Assassin's Creed Odyssey | A Narrative Critique | Luke Stephens 

i think that the fact that a baby (younger sibiling) survived is actually cool think because greek mythology is full of those unbeliavable crazy plot twists and stories

I had a blast with Odyssey, I love that era it is set in. I had a little more fun in odyssey than I did with origins.

I still don't get why people say the games lost focus on stealth, I mean did they just run into every fort throwing bombs and killing like 50 guards all at once?

Phoebe getting to the mainland wasn't a coincidence, she was manipulated by Aspascia to steer Kassandra wherd she wants her. It was actually brilliant and was one of the great forward looking story pieces that made the game so memorable to me.

1st of 3 videos? Goddamn Luke your dedication is inspiring. I'm glad we have someone that is passionate about the franchise and not instantly shitting on every new entry. Keep it up man! I'm gonna stick till the end :D

My favorite game of all time. It was a blast playing it!!!!

i like how you said at the start that you dont spoil much but you spoil pretty much everything lol

I play as Alexios cause I like Kassandra better as Deimos

personally, i really like the new game design, i just want to see it accompanying the Assassins Creed Storyline. The name of the game is Assassins Creed, my thought process is if you're going mostly forsake the story of the Assassins Creed franchise. Just make a new franchise altogether or call it a spin off. thats what i think they are doing with Gods and Monsters (Which i like). To me its basically like if the devs of halo made a halo game that took place in present day and the story had almost nothing to do with the halo story but it evolved the gameplay. Yeah, the game might be fun and have an excellently told story. but at that point, dont call it halo. Because it isnt. make it a new franchise or at the very least call it a spin off. I like Origins a lot, but Odyssey doesnt fit very well in my opinion.

Still havent played it, but I plan to. Will save this video to a playlist and watch afterwards.

To the sacred life and not taking a life unless you have to. That's a Tennant of the assassins order The Assassins don't exist yet and so the Tennant doesn't exist

Fun fact. After accepting task to kill Wolf of Sparta from Elpinor i actually stumbled upon Cyclops torturing Barnabas while being on another quest to free some dude's brother and that way i got myself a ship, so i never knew about 100k drachmee or got a quest from Marcus. And then, after having a talk on a cliff with Nikolaos and deciding not to kill him i also decided not to go to Elpinor with it right away, because dude's creepy and Nikolaos did say smthn about snakes in the grass, and then Branabas said something about oracle in Delphi, that i should go there, point is, i decided to check with the oracle before going to Elpinor and the way it played out is that i learned about CoK and Elpinor's role in it from that quest and so i never had to go take the Wolf's helmet to E. and to lie to him. That's pretty cool story branching i would say, as RPG as it gets. :)

i am in love with this game. i have spent more time with this game than rdr2 even though i waited for rdr for so long.

Oracle: the child will lead to the downfall of Sparta Spartans: YEET

I can't agree with the narrative of Odyssey being the best narrative Assassin's Creed has to offer, Revelations is the best narrative that I believe Assassin's Creed has to offer.

"Ubisoft had stop since Origins pretending that Assassins Creed is supposed to be realistic and as instead double down on the fun magic stuff that happens I understand why people might not like it but this clearly the way its heading they wanted to have this to be their open world fantasy action RPG they've moved on from the attempts at grounded narrative from years past simply Ubisoft doesn't want you to take Assassins Creed super seriously they want you to play it as a fun open world exploration based title with some RPG mechanics they don't want you to approach it as a present day storyline based narrative driven experience focused on Abstergo The Templars and the idea that there's this new world order that's trying to eliminate free will in humanity that is still at play that's still a theme that foes on in the background of the game but that's not what the game itself is about" This quote explains why I don't like odyssey and the direction that Ubisoft is taking with Assassins Creed. They could of just made another series if this is want they wanted instead they abandoned on what made the series and didn't try to make it better or innovate they just switch genres to appeal different people and abandon their fans that made this series popular

I think that the mayor problem with the game (wich some people might look over but to me is what drags the game from being excellent) is the poorly combination between gameplay, story and lore. The game cannot do a perfect merge of this three and it shows a lot, and to me, someone who has start with the saga seens the beginning and likes more story-base games, that is a really big problem. There are moments when it shows that the game could had a more deep story and a more strong connection with the lore, but utterly it's the gameplay who has the spotlight and sometimes it kinda ruins a lot of potential, like the Phoebe scene or the endings (Or this past controversy with the DLC). And this wouldn't be such a big problem to me if I didn't knew that is possible to have this perfect combination betwin those three things. I would take a skilled writer to do it, something that Ubi Quebec have shown they lack of.

not to correct you in any bad way of form but at around 31:50 you talk about the taking a life part while you are confronted with taking lives throughout the game if you know it happens. Guards will carry their dead comrades to a suitable grave and talk about the person(and it is not the best way, it is acknowledged.) And in the legacy of the first blade DLC you are literally confronted with the option of looking at yourself like a monster or seeing the murder as mandatory. Love the video btw. Kindest regards, Bobby :)

If you ever encounter anyone deeming themselves “ *True Fans* ” ignore them. Allow yourself to enjoy what YOU enjoy.

they should have just called the game 'Odyssey'.

Huge thanks for the in-detail critique Luke. Honestly one of the only channels that put such passion into those videos. And I love how you aren't biased whatever being an AC fan. You give shit and props where and when it is deserved.

I'm a bit iffy on Luke's statement towards the end of the video regarding what Assassin's Creed was meant to be, or what ubisoft wanted it to be. The creator of the game Patrice Desiliet, by all intents and purposes, wanted an open world game that gave us, the player, the ability to explore the scenery of the whatever time period we were visiting to give us a better look at what the world was like during whatever time period. Now whether or not he wanted the game to go towards being a RPG, I dont know but with the games that he and his team developed I would say that his main focus was on linear based games semi RPG like titles that had a clear, overarching goal for where the franchise was headed. I don't believe that Luke's statement is representative of what the creator of the franchise envisioned but is representative of the companies goals to make as much money out of the franchise as they can and not because they care about the franchise, much less the fans of this franchise.

Gonna be honest, I’m not a gamer in the proper sense of the word. I played Mario as a kid but only beat the gameboy version of super Mario land. never beat any other version. I played Tony hawk for a couple semesters in college. And I dabble here and there with my kids in Minecraft on Xbox one. Besides that, never really played much. But I recently decided to get Xbox Gold on a whim and decided to try this game because I had heard about assassin’s creed by way of the sea shanties in black flag. I also like Ancient Greece, so I thought this sounded like fun. And man….it is incredible. I am about 20 hours in and going very very slowly on easy mode because I have no idea what I’m doing. But I am watching you tube clips and things like that so I can get the best experience. I so appreciate these videos about this world I had no idea about until just a couple weeks ago. Thanks so much for your dedication and great videos. Much appreciated.

I think you may have been looking a bit too far into the Cultist Ending, Luke. I don't think that was supposed to be anything extraordinarily deep or a message from Ubisoft itself. It was just a flash-forward of the consequences of Kassandra's (not Alexios, because canon) actions, which lead to the events of Origins and the rest of the series. It shows _every_ Assassin's Creed games' setting, not just games that this team had worked on. It was a 'this is what _will_ happen' sort of deal. Basically, in destroying the Cult of Kosmos, she rid the world of one of two fundamental powers; Chaos. In doing so, she allowed it's opposite; Order, the chance to come in and take absolute hold in the form of the Persian-born Order of the Ancients. By eliminating the Cult, she inadvertently started the Assassin/Templar war, which has spilled far more blood and ended more lives than the Cult alone would have. While destroying the Cult may have been the right thing to do in the short term, making her a Hero of her time, her actions have the consequences of dooming the Earth to an eternity of bloodshed and war.

Let me tell you something. I practically stopped playing AC after Black Flag. The others that came after never caught my atention as the previous ones did. The games looked to me sort of RPGs that weren't completely RPGs, so I felt that something was missing, idk. But the, Odyssey came out. I had so little hopes on it that I didn't even watch trailers or gameplays or anything related to it. I wasn't at all eager, I was expecting RDR2 and was in my 2nd playthrough of Witcher 3. But then, I found it on Skidrow&Reloaded and decided to download it just to give it a try (yeah, I downloaded a cracked game, bite me). And it blew me away so hard that I haven't stopped playing it since day one. I played about 5 hours of the cracked one then I decided that the devs and Ubisoft really deserved my money and purchased the Ultimate Edition on Steam. Perhaps this is owed to my so-little expectations with this game. Perhaps it's owed to my devotion to Greek history and mythology. But I sincerely believe it's owed to the real masterpiece this game is. I'd give it 11 out of 10 any day. And my personal recomendation would be Alexios. Maybe because I've been playing with him and created a bond with the character. But I also believe Michael Antonakos pours a bit more emotion to the character. Melisanthi is amazing as well, and I also loved her as Kassandra and Deimos. But what really got into Alexios was 1) "did he hurt your feelings?" and 2) the first part with The Wolf.

Good review! I’ve put more hours than I want to admit into this game and still no where near done. I feel like I’ve kept all the main bits at the same completion level though so my endings should hit one right after the other for the most part. I can’t seem to focus on one thing cause there’s just TOO MUCH in this game. I love it but it’s a lot.

The intro must be a joke, to call this game the magnum opus of the series comes with the clear intetion to make everybody laughs.

Im on the side that odyssey is a good game by its own but as an assassin creed game its not. It was the same with dmc: devil may cry definitive edition being a decent game but a terrible devil may cry game This is just a personal opinion and it doesnt stop me from enjoying origins and odyssey. I just hope that games after these get better as time goes on

At the 30 minute mark when you talk about the killing, they address that in the DLC in a pretty cool way I think

Absolutely loving the multiple part series!!! Bro this is the next step in your channel!!!

Beautifully said actually this video made me realize why I love this game (:

Honestly, talking about ludo-narrative, thing is, AC always had an out. Especially now, when you remember that the Animus is now basically a game console. Not only that, it's almost like a company of game consoles that take the real life stuff and ''bend'' it for fun right? I always assumed that there's embellishments done in these memories, since they aren't 1 to 1 memories like Desmond. It's like, Abstergo is Ubisoft making games and stuff, I thought that was what they were telling me in Black Flag basically, or that's just how I read it. That they changed the boring parts with ''oh fight a minotaur'' instead of ''then she went into this weird cave and found that piece of bullshit, wow players gonna hate this add a boss fight here''. I dunno, my head cannon I guess.

I remember being so excited than I heard that Odyssey would take place in Greece with Spartans and all that before realising that all this happened BEFORE Origins where you see the origin of the creed and I still feel kinda unattached to the game being an assassins creed game when there’s no creed yet - I haven’t played but for me it feels hard to look at it as an assassins creed game this way

Finally a real unbiased critique by someone who knows how to do them right, unlike some "real" fans like Lazerzz or Tynamite who show clear amounts of bias simply because Odyssey is not a Bayek sequel made by Ashraf's team. Your critiques are on a league of its own.

I did notice that if you go back to the cave where you kill him later, even after the first time you meet Demos, Elpenor still has his head on his body.

Love how you nailed the whole "It's not a real AC game" debacle. I agree with you 100%. Been playing through AC3R and the combat, despite being the most fun and a spectacle, you could 2 button press your way through 2 dozen men easily. Sure you can do the same in ACO but it just feels more tedious. Is that a fautl on the combat of Odyssey? Probably; but, it also helps to reinforce that I would rather stealth my way through in spongy enemies in ACO than calmly try and trot through in AC3 unless forced to.

I love the way you play with words!

I never liked the other AC games. I absolutely love this one. (87 hrs so far) I can't wait for the next game.

One part I found really intresting was what ending you got when, I got the atlantis one first, then the family one and lastly the cult one, and to me it felt really natural, so really interesting and subjective.

I do HATE that we can choose things in this game which canonically the animus can never do since it only relives memories, not make them

very good game that's hurt by the obvious inclusion of an over abundance of grindy side content. There are so many fetch quests that it literally makes it hard to figure out what yo do next. Bloated.

your multiple ending complaint sounds like a personal bias. when i played the game, i did everything as it was available. so i killed the cultist as they were revealed, killed the mythical beasts as i made it to their islands, and would only move on to the family missions once i couldnt find any more cultists. doing it this way made the story seem very cohesive. especially if you follow it up with the dlc.

22:37 This entire cutscene is absolutely brilliant. Dialogue, story, acting, humor, all of it!

I like the game and all but it seems like their historical research was limited to the movie 300, they basically got everything wrong bar a few elements. Not that it needs to be 100% accurate, but it should at least take the spirit and feeling of the era into account, which they did not.

I have no other word for this game but gorgeous. Drop-dead gorgeous, actually.

Duuuuuude, I've been waiting this video for daaaaays!!!!!!!! Thanks dude, you make amazing content

I first subscribed with the AC Unity breakdown you made. And now here we are... Odyssey. How time flies and what a good time to be a Luke Stephen's sub :)

A very well done review, good sir. You obviously put a lot of thought into this.

Once I beat Red Dead 2 I'm gonna continue Assasins Creed Odyssey. Weird Flex But Oh Well

I love your work and Joseph Andersons, I appreciate that you post much more frequently. Keep up the great stuff!

As I stumble around youtube looking at content and reviews on games I may want to play for my own channel i found this video. This was amazing! It really opened my eyes to the story of the one assassin's creed game I thought stepped away from the main narrative, but now I want to give it a chance. Thanks so much Luke! This video was awesome. You earned yourself a sub today for sure

I loved the Legacy dlc because the villains bring up how many people you killed and your character starts to question himself.

I LOVED this game and was baffled that other fans of the series couldn’t see how amazing it was! Great video.

Great video! What are your thoughts on Odyssey's DLCs? Especially the Atlantis DLC?

YES finaly ! I was waiting for this video

I’ve been really looking forward to this been watching since your origins critique

I love odyssey as an rpg, I love the setting, I love it as a game, but as an Assassins Creed game itself Iam not so much a fan. It dosent feel like AC enough for me personally. Also I think they went a little overboard with the loot and the levels and what not of them

odysessy is like real life thiere is never satisfaction

I liked this game and your analysis is spot on. I thought the mythical characters were cool because the pieces of eden but I wish they would go into detail to where Alexios/Kassandra put them instead of taking them and just putting them away.

When I played the only side quest that reminded me I'm playing an assassin's creed game was the flower quest in the minatour area. It's now a completely different beast

Your Channel and Videos have helped me so much in understanding video games like never before and I just wanna say thanks a million for that!

I have to admire your commitment to giving this game a thorough discussion. I agree with the points you made and I personally do like the direction the series is taking. The gameplay has to evolve to suit the market and climate, and the stealth gameplay, in my opinion, was not ageing well. Your conclusion at the end was a little odd though. You stated that Pythagoras' monologue is overlaid with clips from Syndicate and Odyssey, the last games the team worked on. But the sequence uses scenes from all of the mainstream AC trailers, and includes Origins. I'm not sure what conclusion you were leading up to in terms of a possible real-world shift in Ubisoft's design philosophy from this sequence.

Always exited to listen to your reviews!

This video accurately portrays my sentiment towards AC, thank you.

i can never imagine alexios being the bad guy

I'm a veteran so I play hardest difficulty💪🏽

Keep up the great work Luke, fantastic content. Subscribed really quickly after stumbling upon an A.C. critique.

I thought Alexios's Voice Actor did a better job than Kassandra.

Odyssey is a junk food video game. It's an open world Ubisoft sandbox with all the Ubification and to-do checklist items that we've seen for the past several years. The story falls apart at the end like you said. It's a fine game. It's fun. As far as it being an "RPG" goes, it's a bad example of the genre when held up to the likes of old and modern classics like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age Origins, Morrowind, Baulder's Gate, KOTOR, etc. The gear system is fine, it's whatever. I hate the leveling and level-scaling in the game. Level scaling never feels good. You go back to a beginning area and everything is as strong as you. They need to hammer out a better system for that. Leveling in general feels like a bad fit for the series. It's weird that a blade in the back somehow doesn't hurt X guy that much because his arbitrary numbers are higher than mine. I think the jank and the pace are my biggest problems with it. Odyssey makes you completely worthless against enemies 3 levels above yours and a goddamn superhero against equal level enemies. It plays too fast for my tastes a lot of the time. Like they wanted to you hurry up and spend 80 hours in this game rather than just kick back and soak it in. All of the classic AC kill animations are jankyer than ever in this game. They skip a bunch of frames to keep the pacing sky high and it leads to lots of terrible animation bugs like executing a guy 2 feet to his left. I don't feel like the sacrifice for the pacing is worth it. I hate to bring Red Dead into this, but they could learn a thing or two by observing the pacing in that game. They don't need to ape it, but they should observe what proper pacing can accomplish and adjust accordingly. Odyssey just lacks polish. If it had more time in the cooker it could have been monumental. It needs polish on it's gameplay and to make it's content more meaningful. I don't mean it to sound like I'm just hating hard on the game. It's a fine game and UBI is full of veterans that can solve these problems and make something truly great in the future. I just hope they don't see sales numbers and think "all is right with this" and instead learns from their problems and evolves the formula. It DOESN'T feel like an AC game, but with some adjustments it could. There is never any shame in adding more player choice in how they PLAY the game rather than just narrative choice. Here is to hoping they listen to criticism and make adjustments to address that rather than cranking another out in a year for that fat dough. Fingers still crossed for a Shao Jun open world AC China. Looking forward to the gameplay critique.

Thank you for giving this game a fair review and an unbiased point of view you my friend have earned a subscriber

Wow! I loved the video! You are amazing man!

I kinda dont like it and has no excitement as Origins. I am a huge Assassins Creed Fan. So, do i need to go for Odyssey or can I skip this like Syndicate? Please suggest

Your dedication blows my mind away, thank you so much for these amazing critiques

I love your videos please keep making them!

great points. I'd like to point out that in the first dlc how good of a man the main character is is actually dealt with well

I really want to make sure..... Does the video contain any spoilers?

@Luke Stephens: I see your point in the end. And moving away from the game itself and seeing the company behind it I couldn't more disagree with the changes. Don't get me wrong, I admire changes and I am open for them. Heck, I play League of Legends and this shit is getting changed every month. Jokes aside: I personally disagree with the way Ubisoft handling the brand due to the inconsistency. I don't know if you know the book "Faust" by Goethe but in its beginning there is a conversation of different producers discussing whether it is better to offer the audience a specialized piece of art or a mix of different "goodies". Ubisoft is clearly heading towards the mix and I personally disagree with this but that is not my major problem. The problem for me personally is the assumption that the player is simply brain-dead and accepting every single thing they want. There is no redline while spitting on the past games. E.g. I would love AC to have it's dialogue options and consequences. But why do they have to keep the animus inside the story? Btw I love the scientific idea behind the animus. But this game would have been fantastic if it was produced as a spin-off title. Maybe a new brand like "Assassin's Creed Immersed - Odyssey". Then they had to skip Layla in this title and give her more time and better development as a character in a future title of the "main" series. To sum it all up, one can really enjoy this game and I admire some work of the dev-team behind it. Either way I am unable to enjoy this piece of art while it is torn apart in itself. Releasing a game like this compares to giving birth to a new artwork containing pieces connected using sticking plasters and wanting people to like it. Ofc those parts seem interesting but I will never be able to watch this piece of art without asking myself if they are serious or thinking to themselves "Don't worry our audience is so dumb, they won't recognize the sticking plasters". If a game is an RPG it has to be immersive because only in this way they can deliver its purpose. How should I be able to play a role if my whole world is always changing and unpredictable. It is way too hard for me personally to get lost in this world and I somehow don't understand but slightly respect people who can shutdown this "serious" part of their brains(no offense). I am sorry if there are any spelling mistakes. I wanted to see this video before going to bed and just wanted to share my thoughts on it, because I played AC since AC1.

Been waiting for this one! Thanks 😁

Holy shit I didn't even know 4k was a possible option for video quality....

19:07 oh hey Jake Gyllenhaal cameo

To be honest, The moment I saw Deimos, I knew that I should've chosen Kassandra.

So excited for this. You have such a masterful way of collecting your thoughts, experiences and popular opinion and crafting such a beautiful package. ACES!!!!! This game has gobbled up so many hours of my time. And this NEVER happens for me... yeah, i am a very particular gamer/ art enjoyer... So play only what catches my eye, which can be anything at anytime.... making my choices dangerous But for what its worth, your critiques are as important to my game choices as are (almost) the games themselves. You did a great job Luke. CANT WAIT FOR WHATS TO COME. Such a meaty morsel this one. I new it would be. Didnt disappoint dude. EDIT: so much for the short form critique, eh? Stoked!! You did good in my book.

Excellent video! Waiting for the next parts!

Only luke could get me to watch an hour long critique of a game that I know I'm not gonna buy anyways

For me this game is just simply amazing This is definitely the right direction for the series Best game in the series in my opinion

I just started playing Odyssey after finishing Origins. I really feel so far, that it’s in many ways an improved version of Origins, which itself is already a great game. Great video dude! I tend to listen to these while I play AC lol

The reason why Kassandra is the actual main protagonist of this game: the opening scene where you first see the protagonist, sitting on her/his house. Alexios wouldn't sit in that pose. It's way too feminine. And the way he looks around then. It's like he's a kid who's daydreaming.

What?? Nah man origins was way better in my opinion. The story was more appealing, the character was brilliant The game play was amazing with the shield and bow was more defined for me I started on origins and I fell in love with it, I was so hyped for oddysey. But then I was so disappointed

I am truly loving this game. I've never been a big RPG fan, but I feel like it combines classic AC elements with the RPG. The story is deep, the open world environments are astounding. The only real issue I have is the sheer number of stuff to pick up. The looting system is insane with as much as it has. But that's a VERY small issue in the overall picture.

imagine alexio/kassanda has been behind all future assassins' achievments just because of the staff

oh this is so refreshing. It's nice to hear in depth talk about the game and story beyond "it's not assasisn's creed cuz ac 2 said" or the like.

-Remember that guy , the stupid one?? - Oh yeah that guy markos was stupid indeed Living world..?? Describing someone with a single character trait is extremely disappointing..

I like every single one of the assassin’s creed games except for the first! They’re all good and all different! The old formula was just as fun as the new one (maybe the new one a little more stressful and yet more fun) and I do miss the old free running a little bit but it was janky and I’m glad where the focus has moved now. I’m happy that ubisoft is remastering the old assassin’s creeds and I don’t think assassin’s creed is dead. Proceed Ubisoft! I love your games, every last one!

I really agree with the commentary about the voice acting especially. I'm playing Kassandra and probably would again

I played the first two assassin creed games on the ps2. Didn't care for the rest of the series. I gave Odyssey a try because it said that it was based on the witcher 3 gameplay. I play mostly stealth. I now have over 1000 hrs playing it and still enjoying the game.

For the best AC game: that HAS to be Unity. If you can look past its bugs, then you'll see that Unity is actually AC 2.0 Stealth and freerunning had been improved, and it looked very good as well. Although it's a pain to play sometimes, I believe that, without its bugs, AC Unity is the best AC game gameplay wise. The story was also quite good. In AC Origins and Odyssey, the gameplay is a whole lot different than in Unity, more like the Witcher 3 (which you mentioned). Although I liked The Witcher 3 a lot, I don't like the same mechanics in an AC game. AC is about stealth and having patience, and with the newer AC's I never had these traits to play with. You can be stealthy, but it's not as the same as in Unity. All I have to say about Odyssey: it's running, climbing, and killing. Oh and don't forget fetching... The story was a it interesting too, but not that much.

How is retelling the whole plot of the game narrative critique?

I've been looking forward to this video

Amazing video,I can see there's alot of work put into it.I instantly subscribed and will be watching the rest of your videos.Keep up the great work.

I love Odyssey. Love the gameplay loop. Love the fighting, the exploring, the world they've built. Heck, I even love the GaaS-support this game is getting! But the story? It's pretty good for an AC, but they never had a good story. Some characters were likeable, but each and every one was one dimensional cliche character. The bad guys are super bad. The good guys are super good. That's about it. With Altair and the Templars they had a little bit more depth, but that faded away with Ezio and his super likable uncle, super clumsy Leonardo DaVinci, super cold Machiavelli, super bad Rodrigo Borgia etc. etc. The plot in itself is allright in Odyssey. For a change we don't get our characters motivation from a dead famliy member! After like 20 games the finally managed to get away from that overused cliche. Now it's a living familiy member, which at least feels fresh. You're interessted to see if the familiy can reunite. I don't even care. I rather have a game that takes me 100 hrs to finish with an average story than a game that takes me 10 hrs and has a supreme story. I for myself read books or watch movies when I wan't to be told a story. When I play, I like to write my own story. Open World is just not made for great story arcs. That's why I loved Zelda. It was never about the main plot. The main plot is so straight forward and empty that it doesn't force itself upon you. If you have a game that just goes on and on and on, well your story has to go on as well! And good stories don't go on forever. They have a beginning, a climax and an end. The moment you start to prolong it you make it worse.