The Thread where I air my grievances with the Assassins' Creed series SPOILERS EVERYWHERE

[BrawlMan]

https://x.com/StutteringCraig/status/1902086485135798426

Some of the voice acting is.....

1. Fuck Stuttering Craig. He screwed over Handsome Tom and happily joined up with the Far Right, because he knows he has nothing else going for him.
2. That voice acting from the NPC sounds like a horrible AI job. I bet you (Ubisoft) were trying to stick in some AI.
3. Hire actual voice actors and pay them AAA gamibg industry.

 

[CriticalGaming]

1. Fuck Stuttering Craig. He screwed over Handsome Tom and happily joined up with the Far Right, because he knows he has nothing else going for him.
2. That voice acting from the NPC sounds like a horrible AI job. I bet you were trying to stick in some AI.
3. Hire actual voice actors and pay them AAA gamibg industry.

1. I don't know who that is, nor do I care. It's just a tweet.
2. I did not do anything.

 

[BrawlMan]

. I don't know who that is, nor do I care. It's just a tweet.

He's an asshole involved with some racists fucks. Stay away from him.

did not do anything.

I never said nor implied you did.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Black Flag is an incredible game, it's only ever hindered by all the typical Ass Creed shit that happens in between the pirating shit.

TBH I actually thought that AC4's Typical Ass Creed Shit was some of the best Typical Ass Creed Shit since 2, but I play Genshin Impact so don't take any of my opinions about games too seriously. Obviously the sailing was still the best part though.

I may have said so before, but I lost interest in the series when they introduced random loot, gear scores and enemy levels. I haven't heard that Shadows dropped any of that, so even if it is better than the last three, it's still in the same vein that I'm just not interested in. Besides, someone else already made "Assassin's Creed set in Japan", so Ubisoft don't even have that level of appeal going for them.

 

[BrawlMan]

Besides, someone else already made "Assassin's Creed set in Japan", so Ubisoft don't even have that level of appeal going for them.

Yes!

​

 

[BrawlMan]

Assassin's Creed Shadows Reviews

Live the intertwined stories of Naoe, an adept shinobi Assassin from Iga Province, and Yasuke, the powerful African samurai of historical legend. Against the backdrop of the turbulent late Sengoku period, this remarkable duo will discover their common destiny as they usher in a new era for...

www.metacritic.com

81 overall so far on the professional score.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Let me save you all the trouble for reading/watching reviews for the new AC, I'll summarize:

The new Assassins Creed game is, indeed, an Assassin's Creed game.
That is to say, of all the Assassin's Creed games ever made, this is certainly one of them.

Ok you want a little more? Well some of the pre-release criticisms revolved around having two protagonists and the worry from some that they couldn't play as a the big warrior guy the whole time, and others worrying that you couldn't just play as the sneaky ninja chick the whole time. Now that the game is out and it turns out you can mostly play as whomever you like, there are complaints that the game was designed to allow you to play as whomever you like.

Ok in case anyone else had any actual interest in the game other than using it to shit on AC, Ubisoft, open worlds games, wokes, the AAA game industry, or whatever- apparently it actually runs pretty decent on PC, which was the only actual worry I had.

 

[BrawlMan]

Let me save you all the trouble for reading/watching reviews for the new AC, I'll summarize:

The new Assassins Creed game is, indeed, an Assassin's Creed game.
That is to say, of all the Assassin's Creed games ever made, this is certainly one of them.

Ok you want a little more? Well some of the pre-release criticisms revolved around having two protagonists and the worry from some that they couldn't play as a the big warrior guy the whole time, and others worrying that you couldn't just play as the sneaky ninja chick the whole time. Now that the game is out and it turns out you can mostly play as whomever you like, there are complaints that the game was designed to allow you to play as whomever you like.

Ok in case anyone else had any actual interest in the game other than using it to shit on AC, Ubisoft, open worlds games, wokes, the AAA game industry, or whatever- apparently it actually runs pretty decent on PC, which was the only actual worry I had.

Whenever you get the game, please enjoy @Old_Hunter_77, and have fun. I know my older brother will whenever he gets Shadows.

Ok in case anyone else had any actual interest in the game other than using it to shit on AC, Ubisoft, open worlds games, wokes, the AAA game industry, or whatever-

Funny thing: the anti-wokes are shocked and having a meltdown the game is doing well or not the disaster they were wishing Shadows to be. The game never lost nor had a large pre-order drop for neither the West nor Japan. There were never any official reports, and the grifters were assuming, guessing, or making "theories" with out of context quotes from people whom had an axe to grind to begin with. Even those not part of the anti-woke crowd, were hoping the game failed out of either principal or their strong hatred/dislike for AAA gaming or AC in general. I don't hate the developers for trying to make the best game they can under the shittiest circumstances. My ire will always be at those from the top at Ubisoft though.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Whenever you get the game, please enjoy @Old_Hunter_77, and have fun. I know my older brother will whenever he gets Shadows.

Thanks you know I will. Don't know when, though. I really don't wanna be buying AAA games on release any more.
Plus I'm actually replaying Ghost of Tsushima. And while I insist the two games shouldn't be compared, there's no way I'm gonna play them back to back (just because they're big open worlds).

There is actually something positive about a franchise that is consistent like this- there's no rush for me to play it. I know what I'm gonna get, so there's no sense of FOMO or eagerness to see the surprise. It's comfort food and the thing about comfort food is- it's just always gonna be there when you need it. No surprise, and that is its own good.

Ideally I'll wait like 2 years for all the DLC and updates to come out and even 3 years to be able to buy a "Game of the Year" edition at a 40% discount (but probably not).

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Skill Up is also not having fun with the game. I don't think it's looking great, but I didn't expect it too with the delays and backlash tbh.

His full review is up and it's basically what I said but with more words and images.

What frustrates me about reviewers I normally like talking about AC is they refer to how it could/should be "more" and I'm like- what is this platonic ideal AC that they have envisioned in their heads, and why is that the game that Ubisoft should be making?

Comparing it unfavorably to Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 in its sense of exploration. Well those are really very different games, aren't they?

On the other hand, the observation that having the two protagonists with the whole "choosing when to do which quests" thing gets in the way of a strong narrative is something I could have told you after playing Syndicate in... *looks up*... 2015. A whole-ass decade ago! But then I'm always gonna bang the drum that "player choice" and "strong narrative" are almost always contradictory, because strong narratives require authorship. That's why Ernest Hemingway didn't right choose-your-own-adventure books.

 

[CriticalGaming]

The Yasuke black samurai dude hooks up with Nobunaga's daughter in the game, a women who's linage contains like 20 emperors. And Ubisoft dares comes out to brag about how much they cared about Japanese history and culture. It seems they didn't give a flying fuck about any of that and just wanted to bullshit their way through having a black samurai and gay assassin lady.

If that's what you wanted to make...neat, but don't talk about the respect for history because it's clear they don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

The credits are over 2 hours long by the way. That's funny.

 

[Hades]

Time to put on my historical nerd hat and examine some figures and what Ubisoft did with them. I haven't played the game. This is just something I gathered from comments and some spoilers I looked up.

Spoiler

Nobunaga is depicted just as its been in vogue to depict him in recent decades. An utterly ruthless revolutionary, but well intentioned and arguably a figure to root for. I think that's the interpretation we all expected.

What wasn't in line of expectations is that Toyotomi Hideyoshi is not the templar leader. The peasant warrior gathering enough power to take over Japan, but then growing bitter and crazy in old age, and invading Korea seems about the most perfect candidate for the role. However all he seems to be is an ally of the main characters who helps take down Templar Akechi. I suppose he could end up a villain for the dlc.

The Templar leader is instead Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and that's actually decision I can really respect. In Japanese history or at least in folklore and Media Yoshiaki has a very poor reputation. He's essentially treated as a historical joke character who's fall was both inevitable and richly deserved. Yet a closer look on history gives a more nuanced picture. While indeed a puppet installed by Nobunaga and then removed when plotting against him, Yoshiaki was also the first Shogun in decades who managed to have actual authority, who was successful in crafting many anti Nobunaga coalitions and who even had the occasional political victories against his supposed puppeteer. Not only due to him being the templar leader but also with his defeat where he calmly negotiates for his life, reflects on how he did it for the greater good and walks away with his life intact shows a level of dignity Yoshiaki doesn't often get.

There are several ways of subverting historical expectations. You have AC's handling of Caesar where the titan of history turns out to just be some clueless Templar puppet, and you have the case of Yoshiaki were a much maligned figure gets a more nuanced depiction. Of those I vastly prefer the Yoshiaki approach as it adds, rather than takes away as with Caesar.

 

[Hades]

The Yasuke black samurai dude hooks up with Nobunaga's daughter in the game, a women who's linage contains like 20 emperors

Oichi is Nobunga's sister and at the time the Oda were considered to be country bumpkins. Though I suppose Nobunaga's fame could indeed make them material for imperial marriage in the Edo period.

As for marriage I know one of her daughters married Hideyoshi. The famous lady Yodo(from Shogun fame) while another married into the Tokugawa who's reign as shogun would definitely allow for imperial marriage. Still wouldn't that be counted as Tokugawa rather than Oda lineage?

 

[BrawlMan]

It seems they didn't give a flying fuck about any of that

They never did at the very start of the franchise. What took you so long to figure this out? I have no complaints personally, but if people are enjoying that part of the story, then more power to them.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Assassin's Creed Shadows Reviews

Live the intertwined stories of Naoe, an adept shinobi Assassin from Iga Province, and Yasuke, the powerful African samurai of historical legend. Against the backdrop of the turbulent late Sengoku period, this remarkable duo will discover their common destiny as they usher in a new era for...

www.metacritic.com

81 overall so far on the professional score.

When I checked Steam, that also said the users were 81% positive, with about 2600 reviews. It's the first day, so obviously the equilibrium hasn't been found yet, but it's off to a solid start at least.

 

[EvilRoy]

When I checked Steam, that also said the users were 81% positive, with about 2600 reviews. It's the first day, so obviously the equilibrium hasn't been found yet, but it's off to a solid start at least.

My main surprise was steam charts showing 40k peak players. I know assassin's creed isn't the spring chicken it once was but even despite all the shit it caught the last dragon age still hit 80k within a couple days of release and I expected AC to be the same.

I kind of lost interest in AC a few games ago and this just looks like Ubisoft's take ghost of Tsushima which I'm still trying to find time to play anyway but I legitimately believed that the game would more or less hit solid numbers off the hop.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The Yasuke black samurai dude hooks up with Nobunaga's daughter in the game, a women who's linage contains like 20 emperors. And Ubisoft dares comes out to brag about how much they cared about Japanese history and culture. It seems they didn't give a flying fuck about any of that and just wanted to bullshit their way through having a black samurai and gay assassin lady.

If that's what you wanted to make...neat, but don't talk about the respect for history because it's clear they don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

The credits are over 2 hours long by the way. That's funny.

First of all, what else is new? Remember when Ezio was flying around on a giant kite? Something nobody got mad at at the time, by the way.

Secondly, why would they need to bullshit their way through having a gay assassin lady? Samurai historically actually had trysts with other male samurai, until the Christians showed up that is. Samurai Shamploo even had an episode on that, about a gay Dutch noble coming to Japan to find gay acceptance among the samurai. Remember how nobody had a cow over that?

Ubisoft has spouted that line about respecting history and culture since the first AC. It wasn't till they dared putting in a black samurai that people got very peeved at them for stating this, for some odd reason.

 

[Silvanus]

The Yasuke black samurai dude hooks up with Nobunaga's daughter in the game, a women who's linage contains like 20 emperors.

Oichi's (Nobunaga's sister, not daughter) lineage isn't that prestigious. The Oda clan claimed lineage from the Taira, but 1) that's questionable at best; and 2) even their official version traced to a child of a Taira and a concubine, not raised in/by the clan. Certainly ain't full of Emperors.

And Oda Nobunaga himself married the daughter of an ex-oil-merchant.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

And Ubisoft dares comes out to brag about how much they cared about Japanese history and culture.

Assassin's Creed 2 end with the Pope flying around the Vatican shooting lasers.

Now I'm not a student of history but

 

[Casual Shinji]

Assassin's Creed 2 end with the Pope flying around the Vatican shooting lasers.

Now I'm not a student of history but

If that were historically accurate you'd bet your ass I'd be a student of history!