Persona 5 Strikers: More Fun With The Phantom Thieves

 I had been counting down to Persona 5 Strikers as soon as I heard about it. I love the Persona series and really enjoyed Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal. Strikers is an entirely different style of combat from its predecessors and it is a sequel to Persona 5. Described as an action game akin to Dynasty Warriors, many of us thought that is what it would be. It turns out Strikers is so much more than that with the combat style. So let's dive in! 

We're ready to start this adventure!

Strikers is set six months after the events of Persona 5 with Joker returning to Tokyo to spend Summer vacation with his fellow Phantom Thieves on a camping trip. It was so nice to see familiar faces like Sojiro who I would refer to often as Coffeee Dad as well as Makoto's sister, Sae. Joker and friends use an app called EMMA (think Alexa) to figure out what supplies they need for their trip. The casual outfits for the Phantom Thieves are quite stylish that fit each character's personal tastes and fit the Summer vacation vibe. 

The gang is back together again!

When Joker, Morgana, and Ryuji go to Shibuya to buy what they need on their list, they run into a rising star idol, Alice who gives them a card and tells them to put the keyword Wonderland into the EMMA app for a special event. When the keyword is entered, they end up in an alternate version of Tokyo and find out it's called a jail and they encounter Alice's shadow who is a ruler in the jail known as a monarch. Shadow Alice drops them to a dumpster below where they meet a sentient A.I. named Sophia who helps them fight the shadows and escape. This is where the story and action of Strikers really begins. 

Joker meets Sophia. 

Strikers isn't turn based and is more of an action based hack and slash that is incredibly fun. You can't just mash buttons however. Planning out strategies and switching out party members to target the weaknesses of enemies is how to get through battles smoothly. The way Joker gets his personas is different too, picking up masks in the various jails. The Velvet Room is in Strikers as well and it is here that Joker can fuse personas to make more powerful personas. There are eight jails in the game and each one has its own theme and each monarch feels a bit familiar as it references some of the issues and shadows they faced in Persona 5. The nice thing about the jails is that unlike Mementos, you can leave and not be tired. You can leave and replenish your health and magic and go back in as many times as you like. It makes level grinding a lot easier and with the great design of the combat system, it doesn't feel like a chore. 

Battling shadows in a jail. 

Another thing that is different is the bond skills. As the Phantom Thieves have their adventure, they get a certain number of points that can be used in the bond skills menu to enhance the skills and stats of everyone ranging from things to SP boosts and increasing luck. You get up to 30 bond points and you earn them from fighting shadows in jails, completing requests, or finishing important moments in the story. 

Everyone benefits from the bond skills. 

The road trip with the Phantom Thieves is amazing because it feels like a Persona game, but it also feels like its own thing with a stripped down calendar that is an entire Summer vacation rather than days spread out over a year. It's fantastic getting to see various locations in Japan because it really feels like a fun road trip with friends. Each place you visit is beautiful with its own unique style and has its own Phantom Thieves hangout event. I had a great time doing things like enjoying a beach day or watching the fireworks. It reminded me why I loved all of these characters and getting to share another adventure with them was wonderful. 

Having a fun vacation together. 

Doing the main story is not the only thing you can do in Strikers. You can also do requests which reward you with a variety of items and unlock access to more weapons and armor from the shop. With some of the requests you get asked to fuse a certain type of persona with certain abilities. The reward for these vary ranging from increasing your bond skills to unlocking skill cards. It is worth your time to do these because they help with level grinding and if you want to unlock new game plus it's vital that you do all the requests including the ones that pop up after you finish the main story. 

Do the requests for good rewards. 

My favorite thing to do that is another great addition to the story is cooking. You can buy ingredients and learn recipes from the locations you visit and cook for the Phantom Thieves. Cooking is a lot of fun and each meal does different things like replenishing SP and increasing agility. It's another great thing added to the game, cooking for your friends and having moments of enjoying meals together. 

Yes, you can cook in the game. 

I loved all of Strikers. It nailed the combat system perfectly while telling a great story. It felt like a nice addition to the Persona 5 universe and the Persona series. The story itself is interesting and if you played Persona 5 and Royal you will recognize the references that are mentioned. The voice actors returned for this game and did an amazing job bringing the characters to life making it feel like visiting with old friends. There are definitely some familiar themes with each monarch and jail, but in Strikers it works because of the way the story is written creating its own unique style while keeping the spirit of the Phantom Thieves throughout the entire game. Sophia became a favorite character for me because of her exploration of what it means to be human and having some thoughtful conversations with Joker about all of it. I loved the back and forth between the two as Joker helps Sophia to understand what friendship, kindness, and being true to yourself can do for the individual and others in life. When it comes down to it, Sophia is the heart of Strikers and that's what makes the story itself so special. That camaraderie shines in every aspect of the game making Strikers an incredible adventure and the best road trip ever.

Best road trip ever!

*Persona 5 Strikers is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows

*Join our community on Twitch as we enjoy games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mothergamer Plays Doraemon Story Of Seasons

 I like Doraemon and I love the Story Of Seasons games because I love the Harvest Moon games especially Harvest Moon Back To Nature. Doraemon Story Of Seasons mixes Doraemon and Story Of Seasons together in a charming game for everyone. The game starts out with Nobita having a nice dream about relaxing in a pretty wooded area with his pal Doraemon. Right away I noticed the beautiful watercolor artwork of the game and was enchanted by it. 

Nobita and Doraemon relax. 

From there, the story shows Nobita and Doraemon finding a strange seed and they decide to plant it. The tree grows quickly as if by magic and opens a portal that transports them to another world in a little village called Shizen Town. Doraemon discovers that his gadgets are missing and these are needed to help Nobita and his friends return. They decide to stay in Shizen Town until they find all the gadgets so they can go home. This is where the true gameplay of Doraemon Story Of Seasons begins.

Nobita and friends in another world. 

Nobita and his friends meet the villagers of Shizen Town who offer to help them as long as they help to develop the town. The mayor of the town insists the kids all have to work and respect their elders. Each one of Nobita's friends finds a job in town and Nobita of course gets to work on a farm. The gameplay is simple because the majority of it revolves around Nobita taking care of the farm like it's his own and growing crops to sell. He can also take care of animals on the farm such as chickens, cows, and sheep. 

Nobita on the farm. 

Farming isn't the only thing Nobita can do. He can make friends with the villagers by giving gifts that they like and as his friendship improves with each person, they give him gifts as well as helping him out with certain tasks. One thing that unlocks early is fishing because one of the villagers gives Nobita a fishing rod. Nobita can go fishing in rivers, lakes, and two beach locations. There is a variety of fish to catch and you can catch them at varying times of the day and evening. Fishing is not terribly challenging and is a lot of fun and a good way for Nobita to make a little extra money in the game. 

Nobita gets a fishing rod.

As Nobita runs around in the woods and all over town, he can also catch insects to sell and to give as gifts to certain characters. You can also check the collection in the user interface to see what types you have caught  and there are a few quests that the villagers offer to Nobita where he has to catch a specific type of insect. Fishing and bug catching are two of the activities that don't use any energy so I could run around until the wee hours of the morning rounding up all the things. 

Bug catching is a fun time. 

One of the things that is necessary, but takes energy is mining. In order to build, upgrade, and improve buildings and things on the farm Nobita needs several materials ranging from different types of wood to ore. This also applies to improving his farming equipment for more efficient farming. To keep Nobita's energy up, he needs to bring food or energy potions from the clinic so he can keep going. Sometimes, it can feel a bit frustrating with just how much energy it takes to do things because a minute in the game is one real world second so it kept feeling like I would run out of time and energy before I could do everything I wanted to do during one Story Of Seasons day. I was still enjoying myself because of the lovely artwork and genuinely liking all of the characters. 

Nobita in the mines. 

There are festivals throughout Doraemon Story Of Seasons which are a nice break from all the farming and foraging. Each festival celebrates the season like a Spring harvest contest, a Summer split the watermelon contest, an Autumn sheep contest, or one of my favorites, a Winter treasure hunt with your dog. This also gives Nobita an opportunity to get to know the villagers, give them gifts, and have fun. 

Nobita celebrates a Spring festival with everyone. 

That's not to say that Doraemon Story Of Seasons doesn't have a few issues. Some of the things that are required to be built take a very long time to grind for because of how much material is needed and some of the pricing for it is incredibly expensive. Nobita runs out of energy very quickly which can be managed with food, energy potions, or taking a nap for a couple hours. However, in the first year of the game it can feel quite frustrating trying to do things and being hamstrung by the energy drain each thing requires. There's a reason I did a lot of fishing and bug catching. Those are the only two things that did not take any energy at all and helped earn money while waiting for crops to grow. The other thing was the animals. I loved having cute animals on my farm, but the mechanic of having Nobita push them in and out of their buildings so they could get fresh air was tedious. They also never moved from the spot and just stood there which was a little weird. That changes when you get the bell which is great, but you get it so late in the game that it hardly makes a difference. There's a reason I only had a couple of animals in the game. I had things to do and I didn't want to be tied down to having to push animals in and out of the barn. Having to constantly check the map to see where villagers were in town was helpful, but not always because by the time I got there they had moved to another area and then I would have to check the map again to locate them. One of Doraemon's gadgets helps with that, but again you get it so late in the game it feels like it doesn't matter.

That's another thing too. The amount of time it takes to get Doraemon's lost gadgets is a tad infuriating because it can make the game feel like it's dragging on a bit. I feel that in this regard Stardew Valley does a better job with your tool upgrades and the fact that the animals let themselves out. There's also a better balance with the stamina bar compared to Doraemon Story Of Seasons. In spite of all of that, I found myself appreciating the beautiful environments each season, being excited about finding new fish and bugs, having fun at the festivals, and learning about all the people that lived in Shizen Town. 

Nobita builds a snowman.

There are a lot of things to see and do in Doraemon Story Of Seasons and it is absolutely story heavy because of the crossover of the two. There is no romance in the story because Nobita is a child, but it does show lessons about love of family and friends that are sweet, thoughtful, and teaches some great lessons about cooperation and helping those in need to young people who may play the game. While it can feel uneven with the gameplay in places, Doraemon Story Of Seasons has a lot of charm and heart that do shine through with the characters and the story. The artwork does stand out and the music in the game is lovely. It's not perfect and it may not be a standout title among the other Story Of Seasons games, but it does offer a lot of good. 

Nobita enjoying the beautiful view. 

*Doraemon Story Of Seasons is available to play on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Microsoft Windows

*Join our community on twitch as we enjoy games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

The Adventures Of Pirotess: Celebrating Valentione's Day and Little Ladies Day 2021

 It's that time of year in Eorzea where every city is decorated for the Valentione's Day event. This year is a little different because everything is set up for Valentione's Day and Little Ladies Day. The event started February 10 and is running until March 8. The decorations are split up too. The Valentione's decorations are out now until February 21 then they switch over to the Little Ladies Day decorations which will be out until the event ends. In order to participate in the festivities, you need to be at least level 15 and head over to Old Gridania. 

Pirotess arrives in Old Gridania to celebrate Valentione's Day.

The decorations for this year's Valentione's Day are pretty with bright colors and add to the whimsical fun. To start the first quest, you need to talk to the NPC Lisette Valentione to start the quest A Delivery Of Love. 

The event begins. 

This quest introduces us to the adorable Valentione Moogle guide, Kupka Kupp who travels with your adventurer during this event. Moogles are my favorite thing ever in the Final Fantasy series so I was delighted to see Kupka Kupp and his adorable heart shaped pom. 

The cute Kupka Kupp.

The quest is fairly straightforward, having you travel to Middle La Noscea to gather some flowers and give them to Kupka Kupp who is painting on a canvas while he waits. After that, you will need to travel to the East Shroud and go to the Sweetbloom Pier to gift these items to the NPC, Elyne to complete the quest. Elyne then gives you the next quest, Little Lady Adventurer.

The next quest in our adventure. 

This quest has you taking the airship from Gridania to the city of Ul'dah where you will need to speak to the Royal Seneschal NPC at the Ruby Road Exchange. You'll be charged with traveling to the children's ward in Ul'dah and then talk with the NPC Aldithya to continue the quest. Once that is done, you will need to head back to talk to the Royal Seneschal which will give you a conversation with the Songbirds. There's a lovely cutscene with a fun Songbirds concert. 

The Songbirds in concert. 

After that, you can travel back to Old Gridania and speak to Lisette Valentione to complete the quest and get your reward, the very cute Lovely Moogle Cap as well as the "Celebrating in Sync" achievement. 

The Lovely Moogle Cap is ours! 

There is one more item that you can pick up by buying it from the NPC House Valentione Maid and that is the stuffed Kupka Kupp plush furnishing. You can also buy the usual prismatic left and right hearts from the vendor. 

Items you can buy from the Valentione's Vendor. 

The seasonal events are always a good time and combining the two this year offered a lot of variety and fun with friends. It's a pleasant break from adventuring and gives you very cute Moogle themed items. It also gives everyone a fun thing to do while waiting for the next patch and upcoming content. Thanks for reading. See you at the next adventure!

See you at the next adventure, kupo! 

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X,  Playstation 4, and Playstation 5

*Join our community on twitch as we play a variety of games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, A Charming Adventure

 I decided to play Sakuna after watching a few friends play it. I was drawn in by the cute characters, the colorful artwork, and the rice farming aspect of it. Right from the beginning I got a sense of Okami vibes with the storytelling part of Sakuna. The game introduces you to Princess Sakuna, a harvest goddess who is a bit of a spoiled brat when you meet her. Sakuna lives with the other gods in the Lofty Realm in the world of Yanato and has no idea about what the lives of mortals are like in the realm below. 

Princess Sakuna and her familiar Tama.

There is a celebration happening for the leader deity Lady Kamuhitsuki and Sakuna is drinking a lot, ignoring the cautionary advice from her familiar Tama about proper etiquette and decorum. Things go bad for Sakuna when a group of mortals stumble into the Lofty Realm looking for food and they accidentally destroy the offering meant for Lady Kamuhitsuki. Since it happened on Sakuna's watch, she is punished by being exiled with the mortals to the Isle Of Demons where she has the task of cleansing the land of evil and working with the humans to grow rice in order to give back the offering that was lost. 

Sakuna and the mortals get in trouble. 

This is where the gameplay for Sakuna really shines and where the story truly begins. Sakuna is split into two parts, exploration and farming simulation. Doing both of these is important to progress the story and you have to figure out how to divest your time. I do wish there had been a little more of a tutorial with the rice farming because it doesn't necessarily tell you exactly what to do. Once I figured it out, I did enjoy the rice farming. The seasons are only 3 days long and you come to realize how detailed the process is for growing and harvesting rice. Sakuna will voice her thoughts out loud giving hints about what to do next. You have to think about how much water to put into the rice paddy, when to add fertilizer, and when to harvest the rice before the season ends. 

Sakuna checks the progress of the rice.

The exploration aspect of the game is interesting. Sakuna can run, dash, jump, and use her divine raiment to attack enemies in a 2D side scrolling environment. As the story continues, the areas add new challenges like wind storms, falling rocks, and floating water platforms. Combat is a lot of fun as Sakuna can smash, juggle, launch, and throw enemies around. Sakuna is able to use her various farming tools as weapons adding a cool mechanic to the game. Sakuna is able to get upgrades for these weapons as well as create new and stronger weapons. Each weapon is also able to unlock a divine power that also adds to Sakuna's battle skills. 

Sakuna smashing through enemies.

There are various items that Sakuna can equip that add to her stats like cute hats and masks. There are also cute kimonos that enhance things like Sakuna's farming skills and vitality as well. I loved this part of the game because it adds an extra touch of whimsy to the game and the outfits are very cute and colorful. 

Cute outfits add to Sakuna's stats. 

Food is another vital part of the game. Naturally, rice dishes are a big part of this side of the game. Sakuna can store food and set up the menu for dinners. This is where the day to night comes in and paying attention to Sakuna's energy. If she is well fed, she is stronger and able to breeze through her enemies. If she is hungry, she does not do as much damage. When night falls, the enemies become stronger and harder to fight which means you have to head home and have an evening meal. Eventually, you can fight them at night when you get a magical lamp, but you have to fill it with oil which you can get from various enemies and gathering areas. 

The evening meals with the humans are really nice. It adds to the story and allows you to get to know the other characters. As the bond between them and Sakuna grows, I found myself looking forward to the dinners with them and learning more about each individual. It's nice to see how Sakuna changes as well, becoming less arrogant and becoming a kinder person working together with them. It was nice to see those bonds deepen as they story continued, making them not just friends, but family. 

Everyone together at dinner. 

There are some flaws with the game. Sometimes you have to go back to areas you already explored in order to complete challenges like fighting a certain number of one enemy in order to unlock more of the map. That can get a bit tedious when you want to just continue the story. The clock can creep up on you too and suddenly it's night time so you can't do a lot. It can get a little frustrating when you're trying to 100% an area and it can also spoil some of your food ingredients. Granted, that gives you materials for fertilizer for your rice paddy, but it can be a little aggravating to lose those food items. 

In spite of those flaws, I loved Sakuna. It is a charming adventure with good storytelling, wonderful characters, a lovely vibrant and whimsical art style, and fun gameplay. It is a delightful gem, that I'm glad I took the time to check out. 

Sakuna heads home.

*Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows

*Join our community as we enjoy games and talk about mental health on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

The Adventures Of Pirotess: Celebrating Heavensturn 2021

 Happy New Year! Right after the Christmas event in Final Fantasy XIV we have the Heavensturn event which is another fun holiday event in the game celebrating the new year and this year is the year of the ox. In order to participate in the event, you need to have your adventurer be at least level 15. Head to Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks to get the event started.

Pirotess enjoys the Heavensturn decorations in Limsa Lominsa.

The decorations for the Heavensturn event are bright and festive adding a lot of whimsy to the event. You'll need to talk to the NPC Ushi Bugyo to get the quest Steering Clear Of Trouble. This quest takes you to Middle La Noscea to participate in the level 5 FATE The Mochi That Ate Vylbrand and it's not very challenging. You just work together with everyone to fight the monster there and receive Heavensturn tickets for doing the FATE. 

Start the event with this first quest. 

Return to Limsa Lominsa to turn the quest in to Ushi Bugyo and you can choose between the crimson ushi abuto or the black ushi kabuto while also receiving the "Happy Moo Year" achievement. You have one more quest to do with Ushi Bugyo called Bully For Mochi which has you running around to designated areas in Limsa Lominsa and handing out advent cakes. Once this is done, you return to Ushi Bugyo again and receive ten advent cakes as a reward. 

Complete this quest and get advent cakes! 

After that, there is a nearby NPC vendor by the name of Ushi Shonin where you can use your Heavensturn tickets to buy items like the other ushi kabuto that you didn't pick, food items, or the adorable handmade akabeko furnishing. 

All the items you can get from the vendor. 

The Heavensturn event is always a fun holiday event that doesn't take a lot of time to do that you can participate in by yourself or with friends. The rewards it offers are nice too. The furnishings are always my favorite because they're adorable. If you haven't done the event yet, don't worry. You still have time. Heavensturn is running until January 18, 2021 so get out there and have a great time! Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure!

Happy new year! See you at the next adventure! 

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and OS X

*Come join our community on twitch as we enjoy games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

The Adventures Of Pirotess: Starlight Celebration 2020

 The Starlight Celebration is a holiday event I look forward to every year in Final Fantasy XIV because it's a lot of fun, a nice break from adventuring, and you always get some nice rewards for participating. The Starlight Celebration started December 14 and runs until December 31, 2020. This year's Starlight was a great time and a much needed cheerful distraction this year. Everywhere is decorated for Starlight and it brought a smile to my face. Remember, in order to participate you need to be at least level 15. Head on over to Mih Khetto's Ampitheatre in Old Gridania to get started.

Pirotess admires a Starlight tree in Gridania. 

Talk to the NPC Amy Garanjy to start the quest A Festive Fiasco. You will need to talk to her for the rest of the Starlight quests too as you progress through the event and get the story going. Yes, there is a story with this event that fits the theme of the holiday event.

Starting the event quests. 

Throughout the quest line you will need to do a variety of set tasks to help make sure that this year's Starlight runs smoothly. As you complete each thing and turn in the quest, you get to pick a gift from a star shaped box called a twinkle box. There are five so you get to come back and open each one after every completed task. I liked this because it was a festive and cute idea that added to the holiday whimsy. 

Pick a gift, any gift from the twinkle box!

The event doesn't take too much time. I ran around and did things and it took me about an hour because I was enjoying this with friends. That's the nice thing about these events. You can do them on your own or celebrate it together with your friends or make new friends during the celebration. There is also a lovely event where you can talk to an NPC and read letters from characters from the story you have helped wishing you a Happy Starlight. It's a nice moment that adds a wonderful touching moment to the whole thing. 

Pirotess enjoys some holiday letters from friends.

When the event is completed, you get some great rewards. Three of them you can buy from the NPC vendor and they are some nice Winter holiday themed furnishings for your house for outdoors and indoors. You can also buy more magicked prisms if you like that are icy fireworks numbers that are just silly fun. 

All the goodies you can buy from the Starlight vendor.

The big thing is the holiday mount. This year's mount is the Snowman mount. You get a snowman bell and once you activate it, you can summon the snowman mount. It's quite cute and made me laugh when I tried it out because it was amusing seeing my character hop around inside a snowman. It's a terrific reward for the Starlight Celebration. 

The snowman mount in action. Wheee!

The Starlight Celebration this year was a delight with a cute holiday mount and new furniture items. It's a nice break from the level grinding and I enjoyed running around having a good time with my friends. If you haven't done the event yet, round up your friends or go on your own and take the time to have a little fun and spread some holiday cheer. Thank you to everyone for all the support with the blog and our community on Twitch. From our family to yours, we hope you have a safe and happy holiday and a happy new year. Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure! 

Happy holidays! See you at the next adventure! 

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and OS X

*Join our community on twitch as we enjoy games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: A Good Viking Story

 Allow me to start off by saying that I liked Valhalla and had a good time with it. However, there are definitely multiple issues with the game and story. We're going to dive in and go over all of it, the good and bad. When I started the game, I noticed right away the great accessibility choices. You can choose closed captions with subtitles and the ambient noises in the game do get included with the closed captions so the subtitles will point in the direction of a fire crackling. There were also settings to make the controls easier which is great for me because I have arthritis in my hands. There is also colorblind mode. The accessibility settings are great and it shows they really took the time to tweak them for everyone. You can also choose what difficulty setting you want to have for the game ranging from easy to very hard. Once everything was set to my liking, I was ready to start playing. 

Accessibility settings in the game.

Valhalla is set in the 9th century centering around the Viking invasion of England. You start the story in Norway and here you can decide if you want to play Eivor as female, male, or let the animus choose. I went with female Eivor for my playthrough. The story starts with Eivor as a child during a feast honoring the king of the Raven Clan when things take a turn for the worse and young Eivor witnesses the destruction of her hometown by a rogue warlord, Kjotve the Cruel. There is a time skip after this event showing an adult Eivor trying to rescue her crew after a failed attempt to kill Kjotve. This beginning is a way to start the battle tutorial showing how to do stealth and attack enemies. It's pretty straightforward and the combat is a lot of fun. 

I liked Eivor right away. I found her interesting and the voice actress for her is quite good. As everyone escaped in the longship and returned home, you get shown who Eivor is. The king of the Raven Clan adopted her and his son Sigurd is her brother and you get that sense of love and respect they have for each other right away. There are places to explore in Norway of course that are beginner areas and part of the story. It may seem like a bit of a long introduction, but I didn't mind because it was fun exploring and I got to see how Eivor's battle skills worked with an axe and a bow. The areas of Norway in the game are beautiful and I found myself stopping often just to take in the view. 

A beautiful view in Norway. 

The story really begins when Sigurd shows up with two Hidden Ones (assassins) he has befriended during his time away, Basim and Hytham. Sigurd gives Eivor a hidden blade, a gift from Basim. Basim proceeds to tell them about the existence of the Order Of The Ancients and tells them that Kjotve is one of them. Sigurd's father tells them going after Kjotve is a mistake, but naturally Sigurd and Eivor don't listen and unite with King Harald to attack Kjotve. After their success, Harald announces that he is going to unite all of  Norway under his rule and the king of the Raven Clan swears fealty to Harald angering Sigurd. Sigurd and Eivor make the decision to go to England with people loyal to them in the Raven Clan and build their own place free of Harald's rule. 

This unlocks the world map for England and while you can travel back and forth between England and Norway, it is a good idea to stay in England for a while to explore doing the main story, side quests, finding mysteries, getting treasures, and doing raids. The raids are done really well and because you are building a town you need supplies which means raiding various places along the coast which are marked on your map. As Eivor would command the longship and pull up to a place that could be plundered, a raid command would pop up, and everyone would hop off the ship and the chaos would ensue. Eivor would have to use Odin Sight (like eagle vision) or use her raven to get a lay of the land and see where things were. Once everything of worth had been taken, a message would pop up deeming the raid successful and everyone could leave. In order to build and upgrade buildings in Ravensthorpe, these plundered supplies get used. If you run out, you have to go raiding again. The goal is to level up your settlement because it gives you more influence and power. The issue is that after a while the supplies would run low and there would not be enough raiding areas so I would have to run around on the world map and try to find supplies in other places like bandit forts and small villages. 

Viking raid time!

The leveling system is different in Valhalla. When Eivor does raids, completes a story mission, or unlocks new areas, takes down an Ancient or their zealots, she is rewarded with 2-4 skill points which she can use to unlock different abilities on a Norse constellation skill tree. The abilities range from improved stealth to stronger melee attacks. When these abilities are unlocked, it increases Eivor's power level. The power level is important because each area on the world map, each legendary beast, and each challenge has a specific power level. If Eivor's power level is too low, she can't take these things on without dying. While this adds a bit of a grind to the game, I never really noticed it because there is so much to do with the many extras in the game and as Eivor completes each story chapter she gets a pretty big chunk of experience which unlocks those abilities and power levels fairly quickly. There are also books of knowledge Eivor must find which are usually hidden in enemy forts and once she obtains it, it unlocks special attacks she can do when her stamina bar is full. My favorite one so far is Valkyrie Smash. It gives an extra boost to Eivor's combat skills and can make for some thrilling battles. 

The skill tree in action and yes, my Eivor got real powerful.

Another thing that is different is the armor, armor sets, and weapons. You will have your armor and weapons with you for a long time so it's a good idea to gather all the materials you find so you can upgrade them. After a certain upgrade you can take them to the village blacksmith and he will improve them even more to a higher quality so that you can add various runes that enhance your armor and weapons with things like improved defense or a resistance to poison. By the time I had fully upgraded my preferred sets, they were at mythical level which definitely gave Eivor that extra edge in combat. 

Upgrading your gear is a good idea for your adventure.

When I wasn't doing Viking things and just wandering around admiring all the gorgeous scenery,  I spent time petting the dogs and cats in the game. I always love it when a game has the feature of petting the cute animals in games. I stopped and petted all the dogs and cats everywhere. Another cute thing in Valhalla is that after petting the dog or cat they follow you around for a bit and you can pet them again and again. I did this a lot. It just brought so much joy being able to sit with a fluffy dog and pet them. 

Yes, you can pet the dogs in the game!

There is photo mode in Valhalla and it is a fantastic feature because you can turn the camera and get the angles just right. I spent a lot of time in photo mode taking pictures of various landscapes, Eivor looking around, and many pictures of dogs and cats. You can save everything to an album and share your photos with people in the game to like and you can like their photos as well. 

Having fun with photo mode. 

As Eivor's story progresses, you unlock other areas such as Vinland and a dream sequence of Asgard. These have their own respective power levels as well and once unlocked, you can travel between them any time. I liked both areas, but I really enjoyed the setting of Asgard. It was stunning and I loved exploring everywhere. However, I was not a fan of the overly complicated puzzles and it made a magical area tedious for me so much to the point that I skipped over a lot of things there. I do feel that Asgard was really well done, but I felt it could have been a little better with some of the gameplay there. 

Eivor in Asgard. 

The nice thing about Valhalla is you can take your time with it. There's no rush to finish the story and if you want to run around exploring everywhere you can. There's also mini game things you can do which I spent a ton of time on. Fishing is a relaxing one where you actually get rewards for trading a set amount of certain types of fish to a vendor. There's flyting which is basically a contest exchanging insults between two parties in verse. I had a good time with that one and each time Eivor wins a flyting contest, her charisma increases. There's drinking contests which play like a kind of rhythm game as you drink several horns or cups of mead. If you miss a beat, you spill your mead and you can lose to your opponent. I was terrible at the drinking game, but it was fun all the same. There's also a tabletop dice game called Orlog. I went from not being really thrilled with Orlog for always finding an excuse to stop and play. You and your opponent have a set number of stones and tokens that are known as God Favors. The God Favors have different effects ranging from blocking attacks, to stealing resources. The person who loses all their stones loses the game. It makes you plan out your strategies and tactics, something I love doing. Hearing the news that there is now going to be a physical version of Orlog in the future has me excited to play Orlog in the real world with friends. 

Eivor does some fishing. 

Now we get to the issues with Valhalla. While I enjoyed the story of Valhalla, I felt it wasn't as strong as the story in Origins and Odyssey. I liked Eivor a lot and it was a blast channeling my inner shield maiden as I went through exciting castle sieges, chaotic raids, and took down all the baddies. I feel that it was a good Viking story, but it didn't necessarily feel like an Assassin's Creed story. I loved the open world RPG setting. I'm all about that style because that is something that is fun for me and totally in my wheelhouse. I just wish it had given me a bit more in regards to the assassin aspect of it and more with Layla. It seemed more focused on being a Viking which is fine, but there were some plot holes for me and the story felt a little unfinished. I found myself missing ancient Egypt with Bayek and Aya as well as missing ancient Greece with Kassandra and Alexios. Yes, the assassins are there and we do get some of the lore that has been a big part of the series, but it still felt like something was missing.

Then we have the technical issues. Wow, the many technical issues have hindered Valhalla. There were so many bugs with raids as well as game breaking bugs that made it impossible for people to continue the main story. I was lucky that I was able to complete the main story, but that doesn't mean I didn't experience those issues either. The biggest thing is all the game crashes on every single platform. Yes, you are reading that correctly. It crashes on every single platform including the newer consoles Xbox series X and PS5. I played the game on PS4, my friends played on PC, Xbox, and PS5. All of us have experienced game bugs or game crashes. I understand that tech issues happen, but to have it happening on this scale is inexcusable. When I have things happening like the raider Vikings not helping me open a chest, yes it's funny, but also frustrating as shown in the clip below. 

Please, just talk amongst yourselves. It's fine. 

Eivor would even get stuck in places and I would have to figure out a way to fast travel to get her unstuck or I would have to reload my last save. A patch was released that fixed a lot of those quest bugs which I'm thankful for, but somehow the patch made the game crashes worse. During one stream, the game crashed three times. At one point there was another patch that crashed my PS4 and I had to uninstall and reinstall everything. Then the game wouldn't load my previous save files. This was stressful as I worked to figure it out and luckily everything was fixed and everything is running smoothly again. This shouldn't be happening, but here we are. I know the game was delayed at least twice, but seeing all these issues makes me feel they should have delayed it again until these many issues were sorted out. Honestly, it shows to me the game was not ready and frankly I would be okay with waiting if I got an actual finished game that didn't do things like this. It brings to mind the many issues and bugs Unity had. Granted those issues are fixed now and Unity is a game I like to revisit every now and then, but until these are dealt with Valhalla is not in the same area of great that Origins and Odyssey are. It kills me to say that because I was so excited for Valhalla, but after all the frustration with these issues it's just a good game, not a great one. 

I'm sure I'll come back to Valhalla after those issues are fixed because I did have fun with the game and loved being able to climb up to a mountain peak and take in a spectacular view. I also enjoyed taking down legendary bosses and solving mysteries. The general exploration and combat in Valhalla is a great time, but I need a little more stability with the way the game runs. I hope they do get it sorted out soon so that a good game becomes a great one like it was meant to be. Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure!

What a fantastic view!

*Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, and Luna

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