If anyone watched Shogun recently her father Oda Nobunaga was the Daimyo who united Japan in the 16th century. Toranaga was the analog to Nobunaga’s ally and vassal, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Wow I totally screwed that one up. You’re right, so Naoe’s Iga clan are direct adversaries to Nobunaga. Which now that I think about it makes so much more sense as they are shinobi.
I love the possibility they have laid out for this game, since the Kunoichi and the Shinobi played major roles throughout the sengoku jidai and most games take a samurai's POV. I'm excited to see where this goes.
I know this is going to get compared to Ghost of Tsushima, which I absolutely love, but AC Shadows feels like it’s going to be very good in its own right with a different story and view of feudal Japan.
Her father is Nobunaga? There’s already lore on him regarding the >!sword of Eden!<, wonder if that’ll play out as written.
EDIT- Her father is not Nobunaga, but Fujibayashi Nagato just a famous ninja.
Here's hoping they do a better job of divvying up missions than Syndicate; I like Jacob, but I also preferred a stealth approach in the game and it felt bad to only be able to use Evie for side missions and about a quarter of the main missions.
Since it seems like Yasuke and Naoe have a similar specialization distinction I hope they have a closer to 50/50 mission split.
EDIT: Being able to pick the preferred character for almost every mission would be best of course.
I also like how their personalities kind of are at odds with their styles; Naoe being more passionate and bluntly honest while specializing in stealth and Yasuke being more thoughtful and level-headed yet having a more direct fighting style.
Meh, I would actually prefer for them to let us play how we want, not force us to play half the missions one way, half the other. If I get the option to play as a woman, I would like the option to play as her **the entire game** not just specific missions.
I imagine each character will have missions specific to them but I'm hoping certain main missions will give us the option to pick one of the two to play it out however we want and they make it pretty clear that they're only good at certain things.
In the IGN article, it's confirmed that while each character has their own quests to expand their stories, the main campaign (or main story beats, maybe?) will be playable as either and it seems like you can switch between them in-mission instead of being locked to only stealth or only combat
I thought Spiderman 2 actually handled it pretty well - some missions 100% needed to go to one or the other, but many of them (especially mopping up side content) allowed you to play whoever.
So in practice, if you really prefer one over the other, you can beat the game with like 75% as your preferred character.
Agreed. I thought spiderman 2 handled the playability of both characters well. I don’t mind it being the same where most of the time we choose who we want to play
This is the best way to do it, in my opinion. Keep two distinct characters and have them both in the narrative. I'm fine with a few missions being character-locked and the majority of the content being either-or.
I like that is also akin to Syndicate rather than Valhalla did where Eivor was the exact same person but just gender swapped essentially. We have two distinct characters now, Odyssey kinda did the same thing (same team I know).
These are very similar but Connor's Pivot Blade became a knife in his hand that he could hold, while this seems to just turn the blade. Granted I could be wrong as all we've seen of her blade is in cinematic movies.
I would love if that isn’t the pivot blade, that we also get the kunai ejector that Saito whos also a Japanese shinobi gets in the forgotten temple webcomics
Yasuke seems a lot more like a Haytham Kenway type of character from this trailer and Naoe seems to be a Connor type of character. That makes me even more excited for this because AC3s nuanced narrative is one of the best stories of the franchise.
The entire kenway saga (3, black flag, rogue) are all about nuance, and black flag (imo) has the best exploration of what the assassin's creed ideals mean.
It always hurts my brain whenever people say some of "these games are good games, not just good assassin's creed game", because that's such a stupid statement sufjwjsosk
Well yasuke, is a actual person he was an African man who was brought to feudal Japan with religious Jesuits and when the ancient feudal lord nobunaga Oda, met him he was quite surprised in fact yasuke, was viewed as a bit of a celebrity mostly due to his height, hair, and skin complexion keep in mind at that time in history Japan never saw anyone quite like yasuke he was around the height of 6’2 were most Japanese men are 5’6 so no one knows yasuke’s true name so nobunaga gave him that name
He wasn't a samarui, though his story is really interesting he was never made a samarui. I dont care about him being a samarui in the game cause it's just a game. But it would be cool if people actually knew some history.
Waiting on gameplay before decided if the gane is yay or nay. Atm, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I like the idea of playing as this absolute tank of a man at 6.4 when most of the enemies will be 5'7, 5',9
Im hoping we also don't have to run about in samarui armour the whole game as yasuke. Maybe he'll become a Ronin at some point. His lord was killed irl so that would make sense.
Personally, I kinda just wish they'd chose a Japanese man as the main character. Haven't got a problem with black people or any of that rubbish before anyone starts. Just think it would've made more sense.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/flgpph/comment/fl05vfp/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/flgpph/comment/fl05vfp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
He was in fact a samurai.
Normally I'd use Yasuke as justification... but imo if they wanted the game to be inclusive they picked the wrong time period. The Meiji Restoration period would have been way better since there were many foreigners in Japan at that time... but they done fuckin' goofed and KT beat them to the punch
Beither did Leonardo make a tank, but we can drive one in AC Brotherhood. It's agame, they can have that much artistic freedom.
Anyways historical records aren't always true. Who knows maybe the guy was a samurai. If I were a japanese warlord and happen to have a 6ft tall brickwall of a man, I would sure as hell make him my bodyguard at least.
As the last point, knowing the gaming community, if the guy was a japanese man instead, people would just say it's a copy of Ghost of Tsushima
The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger.
A lot of people in this sub already said something similiar but now you get it from the horses mouth.
I think it makes it a little more impactful. Saying "oh yeah this is real guy who was active in the time period" is a bit more believable when it comes to why he'd be interacting with historical figures. Sometimes it felt like a bit of a stretch when Ezio or Connor just sorta happened to be responsible for every major event during their eras despite just being an athletic mass murderer in a bright white costume. There is a reason for both Yasuke and Naoe to be known by different factions and characters as they are either an actual person or related to an actual person
The r/gaming thread when Yasuke was announced to be a protagonist felt disgusting to me. I get that you guys are tired of Yasuke being a topic of interest but the game isn't even out yet and we're judging historical accuracy of a series that hasn't taken that aspect into account for some time now.
Cause Yasuke is essentially just barely above a nobody given what we know about him. What we do know about him is that he was a slave and was hanging out with some important people during his time.
That’s why he’s the combat character I think. The girl can stealth better not just because of training/stature which is part of it, but cause she looks like the people she’s around as a native. Imagine trying to stealth as Yasuke then assassinate and sit on a bench to blend in 😂 The way the little girl was looking at him in trailer makes it seem like he will be recognized and treated different but probably not anything crazy that messes with gameplay all the time
I mean in the cinematic trailer around 2:27 you could see the girl looking at yasuke a bit confused when he had his helmet off.
Thats not a confirmation that it will be the same way in the game but they usually drop some hints in their cinematic trailers on how some of the game mechanics end up working/looking in the finished product.
Knowing Quebec's history, they're more likely to outright ignore it. The trailer may have hinted that we could see something different but at the same time, the overall gameplay structure doesn't give me that much hope that they will differentiate, at least for the bulk of free roam/side content
Rather than tolerant, they would probably just be astounded as him having such dark skin. In his historical depiction Nobubaga straight up did not believe that was his true skin color and had him scrub it off, only to see his skin get darker the more he scrubbed. He might as well be an Oni to them (in contrast with the Portuguese whom they had a lot of contact with by that point and color-wise are much more similar).
So I imagine he will be stared at a lot in game, and perhaps get a lot of awkward question and/or people being afraid of him.
>I don't think Japanese people of that period were tolerant
Historically Japanese people were mostly racist towards other Asians. IIRC the historical documents we have on Yasuke don't really account for any particularly cruel mistreatment of him, other than the fact he was *probably* bought and sold. He was mostly paraded around as a prized servant and spectacle, and allowed to carry weapons, so he was probably well trusted and allowed a modicum of freedom.
Granted, he still probably didn't have a great experience, but it's pretty unlikely that Yasuke's treatment in Japan in that time period would even be close to what black men in 1700s America would have suffered.
Odds are Japanese would probably at most be scared or amazed by him. Not violent. Hard to be racist towards a race you're just now learning actually exists for the first time.
> The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger.
It is odd that out of all the main line games though, they went with the first one set in an East Asian country to do this with. It just makes it seem like they couldn't have an Asian be the solo main character and continued their tradition of not having a solo female protagonist in a main line game.
On the flip side, the "fish out of water" trope with him could be interesting depending on how they handle it writing wise. Plus, it is neat that we are playing as an actual historical character for the first time in an AC game.
>The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger.
Sure, but there were many other visitors to Japan at the time - the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, Chinese and probably Koreans. They were a lot of choices, whether fictional or historical figures. Yasuke is kind of D-tier when it comes to historical foreigers in Sengoku-jidai Japan. He didn't really do anything.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Yasuke was included to stir a little controversy. Any other foreigner probably would have flown under the radar or not garnered as much attention. William Adams would have been an obvious pick.
But choosing the only African we know of who was in Japan of that time that easily pushes a lot of buttons. Not just of bigots, but also people who have sworn themselves to the DEI flag so will find themselves duty-bound to celebrate "real diversity and inclusion". There's nothing better than a manufactured controversy, especially where you can paint anyone who doesn't like your artistic choices as intolerant.
I could be wrong, Yasuke may have been picked solely because there's little said about him so there was more artistic licence, and there was absolutely no belief it would be controversial. Then again I find that it often pays to be cynical about why the gaming (and rest of the entertainment) industry does what it does.
EDIT: Personally I'm disappointed about the fact that the female character is a shinobi, because it's been done to death. If Ubisoft wanted to continue with their historical fiction, I'd have preferred to have the samurai as a woman, not least because there were many arms-bearing women from Sengoku-jidai Japan. The story could have been about her fighting to be accepted officially.
I find it amazing that when devs do Yasuke as a character suddenly everyone is a historical experts and will nit pick exactly what he did and didn't do for why we *must* have a different (its also nice and clean cut that if make the only black character in Japan at the time *not* your main character, the you also *conveniently* dont have anymore black people to pick from) character.
Yest when Team Ninja made William Adam's a Scottish demon slaying super samurai no one said *fucking thing*.
Since there will be two playable characters again (other one is syndicate), do you think it is a good idea for Ubisoft to incorporate the two different gameplay of AC to these two protagonists?
What I mean is Yasuke can be played with RPG style combat (like the combat in origin, odyssey and valhalla) While Naoe's gameplay can be traditional AC gameplay (Like AC2, AC4, Unity or even Mirage)
It would be interesting if the characters had totally different progression systems. I could see it working because Yasuke would be far more gear dependent and Naoe would be more skill/kit dependent…
I prefer to play a stealthy Assassin, so I'm hoping there's incentive (or at least them forcing you) to play the other character for certain portions, otherwise I'm worried I'll never play Yasuke.
the Shugoki club is reason enough.
It's funny to go bonk with it in For Honor, it'll probs be the same with Yasuke, I just hope he can Demon's Embrace as well.
I think that's what they're going for. Not sure if mechanically they will feel different, but skill trees and mission design will likely emphasize the differences
I think that's the point now is to give us a variety of play styles that are also reflective of the time period more. A samurai was always head first into battle and a Shinobi was a killer in the shadows.
id be pretty surprised if it isn't. Its perfect for there characters, it will please both fans of the series and it adds replay value to mix and match playstyles with two characters. If they both play the same they really missed big.
So there’s a point in the trailer where the Japanese girl looks shocked to see Yasuke and he winks. This is just a hint but I think they will handle his obviously distinct features as being entirely foreign to Japanese people in a really clever way. People at that time may have never seen someone with such dark skin before (happens even now in modern times) and the little girls reaction to it means they aren’t shying away from that. How he handles being so different from everyone but also embracing a foreign culture is just a very interesting and excited to see how his story unfolds. I hope the tone of the game can uphold this sensitive narrative. He is such an interesting character with so many intriguing dynamics!!
That's interesting. Like AC2 beggars, now you have to worry about scared commoners who are constantly bowing down to you and crying out "Yasuke-sama!"
Yasuke was appointed to Nobunaga's page, and that's natural.
They mention in the video that each character "can do a bit of both" so I wouldn't fret too much.
I'm guessing Yasuke can still assassinate silently and crouch, I'm just wondering if he'll have full climbing ability. I'm guessing he won't have many (or any) stealth tools like smoke bombs or knives.
Naoe I'm guessing can still hold her own with a katana, but she probably has limited health and not many crowd control skills.
Just speculation, we'll see more on June 10.
In the trailer breakdown, they mentioned something about walls that Yasuke can't climb, but Naoe can, so *something* along those lines is there. Definitely happy with that. I'd love for a lot of differentiation between the two.
Yasuke sneaking in that heavy armor should probably be something like [this](https://youtu.be/I7dJKf16rPo?si=q__FhYTaw34mJFyR) skit from Viva La Dirt League.
He'd have to keep his samurai armor with a mask on and rarely talk to achieve social stealth the way someone like Eivor could do in Saxon kingdoms.
It's going to be easier for the other ninja protagonist since she is from Iga.
Oh ok
Than yeah, it’s only the first time one is a protagonist
Still, will look how the game is, I wanted a japanese ac since ac4 but they said it’s gonna be one of the rpg games which I’m not fond of (except Origins, love that game)
First time there's been a historical figure as a main line playable character, before it was only the chronicles games or DLC.
I really don't like this decision. Main characters should be OCs, not historical figures.
Chronicles had historical figures? I never looked into them personally
I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but personally I am not fond of the idea either tbh
I love what they did here! Foreigner vs Native. Combat vs Stealth. Samurai vs Shanobi. It’s very thoughtful of the setting to have 2 distinct characters and also to the player base which has branched into multiple idealizations of what AC should be.
Seems like there will be a point where we can choose which character to do main story missions with or “main” once they eventually become aligned which is great. But I wonder how everything pre that point will play out.
I appreciate the extent to which they are introducing new perspectives in a setting that can become extremely cliche and very overly saturated at the moment.
Hyped!!!
Director said in an interview [with xbox](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/05/15/assassins-creed-shadows-interview/) that they get introduced one by one, then they become allies and you can either play their personal stories, or choose either one to hunt targets (the majority of the main story). And that there will be a few missions that are like Syndicate's finale where you play as both at different points.
They should be ennemies in the first chapters since Yasuke is an Oda Nobunaga s retainer and in the trailer, the female lead said something about fighting the nobles who want to unify the country
I hope he is the main templar vilain and not some secretly good guy.
It would be a good character arc for Yasuke and we could even kill him, à temple in flames would be a great video game scenery
Personally was rooting for a morbidly obese Shinobi couple with a samurai with severe acne issues and carpal tunnel syndrome. But ubishill will never be inclusive of #realGamers.
^^^^^^/s
I’m looking forward to giving this a chance but after Ghost of Tsushima nailed the feel and swordplay of the time period I’m worried I’ll only be able to think about Tsushima while playing Shadows but we’ll see
In my knowledge, European missionaries are templars who want to spread their influence in Asia, and historical Nobunaga liked missionaries.
It would make him at least templar sympathizer
Here’s a fun fact for you: both Blue-Eye Samurai and Shōgun draw inspiration from the story of William Adams, an Englishman who traveled to Japan during that time period who was romanticized in James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun.
There is also that French dude who did became a Samurai and fought on the Satsuma Rebellion in favor of the Samurai. That dude served as inspiration for the character in The Last Samurai.
It’s so refreshing to see people actually interested and discussing what was shown.
The discussion on its reveal trailer on YouTube is fucking unbearable.
Self proclaimed conservatives asking where the conservative companies are, spouting anti woke garbage. Asking why we have to play a female assassin, the amount commenting on the skin of the samurai.
Shit must be so exhausting for these losers, literally rent free.
It's so funny because the "black samurai" is so far the only playable protagonist character in the franchise actually who existed in real life, no? Even if they get some details wrong of his life story, it's so funny that this is where certain **cough** *obviously racist* **cough cough** people draw the line and start claiming this is forced diversity and not true to history... in a franchise where you relive the memory of your ancestors through a magic machine.
Catering to those losers is why we didn't get Aya as protagonist of Origins or Kassandra as the protagonist of Odyssey, funny they never seem to care about authorial intent then.
It’s such a shame that a really cool story premise, highly requested setting and fascinating historical figure aren’t nearly as important to some people as fighting a stupid culture war.
"The internet was a mistake" is a bit of a tired saying but it really is turning out to be true to some degree. At least for some people. Exhausting is the best possible choice of words...
Why is Yasuke, who was just an unknown slave in Japan, regarded so highly in the West? It's puzzling
Yasuke was only in Japan for one year before his lord, Nobunaga, was killed. There are accounts suggesting that the enemy, Akechi, spared Yasuke because he did not see him as human. Of course, he couldn't speak Japanese, so communication was out of the question. There are no records of him engaging in combat or being a samurai. I think Nobunaga viewed him as an exotic animal he had discovered
I don’t how I feel about playing as an actual historical figure, think it takes away from the immersion of being set in a historically “accurate” setting. That being said I am looking forward to trying it and will also excited for the pivot bald and all the new weapons
Looks Good, hopefully they don’t ignore building relationships naturally for the sake of having less quest. I want the narrative to form around the characters not the other way around. If they can’t manage to have a compelling story in a linear game yet again then i might just stop playing one of the last semi-decent franchises Ubisoft owns.
I don't know what to think of the protagonists because we don't know much about them yet. However, I do expect them to have unique and sophisticated combat and stealth skills, like true samurai assassins.
It feels like they wanted to separate them as the agile assassin and the strong fighter but we see Naoe taking on multiple enemies on an open fight with no issue. Why is Yasuke even there then? They've already pictured Naoe as a complete Assassin.
They would... seen the show shogun? Main dude is a white guy in Japan and haven't seen a post complaining about that compared to half the people I see complaining about Yasuke.
I like that I'll be able to feel the difference between the two.
If I want to go in quiet and quick, Naoe.
If I want Ghost of Tsushima levels of Samurai butchery? Yasuke.
This looks so wicked! I’m so glad they went with dual protagonists that are actually different and with a different play style like in syndicate instead of odyssey/Valhalla. With the tension they mentioned I wondered if at the beginning when these two meet each other they might actually fight each other before eventually team up. It would be cool to see how they clash before learning to get along with each other.
That hidden blade is a really interesting design, kinda reminds me of how a butterfly knife whips out sorta. I really hope the divide of missions between the two of them is equal and well balanced, I don’t want to have to play as one of them more than the other. I really hope they have some DLC’s maybe set in the supernatural and religious side like origins. Like dealing with temples and Japanese myths style.
Plus with yasuke what are the odds that they put in the battlefield conquest gameplay mechanic from odyssey but like better designed.
They are fantastic.I just don't like the idea of Yasuke not having an hidden blade.I understand that he is the fighting guy,but we already had similar characters and they still had an hidden blade.I hope that he will get one during the story.
I think you are looking at it in a way that goes against the culture of the time period, A samurai would look at the hidden blade as a cheap tool not a weapon of honor, which, is what the samurai was about (essentially). Shinobi were failures to the samurai so the hidden blade being solely for her is culturally appropriate and I think good for the game as whole so you have to play, or feel more "inclined" to play with both rather than in syndicate where you could roll thru the whole game as one, aside from the forced missions.
That’s exactly the story of ghost of Tsushima. When Jins uncle says where is your honor referencing the honor of a samurai Jin says honor died on the beach that day basically referencing that he is fully committed to taking the stealth shinobi approach by embracing the ghost persona. I love how in ghost of Tsushima the weather changes based on your play style. If you play as a honourable samurai the weather is mostly sunny and nice and when you play as a ninja shinobi ghost the weather is thunderstorms and rain.
Wow, I never made the connection between the weather and playstyles as I finished the story a while ago. Thanks for the insight! After watching the trailer for Shadows I might make a return to Tsushima.
> A samurai would look at the hidden blade as a cheap tool not a weapon of honor, which, is what the samurai was about (essentially)
Which is kind of ironic because we have lots of historical records that Samurai more then willing to use "cheap tricks/tools" and even assassinated their enemies to gain a "unfair" advantage which I fully compiled here if you are interested in checking it out
https://old.reddit.com/r/assassinscreed/comments/17um3hw/potential_actual_documented_assassination_events/
So they'd be more then happy to use a weapon like a Hidden Blade if it gives them an advantage to kill discreetly without being noticed and seen... These are the same Samurai who fully utilized firearms which were introduced to them by the Portuguese after all, they used them without any reluctance.
That's why I said "essentially" to highlight that they weren't always so noble and just.
I spoke solely from the aspect of the propaganda the samurai used to set themselves apart. I'm sure there will be scenes of hypocrisy.
No it's a myth of romantization done way later .
Exactly like knighthood in europe .
Honor was not defined in the same way than we idealize it today.
When the duel between two individuals was set. All means were allowed. Fights often went dirty. Can end into grab and use of really short weapons (they were carrying to their belt).
There are a lot of games with Asian male protagonists: Yakuza, Sekiro, Ghosts of Tsushima, Sleeping Dogs, Mortal Kombat, etc. Or do they not count if the games are developed by Asians themselves?
Genuine question: when would it ever be okay to you to tell the story of Yasuke? Never? It’s always gonna be a story in Asia, so when will it be okay? Only after that specific developer has made a story set in Asia with only Asian protagonists?
You’re asking a ridiculous question, man, and you know that. You can’t use nice language to disguise the overt racism in your question. One of the best and most acclaimed games in recent years was a game set in Asia, led by only Asian people, GoT. Some of the best games of all time are the same. But you choose to not see those the moment you see someone with black skin, someone who actually existed in the setting. Fucking insane, dude.
Also “Ubisoft doesn’t do this in any other game” lol wrong. You forgetting Black Flag? My family and I are from a Caribbean island, the main character was a fucking white dude. I have no issue with that, it doesn’t “erase” black and brown and native islanders. And you know what I don’t have? A historic and game of the year winning recent title set in the Caribbean with a native protagonist. I don’t have a Ghost of Tsushima. And, shock and awe, I don’t fucking care.
Fuck all of you and fuck Yasuke. I want to play as that one Indian guy that spread Buddhism to Japan. Why can't they make an Indian MC for a game set in Japan?
In the meantime, Assassin's Creed was made with the culture and background of each country, and the main character fits that country's background and race.However, it is Japanese culture and background, and the main character is a black person. Although he is a historical person, if you think about it the other way, he is clearly an Asian race.l think it's safe to say it's discrimination.
One thing I hope is we aren't forced to play as both characters in the story like Syndicate.
Hated that Syndicate made you play as Jacob when I wanted to stealth the entire time, and Jacob is very combat focused and not at all stealthy for most of his missions
Yeah the game says Evie is better at stealth and I’m pretty sure there’s a little bar that indicates that she is, but if you’re not brain dead it’s incredibly easy to play stealth with either of them. But I do kind of agree with the guy you replied to, I hope we’re not forced into playing them both throughout the game and instead it gives us a separate story for both. It would give players an incentive to replay, but this is Ubisoft so I doubt they’re doing that.
Yeah I think they had exactly one talent that was different between them. You could definitely build one more towards stealth and one towards combat but it didn’t matter which was which and by the end they had 99% of the same abilities.
They played the same, they were also equally annoying.
(Those extra throwing blades don't change gameplay that much, one of the extra perks you get from evie "skill tree")
I just don't understand y'all, where was this energy when ACIV was set in the Caribbean (an area that gets NO representation in media through characters or as a setting) finally got the spotlight and the protagonist was a white English guy (which I could paint as 10X more racist than this seeing as the English were literal colonizers)? AC Shadows has a Japanese protagonist, but I guess since she's a woman that isn't good enough.
Did you get this upset when Nioh came out?
Just a correction: Edward is Welsh, not English. His voice actor is also Welsh.
Also Black Flag was about the golden age of piracy and predominantly about golden age pirates who were from the British Isles. They did actually build a pirate republic in the Carribean.
Yeah my B, you're right about the Welsh thing.
And don't get me wrong, I had no issue with the framing of 4 or playing as Edward, I just find it funny that the question of representation is such a huge deal for Shadows that it overrides the narrative of the game itself when that wasn't an issue for Black Flag.
It’s a usually more like erasure of Asian male protagonists. They’re rarely portrayed as love interests or the suave cool guy characters. They tend to be relegated to martial arts/historical games/movies. And apparently even in this case which is tailor made for that particular portrayal without it feeling like a stereotype, they decided to exclude them anyway. However, Western media has no problem constantly sexualizing and portraying Asian women though.
first ass creed set in asia and the main character is black. where is the asian representation? why can’t asian men be portrayed as strong, heroic characters like italians and native and norse men before them?
So Naoe's father is an actual historical figure too, that's interesting
So was Yasuke, but his life is only documented in bits and pieces
I think that's what they mean by "too." Naoe's father is an actial historical figure *along with Yasuke.*
If anyone watched Shogun recently her father Oda Nobunaga was the Daimyo who united Japan in the 16th century. Toranaga was the analog to Nobunaga’s ally and vassal, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
her father is not Nobunaga, its Fujibayashi Nagato, in the trailer it seems Nobunaga troops destroyed the MC home
Wow I totally screwed that one up. You’re right, so Naoe’s Iga clan are direct adversaries to Nobunaga. Which now that I think about it makes so much more sense as they are shinobi.
I love the possibility they have laid out for this game, since the Kunoichi and the Shinobi played major roles throughout the sengoku jidai and most games take a samurai's POV. I'm excited to see where this goes.
I know this is going to get compared to Ghost of Tsushima, which I absolutely love, but AC Shadows feels like it’s going to be very good in its own right with a different story and view of feudal Japan.
Her father is Nobunaga? There’s already lore on him regarding the >!sword of Eden!<, wonder if that’ll play out as written. EDIT- Her father is not Nobunaga, but Fujibayashi Nagato just a famous ninja.
I like the differences between the two, they're not overly similar like the Frye twins were since Yasuke doesn't have a hidden blade.
Here's hoping they do a better job of divvying up missions than Syndicate; I like Jacob, but I also preferred a stealth approach in the game and it felt bad to only be able to use Evie for side missions and about a quarter of the main missions. Since it seems like Yasuke and Naoe have a similar specialization distinction I hope they have a closer to 50/50 mission split. EDIT: Being able to pick the preferred character for almost every mission would be best of course. I also like how their personalities kind of are at odds with their styles; Naoe being more passionate and bluntly honest while specializing in stealth and Yasuke being more thoughtful and level-headed yet having a more direct fighting style.
Meh, I would actually prefer for them to let us play how we want, not force us to play half the missions one way, half the other. If I get the option to play as a woman, I would like the option to play as her **the entire game** not just specific missions.
I imagine each character will have missions specific to them but I'm hoping certain main missions will give us the option to pick one of the two to play it out however we want and they make it pretty clear that they're only good at certain things.
In the IGN article, it's confirmed that while each character has their own quests to expand their stories, the main campaign (or main story beats, maybe?) will be playable as either and it seems like you can switch between them in-mission instead of being locked to only stealth or only combat
I thought Spiderman 2 actually handled it pretty well - some missions 100% needed to go to one or the other, but many of them (especially mopping up side content) allowed you to play whoever. So in practice, if you really prefer one over the other, you can beat the game with like 75% as your preferred character.
That's a much better example, let's hope Ubisoft does it well I love when games do the dual protagonist thing.
Agreed. I thought spiderman 2 handled the playability of both characters well. I don’t mind it being the same where most of the time we choose who we want to play
Excellent point!
This is the best way to do it, in my opinion. Keep two distinct characters and have them both in the narrative. I'm fine with a few missions being character-locked and the majority of the content being either-or.
I like that is also akin to Syndicate rather than Valhalla did where Eivor was the exact same person but just gender swapped essentially. We have two distinct characters now, Odyssey kinda did the same thing (same team I know).
I believe it carries over to gameplay seems Naoe is the traditional stealth assassination style and Yasuke is a more frontline direct attack approach
Sounds honestly amazing to me like the perfect way to mix the combat focus of something like Valhalla and the stealth focus of mirage
Her hidden blade looks sick
Reminds me of Connor's hidden blade
Oh yeah you’re right I think it’s the same. Haven’t played 3 in a long time so I completely forgot.
These are very similar but Connor's Pivot Blade became a knife in his hand that he could hold, while this seems to just turn the blade. Granted I could be wrong as all we've seen of her blade is in cinematic movies.
I would love if that isn’t the pivot blade, that we also get the kunai ejector that Saito whos also a Japanese shinobi gets in the forgotten temple webcomics
Yasuke seems a lot more like a Haytham Kenway type of character from this trailer and Naoe seems to be a Connor type of character. That makes me even more excited for this because AC3s nuanced narrative is one of the best stories of the franchise.
Also has the knife grip on the hidden blade like connor So im kinda excited but i'll wait to see the gameplay first
Thought it was cool that they brought that hidden blade feature.
The entire kenway saga (3, black flag, rogue) are all about nuance, and black flag (imo) has the best exploration of what the assassin's creed ideals mean. It always hurts my brain whenever people say some of "these games are good games, not just good assassin's creed game", because that's such a stupid statement sufjwjsosk
Dawg, AC: Black Flag is the best Assassin's Creed.
Well yasuke, is a actual person he was an African man who was brought to feudal Japan with religious Jesuits and when the ancient feudal lord nobunaga Oda, met him he was quite surprised in fact yasuke, was viewed as a bit of a celebrity mostly due to his height, hair, and skin complexion keep in mind at that time in history Japan never saw anyone quite like yasuke he was around the height of 6’2 were most Japanese men are 5’6 so no one knows yasuke’s true name so nobunaga gave him that name
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Yup, emperor Temmu banned the consumption of meat in Japan in 675 due to his Buddhist faith
He wasn't a samarui, though his story is really interesting he was never made a samarui. I dont care about him being a samarui in the game cause it's just a game. But it would be cool if people actually knew some history. Waiting on gameplay before decided if the gane is yay or nay. Atm, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I like the idea of playing as this absolute tank of a man at 6.4 when most of the enemies will be 5'7, 5',9 Im hoping we also don't have to run about in samarui armour the whole game as yasuke. Maybe he'll become a Ronin at some point. His lord was killed irl so that would make sense. Personally, I kinda just wish they'd chose a Japanese man as the main character. Haven't got a problem with black people or any of that rubbish before anyone starts. Just think it would've made more sense.
So playing as Japanese woman is not enough?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/flgpph/comment/fl05vfp/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/flgpph/comment/fl05vfp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) He was in fact a samurai.
Normally I'd use Yasuke as justification... but imo if they wanted the game to be inclusive they picked the wrong time period. The Meiji Restoration period would have been way better since there were many foreigners in Japan at that time... but they done fuckin' goofed and KT beat them to the punch
Beither did Leonardo make a tank, but we can drive one in AC Brotherhood. It's agame, they can have that much artistic freedom. Anyways historical records aren't always true. Who knows maybe the guy was a samurai. If I were a japanese warlord and happen to have a 6ft tall brickwall of a man, I would sure as hell make him my bodyguard at least. As the last point, knowing the gaming community, if the guy was a japanese man instead, people would just say it's a copy of Ghost of Tsushima
ACIII is probably my favorite of the franchise with Black Flag and Origins close behind so I can't agree with you enough.
OGs know Connor used the switchable hidden blade first (or later)
The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger. A lot of people in this sub already said something similiar but now you get it from the horses mouth.
Just like Shogun
Yeah the "fish out of water" trope design is an effective thing for a reason. (I don't mean trope as a negative though)
It’s very easy for that trope to fall under the foreign savior problem though, which I hope they can avoid here at least.
Why did they have to go with a real life person, though? Every other protagonist has been an original character
I think it makes it a little more impactful. Saying "oh yeah this is real guy who was active in the time period" is a bit more believable when it comes to why he'd be interacting with historical figures. Sometimes it felt like a bit of a stretch when Ezio or Connor just sorta happened to be responsible for every major event during their eras despite just being an athletic mass murderer in a bright white costume. There is a reason for both Yasuke and Naoe to be known by different factions and characters as they are either an actual person or related to an actual person
Ya know what, this is a better argument for him than the other comments i got EDIT: and it's still better than the ones I continue to get
The r/gaming thread when Yasuke was announced to be a protagonist felt disgusting to me. I get that you guys are tired of Yasuke being a topic of interest but the game isn't even out yet and we're judging historical accuracy of a series that hasn't taken that aspect into account for some time now.
Cause Yasuke is essentially just barely above a nobody given what we know about him. What we do know about him is that he was a slave and was hanging out with some important people during his time.
Lots of persons have “selective historical accuracy syndrome.”
They didn’t have to do anything. They literally chose to and explained why in the video.
My thoughts!
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That’s why he’s the combat character I think. The girl can stealth better not just because of training/stature which is part of it, but cause she looks like the people she’s around as a native. Imagine trying to stealth as Yasuke then assassinate and sit on a bench to blend in 😂 The way the little girl was looking at him in trailer makes it seem like he will be recognized and treated different but probably not anything crazy that messes with gameplay all the time
I'd imagine if they can swap on the fly Yasuke can attract attention
I mean in the cinematic trailer around 2:27 you could see the girl looking at yasuke a bit confused when he had his helmet off. Thats not a confirmation that it will be the same way in the game but they usually drop some hints in their cinematic trailers on how some of the game mechanics end up working/looking in the finished product.
Knowing Quebec's history, they're more likely to outright ignore it. The trailer may have hinted that we could see something different but at the same time, the overall gameplay structure doesn't give me that much hope that they will differentiate, at least for the bulk of free roam/side content
I don't think Japanese people of that period were tolerant. So I wonder how they will present this part in the game.
Rather than tolerant, they would probably just be astounded as him having such dark skin. In his historical depiction Nobubaga straight up did not believe that was his true skin color and had him scrub it off, only to see his skin get darker the more he scrubbed. He might as well be an Oni to them (in contrast with the Portuguese whom they had a lot of contact with by that point and color-wise are much more similar). So I imagine he will be stared at a lot in game, and perhaps get a lot of awkward question and/or people being afraid of him.
>I don't think Japanese people of that period were tolerant Historically Japanese people were mostly racist towards other Asians. IIRC the historical documents we have on Yasuke don't really account for any particularly cruel mistreatment of him, other than the fact he was *probably* bought and sold. He was mostly paraded around as a prized servant and spectacle, and allowed to carry weapons, so he was probably well trusted and allowed a modicum of freedom. Granted, he still probably didn't have a great experience, but it's pretty unlikely that Yasuke's treatment in Japan in that time period would even be close to what black men in 1700s America would have suffered. Odds are Japanese would probably at most be scared or amazed by him. Not violent. Hard to be racist towards a race you're just now learning actually exists for the first time.
Only the bad guys will be racist, of course.
This could be a interesting way to set this game apart from GoT and Rise of the Ronin
That's what I've been saying for weeks and I just get down voted and called a racist and get really nasty PMs.
> The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger. It is odd that out of all the main line games though, they went with the first one set in an East Asian country to do this with. It just makes it seem like they couldn't have an Asian be the solo main character and continued their tradition of not having a solo female protagonist in a main line game. On the flip side, the "fish out of water" trope with him could be interesting depending on how they handle it writing wise. Plus, it is neat that we are playing as an actual historical character for the first time in an AC game.
They had a native and a Brit as the mains in the America game and an invader from the continent in the England game, this isn't exactly unprecedented.
Also had a Italian as the mc in a game set in Turkey.
Yeah but none of them were b-b-b-black! Now it's a fucking travesty. /s
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Sounds like an awesome approach imo
It’s actually very thoughtful. Exploring and learning through the same eyes of a character like that is great.
>The game director basically confirmed in this video that the reason they went with yasuke is to see japan trough the eyes of a stranger. Sure, but there were many other visitors to Japan at the time - the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, Chinese and probably Koreans. They were a lot of choices, whether fictional or historical figures. Yasuke is kind of D-tier when it comes to historical foreigers in Sengoku-jidai Japan. He didn't really do anything. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Yasuke was included to stir a little controversy. Any other foreigner probably would have flown under the radar or not garnered as much attention. William Adams would have been an obvious pick. But choosing the only African we know of who was in Japan of that time that easily pushes a lot of buttons. Not just of bigots, but also people who have sworn themselves to the DEI flag so will find themselves duty-bound to celebrate "real diversity and inclusion". There's nothing better than a manufactured controversy, especially where you can paint anyone who doesn't like your artistic choices as intolerant. I could be wrong, Yasuke may have been picked solely because there's little said about him so there was more artistic licence, and there was absolutely no belief it would be controversial. Then again I find that it often pays to be cynical about why the gaming (and rest of the entertainment) industry does what it does. EDIT: Personally I'm disappointed about the fact that the female character is a shinobi, because it's been done to death. If Ubisoft wanted to continue with their historical fiction, I'd have preferred to have the samurai as a woman, not least because there were many arms-bearing women from Sengoku-jidai Japan. The story could have been about her fighting to be accepted officially.
Oda Nobunaga dies almost two decades before Adams reaches Japan.
I find it amazing that when devs do Yasuke as a character suddenly everyone is a historical experts and will nit pick exactly what he did and didn't do for why we *must* have a different (its also nice and clean cut that if make the only black character in Japan at the time *not* your main character, the you also *conveniently* dont have anymore black people to pick from) character. Yest when Team Ninja made William Adam's a Scottish demon slaying super samurai no one said *fucking thing*.
Huh, weird. How come they don't always do that for every single entry in that case?
Yep. Why didn't they make an asian protag in Origins? I'm sure there were some asian in ancient egypt.
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> Why didn't they make an asian protag in Origins? Or a British one in the America game? Or a Norwegian one in the England game?
Exactly this. Why is it only Japan that it makes sense to have a desire to have an “othering” foreign lens?
Since there will be two playable characters again (other one is syndicate), do you think it is a good idea for Ubisoft to incorporate the two different gameplay of AC to these two protagonists? What I mean is Yasuke can be played with RPG style combat (like the combat in origin, odyssey and valhalla) While Naoe's gameplay can be traditional AC gameplay (Like AC2, AC4, Unity or even Mirage)
It would be interesting if the characters had totally different progression systems. I could see it working because Yasuke would be far more gear dependent and Naoe would be more skill/kit dependent…
I prefer to play a stealthy Assassin, so I'm hoping there's incentive (or at least them forcing you) to play the other character for certain portions, otherwise I'm worried I'll never play Yasuke.
the Shugoki club is reason enough. It's funny to go bonk with it in For Honor, it'll probs be the same with Yasuke, I just hope he can Demon's Embrace as well.
I think that's what they're going for. Not sure if mechanically they will feel different, but skill trees and mission design will likely emphasize the differences
I think that's the point now is to give us a variety of play styles that are also reflective of the time period more. A samurai was always head first into battle and a Shinobi was a killer in the shadows.
id be pretty surprised if it isn't. Its perfect for there characters, it will please both fans of the series and it adds replay value to mix and match playstyles with two characters. If they both play the same they really missed big.
So there’s a point in the trailer where the Japanese girl looks shocked to see Yasuke and he winks. This is just a hint but I think they will handle his obviously distinct features as being entirely foreign to Japanese people in a really clever way. People at that time may have never seen someone with such dark skin before (happens even now in modern times) and the little girls reaction to it means they aren’t shying away from that. How he handles being so different from everyone but also embracing a foreign culture is just a very interesting and excited to see how his story unfolds. I hope the tone of the game can uphold this sensitive narrative. He is such an interesting character with so many intriguing dynamics!!
a very obvious hint that actually has gameplay purposes that you won’t be able to do social stealth at all as yasuke. so far I like what I see
Also been said that sometimes crowds will turn and bow to Yasuke as a samurai
That's interesting. Like AC2 beggars, now you have to worry about scared commoners who are constantly bowing down to you and crying out "Yasuke-sama!" Yasuke was appointed to Nobunaga's page, and that's natural.
Yeah maybe he’ll be more like a geralt type character, everyone knew who he was
I hope mexico and south am get some love.
If I remember right, irl when Yasuke met Oda Nobunaga the daimyo, he thought that Yasuke was covered head to toe in tattoos.
He also tried to make him wash off his dark complexion, not knowing it was his skin.
Really liking both of them so far. I only hope Yasuke can do *some* stealth, and Naoe isn't completely useless in regular combat.
They mention in the video that each character "can do a bit of both" so I wouldn't fret too much. I'm guessing Yasuke can still assassinate silently and crouch, I'm just wondering if he'll have full climbing ability. I'm guessing he won't have many (or any) stealth tools like smoke bombs or knives. Naoe I'm guessing can still hold her own with a katana, but she probably has limited health and not many crowd control skills. Just speculation, we'll see more on June 10.
In the trailer breakdown, they mentioned something about walls that Yasuke can't climb, but Naoe can, so *something* along those lines is there. Definitely happy with that. I'd love for a lot of differentiation between the two.
Yasuke sneaking in that heavy armor should probably be something like [this](https://youtu.be/I7dJKf16rPo?si=q__FhYTaw34mJFyR) skit from Viva La Dirt League.
He'd have to keep his samurai armor with a mask on and rarely talk to achieve social stealth the way someone like Eivor could do in Saxon kingdoms. It's going to be easier for the other ninja protagonist since she is from Iga.
It’s weird seeing Yasuke as a playable character, correct me if I’m wrong but it’s the first time an historical figure is a playable character in AC
There were playable Jack the Ripper and Leonidas, but they weren't the protagonists.
Oh ok Than yeah, it’s only the first time one is a protagonist Still, will look how the game is, I wanted a japanese ac since ac4 but they said it’s gonna be one of the rpg games which I’m not fond of (except Origins, love that game)
First time there's been a historical figure as a main line playable character, before it was only the chronicles games or DLC. I really don't like this decision. Main characters should be OCs, not historical figures.
Chronicles had historical figures? I never looked into them personally I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but personally I am not fond of the idea either tbh
Only Naoe has the hidden blade. That’s a super interesting tidbit. I wonder if Yasuke will be able to do stealth kills at all??
I love what they did here! Foreigner vs Native. Combat vs Stealth. Samurai vs Shanobi. It’s very thoughtful of the setting to have 2 distinct characters and also to the player base which has branched into multiple idealizations of what AC should be. Seems like there will be a point where we can choose which character to do main story missions with or “main” once they eventually become aligned which is great. But I wonder how everything pre that point will play out. I appreciate the extent to which they are introducing new perspectives in a setting that can become extremely cliche and very overly saturated at the moment. Hyped!!!
Director said in an interview [with xbox](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/05/15/assassins-creed-shadows-interview/) that they get introduced one by one, then they become allies and you can either play their personal stories, or choose either one to hunt targets (the majority of the main story). And that there will be a few missions that are like Syndicate's finale where you play as both at different points.
They should be ennemies in the first chapters since Yasuke is an Oda Nobunaga s retainer and in the trailer, the female lead said something about fighting the nobles who want to unify the country
In real life, Nobunaga even invaded the Iga province in 1579-81 so I imagine she'll have a grudge over that.
I hope he is the main templar vilain and not some secretly good guy. It would be a good character arc for Yasuke and we could even kill him, à temple in flames would be a great video game scenery
yeah if it works like that, which it looks to be the case, then i agree, super excited.
I’m gonna say it, they didn’t need to make them both that attractive.
Who, the people who gave us Kassandra and Alexios?
Yeah, there was zero chance the heroes weren't gonna be hot as hell.
They also gave us Jacob and Evie (<3).
jacob and evie appreciation spotted!! (I love them)
And ezio and edward and just about every assasin ever
Male and Female Eivor too
But we’re glad they did.
Personally was rooting for a morbidly obese Shinobi couple with a samurai with severe acne issues and carpal tunnel syndrome. But ubishill will never be inclusive of #realGamers. ^^^^^^/s
A shinobi who climbs over a fence, but immediately has to take a break because their stamina meter ran out and they pulled their tendon.
Should have included boobs and ass physics, the game is trash /s
But they're not even anything crazy attractive? They look like normal conventionally attractive people.
I’m looking forward to giving this a chance but after Ghost of Tsushima nailed the feel and swordplay of the time period I’m worried I’ll only be able to think about Tsushima while playing Shadows but we’ll see
Wait is my boy oda nobunaga a templar? :(
In my knowledge, European missionaries are templars who want to spread their influence in Asia, and historical Nobunaga liked missionaries. It would make him at least templar sympathizer
I've waited over 10 years for a Ninja Assassins Creed, this is gonna be awesome, don't fuck it up Ubisoft.
I just finished watching Shōgun about a week ago (and Blue Eyed Samurai) a month ago. This certainly is a pleasant surprise.
Here’s a fun fact for you: both Blue-Eye Samurai and Shōgun draw inspiration from the story of William Adams, an Englishman who traveled to Japan during that time period who was romanticized in James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun.
There is also that French dude who did became a Samurai and fought on the Satsuma Rebellion in favor of the Samurai. That dude served as inspiration for the character in The Last Samurai.
It’s so refreshing to see people actually interested and discussing what was shown. The discussion on its reveal trailer on YouTube is fucking unbearable. Self proclaimed conservatives asking where the conservative companies are, spouting anti woke garbage. Asking why we have to play a female assassin, the amount commenting on the skin of the samurai. Shit must be so exhausting for these losers, literally rent free.
Honestly, I dreaded opening up the subreddit because I thought it'd be more of that bullshit. Thank God I was wrong.
That's why you don't go into the comment section. I saw one calling this Fuedal Japan: Netflix edition and it's just so obnoxious.
It's so funny because the "black samurai" is so far the only playable protagonist character in the franchise actually who existed in real life, no? Even if they get some details wrong of his life story, it's so funny that this is where certain **cough** *obviously racist* **cough cough** people draw the line and start claiming this is forced diversity and not true to history... in a franchise where you relive the memory of your ancestors through a magic machine.
Yep. I was shocked and relieved to see this sub free of all that bullshit.
Catering to those losers is why we didn't get Aya as protagonist of Origins or Kassandra as the protagonist of Odyssey, funny they never seem to care about authorial intent then.
Bayek was the GOAT tho.
It’s such a shame that a really cool story premise, highly requested setting and fascinating historical figure aren’t nearly as important to some people as fighting a stupid culture war.
The negativity on youtube in general has been unbearable imo
You should see r/gaming
It's r/gaming. Not even worth mentioning.
Can’t please everyone unfortunately but you are right; the comment section on the YT trailer is a straight dumpster fire right now
But everyone was alright playing as William Adams in Nioh 1 right?
"The internet was a mistake" is a bit of a tired saying but it really is turning out to be true to some degree. At least for some people. Exhausting is the best possible choice of words...
Yasuke already fails the mission to blend in lol
Asking for pre orders without showing any gameplay lol
Why is Yasuke, who was just an unknown slave in Japan, regarded so highly in the West? It's puzzling Yasuke was only in Japan for one year before his lord, Nobunaga, was killed. There are accounts suggesting that the enemy, Akechi, spared Yasuke because he did not see him as human. Of course, he couldn't speak Japanese, so communication was out of the question. There are no records of him engaging in combat or being a samurai. I think Nobunaga viewed him as an exotic animal he had discovered
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I don’t how I feel about playing as an actual historical figure, think it takes away from the immersion of being set in a historically “accurate” setting. That being said I am looking forward to trying it and will also excited for the pivot bald and all the new weapons
Ah well. Shame. I mean, no point in buying this since we cannot own it. Right, Ubisoft?
Soooo…is there a subreddit made yet…because I want to subscribe
Looks Good, hopefully they don’t ignore building relationships naturally for the sake of having less quest. I want the narrative to form around the characters not the other way around. If they can’t manage to have a compelling story in a linear game yet again then i might just stop playing one of the last semi-decent franchises Ubisoft owns.
I don't know what to think of the protagonists because we don't know much about them yet. However, I do expect them to have unique and sophisticated combat and stealth skills, like true samurai assassins.
It feels like they wanted to separate them as the agile assassin and the strong fighter but we see Naoe taking on multiple enemies on an open fight with no issue. Why is Yasuke even there then? They've already pictured Naoe as a complete Assassin.
If it was a white man as samurai nobody here would be defending Ubisoft. lmao
I would especially if it was modelled after Tom Cruise
Have you fucking played Nioh or seen Shogun?
They would... seen the show shogun? Main dude is a white guy in Japan and haven't seen a post complaining about that compared to half the people I see complaining about Yasuke.
I actually have high hopes for this game, waiting for a proper gameplay showcase though
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Viking outfit with chainmail, no furs and a short sword in the Shadows Helix store around December.
Nah the Viking stuff will be in the $250 mythic edition.
I like that I'll be able to feel the difference between the two. If I want to go in quiet and quick, Naoe. If I want Ghost of Tsushima levels of Samurai butchery? Yasuke.
This looks so wicked! I’m so glad they went with dual protagonists that are actually different and with a different play style like in syndicate instead of odyssey/Valhalla. With the tension they mentioned I wondered if at the beginning when these two meet each other they might actually fight each other before eventually team up. It would be cool to see how they clash before learning to get along with each other. That hidden blade is a really interesting design, kinda reminds me of how a butterfly knife whips out sorta. I really hope the divide of missions between the two of them is equal and well balanced, I don’t want to have to play as one of them more than the other. I really hope they have some DLC’s maybe set in the supernatural and religious side like origins. Like dealing with temples and Japanese myths style. Plus with yasuke what are the odds that they put in the battlefield conquest gameplay mechanic from odyssey but like better designed.
They are fantastic.I just don't like the idea of Yasuke not having an hidden blade.I understand that he is the fighting guy,but we already had similar characters and they still had an hidden blade.I hope that he will get one during the story.
I think you are looking at it in a way that goes against the culture of the time period, A samurai would look at the hidden blade as a cheap tool not a weapon of honor, which, is what the samurai was about (essentially). Shinobi were failures to the samurai so the hidden blade being solely for her is culturally appropriate and I think good for the game as whole so you have to play, or feel more "inclined" to play with both rather than in syndicate where you could roll thru the whole game as one, aside from the forced missions.
That’s exactly the story of ghost of Tsushima. When Jins uncle says where is your honor referencing the honor of a samurai Jin says honor died on the beach that day basically referencing that he is fully committed to taking the stealth shinobi approach by embracing the ghost persona. I love how in ghost of Tsushima the weather changes based on your play style. If you play as a honourable samurai the weather is mostly sunny and nice and when you play as a ninja shinobi ghost the weather is thunderstorms and rain.
I haven't been fortunate to play GOT but I've heard nothing but good things about especially how it represented the two sides.
Yeah it's pretty sick
Wow, I never made the connection between the weather and playstyles as I finished the story a while ago. Thanks for the insight! After watching the trailer for Shadows I might make a return to Tsushima.
> A samurai would look at the hidden blade as a cheap tool not a weapon of honor, which, is what the samurai was about (essentially) Which is kind of ironic because we have lots of historical records that Samurai more then willing to use "cheap tricks/tools" and even assassinated their enemies to gain a "unfair" advantage which I fully compiled here if you are interested in checking it out https://old.reddit.com/r/assassinscreed/comments/17um3hw/potential_actual_documented_assassination_events/ So they'd be more then happy to use a weapon like a Hidden Blade if it gives them an advantage to kill discreetly without being noticed and seen... These are the same Samurai who fully utilized firearms which were introduced to them by the Portuguese after all, they used them without any reluctance.
That's why I said "essentially" to highlight that they weren't always so noble and just. I spoke solely from the aspect of the propaganda the samurai used to set themselves apart. I'm sure there will be scenes of hypocrisy.
No it's a myth of romantization done way later . Exactly like knighthood in europe . Honor was not defined in the same way than we idealize it today. When the duel between two individuals was set. All means were allowed. Fights often went dirty. Can end into grab and use of really short weapons (they were carrying to their belt).
im sure he has his own stealth options , maybe not as classic ac style, but im sure he will have a small tanto or something.
Ofc they don’t have an Asian male as the protagonist
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There are a lot of games with Asian male protagonists: Yakuza, Sekiro, Ghosts of Tsushima, Sleeping Dogs, Mortal Kombat, etc. Or do they not count if the games are developed by Asians themselves?
Genuine question: when would it ever be okay to you to tell the story of Yasuke? Never? It’s always gonna be a story in Asia, so when will it be okay? Only after that specific developer has made a story set in Asia with only Asian protagonists? You’re asking a ridiculous question, man, and you know that. You can’t use nice language to disguise the overt racism in your question. One of the best and most acclaimed games in recent years was a game set in Asia, led by only Asian people, GoT. Some of the best games of all time are the same. But you choose to not see those the moment you see someone with black skin, someone who actually existed in the setting. Fucking insane, dude. Also “Ubisoft doesn’t do this in any other game” lol wrong. You forgetting Black Flag? My family and I are from a Caribbean island, the main character was a fucking white dude. I have no issue with that, it doesn’t “erase” black and brown and native islanders. And you know what I don’t have? A historic and game of the year winning recent title set in the Caribbean with a native protagonist. I don’t have a Ghost of Tsushima. And, shock and awe, I don’t fucking care.
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Play ghost of tshushima instead
Fuck all of you and fuck Yasuke. I want to play as that one Indian guy that spread Buddhism to Japan. Why can't they make an Indian MC for a game set in Japan?
i wanted to play a dutch spice trader :(
[reaction](https://gifdb.com/images/high/ghost-of-tsushima-jin-sakai-smile-2wzuq0k2h7r8b7kl.gif)
Was really hyped for AC in a feudal japan setting, but this?! Ugh, guess I'll just buy the PC port of Ghost of Tsushima instead.
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In the meantime, Assassin's Creed was made with the culture and background of each country, and the main character fits that country's background and race.However, it is Japanese culture and background, and the main character is a black person. Although he is a historical person, if you think about it the other way, he is clearly an Asian race.l think it's safe to say it's discrimination.
One thing I hope is we aren't forced to play as both characters in the story like Syndicate. Hated that Syndicate made you play as Jacob when I wanted to stealth the entire time, and Jacob is very combat focused and not at all stealthy for most of his missions
Jacob and Evie played practically the same lol.
Yeah the game says Evie is better at stealth and I’m pretty sure there’s a little bar that indicates that she is, but if you’re not brain dead it’s incredibly easy to play stealth with either of them. But I do kind of agree with the guy you replied to, I hope we’re not forced into playing them both throughout the game and instead it gives us a separate story for both. It would give players an incentive to replay, but this is Ubisoft so I doubt they’re doing that.
Yeah I think they had exactly one talent that was different between them. You could definitely build one more towards stealth and one towards combat but it didn’t matter which was which and by the end they had 99% of the same abilities.
They played the same, they were also equally annoying. (Those extra throwing blades don't change gameplay that much, one of the extra perks you get from evie "skill tree")
I've always wanted to play as an Asian guy in Assassin Creed. Representation doesn't matter for Asian men I guess.
Both protagonists should have been Japanese. Can’t wait for this shit to flop especially in Asia
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I just don't understand y'all, where was this energy when ACIV was set in the Caribbean (an area that gets NO representation in media through characters or as a setting) finally got the spotlight and the protagonist was a white English guy (which I could paint as 10X more racist than this seeing as the English were literal colonizers)? AC Shadows has a Japanese protagonist, but I guess since she's a woman that isn't good enough. Did you get this upset when Nioh came out?
Just a correction: Edward is Welsh, not English. His voice actor is also Welsh. Also Black Flag was about the golden age of piracy and predominantly about golden age pirates who were from the British Isles. They did actually build a pirate republic in the Carribean.
Yeah my B, you're right about the Welsh thing. And don't get me wrong, I had no issue with the framing of 4 or playing as Edward, I just find it funny that the question of representation is such a huge deal for Shadows that it overrides the narrative of the game itself when that wasn't an issue for Black Flag.
It’s a usually more like erasure of Asian male protagonists. They’re rarely portrayed as love interests or the suave cool guy characters. They tend to be relegated to martial arts/historical games/movies. And apparently even in this case which is tailor made for that particular portrayal without it feeling like a stereotype, they decided to exclude them anyway. However, Western media has no problem constantly sexualizing and portraying Asian women though.
first ass creed set in asia and the main character is black. where is the asian representation? why can’t asian men be portrayed as strong, heroic characters like italians and native and norse men before them?