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An Assassin's Creed set in feudal Japan would feel over-familiar, says AC3 director
- Thread starter The Antitype
- Start date
VFX_Veteran
Banned
This guy has got to be kidding me.
Feudal Japan would be the absolute best scenario for an AC game. Playing as a Ninja or samurai would break the monotony of France, Paris, Spain, etc.. that they have been rehashing over and over again.
Feudal Japan would be the absolute best scenario for an AC game. Playing as a Ninja or samurai would break the monotony of France, Paris, Spain, etc.. that they have been rehashing over and over again.
Gabriel_Logan
Member
I'd totally play an Feudal Japan game...as long as you play as a Samurai. I hate ninjas.
Scrooge McDuck
Member
In the game's proper, the optional objectives are what canonically happened. It's needed for 100% synchronization, meaning "doing it exactly like what your ancestor did." Those who ignore those and murdered them without any remorse are those who don't pay attention to the story to begin with.
Angelus Errare
Banned
I'll keep saying it but I'd rather have a AC game set in Joseon era Korea versus Sengoku period Japan.
We have literally never had a game in the former and it would be absolutely amazing era to explore that's fresh and brand new.
We have literally never had a game in the former and it would be absolutely amazing era to explore that's fresh and brand new.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
We only had three games in Europe, and in the last two years we've gotten four games set in the Americas with a 5th one on the way. How is France, a setting we've never been to in the series, rehashed?
JuanLatino
Member
A Samurai climbing on Buildings wearing a hoodie? Nah....
VFX_Veteran
Banned
Because all of the games look to have the same environments. I'm not being specific about the actual places because it doesn't matter. To me they all look the same. The towns are simply towns with people walking back and forth on the streets and doing stuff. You got your typical harbor, and your towers to scale.. churches,etc.. at least in AC2 and Brotherhood, they had dungeons and stuff you could go through.
All the AC games seem to have very similar towns is my point. Nothing even remotely different like feudal Japan would be.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I know you were probably driveby posting but if only there was a game coming out this year that wasn't set in America.
SteamyPunk
Member
He may be correct but it just seems so disingenuous to me. I imagine that when they pitch the themes for each game that any really unique suggestions are cut down with a UBISOFT boss saying "no, we need a setting that the main audience(American males age 13~34) are familiar with."
Dark_castle
Junior Member
You have a point, but I think why most people want something like feudal Japan or ancient China is because Asian countries tends to have a drastic different culture and atmosphere than Western counterpart, which is very dominant in AC franchise.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
How does the American Revolution have the same environments as the Caribbean? Boston felt nothing like Havana, and according to preview ACR New York feels very different from AC3 New York, you have a point with the crowd AI, but Unity will be alleviating that particular issue.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Sure, but India and Ancient Egypt--the proposed settings--aren't Western.
I'll admit my wrongness here. Forgot what full synchronization actually did/meant.
Doug Heffernan
Member
They would just fuck it up anyway by using Australian actors to do German accents for Japanese characters.
King Tubby
Member
I agree to an extent. Compared to the rest of...history, Sengoku Japan has been done plenty of times. Don't act like Onimusha, Shogun: TW and Tenchu are these obscure games nobody's heard of. A good modern open-world game in one of these settings would be very cool though, which is why it's great that Ubisoft has no interest in making one.
spray this all over my body.
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
Nah man! We've had tons of AAA Feudal Japan stealth games, tons! Just think of....uh...er... *walks away*
thelastcrusader
Banned
Egyptian would be nice but pass on China/Japan. I completely agree with him. Give me Russia instead!!!
His comments really make no sense. I'm sure that a ninja or samurai assassin would play 99% similar to the other assassins in the franchise.
And while ninja and samurai are plentiful in video games, a game set in feudal Japan isn't.
Can you imagine how awesome a game set during the Bakumatsu era could be?
And while ninja and samurai are plentiful in video games, a game set in feudal Japan isn't.
Can you imagine how awesome a game set during the Bakumatsu era could be?
plasmawave
Banned
Squaresoft already made a game that has Bakumatsu era ninja RPG back in 1994, OK?
Just how many ninja games do you people want? We clearly don't want any more of this.
But seriously, I'd love to see a AAA budget feudal Japan ninja game.
chrominance
Member
I'm not particularly convinced. Ultimately, the setting serves the story, and if the story's good enough, a familiar setting doesn't have to be a setback. Plus, I feel like most video games set in a form of feudal Japan focus on warring clans and samurais, with relatively little in the way of political intrigue, but that doesn't (and arguably shouldn't!) be the focus of an Assassin's Creed game in Japan.
Japan's temporary self-imposed isolation to foreign influence for two centuries seems like a much better setting for Assassins vs. Templars scheming. Plenty of possible scenarios--embryonic Templar and Assassin organizations building up in preparation for reconciliation with the west in the early 1800s; one faction deciding to close the borders in the 1600s to consolidate power and lock out the other faction; land grabs by the Templars and Assassins following Commodore Perry's landing in the mid-1800s and the subsequent treaty signings; etc., etc. You could even introduce a third faction, if you wanted to mix things up, by leaving Japan's shoguns as an independent power dealing with both the Assassins and Templars.
Setting a game in feudal Japan doesn't have to come off as lazy and overdone; it only happens if you choose the laziest and most overdone tropes like ninjas and samurais.
Japan's temporary self-imposed isolation to foreign influence for two centuries seems like a much better setting for Assassins vs. Templars scheming. Plenty of possible scenarios--embryonic Templar and Assassin organizations building up in preparation for reconciliation with the west in the early 1800s; one faction deciding to close the borders in the 1600s to consolidate power and lock out the other faction; land grabs by the Templars and Assassins following Commodore Perry's landing in the mid-1800s and the subsequent treaty signings; etc., etc. You could even introduce a third faction, if you wanted to mix things up, by leaving Japan's shoguns as an independent power dealing with both the Assassins and Templars.
Setting a game in feudal Japan doesn't have to come off as lazy and overdone; it only happens if you choose the laziest and most overdone tropes like ninjas and samurais.
publicpwnerer
Member
Japan would be fantastic, simply because the architecture of fuedal Japan would really lend itself well to the climbing..but also remaining fresh regarding stealth and combat.
Scaling a Japanese castle would be really awesome / unique. You could have the Templar backing various clans and foreign interests etc. The possibilities are endless, and it practically writes itself.
Scaling a Japanese castle would be really awesome / unique. You could have the Templar backing various clans and foreign interests etc. The possibilities are endless, and it practically writes itself.
Teletraan1
Banned
Since all their games are the same mold. They should make a Blade Runner game where you have to track down replicants set in 2019 Los Angeles. That game would rock. On second thought I hope someone competent just makes it instead. I dont want to have to put up with the bad PC port of that game.
R_thanatos
Member
Parkour being better is subjective ..the level design ( of the cities) only provided with less option at a time making the chances of the automated sequence to fail less likely...and despite all of that it still wasn't proper since it did bugs especially when you tried to climb the big trees in the frontier.
I'm not even sure what you mean by combat being more challenging . counter parries chains are OP since it was introduced in brotherhood and it can be amused the same way since the timing window this time is larger than the entrance of my house.
AC3 is a coherent game , but being coherent doesn't escuse the horrible fast travel system, the numerous bugs while travelling , while taking forts that break immersion and just doesn't give the player any chance to enjoy the game the way it could have been . you can take forts as a kid and connor will put the same generic animation with the flag even if this doesn't make sense. Having a back story for assasins is cool , but having only 6 of them wasn't a good choice , especially when there usefullness was tonned down
i'm only comparing them on their first game introduction story
there are some similarities between the 2 characters (familly lost , revenge quest that only manage to get them involved into the creed stuff and so on)
i'm not talking about the entire ezio trilogy but only of AC2 vs AC3
bigboss370
Member
As for where Hutchinson might take Assassin's Creed, were he back in charge of the franchise - the answer remains India during the British Raj (aka, the mid-19th to mid-20th century).
uh, fuck yes please.
uh, fuck yes please.
I know you were probably driveby posting but if only there was a game coming out this year that wasn't set in America.
I didn't realize Alex Hutchinson was directing AC Unity.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Sorry but there's no way you can convince me or anyone that the parkour in the Ezio trilogy is better than the parkour in anvilnext AC games. There's a night and day difference when it comes to the mobility. Connor is faster, has more moves, has more paths, has more animations, and the new controls make it so failing is harder to do. If AC 2's parkour was perfect then Ubi wouldn't have made 880 new animations for Connor, and that's just concerning movement. And the parry window although large is no larger than the parry window for the Ezio trilogy, which also let you upgrade your armor to for ridiculous amounts of health and also had medicine, not only that, but chains weren't an instant win in any fight, the different enemy types in AC3 like heavies could now interrupt chains. And the tree parkour was definitely not glitchy, there were glitches in the game but concerning tree parkour it definitely was not glitchy.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
More ridiculous claims. AC doesn't have ghost writers, they're very open about who's writing their games. Especially Darby Mcdevitt who's very social.
Didn't realize that the same director chooses the exact same location in the AC series. Because they don't. -_- And if you're being genuine, Alex Amancio is directing ACU.
Scrooge McDuck
Member
To be fair, your comment didn't really make sense. Alex Hutchinson didn't direct or intending to direct more games set during the American Revolution. And it's not like that setting is any more common in gaming compared to Feudal Japan.
Thoughts? I think the location isn't the problem, rather it's how the development team approaches the location that matters. Saying a location is boring, well it depends on your approach.
They keep mentioning why they won't do far East history and locations, which makes me think enough fans are asking that they feel the need to comment. But rather than give fans what they want, they continue to say no. It's strange. I guess the dlc is their way of appeasing those fans?
They keep mentioning why they won't do far East history and locations, which makes me think enough fans are asking that they feel the need to comment. But rather than give fans what they want, they continue to say no. It's strange. I guess the dlc is their way of appeasing those fans?
Japanmanx3
Member
Besides assassins creed being the stale, formulaic franchise it is, any japan aesthetic whether feudal or futuristic would catch my eye a whole lot more than any of the other creeds. And an egyptian/indian creed would be probably just be a return to form a la Prince of Persia with a new name. I'd much rather an PoP08 sequel.
I agree with the sentiment. Despite what many here say, the locations and times chosen in the AC franchise are not that common in video games. There are almost no games set during the Colonial Period, and games featuring a native american are even more rare. For all it's shortcomings, AC3 was very unique. If they make an asian setting, I would say that South or Southeast Asia would be much more interesting and fresh for most gamers. Climbing the freshly built towers of Angkor Wat and elephants and armor/weapons from those areas would be more fresh than killing thousands with yet another katana in a game.
I always have thought than an AC game set in medieval russia during the mongol invasions could be fantastic. Or Samarkand/Central Asia. Medieval Ethiopia. Carthage during the Punic Wars. Ancient Sumeria or Assyria. India under the Mughals.
Basically there are hundreds of places more fresh than another samurai/ninja game. It's a hard sell here where there are a lot of hardcore fans of Japanese games, but I think an objective look would agree that many people have played as a samurai or ninja before.
I always have thought than an AC game set in medieval russia during the mongol invasions could be fantastic. Or Samarkand/Central Asia. Medieval Ethiopia. Carthage during the Punic Wars. Ancient Sumeria or Assyria. India under the Mughals.
Basically there are hundreds of places more fresh than another samurai/ninja game. It's a hard sell here where there are a lot of hardcore fans of Japanese games, but I think an objective look would agree that many people have played as a samurai or ninja before.
Stardust_Comet
Neo Member
I know many posters have already beaten me to this but it needs to be said again.
Sengoku Japan is too well known and used in gaming; coming from the guy who worked on the game set in the freaking American Revolution.
1) I don't believe anyone could have said bullshit that was more hypocritical than this if they tried.
2) So don't set it in the Sengoku period. Japan has had a lot of other periods to explore, such as Nara, Heian, Edo, Meiji, Joumon to name a few. You said AC is about exploring lesser known periods, so pick a period in Japan that hasn't been covered before. They have a few thousand years of history going on for them, that means you have a lot of choices.
3) As if you can claim any of the places you've used for the AC games are lesser known. If that were the case, you wouldn't have a consumer base because we're clearly not looking for "unique" places, if we're still interested in a series that has to been yet set anywhere not already covered in a typical history class. We're just here to kill shit and indulge in the scenery porn, and not necessarily in that order.
4) I would love an India during the British Raj (or just any period in India) or Ancient Egypt setting. Also the suggestions in this thread for one game being set in either China or Korea would be wonderful too.
Sengoku Japan is too well known and used in gaming; coming from the guy who worked on the game set in the freaking American Revolution.
1) I don't believe anyone could have said bullshit that was more hypocritical than this if they tried.
2) So don't set it in the Sengoku period. Japan has had a lot of other periods to explore, such as Nara, Heian, Edo, Meiji, Joumon to name a few. You said AC is about exploring lesser known periods, so pick a period in Japan that hasn't been covered before. They have a few thousand years of history going on for them, that means you have a lot of choices.
3) As if you can claim any of the places you've used for the AC games are lesser known. If that were the case, you wouldn't have a consumer base because we're clearly not looking for "unique" places, if we're still interested in a series that has to been yet set anywhere not already covered in a typical history class. We're just here to kill shit and indulge in the scenery porn, and not necessarily in that order.
4) I would love an India during the British Raj (or just any period in India) or Ancient Egypt setting. Also the suggestions in this thread for one game being set in either China or Korea would be wonderful too.
Jazzkokehead
Member
I'm in agreement with you here - I think there's a lot of potential in those settings you mentioned. But, that doesn't change the fact that Ubisoft has largely picked settings which are otherwise pretty infrequently, if ever, chosen for games, and - even though I personally don't enjoy the Assassin's Creed games - I do think they deserve some recognition for that.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
SO glad someone made this
Scrooge McDuck
Member
Wait, I was certain that the American Revolution, or even American colonization in general, is a fairly rare setting in gaming. Am I actually mistaken?
Stardust_Comet
Neo Member
American Revolution is not exactly rare for a setting. It's just not as overused as say something like WW2. (However, an actual colonisation period without it eventually leading to the Revolution is rare)
I think it may only be considered rare if you look it as "for an open-world stealth game" because there pretty much aren't for the Colonial Americas-American Revolution. But then that same line of thought also applies to Sengoku Japan too because it'd be hard to name an open-world stealth game for that period.
ReplacementPelican
Member
This'd actually be pretty cool, I'm with it.
Also, they can give us European cities again and a-fucking-gain but Feudal Japan is too familiar? Okay.
Jazzkokehead
Member
Oh, it that so? As a setting for games, I'd say it's pretty damn rare. Unless you're aware of a lot of games I'm not.
Go on, list them. I'll wait.