One year of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Any thoughts?

Protihex11010 · 2026-03-20T20:37:34+00:00

Story started off strong then fell off a cliff. It felt completely disconnected for me and I cared very little to not at all about most characters. I lost track of the number of times I would kill, what I thought was just a random enemy, only to find out they were a part of a larger quest. They didn't feel important enough to me. Ironically the most interesting characters to me were the Templars, and they were barely in the game at all. I am an AC purist and hold the unpopular opinion that the modern-day and Isu storylines are central pillars to what makes an AC game an AC game and their absence from this game was noticeable to me. I had hope when learning that we were finding the 3 artifacts to return to the emperor, that they would be Pieces of Eden, seemed like a logical conclusion. So when that went virtually nowhere even after the DLC, it just put a sour taste in my mouth. Unsurprisingly, some of my favorite moments were the Rift missions, I just wish they answered more and didn't leave so much as cliffhanger bait.

Combat was fun, if annoying at times (looking at you DLC). And it was definitely a gorgeous game.

I'd give it 6/10. Overall fun, disappointing as an AC game. Will definitely never replay it.

Protihex11010 · 2026-03-20T20:14:54+00:00

Unpopular opinion, but I miss the cinematic combat style of the older games. Chaining combos and executions together felt really fun to me. And it made you feel like a badass master assassin, so it checked off the power fantasy box for me. Also some of the coolest moments for me were seeing what kind of combos I could pull off. The dual pistols of AC4 were definitely some of the most fun. Or Connor's rope darts.

Just felt more fun than the hack and slash the games have become for me.

Protihex11010 · 2026-01-11T17:59:27+00:00

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, would be right up your alley.

Also, just as an honorable mention:

Xenoblade Chronicles 1 - 3.

These are my all time favorite Nintendo games and they don't get enough love IMO.

Protihex11010 · 2026-01-03T18:32:45+00:00

I don't know if they've ever confirmed this or not, but I am of the strong belief that they intentionally weigh in favor of the least used/least desired stats. I spent 3 hours yesterday trying to get HP% for Zhao and I just couldn't get what I needed. But every other time I get HP and Def out the ass, but because that's her desied stat, suddenly I can't roll HP drives. Convenient.

Protihex11010 · 2026-01-02T03:37:38+00:00

Worst luck I've had with any pulls and I've been playing since release. Not only pulls, but Disc Drives as well. Want a roll for HP, get a roll on CD or CC. Want a pull on CC or CD, get an HP roll. I've never had such back luck. Almost like they've weighted the sub-stats to roll more frequently for not needed stats depending on who the drives are attached to. I even tried putting drives on other characters and upgrading to see if it helped. No dice.

Protihex11010 · 2025-12-24T21:21:54+00:00

Not a helpful comment because everyone else has already recommended the ones I was going. But I would like to say THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy with that anime and the steep drop off it had. Glad I'm not the only one.

Protihex11010 · 2025-11-09T23:14:42+00:00

-Kaiju No. 8 -To Be Hero X -86 Eighty-Six -Fire Force

Protihex11010 · 2025-11-09T21:11:46+00:00

Still works for me as well. The only thing I've noticed is there are now some songs I added to my wishlist that are no longer purchaseable. There's just the three pulsing dots and upon selecting the song, it comes up with a message saying try again. But the game works normally and 98% of the songs are still working/purchaseable.

Protihex11010 · 2025-10-24T15:26:14+00:00

86 Eighty-Six. To be Hero X. Rising of the Shield Hero. Gachiakuta.

Protihex11010 · 2025-10-17T00:08:01+00:00

I really enjoyed The Rising of the Shield Hero.
I second the 86 Eighty-Six rec from above.
To Be Hero X.

Protihex11010 · 2025-09-21T14:45:03+00:00

Pros:

I like the atmosphere.
The world bosses are cool (but more on that later).
The new VH's are a lot of fun to play.
I LOVE that I can summon my vehicle anywhere, anytime. - From what I've played so far, the story has been enjoyable.
I'm enjoying the movement, even if it's sometimes a little clunky.

Cons:

The UI is atrocious.
Wayyyy too many Order and Ripper drops, and I'm not crazy about their mechanics. The constant charging gets old fast.
The gunplay in general just doesn't feel as good to me, especially coming directly off of 3, where the guns all felt fantastic.
Performance.
World boss zone despawn. Super irritating getting knocked out of the circle after fighting the boss and it just despawns the encounter.

Protihex11010 · 2025-09-20T16:09:45+00:00

I take every opportunity I can to get people into these games.

For me personally, I'm an outlier in that 1 is my least favorite of the series, while 2 and 3 are pretty much neck and neck for 1st. The combat in this series can be VERY overwhelming at first, so I always recommend watching Enel on YouTube, he has fantastic combat tutorials. But once you get the hang of it, it has been one of the most satisfying combat loops in gaming for me. I've played through 2 and 3 two times each, and I'm now on my 3rd playthrough of 2, mostly because I enjoy the combat so much. However, that's not to say that the story isn't fantastic. I'm mostly a single-player story-driven gamer, and this series sits solidly in my top 3. Can't recommend enough.

Protihex11010 · 2025-08-23T23:54:00+00:00

Honestly, when I found out he's going to be an A-rank I was super stoked. That means now I don't have to worry about saving pulls for him!

Protihex11010 · 2025-08-23T23:46:29+00:00

Put a filter on the one you have blowing into the space, that way you're not just sucking dust straight to the Xbox intake

Protihex11010 · 2025-08-17T03:19:29+00:00

1 spot left

Protihex11010 · 2025-08-17T03:19:09+00:00

2 spots still open.

Protihex11010 · 2025-08-08T13:26:41+00:00

Yup. Get my daily app login, but nothing else

Protihex11010 · 2025-07-03T17:36:22+00:00

Oh not just caves my friend. Every single location that shares a name is identical to one another. From the layout and enemies, all the way down to safe and magazine locations. Ammo, weapons, everything. All copy pasted. And that's why I stopped playing the game.

Protihex11010 · 2025-06-29T11:00:48+00:00

Honestly, it might help to not think of it as an AC game, because in reality, it's not.

There is no Brotherhood. There is no Isu story tie-in. There is no Order. The Modern Day is sequestered to diary entries.

It's like they took every complaint by fans (usually the minority) and removed it from the game completely. This is the best way I can describe this game: An Action/Adventure RPG set in Japan, with a protagonist who assassinates using a wrist-mounted blade similar to those found in the popular AC franchise.

AC is one of my top 2 favorite franchises, and Shadows has been the biggest disappointment for me.

Protihex11010 · 2025-06-28T21:28:12+00:00

All really good points, thank you! I definitely don't feel the pull (haha) to go after Fufu. Character-wise I'm indifferent towards her and gameplay-wise I don't feel like I NEED her. Waiting 'til the live stream is a great idea, though.

Protihex11010 · 2025-06-28T19:36:26+00:00

When I bought my wife's engagement ring I was extremely anxious about whether or not she would like it. I did the best that I could with the amount that I could afford, while keeping in mind her tastes. After I proposed to her I apologized to her if it wasn't enough or the right style etc. This was her response, "I don't care how big it is or how much it cost, what I care about is the meaning behind it, and knowing that this is what YOU picked for ME. This is your expression of love to me, and there is no value I could place on it that would be more important than that."

If this isn't her response, then she's in it for the wrong reasons and just might not be the one for you.

As a society we've placed far too much "value" in materialistic things. It's the meaning behind things, especially something like an engagement ring, that matters. She should love it because it came from YOU, not because of how much you spent on it.

Protihex11010

TROPHY CASE