So, just to understand the MP in this game, it's basically, you're always Arno, and your teammates are custom characters right? Sort of like how you're always Aiden in Watch Dogs but other players can be any NPC. Right? There's no actual story elements to the other characters, from what I understand.
Developers call out Ubisoft on their stance regarding playable female characters
- Thread starter MagicWithEarvin
- Start date
Didn't they have a female in the coop of Far Cry 3? Didn't she have animations? Plus this is an FPS, what does "moves like a dude" even mean.. you only see your hands.
Everyone is Arno but you can customize weapon and clothes like in previous ACs, is how i understand it.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Multiplayer.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
I don't see the part where Ubisoft are obligated to provide female characters.
It's not too late at all. We've seen bullshit animation fixes and DLC skins come out in a very swift time frames.
It doesn't have four leads, they're all variations of Arno.
Everyone is Arno, but maybe you see otherplayers with skins of supporting characters.
If they only had an animation library that was specifically for a female MC this all wouldn't have happened.
...whoops!
Exactly. I honestly don't give a fuck about Ubisoft, but saying stuff like them being sexist or whatever while they made Liberation is plain stupid.
Vermillion
Banned
MoonsaultSlayer
Member
If Arno has a set story and everyone is Arno in co-op, then there is no need for a female assassin.
If your co-op-able assassin is completely unique, then there is no excuse... especially if they plan to do multiplayer again which always features female characters.
If your co-op-able assassin is completely unique, then there is no excuse... especially if they plan to do multiplayer again which always features female characters.
MagicWithEarvin
Member
They're not obligated to, but when asked why there aren't any playable female characters in their upcoming games (a valid question, btw) - they give out awkward answers that are easily picked apart. Like previously mentioned here, they could've simply just said, "we didn't plan on putting playable female characters in our current vision for Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed: Unity."
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
So why didn't Ubisoft just say that, instead of making those excuses about the workload? Boggles the mind really.
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
Not really. The proportions on the female characters in that game just look wrong, especially the shoulders.
That said, Ubi really ought to be able to cobble together a few employees out of the bajillion working on these games to acheive this.
toastyToast
Member
I think that people would be surprised enough having a female character to notice that they have dude animations
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Having hundreds of hours in all the Souls games, I can assure you it's just fine. Never once while playing Demon's or Dark Souls did I think "oh wow my female warrior runs like a man, this is so wrong!".
Because Ubisoft PR staff is terrible.
Don't worry Lightning will be the eventual lead character in that game too.
That's why they're getting shit for it. It's the most transparent bullshit ever which makes it way more insulting than the usual "we didn't care, deal with it" approach most AAA developers have.
the_batman
Banned
the guy should've just said, "because there is none" when asked why there aren't female characters and left it at that.
Everyone looks wrong in Dark Souls, it's not a "pretty people" game. Not Oblivion bad, but still bad.
But you're right on the second point. Looking at Watch_Dogs, some of it seems like a badly managed project. Like bikes parked and nobody riding them like biker AI was left out at the last minute in that game. I really would love to see Ubis cutting room floor.
The situation is getting ridicolous once more.
I don't know it the ubisoft claims are true, they said they have redone the animation system completely, at the same time these opinion by industry professionals are worth considering.
The fact is that this is the nth "non issue" : developers are not obliged to use female characters in their games.
They are not using a male character in a context where a female one was obviously the best fit.
It's their choice, we should respect it. There are 4 playable assassins in the game, 4 is not statistically relevant!
If anybody has serious problems playing a character of one specific gender he/she should ask himself some questions.
Those ridicolous complains are getting out of hand. Focus on real equality problems folks!
Equality is not imposed equal(by counting them) representations in games or other media.
Poor ubisoft, after giving us a game and a DLC centered on a female assassin, a strong femal character in ACIV and a game with a supposed gay antagonist, it has to deal with this.
I don't know it the ubisoft claims are true, they said they have redone the animation system completely, at the same time these opinion by industry professionals are worth considering.
The fact is that this is the nth "non issue" : developers are not obliged to use female characters in their games.
They are not using a male character in a context where a female one was obviously the best fit.
It's their choice, we should respect it. There are 4 playable assassins in the game, 4 is not statistically relevant!
If anybody has serious problems playing a character of one specific gender he/she should ask himself some questions.
Those ridicolous complains are getting out of hand. Focus on real equality problems folks!
Equality is not imposed equal(by counting them) representations in games or other media.
Poor ubisoft, after giving us a game and a DLC centered on a female assassin, a strong femal character in ACIV and a game with a supposed gay antagonist, it has to deal with this.
Blackthorn
"hello?" "this is vagina"
As I said on the last page, assassin recruits in the series have always shown an even split in terms of gender. To have four assassins and not even one of them female not only goes against statistical reality, it goes against the statistical reality of their own series.
Intheflorsh
Banned
You know, it's not like Ubisoft doesn't have 500 studios working on the game. I think they would be able to do some extra work.
If they don't want a a female character in their next game then so be it. Just stop with these bullshit excuses.
If they don't want a a female character in their next game then so be it. Just stop with these bullshit excuses.
dugdug
Banned
I say get in line, a Black Assassin is long overdue
Edit: And not as a DLC , Side Character or hell Side Game for that matter lol
But...they did exactly that. *And* it was a woman.
Yet, barely anyone talked about it. AC: Liberation was not a very good game, but, having a black female lead in (at the time) Ubisoft's largest franchise deserved way more recognition than it got.
The stuff they're saying about Unity is dumb. I won't question that. But, this franchise has taken a lot of chances with regards to race and gender, and, no one ever bats an eye.
I'm not saying this stuff about Unity isn't a bunch of sorry excuses. But, maybe (and that's a big maybe) if people appreciated the diversity they've incorporated more in the past, we might not be having this conversation.
You know I don't usually give a shit about these controversies even when I almost always play as women in games that give the option (I love all my souls girls as my own sisters 
), but this time I actually was surprised when 4 assassins appeared in the last AC gameplay and all of them were dudes... Come on, after 27 games on the franchise you make another one with coop and you can't even choose a female? In the fucking French revolution! Gtfo
), but this time I actually was surprised when 4 assassins appeared in the last AC gameplay and all of them were dudes... Come on, after 27 games on the franchise you make another one with coop and you can't even choose a female? In the fucking French revolution! Gtfothe_batman
Banned
False Witness
Member
There is only one playable Assassin in the game. It's really as simple as that. Everyone is Arno. All the different gear you see in the co-op segment is gear built for Arno in the singleplayer. Only the faces of the alternate characters are different.
Scrooge McDuck
Member
What's the point of that, though? Isn't representation the issue here? I could hardly feel represented by my character if I couldn't even see her.
I don't get this "Whole new resources/animations" bullshit. Do men and women really move that differently? Not every woman walks with sexy femme fatale hip sway. We don't need any Tera shit, and the only reason you could say "Males and females move totally differently!" Is if you're deliberately exaggerating a female character's "femininity".
Aveline used mostly Connors animations, and she looked just fine. Not that anyone's going to notice under layers of heavy clothing and heavy weapons.
Plus Ubisoft should already have a female skeleton in engine to work off of, unless they mean to say that there will be not a single female npc on the game.
And oy vey, Ubi's "We were SO close, but couldn't manage it" excuse for Farcry 4 was even worse in how damn patronizing it was. You already had a female coop character!
Aveline used mostly Connors animations, and she looked just fine. Not that anyone's going to notice under layers of heavy clothing and heavy weapons.
Plus Ubisoft should already have a female skeleton in engine to work off of, unless they mean to say that there will be not a single female npc on the game.
And oy vey, Ubi's "We were SO close, but couldn't manage it" excuse for Farcry 4 was even worse in how damn patronizing it was. You already had a female coop character!
ExFalsoQuodlibet
Member
Developers are not obliged to write good games either, developers are not obliged to not write racist characters, you and me are not obliged to treat people with respect, and so on and so forth.
The fact that someone is not obliged to do something doesn't mean that he/she shouldn't do it at all, "obliged" is a completely irrelevant concept when it comes to artistic creation. What publishers should do (even if they're not obliged) is to introduce a little more diversity in the AA and AAA space: it's like all movies were romantic comedies at, at the complaint of writing different movies, the publishers responded "we are not obliged to not make romantic comedies".
And for the nth time: this is not a "non issue", this is a "non issue" to people who don't care about videogames, and this is a forum about videogames.
Also: the topic here is "bullshit technical excuses made to cover poor decisions"
You know I don't usually give a shit about these controversies even when I almost always play as women in games that give the option (I love all my souls girls as my own sisters
I think the game uses the Watch Dogs system of multiplayer, where you always look like the Aiden on your own system for seamless shift between single and multiplayer. If that's the case, they could add in female assassins there but they would always be the other characters models that you see and never your own. They really should have just said this instead of coming up with some bullshit excuse.
PvP has gone mate.
Prototype Viktor
Member
that's a horrible thing to say, Square is already in a race to the bottom with Capcom
False Witness
Member
Doesn't seem like there will be PvP in this game.
BrassDragon
Member
But they're not defending it on artistic grounds as you have - they're saying it's a development / logistical issue. People in the know are calling BS on that argument. The devs might have their own reasons for being non-inclusive as you suggest, but this is the particular explanation they offered for AC:U and FC4 and it doesn't hold up.
Either they have trouble managing their projects properly or they're afraid to give us the real reason. Considering that Ubisoft has reputation for not being truthful in its PR, this is definitely a thing.
Ok, then it makes total sense.
Yeah, not sure why Ubisoft is getting all this flak. Liberation and Freedom Cry may have been smaller assassin creed games but I still respect them with their character choice.
Yep, someone was supporting this bullshit last night saying that Ubisoft literally has to start from scratch, ignoring that theres plenty of different female NPCS, female assassins and the fact that the pakour animations are pretty sleek and cat-like in the first place, they actually believe the company line that Ubisoft began Unity from scratch.
SliceSabre
Banned
Something I wonder: Is this really a big deal?
Hear me out: What I mean is sure neogaf and various other video game outlets are making a big deal about it(and representation is important in games from my perspective), but what about the people who will actually buy the game? The general audience I mean.
If this game goes onto sell in huge numbers and is found to be an A+ experience then this actually isn't a big issue at all to the general audience is it? Or it may be an issue, but not one the general audience cares enough about to affect their experience with the game.
Hear me out: What I mean is sure neogaf and various other video game outlets are making a big deal about it(and representation is important in games from my perspective), but what about the people who will actually buy the game? The general audience I mean.
If this game goes onto sell in huge numbers and is found to be an A+ experience then this actually isn't a big issue at all to the general audience is it? Or it may be an issue, but not one the general audience cares enough about to affect their experience with the game.
Gold_Loot
Member
Agreed, it's bullshit, and I'm pretty disappointed with some of these other developers dog piling a non issue via Twitter..
Here's a company that has given us good female protagonists. Good black protagonists, as well as Indian , and Persian. Yet, they get the brunt of all the shit concerning race and gender.
No wonder most companies stick with the white male demographic. Just a few days of reading some forums, and I wouldn't bother with that shit either.
Welp I'm out.. I was excited for this game too -_-
Vermillion
Banned
No one will care, realistically.
This is more about gamers trying to make the industry more welcoming to women.
...Though knowing how the multiplayer works now genuinely confuses me about the complaints.
useyourfist
Member
Ubi can't afford boob motion capture. Seriously though it can't be too much work for them, probably just the pr department telling devs no.
I tend to agree. When they made Connor the main character of AC3, all people were saying was "ho my god, he's the worst, so bland, etc.". No one ever stopped to say "hey that's cool that we have a native indian main character (who isn't running a casino and having alcohol issues)(and whose mentor is an old black dude) in such a huge franchise".
I would have loved to see Ubi add a female assassin in Unity though. Aveline is a really cool character who clearly showed they can (and know how to) do it. They should reiterate.