Assassin's Creed

Game director of Unity has posted further elaborations on the lack of female characters in the game. Now he's saying that it's not really about production, but that they're focusing more on telling the story of Arno.

An editorial about the thing from the same site.

Speaking of this, I wanted to ask: other than the journalists, who actually initially complained about this first? Was there a giant public outcry on Tumblr or something?

I find it more disappointing that these guys aren't actual characters in your game. They're just what other peoples' Arnos look like to you.

I'd love to say it was Tumblr. Mostly because that's where a lot of the complaining comes from, it seems.

On the other hand, apparently you can use a equip a boarding axe as part of your everyday-running-around-Paris-during-the-revolution weaponry, so that's pretty cool. :P

I have come to the conclusion that anything anyone says on Tumblr can safely be ignored unless it has additional sources. That said, it is interesting that you're playing Arno all the time. That's a weird kind of fourth wall bending metaphysics.

edited 12th Jun '14 5:12:04 PM by Fighteer

It does make sense from a certain perspective, in that by making everyone Arno, the game doesn't have to decide who is playing as who. They just display a different skin to you.

Kinda feels like the whole co-op thing is utterly pointless. At least for me.

Oh, I won't be using it much.

I have a couple friends who play AC, but the odds of us playing together are slim to none.

So how are they going to explain the co-op Assassins in-game?

The same way Brotherhood did, probably. "There are other Assassins. They are not that important."

Wait, if they're ALL just Arno, why the heck put them on the cover at all?

And, that still doesn't explain it then. If everyone sees themselves as Arno, then why NOT have one of the alternative looks be female? Since they don't have characters and voices, then it looks like it would be so much easier... Still not the female assassin everyone wants though.

And, yeah, I knew Johnathan Cooper is no longer a Ubi employee. He's currently working for Uncharted 4, but he was the animation director of ACIII, some of the Mass Effect games, and possibly worked on The Last of Us. He's apparently big in the business and would know what he's talking about.

edited 12th Jun '14 6:00:06 PM by lancesolous13

I hope he's not currently working on Uncharted 3.

XD Oops. Sorry. I skipped keys by accident.

I still feel the better question would first be "Why even bother with the co-op?"

If everyone sees themselves as Arno, then making one of the filler characters female would have required at least a model change and extra voice actor. That may not be a lot of work in the grand scheme of things, but it's a lot of work for a rather pointless character. At least this way it's just a skin change.

I hope they're not biting off more than they can chew with the co-op. It's not really necessary, and completely overhauling the game like they are would have been enough of a difference.

Today on Initiates:

After thinking about it, I've decided that I don't want a new Assassin's Creed game, I want more pirate shit.

I believe they suggested they're making a Pirate themed IP in the future, but idk.

I pre-ordered Unity yesterday!

After spending the last year playing through the series, I think I'm going to skip on Unity, or at least hold off for a good while after it releases.

I can't wait for it. Replaying the Ezio games has been nice (I'll do Revelations as soon as I'm finished with Watch_Dogs), but they definitely feel old in comparison to 3 and 4. Add that to my general dissatisfaction with 4 as an Assassin's Creed game, and I'm very much looking forward to Unity.

I'm going to guess that R-L is a member, or maybe even a founder, of The Initiates, using the l33t hacking skills she picked up in AC 4.

(Hi-fives Bad Wolf 21)

Neats bro

They might join the Initiates, but there's nothing to support or deny that idea in anything we've seen thus far. R-L (how'd that moniker come up anyway?) is a cipher, a blank. They could be anybody; their very lack of characterization in AC IV means that there's nothing supporting a future appearance.

If the modern day segments of Unity take a radical turn away from what we saw in Black Flag as has been suggested, then either our AFGNCAAP hacker will get a face and turn into a real protagonist or they'll just be part of the background as "that agent we recruited inside Abstergo Entertainment".

edited 25th Jun '14 6:54:20 AM by Fighteer

I think R-L are the initials the PC uses in the game? From the emails, IIRC. Also, the plot point of beings like Juno and Aita being reincarnated, and the attempt to implant/awaken Juno in another body, is one that R-L was linked to pretty strongly. They could ignore that R-L was an excellent candidate for the Big Bad to body-snatch, but I think it's a good reason to bring her back in future installments.