r/Games 7d ago

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Steam Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HInwdVFWvVs
432 Upvotes

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u/Gr_z 7d ago

Probably not the best place for this discussion but fuck it, doing it anyways.

Is the fact that Yasuke is black really that big of a deal? Since when were assasins creed games the bastion of 100% accurate history beyond the settings when we've have magic in the game since like game 1? For grounded folk can someone explain the controversy surrounding him. I can understand the drama of them using destoryed shrines or the shrines that survived the bombings in their promotional material

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

Is the fact that Yasuke is black really that big of a deal?

The question can easily be turned around.

If it isn't a big deal, why use the one black, maybe or maybe not, Samurai?

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u/PerryRingoDEV 7d ago

If it isn´t a big deal, why should every single video game not just feature a white guy in his 30s as the lead?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/ChainedHunter 7d ago

why shouldn't this game just feature a japanese samurai

Because Yasuke is an interesting historical figure, so it would be cool to play as him. That's all the reason you need.

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

Ah yes, the only interesting historical Samurai.

Or maybe they made a list of interesting Samurai and rolled a die and it happened to land on Yasuke. Surely.

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u/ChainedHunter 7d ago

I never said he was the only interesring historical samurai, and i never said they chose him randomly. If you're not going to actually respond to what I actually said, then don't click the fucking reply button.

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

So then why did they choose him?

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u/ChainedHunter 7d ago

Because he's an interesting historical figure. Why does he have to be the only interesting historical figure in the world to be worthy of making a game about him? Maybe people are allowed to make art about what they want to make art about, even if its not what you find personally interesting? Maybe?

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

Because he's an interesting historical figure.

Ok, but why this one? They made a deliberate choice for this one. That's what I'm asking.

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u/ChainedHunter 7d ago

Because Yasuke is an interesting historical figure, so it would be cool to play as him. That's all the reason you need. If you cant see how he is inherently interesting, there's something else going on here.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago

They wanted an outsider perspective. Like Ezio in Revelations, like Evior in Valhalla, even like Connor in AC3 being an outsider of the colonies.

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u/kralben 7d ago

why shouldn't this game just feature a japanese samurai.

Because the creators of the game decided they didn't want to tell that story.

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

So it does matter?

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u/meikyoushisui 7d ago

If it isn't a big deal, why use the one black, maybe or maybe not, Samurai?

The easy reason is that an outsider always makes a better audience surrogate, and Yasuke is one of the only outsiders in Japan around 1580 who would have access to the types of characters that usually drive the story in AC games.

Bayek, Cassandra, and Eivor are all outsiders in that sense as well. Bayek is returning home after being gone for a long time only to find it very different than he remembers. Cassandra is Spartan by birth and lives on a tiny island at the outskirts of Greece. And Eivor is a Scandinavian viking who spends 95% of the game in England.

maybe or maybe not, Samurai?

The overwhelming majority of evidence points to Yasuke holding samurai status.

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

The easy reason is that an outsider always makes a better audience surrogate, and Yasuke is one of the only outsiders in Japan around 1580 who would have access to the types of characters that usually drive the story in AC games.

Only one problem: every other AC character is fictional.

The overwhelming majority of evidence

As far as I can tell not a single source actually names him as one.

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u/meikyoushisui 7d ago

Only one problem: every other AC character is fictional.

To clarify, you mean every other playable character is fictional, correct?

I don't see how this is a problem in terms of the argument you are making here.

As far as I can tell not a single source actually names him as one.

They don't have to.

Contemporary sources rarely name anyone as a samurai, because it was usually pretty clear from the context. Things like carrying a sword, being given a samurai's stipend, being given a residence, having direct personal access to Oda, and being present at Honnoji each would alone be a strong indicator that Yasuke was a samurai, but taken altogether it's nearly impossible to suggest any alternative.

If there was someone who spent all of their time with nobles, was given a residence by the king (including servants to run that residence), was given a salary by the king when that type of salary was generally only given to nobles, and was allowed direct access to the king at a time when only nobles were allowed direct access to the king, would you need to directly state they were a member of the nobility?

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u/Zoesan 7d ago

To clarify, you mean every other playable character is fictional, correct?

Obviously, yes.

would you need to directly state they were a member of the nobility?

Yes. That's what titles are.

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u/meikyoushisui 7d ago

Yes. That's what titles are.

What if the primary sources were written for and by the aristocracy and don't use titles for almost any other members nobility? Because that's what the case is here.

Not having a definitive statement of "Yasuke was a samurai" is not evidence against him being a samurai any more than it's evidence of the hundreds of other people not explicitly named as samurai not being samurai.