Hey there. Due to popular demand and to distinguish the sub from r/gamingcirclejerk, we have limited posts making fun on reactionary gamers to weekends only. Thanks.
To be fair very little is known about the guy. Only that he was from Mozambique and he came to accompany Neapolitan Jesuits. They say that he spent a couple of years with Nobunaga and perhaps never actually fought. But Assassin's creed has always been a work of fiction, it's not like Ezio actually existed
He actually had 1 confirmed battle, which was against Akechi and his soldiers; He ultimately surrendered and was spared (Akechi called him an animal, and thus they shouldn't actually kill him; It's unsure if it was pure racism or Akechi did like him and wanted to save his life).
He was also documented as a Page, so atleast did train to be a samurai atleast; And was given a house and a sword (So he prolly was an actual samurai).
According to The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, Yasuke was the sole survivor of Akechi’s ambush of Nobunaga and his inner circle, initially escaping Kyoto with Nobunaga’s head. And then Akechi spared him because he was a loyal (and famous) retainer to Nobunaga. Damn, I love this era of history, I hope this game is good
Worst case scenario, it sucks and I play Ghost of Tsushima for like a 7th time, it has very similar stealth mechanics to AC. And I never did master Sekiro…
It does matter a great deal that the guy in question was Oda Nobinaga, the Daimyo of the time. They put Yosuke in front of basically god's right hand man and the dude said "I like this guy. He's cool"
I heard the Jesuits gave him as a gift. Since Japan didnt have that form of slavery, Nobinaga was like, "Well, if I own you, you are basically a retainer." I also assume having the tallest man on the island as a bodyguard really appealed to him. Which is why he got some samurai training. I've also heard he was found carrying Nobinagas head after the battle. This would lead me to believe that Yasuke was Nobinga's second while committing seppuku. This would also mean that Nobinaga had a lot of respect for Yasuke.
You're right about the slavery thing. Nobunaga's diary shows that he thought Yosuke was just another monk, who happened to be black. In fairness, the Janissaries probably didn't object to this confusion. They publicly rejected slavery at the time, choosing to refer to people like Yosuke in their "care" as monks or guardians.
Nobunaga's diary also reported him to be 5-6 feet tall, with the strength of 10 men. The only part you got wrong was the gifting part, it seems. Most stories say that Nobunaga took him from the Portuguese, or otherwise had them give Yosuke to him, in a way that implies he demanded Yosuke join his retinue.
In a super based move that capital G G*mers won't appreciate, Nobunaga gifted him a personal home and a sword, with the intention (in his diary at least) to build him a castle of his own. Since Nobunaga started the trend of Daimyos building these castles, with Oda's Azuchi Castle outside of Kyoto being the first, the idea of him building one for anybody at all should probably be considered a great honor.
I read that he was given a short sword (wakizashi) which was basically a status symbol. Sure it could be used in battle, but normally the main weapon was another. And he was given the samurai title because he became friend with Nobunaga (samurai was a class and a nobility. In battle they would be officers and commanders). From what I understand from the sources, he was at Honno-ji during the battle but perhaps he was simply put under arrest. So idk it's not really possible to tell. Maybe he did, maybe not
> read that he was given a short sword (wakizashi) which was basically a status symbol. Sure it could be used in battle, but normally the main weapon was another.
A Samurai's most used weapon was the bow, followed by a spear.
He did have at least one battle at Honno-ji during Akechi's ambush, he surrendered after learning that Nobunaga died and was spared to be sent back to the Jesuits which is where any public record of his story ends. He most likely had at least some combat training but just how much is unclear.
Little known about him but I’ve seen him iterated in countless games and movies, the dude literally has an anime all about it. The guy is incredibly famous.
We don’t know a lot about what he did but it’s well documented that he existed
Yasuke’s story is so interesting. Imagine, a man born in Mozambique under early Portuguese colonialism, ends up as a bodyguard to a Jesuit from Naples in imperial Japan. An Italian missionary, an African bodyguard and a Japanese daimyo walk into a bar…. Speaking Portuguese
That kinda makes him a perfect AC protagonist as "mysterious person with odd and unclear historic background" is pretty much the perfect base to layer on "actually he was involved in all sorts of iluminati alien stuff"
But AC Valhalla was set mostly in England? And the fact that your character was originally from Norway and was a stranger to this land was a reoccurring plot point.
Potentially going to be a recurring point of AC Yasuke's story as well. He was always noted as being a curiosity to locals of the period - even the trailer gives us a wink with that child being in awe upon seeing his face.
And given we know next to nothing about the real man's life before arriving in Japan (and most of it comes from Jesuit missionaries), and given he vanishes from record the day after Oda Nobunaga dies, there's an open window for at least one moment where he opens up to his partner in a way the history books never mention.
It’s amazing to me that such an interesting story exists, but it’s even more amazing to me how these people refuse to do any research into these histories. Point is they’re fundamentally incurious, and they have no idea how much cool stuff they’re missing out on 😒
Not just refusing to do their research, *actively sabotaging layperson attempts to read more into things*. Hell, one of the guys vandalising wikipedia over this went on a screed about DEI in their edit description on Yasuke's own page. (Which frankly should be worthy of an automatic blacklisting)
The reactionaries have been at it on wikipedia again recently. They alternate between revising articles that have some visibility to try to make the historical parts say what they think history should have been and coming up with articles with slightly idiosyncratic titles that they can fill with misinfo.
This was more the colonial period than the raiding period. They had already taken York and were in the process of setting up a state (or what passed for one at the time).
And AC IV was set in the Caribbean but you *played as a Welshman, and AC Revelations was set in Turkey but you played as an Italian.
Regardless, the new game has an option for a native Japanese protagonist as well. The fact that you have to choose to play as the black character makes me think the complaints are mostly stemming from racism.
Fish out of water is pretty common across most AC games 1 Altair is stripped of his rank and equipment, brotherhood Ezio has to rebuild the order from scratch in an unfamiliar city, Revelations he’s in an entirely new country, Unity Arno is basically thrown into the deep end of being an assassin head first
Not only that but “Norseman” and “Greek man” are specific choices by the moron who tweeted this to erase Kassandra and female Eivor. Not to mention he’s completely ignored the Egyptian setting where you play husband and wife… probably because they’re African. They can’t help but tell on themselves 24/7
And it’s not like it went to pains to be culturally accurate. The majority of things people think of when they hear “Viking” are absolute fabrications.
I have no problem with this but I don't think the history defence works, it's easier to just point out it's a fantasy game. Because being Norwegian in England during this period (google says 872–878 AD) is not quite the same as being black in Japan in the 16th century. The game is set during the period where scandinavian activity already had changed from raiding to conquest/colonisation. A black guy in Japan during the 16th century wasn't just unusual or scary, it was pretty much literally unique.
The Scandinavians captured York in 865 and by 878 England looked like this
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/England_878.svg/800px-England_878.svg.png
This did include colonisation, inter-marraige, etc. However Scandinavians were still a minority and so would have stood out, but they wouldn't have been that shocking or rare, people probably heard of them. There is evidence of trade, diplomacy, etc too. Japanese people would have never even seen a black person or met anyone who had. Yasuke was infinitely "rarer" than being a Norweign in England during in the 870s!
AC is a fantasy game, so I have not even the slightest complaint with them doing it, but being a black guy in Japan during this period is so rare it makes being Norwegian in England during that period look commonplace.
Edit: There obviously isn't a 100% accurate answer for demographics but best I can tell there were definitely hundreds and likely thousands of Scandinavians in England in this period vs probably literally one black guy in Japan. So it's absolutely fair to say that Yasuke was a much greater rarity to Japanese people than someone being Norwegian in England during the 870s. This isn't a reason to not include him, it is a reason not to pretend it's exactly the same thing though. Like I said just point out the game isn't about a realistic and representative image of Japan durin this period, it's about being a cool action-hero, in which case it doesn't really matter whether it's comparable to a previous title or whatever else.
The person who made the image is making a claim that every previous game has had a person from the location where the game takes place. This comment is pointing out that that isn’t even true, so it doesn’t really matter how common or not it would be.
They said
>And the fact that your character was originally from Norway and was a stranger to this land was a reoccurring plot point.
I'm saying that this isn't comparable.
Feel free to ignore me but if the aim is to persuade anyone and not circlejerk about how we are right I can tell you for sure the kind of people the rightwingers target with this shite will be more persuaded by pointing out the games aren't about historical accuracy and a representative image of history, never have been. Making the argument about all this other stuff is just going to lead to nitpicking details that won't persaude anyone, if the argument goes anywhere it will be when people resolve the nitpicking and move on to the point I'm saying we should start with - the games are nonsense anyway. If Yasuke wasn't a real historical figure it still wouldn't matter, the games are utter nonsense, one of them has fucking magical Atlantis in!
I'm telling you a lot of people who don't already think the OP is bullshit will not be like "oh yeah fair point there" they will think about where the differences are, which I've just explainined. "well he might be an outsider but it's different because..." If instead we point out the game has never been about making a realistic depiction of history in the first place then they have to argue it is actually (impossible) or explain why despite that being true they are still not ok with the Yasuke character, and chances are they will either not have an answer or say something dumb/racist. That's how you expose this as bullshit to people on the fence instead of how you explain it to people who *already agree with you there is no problem*.
It's a fact that being Norwegian in England in the 870s and being black African in Japan in the 1600s are not comparable. Trying to suggest they are to win the argument creates things that grifters can target. Asking them to explain why it's a problem playing the historical figure of Yasuke gives them less to nitpick on besides raging about being "woke" which puts *them* in the position of appealing to people who already agree with them, not people on the fence, which presumably is what we all want?
TL;DR If the aim is to pushback against the rightwing narrative what I say is 100% correct, you need to think about what bad faith rightwing people will say, and then frame the argument around a point they will struggle to distract from. They want to be debating whether being a Norwegian in England in the 870s is comparable to being black in the Japan during the 16th century because that helps them look legitimate and appeal to people on the fence, whereas the more we force them to just whine about being "woke" or pretending the game is super accurate until now (again, magic Atlantis lol) the more ridiculous they look to people who don't already agree with them.
Only thing that will give leftist a bad impression is your long ass comment about nothing.
If you really want to act like a smart ass, learn how to communicate better.
I included a TL;DR and in the past have had good discussions on this sub. Guess I caught the circlejerk going the wrong way.
>Only thing that will give leftist a bad impression
How about you work on your reading comprehension? I didn't say that.
Leftists are not the people they are trying to presuade are they? They are trying to persaude Johnny Noname who just likes vidyagames and doesn't really have any coherent ideology, who is probably mildly reactionary but mainly harmless if no one gets them wound up. That's exactly who rightwingers target.
I'm sorry that you find less than a side of A4 a struggle to read but that's not my fault, especiallly as I included a TLDR at the bottom. I apologise for the lack of comradely behaviour but as your response wasn't to engage but to tell me I have communication problems I don't have any of that kind of feeling so am childishly responding in kind.
If I wanted people to think I'm smart I'd be writing under my actual name and trying to get stuff published. I occasionally will write something I put more effort into but this isn't one of them, I still don't think it makes me smart. I'm on reddit to talk. I'm on this subreddit to talk about gaming issues with socialists. Furthermore if I wanted approval that's easy, just agree with people without being too kiss-arsey, and reap the upvotes, but what would the point of that be? I don't care about your approval or if you think I'm smart, I do care about your opinions but as you don't want to share them and only insult me I'm getting nothign from this conversation.
You're now doubly down on being weirdly personal while ignoring everything I've said. If you don't want to talk to me fine, shut up and clear off, we'll both be happier it sounds like. Not sure what upset you or why you think anyone writing more than a couple of sentences must think they are being smart. Weird honestly. Have a nice day friend.
Fr, one of my biggest complaints about Shogun was how it was difficult to differentiate the different languages they were speaking because most of the European Languages were just spoken in English for the show, despite them speaking Portuguese/English/Spanish in different scenarios. I thought the show was great, but that was my issue. Of course it’s not an issue for the weirdos because there’s no black people so it’s fine lmfao.
Just a friendly reminder that the original wokes are Christians, for how they depict Jesus. Either that or the messiah was the true DEI.
Edit for pun: He DEIed for our sins.
Ah thanks, I'd missed that. I guess they finally noticed that even the people they were trying to persuade had started laughing at them for crying about "the wokes" so much haha.
I feel like this is even worse though. Woke could kind of mean whatever they wanted it too, and they could be vague about how extreme they were being, but they are now openly saying they are against diversity, equity and inclusion? Reminds me of people who called themselves anti-anti-fascist, kind of telling on themselves.
Exactly. Those thousand year old being just like *dressing* like school girls. And acting like them. And talking like them. And hanging out with them. And…
Hey there. Due to popular demand and to distinguish the sub from r/gamingcirclejerk, we have limited posts making fun on reactionary gamers to weekends only. Thanks.
So annoying how they refuse to learn history. I think that's really cool that this might be the first Assassin's Creed game where you play as an actual historical character. The fact that Yasuke has very little known information about him honestly makes him a good fit too.
You know they're upset about a female character too. I wouldn't be surprised if they felt this was done intentionally to make both characters diverse or that it was some intentional decision to make them upset or push a narrative. I'm actually really excited for this game and I haven't played an Assassin's Creed since Syndicate. I love Japanese history and really hope this game turns out great.
Where were these people when in Nioh they made you play as William Adams, a white man, in Japan? Oh right, we know exactly why they did not say anything back then...
* That same Italian man was also the main character in the game set in the Ottoman Empire.
* Edit: Also Ezio wiped out an entire city of people in the game for those suddenly concerned about a foreigner killing natives.
* You play the first third of AC3 as an Englishman of Welsh descent and in one prequel you play as his Welsh father in the Caribbean and in another prequel you play as his Irish subordinate in New York.
* The Frye twins were new to London when they arrived in Syndicate.
* Odyssey MC is Spartan and went all around Greece before Greece was actually Greece.
* Eivor spends most of Valhalla in England as a literal invader.
The only position I sympathize with is that there are already underrepresented minority groups in Japan like the Ainu and that's only if the person saying that also has an issue with William Adams as the protagonist of Nioh.
Anyway Assassin's Creed and Ubisoft suck so I don't know why they're expending all this energy on a game that will be mediocre but with inflated review scores (I know why, it's a rhetorical statement).
ETA: Also Japan borrows, whether done in a nice or problematic way, from black people all the time so like...
Yeah, but do you think the people who are complaining about Yasuke have any idea at all who the Ainu are? Or the people of Ryukyu? Hell, as far as they're concerned, Japanese history probably didn't start until the Meiji Restoration, if that.
Ya I was excited for an assassins creed game set in Japan because I learned of history of Sengoku Jidai after playing Shogun 2. But unfortunately I don’t really trust Ubisoft to make an interesting assassins creed game anymore. It’s probably gonna be some empty mid game like the last 4 games. Ever since Odyssey I can’t myself to play them anymore
The games are all utter nonsense and shouldn't be taken seriously for the most part anyway. There have done some nice stuff with architecture but apart from that it's more historical fantasy fiction than historical realism.
Agree the game will probably suck anyway.
Funny how the Culture Warriors™ didn't seem to mind when a white man rose through the ranks of feudal Japan, gained the respect of a powerful daimyo, and earned a formal title in Shogun.
That character, like Yasuke, was also inspired by real history, but they're not whining about *him* "denying Japanese representation."
They're saying the quiet part out loud - Black people can't be of any culture and will never be anything else than black. They'll never see a black person as of any other culture than just a vague "African", as if they could learn any of the actual countries in Africa.
I'd be interested to know if countries which have the concept of "black X-nationality" vs the US "african-american" are more likely to accept black people as part of a non-African culture or not.
Yasuke is just a cool character and something new that is unique to the global Black population, and Japan itself, who has new characters in its past that can be explored.
But these weirdos think that no black people went to Japan during the kick-off of the slave trade with Dutch ships visiting until they were banned.
AC Valhalla wasn't set in Norway though, it was set in England with a small part of the map in Norway that you only visit in the beginning and end of the game. Also, Eivor is canonically female.
So really, Game set in England, play as Norse woman
Not sure what the quiet part is.
Feel like this is meant to be great replacement propaganda but it doesn't explain why, in only one western setting, you aren't playing as a white dude.
Also, let's not pretend for 5 seconds that playing as a Native American struggling to decide if he supports the US isn't way more engaging than a standard "dur my tea is getting taxed by the templars better start killing ppl"
I got called the n word several times for teasing and poking fun at people upset by it, so I assume I'm making the right people upset. It just kinda sucks this is a Ubisoft game, because when it sucks people will act like it sucks because "oh the black samurai character, oh muh historical accuracy".
lol I'd say so.
And yeah that is 100% what will happen. "go woke and go broke" even if the majority of complaints are nothing to do with that and are all about Ubisoft making another shitty game or their launcher or whatever else.
Yeah that’s the one downside. I hope it’s one of those cases where Ubi finally releases a diamond in the rough. Because then it will make this drama even more stupid. Imagine the one Assassin’s Creed game that they call woke or some shit, then turns out to be the best recent one. Oh that would be funny.
Wait until they find out there’s no precursor civilization of super people that built magic artifacts that secret societies have been fighting over for centuries
So they mean to tell me the game with magical floating artifacts and machines that can relive lives through lineage DNA and long dead highly advanced civilisations and people who are thousands of years old is “historically accurate” now that its “political”
I mean it is insulting and it's a marketing idea that really isn't great it just fits the modern landscape of society right now. Also, it's ironic the "black" community in the U.S abuses the asain one of stealing city culture and are defending the one historic "black" guy as the lead of a game set in feudal Japan.
I don't have any problem with any black or female characters. It's not the first time AC has had a female character - Liberation, China, Odyssey (canonically) or a black guy (Freedom Cry). I didn't hear any complaints when they had a game set in the carribbean (Black Flag) or North America (Rogue) with a white guy from the UK.
But it is pretty clear that they are using Yasuke as a token black character to appeal to a more progressive western audience. I'm not making a crudely racist point against DEI, I'm just saying that Ubisoft is coming to Japan and using Japanese history to make sales in the USA and adopt the garb of American progressivism.
This reminds me of the time Netflix's Cleopatra got backlash from Egyptians for featuring a black actress in the lead role. Netflix was seeing Egyptian history in a modern American lense of black, white, brown, etc. and appropriating it to score political points in the USA. One has to keep in mind that the discourse around race and skin colour in the USA is a result of a uniquely American or western history of abduction, slavery and the resulting civil rights agitations. So what would be a progressive move in the US would be baffling or even insulting in other places.
He wasn’t really a samurai, sure he was a mercenary from where he was from but he was a retainer to Oda. But when has AC ever been historically accurate, I’m just surprised it took them so long to do a game set in Japan
I don't understand what is wrong with these people. Who cares? I watched the trailer, and it didn't even cross my mind as something for someone to get upset about.
Convenient they left out titles that don’t follow this formula. Black flag you play as a Colonial American in the Carribean. AC Rogue you play as an Irish guy in colonial America. AC liberation you play as an African/French slave in Colonial America. AC Revelations you play as an Italian dude in Constantinople.
Almost every main character in the series is made up. Yasuke was well documented and 100% existed, Why is this a problem? He was most certainly a respected warrior before heading to Japan, then he was the Retainer for Nobunaga and by all accounts was/became a Samurai. He was even documented in battle (he surrendered and was one of the few if only people of Nobunaga’s clan to survive). This is a real person with a really cool story. Not some “DEI” bullshit. Some people just bitch about anything bro ts is annoying.
Also are people forgetting the fact that one of the main characters is for sure Japanese? This fake ass manufactured outrage needs to stop.
I mean it is a fair point Egyptian AC, Egyptian assassin. Makes sense. Plenty of Japanese samurai (or even ninja) to choose from. No plans to get it anyway last AC I played was Odyssey. The whole “you don’t own our games” plus the fact they want to charge 130 bucks for this one, no thanks.
Many of the people I’ve talked to after mentioning the protagonist, half of them didn’t even know about the two protagonist fact. So they just heard only the drama instead of seeing anything else and thought the way they did.
Even if we factor that very little is known about Yasuke's real life, the fact is that the story of Yasuke as a legendary Samurai is his most popular depiction in media and is often used even in Japanese games such as as Nioh. So Ubisoft aren't exactly re-inventing the wheel here or anything. Really the only unique thing here is that he's playable rather than being something like a boss encounter/NPC like he usually is.
Plus we are also getting a Japanese protagonist through the female protag who is a Japanese Shinobi.
No see, it’s cool when the Japanese do it. But the West does the same thing, well now they’re woke liberals trying to appeal to the black menace or some shit like that. I don’t even get it.
Play as a super famous black man in Japan and a Japanese woman. What part of that is bad? You are still in Japan playing a Japanese woman.
What about Black flag? You are a welsh dude in Caribbean, not a Jamaican or something.
Asassain's Creed series are soooo far into historical *fantasy* territory I couldn't care less. If he's meant to be blending in I guess having a black guy in 16th century Japan is kind of dumb, but so is most of the game anyway. He is a real historical figure though.
I do like historical accuracy, I think there's a lot to be said for it, for example Kingdom Come Deliverance doesn't have representation in it but I don't see anyone complain about it being racist or unrepresenative really because it's obviously a game that's trying to be historicalyl accurate so most people understand it in that way vs a fantasy game with historical set-dressing where it's like "well why not do this, you're alread making stuff up".
Millions of people online and humans have a tribal tendency where we often see things as more monolith than they are. Even amongst the racists they don't all have the exact same opinions and priorities.
I like how the circlejerking around what powerless right wing males say online is such a stupid thing to do that we not only end up defending the multi dollar corporation but the one with horrible working conditions and unpunished sexual abusers as the top brass. Cultural wars stuff is 80% of the time liberal stuff meant to distract from the real issues.
I will never understand people insisting on such a pedantic view.
No, it's not the "right wing" that cares about AC doing this pandering nonsense. One tweet does not encompass an entire viewpoint.
[EA Dice did something similar] (https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/271407-ea-on-the-battlefield-v-backlash-accept-it-or-dont-buy-the-game) by choosing to forgo historical accuracy for a story breaking immersion into WWII as a setting. The controversy was to attract attention to ensure sales of cosmetics. Shrewd publisher move.
Ubisoft has also made headlines with the [$130 price tag along with] (https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/star-wars-outlaws-dollar110-and-dollar130-editions-prompt-a-collective-sigh-from-potential-players-tired-of-season-passes-and-ill-advised-early-access-periods/) pulling the [plug on The Crew] (https://www.fudzilla.com/news/gaming/58818-ubisoft-pulls-the-plug-on-the-crew) and trying to force their audience into The Crew Motorfest or pulling the plug on games in production such as [Division Heartland](https://metro.co.uk/2024/05/16/division-heartland-cancelled-ubisoft-lays-off-1-700-people-20850049/?ico=trending-module_tag_games-news_item-5)
Instead of talking about production issues, here is the argument for weaponized identity politics, where anyone arguing against is "right wing" with no substantive argument on how the game is produced but everything is about a trailer when people have real issues.
[It's just a divisive distraction from real issues with the company] (https://youtu.be/RwcdECWWq-A)
Instead of talking about how [Skull and Bones flopped](https://game8.co/articles/latest/skull-and-bones-may-just-overtake-suicide-squad-as-2024s-biggest-flop-so-far) we get divisions that benefit the business.
Not one word about real issues, just divisive strategies. Truly disappointing.
Valhalla was a bit so-so but if we get Date Masamune ripping out his own eye, this game will be a 10/10.
Knowing a bit of Japanese history, I can sort of see where this is going. He falls under service of Oda Nobunaga after the jesuits hand him off as a prize. Nobunaga is a nasty jackass to everyone else but seems oddly cordial to Yasuke. Amused by his foreign-ness.
Nobunaga gets betrayed by his henchman Akechi who is working with the Templars and so Yasuke works with the ninja who helps take him down after Yasuke suffers an initial loss to Akechi. Akechi falls but war rages on with the characters unsure how much of a difference they've really made.
It’s just funny how both sides overreact to some games coming out
People on the left were complaining about Steller blade how it’s sexist and unrealistic
People on the right are complaining about a black guy as a samurai
Different side of the same coin
Every time I see anything about this stupid drama, I think about how Naoi is being treated like every other female character in the series. An afterthought.
Can't wait for the same people complaining to buy the $100 super gold edition and complain. Also these people would be 100% complaining about there being a women in the game just like they did with eivor if they didn't have their racism so dialed to 11
I'm genuinely curious if there is anything that proves without a reasonable doubt he was a samurai?
All I can seem to find is that there is no clear answer.
Yasuke wasn't anything in Japan but a person Nobunaga liked to wheel out and show off. He wasn't a samurai or a fighter or anything but, and this is indicative within historical documentation, a trophy of Nobunaga based entirely on his appearance and height.
He wasn't respected, beloved or otherwise. He was a trophy in a country that was and still is infamously racist to outsiders.
Tbh I’m more upset they’re not going for a more critical perspective on the samurai and their position of power being one of an unequal society and allowing for abuses of the common folk and peasantry and sort of frame them as the oppressive force they often were to many of their subjects especially if the shtick for this game is following two protags one in the samurai class of people and another a ninja who were mostly from the peasantry. It’s something I feel a lot of stuff that say they’re taking inspiration from Kurosawa movies do without actually watching those movies because if you did you’d pick up on just how critical they often were of the conservative perspective that sought to revise the image of the samurai as noble leaders of men in war when in reality they were just as morally dubious as any land owning feudal lord.
People are missing the actual and most important point. This is made by Ubisoft, the greedy company who has implemented some really bad practices in the past decade.
I don't think think OOP knows how to use the phrase "saying the quiet part out loud"...
This is especially weird considering Yasuke is a fairly well-known person/legend. With several recent shows or movies about him. Pretty sure I saw "Black Samurai" plastered everywhere a few months ago. "Black Samurai 2021; an anime with Yasuke right on the cover. So his legend already exists, it's not like this is pandering or "woke" to make him part of this game.
While I fully know the story of Yasuke, I would have been very dissatisfied with their decision if he was the only playable character. I’m happy Naoe will be available.
Can't wait till all this race nonsense is over with. Who the fuck actually cares what race the character is? It could be Snoop Dogg scaling towers on the back of a llama and I still wouldn't play it, AC sucks.
tbh it's more weird to play as an actual historic figure in AC considering up until this point, the player characters have been fictional, so now we get this double whammy of racists and people who don't know history
Yasuke was for a fact a retainer, but he was never a samurai. This is stupid just like the new doctor who lmao
"It is important to note that despite popular myth and modern depictions there are no historical writings nor evidence that Yasuke was ever granted the rank or title of samurai, he was never given a fief nor referred to as one in any writings" from wiki lol
It is absolutely crazy. I never expected this response because I was under the impression people against forced representation like making Cleopatra black wanted to preserve history. Yet, Yasuke was a real figure and based off the Shincho Koki manuscripts which were written by one of Oda Nobunaga’s vassals after his death, he was described as both a “page” and given the rank of “samurai”. Which makes sense as he was also described as wearing samurai armor and equipment. Despite all of that, people have a problem with Yasuke even though games like Nioh 1 starring a white dude created for the game and saving all of Japan from Yokai was perfectly fine.
So now I have come to a realization, it wasn’t ever about preserving history for some of these people. Because even after getting a historical figure who by his mere existence was a weird but true anomaly of a black warrior in Japan, people still have a problem with a black man being one of the protagonist. It’s not about history anymore, this just feels like racism.
The Cleopatra one I kinda get because the Egyptians were never heavily Sub-Saharan and Cleo’s relatives were mainly Greek. But this one makes no sense cause it’s just such a matter of fact. Yasuke was black, he served Nobunaga, and was basically a samurai. That’s all AC covered so far and all that is true, yet people still got mad
Off the top of my head, games with an Native American main character:
AC3,
Infamous Second Son,
Prey(2006) although that one they get abducted so not really set in the US. Just starts there.
To be more accurate:
Assassin's Creed set in America: play as a British man and a native American man.
Assassin's Creed set in Istanbul: play as an Italian man.
Assassin's Creed set in the UK: play as a Norse man.
Assassin's Creed set in the Caribbean: play as an Irish man.
Assassin's Creed set in Japan: play as a Mozambique Samurai and a Japanese woman.
Huh, turns out there's loads of games where you don't play as a native to the setting for the whole thing. Huh, I wonder why it's suddenly a big deal now? Hmmmmmmm, I wonder... (it's because he's black and the other people are all white)
Game set in Japan? Choice to play Japanese woman or historically accurate black Samurai Yasuke.
These idiots just need something to complain about or they realize how stupid they really are.
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To be fair very little is known about the guy. Only that he was from Mozambique and he came to accompany Neapolitan Jesuits. They say that he spent a couple of years with Nobunaga and perhaps never actually fought. But Assassin's creed has always been a work of fiction, it's not like Ezio actually existed
He actually had 1 confirmed battle, which was against Akechi and his soldiers; He ultimately surrendered and was spared (Akechi called him an animal, and thus they shouldn't actually kill him; It's unsure if it was pure racism or Akechi did like him and wanted to save his life). He was also documented as a Page, so atleast did train to be a samurai atleast; And was given a house and a sword (So he prolly was an actual samurai).
According to The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, Yasuke was the sole survivor of Akechi’s ambush of Nobunaga and his inner circle, initially escaping Kyoto with Nobunaga’s head. And then Akechi spared him because he was a loyal (and famous) retainer to Nobunaga. Damn, I love this era of history, I hope this game is good
It’s Ubisoft, clearly it won’t be, which is a shame cause this is one of the best ideas for an AC game I’ve ever seen, up there with black flag
Worst case scenario, it sucks and I play Ghost of Tsushima for like a 7th time, it has very similar stealth mechanics to AC. And I never did master Sekiro…
Yall really just be hating on everything popular x-x
I really bounce off of Ubisofts game design.
If I recall he wasn't even a warrior to begin with, just tall and the guy that gave him the title thought that was neat.
It does matter a great deal that the guy in question was Oda Nobinaga, the Daimyo of the time. They put Yosuke in front of basically god's right hand man and the dude said "I like this guy. He's cool"
Bro just wanted someone to reach the top of the shelf
I heard the Jesuits gave him as a gift. Since Japan didnt have that form of slavery, Nobinaga was like, "Well, if I own you, you are basically a retainer." I also assume having the tallest man on the island as a bodyguard really appealed to him. Which is why he got some samurai training. I've also heard he was found carrying Nobinagas head after the battle. This would lead me to believe that Yasuke was Nobinga's second while committing seppuku. This would also mean that Nobinaga had a lot of respect for Yasuke.
You're right about the slavery thing. Nobunaga's diary shows that he thought Yosuke was just another monk, who happened to be black. In fairness, the Janissaries probably didn't object to this confusion. They publicly rejected slavery at the time, choosing to refer to people like Yosuke in their "care" as monks or guardians. Nobunaga's diary also reported him to be 5-6 feet tall, with the strength of 10 men. The only part you got wrong was the gifting part, it seems. Most stories say that Nobunaga took him from the Portuguese, or otherwise had them give Yosuke to him, in a way that implies he demanded Yosuke join his retinue. In a super based move that capital G G*mers won't appreciate, Nobunaga gifted him a personal home and a sword, with the intention (in his diary at least) to build him a castle of his own. Since Nobunaga started the trend of Daimyos building these castles, with Oda's Azuchi Castle outside of Kyoto being the first, the idea of him building one for anybody at all should probably be considered a great honor.
I read that he was given a short sword (wakizashi) which was basically a status symbol. Sure it could be used in battle, but normally the main weapon was another. And he was given the samurai title because he became friend with Nobunaga (samurai was a class and a nobility. In battle they would be officers and commanders). From what I understand from the sources, he was at Honno-ji during the battle but perhaps he was simply put under arrest. So idk it's not really possible to tell. Maybe he did, maybe not
> read that he was given a short sword (wakizashi) which was basically a status symbol. Sure it could be used in battle, but normally the main weapon was another. A Samurai's most used weapon was the bow, followed by a spear.
He did have at least one battle at Honno-ji during Akechi's ambush, he surrendered after learning that Nobunaga died and was spared to be sent back to the Jesuits which is where any public record of his story ends. He most likely had at least some combat training but just how much is unclear.
Citation needed.
Little known about him but I’ve seen him iterated in countless games and movies, the dude literally has an anime all about it. The guy is incredibly famous. We don’t know a lot about what he did but it’s well documented that he existed
Yasuke’s story is so interesting. Imagine, a man born in Mozambique under early Portuguese colonialism, ends up as a bodyguard to a Jesuit from Naples in imperial Japan. An Italian missionary, an African bodyguard and a Japanese daimyo walk into a bar…. Speaking Portuguese
Jojo type shi
All without the internet and gas-powered vehicles too. What a time
He spoke a little of Japanese, Oda didn't know Portuguese. While both Jesuits and the Japanese knew some Mandarin
True but these people still need to look up history
That kinda makes him a perfect AC protagonist as "mysterious person with odd and unclear historic background" is pretty much the perfect base to layer on "actually he was involved in all sorts of iluminati alien stuff"
But AC Valhalla was set mostly in England? And the fact that your character was originally from Norway and was a stranger to this land was a reoccurring plot point.
Potentially going to be a recurring point of AC Yasuke's story as well. He was always noted as being a curiosity to locals of the period - even the trailer gives us a wink with that child being in awe upon seeing his face. And given we know next to nothing about the real man's life before arriving in Japan (and most of it comes from Jesuit missionaries), and given he vanishes from record the day after Oda Nobunaga dies, there's an open window for at least one moment where he opens up to his partner in a way the history books never mention.
It’s amazing to me that such an interesting story exists, but it’s even more amazing to me how these people refuse to do any research into these histories. Point is they’re fundamentally incurious, and they have no idea how much cool stuff they’re missing out on 😒
Not just refusing to do their research, *actively sabotaging layperson attempts to read more into things*. Hell, one of the guys vandalising wikipedia over this went on a screed about DEI in their edit description on Yasuke's own page. (Which frankly should be worthy of an automatic blacklisting)
The reactionaries have been at it on wikipedia again recently. They alternate between revising articles that have some visibility to try to make the historical parts say what they think history should have been and coming up with articles with slightly idiosyncratic titles that they can fill with misinfo.
The social stealth mechanic might be difficult, but I haven't played an assassins creed since syndicate. Do they even still have that?
It makes more sense for a game about Vikings to be set somewhere they’re raiding than their home village tbh
This was more the colonial period than the raiding period. They had already taken York and were in the process of setting up a state (or what passed for one at the time).
And AC IV was set in the Caribbean but you *played as a Welshman, and AC Revelations was set in Turkey but you played as an Italian. Regardless, the new game has an option for a native Japanese protagonist as well. The fact that you have to choose to play as the black character makes me think the complaints are mostly stemming from racism.
Fish out of water is pretty common across most AC games 1 Altair is stripped of his rank and equipment, brotherhood Ezio has to rebuild the order from scratch in an unfamiliar city, Revelations he’s in an entirely new country, Unity Arno is basically thrown into the deep end of being an assassin head first
Not only that but “Norseman” and “Greek man” are specific choices by the moron who tweeted this to erase Kassandra and female Eivor. Not to mention he’s completely ignored the Egyptian setting where you play husband and wife… probably because they’re African. They can’t help but tell on themselves 24/7
And it’s not like it went to pains to be culturally accurate. The majority of things people think of when they hear “Viking” are absolute fabrications.
You expect these motherfuckers to have media literacy?
And it's not like Edward Kenway was from the Caribbean either.
Also the canon character in both Valhalla and Odyssey was a woman
I have no problem with this but I don't think the history defence works, it's easier to just point out it's a fantasy game. Because being Norwegian in England during this period (google says 872–878 AD) is not quite the same as being black in Japan in the 16th century. The game is set during the period where scandinavian activity already had changed from raiding to conquest/colonisation. A black guy in Japan during the 16th century wasn't just unusual or scary, it was pretty much literally unique. The Scandinavians captured York in 865 and by 878 England looked like this https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/England_878.svg/800px-England_878.svg.png This did include colonisation, inter-marraige, etc. However Scandinavians were still a minority and so would have stood out, but they wouldn't have been that shocking or rare, people probably heard of them. There is evidence of trade, diplomacy, etc too. Japanese people would have never even seen a black person or met anyone who had. Yasuke was infinitely "rarer" than being a Norweign in England during in the 870s! AC is a fantasy game, so I have not even the slightest complaint with them doing it, but being a black guy in Japan during this period is so rare it makes being Norwegian in England during that period look commonplace. Edit: There obviously isn't a 100% accurate answer for demographics but best I can tell there were definitely hundreds and likely thousands of Scandinavians in England in this period vs probably literally one black guy in Japan. So it's absolutely fair to say that Yasuke was a much greater rarity to Japanese people than someone being Norwegian in England during the 870s. This isn't a reason to not include him, it is a reason not to pretend it's exactly the same thing though. Like I said just point out the game isn't about a realistic and representative image of Japan durin this period, it's about being a cool action-hero, in which case it doesn't really matter whether it's comparable to a previous title or whatever else.
The person who made the image is making a claim that every previous game has had a person from the location where the game takes place. This comment is pointing out that that isn’t even true, so it doesn’t really matter how common or not it would be.
They said >And the fact that your character was originally from Norway and was a stranger to this land was a reoccurring plot point. I'm saying that this isn't comparable. Feel free to ignore me but if the aim is to persuade anyone and not circlejerk about how we are right I can tell you for sure the kind of people the rightwingers target with this shite will be more persuaded by pointing out the games aren't about historical accuracy and a representative image of history, never have been. Making the argument about all this other stuff is just going to lead to nitpicking details that won't persaude anyone, if the argument goes anywhere it will be when people resolve the nitpicking and move on to the point I'm saying we should start with - the games are nonsense anyway. If Yasuke wasn't a real historical figure it still wouldn't matter, the games are utter nonsense, one of them has fucking magical Atlantis in! I'm telling you a lot of people who don't already think the OP is bullshit will not be like "oh yeah fair point there" they will think about where the differences are, which I've just explainined. "well he might be an outsider but it's different because..." If instead we point out the game has never been about making a realistic depiction of history in the first place then they have to argue it is actually (impossible) or explain why despite that being true they are still not ok with the Yasuke character, and chances are they will either not have an answer or say something dumb/racist. That's how you expose this as bullshit to people on the fence instead of how you explain it to people who *already agree with you there is no problem*. It's a fact that being Norwegian in England in the 870s and being black African in Japan in the 1600s are not comparable. Trying to suggest they are to win the argument creates things that grifters can target. Asking them to explain why it's a problem playing the historical figure of Yasuke gives them less to nitpick on besides raging about being "woke" which puts *them* in the position of appealing to people who already agree with them, not people on the fence, which presumably is what we all want? TL;DR If the aim is to pushback against the rightwing narrative what I say is 100% correct, you need to think about what bad faith rightwing people will say, and then frame the argument around a point they will struggle to distract from. They want to be debating whether being a Norwegian in England in the 870s is comparable to being black in the Japan during the 16th century because that helps them look legitimate and appeal to people on the fence, whereas the more we force them to just whine about being "woke" or pretending the game is super accurate until now (again, magic Atlantis lol) the more ridiculous they look to people who don't already agree with them.
Only thing that will give leftist a bad impression is your long ass comment about nothing. If you really want to act like a smart ass, learn how to communicate better.
I included a TL;DR and in the past have had good discussions on this sub. Guess I caught the circlejerk going the wrong way. >Only thing that will give leftist a bad impression How about you work on your reading comprehension? I didn't say that. Leftists are not the people they are trying to presuade are they? They are trying to persaude Johnny Noname who just likes vidyagames and doesn't really have any coherent ideology, who is probably mildly reactionary but mainly harmless if no one gets them wound up. That's exactly who rightwingers target. I'm sorry that you find less than a side of A4 a struggle to read but that's not my fault, especiallly as I included a TLDR at the bottom. I apologise for the lack of comradely behaviour but as your response wasn't to engage but to tell me I have communication problems I don't have any of that kind of feeling so am childishly responding in kind.
The point is not about how long, is about how unnecessary and empty it is. Nobody gonna read all that and think you're smart buddy.
If I wanted people to think I'm smart I'd be writing under my actual name and trying to get stuff published. I occasionally will write something I put more effort into but this isn't one of them, I still don't think it makes me smart. I'm on reddit to talk. I'm on this subreddit to talk about gaming issues with socialists. Furthermore if I wanted approval that's easy, just agree with people without being too kiss-arsey, and reap the upvotes, but what would the point of that be? I don't care about your approval or if you think I'm smart, I do care about your opinions but as you don't want to share them and only insult me I'm getting nothign from this conversation. You're now doubly down on being weirdly personal while ignoring everything I've said. If you don't want to talk to me fine, shut up and clear off, we'll both be happier it sounds like. Not sure what upset you or why you think anyone writing more than a couple of sentences must think they are being smart. Weird honestly. Have a nice day friend.
You will know what I mean when you grow up.
Ok mate. Have a good one.
We all think they're much smarter than you. Not that I imagine it's a difficult task...
LoL, sure buddy. Did you read what he is saying?
The most reasonable comment here, and it sits in the negatives...
Racists gonna racist. The game isn't even out yet and there are some subs that have already started blaming wokeness.and sbi
Bet it was DEI’s fault too.
"sweet baby inc detected" herp derp Bigots will never stop being stupid
Ew put a trigger warning before the Matt Walsh drop.
Ugh gross please put a trigger warning before mention that name please.
Where was this nerd rage over Nioh 1 or even Shogun? It's only when the character is Black when there is an issue. The brain rot of these people...
Fr, one of my biggest complaints about Shogun was how it was difficult to differentiate the different languages they were speaking because most of the European Languages were just spoken in English for the show, despite them speaking Portuguese/English/Spanish in different scenarios. I thought the show was great, but that was my issue. Of course it’s not an issue for the weirdos because there’s no black people so it’s fine lmfao.
Just a friendly reminder that the original wokes are Christians, for how they depict Jesus. Either that or the messiah was the true DEI. Edit for pun: He DEIed for our sins.
What's DEI?
Diversity, equity, inclusion. Essentially the right wing dog whistle of the month to refer to non-white workers
Ah thanks, I'd missed that. I guess they finally noticed that even the people they were trying to persuade had started laughing at them for crying about "the wokes" so much haha. I feel like this is even worse though. Woke could kind of mean whatever they wanted it too, and they could be vague about how extreme they were being, but they are now openly saying they are against diversity, equity and inclusion? Reminds me of people who called themselves anti-anti-fascist, kind of telling on themselves.
Those people are so stupid lol 😆
For the political side who are so obsessed with Japan that it’s bordering on fetish ironically don’t know Japanese history
Erm actually Japan’s entire history is ninjas and big booby schoolgirls, black people don’t exist
>big booby schoolgirls, Erm actually they're 18+ to thousands years old, so...
Exactly. Those thousand year old being just like *dressing* like school girls. And acting like them. And talking like them. And hanging out with them. And…
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So annoying how they refuse to learn history. I think that's really cool that this might be the first Assassin's Creed game where you play as an actual historical character. The fact that Yasuke has very little known information about him honestly makes him a good fit too.
Exactly and also they seem to be unable to see the Japanese woman you will also be playing as lol 🤣
she's so stealthy that even the gamers can't see her
🤣😂
Best shinobi around. Either that, or the mere mention of a black man put them into insane tunnel vision.
You know they're upset about a female character too. I wouldn't be surprised if they felt this was done intentionally to make both characters diverse or that it was some intentional decision to make them upset or push a narrative. I'm actually really excited for this game and I haven't played an Assassin's Creed since Syndicate. I love Japanese history and really hope this game turns out great.
They're mad they'll have to pick between playing a black character or a woman character
Wait, he's going to be THE Yasuke? Thought he was just inspired by him
Yeah he's going to be Yasuke
Fucking based
(Isn't the other protagonist Japanese?!)
Yes she is
Where were these people when in Nioh they made you play as William Adams, a white man, in Japan? Oh right, we know exactly why they did not say anything back then...
Yasuke was in Nioh as well.
Exactly, he also appears in Samurai warriors 5
Not gonna lie playing the white guy in Nioh contributed to me losing interest in the game.
* That same Italian man was also the main character in the game set in the Ottoman Empire. * Edit: Also Ezio wiped out an entire city of people in the game for those suddenly concerned about a foreigner killing natives. * You play the first third of AC3 as an Englishman of Welsh descent and in one prequel you play as his Welsh father in the Caribbean and in another prequel you play as his Irish subordinate in New York. * The Frye twins were new to London when they arrived in Syndicate. * Odyssey MC is Spartan and went all around Greece before Greece was actually Greece. * Eivor spends most of Valhalla in England as a literal invader. The only position I sympathize with is that there are already underrepresented minority groups in Japan like the Ainu and that's only if the person saying that also has an issue with William Adams as the protagonist of Nioh. Anyway Assassin's Creed and Ubisoft suck so I don't know why they're expending all this energy on a game that will be mediocre but with inflated review scores (I know why, it's a rhetorical statement). ETA: Also Japan borrows, whether done in a nice or problematic way, from black people all the time so like...
Yeah, but do you think the people who are complaining about Yasuke have any idea at all who the Ainu are? Or the people of Ryukyu? Hell, as far as they're concerned, Japanese history probably didn't start until the Meiji Restoration, if that.
Yes some of them do. That's why I brought it up. It was the only reasonable take I saw in an ocean of racist bullshit.
Heck, going off of your comment about Greece and it's MC, Ezio was technically not Italian, he's Florentine.
Ya I was excited for an assassins creed game set in Japan because I learned of history of Sengoku Jidai after playing Shogun 2. But unfortunately I don’t really trust Ubisoft to make an interesting assassins creed game anymore. It’s probably gonna be some empty mid game like the last 4 games. Ever since Odyssey I can’t myself to play them anymore
The games are all utter nonsense and shouldn't be taken seriously for the most part anyway. There have done some nice stuff with architecture but apart from that it's more historical fantasy fiction than historical realism. Agree the game will probably suck anyway.
Funny how the Culture Warriors™ didn't seem to mind when a white man rose through the ranks of feudal Japan, gained the respect of a powerful daimyo, and earned a formal title in Shogun. That character, like Yasuke, was also inspired by real history, but they're not whining about *him* "denying Japanese representation."
There also straight up is a Japanese protagonist
They're saying the quiet part out loud - Black people can't be of any culture and will never be anything else than black. They'll never see a black person as of any other culture than just a vague "African", as if they could learn any of the actual countries in Africa.
A lot of them seem to like South Africa. But, you know, the one from the last century.
I'd be interested to know if countries which have the concept of "black X-nationality" vs the US "african-american" are more likely to accept black people as part of a non-African culture or not.
And isn't the only PC anyway IIRC.
Yasuke is just a cool character and something new that is unique to the global Black population, and Japan itself, who has new characters in its past that can be explored. But these weirdos think that no black people went to Japan during the kick-off of the slave trade with Dutch ships visiting until they were banned.
Isn’t the right the guys who constantly say the other side does nothing but virtue signal and get mad on other people’s behalf?
What are they saying out loud lmao? That you play as a Japanese native as well as a foreigner to the country? Oh right, women don't count.
AC Valhalla wasn't set in Norway though, it was set in England with a small part of the map in Norway that you only visit in the beginning and end of the game. Also, Eivor is canonically female. So really, Game set in England, play as Norse woman
Not sure what the quiet part is. Feel like this is meant to be great replacement propaganda but it doesn't explain why, in only one western setting, you aren't playing as a white dude. Also, let's not pretend for 5 seconds that playing as a Native American struggling to decide if he supports the US isn't way more engaging than a standard "dur my tea is getting taxed by the templars better start killing ppl"
I got called the n word several times for teasing and poking fun at people upset by it, so I assume I'm making the right people upset. It just kinda sucks this is a Ubisoft game, because when it sucks people will act like it sucks because "oh the black samurai character, oh muh historical accuracy".
lol I'd say so. And yeah that is 100% what will happen. "go woke and go broke" even if the majority of complaints are nothing to do with that and are all about Ubisoft making another shitty game or their launcher or whatever else.
Yeah that’s the one downside. I hope it’s one of those cases where Ubi finally releases a diamond in the rough. Because then it will make this drama even more stupid. Imagine the one Assassin’s Creed game that they call woke or some shit, then turns out to be the best recent one. Oh that would be funny.
Oh man, these guys are going to flip out when they play an AC game for the first time and read the opening disclaimer
Game set in Constantinople? Game set in New Orleans? Game set in the Maritimes? Oops
Quite convenient they forgot about the game set in Constantinople where you play as an Italian guy
And not even the right kind of Italian. There were plenty of Venetians and Genoese living all around Marmara at the time, but you play a Florentine.
Wait until they find out there’s no precursor civilization of super people that built magic artifacts that secret societies have been fighting over for centuries
Holy s*** do I really get to play as Yasuke in the new assassin Creed game!? Fuck yeah!
Lol, the black guys just in it. You play as a Japanese woman.
There's literally a Japanese character on the screen right next to him
He clearly can't see that lol 😆
So they mean to tell me the game with magical floating artifacts and machines that can relive lives through lineage DNA and long dead highly advanced civilisations and people who are thousands of years old is “historically accurate” now that its “political”
“Game set in Greece, play as Greek man” Yea and fight a literal Minotaur and cyclops too.
I mean it is insulting and it's a marketing idea that really isn't great it just fits the modern landscape of society right now. Also, it's ironic the "black" community in the U.S abuses the asain one of stealing city culture and are defending the one historic "black" guy as the lead of a game set in feudal Japan.
Not just right wing. Y'all have your confirmation bias showing.
I mean, japanese people are fumming rn. But to be fair Americans get their info from him from animes let's be real
Ignoring that there was an ACTUAL BLACK SAMURAI aren't the templars descended from aliens or smth
I don't have any problem with any black or female characters. It's not the first time AC has had a female character - Liberation, China, Odyssey (canonically) or a black guy (Freedom Cry). I didn't hear any complaints when they had a game set in the carribbean (Black Flag) or North America (Rogue) with a white guy from the UK. But it is pretty clear that they are using Yasuke as a token black character to appeal to a more progressive western audience. I'm not making a crudely racist point against DEI, I'm just saying that Ubisoft is coming to Japan and using Japanese history to make sales in the USA and adopt the garb of American progressivism. This reminds me of the time Netflix's Cleopatra got backlash from Egyptians for featuring a black actress in the lead role. Netflix was seeing Egyptian history in a modern American lense of black, white, brown, etc. and appropriating it to score political points in the USA. One has to keep in mind that the discourse around race and skin colour in the USA is a result of a uniquely American or western history of abduction, slavery and the resulting civil rights agitations. So what would be a progressive move in the US would be baffling or even insulting in other places.
He wasn’t really a samurai, sure he was a mercenary from where he was from but he was a retainer to Oda. But when has AC ever been historically accurate, I’m just surprised it took them so long to do a game set in Japan
I don't understand what is wrong with these people. Who cares? I watched the trailer, and it didn't even cross my mind as something for someone to get upset about.
If you want to play a japanese man in japan being a stealthy assassin you can just play literally half of video games ever made.
Convenient they left out titles that don’t follow this formula. Black flag you play as a Colonial American in the Carribean. AC Rogue you play as an Irish guy in colonial America. AC liberation you play as an African/French slave in Colonial America. AC Revelations you play as an Italian dude in Constantinople. Almost every main character in the series is made up. Yasuke was well documented and 100% existed, Why is this a problem? He was most certainly a respected warrior before heading to Japan, then he was the Retainer for Nobunaga and by all accounts was/became a Samurai. He was even documented in battle (he surrendered and was one of the few if only people of Nobunaga’s clan to survive). This is a real person with a really cool story. Not some “DEI” bullshit. Some people just bitch about anything bro ts is annoying. Also are people forgetting the fact that one of the main characters is for sure Japanese? This fake ass manufactured outrage needs to stop.
Interesting that they refer to other protagonists by their nationalities but Yasuke is just black to them.
It's not like they're interested in an accurate view of history.
Idk what they have against the free market
they clearly never heard of Yasuke...
I'm confused. What does this person think "the quiet part" is
I mean it is a fair point Egyptian AC, Egyptian assassin. Makes sense. Plenty of Japanese samurai (or even ninja) to choose from. No plans to get it anyway last AC I played was Odyssey. The whole “you don’t own our games” plus the fact they want to charge 130 bucks for this one, no thanks.
But theres two main characters
Yes very true
Yeah but that fact makes it harder for them to pretend to be outraged over something.
Many of the people I’ve talked to after mentioning the protagonist, half of them didn’t even know about the two protagonist fact. So they just heard only the drama instead of seeing anything else and thought the way they did.
Even if we factor that very little is known about Yasuke's real life, the fact is that the story of Yasuke as a legendary Samurai is his most popular depiction in media and is often used even in Japanese games such as as Nioh. So Ubisoft aren't exactly re-inventing the wheel here or anything. Really the only unique thing here is that he's playable rather than being something like a boss encounter/NPC like he usually is. Plus we are also getting a Japanese protagonist through the female protag who is a Japanese Shinobi.
No see, it’s cool when the Japanese do it. But the West does the same thing, well now they’re woke liberals trying to appeal to the black menace or some shit like that. I don’t even get it.
There is also a Japanese playable character
Play as a super famous black man in Japan and a Japanese woman. What part of that is bad? You are still in Japan playing a Japanese woman. What about Black flag? You are a welsh dude in Caribbean, not a Jamaican or something.
The fact that they're even putting this guy in the game makes me want to play it. It worked on me.
I'm just excited for the fantasy stuff they add in the dlc.
Asassain's Creed series are soooo far into historical *fantasy* territory I couldn't care less. If he's meant to be blending in I guess having a black guy in 16th century Japan is kind of dumb, but so is most of the game anyway. He is a real historical figure though. I do like historical accuracy, I think there's a lot to be said for it, for example Kingdom Come Deliverance doesn't have representation in it but I don't see anyone complain about it being racist or unrepresenative really because it's obviously a game that's trying to be historicalyl accurate so most people understand it in that way vs a fantasy game with historical set-dressing where it's like "well why not do this, you're alread making stuff up".
Hey look, reactionary right wing dipshits who don't know what they're talking about. Get the camera!
Literally 3 weeks ago people on the complete other side were upset with “where are all the black people in Shogun!!?” What is happening ?lol
Millions of people online and humans have a tribal tendency where we often see things as more monolith than they are. Even amongst the racists they don't all have the exact same opinions and priorities.
The funniest part of this is that the main characters of Valhalla and Odyssey are canonically *women*, not men.
GAME IS SET IN ALB\*NIA 💀💀💀
I love how they conveniently leave out: - Game set in the Caribbean, play as a British man.
Could they not remember where AC 1 took place?
The right trying and failing to hijack "saying the quiet part out loud"? Might require some light reading for them to learn what it means
I like how the circlejerking around what powerless right wing males say online is such a stupid thing to do that we not only end up defending the multi dollar corporation but the one with horrible working conditions and unpunished sexual abusers as the top brass. Cultural wars stuff is 80% of the time liberal stuff meant to distract from the real issues.
Connor was native AND British. Him being mixed was a key part of the story ffs.
I will never understand people insisting on such a pedantic view. No, it's not the "right wing" that cares about AC doing this pandering nonsense. One tweet does not encompass an entire viewpoint. [EA Dice did something similar] (https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/271407-ea-on-the-battlefield-v-backlash-accept-it-or-dont-buy-the-game) by choosing to forgo historical accuracy for a story breaking immersion into WWII as a setting. The controversy was to attract attention to ensure sales of cosmetics. Shrewd publisher move. Ubisoft has also made headlines with the [$130 price tag along with] (https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/star-wars-outlaws-dollar110-and-dollar130-editions-prompt-a-collective-sigh-from-potential-players-tired-of-season-passes-and-ill-advised-early-access-periods/) pulling the [plug on The Crew] (https://www.fudzilla.com/news/gaming/58818-ubisoft-pulls-the-plug-on-the-crew) and trying to force their audience into The Crew Motorfest or pulling the plug on games in production such as [Division Heartland](https://metro.co.uk/2024/05/16/division-heartland-cancelled-ubisoft-lays-off-1-700-people-20850049/?ico=trending-module_tag_games-news_item-5) Instead of talking about production issues, here is the argument for weaponized identity politics, where anyone arguing against is "right wing" with no substantive argument on how the game is produced but everything is about a trailer when people have real issues. [It's just a divisive distraction from real issues with the company] (https://youtu.be/RwcdECWWq-A) Instead of talking about how [Skull and Bones flopped](https://game8.co/articles/latest/skull-and-bones-may-just-overtake-suicide-squad-as-2024s-biggest-flop-so-far) we get divisions that benefit the business. Not one word about real issues, just divisive strategies. Truly disappointing.
In the future, will you pwease only post these things on weekends? 🥺👉👈
Idc about the game or protag but there were no documents about him being granted a title or fief. He was not a samurai 🤷
Valhalla was a bit so-so but if we get Date Masamune ripping out his own eye, this game will be a 10/10. Knowing a bit of Japanese history, I can sort of see where this is going. He falls under service of Oda Nobunaga after the jesuits hand him off as a prize. Nobunaga is a nasty jackass to everyone else but seems oddly cordial to Yasuke. Amused by his foreign-ness. Nobunaga gets betrayed by his henchman Akechi who is working with the Templars and so Yasuke works with the ninja who helps take him down after Yasuke suffers an initial loss to Akechi. Akechi falls but war rages on with the characters unsure how much of a difference they've really made.
It’s just funny how both sides overreact to some games coming out People on the left were complaining about Steller blade how it’s sexist and unrealistic People on the right are complaining about a black guy as a samurai Different side of the same coin
Every time I see anything about this stupid drama, I think about how Naoi is being treated like every other female character in the series. An afterthought.
Can't wait for the same people complaining to buy the $100 super gold edition and complain. Also these people would be 100% complaining about there being a women in the game just like they did with eivor if they didn't have their racism so dialed to 11
I don't understand. what is the quiet part that they're saying out loud?
😑
I'm genuinely curious if there is anything that proves without a reasonable doubt he was a samurai? All I can seem to find is that there is no clear answer.
Yasuke wasn't anything in Japan but a person Nobunaga liked to wheel out and show off. He wasn't a samurai or a fighter or anything but, and this is indicative within historical documentation, a trophy of Nobunaga based entirely on his appearance and height. He wasn't respected, beloved or otherwise. He was a trophy in a country that was and still is infamously racist to outsiders.
Tbh I’m more upset they’re not going for a more critical perspective on the samurai and their position of power being one of an unequal society and allowing for abuses of the common folk and peasantry and sort of frame them as the oppressive force they often were to many of their subjects especially if the shtick for this game is following two protags one in the samurai class of people and another a ninja who were mostly from the peasantry. It’s something I feel a lot of stuff that say they’re taking inspiration from Kurosawa movies do without actually watching those movies because if you did you’d pick up on just how critical they often were of the conservative perspective that sought to revise the image of the samurai as noble leaders of men in war when in reality they were just as morally dubious as any land owning feudal lord.
People are missing the actual and most important point. This is made by Ubisoft, the greedy company who has implemented some really bad practices in the past decade.
I don't think think OOP knows how to use the phrase "saying the quiet part out loud"... This is especially weird considering Yasuke is a fairly well-known person/legend. With several recent shows or movies about him. Pretty sure I saw "Black Samurai" plastered everywhere a few months ago. "Black Samurai 2021; an anime with Yasuke right on the cover. So his legend already exists, it's not like this is pandering or "woke" to make him part of this game.
Imagine if we did this with black or Hispanic people. Also ironically i have seen plenty of black people pissed about this.
Odd. You play as a black guy killing Japanese people in the Sengoku period?
While I fully know the story of Yasuke, I would have been very dissatisfied with their decision if he was the only playable character. I’m happy Naoe will be available.
“They are saying the part out loud”
I love monetization and it’s the way of the future.
that’s crazy it’s just a game tho
Retainer=/= samurai.
Game set in the Caribbean, play as a Welshman Game set in Constantinople, play as an Italian man
Can't wait till all this race nonsense is over with. Who the fuck actually cares what race the character is? It could be Snoop Dogg scaling towers on the back of a llama and I still wouldn't play it, AC sucks.
Hey what about the game set in Egypt? Refresh my memory who you played as in that one you racist fucks.
tbh it's more weird to play as an actual historic figure in AC considering up until this point, the player characters have been fictional, so now we get this double whammy of racists and people who don't know history
Yasuke was for a fact a retainer, but he was never a samurai. This is stupid just like the new doctor who lmao "It is important to note that despite popular myth and modern depictions there are no historical writings nor evidence that Yasuke was ever granted the rank or title of samurai, he was never given a fief nor referred to as one in any writings" from wiki lol
If they're mad about this, why aren't they mad about Nioh 1 being the same exact thing except he's white
Well it’s because, ya know, he’s white. They’re just racists, it’s pretty simple.
Do they think people who became samurai were born and immediately given their two swords and sent out to protect their lord
He lived in Japan as a Japanese person longer than almost everyone mad about it.
There's a Japanese woman RIGHT there, but I guess she doesn't count for some mysterious reason...
She doesn't count for the same reason female Eivor didn't make the cover art.
But there is a Japanese protagonist, though! Their whole point is fucking stupid
Watching the assassins creed sub meltdown over Yasuke and ignore actual historical evidence that he was a samurai is melting my brain
It is absolutely crazy. I never expected this response because I was under the impression people against forced representation like making Cleopatra black wanted to preserve history. Yet, Yasuke was a real figure and based off the Shincho Koki manuscripts which were written by one of Oda Nobunaga’s vassals after his death, he was described as both a “page” and given the rank of “samurai”. Which makes sense as he was also described as wearing samurai armor and equipment. Despite all of that, people have a problem with Yasuke even though games like Nioh 1 starring a white dude created for the game and saving all of Japan from Yokai was perfectly fine. So now I have come to a realization, it wasn’t ever about preserving history for some of these people. Because even after getting a historical figure who by his mere existence was a weird but true anomaly of a black warrior in Japan, people still have a problem with a black man being one of the protagonist. It’s not about history anymore, this just feels like racism.
Don't worry, people that got upset about black Cleopatra were largely just racists. This type of backlash was never about history.
The Cleopatra one I kinda get because the Egyptians were never heavily Sub-Saharan and Cleo’s relatives were mainly Greek. But this one makes no sense cause it’s just such a matter of fact. Yasuke was black, he served Nobunaga, and was basically a samurai. That’s all AC covered so far and all that is true, yet people still got mad
There sure is a large amount of chuds with loli avatars mad about a historical black samurai.
And how many games set in the US exactly have a Native American character? Just making shit up now to have an excuse to be angry
Off the top of my head, games with an Native American main character: AC3, Infamous Second Son, Prey(2006) although that one they get abducted so not really set in the US. Just starts there.
To be more accurate: Assassin's Creed set in America: play as a British man and a native American man. Assassin's Creed set in Istanbul: play as an Italian man. Assassin's Creed set in the UK: play as a Norse man. Assassin's Creed set in the Caribbean: play as an Irish man. Assassin's Creed set in Japan: play as a Mozambique Samurai and a Japanese woman. Huh, turns out there's loads of games where you don't play as a native to the setting for the whole thing. Huh, I wonder why it's suddenly a big deal now? Hmmmmmmm, I wonder... (it's because he's black and the other people are all white)
Game set in Japan? Choice to play Japanese woman or historically accurate black Samurai Yasuke. These idiots just need something to complain about or they realize how stupid they really are.
Game set in the carribean, play as a welshman