Assassin's Creed Odyssey Longplay Video Series, Nightmare NG+

This is a Nightmare NG+ Longplay series of Assassin's Creed Odyssey focusing on one theme per episode. I wanted it to be in New Game, but levelling up in this game is dependant on the secondary quests as much as on the main ones, so it would be nearly impossible to make significant progress with just the obligatory missions, let alone in the Nightmare difficulty level. So this playthrough is still in Nightmare but in New Game Plus after completing the game once only, which means that upgrades are still to be done and Alexios is not super powerful yet, making this Longplay series as close to a New Game version as possible. For the sake of realism, I am not using any armor, weapons or enhanced skills rewarded or found in the Atlantis episodes, with just very few exceptions where I used only a couple of special abilities in very specific boss fights, namely Brontes, the Minotaur, the Medusa and the Immortals, but I did so with caution, because the game suddenly seems to not like it if you become immortal or invincible in the middle of a fight and will do its worst to kill you off even if this means resorting to cheap means like teleporting enemies onto Alexios without warning or dropping a huge rock on his head out of nowhere. To keep the stories in the episodes flowing, I have edited out some long travelling journeys (either on foot, horseback or ship) where nothing happens, and I also have not included the upgrading / crafting instances that are not part of the action. I have also left out the fast-travelling segments to save time.

Episode 1: Odyssey

This part which is naturally the longest includes only the main story, so I am doing solely the obligatory quests. This is mainly to save time and keep the video within permitted limits, but also to focus on the central plot without any distractions. This meant leaving out quests that are important, but not necessary so as to progress the story, like Kleon's quests in Athens and Pausanias's mission in Sparta. I made three small exceptions though, one with including the very brief mission "A Growing Sickness" in Athens, which is not obligatory but ties along with the main story without obstructing it; one more with including also the quest "Brewing Love" in Boeotia which again is not necessary to do, as you can track Drakon down directly, but completing this quest results in him losing his armor, therefore becoming a lot easier to defeat; and another one with including "Sibling Revenge", again in Boeotia, which is not necessary either as you can find and kill Deianeira directly too, but this mission helps in separating her from her cousin Astra, making the target easier to kill; plus I would never leave Timon out of my ship crew. This episode also includes the eliminations of those Cult members that are part of the main plot (ie, Elpenor, Silanos of Paros, Pausanias, etc)

Episode 2: The Gates of Atlantis

I went for Thera, the meeting with Pythagoras and the hunt for the four Atlantis artifacts right after finishing the main story, because it felt the most logical thing to do. Alexios needed to know the truth about his past and his destiny so as to become strong enough to deal with the Cult in full consciousness. This part includes the four stories that lead to locating the four artifacts and going back to Thera to place them in their steles and complete this chapter.

Episode 3: Legacy of The First Blade

I know some believe that the Legacy trilogy should be done before the Gates of Atlantis, but to me it feels far more logical that Alexios would seriously consider securing his bloodline after his lengthy discussion with Pythagoras in Thera's depths, because only by then he would be fully aware of his destiny. The Legacy chapters are a trilogy that I do not enjoy that much anyway, what with its obligatory decisions which feel way too forced, and its so gloomy and extremely stressing atmosphere which almost ruins the euphoria that the rest of the game provides even in its darker moments. Most of the Legacy story itself doesn't even make sense in relation to the main plot (why would the Order need Darius and Neema to draw Alexios out, since they already had the super powerful Cult of Kosmos to lead them to him?); it is abrupt, full of bad decisions from part of the characters, and feels awkward and out of place most of the times. Even with the romance choices that I usually make for Alexios, I wouldn't mind have him decide to do something so as to secure his future generations, but why of all the fascinating and vibrant personalities he gets to meet in his travels he would suddenly think it's a great idea to hole up with the two most depressing and grumpy people on earth and even start a family with them, isolating himself from the rest of the world, is beyond me. It's not that Darius and Neema are unlikeable, because they are far from being so; in fact Darius can be pretty cool, in spite of his sourness, when he is not playing his father-in-law role, plus he used to be dashing in his youth as we can see through brief glimpses of a rather fascinating past. The problem is that Neema, albeit quite nice, is unfortunately too bland and one-dimensional and has null chemistry with Alexios, unlike Darius and nearly every other character in the Legacy episodes who all seem to connect with Alexios on so many different levels. Aiantides, for example, has perfect chemistry with Alexios although his appearances are very brief; Amorges is a fantastic antagonist for both Alexios and Darius. Because of this non-existent chemistry between Neema and Alexios and the lack of depth in Neema's character, the game fails terribly in being convincing about why the infamous obligatory bonding should absolutely happen, even in its toned-down, marginally friend-zone version that was later added. This development and its consequences make even less sense if you go for any of the good endings in the main story, where the hero ends up with all or most of their family members alive and in good terms, which renders the decision to send the baby away with Darius not only unexplainable but also unneeded. I can't think of a safer and more secure environment for Elpidios to grow up in than if being protected by his demigod parent and any (if not all) of his super powerful immediate family members. And as far as the romantic aspect is concerned, Odessa, Thyia, Roxanna (if you have spared her), Kyra (if you haven't sent her to her doom like I usually do for the sake of Thaletas), Xenia, Daphne (again if you have decided to spare her), even Anais, all seem way more fitting as potential family partners for Alexios on whom he could consider investing for securing his bloodline, like Myrrine did with Pythagoras before settling down with her true love Nikolaos, as he has so much more in common with all aforementioned ladies than he has with Neema. Of course this would require a totally different approach, which however would tie the Legacy trilogy with the main story in a far more logical and sensible way. Same goes for Kassandra if you play as her, because Natakas, Neema's brother who is also Kassandra's destined "husband", albeit slightly more well-shaped as a character than his sister, is still too bland to make a difference and justify Kassandra's obligatory decision. Although admittedly if you play as Kassandra your alternative choices are extremely limited, as the serious male romance options are very few and, among them, only Thaletas and Lykaon could be the most appropriate and reliable partners. Then again if you play as Kassandra, there are more serious problems to consider in the Legacy trilogy; with Kassandra as the lead, the Legacy story becomes a mess of a plot full of inconsistencies, unlikelihoods and plot holes, especially when the birth of the baby comes into play. Thankfully the Legacy story is cut short after its dramatic turn of events that, albeit tragic, actually sets our hero free of all obligations. And the only elements that somehow rescue this stressful trilogy is the story of Gergis the Magi in Messenia, especially if you decide to not kill him the first time, the segments involving The Tempest in Achaia, the terrific villain Amorges in Messenia and his tumultuous relationship with Darius, and us having the chance to meet Aiantides The Proud, an unforgettable character and a great ship lieutenant if you decide to recruit him.

Episode 4: Shadow From The East

The next episode includes the eliminations of the remaining Order members in all three regions (Makedonia, Achaia, Messenia). As they are very few, this part is naturally very brief compared to the other episodes of this Longplay series. I have also included the quest "Remnant of the Ancients" which is essentially the epilogue to the "Shadow From The East" chapter.

Episode 5: Selected Adventures

This episode features some of my favourite side missions, those that I always enjoy playing and include in my full playthroughs of the game. I generally followed a logical route in the video, starting from North and going South, also taking into consideration the lieutenants that I was going to hire along the way via some of the included adventures.

Episode 6: From The Shadows

This part features the eliminations of all the remaining Cultists that had not been killed as part of the main plot in Episode 1, as well as the stories that reveal some of them (ie, Diona, Podarkes, Melite). I think it makes more sense to leave the Cultists for last, because the need to rid of the Cult is being discussed several times throughout the main story, implying that it is going to be a long and slow process which, apparently, goes on for a rather extended period of time after the main plotline has ended.

 

Episode 7: The Keeper's Story

 

This last part includes the three chapters of Fate of Atlantis and the Korfu expansion. I decided to tie the latter together with the FOA DLC because it also revolves around Alexios's role as the Keeper, which is why I gave the title "The Keeper's Story" to this episode. Because the three FOA levels are quite lengthy and involve a lot of grinding, I had to omit a few segments that were not extremely important: I edited out nearly all that has to be done to lower Persephone's power in Elysium, for which I only included the first fortress that you have to clear as part of a mission in full, and for the rest I left in the parts where I am killing the Overseers, and I included the destruction of just one Marble Maiden Statue for reference purposes. In the Underworld, I didn't play Charon's missions because they are not obligatory, and went directly for the armor pieces and the Guardians. Although the questlines of Phoebe and Brasidas are not obligatory either, I included them in the episode because they are very important for a variety of reasons. In Atlantis, I didn't include every single instance of scanning the Data Caches, and although I played the parts to get the Dikastes armor, I edited them out because they are time-consuming, and I only needed the armor pieces so as to get them on a higher level, as I already had the outfit from my previously completed New Game. Unlike the armor of the Fallen, which is needed as part of the plot so I went for it for the sake of consistency, the Dikastes armor is not necessary to get (although it's quite useful). In Korfu, I included the side-quest with Barnabas's treasure hunt as it is in fact the starting point of the story's conclusion.