Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-5088097-20171202154949/@comment-34619222-20180304005203

Sol Pacificus wrote:

Imperator Scottorum wrote: I don’t really get the whole hullaballoo over an AC in Feudal Japan. Considering the talks about ninjas and Samurai, the Sengoku Jidai is the only era that would make sense to cover, however, I still don’t really see the appeal of such a setting, historically that is an interesting period but how would it work in the AC lore of Assassins VS Templars when the whole war was no more than a power grab attempt by various clans all of whom with an interest in becoming Shogun. The ideas of the Ninja that we have are to the best of my knowledge, flawed and are generally based off cultural/theatrical depictions made after the Sengoku era.

Finalninjadog already addressed that last point, namely that Assassin's Creed has a history of being able to creatively move away from pop culture stereotypes and turn these figures into something both faithful to history and extraordinarily original at the same time. Take, for instance, its portrayal of pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy which indeed, I myself had similar reservations about at the time. Blackbeard is often depicted in media as the archetypal savage pirate from where our main impression of the classical pirate stems from. He was feared as a terrifying, demon and a bloodthirsty terrorist, but in reality, he had a record for mercy and inspiring fear to mitigate conflict was his modus operandi. Black Flag did not simply parrot stereotypes of pirates mindlessly, but framed these historical characters true to who they were as far as thorough research can say on the matter, brought them to life, and made them a rich part of a nuanced story. If anything pirates are just as if not more-so stereotyped than ninjas are (assuming that's what you're referring to by "flawed") because even a series like Naruto can take basic ideas about the ninja and create something entirely original from it....

I see your argument and you could say it has somewhat softened my stance on the matter.

I'm not necessarily opposed to a Feudal Japan setting (it could be interesting and if Ubisoft ever decided to do one I'd be intrigued). I suppose my main "issue" really if anything is more to do with the hype and fuss that people were throwing over it. I simply don't really understand why it's such a popular topic of exploration for the AC franchise, sure it'd be interesting but from what I had gathered it looked to me as if a major component to people's interest in that era was due to the idea of Ninjas and Assassins which as stated before by me is not a very solid thing historically which for me would be cause for some concern you could say.

Let's just say that I don't oppose it (although you could say that earlier then there was some sense in opposition on my part when I made the comment but that you could say has been softened) I just don't fully get the hype and why people are seemingly clammering for it (at least in my own perceptions), I acknowledge it's an intersting setting and time period (especially Sengoku which imo if Ubisoft would do Japan it'd have to be that) and I like what I've learned about it I just never really got why people have seemingly been so eager to have a game be set there you could say. 

I acknowledge this is probably repetitive but that's the best I can say and reply regarding this matter.