Assassin's Creed

If you were wondering what the Greeks REALLY thought of women (unlike in this game), look no further than the myth of the origin of Medusa. The woman was raped by Poseidon in a temple of Athena. Athena was so angry that it happened in HER temple, that she punished Medusa by turning her hair (of which she was very vain) into hideous snakes.

Or, you know, the bazillion times Zeus raped a mortal and Hera went after them and the resulting children instead of her philandering husband.

Apparently there's a fair amount of scholarly debate around Athena specifically and what she means for women and the view of women. I read an interesting post that basically said 'it's complicated and we can't say wholly one way or another whether Athena was a misogynistic figure or not'.

I mean, I've seen people who suggested that the Medusa story was interpreted very differently depending on who was telling it in that time; women or men.

Men saw it was 'Athena turned her into a monster because she was raped by Posidon" while women read it as "Athena blessed her with suck, but she'd never be harmed by men ever again".

I vaguely remember something about Medusa's head being a rather normal symbol for something to do with women, but I don't remember if I ever fact-checked it either.

Yeah but Athena then sets Perseus on her, so...

Another important thing to take into consideration with Greek Myths: Consider every myth in its own continuity. Its something my Mythology Professor last year made clear. Yes, some stories lead from one to the other but the thing about oral tradition is that the stories would quickly evolve depending on who was telling it and who they were telling the story to.

The 'Athena sent Perceus to kill Medusa' idea could be a spawn out of the 1st interpretation, but not the 2nd.

Not to mention how many myths have the same story but one or two different details. I believe some of the Hercules Labors are different depending on the source.

You also often have different versions of the same story depending on the region.

When I taught mythology, my accent was:

"The Greeks lived in a world which was manifestly unjust and unfair. So they pointed out reality's rulers were often capricious and unfair. It left them with a decided comfort of sorts."

It's also why Apollo, Hestia, and Athena were the most popular gods as (a few incidents aside) they were the least assholish. Also, why Zeus Took a Level in Kindness by becoming the God of Justice.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 29th 2018 at 10:16:34 AM

I think there's also two realities at work here:

The mythology, the stories that can be understood in human terms and answer human questions and concerns.

The "reality", that the gods were hideously alien rulers of reality and who showed up in human form to not kill every single human they came across (as one dalliance of Zeus found out thanks to Hera).

God Is Flawed is an attitude also which is only strange to Abrahamic societies.

I will say...

This game has gotten to become a slog.

The grind here is much-much worse than Bayek's adventure.

I've managed to avoid the grind mostly.

I honestly never noticed the grind. Mostly coz I just did sidequests as I came across them. I do get that if you just want to focus on the main plot, the grind is real though.

Actually, Old Testament god was an asshole god as well. It took nearly exterminating humanity with a flood to snap him out of it.

Interestingly, with becoming more benign, the Christian god also lost a lot of personality and relatability. Which might explain why he pretty much dissapears from the Bible later on.

New Testament God’s contact with humans is mostly through being Jesus, so I wouldn’t exactly say he gets less personality.

I guess, but then you get into that complicated mess that is the Holy Trinity.

Well Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman do have a complex relationship with each other.

It’s really not that complicated. Three distinct entities, all of them are God. Not separate gods. The same God. For a metaphysical being, it could be a lot worse.

Anyway, Assassin’s Creed. Any way to dress up Alexios/Kassandra in a more Assassin-y outfit if you want to?

Yes, actually, there are several suspiciously assassin-y hoods available as "helmets". There is also an epic or legendary outfit that is basically Altair's or Ezio's costume.

Any chest pieces that are more fabric and less “full plate armour”?

Traveler's clothes, hunter's clothes, etc.

Plenty.

Mercenary breastplate is the one that goes with the hoods though. I've been upgrading Penelope's hood the whole time. It changes color depending on which Merc's chest you're wearing. I like it.

Oh, that's really cool. That's a great reason to hold on to that.

I personally really like the Hunter chestpiece because of the rad face paint it gives Kass.

Does anyone else think the resource gathering system is a bit unbalanced? I never need to actively collect anything besides wood, making hunting practically superfluous.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 30th 2018 at 4:15:11 PM

I NEVER have enough leather. I'm constantly hunting and chasing down ships hoping they've got leather