#i love doing stealth stuff with her so i can hack the cameras lmao

[wingdingking]

what made WB games montreal go

you just did a really tedious fight with mr freeze and the only up side was it finally being over

now you get to do it again

w h a t

did anyone actually play test this game ?

[dreaming-of-assclass]

AssClass Recon Team AU

Otherwise known as a team I made up

I CANNOT BELIEVE I NEVER TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE.

I was looking at my super old AssClass docs from 2019 and found one of my favorite ideas that I somehow forgot 😭

Basically: I made up a team consisting of the students with the canonically highest stats in scouting and info-gathering

These students are Takebayashi, Kimura, Itona, Okajima, and Okano. I left out Nagisa and Ritsu on purpose (I’ll explain later)

Under the cut has all the info. Please humor me guys haha

Okano technically doesn’t have a 5 like the others do (she has a four), but I pretended she does because my girl needs SOMETHING ok??? She can’t just be good at kicking people ahem canon ahem. She’s the only female student who doesn’t specialize in a category so I gave her this.

Anyways moving on.

Karasuma put these kids together, but it was technically Irina who came up with the idea in the first place. She was talking about how she nearly got into trouble with a recon team once on a mission, and how efficient “those damn bastards were.” Then she offhandedly mentioned how 3-E might be good at that. Then Karasuma was like 🤯 big brain time

Then he assembled Class E’s Recon Team.

I know in canon, the Art Trio sort of are shown to have this role.

But I’d to emphasize that this group of kids are better suited for information-gathering, scaling and sneaking into places, taking out security ok that’s a lil intense but you get the point lmao

They kind of do the prep-work in a sense. And then other members of the class follow out commands, lead, etc

Roles:

Takebayashi:

Leader, Medical Expert, Explosives Expert, researching skills

(Yes, Leader Takebayashi because I genuinely believe he has the potential. And it would lead to a very nice arc about gaining confidence in himself.)

He pretty much handles anything science-related, as well as finding info on anything. He also can retain information the best.

Okano:

Hand-to-Hand Combatant, stealth skills, ability to scale a wide range of surfaces, sneak into places, disarm anyone

She handles much more of the physical aspect of things on this team, given that she’s an amazing fighter and without a doubt the best amongst them. She uses her gymnastic skills to get to places, and climb anywhere. Also has amazing night vision, which comes in handy.

Kimura:

Scout, fastest runner, acts as a diversion, good agility, stealth, dexterity, knowledge of how to use radio equipment and basic weapons

Listen I know this sounds bad lmfao. “Knowledge of weapons” dhdhhdjejdd but both his parents are police officers so he definitely has learned some things. He absolutely might be one of the best when it comes to handling radio/transmission stuff. And he can use his basic knowledge of weapons/combat so he’s prepared to avoid/dodge it somehow.

Kimura is definitely the best when it comes to diversions. He can outrun basically anyone, and he’s so naturally annoying he can provoke people lmao.

Itona:

Mechanic, Engineer, Inventor, knowledge of how things work/are made, able to create helpful tools like a robot, can fix things, etc

We already know this boy is so talented at what he does haha. In canon, there are plenty of examples alone. But yeah, his main job is to invent things that can infiltrate anywhere and gather info like that.

Okajima:

Spotter, knowledge of how security cameras work and how to avoid them, stealth skills, wide range of view and focus

Listen in my AU, Okajima gets a good arc where he has grown from using these skills to be a perv, and instead is a valued member of the class and talented assassin.

So yeah, I’m sticking mostly to canon with this one. He’s mainly a spotter and is tasked with catching anything, like hidden cameras. He can also lowkey hack into them, if needed. He’s like their watch guy, of sorts. He’s also very sneaky and is good at not being caught, when he’s really concentrating.

Honorary Members:

I know Nagisa and Ritsu both have a 6 in this category, and are the best in the class. And that’s kind of why I didn’t include them. I think both their skillsets are different and more advanced than these kids. Also...

Nagisa kind of works better on his own. That’s like his whole Assassin thing. He gathered info on Koro by himself, he handles most things on his own because it’s his style. It’s how he’s most efficient. So he’ll help out the team from time to time, but yeah. Also he specializes in body language, which is different than them.

Ritsu is just so knowledgeable and skilled in a lot of things. I think her abilities would be spread across the class, helping everyone in some way. She wouldn’t stick to a particular group if she’s able to do so much more. So yes, she’ll help them a lot but she’s there for the whole class.

And...I know Mimura’s stand-out trait in Civil War was labeled as “reconnaissance” but he has a very low score in this category compared to the other kids. And that’s why he’s an honorary member, but not really apart of them.

Team Dynamics:

I will make a longer post about this, but to sum it up kinda:

Itona is in charge of the one braincell they all share.

Kimura and Okajima are clowns and usually the ones who lighten the mood

Okano has beaten them all up and she’ll do it again

Takebayashi is the quietly chaotic one, usually makes backhanded remarks which only Itona with catch lmao

They are one short as hell group. Takebayashi takes a lot of pride in being the tallest...until Okano and Kimura tag-team to knock him down

Itona and Okajima.......yeah, don’t worry, Okano is there to beat them up if they say even one perverted word

When Okano and Kimura are on the same page, everyone is scared

They don’t really respect Takebayashi as leader lmao, in fact he’s the number one teasing target.

Itona isn’t treated as baby as usual in this group and he loves it

Ok I know this was a lot haha. But it’s one of my fave ideas and I really wanted to share it with you 💜

[alethiometry]

How are you liking AC Valhalla so far? Any characters you love? Any characters you hate? Is there anyone as sexy as Brasidas?

hiiii thank you for asking!! i’m going to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

i’m really liking it so far! i have my gripes about gameplay mechanics and the buggy launch, but at this point i have either grown used to them or am happily experiencing stockholm syndrome and am just enjoying the game for what it is (and hoping the stuff that needs patching gets patched soon).

here are some things i love:

the voice acting is so good. SO GOOD!!!

eivor! she stands out among the protags of other ac games i’ve played because she always has this community about her. she’s a loved and respected leader to her people, they’re always happy to see her return to the settlement, she’s got her crew to back her up at a moment’s notice, there’s always portions of the main quests where she has companions fighting beside her.

basically all the other characters in ravensthorpe! they’re a fun bunch and a loving community and they have their quirks and i love hanging out with all of them. petra in particular is an absolute sweetheart and not a day goes by where i don’t feel awful for breaking up with her bc my goblin brain decided “lol i want to fuck my stepbrother’s wife who looks like kassandra in sweatpants”

HYTHAM IS A SWEETHEART. we love an assassin who is also, to use 2012 lingo, a pure and sweet cinnamon roll, too perfect for this world.

petting dogs and cats!

how dynamic the settlement is. every time i go back there’s something new and interesting happening, whether it’s a new sidequest an npc wants me to help out with, or a dispute between neighbors, or new dialogue with npcs i repeatedly interact with. i love having a home base that i can upgrade and that i want to spend time in.

the minigames! orlog is fun and frustrating but mostly fun, and the drinking contest is AWESOME.

quick-time assassinations for higher-level enemies! it’s a good balance between the old games where you could just indiscriminately kill fucking anybody in one overpowered hit, and odyssey where you had to either stack your assassination damage to get that sweet OHKO, or straight up fight the polemarchs.

the relationship between eivor and sigurd. i’m only about 40-50% of the way through the game so i’ve only seen a bit of it, but as someone who generally gravitates towards sibling narratives (i.e. odyssey, fullmetal alchemist, and way too many of my prime years wasted on supernatural) i really love their dynamic. i think it was an excellent idea to have that become one of eivor’s central narratives from the very beginning of the game. also, i get to fuck his wife.

(forces through gritted teeth) the... modern... day. i HATED layla in odyssey, to the point where i don’t even remember what happened in the modern story at all because every playthrough except for my very first one i simply mashed the skip button until i got back in the goddamn animus.. and i do not remember a single thing she did in origins. and maybe it says more about me than anything else that i wasn’t able to care about her until ubisoft (finally!!!!) brought back shaun and rebecca to make me care, but... this is the closest the modern day has felt to the desmond games, and there’s post-odyssey continuity with layla’s struggle as the keeper of the staff or whatever, and i really like it!

when you hover over different things in the map, the sound effects change. you get chanting music when you hover over monasteries, and ocean noises when you hover over the ocean! IT’S SUPER NEAT.

taking damage when you swim in the cold cold waters of norway made me chuckle. i can see how it might get annoying, but it doesn’t really bother me that much and it’s not that much damage.

THE SOUNDTRACK GIVES ME CHILLS IT IS SO GODDAMN GOOD

things i’m ambivalent about:

fall damage? i’m peeved that it’s back, but it makes sense. i do love that the breakfall skill makes it so that the most damage i’ve ever gotten from taking a long fall is like... 5 hp lmao

kill animations. they’re really cool and i love seeing what new fun way eivor has to brutally murder her enemies. on the other hand, the shift in camera angle can be annoying in the middle of a massive battle, and if there’s an object in the way of the very specific camera angle then sometimes i can’t see the animation at all and have to just stare at some wood/stone texture for like 10 seconds.

environment puzzles. sometimes they’re fun but sometimes i’m too damn tired to try and figure out the 3895th way to break into a locked building.

side quests world events. they’re fun but also seem largely... pointless? i wish we had one or two longer sidequests; some of my favorite moments in odyssey were on long sidequests like mykonos or the battle of 100 hands. i feel like this was a reactionary mechanic to people complaining that odyssey had “too many” sidequests or something idk.

tattoo parkour. i would like it more if eivor didn’t feel so “sticky” if that makes sense. i like the return of parkour puzzles, and i like collecting tattoos (the tattoo shop is always the first place i visit when i return to ravensthorpe), but the parkour in the game often feels quite clunky.

social stealth. another excellent idea that they brought back, but executed clumsily. i just don’t understand how it works, or, more importantly, why it’s even necessary in the first place. but it’s also easy to ignore, so whatever.

animus glitch platform puzzles. they’re super cool but for some reason give me massive anxiety.

things i don’t love:

some combat mechanics, like having a stamina bar and losing adrenaline when you get hit. i’m not here for any of that *~*~sO gRiTtY aNd rEaLiStIc~*~* bullshit. i just want to have fun and hack shit up.

that motherfucking god damn terrible fucking skill tree/map/web. who the FUCK thought it was a good idea??? the incremental changes between the big nodes feel kind of meaningless, and it’s very difficult to see the (completely arbitrary) progression towards the big nodes because they’re pathed out on SKINNY WHITE FUCKING LINES

synin got nerfed real bad :(

dag is a massive chode. and not even in a fun way, like stentor was in odyssey.

don’t really care for ivarr either if i’m being honest.

i do not give a single shit about fantasy asgard, and i’m kind of peeved that i apparently have to finish that arc in order to finish the game. (i didn’t like the atlantis dlc in odyssey either—a couple hades sidequests notwithstanding—so go figure.)

congratulations on reading this far if you actually bothered to do that! i don’t think any game will top odyssey for me in terms of setting/storyline/general vibes. but valhalla is a great, solid game in its own right.

no npc will EVER be as sexy as brasidas, but eivor is definitely sexier. she and kassandra and aya hold the 3-way title of Sexiest Assassin’s Creed Characters But Not In Like A Creepy Incel Gamer Way.