At the point I am at the game, I think I only encountered the kill 4 warchiefs as main missions once.

I just got into the new area and I'm at the point that I actually don't really have any incentive of doing power struggle missions to gain power since I already maxxed out my power requirements but don't have enough EXP to have more ability points to unlock new abilities.

By the way, but did anyone also notice how the counter seems more responsive that the dodge since it can be used in the middle of the strike (as long as you're not mashing on the square/X/left mouse button the entire time from my experience) but that isn't the case with the dodge? I always found dodging to be really cumbersome to do VS enemies wherein you have no choice but to dodge (e.g. guys with shields, captain's that can't be countered, berserkers). I can't do it in mid-combo unlike a counter, I'd have to do it either before or at the end of a strike.

That's probably my only complaint with the combat is how the dodge has a large delay in the middle of doing strikes so it seems its not as responsive as a counter and I just end up getting hit most of the time when I attempt to do it mid-combo. I don't know if it was an intentional design choice but considering how I have to use both moves (counter and dodge) differently in terms of timing, I'm inclined to to think that its intentional. I have to adapt by relying on them getting vulnerable by the wraith blast/special vault and then I have to do the flurry but then most of the time, it'll just end up getting interrupted since I'd have to either dodge or counter.

Or they just end up getting executed first before anyone else...that also works.

I'm pretty split on this game. I think the design, graphics, the world and combat mechanics are fucking amazing, but then like the mission structure is super boring. I got the same feeling from Red Faction: Guerilla: amazing open world, boring main game.

Had some thoughts!

It's interesting to me - see I was disappointed with the upgrade tiers kind of from the start. I was just never very excited about the abilities, though some are cool. So I think right from the get go the Nemesis System was the only real element drawing me in.

I really agree it needed more variety, but yeah, kinda weird. Even though I have this list of stuff that I didn't really like about the game, I still love playing it a lot. Partly I've always *loved* the Batman combat, so that goes a long way. Like a lot of people I am over the moon excited to see where this system pops up next.

@mb: @basm321: I did not purchase the season pass but I have the trials of war game mode. I did preorder the day before it came out, so maybe it was a preorder bonus?

I was reading some Steam user reviews and someone was talking about the DLC challenge mode. That person said that it was only a 60 minute version of the 30 minute challenge that comes with the game, so it's only really worth it if you want to get a higher score. Not sure how accurate that is, though.

Middling, but aren't they always in this type of game? There's not a whole lot you can do with them without alienating the mainstream audience. The only time the AC missions have been particularly good have been when they've put some thought into the 100% sync objectives and if you have the discipline to try and stick to them.

The best missions here are the ones that just devolve into a massive gang brawl, though I do wish it were a little smarter about not attacking your own guys.

The thing that really disappointed me were the side missions. I thought as an industry we were past the point of "You failed that mission in which we asked you to go into the middle of a stronghold without being detected? Why don't we just dump you in the middle of that stronghold, with the alarm going, and make you run all the way back to the mission start a good quarter of the map away? Cool, see you the next 5 times you fail this."

That was when I stopped doing the dagger missions.