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[Lux R7]

I really don't care, let's hope for a good game

 

[Red5]

If they had to really make a game about Yasuke (or a black person in feudal japan in general) more or less accurately it would be very offensive towards japanese culture/history since obviously how black people were perceived at the time, more like an attraction.

Something tells me it's not the road they're going to take. So in that sense yes it feels a little ridiculous as a choice because it probably serves very little purpose (not that the character will not have a specific background and all that).

IMO Yasuke and the foreigners are probably the ones who'll be bringing Templar artifacts to Japan and introducing the Templar vs Assassin's conflict to the isolated island nation, so for the story they do serve a purpose.

 

[Honey Bunny]

I use "recent" in relative terms. As far as I know a lot of current tropes about samurai, ninjas, bushido and what else were "seeded" into Japanese popular culture in the late 1800s or so. With novels, theater productions, etc.

It's a bit like the myth of "karate" being the bread and butter of hand-to-hand combat in feudal Japan "for centuries", when in reality before the 1920 it was relegated as limited regional phenomenon in Hokkaido and then brought up to "national relevance" only because authorities in Japan fell in love with modern boxing and decided that they needed to have a national equivalent of it.

Samurai in Japanese literature - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here you can find records of idealised, noble Japanese warrior codes for samurai dating back to their origins

 

[TheInfamousKira]

In practice, this might be cool.

On paper, it's like....

Aren't Japanese people a minority? It's 2023, and we're still taking the list of races recognized in the West as "black," "white," and "also white,"

 

[Moneal]

But it does fit, Yasuke is real and fought and killed on the side of Oda Nobunaga, how can you say it doesn't fit when it happened and was recorded in history?

Moreover we're talking about a fictional historical setting where aliens exist, so it fits even more if Yasuke and his Portuguese master brought the Templars to isolated nation of Japan.

Well actually, it doesn't fit. None of the other assassins creed protagonists were real historical figures.

 

[genesisblock]

If that's what you took from what I said, then, OK.

Yes, you've subverted expectations there.

 

[IDKFA]

In practice, this might be cool.

On paper, it's like....

Aren't Japanese people a minority? It's 2023, and we're still taking the list of races recognized in the West as "black," "white," and "also white,"

They're a world wide minority, but in Japan they're a majority. Also, GoT was a Japanese protagonist.

I guess they've done this as we actually need more black protagonists in games (the amount at the moment is shockingly low), plus it helps it stand out from GoT.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Aren't you supposed to be blending in with the crowd?🕵

 

[FullMetalx117]

Fun fact: the entire notion of “samurai” as depicted in dramas, modern literature, manga and anime (the often-honorable swordsman, entirely dedicated to swordsmanship and self-improvement) is an artifact, a recent invention. A romantic embellishment.

Most “historical” samurai were paper pushers of questionable military competence and dubious martial prowess.

Yup similar to World Was II games. After watching band of brothers - you realize half the casualties are from friendly fire lol

 

[Moneal]

Aren't you supposed to be blending in with the crowd?🕵

Yeah kinda hard as a 6-foot-plus black man to hide in a crowd of Japanese people.

 

[X-Wing]

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?

 

[JimmyRustler]

So we finally get a proper AC in Japan and the main character is black? You can’t make that shit up man.

 

[supernova8]

- Oh my god, Assassin's Creed in Japan. Finally I can be a Japanese ninja or samurai.

Ubisoft: here's the only black samurai we can find specially just for you.

It could be that their goal was to differentiate themselves from the likes of Ghost of Tsushima and (perhaps more importantly) the unreleased Rise of the Ronin, and after checking the history books they managed to find a black dude who was actually there (let's not pretend Ubisoft cares about "representation" I really don't think they do).

 

[Jibran#one]

Is he also a transgender or struggling with his pronouns ?

 

[Kilau]

People choosing to die on an Ubisoft hill is pure comedy. This is the 13th mainline AC game, the protagonist will be a non issue when it comes to what’s wrong with the game.

 

[mdkirby]

could be cool. Just please please have better writing and more memorable characters and missions than Valhalla. After hundreds of hours I can barely remember anything from it.

 

[Red5]

Well actually, it doesn't fit. None of the other assassins creed protagonists were real historical figures.

So you would totally be fine with him being black if he wasn't a historical figure but a made up one like the rest of the protagonists?

 

[Edgelord79]

Some great gymnasts here.

 

[Toons]

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

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

You're wasting your time. Folks that wanna complain are gonna complain. This is the state of the culture war. Doesn't matter if it makes sense or is backed up, or not because that's not the core of the issue.

 

[DeepEnigma]

We already have that with Ghost of Tsushima. Could very well be Ubisoft is looking to differentiate their game from GoT which borrows many gameplay elements from AC already. Nothing wrong if you would rather the game be about Japanese samurais, but I don't understand how anyone can assume the choice to base the story on Yasuke has to be because of identity politics. To me, there has to be more to it than what we know before we can throw out the "woke" card.

You also have Rise of the Ronin coming out as well. If this is indeed true, I'm looking forward to their take on it.

 

[Solidus_T]

[Opinion] Ubisoft just shot themselves in the foot.

/s

 

[Gaiff]

Oof, they got another.

And it's a perm.

Well, I'm out of this thread. It has predictably devolved into a shitshow despite the rumor being just a rumor. Additionally, we don't even know if it's Yasuke or someone else entirely.

 

[killatopak]

On one hand, I want to play as Japanese ass person in Japan.

On the other hand, they can make this a fish out of water type of thing for the audience’ benefit.

 

[mrmustard]

Looks badass, would be cool.

 

[iorek21]

Man, as cool as Yasuke is, they took 17 years to make a mainline AC in Asia to just put a non-native protagonist?

Don’t like that.

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

If that is supposed to be Yasuke, I think we can narrow down the setting to 16th Century. Oda Nobunaga's time. I think it's pretty cool, but I can already see the "controvery" surrounding this miles and miles away.

Yeah, there are gamers that dont want to play with a woman as caracter, and now there will be gamers that dont want to play as a black samurai, you can wait for "meeeh this is woke as Hell", you can wait for the racial remarksand a remarks that a black samurai is not possible in Japan. But there was a black samurai in Japan. whatever decission a developer makes there are always people that dont like that...it is what it is.....

 

[genesisblock]

Aren't you supposed to be blending in with the crowd?🕵

Blending in the crowd is so 2010. You're a Medjay, Spartan and Viking, why do you need to blend? Just go Raaahhhhh!

Man, as cool as Yasuke is, they took 17 years to make a mainline AC in Asia to just put a non-native protagonist?

Don’t like that.

It's a rumour. But I worry he's just going to be a token character, this isn't Adewele with clear motivations to liberate the slaves. According to history, he's just another samurai doing the lords bidding.

 

[Moneal]

So you would totally be fine with him being black if he wasn't a historical figure but a made-up one like the rest of the protagonists?

I would prefer a ninja to a samurai, as I've said before in this thread. I'm just pointing out that, while yes Yasuke is a real black historical figure during the period that the game is rumored to take place, he doesn't fit with the other protagonists of assassins creed games.

 

[Needlecrash]

So..... Yasuke then? I might be interested in this.

 

[Tedditalk]

Damn, people so inundated in cultural war nonsense that they broke the topic, great. I just wonder how they gonna do the black "samurai" role. It should be very interesting too see how it plays out in game... might actually get this one.

 

[DarkArterialGore]

He looks absolutely badass (unless that's just AI art in which case he still looks absolutely badass).

Yeah, but he'll look like this after Ubisoft artists decide he needs to look less aggressive and more like Lenny Kravitz...

 

[Rentahamster]

If you are getting very mad at this idea, please ask yourself "why am I seething so hard at this?". Like, the actual reason why.

Then ask yourself if that's reasonable, or at all relevant to making a good video game.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

This is by the Odyssey team right?

If so hard pass.

 

[Masterofchapter]

It could be that their goal was to differentiate themselves from the likes of Ghost of Tsushima and (perhaps more importantly) the unreleased Rise of the Ronin, and after checking the history books they managed to find a black dude who was actually there (let's not pretend Ubisoft cares about "representation" I really don't think they do).

Ubisoft actually cares about representation only gaming company actually has tons of middle East playable characters in gaming

 

[AJUMP23]

Imagine how aliens feel playing these racist human games knowing you can only play as the human race. The human race is the only choice, aliens are out there wanting representation and all they get is destroy all humans. It must hurt them.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

lol.....this isn't "woke" anything.

So just because there was one famous African samurai in history, this can't be woke?

Wrong. It's still woke. Its part of Ubisofts very obvious agenda. What percentage of samurais were black?

 

[Topher]

So just because there was one famous African samurai in history, this can't be woke?

Wrong. It's still woke. Its part of Ubisofts very obvious agenda. What percentage of samurais were black?

Nothing about it looks "woke" to me so I guess we will just disagree, huh?

 

[NoobSmog]

As a half japanese person born and raise in america, people need to stop comparing this to nioh, because yeah the main character in nioh made me roll my eyes pretty hard. You know the only reason they used that main character was to try to get more sales. Even in Japanese games and anime, there aren't a ton of asian protagonists even though it can work well, something like samurai champloo was amazing. Japanese devs were surprised they used jin in ghost of tsushima and he was great.

THAT BEING SAID, peoples arguments have convinced me that yeah, ubisoft probably needs to get out of the way of ghost of tsushima 1/2 and rise of the ronin and do something different. The idea is solid, but uh, let's see about the execution.

 

[genesisblock]

As a half japanese person born and raise in america, people need to stop comparing this to nioh, because yeah the main character in nioh made me roll my eyes pretty hard. You know the only reason they used that main character was to try to get more sales. Even in Japanese games and anime, there aren't a ton of asian protagonists even though it can work well, something like samurai champloo was amazing. Japanese devs were surprised they used jin in ghost of tsushima and he was great.

THAT BEING SAID, peoples arguments have convinced me that yeah, ubisoft probably needs to get out of the way of ghost of tsushima 1/2 and rise of the ronin and do something different. The idea is solid, but uh, let's see about the execution.

Indeed.

Yakuza Director Heaps Praise on Ghost of Tsushima, Laments Restrictions of Japanese Game Development

"To be honest, we were beaten"

www.pushsquare.com

It shows they have a coloured view to how the world sees their games and they are surprised they're doing a better job of representation then the actual local developers.

Love this quote:

Honestly, I think that’s a game that should be made in Japan,

That's quite the high praise there. To the point that Sucker Punch has becomes official ambassadors of Tsushima.

But don't worry, seeing the last few AC games that Ubisoft releases won't disappoint setting expectations back. I'm really curious to see what they are going to do with AC: Jade and see how "progressive" they are.

 

[CGNoire]

Some thoughts...

1. I think this could turn out really cool and am intriqued by the prospect of the fish out of water story.

2. Considering how long Ive been waiting for this I would have prefered the traditional japanese Ninja approach.

3. Looking at the casting trend in film and Games as of late mixed with what Ive read of these companies "mission statements" and of what I know about the ESG score requirements mixed with Ubisoft's finacial situation lately I find it curious that so many are so quick to swat away claims of idenity politics playing a role? Like its a reasonable assumption. You dont have to be crazy or some die hard anti-wokester to have questions here.

4. Even if this decision is driven by an agenda it may very well turn out to be the one time when wokeism leads to something interesting.

 

[Sweden85]

Wow

 

[genesisblock]

Some thoughts...

1. I think this could turn out really cool and am intriqued by the prospect of the fish out of water story.

2. Considering how long Ive been waiting for this I would have prefered the traditional japanese Ninja approach.

3. Looking at the casting trend in film and Games as of late mixed with what Ive read of these companies "mission statements" and of what I know about the ESG score requirements mixed with Ubisoft's finacial situation lately I find it curious that so many are so quick to swat away claims of idenity politics playing a role? Like its a reasonable assumption. You dont have to be crazy or some die hard anti-wokester to have questions here.

4. Even if this decision is driven by an agenda it may very well turn out to be the one time when wokeism leads to something interesting.

That's some mighty big expectations. Let alone coming from Ubisoft.

 

[CGNoire]

That's some mighty big expectations. Let alone coming from Ubisoft.

True true. Every since 2009+ my attitude toward Ubisoft in general has been never forgive never forget. I def dont expect much from AC thats for sure.

 

[InterMusketeer]

It makes sense to have a fish out of water type character so the player can learn about Japan and the Sengoku period alongside them. I assume that's when this plays out if this is truly Yasuke. Not sure how previous AC games handled that kinda stuff (never played any) or something like Tsushima (seems like that one focused on a simpler conflict against the Mongols) but most people probably aren't as familiar with Japanese history as with vikings or Greeks.

On the other hand, yeah, there might be some ideological reasons for basing the game around this person. The well has been poisoned for a long time now, so I get the gut reaction.

 

[oji-san]

The pic of the character on first page looks awesome, if that's the look of the MC i will be happy, didn't even know there were black samurai, well i didn't know nothing about samurai before playing GoT..
Can't wait to see something from this game, i liked all open-world ACs so i'm sure this will be fantastic and open-world Japan is something i really want to play, all sounds good give us some gameplay please thanks.

 

[oji-san]

The Sengoku period is very apart from the Kamakura period. The protagonist of GoT acted like some shinobi, Yasuke was pure samurai. Also guns were very used, making Japan the largest place with guns in the world at the time.

Nice post, as i know nothing about ancient Japan or how you call that period, i wonder how the world would look like, is it something alike the GoT world? like many open areas with lot of flowers and such and only tiny settlements or are we going to have cities or something like that, very interesting to see.

 

[harry mason 1989]

I don't care if the protagonist is black or white or Asian
I just hope the main villain will not be a non binary shogun

 

[AJUMP23]

I don't care if the protagonist is black or white or Asian
I just hope the main villain will not be a non binary shogun

Villain is British. Just my guess.

 

[F0rneus]

I mean, when they announced the game, the first art piece was of the female ninja protagonist. And we knew about the black Samurai and her way before the reveal. So...? What's the shock? If you don't want to play as him, you don't have to. Pick the shinobi girl, problem solved.

 

[Moneal]

I mean, when they announced the game, the first art piece was of the female ninja protagonist. And we knew about the black Samurai and her way before the reveal. So...? What's the shock? If you don't want to play as him, you don't have to. Pick the shinobi girl, problem solved.

Will we get to pick or will it be like syndicate, and we have to use both? If we can pick, yes problem solved. If it's more like syndicate I'm out, as I hated the thug story missions.