Assassins Creed Shadows: Historically Inaccurate? Internet Enraged!

[@jamesturner6979]

You remember when AC Unity's Notre Dame was so realistic that they used it as a reference for the restoration of the real thing after it was damaged in a fire? Now I'm hearing from Japanese fans that the buildings in Shadows' reveal trailer was a bizarre mishmash of Asian architecture and at some points looked more like China than feudal Japan. How the mighty have fallen...

[@machiavelli545]

Wouldn't be surprised if ubi did this on purpose lol. Create a controversy around the protagonist and people will ignore other flaws

[@Lady_Amelia-Eloise]

Ubisoft hasn’t “fallen”

[@machiavelli545]

@KelgorothTheFinalShape ah yes. Skull and bones being the peak first ever aaaa game with amazing graphics and gameplay so insane that people are wondering how did ubisoft in just.... 11 years make it. Such an amazing game. And the level design and stealth mechanics in the recent ac games 🤌. Like the older ac games don't even come close to such a masterpiece

[@machiavelli545]

@KelgorothTheFinalShape also remind me, where is the crew game I bought on ubisoft. It hasn't fallen afterall so surely it must be somewhere

[@rwagingsloth9528]

​@@machiavelli545there's 2 facets of this. The "gamer" perspective and the casual perspective. Casual have literally 0 care about the majority of issues that are brought up online. They're also the VAST, VAST majority of consumers. Whereas the "gamers" complain incessantly and yet still buy these games and throw money at the companies...Ubisoft has only fallen in the realm of public opinion because sadly people still flock to buy their games.

[@williamblack6912]

It's a Ubisoft game...the Black samurai will be the least of our problems and since Valhalla made them so much money this is going to be worse. I wonder how far they can stretch the playtime this time and leveling boosters can't forget those. Valhalla felt like a second job like all the Ubisoft slop in the last what 10 years... My advice get ghost of tsushima instead.

[@kirigherkins]

This is exactly the right take. If the game sucks, it's not going to be because of the protagonist. Everyone losing their minds over an alternate history embellishment is just adding fuel to the fire of cultural tension on the internet, and paints an easy target on your backs of "oh look racist gamers being racist again" when that wasn't the point

[@Godstar113]

Except you cant get Ghost of Tsushima in 100+ countries that cant have PSN account

[@machiavelli545]

​​@@Godstar113*plays jack sparrow theme ☠️*

[@Lady_Amelia-Eloise]

Ubisoft games aren’t “slop”

[@Lady_Amelia-Eloise]

@@Godstar113yes you can, Ghost of Tsushima is a singleplayer game

[@X9Killbot]

*Shows up in golden armor* "We are the shadows."

[@dragondude9637]

When he tries to move around quietly, his armour will *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK* loudly like Steiner from Final Fantasy 9.

[@X9Killbot]

​@@dragondude9637 The ONLY 6 ft black man in the country in golden ceremonial armor crouching and trying to sneak around.

[@mookiestewart3776]

Seeing as he’s likely going to work from within the Templars as an informant /hit man it makes perfect sense 🤷‍♂️

[@dontuspowerus1093]

​@@mookiestewart3776Nah, it ain't. He's TOO obvious. Even if you say that he is perfect, if one sees him, the entire fucking island will identify him. A black man in Samurai Armor. Bam, done. No hiding, no AC 1 blending in with the crowd, and especially no honor. SEPPUKU!

[@Chonkems]

As a guy who worked with a museum, including samurai armor, both real and reproduction, that stuff is LOUD when moving.

[@xenkailx]

As an Asian, I do feel kinda insulted. I have nothing against Yasuke considering it is an achievement to be part of Nobunaga's gang as a foreigner. Since this a mainline Assassins Creed game, most of us expect we get to play as a Japanese Ninja. Granted the female is Japanese, but male counter part is not. It felt unfair ever since Odyssey, all the male counter parts are ethnically based on their region. I get it they going for 2 different character story route, but using Yasuke as the first male character to represent Japan on its very first Assassins Creed felt very wrong to me. They could choose any number of famous ninjas like Hattori Hanzo, Fuma Kotaro or Ishikawa Goemon. Especially Hattori Hanzo who could literally be Japans Ezio, since he help pave way for the Tokugawa Shogunate. For Yasuke, I prefer him to be that cool side character that is only playable during side missions, Who end up getting his own spin-off or maybe get to be the MC in the sequel. But making him the first historical mc in Japan Assassins Creed. Felt very forced to me.

[@dhimankalita1690]

I doesn't matter what you think the japanese twitter is loving the trailer.

[@wroughtship26]

​@@dhimankalita1690 Yeah, but Japanese KZbin is hating it

[@Dieter-Doeddel]

No, it is not? They even ratio Shadows worse than the american cultural imperialists who make every corner in the world resembling L.A.?

[@internetzenmaster8952]

@@dhimankalita1690 "Japanese twitter is loving the trailer" [Press X to doubt]

[@IwonaKlich]

Do you ever play anything from this series? They like always use this trope of "fish out of water"...

[@Tezunegari]

10:00 Technically Assassin's Creed 3 could fall under the playable but opposing characters. You start the first few missions as Haytham Kenway, only to learn he's a Templar using an Assassin's Hidden blade. You then switch to Connor, Haytham's son, who ends up being trained by the last Assassin in the Colonies. Yasuke also plays the plate-armor-wearing Orc Rogue in his DnD sessions. "Perfect stealth means no witnesses."

[@internetzenmaster8952]

In the Warhammer 40k-verse, we like Yasuke's tactics the 'Eversor approach.' Which considering Yasuke's walking around standing out like Goliath in a village of midgets and wielding _a goddamn kanabo as a weapon,_ Ubisoft is definitely trying to lean into the 'Max-Intimidate/Leave no witness' style assassin for Yasuke. Which while cool, still feels so wrong for a game set in feudal Japan.

[@georgiwenckovsky9748]

Nobody will notice, if nobody is there to notice.

[@jeroenvermassen7629]

AC oddysee also does a I play 1 and 2 is the villain / orders excecusionar style of story

[@Tezunegari]

@@jeroenvermassen7629 You never play as Deimos though. In AC3 you start playing the tutorial and pre-titlescreen part of the game as the villain Haytham before switching to Connor.

[@SteinCodes]

Was about to write it.

[@Krak1in]

The female character has been confirmed to be the daughter of Fujibayashi Nagato, one of the three greatest Iga shinobi.

[@DR_REDACTED]

OH SHIT

[@aSSGoblin1488]

its not female ninja unless there is huge breasts like mai shiranui

[@aSSGoblin1488]

probably trans ninja catboy

[@SuwinTzi]

Afaik Fujibayashi had a son not a daughter

[@lonewander6772]

I heard the daughter is fictional.

[@nightengalenorth6881]

I've also seen criticism stating that how they wear the swords is wrong, that they are slamming the swords into the saya (part of the sheathe, and would cause some major damage), and that some of the architecture and lanterns are Chinese, not Japanese. There is apparently way more than Yasuke that is incorrect. I think most westerners focus on him because he is one of the most obvious...choices...they made in the game that we have just enough historical context with enough accessibility to historical records to truly criticize.

[@SidheKnight]

That may all be true, but the series has had minor inaccuracies like these before, and nobody cared (*), only now that there's a black protagonist (who happens to be a historical person to boot) do they beat the historical accuracy drum. Well, now and when they added a female greek -assassin- mercenary and a female viking (They might have had a point with the first one though). (*) Some examples: The uniforms of the Spanish navy in Black Flag; The Gothic cathedral in 12th century Acre; The staved churches being used to depict pagan temples in Valhalla; English forces burning down Connor's village even though the Mohawk and the English were allied during the French & Indian War; Bayek wearing trousers in Origins; The entire plot of Unity being pro-monarchist / anti-revolutionary revisionism; I could go on, I just wanted to get those off my chest lol..

[@Subutai_Khan]

@@SidheKnight "Nobody cared" Speak for yourself. I've long since stopped playing these games for this exact reason. Now they are going to butcher Yasuke and show us inaccurate ninja. While somehow making Japan part of this fantasy Templar and Middle Eastern Assassin war. (No Templars were in Japan at the time it is nothing but bullshit. The Templars were destroyed in the 14th century, and the Mongols destroyed the Hassassin even earlier. In addition ninja were not separate from the samurai class.) They ruined Vikings, ruined the Ottomans, and ruined 18th and 19th century history so now they are going to ruin Japan. I am disappointed. Ubisoft said we should get used to not owning our games. I guess this means they will need to get used to us not buying them :). If they just made their games fantasy then they could make whatever secret war conflict plot they can. But when they set something in a real historical time and place but then choose not to use any of the real history to improve the game, it just makes no sense. Often real history provides better gameplay and better plot than the nonsense they throw in their games.

[@SidheKnight]

@@Subutai_Khan Well, at least you're actually consistent with your argument. And it's very understandable. I can respect that. But going by what you just said, I assume you dropped the series after the first game, right? Because by the time of Ezio Auditore both Assassins and Templars were long gone IRL. What I meant earlier is that _most_ people who are making the historical accuracy argument right now aren't like you. They were OK with Assassin's and Templars in the Americas and Revolutionary France and Victorian London.

[@lukaszzylik4437]

Just so you know. The same Japanese tweet that said the lanterns and swords were the opposite direction is the same tweet that said Torii gates are Chinese. Torii gates are not Chinese.

[@Subutai_Khan]

@@SidheKnight Well when I was young the early titles were more digestible. I thought AC II at least had good plot too. But now I do not have it in me to play any of the games. AC Unity’s awful launch ruined the series for good for me and by the time that game came out I realized how terrible the French Revolution history was among other things (like how they connected the destruction of the Templars to the French Revolution. Introducing the burning at the stake in the 14th century introduced so many plot holes and made the history laughable.) My second play through of AC black flag when I was a bit older felt stale too. Every assassins creed from Syndicate onward was objectively awful Maybe it is that I have high standards, I don’t know but basically none of the games are fun enough for me to go back and play. Meanwhile Red Dead 1 and Shogun 2 are classics I keep going back to. They aren’t documentaries but they seem to respect history better and have better gameplay and plot (also better aged graphics.) I think the fact the Templars were destroyed in the 14th century and that the devs keep jumping on this conspiracy theory nonsense of Templars still existing is a big part of why I find the plot exhausting. Especially when they insert them in continents they never stepped foot in like the Americas or Asia. If they made the game a fantasy series with a fantasy Templar order it would make more sense. Especially given they have swords they shoot lightning in Assassins Creed for some inexplicable reason as we saw in the first scene of Unity among other games.

[@josvoi2854]

Ubisoft is just following the current trend of making a film that can be played from a heavily Western perspective. Watching Japanese social media gut them over everything from the architecture to the main character choices (and the consultant they brought in, she’s got an interesting background) has been a treat. Everyone seems to agree: No pre-orders without gameplay, and pricing is egregious. Ubisoft just making bad call after bad call.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Who was the consultant? Sweet Baby, lmao?

[@justinpeck3667]

A "Japanese historian" who's specialty is a book on male-male relationships with teenagers. Yeah, that's her claim to fame.

[@captainnyan-nyan2005]

​So... Yaoi....

[@mookiestewart3776]

Yes Japan is really mad about this…..meanwhile it’s the biggest pre order game in Japan currently …..cope

[@damiansaturday6788]

@@mookiestewart3776 reportedly,he reportedly part is important, the same way Last of Us part 2 was reportedly selling 2 million ish copies while refusing to release any sales figures, only to be revealed later that it was a bunch of bull, so until Ubisoft releases some numbers to prove it, i'll be taking those claims with a grain of salt

[@michaelsantamaria5295]

Im forgiving a game using Yasuke as a sort suspension of disbelief of alt-history game I CAN NOT forgive Ubisoft telling me that i should be "comfortable not owning games"

[@ysbrann3059]

you already dont own game if you are using steam and such

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

I'm starting to think the culture-war is a psyop by corporations to keep us distracted while they sell the world.

[@michaelsantamaria5295]

@@ysbrann3059 you do know you download the game from Steam to be able to play them?

[@makehappyfaces2542]

​@ysbrann3059 that's not true. There are steam games that are ni longer available to buy, aren't even listed anymore, that you can still play because you bought them. Example, I own Evolve and can still play it (rip my sweet prince)

[@potatoepope]

@@ysbrann3059 Sure you don't own a physical copy of the game, but I don't need internet access to play the game once it's downloaded. By all intents and purposes you own the game.

[@Crazymachi]

As a Japanese, well versed in manga, anime and games, I have extensive knowledge about Yasuke, which I will share with all you delightful commenters. Yasuke was a baseball player from modern Japan, who got sent back to the past, became a slave , got freed, became Bushi（not Samurai）, served Oda Nobunaga as a bodyguard, who later got assassinated, gave some rare tea cups to Oda Yurakusai and Furuta Oribe, got pissed when he found out that Toyotomi Hideyoshi orchestrated Oda Nobunaga's assassination, tried to get revenge, got caught but was forgiven, and then after some shenanigans while supporting a magnificent Afro might have gone back to Africa. Also his weapon of choice was his baseball bat. Now after watching the trailer, I now know that he didn't go back to Africa, and became an unstealthy Ninja😮

[@yourdissapointeddaddy2057]

ありがとうございましたオタクちゃん

[@blumind_web2264]

Ok 1.) why are we trying to bring back the distinction between Bushi and samurai 2.) this trailer doesn’t even show Honouji, it’s showing the second Tensho Iga war which happened in September of 1581, Nobunaga wouldn’t die until roughly 8 months later at Honouji.

[@MrFragalax]

FYI: In AC Odyssey, the two characters were against each other.

[@kennandunn7533]

Caveat: you picked one of them at the start and were locked in when you made that choice, no character hopping. You also wouldn't find out about their conflict against each other until you were several hours into the game.

[@brianbiswell7591]

And if you made the right choices you could make them a crew member

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Shows how much this guy actually knows about the series...

[@SaintRubicon]

@@kennandunn7533 Counterpoint: And that was one of the more positive things about Odyssey, a role playing game, not an MMO.

[@vailingbow1068]

You only play as the good one tho.

[@gagewesterhouse9558]

Oh my God, Ubisoft is actually doing this... the black dude IS Yasuke. This is a very dangerous precedent for AC to set. Historical figure have always been heavily featured in AC games. It's part of AC's identity as a franchise. But the player character has ALWAYS been a FICTIONAL character. Ubisoft has NEVER made the PC a real person who actually existed. This has the potential to significantly undermine the franchise's legitimacy even further than Ubisoft already has with the last few games. Edit; Honestly, I'm not TOO concerned with THIS game, mostly since Yasuke was a pretty historically insignificant person and we don't know a lot about him. I'm concerned for future games. If Ubisoft can have us play as Yasuke, they can have us play as OTHER historical figures. This could be the slippery slope. We could play as more and more historically significant people. And, in a bid to make the story and player character more interesting, they could start introducing a greater number and more significant historical falsehoods. I'm worried we'll get to the point we're basically playing Ubisoft's equivalent of 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'. And then Assassins Creed will become a joke. Edit of edit; We need to be completely honest about WHY Ubisoft even chose to make such a controversial move by having Yasuke be one of the player characters. Wokeness. DEI. They made the PC Yasuke because he's black. That's the entirety of the reason behind the decision. The wanted 'diversity'. Which is basically code for 'more black and brown people'. If that WASN'T the case, then they'd have been ecstatic to have an Asian male PC. But they really wanted a black PC (even though we've already had Adewale and Aveline). And insanely, they did it in the FIRST AC game set in Asia. Because they are only concerned about 'representation' for CERTAIN groups, NOT others. They NEEDED a black PC. Fine. That's fine. This IS Assassins Creed, a game that constantly and easily takes us across time and the glode. This IS Ubisoft, a company with a LOT of resources. And we used to get an AC game every year. So why couldn't next year's AC release be set in the Zulu Empire? The Mali Empire? The late Ethiopian Empire, during the time of one of the Italian invasions? That would have been SUPER interesting. I think people would LOVE to explore the less-known parts of world history. Edit of edit of edit: The number of people replying to my comment who clearly either didn't bother reading my comment or didn't understand my comment remind me of George Carlin's quote... READ MY POST BEFORE REPLYING.

[@CallMeTeci]

Beyond its name this franchise was killed of after Syndicate. There is no integrity and the main figures and leads got replaced after the sexual harassment and bad work environment accusations. There is nothing left and we can only hope that at some point a Double-A dev picks that idea up again and makes their own version of Assassins Creed.

[@jamauln1]

They are just too hungry for that internet clout.

[@MW_Asura]

Tbf it would have been even worse for them if the black guy was just a random dude that was blackwashed or something 😂

[@lustrazor44]

Undermining it even further than GEORGE WASHINGTON TRYING TO BECOME A KING? and being a massive villain? Or the pope using ancient alien artifacts to take over the world? Lmao come on dude.

[@theomnidegenerate5236]

I am so happy you noticed this. I haven’t seen anyone else. Mention this issue yet except for me.. mainly with the comparison to the nioh games that some people are making. There’s a difference between a game like that. It’s focusing on a specific actual historical character and an assassin‘s Creed game, which has a totally different formula. Yosuke should not be a playable character. If he’s going to be in the story he should be an NPC or someone who serves in Nobunaga court or something like as a bodyguard. The problem is the president. This set is playing as a historical character, and also the fact that the inclusion of this character result in the exclusion of an Asian male character. And I wish more people would focus on that.

[@uryenatienza4093]

I think people wouldn't be so mad about Yasuke if he was a major character for side content or a major side character for the player character's story. Either the center of a side quest and we fight him at the end as a boss fight, or sort of a character who is attached to Nobunaga in the main story with him not being important to the plot, but probably important to the protagonist's growth. I say all this knowing full well this game will probably suck with or without Yasuke. Obviously we'll have to wait and see, but basing my expectations on previous AC games and recent Ubisoft news, I'm very far from optimistic.

[@okram2k]

Personally, I think they wanted the controversy. This game is getting way more attention than it would have without Yaske.

[@mobrk6036]

He shouldn’t be controversial though… I’m excited honestly

[@okram2k]

@@mobrk6036 I agree but this is the world we live in

[@brandonjablasone7544]

It's a factional game, gamer racist will get mad anyways. It is so annoying.

[@brandonjablasone7544]

@kuronetwork920game racist don't use logic

[@mitchellphillips9166]

@kuronetwork920is Afro Samurai from the last 5 years inspired by Yasuke and voiced by Samuel Jackson

[@ballenboy]

If we ever see Yasuke commanding and lording over any Japanese person then they have clearly jumped the shark. Showing their total ignorance in japanese society.

[@ballenboy]

Also, walking around in full samurai gear in everyday situations is as normal as seeing a European knight walking in full plate armor outside the battlefield.

[@TriEssenceMartialArts]

The biggest issue with this game as an Asian person, especially if you've read the brief description of the game on Ubisoft's site which says something like play as Yasuke ..... free Japan from its oppressors, is that Japan doesn't need a black savior.

[@moe5020]

exactly. Yasuke should just be like the dude in Last Samurai or Blackthorne in Shogun and just be an audience surrogate who observes the other characters.

[@RomeoEchoDelta]

Was Yasuke even present in Japan before the fall of the Imagawa? Nobunaga was on pretty equal footing with most of the other major factions afterward. So, who exactly would be oppressing the Oda clan? If anything, Nobunaga is normally the one depicted as the oppressor in the majority of situations. Like he's never really subservient to anyone outside of his father.

[@hitoshitaira573]

舞台となった福知山は明智光秀の領地と言うことで、圧制者の支配下にあるとされたみたいですね。 だだ史実では明智光秀は領地では善政を行った事で知られており、現地では自分たちの地元の歴史と名君が貶められていると、怒りの声が上がっています。

[@lordreptilestormblade1749]

Super talented ninja: *able to infiltrate without making too much noise*. Samurai in metal armor: *CLANK!, CLANK!, CLANK!*

[@erikrungemadsen2081]

At least witneses won’t know he is black, they wil only know a six feet tall samurai is beating the shit out of them.

[@oscaranderson5719]

stelf

[@ching-jungyang62]

Do the developers have any idea how heavy samurai armors are? This guy would never infiltrate anything unnoticed with those weights on him.

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

​​​​@@ching-jungyang62 Depends on the design. Ōyoroi is bs heavy, but the weight of Tōsei Gusoku and Nanban do Gusoku are spread out so much better that people can do acrobatics in them just like in medieval Europe full plate. BUT, the CLANK CLANK CLANK is always there.

[@mookiestewart3776]

@@ching-jungyang62who is saying he is “infiltrating “ anything?? He’s the loud/brute force one, she’s the infiltrator …..why is this so difficult for you to understand??

[@Einygmar]

The main problem is that when it comes to Assassin's Creed, there was never a protagonist who was a real historical figure. Usually, it's a fictional character injected into a historical setting. In that sense it would be more consistent to make Yasuke play the same role as Machiavelli or Franklin in previous games, especially considering how unique he is. At its inception Assassin's creed was a historical science fiction series where the past is being explored using genetic memory technology. Having two completely unrelated protagonists one of which is a real historical figure is just another proof that UBI has little to no desire to have a consistent canon for the series.

[@MustardSkaven]

@kuronetwork920 They can try it but it gets backlash like this. Deal with it.

[@zecharl-1348]

@kuronetwork920 I would love a game that takes place in Zulu, or the Barbary states. I think any possible backlash would depend on who the playable character is at that point, and how they are portrayed.

[@sandmandf]

While thats true, we know so little about Yusuke that they can make a character off him. Can you imagine the outrage if they created a black character and it wasn't based on Yusuke? I know the argument is "why not make him japanese". Well they don't want a ghost of tsushima look alike. They want a game to grab you for its uniqueness.

[@munanchoinc]

Not really considering we already had fictionalized to borderline slanderous depictions of historical characters dating back to AC2. Remember that at one point, George Washington dreamt of being the King of US.

[@SonRagnar]

He's not a real historical figure... however the Slave was 😂

[@SilimSavertin]

The main character of Nioh was inspired by the british ship builder that was elevated to a samurai. Of course "inspired" means "took the name of", considering we have no records of William hunting demons throughout Japan...

[@blackvial]

I don't think Yasuke is going to be a stealthy character in the traditional sneaky sneaky way like the ninja girl is.

[@digimon5433]

and that is why they have two character: One for Shinobi and One for Samurai

[@shary1116]

Yeah it says in the description that Yasuke is the muscle while the girl is the stealthy one.

[@Yaallenn]

Then he should be the protagonist of Samurai's creed? ​@@digimon5433

[@FreyjaFoxx.x]

I like that they split the tanking from tge stealth. Playing as eivor it was hard to sneak mainly for the rp value 😆 like sneaking in was used to open gates for a war band 😆

[@blumind_web2264]

It’s called “heavy stealth” the difference being “light stealth” is nobody seeing you “heavy stealth” is making sure there’s no one alive who can say they saw you.

[@AlvinFlang69420]

How long until they establish Yakub as a real deity?

[@hagymascsiposgyros5780]

would be cool if he turns out to be an isu

[@wyattguilliams5325]

Apparently there's already some kind of fanfic book where a guy wrote that Yasuke invented the Japanese language, culture, and weapons. And even fought Godzilla. And supposedly there are people taking that book seriously. However I don't know if that's a true story..... the existence of this book I mean...... but I wouldn't be surprised.

[@matthewgallagher8491]

Who do you think made the apple of Eden?

[@TheCouncilofHoods]

I had been a fan of Assassin's Creed since it first came out, it was glorified movie watching with the family as we watched each other play every Sunday. Ive lost interest for a while now, and at this point; Im just really tired and sad. Even if they "Go back to our roots" I dont have any faith left in the franchise or the people working on it to make it a good game, let alone a good AC game. Im tired, and I wish they'd let it go instead of milking it for any and all recognition and nostalgia it has left.

[@The_saza]

They did go back to their roots with Mirage and it was still shit.

[@maxm.m.7219]

​​@@The_sazaNah, Mirage was really good, and that studio (Ubisoft Bordeaux) is most likely the only decent Ubisoft studio these days. And I'm talking about their ethics and interaction with fans, and implementing things fans ask, even after the release of the game. How many studios do you know not only alter the price of the game to the size of it, but also decide to make a parkour mod made by a fan and actual part of the game in an update after fans asked them to do so? Tbh, if anyone is going to save the franchise, it's Ubisoft Bordeaux, provided that they get a chance to make another AC game, since Mirage exceeded expectations.

[@The_saza]

@@maxm.m.7219 I was referring to the story. But I didn't know that the studio actually added things after launch. Gonna give credit where it's due that is commendable.

[@gonzo7071]

In Nioh you play as an Irish version of William Adams escaping the Tower of London accompanied by his Celtic spirit Saoirse. Yasuke is a boss in the game as he was convinced by the evil alchemist Sir Edward Kelley to help resurrect Lord Nobunaga. I think there wasn’t much backlash as the game was developed by Team Ninja and Koei with Kou Shibusawa as the producer (Famous for his Nobunaga’s Ambition series)

[@MustardSkaven]

Who even knows about that game? I never heard of it until people started bringing it up in these comments. AC is a game franchise a lot of people know, unlike this "Nioh" thing and I don't even know if it's an RPG, open world or just story driven action or whatever.

[@zecharl-1348]

@@MustardSkaven it's a dark souls like game, so I understand it's a niche series. It's a good game, but I suck at melee combat, so I stopped. :/

[@abc4781]

​@@MustardSkavenlol it's popular enough to have spawned a sequel and 3 other games that are heavily inspired by it.

[@randomperson-up5vt]

​​@@MustardSkavenmost people don't know about the vast majority of games. Now it's actually pretty good souls style games set in a fantasy Japan setting. You have spirits, magic, ninja techniques, oni, and many other yokai showing up. Since you have so much going on. Seeing him as a side boss doesn't have any effect on the overall gameplay or story for folks to be annoyed at.

[@account_deleted-l3l]

Assassins Creed is a mainstream franchise, Nioh isn't. Ask people on the street if the've heard of Nioh and then ask them if they've heard of Assassins Creed. People wanted to play Japanese characters. Yasuke could have been a supporting character. Williams Adams was a samurai but if Assassins Creed Shadows made him the main character actually fighting other samurai, that would have been called out. The problem is that this franchise depicts historical events so the amount of suspension of disbelief gets tricky.

[@machiavelli545]

Race/historical accuracy would be least of people's problems when the gameplay comes out

[@DASBIGUN]

lmao...the saying is "Don't Pre-Order" for a reason

[@joshuafrimpong244]

Depends if it is good or not

[@machiavelli545]

​​@DASBIGUN the actual audacity of ubi to put out the game for pre order without even the gameplay. They really consider us idiots 😂

[@machiavelli545]

@joshuafrimpong244 seeing the recent ubisoft games and addition of Yasuke for combat specifically, I'm not too hopeful

[@DASBIGUN]

@@machiavelli545 oooo...yes they freakin do BABY

[@darkwarriorzx7511]

Assassin's Creed has gone far beyond what it used to be when Desmonds story ended that was it for the franchise the only thing that's keeping them alive is using Ezio as a marque as a foundations his words, the music of the second everything that Ezio meant in this franchise is whats keeping it alive

[@kipsper8722]

everyone did wear helmets. hollywood should take notes.

[@ryankornacki9918]

I’m just going to play Ghost of Tsushima again when this comes out. I can guarantee the gameplay will be better, and there’s no controversy swarming around it.

[@ld1449]

Meh, Ghosts is overated as *all* hell. Play Sekiro, gameplay's better, and the narrative isnt as full of itself

[@machiavelli545]

@@ld1449 lmao. Not everyone can handle that game. But then again Hesitation is defeat

[@dhimankalita1690]

I will play this game and too excited for this . I've convinced my discord with 600 members to buy the game and try it for themselves

[@TehronGaming]

"and there’s no controversy swarming around it", there's plenty of controversy around it due to the PSN bs Sony is pulling with their games.

[@ryankornacki9918]

@@TehronGaming I know, I’ll make my sarcasm read better in text next time.

[@g00dbyemisterA]

One issue I see is that Yasuke is too conspicuous a character to be an assassin, Kassandra was obviously supposed to be a mercenary so her conspicuousness was fine, in AC3, its specifically noted in the intro to Conner that he was notably white-looking due to Haythem being his father (said by his mother's narration during a loading screen). The assassins by this point had their belief system of using stealth, but how do you do that when youre one of the most noteworthy appearing people in the country? I really hope it's not a "choose whoever you play for missions" because there is no way a native Japanese woman and a dark skinned samurai could do use the exact same methods, have specific missions for specific characters and we will see how it goes.

[@thearmchairpsychologist27]

From what I've read that is supposedly a part of the game. Unclear about how it will actually function within the game, but they are conscious of that (again supposedly, it's ubisoft so who knows).

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

I fear it will be. Because every single location, mission, outpost, everything has to be designed to be played by the 2 characters, you get really generic design to support that. That has been an issue with AC since the beginning: Too much freedom. Which you think is good, but it just means people will take the path of least resistance which will be combat. If the game doesn't force you to play with a certain character, 99% of people will only play Yasuke just because stealth is too slow to them.

[@digimon5433]

@@jesustyronechrist2330 and that is a problem?

[@mookiestewart3776]

He’s not an assassin though…..naoe is….he isn’t…..

[@xtalpax902]

​@@digimon5433Bad game design is a problem yes

[@vojtam5063]

Out of multitude of japanese samurai, they have managed to choose the one, that suits their message for none other reason other than that he is black, while denying representation of asian men. Good job.

[@reverendrico5631]

Well…they didn’t choose a samurai exactly. More a samurai’s pet/pack mule.

[@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479]

​@@reverendrico5631Kosho was prestigious because if they were traitorous then bye bye bows, guns and maybe whatever else primary weapon you have. This really brings back memories of how people thought Jesters were just clowns instead of critics and early forms of outrageous diplomats.

[@reverendrico5631]

@@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479 he was still an eccentric lord’s exotic pet. I know that’s not as impressive sounding as a real Kosho would be, but he was kept around because he was big, black and sounded retarded when he tried to speak.

[@reverendrico5631]

@kuronetwork920 why would I do a darn fool thing like that? you lot are coping enough for the entire class.

[@reverendnorse]

I think that people would not be up in arms about the kunoichi and the exaggerated Yasuke in say, 2007-2010. The thing is that we are in 2024 and these things don't get made in a vacuum. I thank you for the objective analysis of the trailer Stak. We will have to see the quality of the game itself and the story and how this plays out.

[@ryanmann9842]

I think another point of contention is that Yusuke (don't know how to spell his name) is a historical character. AC precedence is that the playable character isn't a figure. So game is bit unorthodox than normal. Would love to have seen yusuke as an antagonist than protagonist since female mc maybe anti nobu

[@jairverplaats153]

Didn't oddysey feature the grandchildren of king Leonidas? Alexios? Or Pleistoanax? Kassandra? Nobody said anything back then lol

[@ryanmann9842]

@jairverplaats153 I remember that a good point. I think fizhy or some ac channels were a bit miff about it, but more fixated on the lore thing, since they also brought in Darius and other things. So you can say that ubisoft did a lot of things that basically made the Leonidas issue insignificant

[@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479]

This ignores Jack the Ripper being playable in the dlc too

[@Kosithegod]

Yes, AC fans all became historians overnight and suddenly have very strong principled stances on an obscure foreign historical figure and the dire moral implications of having them be a playable character in a video game.... sure.

[@ryanmann9842]

@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479 That's a good point. I forgot about Jack the Ripper. It's actually a fair and appropriate comparison since Shadows is mimicking the dual mc system in syndicate

[@clariorastris6104]

I studied as an intern Japanese arms and armor for 5 years with some universities based out of Manchester and Hong Kong. What's interesting is that the Chonmage didn't really come back in style until Edo Jidai (or period). Within Sengoku Jidai, having long hair and beards were seen as masculine during Sengoku Jidai (which this is based on the near end of). In similar sense that rowdy and unkempt look of a beard and long hair demonstrated you were on campaign. Militaries now (like the US) allow soldiers to unblouse their boots, etc. while on Ops (military operations). Once the Edo Jidai came around, looking like a warrior was really taboo with the Tokugawa Bakufu because individual identity doesn't work well in dictatorships (among other things). I don't know where the chonmage theory came into place because there are many instances of kabutos having longer or bigger hachi (the bowl of the helmet). Some instances of those are as following: eboshi style kabuto or suji bachi style kabuto. It doesn't make sense why someone with custom-fitted armor, similar to a European knight, to have a helmet that doesn't fit properly unless he cuts his hair in a fancy way.

[@Daddy2025HQ]

It sucks that Yasukes history wasn’t so well documented.

[@moe5020]

I mean probably because there wasn't much to document.

[@mookiestewart3776]

Just one thing, yasuke didn’t just fight to try and save nobunaga , he also fought to keep his son safe . According to record even after nobunaga died yasuke fought for what seemed like hours against opposing forces but was eventually defeated and then spared since he wasn’t Japanese . That’s when we lose track of him. The man was fiercely loyal to nobunaga and skilled/strong enough to put up a fight while he was at a disadvantage for hours . There’s a reason Japanese media depicts him as such a strong warrior every time they bring him up. It’s not a stretch to showcase him as Ubisoft currently is especially in a series that is in no way shape or form dedicated to historical accuracy in the first place. One of the first conversations in the first game between Desmond and the doctor has the doctor telling Desmond that written history isn’t really that true , I quote: “nothing is true and everything is permitted”. Thts the devs telling you 20 years ago that they are allowed to bend history any way they want in service of making a game. And how they portrayed yasuke here isn’t even their biggest “bend” of history lol

[@scottphillips6005]

I wouldn't have a problem if it wasn't obviously politically motivated to make Yasuke the main character. He's a pretty interesting person in history. It's also inconsistent with how they've done other region's protagonists. More than anything though, I have a problem because Ubisoft is an awful company and doesn't want you to own games. I am okay with not owning their games.

[@ai-aniverse]

As a black guy, i gotta say this feel like my 15 year old fever dream, logic be damned. Also: i dont play assassins creed, so I lacked the context of previous releases , and I appreciate your breakdown. Also Also: im still playing ninja gaiden...stealth nor historical accuracy is my bag😂

[@perkeletto640]

The civilian butchering in the beginning is not just random thing. Female shinobi's village is likely in Iga. Nobunaga issued invasion there and olanned to wipe it out (Iga was famous from their shinobis) Also because it is Iga, the two main characters wouöd be against each other atleast in beginning because Yasuke is a retainer of Nobunaga

[@Krak1in]

It is in Iga. The kunoichi character is supposed to be the daughter of Fujibayashi Nagato.

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

Isn't a bit tasteless to have the one foreign person who served under one of Japan's hero's as a traitor though? (I am using the term hero loosely here) the trailer implies that Yasuke will eventually be on the same side as the Kunoichi so if he betrays Nobunaga it could feel like a "western character kills the evil Japanese" type of situation.

[@paulodelima5705]

Iga is a samurai vilage.

[@llama6394]

@@NoahToledo-xo5pj Pretty sure nobunaga will be the villian in this game (probably)

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

@@llama6394 yikes, is specially bad because Yasuke is being depicted as a Samurai. In Nioh at the very least the protagonist was working for Ieyasu. Now Nobunaga as the villain isn't anything out of the ordinary but having a Samurai that works under him betray him feels wrong.

[@MustardSkaven]

The thing is, the Yasuke debate/drama has been ongoing online for years. Ubisoft decided to pick a side in an online drama. That's why they are getting backlash.

[@robinnewhouse1563]

Literally nobody beside you racist weirdos sees it as an ongoing "drama"

[@reverendrico5631]

Not really a debate. One side really wants him to be more than he was. The other side is sick of being lied to. It certainly is drama though.

[@Kosithegod]

Japanese people were fine with him being a samurai at least as far as movies and shows go, its reactionaries in western countries who lose sleep over something this meaningless

[@threedog27]

​@@reverendrico5631Please enlighten us with a source where this what you said is stated. Everything, really everything I can find online is, that he was exactly what people are saying. He was respected by Oda and was in his dutys. This is written in every source you can find online. And I am not talking about some youtube comments or reddit posts. His legend is written in the Shinchō kōki and journals from the samurai Ietada Matsudaira. Thats all Historians have about him. The only thing you could argue about is his samurai status. But is this really that important?

[@ysbrann3059]

​@reverendrico5631 Most japanesse historian afirl Yasuke was indeed a Samourai.

[@zalrein]

Controversy, aside I could see this working. The Ninja doing traditional AC things like infiltration, stealth takedowns, and such. While Yasuke being able to cash in as a favored by Nobunaga and just walks in acting like he's on official business.

[@John-Wolfe]

MY main complaint about this game is that Ubisoft thinks that charging $130 USD to play the game 3 days early with day one dlc is acceptable. 3 day premium for what will be a buggy mess of a launch.

[@MalikF15]

Huge assassin’s Creed fan and I can definitely see why some people are bothered by having a foreigner, take the role of a samurai. in my eyes, they’re just trying to do too much and just focus on the ninja story line

[@wolfsruhm]

Acording to an Ex-UBI employee/contractor, originally (around 10 years ago when this game was pitched) it was supposed to be a Shinobi only story, that resolved around a piece of [insirt bullshit AC aliens] that was capable of some kind of mass brainwashing, and how their users (Oda Nobinaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Ishida Mitsinari) get killed because of it, as well as the main character (back then not a woman) to aquire said sword, and ship it to the assassine archives in italy or somethign like that. Not a single mention of a non-existent black samurai

[@MalikF15]

@@wolfsruhm honestly they’re trying to do too many things. just have a single storyline

[@MalikF15]

@@wolfsruhmalso how much do you think the need to do too much is trying to get themselves to standout compared to masterpiece that is ghost of Tsushima

[@llama6394]

@@wolfsruhm That was 10 years ago. This is most likely a completely different game and story

[@Kosithegod]

@@wolfsruhm Dang really? What other AC Protagonists actually existed? Who knew these were games but interactive documentaries.

[@DR_REDACTED]

15:38 Yeah ok. He might have not fought in real life but at the same time i dont think the pope was wizard or some random person killed Egyptian gods

[@mota478]

Remember Gamers there's still no Gameplay They Should've gone for the Ninja tbh and let Yasuke follow Nobunaga around when you meet Him. Like an Easter Egg Yet they used Yasuke as a Promotional for the game WITH NO GAMEPLAY and CHARGE you to the MAX of $130 for the BEST EDITION AND ITS ONLINE for an Single Player game.

[@kyrudo]

I think people are confusing Ubisoft being a shitty company with the outrage of the historical innacuracies. I dont give a flying fuck about if Yasuke was or wasnt. AC has never been a series about absolute historial accuracy. I care about Ubisoft being shit.

[@jelanihamblet9943]

Totally agree with what you said

[@MustardSkaven]

Because you are not a history buff. The history buffs have been fighting the "Yasuke was samurai" for years now. And now Ubisoft picks the opponent's side. So history buffs gonna history buff.

[@realaebros]

​@MustardSkaven Weird because most history buffs agree on that Yasuke was either a samurai or some type of high-ranking warrior.

[@MustardSkaven]

@@realaebros No they don't, lol. Give me a single primary source he was samurai.

[@MustardSkaven]

@kuronetwork920 Yeah, if they actually value history they fight against the corruption. Some history buffs may be too lazy. It happens.

[@thekidontheinternet6178]

finally someone I trust talking about this

[@Intellectual_Dialect]

Great content and analysis! My only recommendation would be to do a full watch/reaction of the video uninterrupted and then jump back to highlight your talking points 🤙🏾 DEFINITELY would love a series on movie and game trailers like this from you!

[@moviestalker2134]

Stakuyi with the FLASHBANG mode YT

[@65firered]

21:44 This pretty much summarizes it for me.

[@erikrungemadsen2081]

Are you sure i does not samuraise it for you.

[@xtalpax902]

​@@erikrungemadsen2081please

[@internetzenmaster8952]

Every previous AC game the player characters were both of the country of origin, and (I cannot stress this enough) *the player characters were not historical figures.* Yasuke *is a historical figure.* This is like if we played as Da Vinci instead of Ezio during the Ezio trilogy. Yasuke was *_not_* a Samurai. He served as a 'kashin'[retainer is a loose translation of the term] for Oda. 'Kashin' can mean anything from samurai to simple gardener. Realistically, Yasuke served as basically an armored bodyguard/'battle butler' for Nobunaga. The Japanese are _justifiably pissed_ at being sidelined for a foreigner in a game _set in historical Japan._ Side note: how the hell is an *_assassin_* (assuming Yasuke is one) supposed to _BLEND IN EFFING JAPAN?!_ Dude would stand out like Goliath in a village of smurfs! Side note 2: Supposedly a lot of the architecture used in the trailer is more _Chinese_ than Japanese. Which, given who the supposed 'Expert' Ubisoft used for this game is... I can't say I'm surprised by.

[@dominator1914]

Dude, Assassin’s Creed is not a historically accurate game. It’s a sci-fi fantasy game where you can fight Mythological creatures and a MC is literally Odin. Also, that’s what the Ninja Girl is for. The people who want to play a more stealth build. The Samurai seems to be more for people who like combat and I think the developers are making it hard to tell he’s black because of the armor.

[@internetzenmaster8952]

@@dominator1914 "Where you fight mythological creatures and a MC is literally Odin." I'm sorry *fucking what now?* I tuned out after the glitch-riddled mess that was AC: Syndicate, so all of what you're saying is news to me. Back then everything was (loosely) historically grounded in reality. No 'mythological creatures' here. As for 'the samurai is for people who like combat', then why do they not just have an OC Japanese samurai/ronin as the character? Why is Yasuke a *playable character* (something the AC series to my knowledge has never done) and not an NPC like Da Vinci? It feels like they're spitting in the face of Japanese players by having half the playable characters be non-Japanese when (to my knowledge) none of the other AC games have done this, let alone used historical figures to do it.

[@dominator1914]

@@internetzenmaster8952 Some of the more recent titles like Odyssey and Valhalla have really leaned into Mythology. Odyssey takes place in Ancient Greece and so the game had a lot of mythology made real in it. Meanwhile Valhalla too had a crap ton of Mythology but also the main character is a reincarnation of Odin, at least that was my take away and I could be wrong. Assassin’s Creed has always been unhistorical since the main Plot is 2 Ancient Orders battling over Alien God Tech. You do realize there are 2 main characters right? The Japanese Ninja and the Black Samurai. And why not use an OC Japanese Samurai/Ronin? Cuz Ubisoft didn’t want the game to be compared to Ghosts of Tsushima. Also, why do you care so much then if you’ve haven’t played AC in nearly a decade? Like, it’s okay to have an opinion about something you’re not related to but this much “passion” seems rather misplaced. It’s an Ubisoft game, if you want historical accuracy and cultural respect go play Ghosts of Tsushima or something. Me personally, I’m kinda interested in this new game. Not really trying to get my hopes up, it’s Ubisoft after all, but I’ll probably check it out. Valhalla was rather fun, and very confusing plus long, so who knows.

[@internetzenmaster8952]

@@dominator1914 Why am I interested in this? Because before Ubisoft went "derp, let's have people fighting mythological monsters and morph the series into something that is effectively unrecognizable compared to AC1-3, 4 & Syndicate", people were *desperate* for them to make a game set in Japan. Getting compared to Ghosts of Tsushima isn't a valid reason for tossing out what worked [OC characters interact with historical figures, assassinate people, Templar/Assassin shenanigans], and putting in a historical (and apparently controversial based on the wiki edit war) figure like Yasuke just makes it look like ubisoft is trying to pander for 'diversity' points. I hate invoking the 'representation/people seeing themselves on the screen' argument, but it feels like male Japanese AC fans are being denied their chance at having a Japanese male Assassin by replacing them with Yasuke. The fact ubisoft is putting the game up for preorders before a gameplay trailer is even out just adds to my annoyance ($70 is unacceptable, and the fact consumers have mindlessly accepted that price hike depresses me). At the end of the day, this series is nothing like the one I used to enjoy, and I'd hoped this game would be a way for me to try my hand at playing it again. Unfortunately, I'll just have to go back and visit Italy with Ezio if I want to satisfy that AC itch at this point.

[@internetzenmaster8952]

@kuronetwork920 As someone else pointed out in the comments, this change has the possibility to drastically undermines the franchise legitimacy by completely breaking from the formula that made it unique. If Ubisoft wants to make a fantasy game with Yasuke as the main character, they should do that. Forcibly inserting him into the role of the '[insert Assassin character of the game here]' for half the game makes it feel like this game *won't be* Assassin's Creed, but a different game wearing an Assassin's Creed meatsuit. The reverse of AC: Black Flag, which was the AC franchise wearing a 'pirate game' meatsuit and pulling it off well.

[@davidlosey431]

As an amateur historian (i got my degree in History) i will say this: it's an Assassins Creed video game. It's a work of fiction with grains of history sprinkled through it. Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe or Saxon Tales books have more historical accuracy in them. Using the legend and recorded history of Yasuke is viable and within artistic license. But I feel that a story set in the Sengoku period would benefit more from a purely Japanese perspective with Yaskuke playing a supporting role. That being said, this is a Ubisoft game, and we have micro *cough* i mean macro transactions nickel and diming us, bugs, and god knows what else.

[@lukaszzylik4437]

William Adams is the main character of the game Nioh, and the inspiration for the Shogun show. People act like there isn't an original Japanese game character you can play as. Which is wild, its like they ignore her as a character because she's a chick?

[@rustyshackleford3316]

120 dollar game. Nope!

[@TheOne-eo4xu]

Uhmm get a job 🤡

[@doomgod314]

It's going to be sad if the TMNT Last Ronin game is more accurate

[@shaneg9081]

Lots of respect on you pronouncing "yari" that way. You clearly learned you stuff. So good.

[@Bless863]

If Ubisoft were as progressive as they claim to be we would all have a main AC game set in a black culture with a black main character by now. Instead Ubisoft culturally appropriates the Japanese culture to check a DEI box.

[@KodachiC]

No one who complains about DEI actually understands what DEI is.

[@Daniele49]

This is a depiction of history not appropriation.....idiots

[@isaklal518]

Origins already has it with both mc black. It was in the time of the Ptolemies. I can guarantee the black community would be angry like crazy if the mc was white

[@wyattguilliams5325]

Say you don't know Assassin's Creed without saying you don't know Assassin's Creed WE'VE HAD TWO Liberty and Freedomcry DumbA$$

[@tyronleung5276]

​@xftjlas8296 define DEI and woke

[@shary1116]

The trailer looked great to me. I dont really care about historical accuracy in my assassin creed games considering its about secret organizations and ancient races. I think the true problem with the game is that its gonna be compared to Ghost of Tsushima

[@darthplagueis13]

You know, I don't mind them including Yasuke as a playable character. Of course, making a known historical figure actually playable instead of just a story element is straying a bit from the usual AC formula, but I'll take them using an actual historical figure who we know was a person of colour anytime over them writing their own black Samurai and acting like that wasn't an uncommon sight in Sengoku era Japan. Gotta say though, I feel like it would have made more sense to have them on opposing sides. Like, they could have made Yasuke a member of the templars, maybe tie that in with Oda in general and had Naoe as the assassin.

[@tonywa7272]

I wonder what inspirations Ubisoft took to create Assassins Creed: Shadows. I will say stuff repeated from other comments, so take this with a grain of salt. As mentioned in the video (I will nitpick what he had said), even though for all of their previous games, they did not have any of the historical figures as their main characters, recreating their history around it. They made their interpretation of what they "think" as a historical lore-accurate interpretation of that period, which is fine if they did this since it will be the player viewing what that period was like back then. But when you put an actual historical character into the game as the main character in a campaign, there will be a lot of controversies regarding how their story is told historically, regarding having to nitpick what happened for this historical character. Also, since this is the first Assassin's Creed game set in Japan, I thought they would mostly have Shinobi (Ninjas) as the main characters and Samurai as the main antagonists protecting their lords. But no, they have to introduce a Samurai (Not being racial here) that is equivalent to a Knight in an "Assassin" game; I mean, did Ubisoft just force a Samurai in the Assassin's Creed campaign game because he is black? Yasuke, a historical figure, could have been a compelling addition as a side quest character or a DLC path for the Oda Clan. In this scenario, players would navigate a mission to assassinate the Daimyō Oda while avoiding being caught or killed by Yasuke, a retainer and close bodyguard protecting Oda. This path would have been a creative and historically accurate gameplay option, offering players a respectful and accurate portrayal of Yasuke's role in Japanese history. So I have this feeling that the developers creating Assassins Creed: Shadows got the historical/cultural info only on the surface level but never delved into it and put in what is "close" to Japanese culture; thus, they never truly understood the history and culture of Japan and made their interpretation and version with a lot of Western and Woke influence in their game. This influence has led to a superficial and potentially disrespectful portrayal of Japanese history and culture. To improve, Ubisoft could have consulted with Japanese historians and cultural experts to ensure a more accurate and respectful portrayal, but they have yet to. It's not surprising that the Japanese audience was disappointed with this Western-made game. The potential for cultural insensitivity in portraying Japanese history and culture is a valid concern that needs to be addressed in game development. It's crucial that game developers, especially those creating historical games, strive for a respectful and accurate portrayal of the cultures they depict. Whew, if you looked through this essay of mine, you deserve a cookie. :)

[@thrillking7228]

Also, how do so many people get the dynamic wrong? Yasuke is the samurai. Naoe is the assassin. She has to blend in. He doesn't. He works as basically the local law enforcement of the land. He is first in a head on assault in battle. HE DOESN'T HAVE TO NOR INTENDED TO BLEND IN!!!

[@patrickconnelly8053]

Are we going to get reversal here like Rogue. Yasuke is actually a Templar and his story is like Shay doing his duty to the Templars and has his awakening to see the light and thus joins in the Naoa is mission and having to build that trust up with her after everything he is done to her and the people here.

[@randomperson-up5vt]

He shouldn't be the main protagonist. Sure a side mission here or there we can work with him. That's fine to do. Just not the main character. The main parts of the assassin's creed games is dealing with weird conspiracies, isu nonsense, and odd side stories that may or may not have happened like finding Excalibur. Yasuke in history doesn't have time for that. He physically stands out and can't or wouldn't have been allowed to do all the crazy stuff that a typical fictional character would have time or ability to do.

[@Dr._Nope]

In order to make up for this, Ubisoft should have an asian guy star in the Africa game. Lmfaoooo

[@tha1ne]

honestly... this would be sick

[@trvpmusic2569]

Or make up for Black Flag and remake it with a black guy instead of a white guy since it's based in the Caribbeans lmao

[@redcobra6016]

@@trvpmusic2569a lot of pirates in Caribbean during that period were European, know your history first.

[@Kosithegod]

jokes on you, id play that shit

[@ysbrann3059]

Why ?

[@kinglatsev]

If you want a historically accurate game about Japan just play ghost of Tsushima. Assassin’s Creed jumped the shark well before this one. I don’t understand how people are getting this upset when it’s been the status quo for years years.

[@SoyElBrokas]

Because they have been complaining since before that and they still dont lisent

[@zecharl-1348]

I just think people are slowly getting tired of the bulls**t. Also yes, play Tsushima instead. 👍

[@machiavelli545]

@@zecharl-1348 legit just playing it now amd it's so freaking awesome. Also unironically better stealth/parkour system than current ac games

[@Da1Rocky]

Because they are racist idiots who dont care. Doubt they actually cared about the series, but considering all the protagonists were fictional and jumping into haystacks from the beginning, its always have taken liberties since the beginning. They dont bitch about a fictional english dude in the carribean but a real historical figure in set time and place.

[@Hamisback]

I'd play ghost of tsushima, but Sony wants a psn account on PC

[@twincast2005]

25:00 Not quite. That's the ratio among the accounts with the downvote plugin installed extrapolated onto the public upvotes. It does not have access via the YT API to the actual total number of downvotes, which are likely to be significant, but almost certainly far less. That said, KZbin and the corporations pushing for the hiding of the real downvotes brought this onto themselves. The plugin exists and is too simple to get rid of, and so the online chatter narrative on controversial videos only got worse, not better.

[@captain4ssassin490]

Japanese people are actually quite happy that yasuke is in the game. he's a fairly popular folk figure and they have native representation in Naoe so it's fine.

[@gunnerjah]

explain the outrage on ubisofts japanese youtube comments for the trailer

[@Technicolor_geek]

​@@gunnerjahPlaying some devil's advocate here but in the jp version there are a fair number of people from other places in the comments (ive seen Taiwan, Spain, and america etc) negatively comment from what i can tell a maybe 10-15% of the 90% dislike ratio is from outside of japan.

[@andydavid683]

Bro you obviously haven't seen the ratio on Japanese KZbin............. They do not like him as much as you might think, he was a retainer and a slave gift from the Portuguese........ Explain why he would be idolized, plus look up his life and study his history, man was not as great or important as Hollywood wants him to be He's an insert nothing more nothing less

[@RasenKamehamehaX100]

​@@andydavid683if you look at the comments, it's full of Google Translate Japanese (I.E: Angry people posing as Japanese people) and a bunch of people from other countries (by their own admission) speaking in Japanese.

[@andydavid683]

@@RasenKamehamehaX100 explain the ratio then...... The fact that it's getting so many down votes on ALL platforms on KZbin shows the majority consensus and hatred for the game direction. The historic rewrite is mad, they were even trying to change his Wikipedia history to fit this narrative......... Can't blame the Japanese for hating the game that's probably going to suck anyways

[@VengeanceMkII]

There is so much wrong with this beyond the fact it is Yasuke supposedly doing assassin shit. As said, he is completely conspicuous. He is not only well known as a retainer of Oda, but is wearing armor emblazoned with the symbol of the Oda Clan. Anyone who freakin' sees him will know precisely that this is Oda's doing or connected to him. So what exactly are we doing? Fighting against the Great Unifier? Good luck with that being the most known black man in Japan. Is it Mitsuhide who killed Oda and everyone's fighting him? Mitsuhide didn't last very long and Hideyoshi avenged Oda and unified Japan. Why would Yasuke fight against Hideyoshi? He is loyal to Oda after all. If this is an anti-Hideyoshi game then why aren't we in Korea where a lot of shit is going on? Okay so is this after Hideyoshi's death and the era of Tokugawa? (Mind you Yasuke would have been kicked out long ago by now) But Tokugawa brought about a peaceful age of unification. There is virtually no point in the story where Yasuke could inhabit that would have him consorting with a ninja fighting against a common threat except Mitsuhide and it is a remarkably short time period. Overall it feels incredibly inappropriate to cast Yasuke here and feels incredibly pandering. I'm 2% Japanese so I have cause to be annoyed XD.

[@symn00]

I think ubisoft should ditch the assassin brotherhood side of things and just make cool period themed games or do both, one more focused on brotherhood and the historical games

[@lordilluminati5836]

then it's no longer assasin's creed

[@lordbotato7175]

​@@lordilluminati5836 tbf odyssey and valhalla weren't

[@Keck282]

You play as William Adams in Nioh. Starts in England, then goes through Japan. You fight Yasuke as a boss fight (and a ton of Oni and Yokai, but that's an entire different point) Edit: My speculation for the game, is that Yasuke is part of the Assassins' Brootherhood, and is there to track down an Apple of Eden (or some other device), and is to establish or re-establish an Assassin network there.

[@ryanmarks4277]

22:53 “But ummm…” I literally said out loud for no particular reason, “That thing for sure was!” Imagine hitting a soda can with a baseball bat. Now imagine that can is around your noggin.

[@parapendejadas4913]

Wokesoft again with their agendas. Yasuke came to Japan (1581-1582) as a slave along with the Italian Jesuit Valignano and became a weapon retainer and sort of a jester to the samurai, but never a samurai himself..... Plus, is not a surprise that Ubisoft is after those juicy ESG points for DEI BS now making him GAY?....WTF??...hahaha..... not to mention the microtransactions, 70usd + game rental practice, bugs, horrible writing, etc..... Man, GAYming in 2024 is great....

[@FlagellantSalt]

Im not paying $70 let alone $130 for racism

[@wontononionslicer1004]

They can’t even make correct size tatami floor 😂😂😂

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

I genuinely don't care about historical inaccuracy, just give me a good game. Assassin's creed has never been 100% historically accurate.

[@TheJazzGuy75]

No one is asking for the game to be 100%. That’s a silly strawman. However, it doesn’t make sense within the realm of what AC has done for almost 2 decades. We have never played as a proposed historical figure. Every protagonist has been fictional, which helps with the “untold history” aspect that allows the series to be the REALISTIC sci-fi it originally was.

[@redcobra6016]

Exactly, the games have been around 90% accurate. This game is now where near 90% and is actually butchering history, same with Odyssey and Ubisoft are trash for that.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

@@redcobra6016 oh and the events of Assassins creed 1 were 90% accurate? Almost nothing that happened in that game actually happened IRL, just the locations and groups were real.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

@TheJazzGuy75 "We have never played as a proposed historical figure. Every protagonist has been fictional" The black samurai hardly has any documentation, and what we do have is boring. Japan themselves always embellishes the black samurai story in all their media, why shouldn't the AC games? "it doesn’t make sense within the realm of what AC has done for almost 2 decades." Assassins creed 1; Only the places, events, and some historical characters were real, everything else was fictional. and when they could, they would bend the characters and events to fit their fictional narrative to include the player in them. Quit crying like a baby about "Historical inaccuracy" or "realism." What good are either of them if the game's bad, like some of their recent installments.

[@redcobra6016]

@@nerdlingeeksly5192 yes they did, they put real events in the games. Do you also remember when they removed the crossbow from that game because they wanted to be historically accurate? I sure do.

[@Freewill415]

having read a lot of books and watched movies about this specific period of Sengoku Era, i kind of understand why Ubisoft went with Yasuke for the samurai brute game play, it make more sense for an outsider like him (not much history into his personality and moral code, so it is a canva) to play double agent within Nobunaga ranks than any other samurai at the time, even Akechi would be a stretch cuz even if he is a traitor, he played a pivotal role in Nobunaga success and would not make any sense he would bat an eye on some chick from the ruined land of Iga province

[@mordreek]

Ive seen a leak of the original plot for this game and it was soooo much better, plus i think asmongold nailed it when he said this move was to "keep your eye on the birdy" while they egregiously price this game.

[@sonofatlas1372]

I love this channel lmao this guy unbiased takes make me have hope for American people.

[@Apathy293]

The truth is, the majority if us aren't mad that a game like this exist, a game about an alternate history that focuses on an exaggerated version of a real person. We are mad because that is not what assassins creed games were supposed to be. It was supposed to be s portrayal of what actually happened. Sure, there is always fiction mixed in, but it always bent around the real historical people and events, not the other way around. This isnt what dedicated fans of the series wanted, and the existence of this game robs us of the Assassins Creed set in Japan that we had been waiting for. Ninjas a members of the brotherhood, real ones who would not realistically fight two fully armored samurai head on like we see in the trailer. As you pointed out, it would be just as strange and upsetting if it was a white dude in this role. We have had protagonist of most races by now, including two black protagonist already. Thats not the issue. It's where, and when, and why this was done that makes it so upsetting.

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

No, the point of Ac as a franchise was to tell the story of two secular groups influencing human history with the real history being often a lie and the animus revealing the truth. It is pretty much a Da Vinci Code-like sci fi series that uses historical FICTION, not actual history, because the Templar and the Assassins weren't secular. Trying to use Historical accuracy to dismiss a real dark-skinned person as playable character for no reason other than racism, is just bad faith argumentation and deserves to be mocked as such. There is nothing that speaks in this series against Yasukea as playable character. Also AC lost stealth a long time ago, since you can always beat up people in large groups, even as far back as AC1, it hardly matters that much. If you believe in the Assassins's Credo, you are an assassin, and not because you use cloak and daggers, that would make you a thief or killer, not an Assassin.

[@llama6394]

In this game, the shinobi are the assassins and the assassins are strong and well trained enough to fight fully armored samurai head on. Altair can kill templar knights, Connor Kenway can slice through armies of Englishmen, Ezio can kill fully armored brutes. Educate me of the real life Native American that was able to fight against armies with a tomahawk in the American revolution.

[@Apathy293]

@@basilofgoodwishes4138 Sounds to me like you played either Vallhalla or Odessy and no other AC game and think that's how the whole franchise is. Using the recent games abandoning stealth as justification for abandoning historical accuracy is a shitty argument. The game already fucked up in a different department so it doesn't matter what else they screw up? Great marketing pitch, guy. Your whole argument is a contradiction. You can't believe in the creed and not be stealthy. A whole third of the creed is to not bring unwanted attention to the order. Forgot that didn't you? The fact that something is historical fiction doesn't automatically mean it no longer matters how loyal to actual historical fact it is. It means the opposite. Having respect for what actually happened in history is the reason the term historical fiction exist. Otherwise its just... fiction. Lastly, baselessly claiming that the only reason to dismiss this character is racism is a bad faith argument and deserves to be mocked as such. I could just as easily claim that you only support being able to play Yasuke because you like the idea of Asian people being maimed and killed by another race, and that you probably cheered cheered hearing about the attacks on Asian people during COVID. It wouldn't make any sense if I did, but then again neither do any of your claims.

[@Apathy293]

@@llama6394 Being a ninja and being a member of the Assassin Brotherhood are not synonymous. That canonically and historically would not make any sense. Ninjas in japan were split into different clans that operated in separate regions, some of whom worked for rival lords. Second, there is a difference between fighting a single opponent head on and charging a fort, raising the alarm, and having to fight multiple armored foes without the element of suprise. Altair loses a fight just like this in the very first mission of the very first game. Ezio gets outnumbered multiple times and has to flee or be helped by someone else, especially in AC2 and Revelations. Other than in the cinematic trailer, Connor never fights an army head on. Sounds to me like you haven't actually played any of the Assassins Creed games.

[@robinnewhouse1563]

Nobody played ac for it's histrocial accuracy, stop lying you reject

[@Confidently.Clueless]

I love your content my guy. But assassins creed hasn’t ever been 100% historically accurate and for the last few games hasn’t even been trying. Vikings storming castles? Fighting Egyptian gods? THIS is where ppl draw the line?

[@Pir-o]

When I'm playing a game like Assassins Creed, I'd rather play a character that can easily blend in and be, you know, an assassin.

[@jtoegi]

That's what the Ninja Girl is for

[@machiavelli545]

The addition of a combat specific character is a bit of a red flag especially given the recent ac games

[@Pir-o]

@@jtoegi Point is you don't need a berserker like character in a game like AC. It's like adding Duke Nukem to Splinter Cell. They keep going further and further from what the game was. All those recent AC games feel more like bad Witcher3 clones. Also sounds like all Asian fans are furious about it as well. And in a way I can relate after the Witcher show when showrunners had no respect for our folklore and started adding unassay changes.

[@majeedmamah7457]

​@@Pir-oI've seen a lot of Japanese people who love it.

[@Pir-o]

@@majeedmamah7457 I bet u did bud

[@unoriginal_username1]

AC use to mean a game that tried to tell a great linear story while being as historically accurate as possible. Now we have teleportation, complete rewriting of historical characters, decision making so many more unnecessary things. If they dropped the AC half the negative comments would vanish.

[@0fficialdregs]

As a black man, I hate being pandered too. please for the lord of god make them stop

[@NinjaxPrime]

"Pandering" = a black character existing. Okay bro.

[@0fficialdregs]

@@NinjaxPrime lmfao maybe educate yourself before making yourself look. Foolishly stupid. It's one to be black and nothing else compared to being black and being a complete character. Then again you're probably one of those people who try hard to troll but even fail at that too

[@billsx8851]

🇭🇹🇭🇹

[@Yaallenn]

​@@NinjaxPrimeyasuke fought like 2 battles. It is pandering.

[@timjames.w]

This was a really good breakdown of Yasuke history and how he became Samurai. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnnapmxrp9WWbNksi=O_C0bh1xSS2O7Ze1

[@Samuel-p17]

Video Game companies should start using a disclaimer: We didn't put research in it, we just followed the rule ofe cool As a historian, I could accept that.

[@nightengalenorth6881]

As a historian, I could also accept that. Also as a historian, I would still rather play a Japanese samurai in a Japanese setting

[@brandonjablasone7544]

@@nightengalenorth6881there is countless of game in which you can do that.

[@Vareon-r1h]

Tbh I am very disappointed in you, Stayuki. To think you of all people would fall for the tameshigiri myth. Tameshigiri was _not_ done on peasants at all. A mere samurai randomly killing his daimyo's subjects and decreasing his tax income? And even back then when samurai might kill a peasant for a flimsy excuse of having allegedly insulted their honor killing someone just to test a blade was seen as horrible so only in _extremely_ rare cases anyone would do it. Normally corpses were used for this and occasionally prisoners already scheduled for execution but NOT random peasants.

[@AlexanderHL1919]

How is the literally only black guy in Japan at the time supposed to blend in crowds and do espionage and stuff? Why is Ubisoft insulting our intelligence?

[@chengkuoklee5734]

They better have good explanation for that. The most plausible answer is he draws attention to himself so the shinobi has easier time doing hers.

[@ricardodemarco3486]

Seeing how the little girl looks at Yasuke, he is standing out in public while Naoe can pick up notes discretely. One character for good melee but bad stealth, and another the other way around.

[@AlexanderHL1919]

@@ricardodemarco3486 Except Yasuke was not a fighter. His only "good melee" consisted of figuring out at which angle to best hold the umbrella above Oda's head. He was not a samurai, nor a fighter of any kind. His one and only job was to carry stuff for Oda and look exotic so Oda could show off. He was a curiosity for Oda and his mates' amusement as none of them had seen a black man before and Oda initially didnt even believe a man could have black skin and made him wash in front of him to get the ink that he thought he used to darken his skin out. No one had even seen a black man in Japan until then. Making him the centre piece of a game based in Japan is beyond insulting to anyone who is not historically illiterate or pushing "the message". Ubisoft stocks down 10% YTD, 70% 5YTD and its only going to get worse. Insult a whole nation, get what you deserve. I hope the Japanese government bans this atrocious game. The racists at Ubisoft used Chinese buildings and architecture in a game about Japan. I guess its all the same to them.

[@distortedsoul27]

@@ricardodemarco3486 If soldiers saw Naoe walking around with a sword on her back, they're going to stop her immediately. Ubisoft really shat the bed on this one.

[@ricardodemarco3486]

@@distortedsoul27 didn’t happened with any of the other protagonist in the other games, why should be an issue now?

[@yatindersingh_]

I don’t understand why they need to push black characters in other cultures though, just make games about African culture which is super rich in itself and let Japanese culture games be authentic. It’s like a trend these days, Percy Jackson Disney series made Zeus - a greek god, black….thats a depiction that goes against 4000 years of recorded historical depictions. Nobody gave a shit about Black representation in Black Panther 1, it was beautifully done and authentic to the characters. Everyone loved that movie. But today, if you have a problem against a samurai game not having a samurai, you’re racist. Thats what it has come to. Make it make sense!

[@Dorian_Kellum]

They keep trying to pump these games out either annually or every other year. The quality always suffers.

[@HikaruKatayamma]

It’s so nice to see someone who knows all about Yasuke, but don’t take history too literal in a FANTASY game. 😂

[@mistydolphin2524]

All I need to know is the Japanese aren't happy about it. Their opinion should matter more than any one else's. If the people who should be best represented by this game don't like it, thats reason enough not to buy it.

[@ElZamo92]

I REALLY like your take on this. Thanks for sharing your knowledge ♥

[@alaok489]

Yasuke wouldn't be the blending in type gameplay. He'd be the double agent that walks into a place confidently and takes people head on.

[@IanGerritsen]

Ubisoft - not even once. The rampant insanity has been pushing me towards accelerationism sadly, and this should at least arc up Japan to start pushing back harder at least.

[@dony2852]

AC is featuring an androgynous girlboss and a black guy killing a bunch of japanese guys in feudal Japan. All we need is some lgbt+ whatever themes for DEI bingo.

[@ballenboy]

This might be one game where the girlboss is not lesbian as the bonus diversity points from interracial couples is too great.

[@abc4781]

Well Oda Nobunaga did Have Casul sex with another man historically soo you know that they're gonna add that in.

[@bbd121]

The sweet baby is eating well tonight! XD (But seriously, screw them.)

[@fuentes196]

If you want Lgbt, play Ghost of Tsushima. I heard one of the side character is a closeted bisexual old lady (though the story did depict her relationship with her girlfriend to be a rather secretive one that they hid from the public. So fairly accurate to the time period.)

[@Grebeny]

I love that you said about his position before being asked to serve Nobunaga. I would love if you specify it better for the internet he was NEVER a slave. I don't know why this is the common myth. And I agree on the battle thing, even if he was on the battlefied, his position and status would require him to stay next to his lord and protect them, he will never be in the frontline.

[@ironiccookies2320]

Never has Ubisoft made a historical character a playable character, and all playable character's identity made sense. When asked why Yasuke was made playable, Ubisoft spouted crap and said his story is unknown and up to creative interpretation. That crap doesn't make any sense. Just add in a fictional playable character. It's obvious Ubisoft made him playable because of all the woke stuff.

[@-_._._._._._._._-]

That statement is completely false. Leonidas, a historical character, was playable in AC Odyssey. The developers specifically stated that they made Yasuke playable because his journey as a foreigner coming into Japan mirrors the experience of the player. If you want to play as a fictional Japanese character just choose to play as the other protagonist. Also a former slave turned samurai is objectively a cool narrative. People need to learn how to consume media without it turning into some dumb culture war.

[@wilkesmcdermid7906]

@@-_._._._._._._._- Leonidas was only playable for the first 10mins of the game. The Prelude to the game.

[@tiredman99]

Assassin's Creed has always had a protagonist and antagonist that were accurate to the time. AC2, An Italian man in Italy, AC3 Native American man in colonial America, AC4 a Welshman that was a pirate in the Caribbean.

[@Akia95]

People take the history so seriously until they play the game and find space orbs, space people holograms, glitches, a big alien structure that takes you to Valhalla for centuries keeping your body fresh. A little spicing up of a historical figure in the game suddenly doesn't feel like that big of a deal

[@wyattguilliams5325]

His body wasn't fresh but I get your point.

[@wolfbanefist111]

The weapon choices where they had all of them were probably shown to depict you can have a selective weapon choice. Yasuke, in game seems to be wearing a mix of leather and metal probably but when you said about sneaking into the mansion. Everyone would be hearing fighting and sword clashes, screams. Wouldn't be hard to probably sneak in considering half your guards are wearing samurai gear. If your freaking out and take a quick glance your mind will probably take a minute to realize that isn't your guard and boom. I think during that village scene yasuke probably arrived late and noticed what is he fighting for or defending. As it states throughout the trailer of power, greed, etc. Naoe ask will you follow their ways or will you find a different path. I feel playing yasuke we will be learning from her throughout leading to a potential sequel of him going back home as an assassin. While a new protagonist literally comes from japan. It is what i would do anyway. We are the shadows, that bring light is almost the same as we are the defenders that protect the innocent. Like your thoughts and reaction of the trailer.

[@riddhenduguhabiswas4774]

Either this will surpass the sales of Valhalla and cross the 1 billion dollars sales mark, or this will be the biggest flop of the year and Ubisoft's career. There's no in-between now, time will tell.

[@trvpmusic2569]

Assassian creed fans complain but they always end up getting the next edition and normally end up liking it after sh*t talking it...I think the only main one I didn't get is Mirage and that's because of TERRIBLE gameplay, the gameplay is what determines it

[@justingraves1291]

Side note, almost as offensive to Japanese people as Kungfu Panda is Chinese, Jackie Chan got 6 lines in the entire series!?