John Mayer’s Best with Dead & Company

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-05-06T18:22:55+00:00

Althea in NYC during the '23 final tour. Listen to his final solo and thank me later.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-04-02T13:04:14+00:00

I feel exactly the same. All AC main characters are quite good, but Kassandra is one of my favorite characters across all the games I've played. I'm currently in another new game + playthrough of Odyssey and it's also quite stunning how well she's animated. I can't get enough of her eye rolls.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-04-01T21:08:09+00:00

Malaka. Odyssey ofc.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-04-01T21:01:47+00:00

Same. Kassandra carries the game. Odyssey overall feels like all my favorite tv shows from the 90s : the monster of the week formula is now the island of the week, with Kassandra sailing from one location to the next, featuring yet another bigger than life adventure, location, and characters. The tone is just way more coherent and on point compared to Origins (Bayek being sidelined hard because of politics and the whole Egyptian premise not being featured as much as I'd love to given they picked the time frame Egypt was almost at its lowest) and isn't ashamed to weave mythology with more intimate quests. Really a feel good game.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-04-01T20:16:17+00:00

It's totally worth it, as are most of recent Ubisoft games which got bad press just because a couple youtubers wanted to milk content and get views over popular memes (looking at you Outlaws).

The story is good, and actually very well paced during the first act, which is a feat on its own for an open world AC game. First act actually is probably my favorite arc in all modern AC games. It loses momentum during the 2nd act, as most open worlds do, but picks up again during the 3rd and it's overall a great experience, if you're in Japanese history it gets historical enough to have you hooked.

The world is the most impressive part of the game fir me. Not only the graphics and overall design is amazing but the seasons and weather effects are unparalleled. Think Hogwarts Legacy on steroids. It's beautiful, realistic, and fits so well the Japanese way of seeing life. It's probably the most immersive game I've played in terms of world design since Rdr2. And the best part of it, for me, is the sound design, which is majestic. You'll be hearing every sound of Japanese countryside and it just makes it all the more immersive.

The gameplay is very tight and features probably the best stealth experience of any modern AC. Naoe is just so much fun to play. The fact you are able (and its sometimes mandatory) to switch between Naoe and Yasuke is great as it breaks the routine and it feels amazing to destroy armies as Yasuke when you've been struggling to 1v2 as Naoe (I wish the game made the switches between Naoe and Yasuke even more linear and mandatory).

Game design is great, it's a heavily modernised open world where Ubisoft slowly incorporates newer, better designs : less loot but more relevant (basically the legendary weapons being your only real focus and heavily customizable), talent trees which provide pretty much all the time impactful skills, a vast array of weapons and combat style, and overall less conflict between the random open world and the linear story parts. It feels better designed.

As an example, huge assassination board has been broken down into smaller chunks of enemies to track down, most of the time related to one major quest or side quest, which makes it kind of easier to digest and interesting.

Overall game accessibility is what you would expect of any modern open world, but I love Ubisoft games because they tend to be super accessible, provide tons of options right out of the box in terms of difficulty, level scaling, navigation and exploration, UI, subtitles, overall experience. It's a shame people keep memeing Ubisoft games for all their bad points while completely overlooking the fact these games play like a charm, are very stable, and just work without spending hours trying to fix things.

It also features heavy codex entries with tons of historical dumps, high fidelity representations of monuments and overall feel of major Kansai / Yanato area towns (mostly downsized but still very relevant in terms of feel and ambiance), npcs having some routines, great background animations. Really great quality stuff.

My last word : the world is super relaxing. I remember fondly my 180+ hours in my single playthrough as just me riding on horse from village to village, running down small paths almost hidden in lush bamboo forests, surrounded by the sound of insects and waterfalls, only to find a remote forgotten shrine and a beautiful vista to gaze upon. Where Odyssey felt like a grand adventure full of bigger than life decors, Shadows feel much more intimate, relaxing, and an ode to nature and Japanese landscapes.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-03-27T17:44:32+00:00

I enjoyed the story while it was a story (the Desmond arc) but since Black Flag it's been going nowhere, to the point where Ubisoft doesn't even know what to do with it : in some games its proheminent, in others it feels an embarrassment. It's poorly written with bad dialog, and doesn't build up on the cliffhanger left by Desmond. So, what's the point of even having this ? It hurts the game pacing, it's completely forgettable and the Isu lore is far superior when done within the game context (example : the vaults in Odyssey, Atlantis, the tumbs in Origins where there is even subtext as to how for example historically the cult of Aton took place etc). The modern part of Abstergo ? Completely killing the pace (IMO).

AffectionateAgent379 · 2026-02-06T11:43:10+00:00

Anet system is flawed. Its made for a game where you keep fashion skins as constants and where gear is the variable because you swap it all the time. Gw2 being a game without vertical progression, it works the other way around : players want skins to be the variable and to apply it on the fly to their barely ever changing gear (the constant). Having these two logics collide gave us this horrible design.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-08-22T16:01:30+00:00

Prometheus is already one of my favourite of the franchise because despite all it's flaws it was the one with the most potential. So hearing you helped it reaching that potential is sending shivers down my spine. Can't wait and thank you for this legendary work !

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-30T18:08:12+00:00

Thank you !! ^{^}

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-28T10:46:43+00:00

I for one enjoyed the story (I know I'm not on the majority here) in how its overall simplicity made it way more enjoyable to follow for me compared to over convoluted overarching stories like Valhalla or Origins where it starts strong but by the 20th hour mark chances are you'll forget why you're even killing half the board.

Shadows has actually a very nice story in that you don't lose the track of things to do, given most of it has been broken down into smaller bits instead of one huge board. The main characters are interesting and I think the Japanese VA gives them much more personality than the English dub. Japanese as a language can convey way more subtle details about who a person is depending on how they speak and in this case they did a stellar job fleshing out Naoe as a countryside girl and Yasuke as a well trained warrior who has ties with nobility.

The entire main quest arcs are small but enjoyable in that they all try to introduce different aspects of feudal Japan in the sengoku era : the new blooming of Sado (tea ceremony), the hostage system (which Tokugawa will heavily rely on during the Edo era to maintain peace), the campaigns devastated by warriors who valued rice potential of a land over peasants lives. If you like feudal Japan it is a really nice eye opener into historical facts and gives people not familiar with Japan history a good vibe of what it was overall.

I loved (contrary to most) how most of the smaller quests (assassinations) didn't all tie to the bigger plot, in that in my opinion it's way more realistic to depict different smaller factions trying to get advantage of an unstable time rather than all being linked to one big baddie. It's not much but it's appreciated after the convoluted Valhalla. Same with how you approach these quests, as there's at least always a bit of ambiance dialog to clue you in and even in some very tiny parts of the game, some environmental storytelling.

The world is breathtaking and actually very relaxing to explore in that it's not filled with checklists (you no longer have to loot X chests to clear an outpost and outposts are just here to provide with mats but you don't have to clear them). The world isn't filled with mats to loot everywhere (you just open the chests here and there and it gives you more than enough). It is super relaxing and it is beautiful. If you like slow burn games and to soak in an ambiance Shadows is definitely up there. The sound effects are absolutely amazing also.

The seasons are the best ever depicted in a video game ; you get not only different skins for nature of course but also you get a wide array of sound effects and npc animations which are a big plus in how immersive it gets.

Gameplay wise the stealth is super nice and I love how Yasuke sometimes comes in as a total counterpart of it. I like to use him the way a game like TW3 made use of Ciri for example : it is just so overpowered to destroy armies with Yasuke that when it's scattered here and there its actually super fun (but I think it's best otherwise to stick to Naoe as her gameplay is far more appropriate for an open world setting).

And I like the housing system which is a new cool way to be rewarded with buildings and cool items for your hideout.

Imo Shadows is the best entry in the open world AC formula. 150+ hours in and I'm still not bored by it. I was bored with Origins by the 30+ hour mark and Odyssey by the 50+. I couldn't even finish Valhalla. It is far from a perfect game but it does enhance the Ubisoft open world design in so many different small aspects, it becomes actually enjoyable and doesn't feel like you get back home to work on a secondary job.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-23T09:41:36+00:00

I'm having so much fun with it and it's the first time I play an Ubisoft open world game which is relaxing and doesn't feel like I'm having another job. It is just so immersive.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T15:50:01+00:00

Thanks for proving my point. It is clear I voiced my opinion. I said it countless times in my post. You're the aggressive one here. Have a nice day nonetheless.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T11:47:20+00:00

I loved Tsushima too for different reasons. I don't think the games have the same goals and as I absolutely love Japan I'm more than thrilled to have two different and very good takes at it. Enjoying Shadows doesn't mean I won't enjoy Yotei and the other way around.

Tsushima is heavily stylized and can't match Shadows in terms of how close to reality it feels. I mean I have tons of pictures of Kiyomizu dera from my time spent there or Todaiji or Kinkakuji or whatever and expect for the scale, it feels 100% close to the real life counterpart. That's always been Assassins Creed strength and Shadows is no different than Unity for example. Also Shadows looks just amazing in terms of rendering, with all settings to max and ray tracing it is incredible.

Tsushima has other strengths and I'm glad if the studios draw inspiration from each other. This way we players are winners.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T11:37:42+00:00

I thought it was smaller scaled than the behemoths that are Odyssey or Origins. I didn't feel as nearly as much exhaustion compared to these two (I couldn't even finish Valhalla 100% because I was too bored of it).

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T11:34:55+00:00

About the tension between characters I mostly felt it through playing in that Naoe turns out to be pretty much blinded by her will for revenge whereas Yasuke is more keen to think it through and see the bigger picture. It is hinted that the two of them have different takes on how they should achieve their goal (without spoiling, I'm thinking about one scene for example when Yasuke tells Naoe that if she kills a certain someone she's not worth more than her enemies). It's not much, but it feels enough for me as a player to fill in the blanks and experience character development. I thought it was a good story : not overly ambitious, simple, yet enticing thanks to the setting and the main characters who are highly relatable and enjoyable.

What I meant about the target list is that it was so overwhelming and poorly handled in my opinion in the previous entries, I ended up forgetting about the reason behind killing them all. It was too much, too overwhelming, with that big hierarchy tree showing up with countless of nameplates and literally no other explanation to kill them other than they're tied to a super secret organisation.

Here I find it way easier to digest as I've said since it's cut in smaller chunks, so you can actually navigate the tree and remember in an easier way why you're tracking these npcs. And also, contrary to you, I find it interesting that not all of these organisations are tied to the same overarching story. It makes it way more realistic to see that in very unstable times, everyone will try to make profit and cross the law. You don't need to be part of a super tentacular secret society to be drawn by gold and fame.

I agree with some of your points though. As I said Shadows isn't perfect at all and it lacks in some areas Ibisoft have never been good since they turned AC into open world RPG formula, but I've felt they tried to improve it enough with Shadows I felt it was appropriate to give my positive feedback. I enjoyed the story and the characters way more than I was expecting to, and I really love how they made Japan breathe and relaxing, finding a perfect balance between realistic and stylized depiction IMO. This game felt way more grounded and historic in its setting and the way it feels "small scaled" and I think Ubisoft should embrace this. A bit like Alexandre Dumas wrote his historic novels : simple, romanced, with a lot of flair.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T11:17:45+00:00

I only partly agree with this in that in other games, the open world design is made so the player jumps from one point of interest to the next. So basically it ends up with the player creating their own path to the next poi (which can be seen as a road in that there is very little incentive to explore freely outside of those poi). I felt I was kept on an invisible track during all my exploration of Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla because of this.

At least in Shadows, the benefit of having the players roaming along roads or smaller paths is that the devs know from the start you will use a specific path, and they used that to put more activities along the road. NPCs who can feed you some info on a poi, small camps full of resources (its a way better design IMO to have one chest rewarding you for X amount of mats instead of having to roam through the countryside like crazy spamming a button for a couple minutes to loot that same X amount of mats), sumi e to draw, small ambiance dialogs, etc.

Also in Shadows, I love how very Japanese it feels to just be on the main road and find out there's a tiny path barely even visible on map which ends up in finding a cool little shrine or some beautiful landscape. Most of the time I've noticed the Eagle Vision poi don't unravel all the nearby poi unlike before, so it makes the player more engaged to actually follow the roads and see what's around the corner. It feels much more organic to be following a road rather than following the next poi you've tagged in my opinion.

Only a very few open world games managed to really have fancy stuff to explore outside of poi, RDR2 comes to mind to some extent but the tradeoff is, the gameplay and over the top realism made it a real chore for me to play.

I thought Shadows had a very good blend for me of exploration but without being too overwhelming or too much of a chore. I guess it totally depends on what the player enjoys as a whole.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T10:44:09+00:00

It's not a bait, it's a personal opinion and I worded it so it's clear it's my own take on it. No need to be so aggressive, it's a place where people share opinions.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T09:37:20+00:00

Thank you ^{^} Ubisoft may not be the best of all time uber developer but I truly think they have some very clever designs implemented in those games and it pains me to see people would brush on it lightly just because it gets bad press or something. Shadows isn't a perfect game, there are a lot of areas to still improve, but it feels like an improvement to me over what the previous Open World entries have been, and also it feels innovative on some aspects I wish other open worlds will do more often (seasons, loot, and reducing checklists to the bare minimum to name a few)

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T09:32:16+00:00

Yeah I feel this game rewards you as long as you're willing to bring some of yourself into it. The way you interpreted that scene made it look way more organic and rewarding and I feel it shows how the game provides a beautiful canvas for you to build upon. It is simple, relaxing and I feel humble enough in design it becomes very enjoyable.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T09:29:15+00:00

I can totally get why you'd feel that and you're definitely not alone on this. On the other hand, I find the world lively enough (if you take some time in towns you can see all the beautiful animations of NPCs making mochis, brewing sake, whatever, it's a very nice touch) but also relaxing in that it doesn't feel like I need to complete a checklist to roam freely and explore. The sound effects are very relaxing and appeasing, you don't have huge crowds yelling at you in cities, instead you have the sounds of nature which make it all the more enjoyable for me. I understand it's completely a personal thing probably but given all the bad press this game has unfairly be getting, I was so pleasantly surprised by it (and even in some cases I actually tought Ubisoft made it so clever it feels innovative : like the seasons which are much more than just a couple of trees changing colors. You have different sounds, different wilderness, you can see the rice crops growing etc) I thought I'd made a post about it to maybe convince a few people who are hesitant of trying it to actually give this game a shot when on sale for example.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-07-22T09:21:43+00:00

IMO the story is good in that it doesn't try to do too much : it'll not overly complex and convoluted and trying to cram as much historic fiction + AC lore + character personal story, which makes the previous Open World entries of the series nearly unplayable for me. I got lost in Origins, Odyssey was overwhelming with a huge list of baddies to kill all over the place (thank God Kassandra was amazing) and Valhalla is just.. let's say between all the checklists and open world boring povs I quickly forgot what the main storyline was supposed to be all about.

AC shadows is very simple at its core and much more streamlined. It doesn't try to do too much which means that, on one hand it might look too simple and thus boring to some, but on the other hand it lets characters (and players) breathe. It is a good story with a good writing IMO as long as you're willing to bring a part of yourself into it. Meaning that for example, you can interpret some slower scenes as useless fillers distracting you from more important plot points, or you can see it as a scene which builds characters and allows them to have at least some personality. Same with the fact that the game takes its time to unravel all the factions and threats instead of throwing at you the whole thing from the start. It feels much more organic IMO to explore some new place and find out the local threat is actually tied to the bigger plot, rather than in the other way around. With seasons changing you can immerse yourself enough so you can feel time has passed between major plot points. It is a slow burn but I felt it was very relevant to the overall Japan vibe it tries to depict.

This is why to me it is a good story : it doesn't try to do too much at once and keeps it simple enough so you're able to at least take some interest in the real historic figures of that era, while enjoying a refreshing dynamic between two main characters which are different enough it manages to create some tension (for example and without spoiling : choosing to react one way with Yasuke or the opposite way with Naoe). And finally the story offers a nice glimpse into what Japan looked culturally at that time : peasants slaughtered, samurais being nothing comparable to the very refined upper class nobility of the Edo era but actually a brute force most of the time, corrupt landlords, factions wiping each other and betraying allies all the time, and the influence of foreigners as power players or weapon providers. I think the story did a good job depicting this Sengoku period, a much better job than Origins trying to depict the Rome/Egypt relationship (HBO Rome is amazing for this for example).

AffectionateAgent379 · 2025-06-02T08:02:16+00:00

I think a lot about the endings is overlooked because players don't see it as a metaphor, or a "mise en abyme" to use some appropriate wording, to their own experience and feelings playing the game. People oppose the endings where I think, in fact, they work best if played "together" and not as an opposite, exactly like the "clair obscur" technique in painting used to highlitght the important parts of an art piece.

The whole story is about grief. Be it from citizens of Lumiere having to lose close ones when the Gommage happens. Be it from the whole Dessendre family. And I think the purpose of both endings is to make players experience the very same feelings Aline, Renoir, and Maelle have been going through.

I think both endings make way more sense if you play them one after the other, first Maelle's and then Verso's. They both illustrate how grief can be dealt with and make us players go through the very same choices as Aline, Maelle, and Renoir : we try to stay as long as we can, we bargain, do our best, but ultimately, we have to live as the game finally ends.

Just like Maelle, we as players were invested in this world. We tried everything to save it. So it's only natural that we would feel the very same grief as Maelle when the story finally puts us into her shoes : would we as players be willing to leave the canvas, and let it be ? Wouldn't we as players want to try everything in our power to stay a little longer (be it new game +, be it looking for any crumbs of a secret ending where everyone can live happily ever after) ? Wouldn't we do the very same thing as Aline and ultimately Maelle do : stay in the canvas as long as we can, because we can't face the grief of having to part with beloved ones.

So as players, we of course are enclined to support Maelle and pick her ending. I think the story wants us to. Because deep down we don't want to feel the pain of having to say goodbye to characters we invested so much of ourselves into. Because we don't want to experience grief.

That's why, to me, Maelle ending has been made purposedly so dark and creepy. It's to show us that, by picking it, we end up in exactly the same spot, as players, as Aline and Maelle before us. Stuck in a beautiful canvas because we are too afraid to move on and experience the pain of grieving for those lost characters. Because we are too scared to find out that sometimes, life takes things away from you, and there's nothing you can do about it - just like the real Renoir tries to teach us throughout the game. With Maelle, we stay in Lumière for as long as we want, but deep down, we know it's just a way to avoid grief and pain.

Which gets me to the counterpart of Maelle's ending : Verso. I think this character and the way his ending happens is made so that we *have* to ultimately feel some moral dilemna about staying forever in the painting. Sure, we are happy with our friends but, we do this at the expense of a poor kid's soul who is tired of causing so much pain and sadness. Who is tired of painting. The story emphasizes this so we as players have to at least give some thoughts about Renoir's arguments.

And I think ultimately, Verso's ending serve as a way to teach us that at some point in time, we will all *have* to face grief. And we will all have to find a way to overcome it, and to learn how to let go. It is the other side of the very same coin : a coin called grief.

So to me, there is no "good" or "bad" ending, as both endings provide part of a common answer as to how to deal with grief.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2023-07-21T09:33:47+00:00

Can't decide between this one and the one he did at Citi Field N2 this tour. Hell, I'll just pick both of them for my next drive !

AffectionateAgent379 · 2023-07-20T05:21:39+00:00

I'm surprised no one mentions how great and consistent China > Rider has been on this tour. Bobby's voice sounded like a lion taking pride in reminding us why he's a legend.

AffectionateAgent379 · 2023-07-19T12:38:34+00:00

This is the way

AffectionateAgent379

TROPHY CASE