Assassins Creed Shadows

[Jarhead0331]

Has potential to be awesome. I've always scratched my head at why they never did a Japan themed title sooner. Seems like such a no brainer. I will, of course, have to overlook the historical inauthenticity of having a female ninja and black samurai as the two main protagonists, which if the game is good, will be fairly easy to do.

[Gusington]

^Thought of you immediately when I watched the trailer. Fingers crossed.

Assassin's Creed: Mirage is next up in my queue in a few weeks...after Ghost of Tsushima, of course.

[JasonPratt]

Considering the concept of the game (although they may have 'finished' that plot several entries ago), the 'black' samurai might be perfectly fine because a descendent is 'playing' his ancestor's memories. Ditto the female ninja although really that's quite standard in the genre for longer than I've been alive! -- and the AssCreed stories have never been about historical accuracy in that sense anyway. (e.g. their version of George Washington)

Mainly, from the second game onward, their accuracy has aimed at good representations of the physical play areas along with some event-accuracy-flavor (so to speak). Relatedly, I wouldn't mind tourism versions of Odyssey and some earlier games, the way they did Origins.

I did think they had done Japan already in one of the console trilogy (for PSP?), but I guess that was China.

[Gusington]

^Yeah that was China. Russia and India too.

Origins is such a great game in every way. I think I put 125+ hours into it before finishing it unexpectedly, which made me sad.

[Jarhead0331]

For f*ck's sake...can't they just focus on making a good game?

https://tech4gamers.com/assassins-creed-shadows-lgbtq-relationships/

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Sounds like the game is getting skewered.  Backlash in Japan is very strong.  A politician is launching a government investigation into "cultural theft".

https://boundingintocomics.com/2024/07/11/backlash-from-japanese-players-prompts-national-politician-to-investigate-cultural-theft-of-assassins-creed-shadows/


Ubisoft relied mainly on the book Yasuke: The true story of the legendary African Samurai by Thomas Lockley as their historical source.  Lockley's work has been called into question and it appears that there might be some less-than-ethical behaivour with editing of wikipedia entries and citing sources that can't be found.

https://japanese-with-naoto.com/2024/05/29/disappointment-in-thomas-lockley/


Primary documents regarding Yasuke are few and far between and contain only the barest information.

https://japanese-with-naoto.com/2024/05/22/fact-checking-yasuke-the-black-samurai-in-assassins-creed/



At the Japan Expo, the Ubisoft booth was constantly being ignored or, worse from UBI's perspective, people were using UBI's benches to sit and watch screens from other booth presenters.

https://x.com/rc_166/status/1811751058080952755

https://x.com/Grummz/status/1812506383574872080


And, in their promotional pictures, UBI included a plethora of historical Japanese references but many were from eras as much as 300 years apart from the time they're claiming to represent. 

[Gusington]

I'll be in the corner continuing Ghosts of Tsushima if anyone needs me.

[Redwolf]

Stay classy, Ubi.

[W8taminute]

For f*ck's sake...can't they just focus on making a good game?

https://tech4gamers.com/assassins-creed-shadows-lgbtq-relationships/

I'm so done with this wicked world.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Bashlash in Japan is picking up steam.  It's being discussed on morning news shows

Even celebs are opining on the subject via Twitter/X now.

[Jarhead0331]

More on the above. Crazy if true, but hardly surprising.

https://tech4gamers.com/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-story-fabricated/

[Jarhead0331]

Seems Like We Found AC Shadows 2 Protagonist Already!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1011350080991672&set=a.499314072195278&type=3

[Gusington]

 

[al_infierno]

You guys aren't seriously complaining about LGBTQ representation in games now?     I thought this community was better than that.

For one thing, I'm hazarding a bet that they don't force you to be gay.  It's just an option for those who want it.  Second, if sources are so bare and we know so little about Yasuke, how are we so damn sure he wasn't gay or bisexual?  And more importantly, this is a video game, which is art - not a historical record.  It's not like the series is known for its historical authenticity when time travel and sci fi mind control are in the mix.  So who gives a shit if the devs decided to make Yasuke gay?  You can feel free to not support the game if the idea of gay people being in your play time causes you such anguish that it makes you want to be "done with this wicked world."

Also, unironically linking posts from Grummz/Mark Kern complaining about "wokeness" and "historical accuracy" is bottom tier sourcing.  He's a known liar who slings dubious bullshit around to kick up outrage and grift off the attention.  It's all about money for him.

And don't try and shut me down for talking "politics" and brush this off.  The existence of queer people isn't political.  It's only "controversial" when assholes make a big deal about it because they don't want to see queer people in their media.

[Jarhead0331]

You guys aren't seriously complaining about LGBTQ representation in games now?    I thought this community was better than that.

For one thing, I'm hazarding a bet that they don't force you to be gay.  It's just an option for those who want it.  Second, if sources are so bare and we know so little about Yasuke, how are we so damn sure he wasn't gay or bisexual?  And more importantly, this is a video game, which is art - not a historical record.  It's not like the series is known for its historical authenticity when time travel and sci fi mind control are in the mix.  So who gives a shit if the devs decided to make Yasuke gay?  You can feel free to not support the game if the idea of gay people being in your play time causes you such anguish that it makes you want to be "done with this wicked world."

Also, unironically linking posts from Grummz/Mark Kern complaining about "wokeness" and "historical accuracy" is bottom tier sourcing.  He's a known liar who slings dubious bullshit around to kick up outrage and grift off the attention.  It's all about money for him.

And don't try and shut me down for talking "politics" and brush this off.  The existence of queer people isn't political.  It's only "controversial" when assholes make a big deal about it because they don't want to see queer people in their media.

You are entirely missing the point. They are injecting these kinds of things into the game at the expense of the game itself. They've assaulted history, authenticity and disrespected Japanese culture, for what end? I guess it is ok to appropriate and insult Asians, so long as you're representing blacks and gays? Ubisoft's "liberty" with the historical record is so egregious that the Japanese government has become involved.

I'm ok with giving players options. I'm ok if some of the options include those tilting to the queer, but not when the trending of the present day is used in a way that distorts the truth. I mean consider this, Assassins Creed was basically made for feudal Japan. For decades I've been waiting for them to make this game. They could have knocked it out of the park by simply paying homage to Japanese culture and history and instead, they've created this controversy through their emphasis on questionable history and the LGBTQ+. Sex (gay or hetero), gender and race have no place in Assassins Creed. Such issues have never been a part of the series, ever.

...and, are you calling me an asshole because my opinion differs from yours?