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[DonkeyPunchJr]

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 cramming DEI into everything. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the japanese public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Assassin’s Creed: Shadows for either system, nor will they purchase any of Ubisoft’s games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Ubisoft has alienated an entire market with this move.

Ubisoft, publicly apologize and stop trying to cram 21st century diversity into feudal Japan or you can kiss your business goodbye.

 

[IDKFA]

See this is why I actually dislike them using him for the main character. He is the first real historical figure to be a main character in an AC game. Even Naoe isn't real. So why him?

No idea.

I guess so little is known about his life that he's almost a blank slate for a AC game. Not that it really matters because AC is far from historical fiction.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

I hope you are joking. There are two types of Black populations in North Africa and the Middle East, some who were enslaved or mercenaries/business people and others that are basically native.

You haven't heard of Mostafa Henfy?

The ancient Egyptians long predated the large-scale importation of black slaves. There were probably some Nubians present for various reasons, but the main character of AC Origins has a seemingly Nigerian accent lol

 

[Wildebeest]

Japanese people are usually chill about shitting all over global culture until you bring things like three kingdoms into the mix, then all the neckbeard grognards suddenly appear.

 

[SHA]

All white colors are colors, there is no such thing as with colors.

 

[Alebrije]

There is a pro tip of You don't like the Main character(s) : don't Buy the Game.

Personally UBI games worth no more than 40 US so if they are really good wait for a sale or for their debut at Play station extra/ Gamepass.

 

[March Climber]

prove these are facts? again we want only facts. How does this prove that She knows what Yasuke and retainers were?

Edit: also this goes back less than 100 years. You realise that is a bit different from say over 400 years?

Does anyone else see this endless loop people keep having to go through with StueyDuck ? All he has to do is point a finger and make a claim, and myself and others keep having to be the ones to provide proof.

Why does he never provide counterproof? or proof to his of his ‘wokeness’ claims? Instead he just throws things out there and we all just have to accept his word. Meanwhile myself and others here have to dig through the mud to prove everything right. Over and over. You have it easy on this forum man, I am envious.

Brb, going do an expedition of searches.

 

[StueyDuck]

Does anyone else see this endless loop people keep having to go through with StueyDuck ? All he has to do is point a finger and make a claim, and myself and others keep having to be the ones to provide proof.

Why does he never provide counterproof? or proof to his of his ‘wokeness’ claims? Instead he just throws things out there and we all just have to accept his word. Meanwhile myself and others here have to dig through the mud to prove everything right. Over and over. You have it easy on this forum man, I am envious.

Brb, going do an expedition of searches.

i mean , you got caught out and now you aren't handling it well...

It says a lot when you feel the need to go through ones post history

do try create a little attack mob against me though, that's definitely not something an unhinged person on twitter would do

when the veil comes off...

 

[IntentionalPun]

These games aren’t exactly known for historical accuracy, not sure why we’d expect that because “Japan.”

 

[March Climber]

i mean , you got caught out and now you aren't handling it well...

I didn't. I'm doing the research you wanted btw, even though I provided an example. You know, research, a thing that you haven't done yet at all for me. I do so much for you and you treat me like this

It says a lot when you feel the need to go through ones post history

Funny thing is, I didn't lol. I just know your posts. You're one of the top posters who has a lot of unresearched, baseless SBI/DEI takes in a lot of threads. It's not that hard to see without searching. Dr. Claus is also in that top 5 but I think he's just edgy sometimes.

do try create a little attack mob against me though, that's definitely not something an unhinged person on twitter would do

Oh cut it out. No one's rallying against you. I'm pointing out a pattern to our debate audience. No need for a persecution complex. Now let me do my research.

when the veil comes off...

Edit: Is this from Corinthians? If so that's a nice compliment.

 

[Strategize]

Excellent video, nice to see someone truly understand Assassin's Creed through all the bloat and microrotations.

 

[StueyDuck]

I didn't. I'm doing the research you wanted btw, even though I provided an example. You know, research, a thing that you haven't done yet at all for me. I do so much for you and you treat me like this

Funny thing is, I didn't lol. I just know your posts. You're one of the top posters who has a lot of unresearched, baseless SBI/DEI takes in a lot of threads. It's not that hard to see without searching. Dr. Claus is also in that top 5 but I think he's just edgy sometimes.

Oh cut it out. No one's rallying against you. I'm pointing out a pattern to our debate audience. No need for a persecution complex. Now let me do my research.

Why should I need to research. Show me earlier in this thread where I said that I'm purely fact driven. That was your point, you typed that, so I'm holding you to your words.

So what? Who cares if I comment in threads, so people are only allowed a limited numbers of messages in a thread or else... I am at least willing to stand by my convictions.

You literally said you were going to find posts and you literally @ my name so everyone else would respond to you. You really are captain contradictory.

I will say, at least the whole holier than though act is over and you are showing your true self. I mean... we all could tell what the true intentions were, but at least now it's out there.

 

[DrFigs]

Isn't complaining about cultural appropriation part of the politically correct agenda, contrary to what some of those people tweeting are suggesting. It just seems like these japanese people need to be told to get over it.

this reminds me of when resident evil 5 came out and there was some outrage that a white guy was killing black zombies. grow up. it's fucking fine.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Excellent video, nice to see someone truly understand Assassin's Creed through all the bloat and microrotations.

I'm trying to imagine who spends $18 a month to subscribe to AssCreed

 

[MiserlyNubian]

Different people being thrown into different cultures always makes for a fascinating story, just go watch your average Isekai. But when you do this improperly the story just sucks, and it seems to be the case with Shadows. In my opinion Ubisoft only choose Yasuke because he's black and was a real person.

You first contradict yourself and your hen make a claim that you can't verify. First, I "different being thrown into different cultures always makes for a fascinating story" that itself is a justification for using Yasuke. Dude was an African living in Japan,and not just as a no it but as a retainer for the most powerful and ambitious daimyo of the time. He must have been an impressive individual and looking at Japan through the his eyes would definitely make for a great story. Unfortunately, people like yourself can't see that because of their bias against black people.

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

 

[Strategize]

I'm trying to imagine who spends $18 a month to subscribe to AssCreed

Indeed, their never ending greed should be the real reasons to be mad at Ubisoft. Not culture war brainrot stuff.

 

[shamoomoo]

The ancient Egyptians long predated the large-scale importation of black slaves. There were probably some Nubians present for various reasons, but the main character of AC Origins has a seemingly Nigerian accent lol

Egyptians and Nubians are genetically related. A Nigerian accent doesn't really mean anything when the game is fantastical.

 

[Gaiff]

The ancient Egyptians long predated the large-scale importation of black slaves. There were probably some Nubians present for various reasons, but the main character of AC Origins has a seemingly Nigerian accent lol

You got all kinds of things wrong. First of all, Origins takes place in late Ptolemaic Egypt, not early or even middle Ancient Egypt. Second, there were black Nubians and other black ethnic groups since the beginning of Egypt's history because parts of Upper Egypt reached all the way down to modern-day Sudan. Piye, the founder of the Nubian dynasty reigned in 744 BC. Not only that, but there also would have been travelers, traders, and merchants from East, North, and the Horn of Africa. Third, the voice actor of Bayek, Abubakar Salim, is of Kenyan descent. Bayek is a Medjay and they were a nomadic people from Nubia who operated in Ptolemaic Egypt.

So there weren't "probably some Nubians present for various reasons". There have been black Africans in Egypt since the dawn of its existence. Saying that a black Egyptian is cultural appropriation is not only wrong but aggressively ignorant.

Ancient Egypt wasn't homogenous with only one ethnicity. It's widely agreed that it was quite diverse with a multitude of ethnic groups living along the Nile.

 

[shamoomoo]

Onimusha?

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

Ever since Yasuke became more commonly known about every mother fucker has tried to go there. "Ah yes! The fabled black samurai!! (Very debatable depending on your meaning!) We can now hit our diversity quota and have make a game about samurai!"

 

[Eiknarf]

 

[MiserlyNubian]

Yeah can't even believe they compared Guts. Guts would feed Yosuke his own face.

Guts wouldn't do anything because Guts isn't real. Yosuke was an actual person who actually wielded a sword and fought other humans.

 

[MiserlyNubian]

Ever since Yasuke became more commonly known about every mother fucker has tried to go there. "Ah yes! The fabled black samurai!! (Very debatable depending on your meaning!) We can now hit our diversity quota and have make a game about samurai!"

You can say the same about William Adams with the Shogun show and Nioh.

 

[Draugoth]

You first contradict yourself and your hen make a claim that you can't verify. First, I "different being thrown into different cultures always makes for a fascinating story" that itself is a justification for using Yasuke. Dude was an African living in Japan,and not just as a no it but as a retainer for the most powerful and ambitious daimyo of the time.

The problem with Yasuke is that he would make a bad Assassin in Feudal Japan, unlike Naoe.

He must have been an impressive individual and looking at Japan through the his eyes would definitely make for a great story. Unfortunately, people like yourself can't see that because of their bias against black people.

Well, if he wasn't impressive he wouldnt have worked under Nobunaga.

 

[MiserlyNubian]

There undoubtedly were black people in the Persian Empire, but I doubt the core Persians were black. After all, Iran is modern day Persia and the people there are far from black.
My Iranian colleague was a little annoyed by the black Prince of Persia protagonist and said "After seeing what they did to Egypt and Cleopatra, it seems like even we aren't safe from being turned black in the media".

The Ancient Persians weren't black, but people had no problem with that in the movie Sparta when black Persians were getting kicked down deep wells and having their heads lopped off.

 

[MiserlyNubian]

This just sucks. Black culture appropriating Japanese culture written by white race grifters. I want no part in this even though I suspect this ge will sell very well despite (or because of) the controversy. Pease out.

Don't even start with that nonsense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_hip_hop

 

[Draugoth]

The arguments over historical accuracy:

After Assassin's Creed Black Flag they stoped giving any fucks

 

[Moriarty1889]

This is her own bio, so tell me, how is she a historian? Where is her facts coming from? again we cared about the facts earlier but now we take her word for it because "Trust me bro"

she’s just another virtue signaling woke liberal white woman. She is making sure she is looked upon with favor by putting a black Samurai as one of the main characters. Because we can’t have an asian man running around Japan in the same role now can we? That wouldn’t help diversity much would it?

 

[MiserlyNubian]

Have fun with these watered down games that are all inclusive. Thankfully we're at a point in game development where there will be more indie publishers down the line, making games that are actually good.

If there isn't one SHEEEEEEEEEIT from the fictional black samurai, did they actuarially get his character dialog right?

This makes no sense. Variety almost inherently makes things more interesting. Do you really want you games and media to be homogenous and bland.

 

[semiconscious]

I can see why Japanese gamers could be miffed...

Imagine if they created an AC based in Historical Africa, and the MC was portaryed as a Tribal Warrior based on a European guy that historically existed...as a butler. Imagine the outrage from basically everyone.

whoa! wait! keep going, i'm interested...

 

[genesisblock]

But there's nothing stopping them from doing it. And going by the trailer the lead is the lady plus the Black guy.

Once again, ignoring the rest of the context. There is no equivalence of Ubisoft to the Tecmo devs. Simply opting out to put an asian male lead front an centre of a triple-A game studio when they have no problem incorporating this with other cultures.

If you think this isn't clearly politically motivated, then you clearly live in a bubble. In no way this decision was paved with good intentions. They scream to the heavens for authenticity but the moment the opportunity falls on their lap they decide to take creative "liberties". And no, the asian female doesn't count because one, they are far more representative in media then asian men. She is clearly the checkbox that needs to be ticked.

There are no creative risks here, this the standard, typical narrative that has been reused over and over again by western media.

The fact that you and the rest are trying to sweep this under the rug is a testament of a deeper discrimination you are not willing to face. Yasuke is not the issue, never was. It's when he is used as an excuse to captialize on other cultures in the expense of appropriating them without giving them due respect.

By the way, it's not like they can't make Yasuke an NPC or put him in a DLC expansion like Freedom cry. It's been done before and nothing is stopping that from happening. They chose not to, and moving forward this will affect how their future AC games will be perceived when it comes to representation.

 

[DrFigs]

Once again, ignoring the rest of the context. There is no equivalence of Ubisoft to the Tecmo devs. Simply opting out to put an asian male lead front an centre of a triple-A game studio when they have no problem incorporating this with other cultures.

If you think this isn't clearly politically motivated, then you clearly live in a bubble. In no way this decision was paved with good intentions. They scream to the heavens for authenticity but the moment the opportunity falls on their lap they decide to take creative "liberties". And no, the asian female doesn't count because one, they are far more representative in media then asian men. She is clearly the checkbox that needs to be ticked.

There are no creative risks here, this the standard, typical narrative that has been reused over and over again by western media.

The fact that you and the rest are trying to sweep this under the rug is a testament of a deeper discrimination you are not willing to face. Yasuke is not the issue, never was. It's when he is used as an excuse to captialize on other cultures in the expense of appropriating them without giving them due respect.

By the way, it's not like they can't make Yasuke an NPC or put him in a DLC expansion like Freedom cry. It's been done before and nothing is stopping that from happening. They chose not to, and moving forward this will affect how their future AC games will be perceived when it comes to representation.

Is Yasuke's story not interesting? A black man in feudal japan - isn't it a fascinating story that he's possibly the only black man in Japan at that time? Like what is the suggestion here? that Ubisoft is secretly trying to humiliate Japanese people?

The Ancient Persians weren't black, but people had no problem with that in the movie Sparta when black Persians were getting kicked down deep wells and having their heads lopped off.

the selective outrage is really interesting right? black people can be the villains in a movie about Persians where it makes zero sense and no one cared about it. lol

 

[Dr. Claus]

I didn't. I'm doing the research you wanted btw, even though I provided an example. You know, research, a thing that you haven't done yet at all for me. I do so much for you and you treat me like this

Funny thing is, I didn't lol. I just know your posts. You're one of the top posters who has a lot of unresearched, baseless SBI/DEI takes in a lot of threads. It's not that hard to see without searching. Dr. Claus is also in that top 5 but I think he's just edgy sometimes.

Oh cut it out. No one's rallying against you. I'm pointing out a pattern to our debate audience. No need for a persecution complex. Now let me do my research.


Edit: Is this from Corinthians? If so that's a nice compliment.

For a “logical” and “centrist” individual, you are often the most illogical and more often than not heavily side with a particular group of ideologically composed individuals. Don’t even get me started on the whole “unemotional” nonsense.

Maybe be honest for once and drop the hypocrisy.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I hated ass creed from the start, so I don't give a crap, but isn't this supposed to be literally Yasuke? A real historical black person that existed in real historical Japan?

Yasuke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also I wonder if people screenshot Neogaf and go "AmErICa iS mAd At..." lol

 

[DrFigs]

I hated ass creed from the start, so I don't give a crap, but isn't this supposed to be literally Yasuke?

Yasuke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also I wonder if people screenshot Neogaf and go "AmErICa iS mAd At..." lol

There was an anime adaption about him on netflix. I thought for sure he was more well known. I am confused by people's comments about "historical accuracy" here and on other sites. like Yasuke probably didn't have dreads like what is shown in that trailer, but he was a real person.

 

[Barakov]

Enjoy the backlash Ubisoft. You deserve it.

 

[TGO]

I don't really care either way, the characters could remain the same and it would be an awesome game......but that's not how this works in this day and age.
We know the baggage it comes with.

 

[Pelao]

 

[genesisblock]

Is Yasuke's story not interesting? A black man in feudal japan - isn't it a fascinating story that he's possibly the only black man in Japan at that time? Like what is the suggestion here? that Ubisoft is secretly trying to humiliate Japanese people?

the selective outrage is really interesting right? black people can be the villains in a movie about Persians where it makes zero sense and no one cared about it. lol

Please re-read my post. At no point did I say that he doesn't have a fascinating story which is a poor excuse because there are other fascinating stories in the region where it is based which is why AC games try to go to different areas, and the fact that it requires a foreigner to make it "fascinating" reeks of colonialism. Because it implies you are afraid of that the very people it's based on can tell amazing stories. This is tantamount to an American going to Japan for the McDonalds to see their regional interpretation of the menu and thus "authentically" Japanese.

And if you look further down my post, I clearly stated that Yasuke can have his own DLC expansion, it has been done before with AC4.

You can kill 2 birds in one stone but they fumbled on this.

And what selective outrage? What movie are you referring to about Persians making black people the villains?

 

[Spacefish]

Is Yasuke's story not interesting? A black man in feudal japan - isn't it a fascinating story that he's possibly the only black man in Japan at that time? Like what is the suggestion here? that Ubisoft is secretly trying to humiliate Japanese people?

the selective outrage is really interesting right? black people can be the villains in a movie about Persians where it makes zero sense and no one cared about it. lol

Is Yasuke's story interesting? who knows, he's a blank slate. He was only in japan for 1-3 years and there are almost no records of his existence as admitted by the developers themselves, he is no more interesting than any exceptional human that existed in that period at that time, I would argue as a historical figure, specifically a figure related to Japanese history he isn't particularly interesting outside his skin colour. As a historical figure he doesnt make full use of the Japanese setting, there were no interesting cultural conflicts between African and Japanese national history, his slavers were European who themselves had interesting political ties and conflicts in the country, he barely spoke the language, there are no records of any meaningful feats or accomplishments and he left the country in short order. So again, the only potentially interesting thread here is he is an outsider who was in close proximity to people who were actually of note, this role could have been fulfilled by any fictional human from any country outside japan, many of which would have led to deeper cultural frictions than "oh my god he's got black skin". What I will admit is this is all irrelevant since he will essentially be a fictional character (and they should have made him a fictional character like every other AC protagonist to avoid this bullshit culture war spilling over into real historical revisionism, they didn't because they wanted cover for their politically motivated creative choice) the only reason people argue pointlessly about history is because the defence uses it as a red herring to distract from the real intent behind his inclusion.

The argument you are making is purposely obtuse. Sure, what is important is execution rather than conceit. I dont have any more problems with a yasuke type figure being a protagonist than I do tom cruise in the last samurai. The issue is WHY was he chosen and by WHO? These questions are important because it answers whether this is a piece of art or a political weapon, whether its made to manipulate or entertain and whether the writing is likely to be shit or not.

We both know he was chosen because he's black, and we both know the choice was made by woke culture warriors. You only need to look up the writing staff, pronouns in the twitter bio, a history of nothing but posts about representation, feminism and diversity, a cultural consultant whose only claim to fame is a book about underage gay sexual relationships in medieval japan, a franchise who had sweet baby consulting on their last mainline entry. Theres so much evidence its almost a caricature of woke ideological possession gone wrong. you want to make this about double standards and history while ignoring obvious context, I want to ask why low level, boring political slap fights are driving the most important creative choices in a piece of entertainment.

 

[feynoob]

Internet was a mistake. You guys complain too much about everything. Go touch a grass.

 

[feynoob]

Go ubisoft. Cant believe I am cheering you on this one.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Internet was a mistake. You guys complain too much about everything. Go touch a grass.

You first.

 

[feynoob]

You first.

Already did. Amazing experience. Didnt have to care about internet crybabies.

 

[Danjin44]

Internet was a mistake. You guys complain too much about everything. Go touch a grass.

 

[feynoob]

The pick up method, the throw, and the way he ran, master of mischievous.

 

[Black_Stride]

Who said he was made up?, don’t insert your own bullshit into the conversation. Adam’s was actually a samurai and yasuke was a retainer.

Source that Yasuke was only ever a retainer?

 

[Big Shirtless Ron]

Cry more, you racist babies.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The West doesn't seem to be universally liking it either but who knows at this point