I really enjoyed them. They kept combat encounters fresh and always had me on my toes. Plus it feels great to wreck them after you get a good build going.
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Bounty hunters in AC:Odyssey are single-handedly ruining the game for me (LTTP I guess?)
- Thread starter Manu
- Start date
Bro i hate the bounty system in Odyssey. One of the reasons i cant stand the game and ultimately ended up dropping the game which is a shame cause I really wanted to do the dlc stories and see how the main game ended. Probably the second worst AC game I've played.
I thought the system was fine. Death is such a mild punishment in the game that an alarm system for screwing up a fort is fine, and you have two easy outs: pay them off instantly, or go kill the nearby dude who set the bounty.
If you have the DLC, go find the golden chicken egg that's worth about 500K. Then you can buy off 100 bounty hunters, and by the time they're ever an issue again you'll have earned millions anyway.
If you have the DLC, go find the golden chicken egg that's worth about 500K. Then you can buy off 100 bounty hunters, and by the time they're ever an issue again you'll have earned millions anyway.
OP
OP
Damn that's harsh. It's definitely one of my favorite ones, even with the bounty hunters. This series has seen far, far worse imo.
Sorry Op I am not understanding one thing, you are saying you are playing stealthily & carefully , So how are you gaining bounty? during my playtime, unless I am killing among public or detected during Fort or camp invasion , I don't get my bounty up in any significant way. what's your difficulty Setting??
OP
OP
By getting detected obviously. One mistake turning into a 10-minute brawl sucks.
I enjoyed them, you can easily kill sponsors or just pay them off and bounty hunters usually have great stats and perks if you recruit them for your ship
This.
I never had any issue with it personally, I always would stop to take out the jerks who posted the bounty the moment they went up.
Yea, man. For me playing Odyssey felt like a job. Its too bloated, would often hit a wall that would require me to grind some levels to continue the main story, any time i would do a strong hold like 2 bounty hunters way passed my level would show up requiring me to basically retreat, but worst of all, and I know this is not a popular opinion, i fucking HATE the ship crap with a passion. It was a cute little side distraction in 3 and i didnt mind it in origins since i think it was like 3 missions total. It is beyond boring, slow, and straight up isnt fun to me. (As you can probably guess, the AC title that holds the worst in the series and had me leave the series for like 3 years cause i disliked it so much was AC4)
I agree tbh. They seem to always spawn near me and they also seem to know where the fuck I am even if I go hide in a bush or something. It's really annoying after a while that at this point, I end up paying it off because the stress isn't worth it.
It's... not well balanced. They were way too heavy-handed with larger bounties. These absolute gods among people suddenly appear out of thin air by the dozen the moment you make a peep. Sometimes it felt difficult to clear a fort since they'd spawn new hunters faster than you could kill the previous batch.
There are ways to reduce your bounty, sure, but the game shouldn't feel borderline broken if you don't.
There are ways to reduce your bounty, sure, but the game shouldn't feel borderline broken if you don't.
Ooph, I feel that. It's called 'Footsteps' , designers get very uncomfortable if the player is walking too much without something to do or hit. I love empty space... but seems we are in the minority.
The floating Droid things in No Man Sky ruined that entire game for me, glad they are taken out or at least reduced.
I get it in games like Destiny, where the whole thing is...hey....we want you to live in this space forever. but. idk. not every game.
The bounty system, the map size, and just the amount of shit thrown at you really kills my enjoyment for the first 60 hours.
By the time you hit 45, and spec right - ghost arrow and devastating are cheats lol - and the bounty system goes from an annoyance because it makes forts harder to just making quests longer cause suddenly you have two mercs because.. oh no you killed some guards.
Not gonna lie, being done with this game is gonna make me happy. 60 hrs of frustrations and 40 of general boredom because I'm now OP as shit at 56. I really hope Valhalla isnt like this, but I'm sure it is. I really miss having an actual Assassins Creed game.
By the time you hit 45, and spec right - ghost arrow and devastating are cheats lol - and the bounty system goes from an annoyance because it makes forts harder to just making quests longer cause suddenly you have two mercs because.. oh no you killed some guards.
Not gonna lie, being done with this game is gonna make me happy. 60 hrs of frustrations and 40 of general boredom because I'm now OP as shit at 56. I really hope Valhalla isnt like this, but I'm sure it is. I really miss having an actual Assassins Creed game.
When I fail a stealth invasion and get detected , I usually just retract from the place (fort/camp) and wait for things to cooldown, it is much faster and easier to go all out after every detection ,and also before entering into a new place , I always take care of the Bounty issuer so that my level is 0 . But again it depends upon the personnel approaches and I can understand your frustration.
Sort of. Valhalla has Zeolots instead but:
1) There are far less of them. By probably an order of magnitude or more
2) There isn't a wanted system anymore. The Zealots function more like the Phylakes from Origins
3) There is a quest option relatively early that will let you take an action to stop the Zealots from actively hunting you. If you want to kill them then you have to go to them instead.
I hated the system in Odyssey. The first few fights were interesting, but I quickly got frustrated and didn't like having to use currency to keep them off my back. The fact that they spawned near you and were incredible at just walking towards your general direction, was just icing on the cake.
Valhalla has a much more reasonable system. There are a set number of Zealots (far less of them), and they do not hunt you unless you ignore one of the quest lines. Knowing there were less, I actually enjoyed fighting them and sought them out.
Once I got that donkey kick thing all the way upgraded I loved it. Lure them to the top of some precipice and donkey kick them to oblivion
Origins was much better from a systemic standpoint. The Phylakes seemed to put a good act on searching for you, you could trace the transport of various goods from ship to the their final destination at a fort somewhere, the animals would sleep, hunt, etc. Odyssey and Valhalla have each removed a lot of that stuff and I miss it.
AC Origins handled it so much better. Every time you killed one it meant something.
That's kind of the thing with Odyssey. It's like origins but bigger and more pointless and boring.
This is great to know and makes me want to play Valhalla. Odyssey really soured the new AC style of games but the more I read about Valhalla, it sounds like it's good.
How is the combat? I finished one of the story lines in Odyssey and recently went back to finish the other but just couldn't continue because of how clunky it felt. Has it been improved?
edit* just bought it on PSN so I guess I'll find out
That's kind of the thing with Odyssey. It's like origins but bigger and more pointless and boring.
This is great to know and makes me want to play Valhalla. Odyssey really soured the new AC style of games but the more I read about Valhalla, it sounds like it's good.
How is the combat? I finished one of the story lines in Odyssey and recently went back to finish the other but just couldn't continue because of how clunky it felt. Has it been improved?
edit* just bought it on PSN so I guess I'll find out
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I agree that the bounty hunters in AC:Odyssey is horrible, its like they tried to copy Shadow of Mordor system and try to accommodate it for the main character. Initially it seems completely random and cool, but starts to being irritating after some coincidences where you rake in a hunter or two when you don't want them.
I loved AC Origins. The bounty hunter feature (and some incredibly annoying missions in the early game) made me hate Odyssey. Absolutely loathe it. Uninstalled it and will never try it again. I gave it 12 hours which is enough to know I will never change my opinion on it. And it pisses me off because Kassandra is way more interesting than Bayek and it feels like you actually get to make choices that impact things, not to mention bringing back the ship as a central focus point a la Black Flag is great. And then the game makes me hate every single thing about simply trying to inhabit the world. No thanks.
This was my experience. In the early game it brought what i thought was a much needed tension and difficulty to the game bearing in mind normally it's all pretty easy and the player character has so many tools at their disposal. I just hid and adjusted my playstyle/movements to continue killing everyone and stripping the area of its loot while staying away from the Mercs. It's basically a "punishment" of sorts for playing a bit poorly.
By the time you have some decent legendary equipment and have specialised into a role they are so laughably easy to one shot that every time a merc pops up it's basically free money/weapons to sell or deconstruct. At one point a strolled past a merc with a skull symbol instead of a level who normally never aggro you due to them being much higher level and for fun i decided to take him on and he went down like a sack of shit although admittedly this time he did survive long enough to not get instakilled.
Haven't played Odyssey yet, but the stalkers in AC Rogue real old, real fast. You would be doing anything from a mission to getting collectibles when these fuckers came out of nowhere, stabbed you and ran away. Ugh. They weren't a real challenge (they can be killed with a regular parry or backstab), but they halted everything you were doing to a grind and forced you to break stealth. Annoying as fuck.
OP, I assume is complaining about Bounty hunters turning up in the middle of a castle takeover and such and not after killing random Spartan/Athenians or innocents. That is a faulty mechanic tbh. Forces you to go stealth but then again you can't really fight and win against multiple high rank enemies anyway, without some stealth. So just be more sneaky.
I like the challenge, but it really sucked when I was fighting the last boss, a personal battle, I almost won and two lv. 50 bounty hunters invaded the arena, that had nothing to do with the event being dipicted lol. I couldn't even leave the arena and shoot at them. I got killed, then reloaded my save, and paid them to fuck off, before the battle.
Odyssey was a great game though.
Odyssey was a great game though.
I did not really mind them, though when they came and complicated things while I invaded an castle or something could be severely annoying at the time. But in hindsight it made things much more intense and exciting. Had some hilarious situations, I remember one time when basically everything caught on fire and I had that going on at the same time as the bounty hunter was after me. Hilarity and chaos ensued, also my death
My build was pretty invested in stealth and backstabs/arrows. After an certain level they were just mostly prey.
My build was pretty invested in stealth and backstabs/arrows. After an certain level they were just mostly prey.
Yeah in the mid game they can be annoying, later on you won't even notice them. The system is not balanced at all.
I remember once I was clearing a huge fort and two of those assholes appeared right in the middle of a massive fight with low level grunts, ganged up on me and killed me before I could react. From that moment on I just payed everytime I got the notification or just fucking loaded a check point until I got overpowered as fuck by the end.
I remember once I was clearing a huge fort and two of those assholes appeared right in the middle of a massive fight with low level grunts, ganged up on me and killed me before I could react. From that moment on I just payed everytime I got the notification or just fucking loaded a check point until I got overpowered as fuck by the end.
In Oympia I went on a bounty hunter massacre, a story NPC was still hanging around, and he was invincible. I stood on a little temple, and kept shooting at them, whilst the NPC fought them off, then got a lot of rewards.
I love that about the game, it lets you fuck around with the mechanics.
I love that about the game, it lets you fuck around with the mechanics.
Some of my best moments in that game were the bounty hunters. I could be stealth clearing out a fort if 20 men and then 3 bounty hunters arrive. It's madness.
Valhalla turns this down a lot and I've only bumped into them maybe 3 times in 20 hours of game time.
Valhalla turns this down a lot and I've only bumped into them maybe 3 times in 20 hours of game time.
I don't mind the idea of bounties, but the execution is very simplified and boring. I think I had one or two instances earlier in the game where a mercenary would join in a hard fight and complicate things. Overall, I never found them to be a nuisance, though. Now that I can one-hit the random ones on the hardest difficulty level, I actually found them useful when fighting harder enemies (since there is an assassin ability that lets you chain assassinate so you can bounce between the harder enemy and the weaker mercenary).
My real complaint would be the game encouraging you to focus on one type of damage (warrior, hunter, or assassin) and then putting you in forced combat situations where you can't use your stealth anymore.
There's no shame in running and hiding, at least.
The most criminal change from Origins is that smaller boats seem to get destroyed very quickly based on what the game considers to be "open water".
My real complaint would be the game encouraging you to focus on one type of damage (warrior, hunter, or assassin) and then putting you in forced combat situations where you can't use your stealth anymore.
There's no shame in running and hiding, at least.
I also find the ship stuff very dull and haven't touched it in dozens of hours. I wish I could just delegate it all to the crew so that they could let me board and kill other ships instead.
The most criminal change from Origins is that smaller boats seem to get destroyed very quickly based on what the game considers to be "open water".
If one ran up on me while I was too under leveled to fight them I would get on my boat, set sail, wait for them to show up with their own boat and then sink it.
OP
OP
To everyone who said bounty hunters would get easier later down the game: you were right. Once I could level my stealth skills to lvl 3 they basically became a non issue.
I was even able to kill a lvl 50 mercenary at lvl 43 just by using stealth strikes, hiding and repeating, just using the one bar of adrenaline that recharges automatically.
The game has become so much more fun now it's a night and day difference. It could easily end up being one of my favorite AC games, it's a shame it's soooo bloated.
I was even able to kill a lvl 50 mercenary at lvl 43 just by using stealth strikes, hiding and repeating, just using the one bar of adrenaline that recharges automatically.
The game has become so much more fun now it's a night and day difference. It could easily end up being one of my favorite AC games, it's a shame it's soooo bloated.
Sometimes I think mechanics like this just have to get you in the right mood. I'm actually playing through AC: Odyssey right now for the first time myself and I am enjoying the Mercenary and Cultist system and loving the game overall. However, after I've been playing exclusively short linear games before this so a big open world with lots of subtasks and objectives is perfect for me right now. Now I will admit that I turned the enemy leveling up system to light (which allows me to level past opponents by up to 4 levels) and since I'm taking my time with the game and doing a lot of the side content, I am usually 4 levels above the Mercenaries which makes it a lot less frustrating. Heck, just an hour ago I got into an alltercation with 3 Mercenaries and I took them all out. I was actually happy when they showed up because I knew I could know 3 guys off th elist.
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I remember poking at the BH AI in Odyssey at one point - if I hid in some bushes I could see the BH wayyyyy up the road strolling away from my direction, but as soon as I left the bush (hadn't been "detected" or anything - just wasn't mechanically in cover any more), he would magically change directions and start ambling towards where I was. I'd crouch-walk back to the bushes, and he'd magically change direction again and start walking away. Did this 3-4 times, just to confirm that the system was being lame and cheating.
They are far less annoying in Valhalla (because the bounty system is gone), but I still had two raids fall apart because some zealot that was wayyyy higher level than me show up, and there was nothing I could do to get rid of them.
They are far less annoying in Valhalla (because the bounty system is gone), but I still had two raids fall apart because some zealot that was wayyyy higher level than me show up, and there was nothing I could do to get rid of them.
OP
OP
I mean... this makes a big difference. It's not really just about being in the right mood.
But yeah I'm having a lot more fun now.
What Odyssey probably should have done was just hold off on the entire system until a bit later and only gradually increase the number of mercenaries who could show up at one time based on player mercenary kills. That would have removed some of the earlier frustration with the system and left players better prepared for when mercenaries did start to show up.
That also gives you underlevelled loot. How much you care about that will depend on you, but once you start getting properly good gear and abilities, you're so superior to enemies that I don't think there's much of a point in getting inferior stuff just for the sake of making them slightly easier.
Do not commit crimes in the open to keep your bounty low.
Hero Strike will almost single-handedly kill mercenaries. If they're still alive, you'll still make very short work of them. Combine with other OP skills like Devastating Shot + Slow Time combo, Battlecry of Ares and Overpower Attacks and you'll be slaughtering mercenaries in 10 seconds or less.
Hero Strike will almost single-handedly kill mercenaries. If they're still alive, you'll still make very short work of them. Combine with other OP skills like Devastating Shot + Slow Time combo, Battlecry of Ares and Overpower Attacks and you'll be slaughtering mercenaries in 10 seconds or less.
I didn't mind the underleveled loot at all because I never really changed my equipment. As soon as I found Legendary gear that I liked I kept that equipped and would sell/dismantle all the loot I found and just upgraded my gear to my current level every now and then.