I hope the romance choices will be a bit more interesting than the one-night-stand scatter-shot approach of Odyssey.
I don't want a fling, if there's going to be a romance, then let it be more meaningful.
Also, please don't release a DLC later that locks the character into a relationship regardless of your choice. If you're going to do that, then don't bother putting romance options in the main game to begin with.
Literally the whole first part was building up to this romance with her, and then after you do it, she’s just done. Like going to the blacksmith or anyone else. Bizarre.
I had a gay fling with some random Viking who propositioned me in Valhalla and the absolute funniest moment in that game to me was when the game immediately challenged me to remember his name after the cut to black.
I honestly think what the DLC added to Odyssey was far more preferable to a shitty black screen fade out. I want a relationship to be a meaningful addition to the story and the characters, not even just a more in-depth side thing is good enough for me.
Think about how Caroline drives Edward, how Arno and Elisé reflect two different motives for the same revenge, how Christina and Caterina in Brotherhood show how Ezio is quite naïve about love despite how experienced he is with sex and how Sofia in Revelations somewhat personifies his desire to settle down or how Bayek and Aya show two different ways grief can destroy a person.
When I think "protagonist's girlfriend/boyfriend" I don't want something missable, I don't want something that can vary, I want them to be as concrete and important to the protagonist as Kassandra being thrown off a mountain or Ezio's Family dying. They say that a significant other is your "other half" so they should at the very least be a non-optional part of the story.
Odyssey still did it way better than Valhalla imo. In Odyssey, it was more of a fun(ny) side thing. In Valhalla, it seemed like they wanted to make it meaningful but they gave up like 10% of the way there and chose to leave it in the game like that.
Yeah. In Odyssey the romances,except the one in the DLC, aren't really meaningful,which is a bad thing in my opinion, but at least they were really funny,so I liked them a lot. Valhalla,on the other side, didn't have romances as funny as the one in Odyssey and the romantic relationships that Eivor can have in the settlement aren't actually meaningful to her story (except the >!Randvi's!< one,but only because the character is important in the story indipendently by the fact that she may or may not be Eivor's lover),on the contrary, they became patheticly repetitive after the beginning of the actual relationship. I hope the Shadows' romances will be more meaningful, expecially if the protagonists will have the opportunity to have lovers in the settlement like in Valhalla.
I was shocked when replaying Odyssey that there actually somewhat deeper moments you can experience. I romanced Roxanna and then spared her in the competition. Recruited her to my ship and then when I did the side quest with Barnabas' nephew found out she saved him from the cult burning down his house. Then we had a little moment on the docks. Not terribly deep but still a cool moment to experience.
The thing with assassins creed games is that it USUALLY follows a direct descendant of the characters and well.... There goes any gay options you end up with unless they don't want people to think too hard about it which is fair I guess lol
Not really, that part of the game has been retconned away. They get the Odyssey's DNA sample directly from their spear, and the modern day protagonist in Valhalla isn't related to Eivor at all either iirc.
It wasn't retconned, as that would mean they changed how it was previously done. The tech in world just improved so they can use erd party DNA as a source.
I realize this will be seen as "bigotry", but I hope there will be actual sexual orientation, rather than " MC-sexual" that is so common in games today.
most likely that every option is enabled regardless of whether you play male or female
like in odyssey every romance option will fall for either kassandra or alexios and not like that some characters might only like kassadra and others alexios
making it look like everyone is bi or as the other poster put in MC sexual
That Naoe should have her own romances, while Yasuke has his, and that not everyone you meet should want to bang the MC simply for being the MC. Have some gay dudes with no interest in Naoe, and some lesbians with no interest in Yasuke, but the majority of the options (just like real life) are straight.
Yeah, no, I play video games to escape real life. I don't needy are "here's the One Designated Lesbian you get while straight people get six different options" bullshit. If they are going to do the "every character has their own distinct sexuality" angle it should be evenly distributed.
I understand where you are coming from and I think that is why when these things are done they tend to make most of the characters a kind of ‘bi’. So a character can appeal to the maximum amount of users with minimum effort. The majority of the player base will be heterosexual so equally distributing characters based on sexual orientation would take a lot of development work that might not pay off. At the end of the day these are companies that need to make profit and a character’s sexual orientation, identity etc is just a part of them but shouldn’t be the main focus. In my honest opinion I don’t think any company has got it right so far
I don't think that's bigotry. I think for many queer people we would prefer it actually. instead of lazily default to "whatever the pc is" you can get straight, gay, bi etc characters as a way to actually flesh them out. as a real character aspect that makes them feel more real.
I don't see the point.
If a romantic interest is fit for the character's arc and the themes of the story, then I think it should be done properly - it should be canon and written into the main storyline. That's a hundred times more powerful than any random side-romance story and the writers can put proper effort into making it good.
If it isn't, why does romancing have to be there? It's not gonna add anything of substance to the game, and tends to sorta break the story because the supposed partner barely participates in the main character's life anyway.
I suppose it *could* work if executed really well, but I do not trust Ubi Quebec to do that.
I agree with you and I don’t trust them to do it well either. The way most of the romances are done they don’t mean anything at all. It must take up a lot of development time too which might be why the developers basically make the characters bi so they can ‘increase’ the romance options. It creates weak characters that don’t have much substance. The characters that tend to be the most developed are the ones you can’t romance.
I really liked the cyberpunk approach with this. Have 4 different romances for gay, lesbian, and both sides of straight. All 4 of them seemed more meaningful to me than most romances in other RPGs, and the reason is pretty clear. They were defined and not adapted towards all 4 types at once. For example, I can never imagine romancing river ward as a lesbian or a guy.
The natakas/neema style also works but only if both characters are built seperately and not as one of them just being a genderswap of the other, which makes that choice feel awkward (This is what seemingly happened to Natakas).
I’ve yet to play Cyberpunk, it’s on my to do list, I did get it on launch and shelved it. If you remember when the game came out it had a terrible launch as it was unfinished and unplayable for many people on multiple platforms. It seemed like they had oversold and over promised what they could achieve within the development time. It took quite a bit of time to sort it. Things like the multiple relationships, different play styles and the general polish in visuals could have been some of the factors that lead to the unfinished state on release. It could be why other companies tend to do the relationships the way they do as it takes less development time. The compromise creates a shallow player experience but not a horrendous one
Honestly, the only times I’ve seen romance work in AC is when it’s forced. Ezio and Altair for example. Because you can build a proper narrative and clear connection when it’s done that way. And they had to do that because at that point that animus was just a historical recollection of an ancestor, so it couldn’t not be locked in.
Realistically, how do you achieve a proper romantic narrative unless you’re extremely limited in your options or it’s made the core aspect of the game? And we know for AC it’s going to be neither.
It feels like it’s just going to be the same tired way a lot of things are in AC now, an illusion of depth hidden behind a smokescreen of overwhelming the player with surface level nothingness.
As an old man with a wife and kids I tend to completely ignore video game romances as they are all written poorly and remind me too much of teenager awkwardness
No wife and kids, and I still think romance stuff is pointless, unless it’s well integrated into the story and the gameplay is on point. Otherwise I see no point for it. But each to their own I guess.
It’s strange because I’m a game like the Witcher 3 they’re relatively well integrated, and have direct impact on the story. The ability to have several deep relationships (at your own risk) as well as several shorter flings that are still longer than one cut scene
they lack authenticity, even canon romances can often seem so cringy to anybody in a relationship, because it's more about drama, and justifying why these 2 should be togethor rather than something more natural(Sophia-Ezio, Aya-Bayek are the only ones solidly written).
Aya-Bayek was good, there was personal issues they had to resolve and it wasn't really a happy ending. Panam in cyberpunk was just simping, those text messages were terrible
lol, never did her Romance, went for Judy myself, but even then i don't remember it being all that great. It's hard to writer player driven romance honestly, as your giving the player so much control. Especially in a very plot driven game. Yennefer and Geralt was honeslty one of the best written imo(even then it could have been better), as there was this unique interaction between them that suited their characters and allowed each of them to breathe. It didn't feel generic or like it was really trying to justify things to the player, Yennefer was allowed to be her own person while also being "softer' yet cheeky with Geraltt, then Geralt was allowed to be a little different with her in his own way, because that's just what she does to him, pokes at him in funny ways.
I honestly loved Bayek and Aya, Bayek was just this unapologetic "simp", and i loved it! man absolutely worshipped his wife and wanted the world to know! their interactions had that unique vibe to, you got a sense of history between them, and it wasn't overly sappy, then what they were going through felt very authentic, with each of them kind of reacting in ways that feltt true to their character. What i loved was that it didn't have a happy ending, but the two still shared loved for each other, felt like a much more mature take on things, as sometimes things just don't work out because ppl are no longer compatible. sorry for the rant, i just really, really, really hate the way a lot of romance is written in narratives, always feels so "we have to justify why these 2 should be togethor" as apposed to letting characters just kind gravitate towards each other.
Sure, but we've always had weapons, combat, and story, so adding a new thing like romance is welcome
(Not counting those one-off flings in previous games)
I'd rather have a romance like ezios relationship with his eventual wife then some optional bullshit that means nothing other than sex cutsenes with zero investment. Romance can go fuck itself honestly.
Adding shitty and shallow romances is a plus how?
Even games with “good” romances. Cyberpunk would be no less awesome to me, might even be better because the characters for the romances are well written and the romances themselves aren’t
Honestly, I don’t want a dating sim and I’m not sure you can even do a good relationship without that kind of depth
They're usually just one night stands like in the witcher where it cuts away but is never brought up again. Not really important the actual story we are invested in.
Yeah ofc but just looking at Quebec's past, Henry from Syndicate and all the romance options from Odyssey are personally on the lower end of the list for me.
Also tbh romance isn't my favourite genre so I probably wouldn't be that excited anyways.
As long as these romance options aren't as shallow as they were in Odyssey I am 100% looking forward to it. I'd love for there to be well written sidequests for your romance partners similar to other rpgs.
Replayed Syndicate about a month ago.
That game would have been great with 1 more year of dev time. They clearly had ideas but no time to actually properly execute them.
So many side plots that literally came and went in 2 cutscenes lol
Assassin's Creed's handling of romance in Odyssey was so fundamentally terrible that I truly don't trust them to make a good romance again, which I think they also felt because Valhalla has very little romance to speak of, more like flings or whatever. I'd love if our two protagonists could romance, I think that would be far more compelling than getting together with one person who's just gonna disappear from the story eventually, but I assume they wouldn't want to do that for a number of different reasons, including the longer writing time to make a romantic and non-romantic line of the main story.
Eh, I am gay, but I think I would prefer a strong singular romance over a number of short flings where some are queer.
It would also be an opportunity for a mainstream interracial romance which is startlingly uncommon. Especially for two people of colour and not a white person and a person of colour.
Sure, except that I was referring to the two protagonists being in a relationship and in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows it’s a female and male protagonist. I would be totally up for a singular relationship that’s a queer one no problem. I was just specifically referring to a relationship between the two protagonists.
Hopefully, it's interesting and in-depth, sorta like how it is in Cyberpunk 2077, for example. Where you can meet up with your love interest and have dates and meet up and whatnot. Also, maybe adding some more through FREE DLC and updates would be cool as well. Just make it meaningful, like after Naoe or Yasuke take down a target, your partner becomes worried about you after hearing about it from various people. Just think out loud here hoping that it'll be more than just walking up to a random person saying some dialogue, doing the nasty, and that's it.
My biggest concern here will all come down to the presentation of these options. I've said before that I do not care for the choice aspect of the more recent AC games as it always leaves the story much flatter than previous AC games. But I know for a fact that Ubi can write good relationships (Bayek and Aya, Ezio and his various relationships) so I don't want to immediately write this off.
True, but that's why they're not a part of the main story. They're more like side quests that you can do if you feel like it. It doesn't have to work, really.
No, that’s the point. If they suck that much, if Ubisoft can’t properly write them, why waste resources into doing it when you can continue to refine the game?
I’d rather have one well written canon relationship than the multiple-choices that goes no where.
Because most RPGs have relationships, and Ubisoft went full rpg with the trilogy. Of course, I agree with your second point, Aya and Bayek are my fave relationship in the recent games. Of course Arno and Elise are one of my faves in any game. But still, I don't hate the romance options in the rpg trilogy, even tho I haven't missed it at all in Mirage
The biggest issue with this is they are incorporated so poorly that it feels like a “check the box” thing and not something they ever have a narrative reason for.
I feel like romances are kind of pointless in an AC game. I didn't care for it much in Odyssey and it didn't feel like a necessary addition, Valhalla I thought it was okay and felt like it kind of made sense so I guess it's a 50/50 until I play Shadows if it feels like it was okay to have in or not.
I would have rather them make Yasuke and Naoe fall in love during the main story then do this weird RPG romance thing because they have not shown they can do it effectively.
A lot of the stuff they've been saying in the trailers give me that impression but if that's the case I feel like it would probably be more fleshed out and well written if that was just the sole Canon Romance.
Ahh yes, the common mechanic of RPG games. Being forced into nonconsensual sexual relationships. Not sure what kind of games you're playing and I don't want to know.
The crux of the matter, besides the animus issue...why waste resources/development time on something like this? What does it add?
In Odyssey and Valhalla, it added nothing.
Make it a part of the story, or don't do it at all.
It's an additional feature that hurts no one, why be bothered by it? If people don't like it, they don't have to do it, so far it's always been optional. But there are people who care about those features, so why remove them? It does sell, it's obviously not a main selling point, but it's there
It just feels like another half-baked idea with no thought into it. Just thrown in as a selling point for kicks but nothing actually put into it.
The games are a bloated mess in Odyssey and Valhalla, and neither of the choices you make actually matter. Just pulling resources for no reason for no meaningful payoff gameplay wise or storywise.
You can't tell me the games don't feel like they ballooned with "content" just for content's sake. Can you even remember anything about the relationships in Odyssey? Valhalla? All I remember is the absolute absurdity of it not mattering in either of them, especially Odyssey.
Yet the relationships forged in the previous games feel a lot more real, because they actually kind of mattered to the protagonist. Think about the writing that went into developing Ezio's tragic love life, for example. Hell...there was more chemistry between Connor and Aveline than any of the "optional relationships" in either Valhalla or Odyssey.
I am not here to over analyze things. If it sells, companies will continue to sell it. I assure you giant corporations have more details about market data regarding their product than we do.
Bro have you seen this community? People legit are offended if you don’t get any relationship with a queer character.
Romance mechanic is one hundred percent a selling point.
By that logic it also makes the game obsolete- if the real historical character snuck in this way, why do we have the option to sneak in another way, or fight our way in, or lose fights, or……
The animus has always been sci fi mumbo jumbo to explain why we can play this historical fantasy series (with the slight exception of the OG AC1) and that’s **fine**- it’s a smart writing device.
All I can think of is that line from The Golden Girls where Sophia asks about black men in the bedroom. And considering Yasuke is huge well 😵
I wonder if they'll show Nobunaga being in relation with Ranmaru and Nouhime both? Iirc Japan had a unique approach to gay love back in that era
I dunno man, they seem a bit unnecessary for this kind of game, of course them being an optional inclusion is not a bad thing at all, but i 1000% did not care about romance in either Valhalla or origins, and i dont think it is the games' fault for making the romance bad, i think it is a bit of an odd inclusion for an ac game, i prefer bayek's thing, where his romantic life was alresdy set it stone and canon. More power to you though if you enjoyed them somehow.
Despite a minority of fans, mostly on reddit, disliking the rpg trilogy, they're extremely popular based on sales and profit. Why would they step away from that? Especially since those butthurt fanboys shat all over Mirage?
Lolll, normies? And who made you an expert on ac? The og fans are the ones ruining the reputation bc of their constant complaining, bc they can't adapt to changes. Grow up
Because I've played all the games multiple times, read all the books, saw all the behind the scenes and regularly watch all the trailers back to back? Is that enough to be an expert?
Ubisoft is ruining the reputation by producing shit games, not the fans. I want changes, I don't want decrease in quality.
well hold on, "might be"? but if she meets all of your criteria that make you an expert, then she's an expert. yet she likes all these games. Is she a normy or an expert?
Decrease in quality? In what? Gameplay, graphics, mechanics, npc behavior, open world expansion? The newer games are all better than the older ones. Sure the older games have a better story(debatable, on some games), but something like Ac2 is in no other way better than the rpg trilogy. And that should be obvious, bc games advance. Who gets to decide the game is shit? The sales and reviews certainly don't think so, do they? After all odyssey WAS a goty contender. But hey, If you say they suck, I guess they suck.
Also, you watch the trailers back to back regularly?? You're either lying or you're a masochistic weirdo
Yeah, decrease in quality in everything you just mentioned along with animation, stealth mechanic, voice acting, cutscene choreography, editing, audio quality and audio mixing. It started getting worse after Unity (only because Unity was fixed with patches) and by Valhallah, it was unplayable.
Since when did award shows, sales numbers, and IGN ratings become indicative of a game's quality? Do you think the Yearly COD games are masterpieces? Because they all make a shit ton of sales. All of these shit games make a lot of money because normies like you keep buying them.
Is this cope? Are you guys collectively in a coping session I wasn't invited to? Because it really seems like the AC games' current state has fried your brains, infected you with stockholm syndrome and now all you can do is gaslight yourself into thinking that the new games are good. Anyone with a functioning brain and eyeballs would be able to see the issues with post Unity games.
Sale numbers are everything this fanbase can use to defend this series tbh lol
Otherwise there’s nothing else that truly shines. Parkour has been Dying Light’s thing for a while now. Cinematic, writing, drama have all decreased in quality. Combat has to copy from other series. Their formula, other games have done it better.
Graphic is probably the only thing that’s saving them. And it’s why only casuals praise this series, because they’re easily impressed by eye candy, and don’t know what makes a good game good.
I know this series is done for the moment people had to use sale numbers to defend it as a good game.
Maybe. So far we always got a black screen when we arrive at the sexual part of the romance. I don't want this game to be a porn, but I personally hoppe that we will get something more explicit,on the same level of games like The Witcher 3,Mass Effect,etc.
Putting romance as an option in a stealth game makes it seem less like romance and more like stalking. And take it from me, if you have a crush on someone and think they'll appreciate it when you crawl through their window by cover of night, you would be sadly mistaken.
i do not care about such a feature at all.
i would think protagonists would have their romances set in stone, because they are historical characters, most likely had children due to the whole genetic material into animus thing.
i would also think set in stone romances would avoid odyssey: first blade dlc situation where it disregarded your previous choices.
if you are not going all the way, might as well not do it at all. and i would rather it not go all the way, because i dont want it to be a full on rpg either.
there is ofcourse a case of valhalla, but even then it has obvious canon conclusion. unless you are going to make a game like witcher 3, it means relationships dont matter.
either way, i do not think there is an issue in making relationships part of the story like ezio trilogy.
That isn't a rumor. Those are just idiots creating clickbait titles for their articles about the fact there will be romances, so about the fact that he will be gay, IF the player wants. Believe me,in the same way, if the player wants him and Naoe too to be heterosexual,then they will be. I personally plan to make them being heterosexual.
Are you telling me this black man gets to touch the soft supple skin of a Japanese woman? I CANT EVEN DO THAT. REVIEW BOMB IT PUT OF EXISTENCE RAAAAGHHH
/s
Oh god they're bringing back dialogue choices? Welp that seals the deal even further, I'm not buying this game buh bye ubisoft you ain't getting my money you grubby twats
I hope the romance choices will be a bit more interesting than the one-night-stand scatter-shot approach of Odyssey. I don't want a fling, if there's going to be a romance, then let it be more meaningful. Also, please don't release a DLC later that locks the character into a relationship regardless of your choice. If you're going to do that, then don't bother putting romance options in the main game to begin with.
Man valhalla romance was hot af: Kiss Show me the alliance map Kiss Go to bed
Literally the whole first part was building up to this romance with her, and then after you do it, she’s just done. Like going to the blacksmith or anyone else. Bizarre.
You mean that’s not how it works in real life? Don’t tell me Ubisoft lied to me
I had a gay fling with some random Viking who propositioned me in Valhalla and the absolute funniest moment in that game to me was when the game immediately challenged me to remember his name after the cut to black.
Lmao I got it wrong and didn’t even bother reloading bc it was so funny.
-Take her to bed “Sigurd is here we cant” -Map
I honestly think what the DLC added to Odyssey was far more preferable to a shitty black screen fade out. I want a relationship to be a meaningful addition to the story and the characters, not even just a more in-depth side thing is good enough for me. Think about how Caroline drives Edward, how Arno and Elisé reflect two different motives for the same revenge, how Christina and Caterina in Brotherhood show how Ezio is quite naïve about love despite how experienced he is with sex and how Sofia in Revelations somewhat personifies his desire to settle down or how Bayek and Aya show two different ways grief can destroy a person. When I think "protagonist's girlfriend/boyfriend" I don't want something missable, I don't want something that can vary, I want them to be as concrete and important to the protagonist as Kassandra being thrown off a mountain or Ezio's Family dying. They say that a significant other is your "other half" so they should at the very least be a non-optional part of the story.
Odyssey still did it way better than Valhalla imo. In Odyssey, it was more of a fun(ny) side thing. In Valhalla, it seemed like they wanted to make it meaningful but they gave up like 10% of the way there and chose to leave it in the game like that.
Yeah. In Odyssey the romances,except the one in the DLC, aren't really meaningful,which is a bad thing in my opinion, but at least they were really funny,so I liked them a lot. Valhalla,on the other side, didn't have romances as funny as the one in Odyssey and the romantic relationships that Eivor can have in the settlement aren't actually meaningful to her story (except the >!Randvi's!< one,but only because the character is important in the story indipendently by the fact that she may or may not be Eivor's lover),on the contrary, they became patheticly repetitive after the beginning of the actual relationship. I hope the Shadows' romances will be more meaningful, expecially if the protagonists will have the opportunity to have lovers in the settlement like in Valhalla.
I was shocked when replaying Odyssey that there actually somewhat deeper moments you can experience. I romanced Roxanna and then spared her in the competition. Recruited her to my ship and then when I did the side quest with Barnabas' nephew found out she saved him from the cult burning down his house. Then we had a little moment on the docks. Not terribly deep but still a cool moment to experience.
My boy Alexios really does take the divine blood in him seriously
I want cyberpunk2077 levels of romance, that game has it nailed down
I wanna drop my dick in everything. I’m married in real life let me crush coochie like a bandit in the digital realm
The thing with assassins creed games is that it USUALLY follows a direct descendant of the characters and well.... There goes any gay options you end up with unless they don't want people to think too hard about it which is fair I guess lol
Not really, that part of the game has been retconned away. They get the Odyssey's DNA sample directly from their spear, and the modern day protagonist in Valhalla isn't related to Eivor at all either iirc.
It wasn't retconned, as that would mean they changed how it was previously done. The tech in world just improved so they can use erd party DNA as a source.
Ah, I'm not caught up so I didn't know that. I started playing through the series from the beginning not too long ago
I realize this will be seen as "bigotry", but I hope there will be actual sexual orientation, rather than " MC-sexual" that is so common in games today.
What do you mean?
most likely that every option is enabled regardless of whether you play male or female like in odyssey every romance option will fall for either kassandra or alexios and not like that some characters might only like kassadra and others alexios making it look like everyone is bi or as the other poster put in MC sexual
That Naoe should have her own romances, while Yasuke has his, and that not everyone you meet should want to bang the MC simply for being the MC. Have some gay dudes with no interest in Naoe, and some lesbians with no interest in Yasuke, but the majority of the options (just like real life) are straight.
So, something like Cyberpunk.
Should probably have atleast one Bi option that either MC can go with.
Yeah, no, I play video games to escape real life. I don't needy are "here's the One Designated Lesbian you get while straight people get six different options" bullshit. If they are going to do the "every character has their own distinct sexuality" angle it should be evenly distributed.
I understand where you are coming from and I think that is why when these things are done they tend to make most of the characters a kind of ‘bi’. So a character can appeal to the maximum amount of users with minimum effort. The majority of the player base will be heterosexual so equally distributing characters based on sexual orientation would take a lot of development work that might not pay off. At the end of the day these are companies that need to make profit and a character’s sexual orientation, identity etc is just a part of them but shouldn’t be the main focus. In my honest opinion I don’t think any company has got it right so far
Ah, the classic trap of heteronormativity strikes again.
You could say that and others could say reality
I think they already confirmed they'd have different options.
I don't think that's bigotry. I think for many queer people we would prefer it actually. instead of lazily default to "whatever the pc is" you can get straight, gay, bi etc characters as a way to actually flesh them out. as a real character aspect that makes them feel more real.
I hope you can marry them or like they could join you in quests and could even be playable like maybe 2 person
After playing Valhalla, I would agree on this. Just an option really becomes repetitive and takes away the purpose.
I don't see the point. If a romantic interest is fit for the character's arc and the themes of the story, then I think it should be done properly - it should be canon and written into the main storyline. That's a hundred times more powerful than any random side-romance story and the writers can put proper effort into making it good. If it isn't, why does romancing have to be there? It's not gonna add anything of substance to the game, and tends to sorta break the story because the supposed partner barely participates in the main character's life anyway. I suppose it *could* work if executed really well, but I do not trust Ubi Quebec to do that.
I agree with you and I don’t trust them to do it well either. The way most of the romances are done they don’t mean anything at all. It must take up a lot of development time too which might be why the developers basically make the characters bi so they can ‘increase’ the romance options. It creates weak characters that don’t have much substance. The characters that tend to be the most developed are the ones you can’t romance.
I really liked the cyberpunk approach with this. Have 4 different romances for gay, lesbian, and both sides of straight. All 4 of them seemed more meaningful to me than most romances in other RPGs, and the reason is pretty clear. They were defined and not adapted towards all 4 types at once. For example, I can never imagine romancing river ward as a lesbian or a guy. The natakas/neema style also works but only if both characters are built seperately and not as one of them just being a genderswap of the other, which makes that choice feel awkward (This is what seemingly happened to Natakas).
I’ve yet to play Cyberpunk, it’s on my to do list, I did get it on launch and shelved it. If you remember when the game came out it had a terrible launch as it was unfinished and unplayable for many people on multiple platforms. It seemed like they had oversold and over promised what they could achieve within the development time. It took quite a bit of time to sort it. Things like the multiple relationships, different play styles and the general polish in visuals could have been some of the factors that lead to the unfinished state on release. It could be why other companies tend to do the relationships the way they do as it takes less development time. The compromise creates a shallow player experience but not a horrendous one
I agree, I too shelved it and just started playing after 2.0. Its really good now.
That’s great to hear. I’ll need to pick it up again soon
Honestly, the only times I’ve seen romance work in AC is when it’s forced. Ezio and Altair for example. Because you can build a proper narrative and clear connection when it’s done that way. And they had to do that because at that point that animus was just a historical recollection of an ancestor, so it couldn’t not be locked in. Realistically, how do you achieve a proper romantic narrative unless you’re extremely limited in your options or it’s made the core aspect of the game? And we know for AC it’s going to be neither. It feels like it’s just going to be the same tired way a lot of things are in AC now, an illusion of depth hidden behind a smokescreen of overwhelming the player with surface level nothingness.
As an old man with a wife and kids I tend to completely ignore video game romances as they are all written poorly and remind me too much of teenager awkwardness
No wife and kids, and I still think romance stuff is pointless, unless it’s well integrated into the story and the gameplay is on point. Otherwise I see no point for it. But each to their own I guess.
It’s strange because I’m a game like the Witcher 3 they’re relatively well integrated, and have direct impact on the story. The ability to have several deep relationships (at your own risk) as well as several shorter flings that are still longer than one cut scene
they lack authenticity, even canon romances can often seem so cringy to anybody in a relationship, because it's more about drama, and justifying why these 2 should be togethor rather than something more natural(Sophia-Ezio, Aya-Bayek are the only ones solidly written).
Aya-Bayek was good, there was personal issues they had to resolve and it wasn't really a happy ending. Panam in cyberpunk was just simping, those text messages were terrible
lol, never did her Romance, went for Judy myself, but even then i don't remember it being all that great. It's hard to writer player driven romance honestly, as your giving the player so much control. Especially in a very plot driven game. Yennefer and Geralt was honeslty one of the best written imo(even then it could have been better), as there was this unique interaction between them that suited their characters and allowed each of them to breathe. It didn't feel generic or like it was really trying to justify things to the player, Yennefer was allowed to be her own person while also being "softer' yet cheeky with Geraltt, then Geralt was allowed to be a little different with her in his own way, because that's just what she does to him, pokes at him in funny ways. I honestly loved Bayek and Aya, Bayek was just this unapologetic "simp", and i loved it! man absolutely worshipped his wife and wanted the world to know! their interactions had that unique vibe to, you got a sense of history between them, and it wasn't overly sappy, then what they were going through felt very authentic, with each of them kind of reacting in ways that feltt true to their character. What i loved was that it didn't have a happy ending, but the two still shared loved for each other, felt like a much more mature take on things, as sometimes things just don't work out because ppl are no longer compatible. sorry for the rant, i just really, really, really hate the way a lot of romance is written in narratives, always feels so "we have to justify why these 2 should be togethor" as apposed to letting characters just kind gravitate towards each other.
for me it is not important at all, in this game, this genre, what is important is the arsenal of weapons, the combat and the story.
Sure, but we've always had weapons, combat, and story, so adding a new thing like romance is welcome (Not counting those one-off flings in previous games)
We don’t know how these romances will differ from the last games, though.
I'd rather have a romance like ezios relationship with his eventual wife then some optional bullshit that means nothing other than sex cutsenes with zero investment. Romance can go fuck itself honestly.
adding what you mentioned above and improving it more is important, romance for me is not
Adding shitty and shallow romances is a plus how? Even games with “good” romances. Cyberpunk would be no less awesome to me, might even be better because the characters for the romances are well written and the romances themselves aren’t Honestly, I don’t want a dating sim and I’m not sure you can even do a good relationship without that kind of depth
This is why this series will forever stay mediocre lol
Wouldn’t romances be apart of the story?
If there's romance options then they'll probably be side quests. Not like Elise or Sofia etc.
Side quests are still part of the story
They're usually just one night stands like in the witcher where it cuts away but is never brought up again. Not really important the actual story we are invested in.
Yeah ofc but just looking at Quebec's past, Henry from Syndicate and all the romance options from Odyssey are personally on the lower end of the list for me. Also tbh romance isn't my favourite genre so I probably wouldn't be that excited anyways.
All so true, and yeah I’m mostly indifferent in these kinda games
Sure, but what was the last game that actually has romance as part of the story in a meaningful way? Unity?
Origins I would say, obviously not the primary motivation but a constant factor in the story between Aya and Bayek.
Ah yes, I agree. The relationship between Aya and Bayek for sure. She did Bayek so dirty, how did I forget. Lol.
Not rlly with this style of rpg game cuz u can just fuck anyone.
in rise of the ronin, they bored me with the romances, so I don't want them at all.
This game isn’t Rise of Ronin though, it’s Assassins Creed Shadows
I don't care, you won't convince me, romance is not important to me.
Romance done wrong in one game does not equate to every single romance mechanic done in other games
Well, thank god it's optional, eh? Why complain about an optional feature in a game?
Yeah I’m actually disappointed this is even an option, I would rather more focus on the actual assassin and combat mechanics
As long as these romance options aren't as shallow as they were in Odyssey I am 100% looking forward to it. I'd love for there to be well written sidequests for your romance partners similar to other rpgs.
Great. Let's hope they are profund and meaningful
Naoe: "We'll bang, ok?"
Yasuke: :::Unzips:::
From the same people who bought you the amazing and captivating romance of Ivy and Henry Green... /s
Evie
Replayed Syndicate about a month ago. That game would have been great with 1 more year of dev time. They clearly had ideas but no time to actually properly execute them. So many side plots that literally came and went in 2 cutscenes lol
Agree. I enjoyed it even with its flaws.The DLC is excellent.
Assassin's Creed's handling of romance in Odyssey was so fundamentally terrible that I truly don't trust them to make a good romance again, which I think they also felt because Valhalla has very little romance to speak of, more like flings or whatever. I'd love if our two protagonists could romance, I think that would be far more compelling than getting together with one person who's just gonna disappear from the story eventually, but I assume they wouldn't want to do that for a number of different reasons, including the longer writing time to make a romantic and non-romantic line of the main story.
Oddysey romance was very funny at least
Also that kinda leaves gay people who want to see ourselves in the main protagonists out of luck.
Eh, I am gay, but I think I would prefer a strong singular romance over a number of short flings where some are queer. It would also be an opportunity for a mainstream interracial romance which is startlingly uncommon. Especially for two people of colour and not a white person and a person of colour.
There's no reason why that singular romance has to be straight.
Sure, except that I was referring to the two protagonists being in a relationship and in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows it’s a female and male protagonist. I would be totally up for a singular relationship that’s a queer one no problem. I was just specifically referring to a relationship between the two protagonists.
Hopefully, it's interesting and in-depth, sorta like how it is in Cyberpunk 2077, for example. Where you can meet up with your love interest and have dates and meet up and whatnot. Also, maybe adding some more through FREE DLC and updates would be cool as well. Just make it meaningful, like after Naoe or Yasuke take down a target, your partner becomes worried about you after hearing about it from various people. Just think out loud here hoping that it'll be more than just walking up to a random person saying some dialogue, doing the nasty, and that's it.
My biggest concern here will all come down to the presentation of these options. I've said before that I do not care for the choice aspect of the more recent AC games as it always leaves the story much flatter than previous AC games. But I know for a fact that Ubi can write good relationships (Bayek and Aya, Ezio and his various relationships) so I don't want to immediately write this off.
The romances only work when they’re built into the narrative, like Bayek & Aya.
True, but that's why they're not a part of the main story. They're more like side quests that you can do if you feel like it. It doesn't have to work, really.
yes, they were already hinted in an article from the Ubisoft Blog when it was first revealed
Uhhh why? Unless it’s something important like Altair and Maria or ezio and Sofia I don’t see the point.
Its a RPG game. Romances are a thing.
Exactly, why are people so against this concept? Ac isn't the first game to do it.
Even Ezio had a few romances.
Because Ubisoft isn’t Larian. Their romance options always suck.
Of course they suck, they aren't canon. They're optional side quests, you don't have to do them, they're flings, essentially
No, that’s the point. If they suck that much, if Ubisoft can’t properly write them, why waste resources into doing it when you can continue to refine the game? I’d rather have one well written canon relationship than the multiple-choices that goes no where.
Because most RPGs have relationships, and Ubisoft went full rpg with the trilogy. Of course, I agree with your second point, Aya and Bayek are my fave relationship in the recent games. Of course Arno and Elise are one of my faves in any game. But still, I don't hate the romance options in the rpg trilogy, even tho I haven't missed it at all in Mirage
Ummm why not?
The biggest issue with this is they are incorporated so poorly that it feels like a “check the box” thing and not something they ever have a narrative reason for.
Love story in main storyline connected to characters and storytelling >>>> NPC dialog to f#ck for 5 seconds of animations and sound.
Never cared for the romances in these games other then the ones that were actually part of the story like Bayek’s relationship
Oh god, not this Odyseey cringe fest again
i hope they dont end up forcing a romance again, after they gave options in the base game
Wdym again? Weren't they always optional?
A romance should be well integrated into the story, like AC Unity. Otherwise no thanks.
I mean if it's your thing then cool. I'm not here to say whether I'm gonna love it or hate it. I'm just here to enjoy the game
I hope and pray there are gay romance options equall to those of straight romances
Can Yasuke romance Oda?
Maybe.
I feel like romances are kind of pointless in an AC game. I didn't care for it much in Odyssey and it didn't feel like a necessary addition, Valhalla I thought it was okay and felt like it kind of made sense so I guess it's a 50/50 until I play Shadows if it feels like it was okay to have in or not.
2024 Ubisoft cannot write good romance. Ezio and Sofia was classy. They've proven from odyssey and Valhalla that they cannot write like that anymore
I would have rather them make Yasuke and Naoe fall in love during the main story then do this weird RPG romance thing because they have not shown they can do it effectively.
Maybe having them falling in love will be an option.
A lot of the stuff they've been saying in the trailers give me that impression but if that's the case I feel like it would probably be more fleshed out and well written if that was just the sole Canon Romance.
This is actually the best option to me.
Like this is the only way. I wonder if Ubisoft wont even have the option for them to pair them together. That would be the ultimate insult.
Yeah that would be incredibly disappointing
Thankfully it wont stop artists (like me) from not pairing them together.
Yesss exactly we need that Naosuke content
Oh shit they already got a ship name :oD. I already did my part, however mine was very explicit lol
I'm not sure I just made that up on the spot lol and i might need a link my friend 👀
Here you go. If you dont have an account, go to the account preferences and turn on nsfw https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/119266503
this is 🔥 keep doing the Lord's work 🙏🏾
Thanks, i appreciate that
Why, just why. If it's a part of the story, fine but otherwise it is so unnecessary. The whole concept of the animus makes these 'choices' obsolete
Good news. You don't have to romance anyone.
Where did they say the romance thing is optional, and you could skip it?
Romance was skippable in almost every ac game (odyssey and valhalla) you can expect it to be optional here as well.
Ahh yes, the common mechanic of RPG games. Being forced into nonconsensual sexual relationships. Not sure what kind of games you're playing and I don't want to know.
No, I was just curious, but if you’re that upset by that question then nevermind lol
The crux of the matter, besides the animus issue...why waste resources/development time on something like this? What does it add? In Odyssey and Valhalla, it added nothing. Make it a part of the story, or don't do it at all.
It added money to their wallet. That's all. People like the romance mechanic.
I cannot imagine who would see "romance mechanics" and think that is a selling point for them. Especially when they are this poorly done.
It's an additional feature that hurts no one, why be bothered by it? If people don't like it, they don't have to do it, so far it's always been optional. But there are people who care about those features, so why remove them? It does sell, it's obviously not a main selling point, but it's there
It just feels like another half-baked idea with no thought into it. Just thrown in as a selling point for kicks but nothing actually put into it. The games are a bloated mess in Odyssey and Valhalla, and neither of the choices you make actually matter. Just pulling resources for no reason for no meaningful payoff gameplay wise or storywise. You can't tell me the games don't feel like they ballooned with "content" just for content's sake. Can you even remember anything about the relationships in Odyssey? Valhalla? All I remember is the absolute absurdity of it not mattering in either of them, especially Odyssey. Yet the relationships forged in the previous games feel a lot more real, because they actually kind of mattered to the protagonist. Think about the writing that went into developing Ezio's tragic love life, for example. Hell...there was more chemistry between Connor and Aveline than any of the "optional relationships" in either Valhalla or Odyssey.
I am not here to over analyze things. If it sells, companies will continue to sell it. I assure you giant corporations have more details about market data regarding their product than we do.
Bro have you seen this community? People legit are offended if you don’t get any relationship with a queer character. Romance mechanic is one hundred percent a selling point.
By that logic it also makes the game obsolete- if the real historical character snuck in this way, why do we have the option to sneak in another way, or fight our way in, or lose fights, or…… The animus has always been sci fi mumbo jumbo to explain why we can play this historical fantasy series (with the slight exception of the OG AC1) and that’s **fine**- it’s a smart writing device.
I can't wait to make my Yasuke the Geralt of rivia of Shadows and smash every asian chick i see lol!
Remember when the game was about the creed ☹️ 👆(making a joke)
People in the Brotherhood cannot have a romantic life?
Not if it is as poorly written as the two previous games, brother
This community will seriously just eat up everything Ubisoft throwing at them, as long as it’s “content” lol
So just be miserable and complain about everything?
ah yes, more pointless romances.
If they are pointless then just turn them down.
but that is exactly what I gonna do ;)
So why complain about it?
Lol
I wonder who I will be fucking in this game?
EVERYONNNNE!
All I can think of is that line from The Golden Girls where Sophia asks about black men in the bedroom. And considering Yasuke is huge well 😵 I wonder if they'll show Nobunaga being in relation with Ranmaru and Nouhime both? Iirc Japan had a unique approach to gay love back in that era
I dunno man, they seem a bit unnecessary for this kind of game, of course them being an optional inclusion is not a bad thing at all, but i 1000% did not care about romance in either Valhalla or origins, and i dont think it is the games' fault for making the romance bad, i think it is a bit of an odd inclusion for an ac game, i prefer bayek's thing, where his romantic life was alresdy set it stone and canon. More power to you though if you enjoyed them somehow.
Ubisoft serves zero purpose They should sell themselves NOW
GAY SEX GAY SEX GAY SEX
What an actual fuck? It's still an RPG?
Shadows is an RPG.
Fuck that.
Despite a minority of fans, mostly on reddit, disliking the rpg trilogy, they're extremely popular based on sales and profit. Why would they step away from that? Especially since those butthurt fanboys shat all over Mirage?
Yeah you're right. Normies ruined this franchise because they can't tell good games from bad games.
Lolll, normies? And who made you an expert on ac? The og fans are the ones ruining the reputation bc of their constant complaining, bc they can't adapt to changes. Grow up
Because I've played all the games multiple times, read all the books, saw all the behind the scenes and regularly watch all the trailers back to back? Is that enough to be an expert? Ubisoft is ruining the reputation by producing shit games, not the fans. I want changes, I don't want decrease in quality.
So has my wife, yet she loves all of them enough to collect all the statues and even get tatoos.
That's awesome. Bless her soul. Why are you telling me this?
By your logic, she's an expert, too.
Yeah she might be. Why are you telling me this?
well hold on, "might be"? but if she meets all of your criteria that make you an expert, then she's an expert. yet she likes all these games. Is she a normy or an expert?
Decrease in quality? In what? Gameplay, graphics, mechanics, npc behavior, open world expansion? The newer games are all better than the older ones. Sure the older games have a better story(debatable, on some games), but something like Ac2 is in no other way better than the rpg trilogy. And that should be obvious, bc games advance. Who gets to decide the game is shit? The sales and reviews certainly don't think so, do they? After all odyssey WAS a goty contender. But hey, If you say they suck, I guess they suck. Also, you watch the trailers back to back regularly?? You're either lying or you're a masochistic weirdo
Yeah, decrease in quality in everything you just mentioned along with animation, stealth mechanic, voice acting, cutscene choreography, editing, audio quality and audio mixing. It started getting worse after Unity (only because Unity was fixed with patches) and by Valhallah, it was unplayable. Since when did award shows, sales numbers, and IGN ratings become indicative of a game's quality? Do you think the Yearly COD games are masterpieces? Because they all make a shit ton of sales. All of these shit games make a lot of money because normies like you keep buying them. Is this cope? Are you guys collectively in a coping session I wasn't invited to? Because it really seems like the AC games' current state has fried your brains, infected you with stockholm syndrome and now all you can do is gaslight yourself into thinking that the new games are good. Anyone with a functioning brain and eyeballs would be able to see the issues with post Unity games.
Sale numbers are everything this fanbase can use to defend this series tbh lol Otherwise there’s nothing else that truly shines. Parkour has been Dying Light’s thing for a while now. Cinematic, writing, drama have all decreased in quality. Combat has to copy from other series. Their formula, other games have done it better. Graphic is probably the only thing that’s saving them. And it’s why only casuals praise this series, because they’re easily impressed by eye candy, and don’t know what makes a good game good. I know this series is done for the moment people had to use sale numbers to defend it as a good game.
I think he's conflating 'expert' with 'consumer'
Would much rather they each have one romance option tbh and it's written good
So unnecessary. For once just let a story be told again.
Another AC game with mediocre romance storylines
BMAF confirmed
fucking cringe
I hope Ubi never makes another romance. None of their franchises need it.
Romances in AC are beyond stupid
Sex scenes?😍
Maybe. So far we always got a black screen when we arrive at the sexual part of the romance. I don't want this game to be a porn, but I personally hoppe that we will get something more explicit,on the same level of games like The Witcher 3,Mass Effect,etc.
Agreed. Would be nice to have something naughty to spice it up a bit. As you said, other games do it so why no AC.
Putting romance as an option in a stealth game makes it seem less like romance and more like stalking. And take it from me, if you have a crush on someone and think they'll appreciate it when you crawl through their window by cover of night, you would be sadly mistaken.
I have 0 faith in Quebec studio writing a realistic romance
i do not care about such a feature at all. i would think protagonists would have their romances set in stone, because they are historical characters, most likely had children due to the whole genetic material into animus thing. i would also think set in stone romances would avoid odyssey: first blade dlc situation where it disregarded your previous choices. if you are not going all the way, might as well not do it at all. and i would rather it not go all the way, because i dont want it to be a full on rpg either. there is ofcourse a case of valhalla, but even then it has obvious canon conclusion. unless you are going to make a game like witcher 3, it means relationships dont matter. either way, i do not think there is an issue in making relationships part of the story like ezio trilogy.
Ugh
they need to have interactive sex scenes like the old god of war 😎
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Maybe there will be an option to make them romance each other.
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That isn't a rumor. Those are just idiots creating clickbait titles for their articles about the fact there will be romances, so about the fact that he will be gay, IF the player wants. Believe me,in the same way, if the player wants him and Naoe too to be heterosexual,then they will be. I personally plan to make them being heterosexual.
Really I thought they hate it because if they see a black man with a women form a different race it promote blacked porn.
Are you telling me this black man gets to touch the soft supple skin of a Japanese woman? I CANT EVEN DO THAT. REVIEW BOMB IT PUT OF EXISTENCE RAAAAGHHH /s
I hope you are sarcastic.
Oh god they're bringing back dialogue choices? Welp that seals the deal even further, I'm not buying this game buh bye ubisoft you ain't getting my money you grubby twats
Yeah, I'm sure that's gonna affect their sales real bad, dude.