Roshan

Roshan

This format is probably past its prime, but oh well.

ive only played the last 3 games (origins, odyssey, valhalla) so idk if the other games had something similar to what i'm talking about btw

im playing ac odyssey and how can Kass kill like a bunch of people without a second thought but is like 'nooo dont jump' to that one guy in Pephka. like imagine an ac game where its encouraged NOT to kill anyone bc the protag has morals. I think that would be so interesting. it would create a need for stealth too if its in another open world game like odyssey

friends

i hate dogs with blue eyes. why is fucking jeff the killer at my back door

I’m about half way through The Golden City and I’m enjoying the book so far. It’s certainly a good book if you’re a fan of Hytham or political plots. There are a few things that I’ve noticed which the book established that seem pretty important. Assuming the book is fully canon and approved of by Ubisoft then it is very informative.

First thing is that the book still doesn’t really tell you anything about Hytham’s history. Who he was before the Hidden Ones has been completely absent in the book meaning that I don’t think Ubisoft had any actual history for him. It’s sad to think his codex entry was really as little as it feels they cared about him.

Second is that his and Basim’s relationship was very different. In the book Basim is not the completely absent man he is in Valhalla. He is in the shadows but he is always there, he does teach Hytham, and he seems to genuinely care if Hytham feels offended or questioned by him. I’d say that Basim feels a little Loki like but as though having not found Sigurd that there is still some of the man who we’d meet in Mirage. It does give a good explanation of why it is that Hytham would have had some faith in Basim and been accepting of his absence.

Third, Hytham would be a fantastic father. In the book he states that after his first kill he gave up on being a father despite wanting to be one. He basically claims that he doesn’t feel like he can bring a child into the violent world he lives in. I wonder if living with the vikings and age would change that. The vikings exist in a world of violence and they still can have children and take care of them. Because in the book Hytham has to take care of a child and he is just good with the kid. He’s kind and caring and the kid really likes him.

Fourth, Hytham was a very skilled fighter and assassin who was likely to make Master. The book makes it very clear that Hytham is a skilled fighter, starting off the book with a sparring match between him and Basim where he can hold his own. Hytham is also smart, being skilled with words, memory, and is very observant. He is shown to not be as good as Basim but that simply means he’s not a master, not that he isn’t skilled. It represents exactly how bad the injury he received was and how frustrating it must be for him to be unable to fight as he did before. He had a future as a master and in an instance it was taken away. It also sort of makes the moment in Vahalla make less sense because it seems like a sloppy assassination attempt but Hytham is skilled. It does highlight the fact that the actual action is never addressed in the game or Hytham giving an end to his arc and makes it more annoying to me in retrospect.

Fifth, Hytham’s big weakness is that he gets emotionally involved. With several characters and the boy the main cause of fault for Hytham is that he lets his emotions take part in his decisions and it can sometimes be a fault. This makes it make a little more sense that Hytham is suspicious of Eivor who he feels Basim is making the same mistakes he was. Basim is being chummy with vikings and it seems like he’s blinded by his friendship with them and it makes Hytham’s attitude make more sense. And their blades are hidden making his objectives on that matter also make more sense. So far the book has done well in making the Hytham and Basim we meet at the start of Valhalla make more sense. Also the show of his abilities coupled with Sword of the White Horse which showed that people easily become loyal and protective of him they do lead to a good basis for assuming that Hytham was the first Mentor of the English brotherhood.

Sixth, it really makes me again wish that they weren’t making a game about Basim but instead were making one about Hytham. You could get the exactly same stealth heavy and limited story but you have more reason with Hytham. Basim is Loki, which means that him being limited doesn’t really make sense when we’ve seen what he should be able to do. Hytham is just a man. An injured man who is limited in what he can physically do. Him learning to be an effective assassin with his limitations would have allowed for player progression and skills, would have forced more reliance on stealth as Hytham couldn’t be in prolonged combat, and building a brand new branch to the brotherhood is an interesting story. It also would have worked better to actually give a Hidden One story to England and Valhalla.