Poll: So... Assassin's Creed Female protagonist leaked. No Multiplayer. Now do you care?

[Cowabungaa]

After seeing Unity fall on its face, for which I was slightly excited as I really digged the setting, I've felt burned out with Assassin's Creed. I thought AC:U could revive the franchise after the slump and eventually decline it went into after Revelations (with the exception of Yo Ho Ho Edition) but oh boy that game was a disaster.

So I should be raising my eyebrow at this game and going "Hmm..." But honestly? I just can't, the trailer had me brimming with excitement. The setting is even more palatable to me, I've been wanting Victorian London since I played the first AC. Everything about that short gameplay trailer just makes me feel pumped. Fighting on steam trains? Check! Day/night and weather cycles for even cooler prowling? Check! Top and bowler hats? Check! Protagonist variation? Check! Underworld shenanigans? Check! A seemingly bigger focus on fisticuffs? Check!

Honestly, I'm pumped. Ubisoft can't really afford another installment of one of their top series burning and crashing again, so who knows, this might be the revival I've been waiting for. And hopefully my PC can run it too.

Strangely enough. Yes. Now I am interested.

Is that sexist? I feel like that is sexist in some weird weird way.

A little, because you're sort-of reducing a character to their sex. By going about it that way you get token characters. It's why I loved an interview with Kevin Levine we saw a while back, he has some great views on how to create actually interesting characters.

 

[Dalisclock]

Lost interest in the series around Brotherhood. Playing sea pirates looked amazing, but then, can anyone spot the silliness in this for a stealth-assassin game?

Hey, it may be silly but it's also pirates. PIRATES! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

Besides, who needs stealth when you can shoot someone in the face with a couple dozen cannon?

Granted, that's not entirely retorical. While the ship sections are awesome, the one huge flaw that the game has is that every other mission on land is either Evesdrop/Tail/Evesdrop and Tail someobody, without being seen and often through guard checkpoints. It's almost as if someone said "This game is too awesome. We need to make it about 20% less awesome. Put in a bunch of tailing missions!"

 

[baddude1337]

Assassin's Creed has already had a female protagonist.
Why would having a second one renew interest in any meaningful way?

A lot of people seem to totally forget about AC: Liberation. Although portable it was a full fledged AC game. Then there's the recent side scroller with one, and all the multiplayer has various genders and races to pick from...


I don't get the backlash about no female character in Unity. Sure, the big main console game have never had one (if you don't count the HD version of Liberation), but there has been several in the series. I feel like Ubi's handling of the backlash is what made it worse.

 

[Olas]

Why is it that when playing as female assassin's the strict adherence to the absurd assassin hoodie get's dropped?

Anyway, Ubisoft would have to dramatically overhaul the AC series at this point for me to get even mildly interested. I bought AC4 over a year after it came out at a reduced price, I might buy AC Rogue since it looks like an interesting departure from the usual story, but honestly it's pretty low on my list right now.

 

[Slycne]

I was kind of underwhelmed by the announcement. Given the entire scope of interesting historical times and places, I feel like Ubisoft is taking the most boring and predicable approach to Victorian London. There's certainly still opportunity for interesting stories and characters, but "unite the gangs and fight the social structure" is so paint by the numbers. It was going to take something really exciting to pique my interest in a new Assassin's Creed and Syndicate isn't it.

 

[RJ 17]

I think this is further proof that Ubisoft is just making this crap up as they go along.

Ubi Dev A: "ACIII sucked! But people really liked the naval bits."
Ubi Dev B: "I know! Lets make the entire next game based around naval combat and sailing!"

Ubi Dev A: "Man...people really...really got pissed off when we said there would be a female in Unity and then didn't have one..."
Ubi Dev B: "Make sure we give them one in the next game.

Beyond that, even with this new information, I stand by my original statement:

So no, I could give two shits and a fuck about the series these days. I heard that the Chronicles game was pretty fun...but that's because it was a blatant rip-off of Mark of the Ninja, apparently. As soon as Ubi said "We're going to make this a yearly series!" you should have known that the quality was going to go to shit.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

Assassin's Creed has already had a female protagonist.
Why would having a second one renew interest in any meaningful way?

A lot of people seem to totally forget about AC: Liberation. Although portable it was a full fledged AC game. Then there's the recent side scroller with one, and all the multiplayer has various genders and races to pick from...


I don't get the backlash about no female character in Unity. Sure, the big main console game have never had one (if you don't count the HD version of Liberation), but there has been several in the series. I feel like Ubi's handling of the backlash is what made it worse.

That's true, Ubisoft has already given us 2 female protagonists, but not in the full fledged console/PC manner the main games have had. Aveline was tied to a handheld and Shao Jun to a side scroller. If Evie turns out to be playable, she'll be the first female protagonist to receive the same treatmeant as Altair-Arno. Considering the shit storm that was Unity, particularly the "It's too much work" comment, I'm surprised the haven't shouted Evie's playability from the rooftops for all to hear them. I don't think it was mentioned once during the announcement video.

I think this is further proof that Ubisoft is just making this crap up as they go along.

Ubi Dev A: "ACIII sucked! But people really liked the naval bits."
Ubi Dev B: "I know! Lets make the entire next game based around naval combat and sailing!"

Ubi Dev A: "Man...people really...really got pissed off when we said there would be a female in Unity and then didn't have one..."
Ubi Dev B: "Make sure we give them one in the next game.

I wouldn't say that's how it worked. All of these games are worked on for two or more years, right? So the Black Flag devs would have to have some idea of what they want to do even before ACIII released. Likewise with the introduction of a playable female in Syndicate. It's likely that they always meant to do it, but I may be giving them too much credit.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I picked "kill it with fire" as in the franchise. If Ubisoft can't keep it fresh, it should be taken to the cemetery. It's already starting to stink.
And female protagonist? Woah, that's quite a change. I mean, they went from a hooded dude to a hooded girl... damn, I can't even recognize the game anymore.

But I do like the fashion sense. Ubisoft did something good I guess.

 

[freakonaleash]

I'm not a huge fan of industrial era London because it seems so...dirty I guess.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Assassin's Creed has already had a female protagonist.
Why would having a second one renew interest in any meaningful way?

A lot of people seem to totally forget about AC: Liberation. Although portable it was a full fledged AC game. Then there's the recent side scroller with one, and all the multiplayer has various genders and races to pick from...


I don't get the backlash about no female character in Unity. Sure, the big main console game have never had one (if you don't count the HD version of Liberation), but there has been several in the series. I feel like Ubi's handling of the backlash is what made it worse.

I'd imagine it has a lot to do with how poorly Ubi presented the issue, saying things like its too hard without clarifying exactly what they meant and their damage control on it was pretty poor. I wouldn't be surprised if Evie was just a side character ala the one in Unity but there was a push to put her in.

I think this is further proof that Ubisoft is just making this crap up as they go along.

Ubi Dev A: "ACIII sucked! But people really liked the naval bits."
Ubi Dev B: "I know! Lets make the entire next game based around naval combat and sailing!"

Ubi Dev A: "Man...people really...really got pissed off when we said there would be a female in Unity and then didn't have one..."
Ubi Dev B: "Make sure we give them one in the next game.

I wouldn't say that's how it worked. All of these games are worked on for two or more years, right? So the Black Flag devs would have to have some idea of what they want to do even before ACIII released. Likewise with the introduction of a playable female in Syndicate. It's likely that they always meant to do it, but I may be giving them too much credit.

Considering that most of the backlash was around last summer I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to have added the character in after all that, especially if she was supposed to be part of the story and they just made her playable.

 

[SweetShark]

Btw, the reason I only cared at first about this specific AC, is because I saw the word "Syndicate"
But then I saw it was about London and I didn't cared again.
However after I talk about the story I think if it follow a specific direction the story will become interesting.

 

[Danny Dowling]

"urrrh muuuurrr gurrrd there's a women naow? naow i wan' it more dan any'fin!"

fucking hipsters.

 

[happyninja42]

Why is it that when playing as female assassin's the strict adherence to the absurd assassin hoodie get's dropped?

Anyway, Ubisoft would have to dramatically overhaul the AC series at this point for me to get even mildly interested. I bought AC4 over a year after it came out at a reduced price, I might buy AC Rogue since it looks like an interesting departure from the usual story, but honestly it's pretty low on my list right now.

I think because there are lots of ways to make a woman's head look aesthetically pleasing and dramatic, especially if she has reasonably long hair. Whereas with men with really short hair (which seems to be pretty typical for game heroes), you have less to work with for dramatic shots and poses for the artwork. The hood has a very distinctive look, it catches the eye, and draws the focus to the face and other lines on the body.

Honestly, probably just so they can have pictures of her with her hair, blowing dramatically in the wind. It's a fairly popular art style. I don't know if that's the case though. Maybe they did it to clearly show "see!? SEE?! It's a woman! We have a female protagonist like you demanded!" So there wouldn't be any ambiguity or anything based on the promotional artwork. *shrugs* I dunno, I guess probably because, as a flip side to the male sexism Ubisoft is often accused of, is the opposite side of it that is "women are prettier to look at than men, so let's show them off, instead of showing off the ugly men" mindset. Sort of the "on a pedestal" concept I guess.

 

[maninahat]

I don't know. I don't have a machine that could run it, so no for now. But if I eventually get one...then it depends on what the reviewers say. My favourite thing about AC games is exploring the setting, and Victorian look is what we've been asking for for ages. But that only really carries it for an hour or so, and the gameplay itself often becomes icon hoovering, repetitive victory cut scene watching, stabby stab stab stab stabbyingly boring.

 

[Olas]

Why is it that when playing as female assassin's the strict adherence to the absurd assassin hoodie get's dropped?

Anyway, Ubisoft would have to dramatically overhaul the AC series at this point for me to get even mildly interested. I bought AC4 over a year after it came out at a reduced price, I might buy AC Rogue since it looks like an interesting departure from the usual story, but honestly it's pretty low on my list right now.

I think because there are lots of ways to make a woman's head look aesthetically pleasing and dramatic, especially if she has reasonably long hair. Whereas with men with really short hair (which seems to be pretty typical for game heroes), you have less to work with for dramatic shots and poses for the artwork. The hood has a very distinctive look, it catches the eye, and draws the focus to the face and other lines on the body.

Honestly, probably just so they can have pictures of her with her hair, blowing dramatically in the wind. It's a fairly popular art style. I don't know if that's the case though. Maybe they did it to clearly show "see!? SEE?! It's a woman! We have a female protagonist like you demanded!" So there wouldn't be any ambiguity or anything based on the promotional artwork. *shrugs* I dunno, I guess probably because, as a flip side to the male sexism Ubisoft is often accused of, is the opposite side of it that is "women are prettier to look at than men, so let's show them off, instead of showing off the ugly men" mindset. Sort of the "on a pedestal" concept I guess.

It's hard for me to believe AC's target demographic (young males) care that much about whether a character's hair be totes glam. Plus it seems like long hair would get in the way and be a general hazard for anyone with such a physically active job.

I think you're right about it being primarily to emphasize her female-mess, since the traditional way of doing that in a videogame is clearly out.

 

[Bat Vader]

After watching the gameplay trailer I would have to say it does look interesting. I'm happy to see there isn't any multiplayer this time around and that they can concentrate on the story.

 

[Ishigami]

I just want confirmation of a playable female assassin. That will determine the rest of my interest.

Good news for ya', unless you've heard about it already.

I wanted chime in on not caring about AC but then I got some nice idea: I will buy it, if the protagonist is female.

Ha! Dodgeed that bullet!

http://www.vg247.com/2015/05/11/assassins-creed-syndicate-to-feature-a-female-protagonist-no-multiplayer-report/

Mwahahahaha!
------------------------------------------

I've already updated the original post, but I'll put a little something here for anyone that happens to skip it. Apparently, Assassin's Creed Syndicate will have a playable female character. Her name is Evie Frye, Jacob Frye's sister. The both of them will be involved in the criminal underground of Victorian London. We wont know anything for sure until Tuesday, but I'm pretty happy about this. It's been a while since we've had a female protagonist in AC.

Source: http://kotaku.com/sources-you-can-play-as-a-woman-in-assassins-creed-sy-1703598017

Okay it was surprising and they almost had me... almost.
She is supposed only playable for about 25% of the game while the focus is clearly is on Jacob that is a cop out if I ever saw one. Nope I don't buy it.

Yes I?m well aware of Liberation and whatever the fuck they called that side scroller? doesn?t matter it?s not a mothership title.

 

[stroopwafel]

I've seen that developer's walkthrough and color me unimpressed. It looks like they just slightly altered Unity's assets. Unity might have been a technical failure but atleast it had a lot of artistic flair. Victory(or I guess Syndicate now) just looks cut&pasted from the previous game. *yawn* at the rate they're churning up these games I guess it is to be expected that they're just working off a template.

 

[DementedSheep]

I got bored of AC at revelations, if I decide to pick up another one, it will probably be this one. I don't really care about the modern day plot in AC so it doesn't matter if I skip games.