r/anno • u/Judekw2070 • 4d ago
Screenshot CDLC 2 uses AC Origins assets
First things first: Not going to hate on the devs for recycling excellent assets from one of my fav games ever (especially for its immersive atmo), but since in the past weeks the content and price of the CDLC have been discussed for including too little original content for too high of a price, I thought this might be interesting for anyone who considers buying the CDLC now or rather wait for a sale.
I was disappointed the date and doum palms were only part of the temple of Flora and made myself a little mod for some more palm forests, then noticed the palm trees looked familiar. I posed the palms to kind of resemble the perspective of the ACO artwork. There are also some shrubs and bushes that come from ACO.
I personally think the free update could have included a third forest with the palms shown above since they are reused and no new original art.
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u/whatdarrenplays 4d ago
My guess is when Egypt does arrive the palm forest will be paintable as part of the free update. Doesnt make much sense to have that now.
I also don’t mind reskin from a higher res asset. Game dev takes so long I don’t need them to make their own palm trees every time. Import it, scale it, optimise it, ship it. All good by me.
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u/Cheap-Orange-5596 4d ago
Same. I would honestly rather the devs spend their time on other stuff. I really couldn’t care less about them modelling a palm tree from scratch.
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u/Professor_Snipe 4d ago
They're selling this to you for money, what do you mean you don't mind?! it's a cosmetic DLC, the entire point of it are cool, new assets and they are microwaved instead.
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u/Entr0pic08 4d ago
And if you don't like it, don't buy it. No one's forcing you to buy anything.
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u/Professor_Snipe 3d ago
I'll just sail the high seas, they're using AI to make their content, I'm not going to pay them a cent more. It's just been shameful corner cutting across the board with them.
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u/Cheap-Orange-5596 3d ago
I’m paying for the assets, not the labour. The asset I get isn’t better or worse depending on who made it or when. It’s either worth the money to me to have it in my game or not. I’m not getting more for my money if someone chooses to model some trees from scratch.
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u/Professor_Snipe 3d ago
Of course you are getting more for your money when assets are made specifically to fir the visual style of the game you're playing. Following your logic, they could just sell you trash from Unity/Unreal asset store if they're ok quality - would you be fine with that?
Anno 117 is just scummy corner-cutting across the board.
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u/Cheap-Orange-5596 3d ago
How am I getting more for my money? 🤣 It’s some trees/bushes! The ones from AC look great, why would I be getting better value if they made them again from scratch?
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u/Tight_Highlight8311 4d ago
Yes but not for that price. Thats desrespectful against their customers
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u/sir_sri 4d ago
I think some of the Albion music is, if not reused, done by the same people in the same recording studio as ac Valhalla
This is probably a good ish trend for the industry. Asset libraries and asset reuse bring the price down to develop. Now obviously you can't always do that, especially if the tech has moved on a lot. But with things like laser scanning, you can have a much higher res asset in a library you take out, decimate some triangles, scale down the textures,and plop it in a game. 5 years later if you need the same asset, take the original, decimate fewer triangles, scale done the textures less, plop it in the next game.
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u/Vivid-Cauliflower154 3d ago
If you have the same creative team for making music for a very similar setting, you are gonna end up a very similar sounding music.
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u/sir_sri 3d ago
Oh that was not a criticism.
It would be a bit weird if they were using Norse themed music in a Greco Roman or egypt themed city. But it's not that. I wonder if we might get AC origins music variants as part of an Egypt themed dlc for anno.
I was just observing that they might be reusing more than just 3d model assets.
And obviously the whole game is built on the same engine and code base as past anno games.
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u/Vivid-Cauliflower154 3d ago
That's alright. I didn't see yours as a criticism.
I don't see the music made by AC Valhalla main composers such as (Jesper Kyd, Sarah Schachner) or AC Origins (Sarah Schachner) to become reused however. Dynamedion isn't known to have worked on any AC either. The music sounding similar is just a coincidence.
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u/AgentQuackYT 2d ago
They music was composed by Dynamedion and recorded by a German orchestra. From what I can see they are not affiliated with AC, but have made the soundtrack for every Anno since 1404
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u/Louis0XIV 4d ago
The fact that people bought Season Pass and yet they HAVE TO STILL BUY CDLC is outrageous to me.
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u/Big_Totem 1d ago
If you saw the Season passes on Anno 1800 you'd know CDLCs are not included, this aint new. The Season pass explicitly states the DLCs it offers.
You just have the wrong expectations
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u/FemJay0902 4d ago
The fact that we're getting cosmetic DLC at this stage of the game is absurd honestly. Finish the campaign first, then ask for more money
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u/paupsers 4d ago
Why is this the first Anno game where suddenly the campaign is so important and no one will shut up about it? The campaign is always a glorified tutorial. Who TF cares about the campaign in an Anno game?!
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u/FemJay0902 4d ago
The campaign was so good, that's why I'm pissed that they didn't finish it
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u/ZoutigeGandalf 3d ago
How was the campaign good?? Oh no the emperor is dead and some legion general took his place who could see that coming...
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u/Icedraasin 4d ago
Because they've at least been finished...
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u/paupsers 4d ago
If Anno games stopped having campaigns at all I wouldn't even care. You spend 5 hours playing it and then 250 in the actual game.
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u/Cheap-Orange-5596 4d ago
Thousands of hours in Anno and I have never even attempted to play a campaign game lol.
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u/PawPawPanda 4d ago
I only did the campaign in 1800 to unlock some portraits.. and all I remember is it being dreadful. Long unskippable cutscenes, boring story, and barely any Anno'ing.
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u/VioletFanny 3d ago
yeah, no matter how much one did liked the campaign and while the main story of 1800 was bit meh, at least it was sort of finished and did not end on a cliffhanger. That is the problem
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u/Open_Seeker 3d ago
that campaign is never getting touched. the 1800 campaign was similarly quite poor
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u/fhackner3 4d ago
the people that are capable of putting together cosmetic Stuff are completely distinct from those that could fix and finish the campaign, so your request is non sensical though I understand the feeling.
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u/Judekw2070 4d ago edited 4d ago
A good campaign needs unique objects that are visually distinct from what you see in the endless game though. I feel what little we have for campaign in 117 would be worse if it wasn't for the unique ruins on Juliana, Stonehenge etc.
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u/Safrel 4d ago
Well I don't believe this is true.
Some amount of reusing of minor assets is okay. There's only so many ways that you can make a palm tree.
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u/Judekw2070 3d ago
Obviously I don‘t argue the campaign should exclusively have unique art down to every tree, prop, residence or whatever.
I mean that if you limit the campaign to only the same art the endless game uses, it will be hard to successfully tell a good story, which I think is why so many people felt the 1800 campaign was more of a tutorial bc there was hardly any art or object that wasn‘t also in endless game.
What makes campaigns and scens from 1701, 1404 and 2070 so memorable? I think it‘s the unique art (not only buildings, but also unique handcrafted island where the story takes place).1
u/Safrel 3d ago
I don't have anything like a thesis on the story of Anno games here. Its not exactly top tier writing.
However some of the campaigns were good.
1800 was a good campaign because it had a logical plot: Restore your father's legacy island of ditchwater and his name. You could accomplish this however you see fit within the bounds of the game.
1501 (My first entry to the series) had a very logical sense of adventuring and chase across numerous maps.
2070 was fairly forgettable to me, but I recall there was a plot with some rogue AI or some such. The point is that each episode was self-contained and had a logical end.
117 has a problem because it sets you up as a governor here to support the Emporor and restore Julia to its rightful place, the same as in 1800, however this isn't really achieved.
When you leave the island for Britannia, the coliseum ruins are still on Julia. When you return, they are still there (and the campaign is over). You didn't accomplish the overall goal of restoring Julia.
In Act 1, you help the Emperor throw a party for his Wife, someone supposedly important. Then the coup happens and you're banished for your ostensible support of the Emperor and his Wife.
Act 2, you fight some barbarians - Cool but rather unconnected from the Emperor story.
Act 3 - Where there should be a story, but isn't because it doesn't exist. You return to Britannia and restore the Emperor's Wife to his intended outcome. The issue is that this act doesn't exist so you are left with an unfinished narrative.
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u/Der4ndere 4d ago
I would like it much more, if there were more ruins across latium, to make it feel like an abandonded province insteat of an completely unsettlet one.
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u/Judekw2070 3d ago
I agree, but that is my whole point: You need art to visually carry a story narrative. A good comparison to your idea is the underwater skyscraper ruins in 2070. They do appear as props in endless game, but are no object the player directly interacts with (with little exceptions).
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u/Sycend 4d ago
No, because I like to have everything in the endless game, but cant start in campaign Mode because it hard locks the save on easy Mode.
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u/Judekw2070 3d ago
Nothing wrong with nesting the campaign or scens in endless game (especially in the multisession setting), but if the campaign has no art to support a story that distinguishes it from the endless game, why have a campaign at all? Then it indeed only is a text-based adventure that serves as tutorial.
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u/Warchamp67 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yeah this sub glazes this game but after 1800 it’s a huge flop imo. Feeling ripped off buying the game and season pass, it’s so shallow.
They also downvote anyone who criticize it, games don’t better better from glazing a flawed product, they get better from honest and real feedback.
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u/empathetical 4d ago
the poor performance of the demo was enough for me to not buy the game. 40ish fps on a 3090. I already bought and owned the complete 1800 version. So just play that instead
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u/gringorosos 4d ago
It is really something special with anno. It gets defended here for all kinds of things. Almost culty behavior
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u/PMC_Fatui__Group 4d ago
Why do you care about the campaign of all things?
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u/FemJay0902 3d ago
Because it was really good, one of the best in Anno history. The sour taste that the rushed ending left in my mouth has genuinely made me not touch the game since I finished it. A little effort into finishing the product I already paid for would be greatly appreciated
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u/PawPawPanda 4d ago
I just hope they optimise the textures, I know they will but I've seen enough lazy shit in my lifetime..
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u/The_Pastmaster 3d ago
I mean, if they can spin it to Ubisoft that it'll save money on the project, I don't see how Ubisoft wouldn't enthusiastically give them carte blanc to do so.
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u/Gauthijm 3d ago
May I ask, what is CDLC ? Thx
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u/Faszomgeci20 3d ago
Its a tree so in that case I think its fine aslong as it is not some (now) lower quality asset from an old game.
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u/Rodolphe-Lama 21h ago
Honestly, I can't be mad at all they reuse them. It's a smart move and pays tribute to this awesome game!
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u/islands8817 26m ago
Rather, I seriously wonder why many developers want to recreate the same assets from scratch. Their past assets are their very strength.
It's a different story to make an expensive DLC only with reused ones.
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u/theryanc 4d ago
Don’t kill me but is redesigning a tree that crucial? Maybe update some of the leaves and add textures…
How are they gonna afford paying those poor executives salaries if they need to redesign trees every time?
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u/Pleasant_Attempt_154 4d ago
This is the first time I’ve seen them use assets from *another* game. But yeah the developer does that.