Made my way to Osaka, finished a few quests there and got killed probably too many times that I can count cuz I haven't had katana to match my level and enemies were insane, but then I got to the overgrtown temple.... fuck my life. So then I decided to start some story quests, get better gear and stuff. I just love the way they're doing quests, maybe not all of them are like that, but the one involving child kidnappings was great.
You had to track down kids around the town, rescue them and kill kidnappers. I failed to rescue one kid in time, but the game accounted for that and I had a second chance to find where he is, which was great cuz I thought that I can't go back and fix it.
I haven't use scouts to make things easy which I think is the way to play and do your own field work. I haven't played Odyssey and Valhalla so maybe they had something similar, but the way they do quests in Shadows is extremely well done and you can choose what to say and fail cuz of the lack of knowledge or cuz you guessed wrong. Story related stuff is also great with great camera work and all that, love every second, as well as how multi-layered quests work and that you need to find clues, complete side objectives and only then get to the final part after piecing it all together.
Also, it looks like you have to find scrolls and rise your knowledge level to access higher tiers of skills and stuff, so it's almost sort of like in Sekiro. Idk how the hell have I missed that (they didn't explain it very well or maybe I missed the tutorial), but anyway, you need to increase your knowledge levels by praying at the shrines, finding scrolls and stuff and I think it's fine cuz it's a great way to encourage you to explore the world and find things, but some may not like it cuz unless you do that, skill points can't be spent beyond lvl 1 skills.
I can't tell enough how fuckin' amazing the game looks and I love what they did with wether effects and shit. The game legit has one of the best downpour and rain I ever seen, not to mention that it can build up by starting slowly and then gradually cool down with water slowly falling down from structures for a while. It's just insane how all this elevates the overall atmosphere and makes the world feel even more alive, cat and dogs shake to get rid of the water from the fur and these madman even made cat's eyes glow in the dark...
I fuckin' love this game man and I never felt like that playing AC since AC3 which also sort of rebooted the series and provided completely different experience from the Ezio trilogy, some may argue that Black Flag did it but no, maybe it was better, but AC3 was first to change a lot and provide much better cinematic experience. Anyway, that's enough from me, I need to get back to the game
