difficult thing to implement -- considering especially that now we have Enemy Scaling AND NG+ so it really wouldn't matter if the player has "stats and skills they're not supposed to" etc.

How many storage devices are there for the Xbox One? If you have an internal storage, hard drive, and online cloud storage like the previous console and can copy a save file onto them, that makes for two possible backups. You'd still have to play through the game multiple times and use all thee save slots, plus multiple accounts for a decent amount of backups. But if it's like the PS4 with only a hard drive, I just don't know.

Nice this wasn't overlooked. I like it when stealth games have a non lethal option and wasn't looking forward to punching enemies to unconsciousness.

This is what I get for assuming revenge quests are only for people on your friends list. Appears to be completely random, so I imagine there is a better chance of manipulating it when not many people are on (overnight gaming, anyone?) I'm also interested if the quest is permanently there after you've accepted it (in other words the quest won't go away till you finished it), probably going to backup a save next time I accept one.

Glad to hear that. And thanks for recommending the DLCs; I originally wasn't planning on buying any.

With how the whole RPG quest system works, I understand why Ubisoft didn't put a replay function in. Man, you weren't kidding about how different the whole creative system has changed. Here is my experience testing out possible creative assassinations on the first target:

"Alright, this rooftop looks like a good place for a stunt. The target passes right by here. Let me just get some practice in and equip this skill."
*restarts checkpoint*
"Wait for it, wait for it..."
*performs stunt, but on tailgating guard who has just walked right in front of target*
"Darn it. I'll just have to be more careful and aim better"
*restarts checkpoint a few times*
"Alright now..."
*gets target*
"Now just need to confirm kill..."
*gets attacked by guard*
"Darn it! That looked lame. Will have to take care of his goons."
*restarts checkpoint*
"I'll just hide in this tall grass and use whistle..."
*Target and guards go on full alert*
"Darn It! This guy has a higher AI than other enemies."
*restarts checkpoint*
"Okay now, wait, why is he taking a different travel route?"
*restarts checkpoint several more times*
"So it's night now. That shouldn't change anythi... uh, why is he asleep inside that house?"
*realizes I'll have to wait until daytime to perform the stunt*
"DARN IT!!!"

So as you can see, it's pretty frustrating to perform ONE SIMPLE STUNT! Not by any fault of the game. In fact, I'm glad they incorporated several possible routes for the target to take because I actually suggested that (under target AI). It's just that things have changed so much traditional stylish assassinations have become too inconvenient. Will have to come up with other kinds of creative kills, like some of the things DAZ has suggested.

I have the internal drive, an external drive, and cloud backup.

Therein lies the problem. Microsoft took away the ability to manually copy save files. All you can do is:
1. delete the save on the internal drive; or
2. delete both it and the backup in the cloud

It has been said that Microsoft did this to prevent "game modding". They automatically copy the save to the cloud when you're connected to Xbox LIVE.

There's a trick you can do by strategically disconnecting from Xbox LIVE to make your own checkpoint. The next time you reconnect it will prompt you to select a game save, the new one on the internal drive or the old one on the cloud. I haven't mastered this and it only gives you one temporary backup anyway.

If anyone figures out how to copy a save to the external drive, then we could use this app to transfer saves to and from a Windows computer.

Hmmm. If the internal drive is already full, will the saves go directly to the external hard drive, or are you required to have free space internally?

I forgot to ask about new game+. Do you pretty much start out with everything you have at the end of the game, even story based items such as the hidden blade?

After a little testing I found revenge quests disappear after you either desynch or quit the game.

In New Game+ you start out with all of your gear and stats that are NOT Story-Based. Bayek acquires his Hidden Blade from Aya in a cutscene, but once you go there and put it on your arm again, it will be up to its previously achieved Crafting Level. So yeah you start with everything you have unless it's a Key/Story/Quest Item. Those you have to re-get.

A few more questions.

1. Have you found any ways to deal with higher level (skull symbol) enemies?

2. What are your thoughts to the part that ties Origins in with another game?

3. Any good stuff you can get from the arenas? So far I've only done the Hippodrome and horse racing isn't really my thing.

I was also going to ask whether you can also obtain mounts and outfits from daily quests, but had my answer last time playing. Received a rare horse mount, then just a little later another daily quest popped up and upon completion the coveted mummy outfit (which is arguably the coolest looking and most sought after store outfit in the game.)

In locations that do not have Assassination Targets, Ghost past them, Steal all the Treasure and leave. I don't know if this works on Skulls/Red-Leveled Enemies, but on Juggernauts (the huge dudes with more HP than a Hidden Blade could dream of deleting) it is possible to assassinate them by stabbing them with your Berserk Needle, Sleeping them, then walking away while the poison destroys them. If this is permitted on Red/Skull Enemies too, that's your go-to. Otherwise, no, there is no way. You just can't engage with them due to the emphasis on Progression/Leveling in AC Origins.

Not so sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about Present Day, or something else? I think AC Origins is pretty bad as far as overarching narrative goes. It's a decent experience on its own but in many ways it's kind of an insult to fans who wanted the title "Assassin's Creed Origins" to mean something incredible and potent. Present Day is bad here, connections to other games are tenuous and thin, and there's not much gravitas given to the Assassin's Creed and the Brotherhood, beyond very select story moments. Bayek's story, Aya's story, these are good. As a part of the wider Assassin's Creed mythos, my thoughts are that ACO kinda sucks :/

You can get Outfits for fighting the Elephants, and for finishing the Arenas. Other than that, not really anything of value.

You get Isu/First Civ Armor (which like other outfits is purely cosmetic) by finishing all the Stargazing Puzzles and going under the Sphinx in Giza. That's the only notably "wow COOL" outfit in the whole game, on a story level, for me. I haven't talked about the coolest parts of this experience, so there's still some things you'll encounter on your own with it. Be aware that you require 50 Silica (Yellow Crystal crafting-material) in order to activate the Mechanism within.

I meant are there any reliable methods of killing them. Ubi did an exceptional job making skull level enemies OP, so I was wondering of any known methods to work around that. One possibility is this glitch I encountered, if it can be replicated without trouble.

Ah, I see. Reliable methods of killing them, I don't know. We're not even supposed to be fighting them or trying to kill them, and as far as I know the only reasonable way is to Push Attack them off of a building using your Hold Light Attack input with any weapon, or to use Berserk + Sleep to end them that way.

As for that quest you were talking about; it's just a fun little crossover that has no bearing on the story. The other game that it crossed over also had an Assassin's Creed event for a while, the two devs just enjoyed each other's games and wanted to have some fun.

I agree with DAZ of the narrative. It was pretty much just an open world revenge quest. It didn't feel like Assassin's Creed until the end where they suddenly decided to create the Brotherhood (also a gripe I had about Black Flag, where suddenly Edward is cool with being an Assassin). The actual formation took place in a cutscene at the end. There was absolutely no weight with that decision and just thought, "Oh, I guess we're finally at this moment now". It would've been better if we had an entire sequence of building each member up. I know we had missions with some of them before, but I forgot who they were almost immediately after their missions ended.

It's not exactly a bad story, either. It was well put together and had pretty good moments, but I was checking my phone during several custscenes.

I actually love the game as a whole and I keep coming back to it. I think what hurts it the most is that it's had to adopt and advance the Unity/Syndicate parkour system. Granted, Origins vastly improved it and made it bearable (in my opinion), but it still feels very on rails, whereas the first few games had a more complex but more controlled method for movement.

I'll always praise the stealth mechanics, however. It's not perfect, but I do feel like a badass taking out an entire camp without being seen.

If Bayek came back in a future game, I'd be up for that. I found his character interesting. He was a dedicated father and peacekeeper, but forced into a life of deception and death. I liked the most about how he did his best to keep others around him happy. Even after Khemu's death, he played with other children. He didn't become a brooding hardass. I like those moments that shake up the formula.

So I guess I just made a mini review of ACO. I probably already did that on here, but ah well. Good game, but could've used more "AC".

Was wondering more how you felt first seeing that. Since I got spoiled, no surprises for me; otherwise probably would've flipped out upon receiving the rewards at the end.

Agreed on that. However I found it strange how Bayek and his wife got over their son's death so quickly. When they first meet up in Alexandria it's as though they never had a son.

Hasn't it been a year since Khemu died (memory's a bit fuzzy, but I thought there was a "1 year later" card at the beginning)? And they've been taking their frustrations out through killings, beatings, and probably other methods. I think the fact that they've finally been reunited is enough to bring them a lot of missed happiness.

But I tend to look too far into this stuff, so who knows??

Yeah, it's been a year. Still seems a little weird they don't appear to be a grieving couple.

Endgame Spoilers