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[Reizo Ryuu]

I made no such claim.
The part about assassin's Creed games not being about assassinations is what sucks. No one ever said anything about Ubisoft hating Valhalla.

There's plenty of assassinations in valhalla, and as mentioned you can play the vast majority of the game that way if you so choose (unlike origins and odyssey).
Also this is me standing over a pile of corpses, effortlessly dispatched in AC3:

You could fairly straightforwardly murder your way through most of the "classic" games, except for those few exceptions where the mission would fail if you were spotted; action murder creed was always entirely fair game and AC4 is basically a pirate simulator.

 

[Faust]

Except Origins is honestly completely unplayable compared to any other entry in the franchise.
First time I played it I enjoyed it, quite a bit; the new mechanics were fresh and exciting at the time and I had a good time with it.
So after valhalla I tried playing the console version for some easy gamerscore (or so I thought), just running through the story/main quest, only to realise the game doesn't allow this at all.
You absolutely have to do side-mission nonsense in order to level up, otherwise the main quest will out level you rather quickly, leaving you to face enemies that effectively one shot you:


I couldn't progress beyond this point, because I kept dying in 1 or 2 hits, and I had no interest in any of the side quest trash, so I said fuck it and uninstalled.
Origins suffers heavily from insane level gating, Odyssey has this problem as well but much toned down. Valhalla just completely gets rid of it (removing side missions and all the nonsense borderlands style loot from Odyssey) and lets you assassinate whoever you want regardless of your gear or level, allowing it to be played much closer to the "classic" games, it's easily the best of the three, even though it has the weakest setting.

Agree to disagree. Origins had its issues, but I never felt the issue of level gating like I did with Odyssey. It also at least had a decent narrative to keep you going. Odyssey/Valhalla ensured I won't be returning until they completely overhaul and revert back to classic design, which seems to be the case at the very least with Mirage.

 

[Rentahamster]

They would differentiate from Ghost of Tsushima by using a Shinobi protagonist which would actually disguise themselves to assassinate targets instead of going with Samurais who were bound by honor to announce their attack beforehand.

You don't happen to be an expert on Japanese culture, are you?

 

[genesisblock]

So much this.
If anything, the media is flooded with Samurai but very few have done a decent portrayal of the secretive Shinobi.

Much more than the protagonist not being asian, what really bothers me is the lost opportunity to have an Iga or Koga Ninja as protagonist.

Man, they could set this up as Oda being the Father of Understanding here with Yasuke being to fill the role as a Templar counterpart. This would make for a far more interesting story.

 

[Kurimao]

They should call this, Assassin Creed Blacked.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Agree to disagree. Origins had its issues, but I never felt the issue of level gating like I did with Odyssey.

Well try replaying it, and actually doing nothing but the main story, you'll quickly find it's nearly impossible; Odyssey had less of a problem with the gating, because it had a lot of gear with abilities that increased damage for certain situations (like your health is locked at critical, but you do 3x damage), so you could at try to mess around with it; Origins has none of that, you either go do the side quests, or you can't progress.

It also at least had a decent narrative to keep you going.

If you were actually allowed to play the narrative without diving into the boring and repetitive side quests I would agree, but the level gating had other plans.

 

[LegendOfKage]

At this point, is there anyone who doesnt see “that’s woke” as code for “I’m racist”? I mean, except for… you know.

You don't need to be racist to dislike wokeness, anymore than you need to be woke to dislike racists. Step away from the us / them binary.

As for an historically accurate black samurai in an assassin's creed game, no, I personally wouldn't consider that woke. I do think the concept of ninjas would be a much better fit for a game about assassins, though.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Ubisoft turning into Netflix now? lol

 

[L*][*N*K]

Oh cool more reasons to piss off some players, I personally couldn’t careless but every interaction in that story will be about him being black so I will gradually turn off the story in my mind

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Honestly, I just appreciate their willingness to subvert expectations.

 

[Guerilla Munch]

Kind it is, u have 19377948849224729938 japanese samurai and u choose the only black one, like, lets represent japanese culture by not using a japanese person.

samurai were black, chud. get over it

also tom cruise in last got

 

[Moneal]

You're answering your question. Why pick the most unique of the known samurais? Geez, I wonder why? There are hundreds of games and media featuring other samurais but precious few featuring Yasuke. It's a vacuum that hasn't been exploited and Ubisoft is moving in on that. It doesn't have to be any of what you're claiming unless you're incredibly narrow-minded.

This isn't a situation like Cleopatra that was black-washed for that awful Netflix docuseries. This is a known historical figure. Why do you think so many people can name Yasuke off the top of their heads despite knowing very little about Japanese history? Because he's black and stands out. There's an opportunity for a unique story, yet here you are bitching.

Except for every other assassin creed's protagonist was an unknown. They were a person not in the history books. They worked behind the scenes, helping major historic figures, and fighting the other group also working behind the scenes and some not so behind the scenes.

 

[genesisblock]

Honestly, I just appreciate their willingness to subvert expectations.

What exactly are they subverting here? This is just another "foreign" character operating in another country, we already have that with Edward Kenway for the Caribbean.

We haven't had a subversion since that twist in the opening of Assassin's Creed 3 with Haytham to find out he was a Templar from the start.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

What exactly are they subverting here? This is just another "foreign" character operating in another country, we already have that with Edward Kenway for the Caribbean.

We haven't had a subversion since that twist in the opening of Assassin's Creed 3 with Haytham to find out he was a Templar from the start.

An Asian lead character is almost certainly expected in an AC game set in Feudal Japan.

Even if they were expected to be a foreigner, they were not expected to be Black.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I don't care, just make a good game.

Valhalla put me to sleep.

Black Flag bored me... And it's supposed to be the best assassins creed.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

You don't need to be racist to dislike wokeness, anymore than you need to be woke to dislike racists. Step away from the us / them binary.

Sure. Except, people who have a genuine problem with the “wokeness” (god I hate that word, regardless of who uses it) of a game tend to express the nature of their dissatisfaction. When that dissatisfaction stems from “Oh no! A black man!” or whatever, they will tend to hide behind their “Boo! Woke!” rallying cry.

Diversity is great, for a whole range of reasons. Representation, obviously, but also increased market share, more easily distinguishable characters and factions, variety of aesthetic, the provision of visual cues for setting / enemy capabilities / story progression, etc., etc. None of these is the “agenda pushing” that these chumpos tend to whine about, unless that agenda is the capitalist agenda of “selling more games and making more money.”

Now, if someone has a problem with, say, the skin colour of a character, they can talk about issues of historical accuracy, or… uh… I really can’t think of any other problem someone could have with skin colour in a game, but whatever — and they can balance those issues against the myriad gameplay and target demographic and aesthetic and economic reason for making that choice and, by all means, try to have an intelligent conversation. Or, they can tie their racial fragility to that one word because they have no actual argument to make because - yep - they’re racist.

Is there an option i’m missing here?

 

[zeldaring]

Would have vastly preferred someone that looked like Sikero or Hiroyuki Sanada, it just fits the theme much better, but hopefully he doesn't look like that pic if he is black. Make him look something like the bottom pic. for the love of god no afro.

 

[Boss Mog]

Cool. Before someone calls this woke or something, he did exist and served with Oda Nobunaga:

Yasuke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Him having existed is irrelevant to this being an extremely woke move. The feudal Japan AC game fans have been waiting over a decade for and the protagonist isn't even Japanese. That's a bold move, let's see if it pays off for them. We all know that if there was an AC game set in sub-saharan Africa and everybody was black but you played as a white guy, the same peeps saying "this is cool" for AC Red would be up in arms about this scenario.

Anyway, they waited too long and Ghost of Tsushima came out and set the bar pretty high, I doubt current Ubisoft can ever match it. I'll just wait for Ghost of Tsushima 2 to scratch my samurai itch.

 

[Faust]

Well try replaying it, and actually doing nothing but the main story, you'll quickly find it's nearly impossible; Odyssey had less of a problem with the gating, because it had a lot of gear with abilities that increased damage for certain situations (like your health is locked at critical, but you do 3x damage), so you could at try to mess around with it; Origins has none of that, you either go do the side quests, or you can't progress.

If you were actually allowed to play the narrative without diving into the boring and repetitive side quests I would agree, but the level gating had other plans.

Sorry, I am not one to purposefully ignore parts of a game entirely to rush through a story. I want to take it all in and enjoy the full product, even on replays.

 

[IFireflyl]

Could have been Lance Reddick

EviLore , yet another reason we need a sad reaction. Why can't you just love me?!

 

[Hoppa]

this thread went exactly how I expected reading the title

 

[genesisblock]

An Asian lead character is almost certainly expected in an AC game set in Feudal Japan.

Even if they were expected to be a foreigner, they were not expected to be Black.

Oh so unless the character is of a different race then expectations can truly be subverted? Clearly, there are no other ways to create, interesting stories without changing the characters race. Bravo.

 

[MrStauf]

I ditched ubisoft and there woke BS after farcry 6 .. lets go save a tranny !! .. lets switch this shite game off instead.

 

[GymWolf]

He looks cool.

 

[Xtib81]

We all know that if there was an AC game set in sub-saharan Africa and everybody was black but you played as a white guy, the same peeps saying "this is cool" for AC Red would be up in arms about this scenario..

This. The hyprocrisy here is through the roof.

 

[Solrac]

 

[Nobody_Important]

Jesus Christ some of you need to get a grip and touch some grass with the "woke" nonsense with this news. There was a whole ass Tom Cruise movie about a white samurai called "The Last Samurai" in 2003 long before "woke" allegedly took over modern culture. This is not a new storyline. If anything this is a lazy copy of an old theme.


There are MANY games to go after when it comes to historical accuracy or people being in the right place at the right time, but AssCreed is not even REMOTELY one of them. They had a whole DLC about King George Washington.

Yet now everyone wants to shit their little britches because there is a black samurai? Something that has been prevalent in Japans own media for decades? For example a manga written by a Japanese artist by the name of Takashi Okazaki in 1998?

Afro Samurai - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Oh and there was an ACTUAL black warrior in the documented history of Japan?

Yasuke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 in service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, who had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies (which at that time meant East Africa, South, Southeast, and East Asia). He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and his appearance caused much interest with the local people.[20]

When Yasuke was presented to Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese daimyō thought that his skin must have been colored with black ink. Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin.[21] These events are recorded in a 1581 letter of the Jesuit Luís Fróis to Lourenço Mexia, and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan, also by Fróis. These were published in Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reinos de Japão e China II (1598), normally known simply as Cartas.[22][23] When Nobunaga realized that the African's skin was indeed black, he took an interest in him.

It is likely that Yasuke could speak or was taught Japanese, perhaps due to Valignano's efforts to ensure his missionaries adapted well to the local culture.[28] Nobunaga enjoyed talking with him (there is no indication that Nobunaga spoke Portuguese, and it is unlikely that Yasuke would have been able to communicate in classical Chinese, the East Asian lingua franca of the time). He was perhaps the only non-Japanese retainer that Nobunaga had in his service, which could explain Nobunaga's interest in him.[28] Yasuke was mentioned in a variant text of the Shinchō-ki (信長記) owned by Sonkeikaku Bunko (尊経閣文庫), the archives of the Maeda clan.[29] According to this, the black man named Yasuke (弥助) was given his own residence and a short, ceremonial katana[dubious – discuss] by Nobunaga. Nobunaga also assigned him the duty of weapon bearer.[30][failed verification]

After the Battle of Tenmokuzan, Nobunaga led his force, including Yasuke, and inspected the former territory of the Takeda clan. On his way back, he met Tokugawa Ieyasu. Matsudaira Ietada, the retainer of Ieyasu described Yasuke as "6 shaku 2 sun (6 ft. 2 in., or 188 cm.). He was black, and his skin was like charcoal." Matsudaira stated that he was named Yasuke (弥介).[31]

In June 1582, Nobunaga was attacked and forced to commit seppuku in Honnō-ji in Kyoto by the army of Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke was there at the time and helped fight the Akechi forces. Immediately after Nobunaga's death, Yasuke went to join Nobunaga's heir Oda Nobutada, who was trying to rally the Oda forces at Nijō Castle. Yasuke fought alongside the Nobutada forces but was eventually captured. When Yasuke was presented to Akechi, the warlord allegedly said that the black man was an animal as well as not Japanese and should thus not be killed, but taken to the Christian church in Kyoto, the Nanbanji (南蛮寺).[21][2] However, there is some doubt regarding the credibility of this fate.[32][24] There is no further written information about him after this.

Get out of here people. There is more than enough actual culture and history behind this for it to be a thing in a random video game rather than it just be labeled some kind of "woke" nonsense by people who don't know what they are talking about.



At least pretend to do research before you throw a titty fit lol

 

[MMaRsu]

Ok yes sure, there were black samurai. However there arent enough games where you play as an actual asian ninja or shinobi. Well old games, but no new games.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Ok yes sure, there were black samurai. However there arent enough games where you play as an actual asian ninja or shinobi. Well old games, but no new games.

I have to assume you are joking because there have been SO MANY games where can play as an Asian warrior in recent years. Did you miss all of Ghost of Tsushima somehow for example? The countless Japanese JRPGs? For Honor has an entire faction of Japanese warriors.


And even if you want to dismiss games like that it doesn't change the fact that the idea of a non-traditionally Asian samurai is neither new nor historically/culturally inaccurate let alone fucking "woke".

 

[ToTTenTranz]

We all know that if there was an AC game set in sub-saharan Africa and everybody was black but you played as a white guy, the same peeps saying "this is cool" for AC Red would be up in arms about this scenario.

I dare anyone in the "black samurai is so cool, look there was even this one samurai among millions who was black so this is totally legit" crowd to also say "playing a white dude within Shaka Zulu's army would be so cool, finally someone will tell the tale of Nathaniel Isaacs".



And yet, the stupidest thing in all of this is still by far to make an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan and them make it about Samurai instead of Shinobi.
That is astronomical levels of head up their ass, much more than going with the only black samurai known in History.

 

[Drizzlehell]

6 pages in and barely anyone talked about the actual game yet, lol. Seriously, is the main character's race REALLY that important? Not to mention that this is supposed to be based on a real historical figure? The minute that this fact was mentioned, the complaints about wokeism should stop then and there, lest you want to make yourself look like a fool. And even if there was no historical figure to base this character on, it would still be stupid to cry about it without even knowing the context of the story and set up.

 

[whyman]

Well, that’s an instant no buy for me. They could finally have an interesting Japanese male protagonist and they actively decided against it. It’s racism and sexism on a whole new level by Ubisoft. Diversity for the sake of diversity is disgusting. FF16 was a great example of how a game can be fantastic without forcing diversity. A true gem in todays cesspool of cherry picked history.

 

[Scotty W]

Matsuo Basho was rumored to be a ninja spy. Imagine what they could have done, but instead they chose affirmative action.

 

[Red5]

Well, that’s an instant no buy for me. They could finally have an interesting Japanese male protagonist and they actively decided against it. It’s racism and sexism on a whole new level by Ubisoft. Diversity for the sake of diversity is disgusting. FF16 was a great example of how a game can be fantastic without forcing diversity. A true gem in todays cesspool of cherry picked history.

That's a bland notion of interesting honestly, playing as a run of the mill Japanese samurai. Japan was always a closed off to foreigners, the whole Templars vs Assassin's just existing there makes no sense lore wise so had to be brought in by the foreign trade and Yasuke an African retainer who was brought in by the Portugues and fought side by side with the Oda Nobunaga is honestly far more interesting than just another Samurai game.

 

[The Incarnation]

When I see the word woke, I just realise people have been Psy-Oped by Piers Morgan.

 

[Topher]

Why would you generalize my reaction to Yasuke based on the single context of an Assassin's Creed game?

There is nothing wrong in doing a Yasuke videogame. It's the bending over backwards to make Yasuke the protagonist of the next Assassin's Creed that is representative of the game directors' virtue signaling priorities. They kicked the Shinobi out of the equation just so they could virtue signal on Yasuke.

When did Ubisoft say this game was previously going to be focused on Shinobi? Where are you getting the game director's "virtue signaling priorities" from?

Why would it feature a Samurai protagonist in the first place, if Samurais don't fit the Assassins' methods at all?

Neither did Vikings.

 

[Topher]

Kind it is, u have 19377948849224729938 japanese samurai and u choose the only black one, like, lets represent japanese culture by not using a japanese person.

Nah, perhaps if they shoe-horned this in, but Yasuke is legit Japanese history.

 

[Edgelord79]

Reminds me of Oenomaus in Spartacus. In other words this looks awesome!

 

[MMaRsu]

I have to assume you are joking because there have been SO MANY games where can play as an Asian warrior in recent years. Did you miss all of Ghost of Tsushima somehow for example? The countless Japanese JRPGs? For Honor has an entire faction of Japanese warriors.


And even if you want to dismiss games like that it doesn't change the fact that the idea of a non-traditionally Asian samurai is neither new nor historically/culturally inaccurate let alone fucking "woke".

I didnt play For Honor or Ghost of Tsushima, don't have a ps4/ps5 and im waiting for that Steam port.

But wow yea 2 games. I count Sekiro as well, amazing game.

Also I never said woke thank god

 

[Nobody_Important]

I didnt play For Honor or Ghost of Tsushima, don't have a ps4/ps5 and im waiting for that Steam port.

But wow yea 2 games. I count Sekiro as well, amazing game.

Also I never said woke thank god

So we agree there have been many games of the variety you said didn't exist.

Cool.

 

[Edgelord79]

When I see the word woke, I just realise people have been Psy-Oped by Piers Morgan.

Agreed. It like crying “wolf” now. It’s used so often by people (and sometimes incorrectly) nobody cares anymore.

 

[Topher]

I didnt play For Honor or Ghost of Tsushima, don't have a ps4/ps5 and im waiting for that Steam port.

But wow yea 2 games. I count Sekiro as well, amazing game.

Also I never said woke thank god

Yakuza and Shenmue also come to mind.

 

[MMaRsu]

So we agree there have been many games of the variety you said didn't exist.

Cool.

Many?

Eh

 

[Raonak]

Clearly the term "woke" had lost all meaning at this point.

 

[Aces High]

Looks badass. Great concept.

I'd really love to see more underused settings in video games like Africa, South America, and Himalaya. AC Nepal would be dope.

 

[chromatic9]

Very good choice by Ubisoft. Perhaps they will do more in this area for East Asians as well, Ubisoft tend to reuse bits for a series of similar location style games which make sense.

 

[YuLY]

At least they pulled the diversity in this one instead of Hexe (Holy Roman Empire), which is the one I'm actually interested in. We've already had Tsushima and Ronin is upcoming, I'm good on the Japan side.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Well, that’s an instant no buy for me. They could finally have an interesting Japanese male protagonist and they actively decided against it. It’s racism and sexism on a whole new level by Ubisoft. Diversity for the sake of diversity is disgusting. FF16 was a great example of how a game can be fantastic without forcing diversity. A true gem in todays cesspool of cherry picked history.

I'm honestly struggling to think of games made by Western devs with an asian male lead. They are seriously under-represented. It's like Sleeping Dogs...Far Cry 4...Shadow Warrior?

 

[Honey Bunny]

Clearly the term "woke" had lost all meaning at this point.

Nah, it's a very useful shorthand for 'left-wing identity politics'.

 

[Raonak]

Nah, it's a very useful shorthand for 'left-wing identity politics'.

Oh right my mistake, I'll amend my statement.

Clearly "left-wing identity politics" has lost all meaning at this point.

Turns out if you cast a black dude as a lead in a game not set in Africa, then you're dabbling in identity politics. Doesn't matter if the black dude literally existed in the place and was a well known figure.

Its wild that the anti-woke crowd has successfully invented their own mind virus.