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[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Ubisoft just shot themselves in the foot. I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

Thats a beautiful concept from japanese people.

 

[Gaiff]

a mod to change Yasuke looks would be banned in minutes on Nexus.

Nobunaga sama, a foreign man has appeared on our shores. It is said that his skin is as black as ink.

Nobunaga: Bring me this foreigner at once.

The foreigner:

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I'm going to japan again next year. Maybe i'll cosplay as Yasuke and visit some soaplands

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

So it wouldn't be okay for any non-Asian to star in this game because this would normalize violence against Asians? Or is it specifically problematic because it's a black man?

if the game was presented as fantasy, it would be fine to put Tom Cruise or Wesley Snipes with the katana from Blade.

You can't make a "historic" game like this and expect no backlash. Each society has its own prejudices and projecting ours onto others is ignorant.

 

[Gaiff]

if the game was presented as fantasy, it would be fine to put Tom Cruise or Wesley Snipes with the katana from Blade.

You can't make a "historic" game like this and expect no backlash. Each society has its own prejudices and projecting ours onto others is ignorant.

But the game is historical fantasy. They say it's based on real characters, but the game has never been said to be factually accurate nor has it pretended to.

We can call them out on aspects they claim to be historically factual such as Yasuke's title as a samurai, but you suggesting that the game isn't presented as fantasy is hilariously incorrect.

Not that your response isn't addressing what I asked winjer . Where does the racism begin and end? Would a white man killing Japanese enemies be racism and normalize violence against Asians?

 

[AJUMP23]

Not sure, maybe we should ask an Ubisoft historian ??

You cannot believe their sources.

 

[Roman Empire]

Thought this black guy in Japan turned out to be hogwash?

Mentions about him are that he stayed in Japan for a little less than a year and the Jesuits took him back later past Nobunaga's death. All the mentions about him "possibly" becoming a Paige/Attendant came from an old diary entry from one of Jesuit priest speculating about what he heard the people talking when they saw Nobunaga taking interest in Yasuke for he thought he was an interesting individual due to his height, skin color, and larger build than a japanese man. He was mentioned in one passage like he was a "footnote" in history.

There are plenty of videos from people in Japan, but the most interesting one I saw came from this guy:

 

[Terenty]

Some people are beyond dense I guess.

This game is the epitomy of current year insanity of the west identity politics.

It's comically obvious and couldn't be more blatant and in your face lol

 

[winjer]

But the game is historical fantasy. They say it's based on real characters, but the game has never been said to be factually accurate nor has it pretended to.

We can call them out on aspects they claim to be historically factual such as Yasuke's title as a samurai, but you suggesting that the game isn't presented as fantasy is hilariously incorrect.

Not that your response isn't addressing what I asked winjer . Where does the racism begin and end? Would a white man killing Japanese enemies be racism and normalize violence against Asians?

At this point, you are just making excuses to continue the terrible representation of Asian men in Western media. This is the main point of the matter and the reason why so many Japanese are condemning this game.

The violence of African-Americans against Asians, is just a parallel that is occurring in recent years. But for some reason, you consider that pointing out this violence is bad, but not the violence itself.
There is no current parallel of an increase of violence against Asian, being perpetrated by white. so your comparison its unfounded and dishonest.

 

[Bkdk]

Lol, thanks for what support in japan? There isn't a single Japanese that would even buy this game, nor do they ever will support it.

 

[Fake]

I find funny people here doing whataboutit stuff, ghastling and all sort of shit when even in their own Assassin Creed site mention about this.

We trully are at the peck on the culture war.

 

[GymWolf]

My only problem with yusuke is that Naoe seems like the real protagonist to me, she can both fight and do stealth.

Like, i can do everything with the chick but the dude is extremely situational, and we had like what, 30 ac games already where the protagonist was capable of doing everything...

Even from a gameplay perspective the dude seems like a token character that they had to include for reasons...
The dubstep during combat is also dumb af

 

[Gaiff]

At this point, you are just making excuses to continue the terrible representation of Asian men in Western media. This is the main point of the matter and the reason why so many Japanese are condemning this game.

This wasn't the main point of the matter. Your point was about African-American violence against Asian-Americans and you went on a tangent about the negative portrayals of Asian men in western media.

The violence of African-Americans against Asians, is just a parallel that is occurring in recent years. But for some reason, you consider that pointing out this violence is bad, but not the violence itself.

Pointing out the violence most certainly isn't bad, but it's a different subject altogether.

There is no current parallel of an increase of violence against Asian, being perpetrated by white. so your comparison its unfounded and dishonest.

Ah, yes, so it isn't okay to have a black man fighting Japanese enemies (and I stress enemies, because you're not killing random innocent Japanese people) because Americans have a race relations problems. Makes total sense. The freakin' world revolves around the US. Where I'm from, it isn't a problem whatsoever, but Ubisoft should avoid it because America? I hope you're joking.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

If it's that big of a deal just play ghost of tsushima. Ubisoft games are wank anyway.

 

[GymWolf]

Can't wait to commit cultural genocide

What music are you gonna have during combat? A capella?

 

[Skifi28]

What music are you gonna have during combat?

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

'creative liberties'

i.e. the game isn't real so fuck you we're doing what we want.

EDIT: What I was trying to say read wrong, apologies.

 

[winjer]

This wasn't the main point of the matter. Your point was about African-American violence against Asian-Americans and you went on a tangent about the negative portrayals of Asian men in western media.

This game is a perfect example of how Asian men have been shunned in western media.
Why you continue to defend such racism, is beyond me.

Pointing out the violence most certainly isn't bad, but it's a different subject altogether.

Ah, yes, so it isn't okay to have a black man fighting Japanese enemies (and I stress enemies, because you're not killing random innocent Japanese people) because Americans have a race relations problems. Makes total sense. The freakin' world revolves around the US. Where I'm from, it isn't a problem whatsoever, but Ubisoft should avoid it because America? I hope you're joking.

It's a current political parallel that exists, whether you like it or not.
The decision that Ubisoft decided to make, coincides with strained race relations between 2 minority groups in the US.
And yes, the US has a dipropionate importance in world politics and culture. It's just the way it is.

 

[Doom85]

Shit, I need to watch that anime, I saw it recommended on YouTube and the clips look hilarious.

Here’s a mix I personally love:

 

[T4keD0wN]

What music are you gonna have during combat? A capella?

This one i bet.

 

[GymWolf]

This one i bet.

The sdf would cut all of his properties.

 

[Teh Chosen Juan]

“we understand that meeting everyone’s expectations is very difficult…”
is it? you could have just done real Japanese samurais/characters and had the game be entirely with Japanese characters, and it would have met EVERYONE'S expecations. even black people ubisoft! and women! you know, the groups you guys feel need to be coddled and pampered for some reason? shocker: they don't. they like to play games just like everyone else because they're actually human beings too! i know. i hope you're sitting down. it's a lot to take in.
your pandering and bullshit backfired. hope you guys saved and invested your DEI cash from blackrock. would be awesome if lessons were actually learned. i'd be happy to accept your apology and move on.

hugs and kisses,

EVERYONE THAT'S NOT SCARED TO SPEAK THE TRUTH

 

[Doom85]

Lol, thanks for what support in japan? There isn't a single Japanese that would even buy this game, nor do they ever will support it.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Tops Amazon Japan's PS5 Best Sellers List

The standard edition of Assassin's Creed Shadows is currently the number one best-seller on Amazon Japan's PS5 Best Sellers list. It is priced around ...

www.spieltimes.com

 

[Tams]

No matter what they say, it's still a video game and not a documentary or a scientific paper made into a video game. They sell an entertainment product and gameplay, not historical facts or history lessons or an educational game.

I see it for what it is: stealth action game with a fictitious story set in something that could be feudal Japan. There is no authenticity here (there's almost always none in this genre; despite the word being overly used in everyday's speech) and the framing is always be judged by the work's author (here, Ubisoft); this not a biographical renovation or processing by some dark-skinned Japanese working at Ubisoft and writing the story and characters, whose lineage goes back to his black father working as a Samurai in feudal Japan. This is not the video game equivalence to 'Roots' by Alex Haley, which is still a work of fiction (or 'faction', how the author liked to call it).

Unless it's a video game made by academic experts in their fields, there's too little incentive by the team for historical accuracy to call it anything else than a fictious video game. And for that it's probably okay. George Washington holding an Apple of Eden that gives him nightmares about a parallel universe should require no more amount of suspending any disbelief than a black Samurai.

Well, at the end of the day, this entire hobby (like all hobbies) doesn't matter. There's no need for any of it.

And as a result, I'm rather capricious as to what I will spend on this hobby. So I won't buy this game just as didn't Battlefield V, Concord, etc.

 

[Gaiff]

This game is a perfect example of how Asian men have been shunned in western media.
Why you continue to defend such racism, is beyond me.

There's nothing racist whatsoever about starring a black man in a game set in Japan. This is ridiculous.

It's a current political parallel that exists, whether you like it or not.
The decision that Ubisoft decided to make, coincides with strained race relations between 2 minority groups in the US.
And yes, the US has a dipropionate importance in world politics and culture. It's just the way it is.

Wholly irrelevant. It's a game set in Japan with an African protagonist and a Japanese protagonist. That this has anything to do with strained race relations in the United States is so comically reaching that I don't even know if you're being serious. Is this a problem in Canada? England? France? Australia? Then why should Ubisoft Montreal worry about uniquely American issues? The game doesn't have African-Americans nor Asian-Americans, so equating Yasuke fighting Japanese enemies with African-American criminals attacking innocent Asian-Americans is complete and utter nonsense.

But hey, now that you've admitted that anyone but a black man killing Japanese people would be fine, I guess we've made some progress.

I really can't believe we've reached that point, but here we are.

 

[winjer]

There's nothing racist whatsoever about starring a black man in a game set in Japan. This is ridiculous.

Wholly irrelevant. It's a game set in Japan with an African protagonist and a Japanese protagonist. That this has anything to do with strained race relations in the United States is so comically reaching that I don't even know if you're being serious. Is this a problem in Canada? England? France? Australia? Then why should Ubisoft Montreal worry about uniquely American issues? The game doesn't have African-Americans nor Asian-Americans, so equating Yasuke fighting Japanese enemies with African-American criminals attacking innocent Asian-Americans is complete and utter nonsense.

But hey, now that you've admitted that anyone but a black man killing Japanese people would be fine, I guess we've made some progress.

I really can't believe we've reached that point, but here we are.

Nothing racist? You are clearly making stuff up.

 

[Gaiff]

Nothing racist? You are clearly making stuff up.

It's an African warrior in the service of Japanese lord fighting other Japanese warriors. Yet you say racist because America has racial tensions.

But I'm the one making stuff up. Sure.

 

[DannyDanger]

But didn't Journalists tell us it was just American bigots creating false controversy?

Why would Ubisoft feel the need to respond to that? You gotta wonder...

(P.S. You don't have to wonder, these "journalists" are full of shit)

 

[near]

Nothing racist? You are clearly making stuff up.

I've loosely followed your discussion with Gaiff , but I'm a little lost on this one. Are you saying it is racist for a game to have a black main character in a Japanese setting? If so how?

 

[Kurotri]

The Yasuke Song has almost 2 million views already and provides an insight into the issue that Japanese themselves have with this new, soulless corporate product.

Oh my god what is this
Ubi really went over the line with this one no matter where you choose to stand on this subject. This series is nigh on 20 years old and has countless entries, not once did it spark an outrage this huge. I don't even think AC is particularly big in Japan. 2+ million views and it's a whole ass song. Well done. All they had to do was copy Ghost of Tsushima and set it a few hundred years later.

 

[winjer]

It's an African warrior in the service of Japanese lord fighting other Japanese warriors. Yet you say racist because America has racial tensions.

But I'm the one making stuff up. Sure.

The matter is not Sasuke itself, as he has been a part of media in several occasions.
It's the issue with Ubisoft's decision to shun Asians, in a long tradition of western media shunning Asians.
As if shinning Asians is ok, as long as it's done with a black man.
Sorry, but no. Ubisoft is still being racist, and the reaction from Japanese gamers proves this.

 

[Teh Chosen Juan]

You never apologize to snowflake behavior, Ubisoft should have ignored the noise. The only thing they have to worry about is making sure the game is good. If the game is a banger this gets buried, if it sucks people will blame it on this.

love it when the cuck DEI kids throw around "snowflake" at the based people. the fact that this is even a god damn thread is because of you pussy snowflakes and your whining over the past 30 years. you victimhood pussies. but when we call out blatant bullshit, we're all snowflakes. hahaha listen to me! i sound like such a triggered snowflake! i'm getting so upset! AAAHAHHHHHHGGGG!!

 

[Portugeezer]

What a spin job. Ubisoft at least they know they goofed up. THey solved all of this if they just used traditional Japanese samurai and not some made up Black Samurai myth.

People been asking for AC in Japan for 15 years, I have no doubt that having this Yasuke character as playable was the only way they greenlit it. Such are the times we live in.

 

[Gaiff]

The matter is not Sasuke itself, as he has been a part of media in several occasions.

The matter is, as you put it so eloquently, Yasuke being a vehicle to normalize or even promote violence from black people towards Asians (and I broaden this to Asians and black people on purpose. I no longer restrict it to just Americans). Your argument to support this stance is that since America has racial tensions and a spike of African-American criminals attacking innocent Asian people, Ubisoft is racist for essentially paralleling this with Yasuke in AC Shadows. I'm arguing this is an insane comparison because Yasuke is a warrior in the service of a Japanese lord fighting other warriors who happen to be Japanese...because that's where he is.

Anything can be racist if you look hard enough, and you my friend are looking very hard.

 

[March Climber]

They should have switched the release dates of this and Star Wars Outlaws so that this game can finally release and we can all move past this.

Instead we have to deal with 3 more months of people fighting online over this game and Ubisoft PR issuing unnecessary statements and apologies right afterwards.

 

[Masterofchapter]

To the people in this thread seemingly "confused" at the outrage of this game... Let me put it in simpler terms for you:

Imagine Ubisoft is making a Black Panther game set in Africa but the protagonist is an asian who goes around murdering the natives of the land screaming Wakanda Forever while in the Black Panther suit all while at the same time Ubisoft is touting how historically accurate this protagonist and setting is...

Is the picture a little clearer now?

Then that wouldn't called black panther thou they are not race swaping anything they are literally making you to play a historical character

 

[winjer]

The matter is, as you put it so eloquently, Yasuke being a vehicle to normalize or even promote violence from black people towards Asians (and I broaden this to Asians and black people on purpose. I no longer restrict it to just Americans). Your argument to support this stance is that since America has racial tensions and a spike of African-American criminals attacking innocent Asian people, Ubisoft is racist for essentially paralleling this with Yasuke in AC Shadows. I'm arguing this is an insane comparison because Yasuke is a warrior in the service of a Japanese lord fighting other warriors who happen to be Japanese...because that's where he is.

Anything can be racist if you look hard enough, and you my friend are looking very hard.

Nice try distorting what I said.
What I said is that western media has a long history of misrepresentation of Asians men due to racism. And Ubisoft decided to continue this trend.
It doesn't help when people like you pretend that this is ok, just because there is a female Japanese character. Or that there was one western game that had a Japanese character, so Asians no longer have reasons to complain.
The violence of African Americans against Asians, in the US today is a parallel of social tensions. It's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation.

 

[Fake]

They say Thomas Lockley is a fraud and have been finding out he has been editing Wikipedia under an alias "tottoritom" to promote his books and papers.

 

[AJUMP23]

People been asking for AC in Japan for 15 years, I have no doubt that having this Yasuke character as playable was the only way they greenlit it. Such are the times we live in.

But in England they used a Saxon....Greece they used some Greeks. Italy they used Italians, Middle East they used Arabs. It would just make sense to continue that trend.

 

[ReyBrujo]

To put it in perspective, if everybody in Japan hates the game and nobody buys it, they will lose like ~40k in sales.

 

[Gaiff]

Nice try distorting what I said.

No, that's exactly what you said. I even probed further asking if it'd be fine if it were a white man and you answered that there's no parallel of white people committing violence against Asians, implying that it wouldn't be racist.

The violence of African Americans against Asians, in the US today is a parallel of social tensions. It's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation.

Yeah, so back to that point. Yasuke fighting and killing Japanese enemies is racist because in the United States, there are racial tensions between African-American and Asian-Americans.

I say anyone can kill anyone of any race in any game as long as no race is depicted in a negative light. Have black people kill white people. Have white people kill Asian people. Have Asian people kill black people. I frankly don't care and won't call racism so long as one group isn't obviously poorly depicted which isn't the case in this game. It's gotten to the point where Capcom is terrified of remaking freakin' RE5 because they don't want the controversy associated a white man and a black (African) woman killing Africans...but said Africans are zombies and even to appease them, Capcom added white zombies into the mix. Obviously, this is a much more contentious issue because of European colonialism in Africa, but it's a damn game about zombies. Next thing you know, you'll only be allowed to kill enemies of the same race as the player character if you wanna avoid complaints.

 

[Aenima]

I just leave this video so ppl here can have an idea why Japanese ppl are actualy not happy about this game.

 

[LQX]

The "anti-woke" have morphed into being the most "woke". Just loud, nagging and obnoxious over every little thing.

 

[ProtoByte]

1. There's been dispute about Yasuke. There was never definitive consensus about whether or not he was samurai. Were other academics that claimed there is reason to believe Yasuke was approximate to samurai-status (given that it was not recorded officially at the time according to Metatron) or to be skeptical one way or another basing their hypotheses on Lockley's books?

2. How is this Ubisoft's fault? How does it change the fact that Yasuke, someone who did exist, is being fictionalized in this historical fiction franchise?

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Nobunaga sama, a foreign man has appeared on our shores. It is said that his skin is as black as ink.

Nobunaga: Bring me this foreigner at once.

The foreigner:

Netflix???

 

[Masterofchapter]

Nice try distorting what I said.
What I said is that western media has a long history of misrepresentation of Asians men due to racism. And Ubisoft decided to continue this trend.
It doesn't help when people like you pretend that this is ok, just because there is a female Japanese character. Or that there was one western game that had a Japanese character, so Asians no longer have reasons to complain.
The violence of African Americans against Asians, in the US today is a parallel of social tensions. It's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation.

Really ubisoft has created tons of Asian main characters in for honour black character thou not much

 

[Fake]

1. There's been dispute about Yasuke. There was never definitive consensus about whether or not he was samurai. Were other academics that claimed there is reason to believe Yasuke was approximate to samurai-status (given that it was not recorded officially at the time according to Metatron) or to be skeptical one way or another basing their hypotheses on Lockley's books?

2. How is this Ubisoft's fault? How does it change the fact that Yasuke, someone who did exist, is being fictionalized in this historical fiction franchise?

You should ask those questions to Ubisoft since they are the one answering their japanese community.

 

[Tams]

Oh, I do love the denizens of Wikipedia. So brutally honest.

 

[Mercador]

Anyone remembers how Ubisoft boasted for historical accuracy when they launch the first Assassin's Creed. Time flies.

 

[ProtoByte]

Nice try distorting what I said.
What I said is that western media has a long history of misrepresentation of Asians men due to racism. And Ubisoft decided to continue this trend.

So, what is it that's so misrepresentative of Asian men that you perceive in AC Shadows? Honestly? I'm not putting words in your mouth, but it seems to me that there are people using similar language, and I can't help but wonder if what they're displaying is indignation at the mere idea that noblemen or warriors of Feudal Japan could ever be beaten or disrespected by an African foreigner.

I also notice that the anti-woke/anti-SJW side of the culture war argument - the side I often agree with more, to be honest - disregards any of this "history of minorities in western media" talk when the accused over-representatives or glorified are white characters or figures. The most pertinent example being Danny Rand Iron Fist. Each side of that argument is literally flipped in this one.

It doesn't help when people like you pretend that this is ok, just because there is a female Japanese character. Or that there was one western game that had a Japanese character, so Asians no longer have reasons to complain.

It'd be hard to interest me in hearing the complaints of any demographic in the modern west about media.

The violence of African Americans against Asians, in the US today is a parallel of social tensions. It's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation.

Yasuke isn't African American. I highly doubt there's anyone at Ubisoft's offices in Montreal who happens to be black and going around hurting Asians. Racial tensions of today in America should not necessarily be reflected in all media, and is certainly not relevant to a fictionalized version of Japan 500 years ago.