Japanese couple analyze Assassin's Creed Shadows historical accuracy

If we're to deflect and say "Since when has AC ever been historically accurate? Quit caring!" Then the next issue is "Why is cultural appropriation only wrong for certain races?"
 
I know Unisoft's excuse that it is a work of fiction, but why put the story then in Japan and not a fictional country.

A lot of the development team sure seems like racists, where every Asian country is basically the same…

And I live for over 15 years already in Japan, so it often strikes me if something is not authentic, like when they often in American movies try to pretend they are somewhere in Japan.

I mean if Sucker Punch can do some research, why can't Ubisoft do it.
 
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Creating a fictional, non-Japanese character and framing him as the savior of Japan is bad enough. Putting that Buddha shrine in the game tho without permission is just out-of-pocket. I'm not surprised Ubi would do it though because these are the same people (French) that had no respect for the Muslim religion (or any religion) so why would they show respect here.

WTF are you making this about french people? Talk about speaking out of your ass lol. France being a secular state (well at least it's supposed to be) doesn't equal disrespect for religions.

Yup and drawing cartoon characters of their (Muslim) prophet without permission. They don't respect other people's beliefs, cultures, or religions.

Star Trek GIF
 
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I can't recall a game where I was bothered by its historical correctness.
What makes AC so unique compared to other games is that their worlds are historical to the point that's it's just believable, like you're actually there. I've been to Rome and Paris, and AC nailed the historical theme of that game and revisiting those landmarks through the game was like a virtual tour of it's a actual history. It goes to show the appreciation the developers had for the history despite the technological limitations and limited historic sources to build it with.

This key attention to detail was clearly not applied for this particular game. It's was designed to exploit a culture for profit. They're not asking for a 1:1 recreation, just the same effort that was applied in the original AC games to be done here.
 
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Another Ubisoft game where I just put my brain on hold and enjoy the ride. Wait......that's every Ubisoft game. Nevermind.
 
Yup and drawing cartoon characters of their (Muslim) prophet without permission. They don't respect other people's beliefs, cultures, or religions.

lol, who are you referring to, the French? Or the Muslims who stab and decapitate teachers for showing pictures of their prophet warlord during class exercises?
 
So why do they keep defending it and bringing out people are historians about it? (like that western dude who just made up his own stuff).
I'm not defending it. You're overreacting about a video game. It's like expecting Call of Duty to depict war accurately. People on this board are constantly getting upset about political correctness, wokeness, etc., and now that a developer does whatever they want, it's "but there was no Black samurai in Japan..."
 
What makes AC so unique compared to other games is that their worlds are historical to the point that's it's just believable, like you're actually there. I've been to Rome and Paris, and AC nailed the historical theme of that game and revisiting those landmarks through the game was like a virtual tour of it's a actual history. It goes to show the appreciation the developers had for the history despite the technological limitations and limited historic sources to build it with.

This key attention to detail was clearly not applied for this particular game. It's was designed to exploit a culture for profit. They're not asking for a 1:1 recreation, just the same effort that was applied in the original AC games to be done here.
I'm not defending it. You're overreacting about a video game. It's like expecting Call of Duty to depict war accurately. People on this board are constantly getting upset about political correctness, wokeness, etc., and now that a developer does whatever they want, it's "but there was no Black samurai in Japan..."

Bayek in AC Originis is a Medjay, but Medjay stop existing 1000 years before the games takes place

Wrong french revolution depiction in AC Unity

I could go on forever. You're focusing on 'problems' that only seem like problems if you don't have real ones. Like: "there is no underboob scar in games! let's make a petition!"
 
I think this redditor is up to something:

Western media amplifies prejudices against Asian men. In most Western media, the pairing is usually a non-Asian male with an Asian female because having an Asian male hero is not considered "cool" and doesn't sell.

Finally, when the first opportunity came for an Asian male to be the main protagonist in an AC game set in Japan, they yet again replace him with a non-Asian male. Coincidence? I think not. Games supposedly don't sell well with an Asian male lead, and Ubisoft knows this. They justify the replacement by saying, "This time in Assassin's Creed, we wanted to tell the story from a foreigner's perspective." They somehow always seem to find a way to replace the Asian male and justify it with reasons like wanting to tell the story from a foreigner's perspective or due to artistic decisions. This same argument doesn't hold when a game or movie is "white-washed."

They add a secondary female character and call it a day. On social media they label us, Asian men, as misogynistic or racist for voicing our concerns, citing the inclusion of a female character as enough representation.
Even a few Asian influencers claim there's no cultural appropriation in Assassin's Creed Shadows, pointing to the inclusion of an Asian female protagonist. People then assume these influencers represent the entire Asian community's view. This perspective is out of touch and unempathetic towards Asian men.

The Stigmatization of Asians and how they represented in Western Media (regarding the Assassin's Creed Shadows)

And I'm just going to leave this screenshot here:
YeEPt96.png
 
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I mean if Sucker Punch can do some research, why can't Ubisoft do it.
To be fair, SP did get some stuff wrong. Like the armors in the game dont align with the timeframe for the mongol invasion. But its in the game because most people wouldnt know or even care.

Real talk tho, ubi wanted a black dude in the game and the only way for that to happen without causing an even bigger controversy that what it is now was to use the Yasuke angle since no one really knows for sure who he was or what he did while he was there.
 
For what it's worth, it seems to be an open secret of sorts where everybody expects Shadows' sales to not be astronomically high like Valhalla:


It's highly likely that Ubisoft already knows that player sentiment around the game is negative as Nick Dempsey from Barclays specifically asked Guillemot during the investors call, "When you talk about [Assassin's Creed Shadows] being the most ambitious are you hoping for it to be the best selling Assassin's Creed game?"
Guillemot responded, "At this time, we can say that AC to be among the high sellers of the company so far." Clearly, that means that Ubisoft does not expect it to be the best selling Assassin's Creed game to date.
 
I can't recall a single AC game being historically accurate, but it's the first time it seems to have bothered people.
Do note that Ubisoft tried to push Yasuke as historically accurate samurai at first, until Japan called them out and then they suddenly went the "it's just fiction, guys" route.
 
I wrote this in June after the extended gameplay trailer debut:

Then we can get into funny inconsistencies like cherry blossoms blooming while persimmons are in season (literally opposite times of the year). Having lived in Japan for many years now I'm conscious of the seasons so this sort of thing is quite funny though it's not a huge deal, I accept it's a videogame. However, comparing it to something like Ghost that *didn't* have these issues it stands out all the more so Ubi doesn't really have an excuse, this isn't hard to execute.

Haven't really looked at the game since but no doubt there are many mistakes/oversights/ignorance.
 
The worse thing is that valhlla sold more than any other ac game so ubisoft REALLY didn't learned the lesson here...
The worst thing about Valhalla (apart from the combat, which may seem flashy, but has no weight to it whatsoever) is that in order to get the "true" ending, you have to grind through enormous amounts of copypasted bullshit. And then you get to figure out who the main baddie really is... and it's what's immediately obvious from the start. You do get to read a bunch of scrolls though if you're so inclined. But I still felt violated at that point, I'm not sure if I should have pursued criminal charges.
 
What makes AC so unique compared to other games is that their worlds are historical to the point that's it's just believable, like you're actually there. I've been to Rome and Paris, and AC nailed the historical theme of that game and revisiting those landmarks through the game was like a virtual tour of it's a actual history. It goes to show the appreciation the developers had for the history despite the technological limitations and limited historic sources to build it with.

This key attention to detail was clearly not applied for this particular game. It's was designed to exploit a culture for profit. They're not asking for a 1:1 recreation, just the same effort that was applied in the original AC games to be done here.

I mean they made classic Athens look like an open air 24/7 gay sauna when attitudes toward gayhood were very peculiar and distinct from ours.
 
The worst thing about Valhalla (apart from the combat, which may seem flashy, but has no weight to it whatsoever) is that in order to get the "true" ending, you have to grind through enormous amounts of copypasted bullshit. And then you get to figure out who the main baddie really is... and it's what's immediately obvious from the start. You do get to read a bunch of scrolls though if you're so inclined. But I still felt violated at that point, I'm not sure if I should have pursued criminal charges.
You are braver (or masochist) than me, i bailed out after 20 hours :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
The tone of the video and the voice of the guy make this impossible to watch as far as I am concerned. You can factually point at errors and inconsistencies without appearing as some completely dumb guy.
 


This is a more interesting and academic video of the historian who might or might not have completely made up history surrounding Yasuke but it's quite suspicious when you look at this historian's pattern of behavior on the Internet

Quite frankly, it seems to me this Thomas Lockley dude basically did this



And Ubisoft bought it hook, line, and sinker and made a whole game about what is basically historical fiction
 
Looks like they have another video up. I bet so many decisions were just like, hey just copy/paste so we can get this thing out around the holidays, most people won't notice or care. Which is a shame.

 
This obnoxious couple made the video primarily to shit on Ubisoft (or UbiShit like they called them). Surefire way to create engagement and likes from other haters but it's the wrong attitude IMO.

I think you mean '普うんこ'.
 



Some pedantry over graphical glitches/oversights, but also a lot of salient points in there that show how Ubisoft utterly failed at basic historical research.

Ubisoft is a failure in everything. I am surprised this company is still kicking.

We so wanted a Japanese setting. but not like this -_-
 
That's the problem, this is proper Valhalla sequel (Mirage was a spin off based on stealth) so there is a high chance... it won't be. Valhalla was absolutely terrible.
I'm not saying Shadows will be good, but the Odyssey team worked on this for ~4 years. That gives me some hope. I just want a more interesting world with fun activities. No more endless environmental puzzles pls…
 
I'm not saying Shadows will be good, but the Odyssey team worked on this for ~4 years. That gives me some hope. I just want a more interesting world with fun activities. No more endless environmental puzzles pls…
This. The downgrade from odyssey to Valhalla was devastating. It went from being full of fun side quests to just chasing the next icon like a zombie.
 
The worse thing is that valhlla sold more than any other ac game so ubisoft REALLY didn't learned the lesson here...
Oh damn I bought that one for 15 during black Friday I think two years ago and it's still sealed. Haven't had time to play now I'm not that eager never played any of the AC games.
 
If we're to deflect and say "Since when has AC ever been historically accurate? Quit caring!" Then the next issue is "Why is cultural appropriation only wrong for certain races?"
Not only that. But before Ghost of Tsushima came out, there was a certain group of ppl (not Japanese btw) very worried about cultural apropriation because the devs were white. The same group of ppl has been very silent this time around regarding cultural apropriation concerns though... i wonder why.
 
I can't help but think that the AC games, and other games of historical fiction, have not/ever been entirely accurate, particularly mass-market/successful ones. As I understand it, Ghost of Tsushima's representation of Japan is not entirely accurate to the time, borrowing different accoutrements from different periods in the country's history, and doing the same for the Mongols.

I can't help but remember that not everything in Odyssey or Origins, or certainly fucking Valhalla was actually rooted in real history or reality at all.

So I can only assume thay the real problem is Yasuke and his being African. People just have/pretend to have a stick in their ass about all the other stuff that they don't actually know or care about. Remind me when the entire internet was a concerned expert of Japanese textiles in the Sengoku period?

Not only that. But before Ghost of Tsushima came out, there was a certain group of ppl (not Japanese btw) very worried about cultural apropriation because the devs were white. The same group of ppl has been very silent this time around regarding cultural apropriation concerns though... i wonder why.
The convenient application of identity politics, of course. Thing is that plenty of people on the other side of the GOT debate said, quite rightly, that the ethnicity of the devs does not and should not qualify or disqualify them from the right to make executive decisions on how to craft their game. And that you can only judge the game as it is and how it's intended to be.

Now that side has flipped the argument. "Look at how many Japanese people are complaining about the game!" And obviously, the other side has done the same.

The thing is that other Japanese made games have depicted Yasuke as a samurai, with all the same/similar errors/liberties by exhaustive historical standards. And I'm sorry, but AC is a historical fiction/scifi franchise. A few museum highlight functions don't suddenly change that fact.
 
To be fair, SP did get some stuff wrong. Like the armors in the game dont align with the timeframe for the mongol invasion. But its in the game because most people wouldnt know or even care.

Real talk tho, ubi wanted a black dude in the game and the only way for that to happen without causing an even bigger controversy that what it is now was to use the Yasuke angle since no one really knows for sure who he was or what he did while he was there.
They didn't get that "wrong" they knew that from the beginning. Early dev interviews said they took a little liberty with the timelines for the armors and weaponry to be the most recognizable of what we romanticize today, but passed that through the guidance of Japanese historians and scholars first.
 
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They didn't get that "wrong" they knew that from the beginning. Early dev interviews said they took a little liberty with the timelines for the armors and weaponry to be the most recognizable of what we romanticize today, but passed that through the guidance of Japanese historians and scholars first.
Yes, big difference between intentionally taking creative liberties, as with Sucker Punch, and actively disrespecting the culture and demonstrating incompetence and ignorance with every step as we see from Ubisoft.
 
They didn't get that "wrong" they knew that from the beginning. Early dev interviews said they took a little liberty with the timelines for the armors and weaponry to be the most recognizable of what we romanticize today, but passed that through the guidance of Japanese historians and scholars first.
I mean, thats even worse, it means they were aware of this and still added all of those inaccuracies like the weapons, bombs, entire building types that wouldn't exist for hundreds of years etc So if they knew this didn't make sense and still added it to the game, it means the Japanese don't really care as much about some of this as many on here keep trying to exaggerate.

I don't recall anyone doing this with Ghost Of Tsushima or Ronin (or really any other game in some time period for that matter) , so I don't 100% buy the concern over Assassin's Creed Shadows. I bought Ghost and still enjoyed it even with it not being some 1.1 carbon copy of Japan, I'll do the same with Ghost Of Osaka : Yukimura's Revenge and I'll do the same with AC Shadows.


I can't help but think that the AC games, and other games of historical fiction, have not/ever been entirely accurate, particularly mass-market/successful ones. As I understand it, Ghost of Tsushima's representation of Japan is not entirely accurate to the time, borrowing different accoutrements from different periods in the country's history, and doing the same for the Mongols.

I can't help but remember that not everything in Odyssey or Origins, or certainly fucking Valhalla was actually rooted in real history or reality at all.

So I can only assume thay the real problem is Yasuke and his being African. People just have/pretend to have a stick in their ass about all the other stuff that they don't actually know or care about. Remind me when the entire internet was a concerned expert of Japanese textiles in the Sengoku period?


The convenient application of identity politics, of course. Thing is that plenty of people on the other side of the GOT debate said, quite rightly, that the ethnicity of the devs does not and should not qualify or disqualify them from the right to make executive decisions on how to craft their game. And that you can only judge the game as it is and how it's intended to be.

Now that side has flipped the argument. "Look at how many Japanese people are complaining about the game!" And obviously, the other side has done the same.

The thing is that other Japanese made games have depicted Yasuke as a samurai, with all the same/similar errors/liberties by exhaustive historical standards. And I'm sorry, but AC is a historical fiction/scifi franchise. A few museum highlight functions don't suddenly change that fact.

Thread.

When folks start talking about the layout of 1 image and its like a rice paddy and a building and that is what is being judged or the size of a flower or how many fishs on a castle, its time to touch grass lol I don't recall anyone from that company saying this game was going to be a 1.1 carbon copy of that exact time, as in verbatim each building, blade of grass etc

When you start to measure a game by a yard stick that was not used for any other game, it tends to have the opposite effect. People are more likely to question why any of this matters suddenly as this sounds like it was solely created to feed some hate fest towards the publisher then any real legit, honest concern over any of this.
 
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