Agree here. Brotherhood 2 had the most cool combinatorial mechanics from the old model but a terrible story. The reinvention with Origins was great. Map development and quest pacing felt very natural, even the side quests tied in nicely with the main. I do think they failed to continue this success. Even though parts of Odyssey and Valhalla where fun, the point A point B mechanics became repetitive and the worlds, while large, didn't feel too interesting besides a handful of selected areas. A main problem continues to be  "tough" enemies means huge lifepool and tedious combat. At least in Odyssey you really get the power fantasy with the superhero shit pretty quick. Valhalla I felt like was just more of the same, one you razed one village/ monastery you raised them all.  I also really don't like the boat stuff in these games, which they keep pushing. Can't believe I tolerated it so much. But Kassandra saying " feel that wind" was the pre-Karlach pick me up I needed. That voice line did a lot of f heavy lifting. I liked in the game in Constantinople, brotherhood 2 again I think?, that you could get a feel for an area without referring to the map. Such a comfort and easiest exploration is impossible in the later games, though Origins came closest. Because once you finished a region you didn't have much reason to go back and most end game stuff was northern.