Assassin's Creed Origins: Historical Realism Review

Jean-Claude Golvin's Art: jeanclaudegolvi...
Lars Anderson's Archery: • Lars Andersen: A new l... - I wasn't aware that this video was such a hot button issue. I'm leaving the link up, but take it with a grain of salt, I suppose.
Assassin's Creed Origins is a pretty cool game, but how does the history stack up? Let's take a look into this startlingly faithful recreation of Ancient Egypt.
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[@RealMothman98]

Actually, the Phalanx Shield is accurate in size. You're simply thinking of the wrong Phalanx. While the Hoplite Phalanx did require much larger shields, the Macedonian Phalanx created by Philip II used a much smaller shield type. This version of the Phalanx Shield wouldn't have been used by your average Greeks, but the ruling party of Ptolemaic Egypt were Macedonian Greeks so it makes sense that they used the Macedonian Phalanx Shield rather than that of the southern Hoplite Shield.

[@vasiliykolebanov845]

Thank you! Mistakes such as these do not devalue the quality of the video, but are annoying. Should have been double-checked. :)

[@coyotejohn3101]

Great Hussar True, however the sarrissa is a weapon you can obtain in the game, and it's little more than a normal spear...nothing like the actual phalangite weapon. Though I was disappointed to see some of the troops in the game depicted as hoplites - Corinthian helmets, spears, short-swords - without the iconic hoplon.

[@lmcdoug23]

Ok talking about the spears made me curious. Did you ever notice how in the transition of pulling out the spear that it got way longer? I understood it for gameplay (since most of the game you'd have the spear on your back when equipped) but it was just annoying how often I noticed it

[@lego_minifig]

Love this comment section. So informative:P

[@lego_minifig]

lmcdoug23 great now thats all im going to see lol

[@ginkiba3]

I legitimately almost cried riding into Alexandria for the first time. There's still this Victorian mindset that the Greeks were all about pale white marble buildings, and to see all the colors, art, and detail was just overwhelming. They really did their research on this.

[@fathel9221]

In the game the romans and Greeks look Northern European instead of Mediterranean

[@ginkiba3]

Fathel Guweda I disagree as someone from a very northern European family. Not many tall blondes in this game

[@fathel9221]

Paul Hanson good point but I didn't mean their hair color. I meant that all of them look very pale if you compare them to Italians, Greeks and other Mediterranean people

[@TorkilRoed]

Fathel Guweda he meant the buildings though. Not the people. But yeah, the "ethnic look" off the greek and romans is really off.

[@kalvincastro9042]

Thinking of America’s architecture of modeling this “marble white” ideal is now kind of embarrassing. It’s not even just America, many other countries probably tried to do this, too, (can you imagine how striking the Arc de Triomphe would look if it were accurately colored?)

[@FlubbedPig]

A+ for using Age of Mythology music in the background there. I noticed.

[@liakoc_o_megac700]

FlubbedPig i was about to say that lol

[@alin-mihai]

It took me a moment to place the music but I also caught that, and it made me very happy

[@Matt00ias]

I know right, i loved it

[@tanukifruit7059]

Ditto

[@Brian-tn4cd]

He's been using them for a lot of videos

[@lvkeyne]

I was kinda disappointed that this game takes place in classical period and not in _ancient_ Ancient Egypt. But the work they did is nontheless spectacular.

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

lvkeyne I wanted this game set during the Reign of Ramses II where we fight against the order, who tries to use the PoE tp start world conquest. They could have even put in Moses to make the plot more interesting.

[@iruns1246]

I'm guessing there's too little that is known about that era that it would just be mostly guess work and creative interpretation.

[@eruditootidure2611]

I was hoping for Persian Egypt, but I'm pretty pleased with what we got. They can always make another game set during a different period of Egyptian history in a few years.

[@eruyommo]

Chairun Siregar You'd be surprised of the knowledge we have about certain periods. Also, having something to guess gives you creative freedom, which they could use to fit the lore.

[@eruditootidure2611]

+Chairun Siregar and Eromeon Yeah, people tend to overestimate how big the gaps in our knowledge are. We do have gaps, but, as Eromeon said, we have great knowledge about certain periods.

[@timothymclean]

Pros: Cultural, geographic, and technological details Cons: Simplified historical characters, magical eagle-powers

[@macar3543]

"magical eagle-powers" lol, welcome to Assassin's Creed

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

Timothy McLean what's wrong with eagle powers.

[@videogamebomer]

The Rising Theurge Dumbass he's talking about the game and the world is much older then 6000

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

videogamebomer Sorry I didn't really looked his comment property, I stopped at the Evolution stuff because of my bad experience with people starting with the words his secound sentence started, he should have started with: In AC..., if so then maybe I wouldn't have wrongly accused him here of denial. In AC evolution is sort of real , the Isu merely manipulated our Evolution. The World in AC probably as old as our own. But seriously, i'm no dumbass.

[@1010ZZZ1010]

In other words - they have army of talented artists slaves with good lead but could not write for shit

[@thishandleisntavailable42069]

1:36 Look at that pommel! Imagine the opponents you could end rightly with that thing.

[@Healermain15]

I think they use that to store their pasta for lunch or something.

[@DADchs13]

Chadturion would appreciate such a pommel

[@roninR860]

Pompeii?

[@Chu8rock]

Hey! A Skall joke.

[@Buford-kz7ky]

I don't think you can unscrew it

[@georgiosz.9493]

Okay, can we appreciate how good the graphics are in this game??? Half the time while watching this video I thought I was looking at irl footage from an Egypt film or something!! Maaaad props to the devs!!

[@minhhenry8308]

Laughs in Odyssey, Syndicate, Unity and Valhalla

[@saswag2004]

@Sidney J. Duffy I think he is. And Unity and Syndicate dont have more details than Origins. In fact Origins has much more details than The two. Odyssey is shit compared to Origins in World building and atmosphere. Valhalla isn't released.

[@saswag2004]

@Sidney J. Duffy it has a camera mode. And you can eventually change the fov. And the camera doesnt even need to be close to the player to see the amazing details.

[@lilshmokey4132]

@@minhhenry8308 bayeks lips literally get dry when your in the desert for a prolonged time, hes complexion changes, the fact that, that's even shown in game is amazing

[@krain.8245]

@Sidney J. Duffy the game has first person mode, they called discovery mode

[@jerankorak7997]

Just FYI, the Lars Anderson video is widely regarded in archery circles as a sensationalist piece with very little in the way of real historical accuracy. His tricks are pulled off with improbably lightweight bows with draws that are only a small fraction of the real draw strength they would've had, and most of his 'points' about quivers and so on have been widely dismissed as biased. He's still an incredible trick shot, but his videos should in no way be viewed as legitimate historical analysis.

[@sterric401]

But isn't it also a big issue that modern humans are incapable of using the bows of history, as they require a drawstrength that modern humans are no longer capable of? (duo to losing a ton of raw strength through out our evolution)** **I have no knowledge or opinion on the guy you mentioned by the way. Just wanted to comment on the drawstrength part.

[@jerankorak7997]

No. That only applies to extremely powerful bows like longbows. Even then, a modern diet and exercise routines can compensate for a hereditary lack of extreme muscle development.

[@anthonyyates9003]

Ster Ric no the big problem with us using traditional draw weights is we don't spend every Sunday from the day we can hold a bow at the range therefore we don't develop the muscles needed ps some people do and as a result can

[@state_song_xprt]

Came here to say this.

[@debodatta7398]

>hereditary lack of extreme muscle development. come on with modern nutrition and medical advancement the actual athletes now are far stronger then before for the most. Modern Icelandic bodybuilders would be considered gods in old viking times based on pure strength. and hereditary lack of extreme muscle development is the biggest pile of nonsense i've read all day.

[@thewanderer5506]

Kinda like Culture Shock, but with that "Sarcastic Production" charm I love this

[@Uhshawdude]

The Wanderer I can't stand the pitched up voice in culture shock tbh, it irritates me to no end..

[@thewanderer5506]

Shawn Williams his autotuned voice? To each their own, but yeah when he was first doing only that voice, and not his normal voice, i was like "End me now:

[@RileyRivalle2]

+Shawn Williams Compare that goomba's voice now with a video from like 2013.

[@666melodeath666]

So people did jump from buildings into haystacks to avoid the law. Timr to try that wish me luck guys

[@varykwalker359]

666melodeath666 dont do it

[@nikolaygangvik8574]

666melodeath666 do it

[@nikolaygangvik8574]

666melodeath666 dew it

[@CharlieFisherMusic]

guess he did it guys

[@anoldtimer]

Welp...

[@seanpeery7780]

Once you hit consistently millions of views you can approach companies about getting sponsorship for these kind of videos and they'll actually respond, and not only that but you can get direct communication with developers to go over what steps they took.

[@mennograafmans1595]

Sadly, it's hard to grow that large for a chanel about history.

[@goopster5905]

menno graafmans that is true, but personally i do not have a liking to history but this channel makes it somewhat intriguing and i actually love their videos. there could be a possibility.

[@HasteHub]

What do you think now?

[@rationallyruby]

@@mennograafmans1595 2million subscribers later….😂

[@simpleman6352]

Well this did not age well....for the good!

[@owbu]

How accurate is it, that Cleopatra could only seduce Caesar, because she bought so many lootboxes?

[@gummybearchewy5444]

Hanno what? That does not make any sense. you do not need loot boxes to advance the plot. In fact you can play the entire game without loot boxes if you so prefer. So what are you talking about?

[@AtomicFire41]

Jacob Mcclendon ... its a joke

[@gummybearchewy5444]

Atomic Fire ah ok. You should have specified that at the end of your comment though.

[@thewanderer5506]

Hanno don't think lootboxes were a thing back in Ancient Egypt

[@j2dragon109]

Assassin's Creed says otherwise.

[@pinkwings8036]

It would have been cool if the statues were partially painted, like their clothing. Would be enough to acknowledge the history, without looking awful.

[@TBsentmehere]

With regards to the weapons part, I believe the "phalanx shield" the game was trying to represent was a Macedonian phalanx shield, which was small and strapped to the arm to free up both hands for wielding the massive sarissa. Also, I'm not sure Lars Andersen is a good source on historical archery, but I see you've already addressed this next to the link in the description. Overall, great video!

[@kaimagnus5760]

As far as Sites on bows, Archers and Hunters historically have been known to add basic aiming devices to the bow shaft through out history but it was never a main stream thing until present era. Historically it was more of a personal modification used by individuals.

[@Gabdube]

kai magnus it was mostly on hunting bows, since the hunter can dictate the engagement range and thus sight accordingly. On weapons of war, sights were generally pointless.

[@pendantblade6361]

Can I have a source on this?

[@kaimagnus5760]

Pendant Blade Not as simple as Professor Insert Name of Prestige University of History said it. It's something you have to figure out doing research. Start studying historical tool, weapons, and archery techniques from all over the world and you'll piece it together.

[@pendantblade6361]

kai magnus Can I at least have a website or a name of a book?

[@kaimagnus5760]

Pendant Blade I can't remember the name of the one I found pictures of the bows in because the title was In German. But searching "Historic Hunting Bows" should get some where. And you never know. Scolaglagiatoria (Matt Easton), Metatron, or Skalgrim may have mentioned it at some point too.

[@madmanvarietyshow9605]

Ya know, as a guy that paints miniatures, I'd actually posit that the traces of paint we see on the statuary is just the base coat/primer layer. Because the layers painted on top wouldn't necessarily show up. I'd highly recommend watching mini painting videos, there's a ton of them on KZbin, to see potentially how they could have built upon the base layer of paint to include shading and highlights. In fact there's even a name for that sort of style of painting called 'Eavy Metal which is used by Games Workshop for the box art on their sets. The main steps are primer, base coat, shade, reinforce base, highlight. And I could totally see ancient peoples doing essentially that based on what we now know about painting figurines.

[@ryogabbat]

I love how genuinely excited you sound in this video x) I'm not a gamer, but my brother is playing at assassin's creed (I think he is 3/4 through or something) and we had a discussion about Caesar, Cleopatra, Rome's civil war and gender role in ancient Egypt. All of that are subjects my brother would have find boring and useless if he were introduced to them in more academic ways, but here he was genuinely interested and a little impress. So I'm glad a "popular" media didn't hid behind "this is just fictional" and decided to do things right.

[@theguywhoasked5591]

I do agree the game has a lot of historical accuracy like especially the map but I wouldn’t use it to study for a school paper.

[@tristanholderness4223]

It's important to note that Lars Anderson, being a trick shooter, uses extremely light bows with draw weights far below anything ever used for combat so drawing conclusions from his performance (as he tries to do) isn't really valid.

[@coyotejohn3101]

tristan roberts The bows in the game that are capable of that quick firing technique are literally called "light bows" and do relatively little damage per arrow. Other bows that take longer to shoot do far more damage per arrow. It was fairly well implemented, IMO.

[@tristanholderness4223]

CoyoteJohn true they are called light bows buy still, the fact remains, lars' bows are way lighter than any historical light now used outside of trick shooting

[@celtictemplar]

There're also two things that they forgot to put in the game as well, The Valley of Kings; in which was where king Tut is supposed to be buried, in which is not even part of the map. And second was the fact that Julies Caeser ended up accidentally burning down the library of Alexandria with what was said to be fire boats, in which were launched into the harbor, and ended up burning down everything near the harbor.

[@eruditootidure2611]

The valley of the king's is farther south than the edge of the map, if I'm not mistaken. So, when people say that the map is "all of Egypt", they're wrong, but the devs didn't forget to include the valley of the kings, they chose not to include it. The setting will be the main focus of the "Curse of the Pharaohs" DLC.

[@larey9484]

Yeah, the game takes place in Lower Egypt. I was really hoping we could explore the ruins of Amarna, but unfortunately not.

[@BlackEpyon]

Apparently the Great Library of Alexandria was destroyed several times. Or at least parts of it were destroyed in different sieges until eventually the entire thing was brought down.

[@Armin00]

Celtic Templar The Valley of the Kings was purposefully not included in the main game, since they wanted to include it in one of their DLC.

[@sandeepandhoundiyal5124]

I've read, in a lot of different places, that Lars Anderson's methods aren't very realistic. Some of the things, like catching arrows mid-flight, are recorded under controlled environments and would have been impossible in a real combat environment. The same goes for much of the rest of the things he does. Most writers and archery experts, I have come across, seem to agree that the ancient depictions of archers holding arrows in their hand should be considered artistic license. One of the central points in all of this was that, there just wouldn't be enough force behind the arrows fired with such techniques, and as an amateur archer, I agree. I don't mean to be an angry commenter, its just that, in my opinion, this seems historically inaccurate. Of course I can be completely wrong. Would you mind sharing a few sources that agree that the archery techniques are historically accurate? They seem so awesome, and it'd be even better if they were really used in actual combat. Sorry about the length of the comment.

[@Anergyne]

Lars Anderson is an amazing trick archer, but that's all what his shots are: Trick shots. Gimmicks requiring a lot of practice that do not have any use beyond showmanship. Not to mention that we don't see any of his failed takes. As you said, firing that rapidly sacrifices both power and accuracy and in an actual combat scenario you might as well throw sticks at your enemy. Anything Lars Anderson claims in his video about the historical accuracy of his 'lost art' is, unfortunately, bunk.

[@amitabhakusari2304]

Well, Blue doesn't exactly qualify as a HEMA practitioner, so asking him that question is not really such a great idea. You could head over to sites like Shadiversity, Scholagraditoria, Metatron or Lindybeige for more info.

[@LukasJampen]

Lynneiah When I first saw his videos I thought it was amazing but as soon as you know the minimal stuff and think about it they become a lot less interesting and less impressive.

[@0205-z9y]

@@LukasJampen There also are the SJW moments that add up to all of that. It's really sad, this channel could have been very interesting.

[@MultiSciGeek]

Why are you apologizing so much? All of these were fair points and there's nothing wrong with them.

[@JoshuaProtz]

@Overly Sarcastic Productions If you ever were able to do it, or have the motivation, I'm sure alot of viewers including myself, would love to hear a full hour long detailed video on the accuracy and inaccuracies of this game, without cutting content due to spoilers since the game has been out for a while. Loved this video, wish it was longer!

[@Arnamoo]

AC 2 was for a long time my favorite of the franchise... but the level of detail and historical accuracy of Origins made me feel like I'm 10 y/o again watching old documentaries of this ancient civilization who build this awesome stuff that lastet 5000 years... it's not the gameplay or the story... it's cause the game feels like a time machine... an actual animus so to speak... this is why Origins became my all time favorite AC...

[@domenica3639]

Playing Origins gave me Encarta Egypt flashbacks lol

[@KravenErgeist]

Assassin's Creed's relationship with historical occurrences has always seemed largely tangential to me. The war between the Assassins and the Templars (or whichever group represents each side in context) all happens in parallel to whatever historical story is also going on at the time. The two series of events will occasionally overlaps as it suits the story of Asssassin's Creed, but ultimately, the historical story just sort of comes and goes. The primary focus for the games will always be on the story of Assassin's Creed, giving us at best a glimpse into the larger narrative of the world around them.

[@MadManchou]

IMO they should have ditched that story line a while ago. Just make a cool historical game and stop trying to "tie it all together"

[@invertin]

Ehh I've heard very mixed things about the accuracy of Lars Anderson's video. That style of archery itself probably still existed, just that video itself.

[@eruditootidure2611]

Yep, Lars Anderson is a sensationalist. The idea of historical people learning to shoot arrows really fast isn't a stretch, though; it wouldn't be useful in warfare, since the limited draw would significantly reduce the damage of each arrow, but Bayek isn't a soldier, so it's not unreasonable to think he'd learn some unusual tactics.

[@LukasJampen]

Give Lars a war bow or even a normal tournament bow and those shots wouldn't work at all. He doesn't fully draw his trick shot bow so it has even less power behind it and you can see that if you compare normal arrows to his. They are awfully slow in comparison.

[@rosethorn7923]

From what I heard, the repainted statues look bad because they are reconstructions without any shading--they look flat and cartoonish because they were flatly painted. It's just an aproximation. The originally would have had shading. Atleast, that's what I understand to be the case.

[@diphyllum8180]

Lars Anderson is a trick shooter using an underpowered bow, historical archers did not shoot as quickly as him, and it's inaccurate when he claims that nobody shoots this way anymore, so I'm kind of surprised that you cited him here

[@gamalielmartinez2238]

It’s pretty cool to think this is the best recreation we have of the not so ancient Egypt

[@Werezilla]

Did I hear that right? Jean Claude Van Dame was an archeologist, architect and painter?

[@BradyPostma]

Not to spoil your joke, but Jean-Claude Glovin. Link in the description.

[@PkMnNeWb]

Fun and well made video, but I would highly discourage using Lars Anderson as a source. That kind of light bow use is historically inaccurate, there is too little power behind it. Most historians agree that the illustrations showing this "technique" is mostly artistic license.

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

Jakob Long time no see.

[@rosethorn7923]

yeah I *thought* that video had been debunked

[@thomasfplm]

Your comment about the painting on the statues being horrifying literally made me laugh. And I completely agree.

[@esbendit]

It is a bit hard to take the statement that the weapons are gennerally accurate when there is a guy swinging around a khopesh. Those were bronze age weapons and are more than a milineum displaced in time.

[@dynamicworlds1]

Also backwards for some reason...not that it couldn't be done, but an odd choice to say the least.

[@theparrot6516]

They were still used by mercenaries during the classical period

[@00Batman]

They were still used in Egypt though just because thats when they were made

[@esbendit]

@@theparrot6516 Source please, everything I can find about it says that it fell out of use around 1300 BCE. This coincides with a major shakeup in the egyptian state as well as the shift from bronze to iron, which have different material properties, so would require a different construction to be effectively used. It is as far as I know absent from later depictions, such as by the assyrians. The word doea appear on the rossetta stone, but in the greek section it is translated by the people of the day as weapon, so it must have lost it's specific meaning by then. Are you shure you are not refering to the Kopis, a weapon with a somewhat similar apperance and name. While there may be some etymological link, it was not evident to the people of the day.

[@theparrot6516]

@@esbendit i found it from youtube from some channels talking about AC accountability. Ill try to find it later. But people still used the weapons but stopped making them, to be specific. Because fighting techniques changed with the introduction of more greco styles

[@brittany1049]

I’m a classicist, and honestly I’m a fan of painted statues. Makes it fun for me to investigate what pigments were used lol 😂

[@dootboye]

10:55 I don't know how you can say that when her very first line is "I'll sleep with any man on the condition that his head be cut off in the morning"

[@cheeseyjrdude4751]

Hey OSP, just commenting to thank you guys for doing that event at my library. Couldn't show up myself due to midterm projects, but it's still pretty cool you guys actually did it.

[@ILCMango]

Please don't take Lars Anderson as a good source on historical archery.

[@mondaysinsanity8193]

ILCMango yeah his "archey" is done with like 50 pound bows max...war bows are more like 200-300

[@KorGarrot]

Monday's insanity his bows are actually closer to 20lbs. A war bow would usually be 80-120 lbs.

[@JC-om7nr]

He is

[@dirzbreena6767]

Props for using the post-Titans expansion background music of Age of Mythology. Fun tidbit, that one is actually used most often on the desert maps. It's on steam now in extended edition so anyone interested in Mythology should totally play it

[@nystateofmind53]

nice spot

[@gorazdvahen492]

I would spend hours just walking through the fields and orchards, listening to people sing and watching them work, eat and sleep. The peacefulness of rural Egypt was at least equal to if not more enchanting than the glory of Alexandria and Giza. And yes, the Caesar&Cleopatra story was muddled, but only because Ubisoft has to cram their "Assassins vs Templars" routine into every game. I am one of those people who hate that. If you ask me, the greatest impediment to the Assassin's creed games is, well, the Assassin's creed.

[@cassius573]

They could pull out the entirety of the Animus plot and it would honestly be better. They limit themselves trying to stitch every game to "canon" and sometimes that is the most boring part of the game. We want an historical adventure, not edgy Layla Hassan.

[@BookLover2311]

I'm an artist, and as to the issues of painted statues being ugly . . . I read that the recreations were done from tiny colored flecks in the statue. If you took a modern digital painting, eyedrop-tooled some places, erased the color, and then colored it in with the colors you got from the eyedrop (flecks), it WOULD look terrible, regardless of how nice the original painting was. Does anyone know more about the method used to make these recreations? If it was the exact same shade paint in deep folds of a statues' clothes (shadows) as on the rest of the clothes, yeah, it would have looked ugly. If it isn't . . . they might have looked nice. Again, anyone who knows more I'd love to know

[@curestarlight3023]

I remember when Blue talked about the Assassin's Creed games in the Q & A video. It's cool to see this in-depth analysis now :-)

[@MaxWelton]

So they did their homework on everything except Cleopatra.

[@winry4167]

FINALLY

[@WezelLispProductions]

Hearing this makes the Egyptologist in me cry years of joy and makes me want to get the game

[@thezongo]

I love that you folks use the age of mythology music, it makes me smile every time I hear it.

[@dark_fire_ice]

I really dont define Hellenistic Egypt as ancient, that would be old kingdom and before, although perhaps before would be called proto Egypt

[@Carewolf]

As ancient as Ancient Rome. It would be more accurate to call it Antique Egypt, but most people doesn't use the word Antique to mean 2000 years old anymore.

[@dark_fire_ice]

Carewolf I know the ancient world ends at the sacking of Rome, but to lump all of one state that existed for thousands of years as if there was no change. Like lumping Red China (yes that's what I call it) with Han China as Modern China. Sorry I just loathe how the English language has been treated the past century plus.

[@Carewolf]

Which is why I proposed Antiquity which I believe is more accurately the time period of Rome Empire and Republic, Greek city states, Hellenistic Egypt all the way back to Alexander the great, with Bronze Age Egypt (Old Kingdom) 2000 year before that being a completely separate time. "Antique Egypt" as a name though, as I said, would just confuse people.

[@marvalice3455]

Oh god! I can't believe you actually invoked Lars Anderson! He is as legit as the dynasty warriors games! XD

[@ausintune9014]

Nu loves lars

[@TheMusicUser]

My favorite thing was finding the play a few NPCs are putting on at the theater in Alexandria. They're re-enacting the story of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. The whole thing is like 10 minutes to watch, but the NPCs are playing it as a comedy, so it's fun and funny.

[@MasterDrewboy]

How do you know so much about history and so many other topics? You are impressively knowledgeable

[@angelamouse2412]

BLUE! ever since you've done this review I've been wondering exactly how do triremes work and other ships as well! I think it'd be really cool to see a video about how battleships have evolved throughout history. ^_^

[@chascuk]

Triremes belong to an earlier (and later) period. At the time the game is set bigger, heavier ships designed for boarding tactics were the norm.

[@andrewiriana1319]

That Age of Mythology soundtrack. Ooooooh so good!

[@rashkavar]

Worth noting that archery's change from rapid fire to slow fire comes from a very good and simple reason: the bow stopped being a weapon of war and started being a tool for exercises of precision. Historical bows filled the niche that long guns (rifles and shotguns) fill in the modern world. Hunters would use them to hunt food, farmers used them to protect their livestock from raiders (of both predator and poacher varieties), and warriors would use them to shoot enemies. They were also used in competitions displaying one's skill as an archer, but those were vanishingly small compared to the other uses. Between shotguns and rifles, you see pretty much the same thing in the modern world. Of all those uses, only two really survived the development of reliable firearms: hunting and competitions...and the hunting is mostly supplanted by people using rifles; bow hunters are by far the minority of hunters, and hunting in general is largely fading in importance. Both of these fields emphasize care and precision. A hunter who gets a near miss scares his target away, so he needs to be extremely precise. And a competitive archer is naturally trying to maximize precision because that's the entire point of the competition. This encourages very measured, careful use of the weapon - comparable to the use of a sniper rifle. Historical combat archery, on the other hand, was more comparable to an assault rifle, if not a machine gun. With historical formation based combat being predominant through most major wars from ancient times until early modern wars (see early WWI where many European generals were getting their armies slaughtered by insisting their men march in formation towards enemy trenches lined with machine guns), the most important thing was to get as many arrows as possible in the general area of the enemy army. It takes one hell of a marksman to pick off an individual at 400 yards with a bow, but anyone capable of pulling a bow back far enough was capable of hitting an enemy army at that distance. So you use a different technique, one that emphasizes shooting rate over precision. (Side note: not firing rate - you don't fire a bow because there's no gunpowder/cordite to fire) Taking modern archery technique and applying it to historical archery is kinda like looking at modern racehorses and assuming they're representative of historical warhorses. It's roughly the right shape, but there's so much different in the details that it's really not the same thing at all.

[@TheNeonParadox]

I'm two years late to this party, but I agree about the portrayal of Cleopatra. It was rather flat and disappointing. But then I remembered the portrayal in the HBO series Rome, and I felt better about the Assassin's Creed depiction.

[@noahsherwood2445]

I didn't know much about the olden days of Egypt except the stuff everyone knows like Ramses and other pharaohs. That being said, the world of AC Origins felt real and the historical accuracy helped a lot

[@danewardlocke9014]

This seems really neat, and makes me want to give the game a try despite having not playing an AC game besides Brotherhood and mostly playing it for the multiplayer (which I loved). Also makes me kind of wish they'd do one set in Achaemenid Persia; it'd be awesome to see the same historical accuracy and attention to detail taken to that region, and there are plenty of really neat moments they could cover. Cyrus's rise, the fall of Babylon and freeing of the Jews, Cyrus's death (whatever version of it you choose to go with), the not-so-great reign of Cambyses and his death, Darius's takeover and subsequent reign, a lot of really interesting stuff happened in that period, though it's a bit too broad for them to cover it all. That said, the talk of how bad the writing and narrative is makes me worry how they'd handle this, particularly Cyrus. He's such a fascinating historical figure, a skilled ruler and soldier alike, who inspired not only his own people but others (including Alexander the Great, who apparently idolized him), and who was amazingly tolerant and just for a ruler of his time, going so far as to not only keep his armies from defiling temples and such, but actually sponsoring the (re)construction of such buildings, including, of course, the Second Temple. And, of course, them (generally) banning slavery, freeing the Jews and other slaves, and other such things. And one of the things I've wondered is WHY he was so magnanimous and just; was it genuine ideals and a sense of duty to the people he ruled regardless of where they were from or what they believed, mere pragmatism to keep the conquered people happy, him just being a surprisingly nice guy for an imperialistic warmonger? He's an absolutely fascinating historical figure, and given what was described here and elsewhere, I don't have much faith that the writers would do him justice.

[@4angstyzukosproductions186]

I'm a big mythology , history, and archaeology nerd , and this was the first Assassin's Creed game I played. I spent the entirety of my time with Bayek absolutely floored by both architectural accuracy and the mythological references, as well as the historical trivia. I went into the game largely plot blind, only aware it took place in ancient Egypt, and when Iv tell you I CRIED when certain places and plot points were revealed.... Masterful art team and research, I noticed only a few inaccuracies ( the fact that many tombs in ancient Egypt would have been plundered quite quickly for grave goods but yet you can find treasure in a bunch of tombs in game, , some of the timeline stuff could be a bit clearer, and yes, same to your comments on Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. ) My favorite thing to do in the game was just wander around, exploring.

[@enriquegarcia2790]

I love ACO it feels so good playing it and i can only say that AC3 has ever felt this good, especially the king Washington DLC.

[@ericnick4498]

Enrique Garcia True AC3 still remains to be the best for me.

[@tasty8186]

As somebody who is much more interested in the history than the game, I'd love to see a spoiler heavy breakdown of how the game ends and in what ways it doesn't or does do justice to the historical record

[@lamcb.9476]

Huh this is kinda interesting to consider in a game. Immersion aside. I never think about historical accuracy in history based games. I would like to see more of these video’s, it was very useful. I work in the animation industry and immersive story telling is a big theme

[@kukuandkookie]

Heyo this is fun! It’s always nice seeing creative series that didn’t technically have to be historically accurate *try* and be historically accurate with actual research. 👌

[@demondragon24]

Awesome video, I cant wait to play in discovery mode, if they put the same level of care and detail into that mode as they do the world it will be amazing

[@szemhaz8721]

I finished the game and now I'm doing the discovery tour. I'm totally amazed by the effort put into recreating ancient Egypt.

[@devildavin]

firing multiple arrows at once actually reduces the power the arrows have, thus shortening their flight distance not to mention each arrows is going to act diffrent from one another so accuracy is out the fucking window. check out Demolition ranch's video "shooting 10 arrows at once" if you want to know more.

[@eruditootidure2611]

Sorry to be pedantic, but you don't "fire" arrows. As for the actual message of your comment, I'll point out that the Warrior bows actually do do less damage per arrow than the Hunter bows. The Warrior bows are also the least accurate type, and have the lowest range. (EDIT): I watched that video, and the guy says five arrows (which is how many most warrior bows shoot) actually work pretty well.

[@blackvial]

The warrior bow recreates that, it's a short range bow that fires in a spread

[@MrMkirk23]

Playing this game for the first time in 2020. I bought the entire game package with both DLCs. I am in LOVE. I love history and games.This gives you both!!

[@bdre5555]

The hidden ones is amazing. Just started curse of the pharaohs

[@Karanthaneos]

Is there any way I could get just the museum part of the game, is actually the part I'm more interested in rather than the game itself

[@leahletford6532]

Karanthaneos lmao same, is that sad? 😂😂

[@ericnick4498]

Jane Doe Not really, you just have different taste. That doesn't attest to the quality of the game. Especially since it was considered as GOTY.

[@el_curvo]

The museum part comes later this year.

[@shadenox8164]

Right but they want JUST that bit, but unfortunately I don't think that's possible.

[@robbybobby4373]

I was never much of a AC fan, but I absolutely loved this game. The setting of Egypt, rpg elements and main character Bayek were some of my favorite parts of the game. And yeah, the map is massive. It took me a long while to explore the majority of the map and basically completing the game 100%. But I thought it was worth it.

[@Yodalemos]

I felt the way they handled Cleopatra and Caesar was absolutely egregious from a historical and writing perspective.

[@Gabdube]

BTW, Lars Anderson's archery is akin to many disciplines of historical SPORT archery. This is nothing like MARTIAL archery. If you actually want to hurt humans geared for war, you need much higher draw weight than those toys. You cannot "speed shoot" a war bow, you just can't. And you definitely need the draw weight because a simple coat of quilted fabric can be made arrow-proof against even war bows.

[@icetina117]

Loved that you used Age of Mythology's Soundtrack....

[@egarulastinn7438]

I was always very sceptical of the horrendous reconstructions of painted ancient sculptures. Now, I'm not an art historian, but here's a couple things: 1. The contemporary portrayals of sculptures don't look like those technicolor monstrosities in the slightest (examples: Pompeii Fresco of Mars statue, which is actually mostly marble-white, or Herculaneum fresco of Apollo statue with life-like skin tones) 2. From what I've read about these reconstructions, they basically look for traces of pigment on the sculpture and then paint entire surface with the same, flat colour, not including any shading, colour mixing or any other techniques. That seems widely inaccurate to me, given how colouristically nuanced the aforementioned frescoes are. 3. It seems nonsensical for the sculptors to put such incredible attention to detail and realism in their sculptures (for example masterfully rendering the musculature) and then destroy it with poster-like colours. I'm not even arguing that it doesn't fit stylistically (which it totally doesn't, but the counter-argument could be that they had a different aesthetic sensibility). What I'm arguing is that it would literally undo all the work they've done, as such crude colouring hides all the detail they've created. If the sculptures were meant to look this way, they wouldn't bother sculpting stuff that could not be seen anyway. I really hope that I'll get response from someone more knowledgeable than me, but I doubt anyone will see my comment.

[@TheDoctor423]

On the mischaracterization of Caesar and Cleopatra, well... The Animus is showing us memories... Which are highly subjective and prone to unintentional tampering as we age and adjust our internal narratives... And considering that Cleo and Caesar both pardoned the guy that killed Aya and Bayek's son... I think it's a bit understandable why they would remember those historical figures as unstable, power hungry, and treacherous. I mean... How rational would you be about the people letting your kid's killer get off Scott free?

[@koolnomi95]

Since you mentioned the Journey of Ra in this, does that mean Red might cover it in more detail? Also, I’m in love with this game and I could just spend hours wandering around the world

[@abdolpix4581]

This video deserves more viewers. Even between those who never played Assassin's Creed: Origins.

[@mr.dr.genius2169]

14:19 The top of the "pyramid" is missing but the shadow has a peak.

[@ashwinnmyburgh9364]

I absolutely love this game. I have often been amazed by the sheer amount of detail and effort put into accurately representing the world of Ptolamaic Egypt. Heck, they even have NPCs speaking Latin (not very good, but still there), Greek and Egyptian! I am very happy with the representation of this period, though I am a bit disappointed by the depreciation of such historicity in the later games, like AC: Valhalla.

[@warbossguttz7407]

I would not call Lars Anderson trick shooting historical accurate no matter what he likes to claim so its kind of cringy when you used him as a source of historical accuracy

[@Carewolf]

You don't think people who did stuff like that every day for their entire life would be able to come up with tricks? Have you ever met a professional or even amateur athlete that hadn't taught himself any special tricks?

[@warbossguttz7407]

People being able to do those tricks is not the problem there may have been some performers who did trick shooting to entertain crowds But saying that these tricks would be used during battle is just insane since they offer no benefit would require you to use a low powered bow that wouldn't get through armor soldiers wore and would get anyone who did them killed very quickly Also keep in mind that most people who trained with a bow were farmers or hunters who mostly harvested food or hunted game none of them would really have the time or the want to learn these tricks since it wouldn't benefit them in their lives

[@eruditootidure2611]

Yeah, I agree. He's a trick-shooter. Holding arrows was historically common, but his videos play up the importance of all these little details (like, they suggest people didn't use quivers at all, which is bull, and act like holding the arrows on one side of the bow over the other would have been important to historical archers, which is also bull), and act like trick-shooting is some kind of lost form of warfare, when practically nothing Lars does would be remotely useful in a historical context.

[@genildomiranda1690]

Can't wait to see how VR and digital recreations of ancient places are going to interact... This is truly a magical time to be alive

[@hilarylutz693]

There is no last air bender movie in ba sing se.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

This isn't sponsored by Ubi, is it? EDIT: Okay, good. Also, I absolutely love that Lars Anderson video, but from what I understand its generated a lot of debate. Speaking of bows, surprised you didn't mention the use of fire-arrows in the scene with the Trireme.

[@chascuk]

Probably not fire arrows but fire was used in ancient naval warfare. In this period engines were used to throw fire pots. Later the Byzantines used Greek Fire projectors.

[@eruditootidure2611]

You point out the weird proportions on the Roman swords, but make no mention of how far off the Khopesh (Khopesh? Khopeshes? idk) are? Aight, I'll do it: in the game, Khopesh pretty much make up the entire "sickle sword" category, and just about everything about them is wrong. First of all, khopesh weren't "sickle swords" - sickle swords curve into the sharp edge, while khopesh curve against the edge. Categorizing them as sickle swords is further misleading in how it frames them as modified sickles - the description of the "canaanite blade", which is shaped like a khopesh, even claims that it "evolved from an agricultural sickle" - when in reality, khopesh evolved from a type of axe. But that's only the start of the issues. If you think the Roman swords were badly proportioned... in the game, khopesh are the same length as other swords, around a yard long. In real life, the average khopesh was 20-24 inches long, and some were even smaller - they were closer to the size of hatchets than to typical swords. Of course, that's a problem with most of the swords in the game, but the khopesh are the most ridiculously over-sized, in my opinion. Then there's the biggest issue: Khopesh fell out of use around 1300 BCE, nearly 1,250 years before the game takes place. There are some swords in the game which would be similarly old, but they're just individual swords, while there are loads of different khopesh varieties in game. Of all the anachronisms in the game, I'd say that the khopesh are the biggest.

[@jake_]

The view of an extremely educated woman like Cleopatra, who spoke seven languages and had studied ancient Greek philosophy and drama, as a sexually deviant Queen who gained power only by seducing men should serve as a cautionary tale for those who study history.

[@PIMKAMINA2]

You know, with how passionate you are, i'm curious, if you had the rescources, funds, and time, what historical era would you want to make a game about, what and who would you include, and what points do you want to insist on making in the game (like correcting misconceptions about an era or a figure)?

[@ThijsHuijbens]

Nice video! Kinda suprised to hear Age of Mythology music at the end, awesome!

[@nystateofmind53]

AWWW JEAHHH

[@Paralissa]

My friend is a victorian nerd and she god soooo angry at the inaccuracies of Syndicate. We kept joking that the female pc was basically half naked for victorian standards

[@genuinesaucy]

"Actually, I've heard the original Greek statues were painted, and looked tacky as hell. Thankfully, time corrected that problem." -Ross Scott

[@nantu07]

Three important things about BOWS: 1) Shooting multiple arrows at once is less accurate and each arrow has less kinetic force - so it was not done. 2) Drawing the bow horizontally and beneath your armpit decreases draw length and strength and, as above, makes arrows less effective. 3) And last but by no means least: PLEASE don't use Lars Andersons's video as a refrence! What he does is called a "trick shooting" or "trick archery" and is just for shows - it doesn't have any combat and barely any historical relevance. Moreover his video was utterly debunked by many in the historical or even modern archery community - he presents things that are widely known and accepted as his personal "great discoveries" and there are things that are just pure false or on the verge of being absolute crap (like the uncomfortable and problematic quiver placement on the body, or aiming with just ONE eye open - because gods forbid you would need something so overrated and unnecessary as depth perception). Just for future refrence ;P

[@matthewmuir8884]

Huh. Is holding extra arrows in one hand (as shown in the pictures at 2:11) accurate?

[@nantu07]

Yes it is. It's quicker to shoot and doesn't impede your aiming. Shooting two or more arrows AT ONCE from a single bowstring is counterproductive (exept when it's done in games be that video games or pan&paper RPGs - then it's just awesome looking ;))

[@dynamicworlds1]

Matthew St. Cyr kind of a case of correct point, but bad choice of source.

[@vye6737]

I've never played the game but just the footage alone gives me a sense of peace that history is finally somewhat well represented

[@miles6283]

I saw Blue comment on Shad's historical impressions of this game so I didn't think that they'd make there own

[@cholizgz9999]

I searched for the hieroglyphican translation of two cartouches that I found in two statues in the game to prove they're accurate and they are. Those two pharaohs were the famous Ramesses the Great and Thutmose III

[@Jaanikins]

Finally someone thinks the romans and Cleopatra and crummy because of their inaccurate accents

[@blakchristianbale]

BRITURK the English accents in AC Unity annoyed me so much I switched to the French dub before even finishing the tutorial, I really hope I won't have to do the same in this one.

[@BlackEpyon]

You mean that Romans DIDN'T actually have gaudy fake BBC British accents?

[@noahsherwood2445]

Really cool detailthat I dug up: Caesar is assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey, which was the temporary location of the Roman Senate as the original was being renovated or rebuilt or something. It also adds an ironic element to his demise. And from what I could tell, the recreation of the Theatre is entirely accurate.

[@mariaPapagi]

They actually speak ancient Greek, and they surely had fun while they desided what would actually mps say, they are halarious

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

maria papageloy they call the player idiot

[@mariaPapagi]

The Rising Theurge some ladies admired his body once

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

maria papageloy really?

[@mariaPapagi]

The Rising Theurge yeah, and on a theater scenario was about a woman who cheated her husband

[@therealmaskriz5716]

@@mariaPapagi noticed that one haha

[@viperman1034]

Also the romans soldiers don’t use any of the gear they use. They have oval shields, but they actually used flat, rectangular scutum shields. Also, many of them used spears, and spears were more of a Greek thing than a Roman thing.

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

Viper Man Well didn't had the Urban Cohorts mostly spears?

[@eruditootidure2611]

Actually, oval shields were still used during late republican times. In fact, there's a notable example of an ovular scutum found in Egypt, nicknamed "the Fayum shield". Romans did use spears for much of their history, but they fell out of use prior to the game's time, so that criticism is valid.

[@silphaer5353]

Ancient Egypt is the best ancient civilisation and the old city building game "Pharoah" is bloody amazing. (Although the accents in it aren't.) Fight me.

[@silphaer5353]

Oh yeah, on the language, a good example that many historians think is very similar to what Ancient Egyptian would have sounded like, is Coptic.

[@gloop7458]

Silphaer I mean...... we don't know what their accents where like back then Because we have never heard a recording of someone of that time period Accents change a lot over time Just listen to 20's jazz recordings from New Orleans and then listen to someone from New Orleans now Of course it's not as big of a difference as Egypt back then and Egypt now would have (of course because it's a dramatically smaller time frame) but it's still a difference See I know the problem with that is New Orleans is in America and accents in America are so diverse that there isn't even really an accent for any part but I'm not familiar with any other recordings

[@silphaer5353]

Nature Kit - Know we don't know, but have you heard the voice acting in Pharaoh? I severely doubt that real ancient Egyptians would have sounded much like that. I mean, they could have, but it's highly improbable.

[@gloop7458]

Silphaer No I sadly haven't but what I'm saying is it doesn't particularly matter because we don't know what they sounded like anyways

[@silphaer5353]

Nature Kit - True, true.

[@joaomartins1452]

Great video! But I will have to strongly disagree with the idea that statues not being painted in the game is a good thing in the slightest. Historical accuracy ftw

[@TheDornishSun]

HOLY I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT THE HISTORICAL REALISM OF ORIGINS BLUE YOU SPOIL MY INNER HISTORY NERD (BTW you make me feel like taking history as my major Which is kind of a big thing as I am applying this month I wish I could have that so interesting history knowledge as you)

[@tongliu4614]

Hey Blue, Loved the video. I never really took AC seriously in terms of recreating ancient environments but this video definitely has made me reconsider. I just want to point out one thing that you mentioned, the phalanx shield. While it’s true that it is undersized for a Greek phalanx shield or hoplon, considering the time period and the influences of Alexander the Great, I think the phalanx shield is correct as it resembles the shields used in a Macedonian phalanx. Just my two cents. All the best! Tong

[@marvelfannumber1]

More people should honestly, AC is the absolute best piece of entertainment when it comes to recreating historical enviorments, no other video game or even movie (because you can't freely explore the world of a movie) comes close. Say what you want about Ubisoft, but I give mad respect to the dedicated devs that spend countless hours to recreate these worlds with such authenticity that most people won't even notice.

[@SirAroace]

9:00 I feel like they would have been better painted then that.

[@PregnantOrc]

Sir Aroun Yeah. Get some top Warhammer painters on it and I bet we'd have some great if overly blue and gold colored ones

[@Healermain15]

I would hope so.

[@marvelfannumber1]

They were, I've seen that exact reconstruction in the flesh myself and it's not meant to represent what it would have looked like. What that statue is showing are the *primary* colors that we know existed on the Augustus of Prima Porta, it's not trying to show how it actually looked. Statue painters were almost as valued as the sculptor and would be very proud of their work, they would have probably painted with a much more faded, naturalistic look. It's all just guesswork, but this is probably closer to how it would have actually looked: www.tarragonaturisme.cat/experience/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CIMG4784.jpg

[@varana]

What marvelfannumber1 said. As they are natural colours, some of them preserve better (i.e. can be detected with modern methods) than others. That reconstruction restricted itself to only showing colours that we _know_ were there - that's why it's so red and blue (insert pun on channel here :D ). That paint job is an archeological tool, not a demonstration of what it actually looked like. For that, this website may be better: buntegoetter.liebieghaus.de/en

[@marvelfannumber1]

+varana312 I've seen that website before and their work seems really flawed if you ask me. Again we can't say for sure, but the coloring there is way too bright and gaudy. Given the prestige a classical painter enjoyed I severely doubt their work would look that flat and half assed.

[@888fluffy]

You should deffo make this a series, taking popular properties with historical stories and reviewing them by comparing them to real history and events. Would watch that shit all day

[@bradjohnson7701]

The was Cleopatra is depicted in the game is more similar to her depiction in pop culture, compared to how she looked historically. (Look at the arrival national geographic did on her and you can see some of the earlier busts and coinage with her on it to get an idea what I'm talking about)

[@MultiSciGeek]

Interesting point

[@hauptberg]

As far as the simplified historical characters go I am not sure how much they could have put in, Julius Caesar himself would have needed his very own game and both are complicated historical figures and while I would love to listen to an involved, highly intelligent conversation between them I'm not sure the average gamer would have the patience to sit through it. What it seems like they were concerned with was pacing. I think they did fine in that respect. So what if it isn't Shakespeare in the depth and scope of conversation, I let that go and found it almost perfect!

[@PANCAKEMINEZZ]

Eh... When you listed Lars Andersen as a source of historical accuracy I begin to question the validity of this video. Lars' video has been debunked on multiple occasions. While Lars is a skilled archer, no doubt about it, he claims A LOT of things as fact in that video that are not true at all.

[@404Dannyboy]

That was the final piece on their review of weapons. So many of the weapons and armor in the game are weirdly sized like the pommels they pointed out or are completely out of place in the time period the game was set in.

[@obliviousotterI]

@@404Dannyboy Of course all the weapons and armor can't be utterly accurate, this is assassins creed not kingdom come deliverance