You havent played the new AC because its woke.
I havent played it because its 70± dollars.
We are not the same.
I’ve played every one except for Mirage, paid like 10€ for every single one.
patientgamers ftw
There is an old man in my building, who got into video games about 10 years ago, when his wife died. When I first moved in I played games with him fairly often. After I knew him about a year, he exposed himself as racist. So I just faded away from interacting with him, too old to bother lecturing, so I just stopped socializing with him. I do see him around, and we make small talk, in the halls, elevator, etc.
Anyway, now that you have context, I ran into him in the elevator when Shadows first came out. He said he had been playing it, and asked if I had. I said I didn’t then told him I was a little surprised he bothered with it. He said “Cause you play a colored samurai?” I said that I figured it wouldn’t be his thing, a lot of people didn’t like the idea. He replied “He was a real person, though” I told him a lot of people were mad about it, he said “it’s just a game”. So, if a racist, 83 year old, man didn’t see the issue here, these people have to be seeking things to be mad about. He doesn’t do much online though. Only social media he does is look at FB when his kids tell him they posted new pics of the grand kids, or whatever. This is purely a symptom of being terminally online.
Historical accuracy has been dubious from the start. Most of the games I’ve focused on gameplay. 1-3 were bangers that constantly evolved. 4 was fucking amazing as a narrative. Origins made AC a different game. I haven’t cared for most since. Shadows is just the next in ‘that’ series. I will pick it up for 15$ or not at all.
Everything that isnt about a straight white male plowing his sister is woke
He’s fucking right. Normal people don’t get their blood pressure up about “black people and women?! IN MY GAMES??”
Never heard of FightinCowboy before, but this is a streamer worth following it seems. Hes gained at least one new fan and i dont even really need to see his content. Stick to righteous principles and good will come to you.
Tbf they say their main thing is Youtube with dual-streaming to twitch. I was looking them up and wondering why all their twitch vods were 5 years old lol
I’ve watched for a while now, he’s a cool streamer.
Shoutout to his MH Wilds build and weapon guides
This is the only way to combat that sort of thing. To keep it from happening in your communities, to call out the people who do it and shame them, and to make it clear that this is stupid online bullshit that no one should care about. Good on him.
cant wait for elder scrolls 6 to come out and have people mad because its based in hammerfell 😂
Can you imagine the outrage if they simply remade Morrowind?
“Bethesda has gone woke! Not only did they make the elves dark, but they made those same dark elves the slave owners! Literally unplayable!” Even Vivec having two different skin colors would melt their minds.
You think they’d be paying attention to the multi-toned skin, and not the fact that Vivec is a non-binary hermaphroditic god?
Never heard of this guy before.
He’s got a new sub now.
Fucking spot on bro.
He’s famous for the souls walkthroughs, my elden ring platinum award is more his than mine.
Fuck yeah, FightingCowboy!
It sucks that Yasuke is still experiencing racism 400 years after his death. I’m sure he wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.
If the bigots are hating Assassin’s Creed and it makes news, then that means it’s officially good. If it was bad, thr bigots don’t make news since they get drowned out by everyone else saying it’s bad. It’s my new metric for whether or not something is worth watching/playing.
I, unironically, use this as a way of finding movies, TV shows and games that I might like.
If you go on RottenTomatoes and look at the critic score vs. the user score, you can really tell a lot.
For example, if a movie has a very low critic score, and a suspiciously high user score, it’s most certainly religious drivel created to push a narrative. If you click on the reviews, it will confirm it. Every time.
Conversely, if a movie or show has a very high critic score, and a suspiciously low user score, it’s going to be because of conservative snowflakes getting triggered. Again, reading the user reviews confirms it every time.
In the case of the latter, it almost always means I will enjoy the content. So I will seek out movies and shows that have that discrepancy.
Even taking hyperbole into account, this is not a great metric and has not been bourne out in my experience.
What’s a suspiciously high and low score?
Maybe they’ve gotten better at filtering that shit out in the past couple of years, but can tell you with certainty that I’ve watched at least a half dozen shows and movies based entirely on this and have enjoyed them. My memory is shit so I can’t seem to think of any off the top of my head right now. If any come to me I will update this comment.
It’s usually media that portray the black experience in America, or that shows US history (particularly slavery and/or Jim Crow) in a negative light. Sometimes it’s just because it’s about strong women. Or, in their minds, it makes men look bad (because portraying the objectively shitty things men do is apparently biased)
For examples of the religious BS, look up anything Jim Caveizal has been in throughout the last decade or so.
IIRC, academy bait also tends to have the high critic score low(er) user score complex.
so… thoughts on the last jedi?
You’re asking the wrong person as I stopped caring about Star Wars a couple of decades ago.
Not the person you responded to, TLJ is easily my favorite of the three sequel movies. The Force Awakens and Rise of the Skywalker (I think?) both felt like focus group fanfiction slop; TLJ was the only one with anything meaningful to say at the end of the day.
thats pretty much what i think too but at least the force awakens is watchable. rise of skywalker is total junk with about 2 good scenes
Not the person you replied to, but…
When the sequel trilogy first came out, I was upset because it could have been a lot better. Looking back on it, though, I think that was a combination of nostalgia and high expectations. That’s the problem all sequels struggle with, really, and the sequel trilogy didn’t hit the mark.
Of the three, The Last Jedi was actually my favorite. I didn’t particularly like what Abrams had done with the first one, and while I didn’t think switching directors in the middle of a trilogy was a terribly good idea, I felt like I could kind of see where Johnson was going with it.
With Abrams, I felt like he was trying to recreate the original trilogy. Use a tried and true formula that worked and not scare the audience too much. It was bland. Uninspired. Corporate. Johnson seemed like he actually had a story to tell. It might not have sit well with the fans - he might take a big swing and miss - but at least I felt like he was trying to create art instead of merely making money.
Honestly I kind of would like to see Johnson’s take on a full sequel trilogy.
Obviously if I could have picked anyone to take on the chief creative direction on the sequel trilogy I’d pick Dave Filoni, but that’s neither here nor there.
It might not have sit well with the fans - he might take a big swing and miss - but at least I felt like he was trying to create art instead of merely making money.
Same, I actually loved how his story had Rey as a “nobody” whose choices and actions were what made her important, SW has way too many special bloodlines, prophecies, and chosen ones.
Then Abrams does a 180 in the sequel 😑
I still hate that god damned dagger.
i also loved last jedi, and i was excited to see how rise of skywalker was going to continue last jedi, regardless if the fans hated it again or not. then rise of skywalker came out and just ruined everything
Well, it depends on how recently the content has been released. If it’s recent, you can’t use user ratings because it could be review bombed. But if some time has already passed, user reviews with time even out and settle on their true score. For me, user scores are always the most accurate.
If there’s anything I’ve learned in social media over the past few years is that every wrongdoing can be blamed by the opposing political party. It’s just so simple.
If those Internet duds that get mad about black people in video games spent like half that energy being mad about, like, wage theft, we’d be so much better off.
The culture war is made up to distract from the class war
Therein lies the point of MAGA efforts. If you keep your base punching the left then they won’t remember they’re working class, not really being crushed by the left, and may start to punch up.
They’re already too scared to do in person town halls. Even so, this steered rage is intentional.
You’re not displaced by corporate, but by immigrants, DEI, and non-traditional women.
Don’t forget the church in your metaphor. That way, the punches that keep those MAGATs spitting leftwise are reich crosses.
Maga efforts assisted by Democratic leaders that also focus on everything else but class issues as well.
Depends. That’s the issue though. DEMs is a giant bag of angry cats fighting amongst themselves, gatekeeping one another, and more or less telling one another how they should be while saying it’s all inclusive.
The infighting is real. I’ll give the repubs credit for unity, they’re strangely good at it, just look at Tesla. Ten years of hating Tesla and hazing Tesla drivers. Now, the same people are driving cars into protesters for daring to smear the company. That’s unity. Blind unity. But unity.
We can’t do anything even remotely close to that in party.
Part of the problem there is that it’s transparently obvious that the establishment is complicit, regardless of whether they put D or R beside their name. One of the advantages of MAGA (from their perspective) is that you pretty much can’t call yourself a republican unless you’re on board. They’ve taken enough action and done enough bold and divisive things that they’ve forced everyone to make their allegiances crystal clear.
Dems, on the other hand, are (rn) a pretty loose coalition of “people who oppose Trump.” Dems aren’t really allies, they’re just people with a common enemy. And as we all know, “the enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy, no more and no less.” Those fragile alliances will break the moment anyone tries to challenge the status quo.
There’s a few different ways forward. Some would have been more effective before Trump and his cronies lit the constitution on fire, and some are better suited to the present moment. But we can’t seem to agree on what to do, or to work together to get anything done. Part of the problem is the uncertainty, not knowing where people’s loyalties lie. It’s easy to say in a vacuum that unwillingness to compromise is dumb, but it makes more sense when you realize we’re effectively playing Secret Hitler, and compromise makes you look like the enemy. That doesn’t make it the right call, necessarily, but I understand the impulse.
As for strategies, first and foremost we need to organize. Nothing happens without organization. We should also be reading up on political theory, especially from people we disagree with. (I don’t mean right wing stuff, I mean people with similar goals.) Anarchists should read Lenin. MLs should read Chomsky. Leftists should read liberal stuff and liberals should read leftist stuff. (I know that you think you understand the positions you disagree with. Read it anyways.)
As for strategies, there are several. Some want to reform the Democratic Party. Some want to start a new party. Some believe that insurrection is the only way forward, and that anything less will leave a corrupt system in place, as effective as removing only half of a tumor. All these approaches have drawbacks. All have some merit. Frankly, do whichever you can live with.
The important thing is: support the others whenever you can. Even if you think democracy is dead and there’s no point in voting, do it anyways. Until such time as we think the government will use our voting record against us, it’s only one or two days out of your year. It won’t hurt anything, and there’s a chance it could help.
If you can stomach it, vote tactically. Voting the lesser of two evils might only be slightly reducing harms done, but stalling for time can be really useful sometimes.
Take as much direct action as you can. Remember that while some people can be reasoned with, the people who are actually in power are operating on realpolitik. They will only listen to you if you give them tangible reasons to listen. Might doesn’t make right, but it does shut you up. Or if you’re being suppressed, fighting back will give you the leverage you need to be heard. Don’t let them silence you.
Above all, remember that everyone opposing the establishment (from the left) is your ally. Even if their chosen method is running for office and pushing more progressive legislation. Even if their method is armed resistance. You may not agree, you don’t have to help them, and you might even have to publicly disavow them. But don’t get in their way (as much as you can manage) and don’t rat them out.
Finally, remember what game we are playing. Remember there are traitors. Not everyone who claims to be a Democrat supports democracy. Not everyone who claims to be a Marxist or an Anarchist really is one. Don’t judge people by the labels they wear, watch what they do. If they’re acting in a way that helps you, they’re probably your ally. And if they’re sowing dissent or getting in the way, regardless of how loudly they claim to be on your side, they probably aren’t to be trusted. And definitely don’t draw conclusions about a whole political ideology based on a few people who claim to belong to that ideology, because bad faith actors have every reason to sow dissent in our ranks. Words are easy, don’t trust them.
If we could all coalesce around that basic gameplan, I think we’d have a lot more unity than we do now. You just have to remember we’re playing a social deduction game, and everything becomes an awful lot clearer. At least I think it does.
Just about everyone wants to see themselves in the main player character of an RPG. It’s one reason character creators exist. Why we can choose between male and female Shepard and then toggle their appearances. But why is it white men yell the loudest when they don’t see themselves in a fixed main character?
It’s a valid question. Sure there was an ask for female assassin play, but it wasn’t anything like this crude, angry, and off the rails epidemic we see far too often. Why is this population so loud and rage filled?
I happily play Witcher, and enjoy Geralt for who he is, including those tired sighs and the long hair that blows in a wind that’s not there. Geralt looks like he’s been torn off the cover of an old bodice ripper novel, which is a bit of an eye roll but adds to the humor. Even so. As a woman I had no problems with it or the game. I’ve played W3 through twice.
Enter Ciri as the main for the next game. Suddenly there’s a huge problem even though she’s the logical next Witcher. I’d like to know how she plays as a character outside the premade with gimped UI. The preview to 4 was nicely nuanced as well, a lot of detail packed into that clip apart from just simple spooky monster fighting. She clearly has a chip on her shoulder about life choices, and fair enough given her history.
Again, no raging outcry regarding Geralt or the way he looked for 3 installments. Now there’s outcry.
I’m not Japanese or Black and yet I’ll happily play this latest AC (but only after its old and goes on sale).
I’ve been listening to the audiobooks of the Witcher series and honestly it’s a series far more about Ciri than it is about Geralt. Garalt is only important because of his connection via destiny to Ciri (and of course he was the main character of the short stories that preceded the longform books) but as Ciri grew up and became capable of protecting herself he became less important until even destiny stopped caring about Geralt.
Also Ciri never received the full Witcher mutations because the process for performing the mutations was lost not long after Geralt became a Witcher. She received a partial mutation via a witcher’s diet at Ker Moren (i imagine that’s like HRT for trans people in that the hormones are what does most of the heavy lifting, and the surgeries just round out the transition) but that’s it. The rest is all her being a bad-ass on her own. I’m excited to play as her and see the kinds of bad-assery and moral quagmires she finds herself the center of
I always wanted to see anything else. I’m a human male every day. Give me a female and/or an alien or some other strange thing. Let’s be different!
I never understand this need for people to mimic themselves.
That’s how I see it too. It’s fun experiencing different things.
Same, non-cis white guy but I usually pick the not-me main character when given a choice. In Pokemon I’m a chick, in Stardew valley I’m a black chick, in Orcs Must Die 2 I’m the sorceress.
What kind of egotistical fuck chooses the “me” character every time
I play men characters a lot of the time because the boobs armor trend annoys me. I always try to make them look very distinct from me irl though. I really like this new trend of making all armors gender neutral (e.g BG3 and especially MH wilds, since the series had a long standing tradition of making some of the female armors really… Let’s say “not realistically functional as an armor”. In the new one they still have these versions but you are free to choose any of the 2 looks regardless of your character’s gender).
See I’m able to find comedy in the boob armor, but I’d much prefer to see feminine armor be designed to look equally as epic as the masculine armor designs
Some archetypes of boobs armor can work e.g the half naked barbarian, which is fairly gender neutral too thanks to Conan and shit, but sometimes it’s ridiculous.
I typically play female characters in games too. Always have. They’re something outside my world experience, I can experience the story through a lense I may not have seen otherwise.
It’s nice to see yourself represented but like… Shiiiiiiit dude. I’m reading a book or playing a game to be immersed in the story. Why people put so much stock into who or what a character is; it’s beyond me.
I just want some good stories with good characters. I can’t fucking wait to kick ass as Cirilla in the Witcher. I loved being Girlboss V in Cyberpunk, Senua was stellar.
Open world RPG? Bet your ass I wanna be goth mommy in plate armour ripping out a dragon’s throat.
Also sometimes games had smaller hitboxes for women and little me fucked with that more than anything.
I do recall some people being upset that they basically “yassified” Geralt from the witcher 2 and onwards. According to the books he’s supposed to look “weird” or something like that. Like, not repulsive but definitely not sexy, with slightly “unnatural” proportions and beast-like traits, etc. Which I think they nailed in the first game, through the low definition textures and models probably help a lot with the uncanniness.
I find that people crying about non-white male and/or non-bimbo female MCs are outrage tourists pushing their stupid gamergate agenda 99% of the time. At this point I don’t know why we are even acknowledging them anymore.
White, cis, and male has been the default for hundreds of years. When a piece of media presents an alternative, some white cis males consider it an attack on their very being. They see faces that are not their own and think that this ‘correction’ of centuries of oppression means that the media is saying that being white or male is inherently wrong.
It’s narrow-minded and selfish, but in a way that’s akin to a toddler who has never had to share their toys before. Hopefully they will eventually grow up and understand that the world does not revolve around them. They’ve just never had to experience that fact before.
I’m not a samurai or a ninja and it would be fairly weird to see a white man in Japan at that time especially in those roles. I don’t need to see myself.
Also have these people never read a book where they aren’t represented by the main character? ( pre-edit: true, they probably don’t/can’t read)
this is beside your point but nioh 1 had a white samurai based on a historical figure. i bet the chuds werent upset about that when it came out.
Thankfully this isn’t ubiquitous, at least in my experience. The Hades franchise has its second game in beta (is it still in beta? I haven’t checked in in a few months) with a female lead and I haven’t noticed a peep about that. Hopefully that’s not just the communities I’m part of and it’s actually been received as well as I’ve perceived
Basically “not all gamers” but not in an asshole way haha
There’s no such thing as always or never when it comes to people, except death.
Game is fine so far.
People get all in their feelings over a game. A story. Would they get this worked up over a book? These people have to bitch about something to feel alive.
I feel alive taking in a game how it was written and designed to be played. I don’t worry about cultural norms or other petty bullshit. Enjoy the gameplay, the world design and a new experience.
Now, give me a Black Flag sequel with a female lead, a revamped ship combat and more pirate comedy. Top it off with some lesbien romance and outfits. Just to piss off the Republican snowflakes.
Also, the only thing that comes from including more people of color, LGBTQ+ people, etc., in media is more variety in characters and possible story lines. How is that ever a bad thing?
it’s bad if you’re a bigot and have been raised to hate and feel disgust when your beliefs are challenged
Sounds like you’re talking about AC: Odyssey 😄
I did live that fantasy through Kassandra and Odyssey, but it wasn’t the Caribbean baby!
What’s wrong with the Aegean?
God, I hated that game. I miss my classic Assassin’s Creed.
AC died with Desmond
I still quite liked Black Flag and Unity (although far from perfect, especially at launch) and even Origins was pretty good. But Ubisoft Quebec just managed to poop on AC lore multiple times, most egregiously with odyssey.
AC was mechanically enjoyable, if overly long and repetitive. But the story was lacking to the point that I don’t even remember what the fuck the game was about in the first place. that’s what you get for making games bigger and longer. it just becomes a
so much so that at first I thought “shame about the story because it had a really strong start with that twist” but I realized was misremembering AC3’s plot twist. so there’s literally nothing that I remember about AC4’s story except for the abysmal modern day parts which proved to me that they stopped giving a shit about the story and caused me to never check out an AC game again.
Ship Blackbeard and Captain Morgan. That would truly piss them off. A lesbian romance only brings performative anger because they’re hoping for porn.
I’ve been watching him for a while now for his Souls-like playlists. He doesn’t really like playing Assassin’s Creed type games but he’ll do it out of popularity. Funny that this is the game he’s going viral for.
soon as you said soulslike I knew it would be cowboy before I clicked the article lol.
Cowboy is the GOAT. He is pretty much the only streamer I watch occasionally. He even had an overall positive opinion on Veilguard and it matches my experience fairly well.
Yeah he’s one of the few that’s around my age and doesn’t cater to a younger audience.
This dude is so fucking based
And his followup video is great too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yentXt8qVvs
Damn that was excellent, great points from Cowboy.
Perfectly sums up this whole, sad phenomenon of people getting angry about nothing.
He absolutely is.
