Reptilian samurai. A detailed investigation… but seriously. Review of mod for Skyrim Akavir. Curse of the Immortals

Everyone has long been accustomed to Ubisoft KEKs and they are no longer surprising, but for the last two days I have heard from the news releases the obligatory clarification: “The main character in the new Assassins creed shadows is not a tribute to the modern agenda, but a real historical character.”.

And despite the fact that, for the first time in the series, we will be allowed to play as a real historical character, and not as a fictional Italian or Indian, the decision to make one of the two main characters a gaijin, and also of the “wrong” skin color, caused a quite expected reaction from the public.

And, of course, it would be appropriate to recall the meme from Family Guy, but in fact, as it turned out from fresh leaks from insiders, this is far from the only mine that Ubisoft has prepared for fans. Although, depending on how you look at it, on the other hand, such a solution, in a sense, even looks like a logical development of the ideas of early games. Still, in the first part we were presented with the Templars, in the third the Freemasons were mentioned, and then the snowball of heroes of conspiracy theories only began to accumulate. So at some point all this had to happen, namely, as an insider under the nickname FurryLover1999 claims in his leak, in the new part of the Assassins, in addition to the increasingly powerful Bakufu, reptilians disguised as humans will act as enemies of Yasuke. In this light, the return of “eagle vision” from old games looks quite logical, if you believe the same leaks, now it will work like the glasses from Carpenter’s cult film “Aliens Among Us”. Moreover, as proof, the insider also attached several screenshots (since this is still far from the release version of the game, the graphics are “not very good” in some places)

Reptilians may be hiding everywhere.

. masquerading as guards.

. and street food vendors.

The cunning look of a lizard does not bode well.

Ordinary people who do not have “sight” and have no idea who they are communicating with.

Come on, everyone has already understood that of course I’m not serious (I hope they understand). It was just a lucky coincidence that just when I was preparing this blog, something like this started, so it was a sin to miss such an opportunity.

Last time we already looked at a mod for New Vegas that conveys the mood of the Fallout film adaptation, so we should talk about something similar to another high-profile TV premiere of the season. Moreover, I have long wanted to disassemble this mod, but there was still no reason.

Yes, of course, someone will say that there is a game directly about William Adams, but, to be honest, in Nio, apart from the name of the main character, nothing else connects it either with the story of Hatamoto Tokugawa itself, or with the novel based on it. But, oddly enough, the global modification for Skyrim “Akavir”, despite the fact that all the action there takes place in a fantasy world, is much better able to convey the very tone and mood of “Shogun”.

So, the plot of the mod starts, https://sbobet-casino.co.uk/mobile-app/ after Dovahkiin reaches level 45, also to start a new adventure you will have to accumulate 50,000 septims, which, in general, is no longer a problem for such a late stage of the game. Upon reaching the required level, a message will appear asking the character to go to sleep. The Dragonborn will dream of the distant homeland of the Tsaesci snake-people, and upon awakening, regardless of where he fell asleep, he will find himself in a remote corner of the White Coast, somewhere between Dawnstar and Solitude. Nearby, a strange foreigner who can barely speak Tamriel will writhe in his death throes, and he will also hand Dovahkiin mysterious notes, following the instructions of which he will have to go to High Rock and find a hermit magician there.

As it turns out, a resident of the western province is gathering an expedition to the distant, mysterious continent of Akavir, with the inhabitants of which the Tamrielians have a rather long but complex history of relationships. Actually, in order to equip the ship and hire a crew, those 50,000 septims that I mentioned earlier will be needed. During the long journey, Dovahkiin will have time to learn a little Akaviri language from our mysterious new partner in this dangerous enterprise. And the player, even if the main action of the mod has not yet started, will have time to realize that some scenes here are staged much better than in the original game.

Already on the very approach to the mysterious distant shores, a storm will blow. But this is only half the problem, since the ship will also be attacked by locals. And as a result of all this, Dovahkiin will find himself overboard in a storm without his things. Miraculously, he swims to the shore, the protagonist will find a reed shack in which he could hide, but even here an unpleasant surprise awaits him, since now he will have to get acquainted with the local fauna, or rather, an Akaviri poisonous spider will attack him from behind, and not only will it knock him out with its poison, it will also infect him with some local disease.

Having come to his senses, Dovahkiin will discover that he was saved by one very sad Tsaesci, who is on the run and clearly dissatisfied with what is happening in the state of the snake-people. But we won’t even have time to find out his name, because soldiers will immediately burst into the crypt, which served us as a shelter, and kill our savior, and Dovahkiin will only have to flee.

And, in fact, this is where the mod starts. We, like some kind of survivalist, are thrown into an aggressive, rather dangerous local jungle in only a loincloth, and for weapons, at best, in the near future we will only be able to get hold of some kind of branch or bamboo stick. And you haven’t forgotten that Dovahkiin also became infected with some local disease? Which also affects the gameplay, since now, until the very end of the mod’s story, the player is deprived of auto-regeneration of everything, that is, neither magic nor health will now be restored on their own, except that if some abilities are pumped in, the reserve of strength will be replenished, but even then more slowly than usual. And yes, it is no coincidence that one of the conditions for starting the passage is that the player reaches level 45, since the mod is quite hardcore.

But at the same time, no matter how strange it may sound, the complexity here is quite normal and balanced. Well, that is, let me explain, very, very many mod creators suffer from the fact that they absolutely do not know how to complicate the gameplay in the normal way. Usually, all such attempts come down to something like this: “I will create an immortal army of death claws, with miniguns, and I will take all the player’s gear and give him a kitchen knife. Yes, this will be interesting". I’ll tell these modders right away: “No, this is never interesting.”

So, in Akavir there are no such moments. A player whose character has reached level 45 will be able to quickly navigate and adapt to the difficulty. And in general, almost all the content of the mod looks very professional. Of course, in some places the map, which, by the way, is the size of several holds from the original game, looks a little empty, but compared to the original Skyrim, in general, anything will look empty. And at the same time, there are almost no dungeons of the same type in the fashion; often, each of the tombs encountered is a separate long adventure.

But for a comfortable passage of the mod, you still need to remember a couple of tips. Firstly, carry an antidote with you, as the Akaviri fauna is very poisonous. And secondly, as soon as such an opportunity presents itself, immediately go to the capital, which is located in the eastern part of the map. And it’s worth visiting there, first of all, not to admire the entrance to the Forbidden City and the local analogue of the Great Wall, the thing is that the mod also has some of its own gameplay mechanics. For example, in Akavir there is a special type of ghosts that cannot be touched by weapons or spells, and can only be expelled with the help of special scrolls, which are made by only one artisan in the capital, and for this it will also be necessary to obtain special ink.

And in general there are quite a lot of such little things in fashion. For example, of course, there are a lot of blades, bows and armor, and of course, like the sets of the Order of Blades, they are all made in the Japanese style and, of course, they can be obtained in battle, found in the world or simply bought. However, simply arriving in Akavir, Dovahkiin cannot immediately learn either to forge local equipment or improve it. To do this, you will have to, again in the capital, buy a book with the secrets of Akaviri artisans. However, you have not forgotten that the Dragonborn only learned the spoken language of Tsaesci? Therefore, before mastering the craft of Akaviri gunsmiths, it will be necessary to study local hieroglyphs, for which you also need to find a teacher in Mikoi.

This is just a small part of the "gear". Scroll further.

And although it all sounds a little too complicated, as if it were some kind of unnecessary complication in the game. But in fact, during the passage it is not perceived that way, but on the contrary, it works very well for immersion and makes you believe in the aliveness of the world itself.

Tengu masks are not added just “for beauty”, they also have their own gameplay function.

And speaking of peace. Honestly, even in the original game, not all locations are as meticulously worked out as here. Life, architecture, utensils, everything is recreated to the smallest detail. Yes, to some the houses of the Akaviri nobility may seem a little empty, but this is no longer an oversight, but a cost of the setting. Surprisingly, it’s rare that even a game directly about real late medieval Japan manages to immerse itself in its atmosphere as much as a fashion about a fictional continent inhabited by intelligent lizards, monkeys and tiger-people. Well, we also can’t help but mention that Akavir looks incredibly beautiful in places, that is, sometimes you just want to pause the passage of the main plot, just sit down and enjoy the local views.

And, by the way, besides the introduction, I didn’t say anything about the plot of the mod itself. And, without spoiling anything, we can call it worthy. Yes, of course, one could say that it is much better than in the original Skyrim, but, frankly, this would be such a praise, since it’s no secret that the main quests in the games from Besedka are, to put it mildly, not their strongest side. However, in fashion, the story itself is simply good, even when compared to story-oriented games. Dovahkiin will have to go from a poor ronin to the very top of the Akaviri nobility. Of course, in this story there will be everything that is expected: intrigue, confrontation with the daimyo, ancient curses, stealth missions, battles, castle sieges, and, as always, it will not be without the participation of the Daedra in all this.

Well, it’s no coincidence that I mentioned “Shogun” earlier. The story itself in the fashion will not completely repeat either the original book or the TV series, but in some places you can feel some common points, as if the creator of the mod was inspired by the film adaptation of the 1980s.

Also, of course, there are side quests in the mod, and many of them are even very good, but, nevertheless, the mod is mainly focused specifically on completing the main storyline.

What else is worth noting is the rather depressing atmosphere in some places. Yes, at first glance, Akavir looks very beautiful and peaceful, but in fact, the story here is quite dark, and it’s not for nothing that the mod has this subtitle. The Tsaesci state has long been in decline, and the snake people themselves don’t seem to see much point in doing anything about it, even despite the fact that in addition to the eternal enemies of Ka Po’Tun, they are also threatened by a growing uprising of human slaves. But even despite all this, everyone is more concerned with hedonism, a way to get blood, or the internal squabbles of the daimyo.

Well, I’ll briefly mention things that are standard for global mods, such as a lot of weapons, armor, clothes, new consumables, that is, oriental cuisine is also represented in the fashion, from dango cakes to fish curry. Several new companions have also been added. But, moreover, in addition to the opportunity to acquire a small house in the suburbs of the capital, closer to the end of the fashion, Dovahkiin will receive a whole castle in his own possession.

It wouldn’t hurt to tell you that the mod has very good voice acting. Moreover, executed in Russian, since I didn’t mention this earlier, but this modification is from domestic authors.

And despite the fact that I’m usually much more verbose, but this time, if you don’t start spoiling the main quest, then I really don’t seem to have anything more to say. Well, that is, it’s still the same Skyrim, only with a better plot, setting and in a setting similar to Japan at the end of Sengoku – the beginning of Edo.

However, as always, there are also problems, or rather, this is one standard problem for Skyrim, namely confusion with versions. To which this time it’s worth adding that the mod itself recently released version 2.1, which adds several side quests and a new ending (which I haven’t gotten to yet, though). And here, when installing a fan add-on, you should show some care. There is version 2.1, but it was released only for the Special Edition, on the Nexus you can find this version for the Legendary, but since this is not a release from the author of the mod himself, but a re-translation into Russian of the port from a French translator, it does not work very stably. So if you are a retrograde like me, then you should bother and look for the old version of the mod, which, by the way, is now not so easy to find. Or, finally, finally install the Special Edition and play the updated version of the modification.

However, I have not been able to find the old version of the mod on the Internet, apparently it has already been removed from everywhere. And everything would be fine, but at 2.0 the environment has been significantly redesigned, especially the flora. And although now everything looks incredibly beautiful, resource requirements have increased significantly. Personally, on an old laptop, a walk through the forest in the new version turned into a slide show, so keep in mind that if you have the original Skyrim and it runs at 60 fps, then it’s not a fact that this mod will work normally on weak PCs.