#Ezio already has the title to go with it

[aslamadeus]

!! To me, the word Reminiscence fits Desmond Miles rather well.

Today, in literature class, we studied a text (an excerpt, really) written by Marcel Proust, dated from the beginning of the twentieth century (1913), whose title is “On the side of Swann” (very unsure of the translation as it is from French to English, and I know book titles tend to change from a language to another).

We arrived at the moment of concluding the analysis of this famous text, in which Proust tells us how he rediscovered a joyful memory, buried far in the "iceberg of his person", passed through a spoon of hot tea in which a piece of madeleine seemed to have melted. When he tasted this spoon of tea (which he was not in the habit of having in the evening), mixed with this piece of madeleine, it triggered a phenomenon of reminiscence.

When our teacher defined this word and its meaning to us, she described it as something distant, things which come back to us through a smell or a sensation: something which passed through the senses and which forged our memory of past events, more or less happy, that could be found in one way or another.

I immediately thought of Desmond and the fact that, through a machine, he lived several lives. (In some way...) I thought it was interesting to imagine him experiencing this kind of thing, with elements that don't necessarily date from his own life but from that of his ancestors, reinforced with the Bleeding Effect. It could be a taste, something that one of his ancestors liked to eat, a scent, a feeling of deja vu or something else that would resonate with him and remind him of Altair or Ezio, for example.

I may or may not be going *too* far, perhaps it has already been mentioned or imagined by someone else, or it was obvious. Nevertheless, with all the known negative and traumatic effects of the Bleeding Effect, of these tangled memories, from different eras, I thought it was worth pointing it out! (although bittersweet in a way </3)

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. /pos

(I am open to any comments/remarks!)

— Aslan. ★

[miss-ingno]

Everything I Wrote In 2023

...or at least the bits I posted to Ao3 :D 21 works with a word count of 71,998 total! I'm honestly surprised, I thought it was much less considering how little I felt like writing between work and health issues sapping my energy.

I'll sort these alphabetically by fandoms and within the fandoms chronologically from first posted to last.

Assassin's Creed II Title: Return To Sender Ship: Claudia Auditore/Desmond Miles, Claudia Auditore & Ezio Auditore Words: 3.5k Tags: Epistolary, Time Travel, Marriage, POV Outsider (as in Outsider on the Time Traveller PoV), In-Universe Documents Summary: Over the years, Ezio and Claudia exchanged many letters. These are the ones concerning Claudia's husband, then-stranger, Desmond.

Deja Vu by Dreamcatcher (Music Video) Title: All Our Memories, They're Haunted Ship: Jiu/Yoohyeon Words: 1.1k Tags: Memories, Regret, Grief/Mourning, the Queen is dead; long live the Queen, Dark Yoohyeon, Murder Summary: There are no witnesses to her ascent. There is no one she trusts not to stab her in the back. Title: Our Love's A Curse Ship: Jiu/Yoohyeon Words: 833 Tags: Backstory, Happy with A Bad Ending, Off-screen Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Yoohyeon's descent into madness, Assassin Yoohyeon Summary: Yoohyeon worked hard to create a perfect world for Jiu and herself. But perfection isn't forever.

Detective L Title: Both Is Good Ship: Ben Jieming/Luo Fei/Qin Xiaoman Words: 1.5k Tags: Relationship Status: It's Complicated, Pre-Relationship, Developing Relationship, Background Case, Post-Canon, Pre-Poly, Polyamory Negotiations, Insecurity, lbr they all have their issues but they love each other for who they are and that's what's important Summary: The day before the police ball, Ben Jieming and Luo Fei discuss who should accompany Qin Xiaoman. Unbeknownst to them, she already made her choice.

Dimension 20 - Mentopolis Title: Where in Mentopolis are the Prefrontal P.I.s? Ship: Ensemble Words: 800 Tags: Logic Grid Puzzle, Worldbuilding, Post-Canon Summary: It’s the Grand Opening of Daniel Fucks’ new Emporium of Exquisite Pleasures, but none of the other Prefrontal P.I.s have shown up! However, through his criminal network, Daniel hears some rumours about what they’re each up to. Can you help him find them and drag them away from whatever they’re doing for this most important of all events?

Granting You A Dreamlike Life Title: The Hero Returns Ship: Hong Lan & Luo Fusheng, implied Duan Tianying/Luo Fusheng Words: 826 Tags: Late Canon Fix-It, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, PoV Tianying Summary: The first thing Hong Lan does as head of the Hong family is to order Luo Fusheng back home.

Grimm (TV) Title: Back In A Spell Ship: Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton, Nick Burkhardt/Juliette Silverton, pre-Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton Words: 7.2k Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, POV Juliette Silverton, former Hexenbiest Juliette, Nick is not a Grimm yet, Identity Reveal, Magic Revealed, Dinner Date with Ulterior Motives, Secrets Summary: Going back in time has a price. Juliette will make damn sure it was worth it. Title: Sting Of Love Ship: Nick Burkhardt/Monroe Words: 1k Tags: Kissing Slice of Life Action/Adventure Wesen of the Week Episode Style Summary: Monroe accompanies Nick on Grimm business.

Guardian (drama and novel) Title: Growing Pains Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Da Qing Words: 2.5k Tags: Case Fic lite, Haixing-Dixing politics, set between Episode 4 and Episode 5, Early in Canon, Zhao Yunlan takes a bullet for a Dixingren Hurt Zhao Yunlan Protective Shen Wei (Guardian) Morality Summary: During their most recent case Zhao Yunlan's superiors put him in a difficult position: follow orders, or summon Heipaoshi to hand over the Dixingren? Title: Telenovela Ship: one-sided Zhao Yunlan/Zhu Hong, background Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan Words: 315 Tags: Slice of Life, Zhu Hong gets to be snake-y, Pining, Denial Summary: Zhu Hong watches dramas in her free time. Title: In This, As In All Things (WIP) Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Da Qing Words: 13k+ Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel: Post-Canon to Pre-Canon, Secret Identity, Identity Shenanigans, Established Relationship, Family Issues Summary: Given the chance to right the wrongs of the past, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei go back to before they met (again). But how much can they change faced with a very different SID than the one under Zhao Yunlan's lead? Title: Ruffling Feathers Ship: Zhu Hong & Da Qing & Ya Qing Words: 7.1k Tags: Post-Canon, Handwavey Fix-It, Yashou Politics, Case Fic, Zhu Hong and Da Qing team up to solve a theft, Yashou High Chief Zhu Hong, Yashou Worldbuilding, Mistakes Are Made, Zhu Hong is new to this job Summary: Zhu Hong is more than ready to delay her responsibilities for old times' sake when Da Qing approaches her about his missing bells. But the case takes them smack-dab into internal Yashou politics and Zhu Hong's mettle as High Chief is put to the test. Title: Two Of A Kind Ship: Ya Qing/Zhu Hong Words: 12.9k Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Pre-Canon, Yashou Politics, Yashou Worldbuilding, Pre-Relationship, PoV Ya Qing, mentions of the Time Loop, Background Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, mentions of the canonical ending, Antagonist Ye Zun, BAMF Ya Qing Summary: Zhu Hong approaches Ya Qing with a warning from the future. Ya Qing is... intrigued despite herself. Title: Freezing Ship: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng/Ye Huo Words: 507 Tags: Character Study, Missing Scene, Episode 19 Summary: Stuck in the experimental lab, Chu Shuzhi has time to contemplate his newest companion. Title: Days of Splendour Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Zhaodad & Zhaomom (novel) Words: 1.9k Tags: Wedding Planning, Wedding Fluff, Post-Canon Summary: Zhao Yunlan knows what he wants: Shen Wei, at his side, forever. Title: Happy Hour Ship: Shen Wei & Shen Wei's students, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & SID Words: 975 Tags: Background Case, Shen Wei's terrible lies, undercover at a bar Summary: A criminal, a professor, and a cat walk into a bar. The professor's students did not expect to be part of the joke. Title: An Intimate Touch Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan Words: 2.2k Tags: YOHE, Facial Shaving, Hair Brushing, Hair Braiding, Almost Kiss, Domestic Fluff Summary: Shen Wei helps Kunlun shave his beard. Title: Gossip Mango Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Shen Wei's students Words: 1.9k Tags: Social Media, Episode Related (1-8), Canon Compliant, mentions of canon suicidal ideation and murders Summary: Not only does Dragon City university have a great and sophisticated study program for many different majors, it also has a flourishing social media site for students to discuss their studies social activities recent events.

Harry Potter Title: To Seek Knowledge Ship: Hermione Granger & Luna Lovegood & Ginny Weasley Words: 4.4k Tags: Female Friendship, Spell Theory, Bullying, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hogwarts Second Year, Golden Trio (background) Summary: A precocious pre-teen on a quest for knowledge ends up changing the future. She even makes a friend or two on the way.

Naruto Title: Adventitious Ship: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumak Naruto Words: 5k Tags: Developing Friendships, set after the Wave mission but before the Chuunin Exams, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, in which Team 7 grows closer and Sasuke doesn't defect, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Have Issues (don't worry they're working on it), Mission Fic (sort of), no literal geese were involved in the making of this fic, in which Team 7 accidentally topples several villains' plans Summary: To keep Team 7 busy, Kakashi-sensei sends his students on a wild goose chase. Much to his dismay, they actually find a golden goose.

长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng Title: By Your Side Ship: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing, Li Yunzhen & Li Chenglin Words: 2k Tags: Post-Canon Court Politics Dom/sub Undertones Established Relationship Relationship Development Summary: After tricking the Chancellor into publicly rebelling, Li Yunzhen retires from politics.

[dazed-poltergeist]

RULES & WHO I WRITE ABOUT

Navigation

" Everything's bound to come with rules. While I think of meself as a Rulebreaker, I'd rather Follow the rules I put in place. "

We got kiddos 'round here, me being one of 'em. Let's not mention anything... funny, all right? (No NSFW)

The moment I hear any asks or comments or messages on this blog that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, pedophilic, or anything that's labeled as a bad thing, ye gotta go. (Basically my DNI list)

Let's respect each other, yeah? We're both just common lads tryna have a good time. (Respect is returned with respect)

I'll be adding more rules if it becomes necessary. Send me a message if ye got questions.

" Now, let us get to the Fun part, shall we? I mean the stuff I write about, if You're confused. "

CURRENTLY NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS.

> I'm focusing on my academic career. Besides that, my preferences for what characters I'm willing to write about are changing. My ask box is still open, though.

THE VIKING ERA:

⟨VIKINGS » Ragnar Lothbrok, Lagertha the Shieldmaiden, Athelstan, Björn Ironside, Ubbe Ragnarsson, Hvitserk Whiteshirt, Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye Ivar the Boneless.

⟨VIKINGS: VALHALLA » Leif Eriksson, Freydis Eriksdottir, Harald Sigurdsson.

⟨THE LAST KINGDOM » Uthred Ragnarsson, Finan the Agile, Osferth of Winchaester, Athelstan.

ASSASSIN'S CREED:

I write for all of the games, but I got a little problem here; I haven't played most of 'em. It would help lots if ye helped me set the scene when making requests. In this case I'll list who I've written about already, though it ain't much.

⟨ASSASSIN'S CREED I » Altaïr Ibn La'ahad.

⟨ASSASSIN'S CREED II » Ezio Auditore

⟨ASSASSIN'S CREED III » Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor Kenway), Haytham Kenway.

⟨ASSASSIN'S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG » Edward Kenway.

⟨ASSASSINS'S CREED: UNITY » Arno Dorian.

LORD OF THE RINGS:

I've read the books and watched the movies, but I'd prefer if you refresh my memory if you have a particular scene in mind.

⟨THE MOVIE TRILOGY » Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Boromir, Faramir, Aragorn, Galadriel, Arwen.

(Aragorn has so many titles dawg it's crazy)

[thetoxicgamer]

Assassin’s Creed Nexus may bring back our favorite characters

The long-running stealth game series Assassin's Creed will continue with Assassin's Creed Nexus, which will follow Mirage. Some astute fans appear to have already figured out which characters will be making appearances in the VR game. None of this has yet been confirmed, but when combined with the title, it gives the impression that we already know what Assassin's Creed Nexus is trying to do. This potential teaser from Ubisoft relates to Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, an upcoming VR spin-off that’s set to be fully revealed at the Ubisoft Forward on June 12, as part of the summer of videogame showcases and announcements. Basically, some eagle-eyed Discord fans think they know what Assassin’s Creed nexus will entail, including the return of some of the series’ most well-known characters. Apparently, the binary code (1s and 0s) in the initial teaser image relate to different strings of numbers, with each giving the birth date of iconic Assassin’s Creed characters: Ezio Auditore, Kassandra, and Connor Kenway. Obviously, you’ll want to take all of this with a grain of salt. I’m no binary numbers expert, but Access The Animus appear to have put in the work to attempt to figure this out. I’m leaning toward this being legit, and I’ll explain why. Before even getting into all the binary code stuff, it’s important to note what Nexus actually means. Nexus refers to something that links multiple points or acts as a connection in a specific group or series, which leads me to believe that the Nexus in this case means we’ll be going between multiple Assassin’s Creed games. That’s just a theory of course, but running through a ‘best of Assassin’s Creed’ in VR sounds like a great idea. For Ubisoft it also means that sequels and or DLC already have a pretty straightforward path, just use more characters, missions, and settings from across the series. Then again, even the supposed binary birth dates don’t actually confirm those three characters will be in Assassin’s Creed Nexus, even if that idea seems fairly likely considering they’re some of the most well-liked characters, especially Ezio Auditore. If you’re excited about the future of Ubisoft’s stealth series, we’ve got everything you need to know about the Assassin’s Creed Mirage release date, alongside a look at the very best VR games available right now on PC if you want to expand your horizons while waiting for Assassin’s Creed Nexus. Read the full article

[teecupangel]

He absolutely is XD

From @paperbaghead219

Lmao Ratonhnhaké:ton is gonna need more than just words to believe you desmond

It’s gonna be so funny. Desmond is so used to the easy trust Altaïr and Ezio gave him but Ratonhnhaké:ton? Desmond’s gonna start from the negatives, thanks Juno.

From @zero-saito

Altair has one fuck to give and it belongs to Desmond. That 1 fuck is gonna get so much milage tho 😂

It’s gonna be a journey, that’s for sure.

.

Altaïr was a great student.

He was the perfect student.

And that only made Ezio worry about him more.

By the time he arrived in Masyaf, Rashid had already done a bit of… disciplinary actions towards Altaïr.

It took Ezio a year just to get Altaïr to agree that he should have a rest day every week.

Ezio wanted two rest days but Altaïr only agreed to one.

Ezio managed to make him take another rest day by framing it as a self-study day.

It was all thanks to Desmond giving him ideas.

In many ways, he and Desmond became Altaïr’s parents.

It was… fun.

Desmond had laid out everything he knew about this time and had let Ezio take the lead.

His angelic messenger told Ezio that he had experience thanks to helping the legendary Altaïr during the time of those before him.

And now…

He stood in front of that legendary Assassin.

… as he pinned his younger self to the floor while listing down every single thing the young man had done wrong.

Ezio would have been worried for Altaïr’s safety but his son was listening to every single thing coming out of the man pining him to the floor with his full attention.

Abbas and Kadar were the ones trying to help Altaïr, shouting and kicking but unable to do anything because their opponent’s arms were long enough that they couldn’t kick any part of his body.

He patted the quiet concerned older Al-Sayf boy next to him and walked towards their interdimensional visitor.

He bowed as he greeted, “Safety and peace, brother.”

Everyone grew quiet and Altaïr let go of the two boys while stepping off his younger self.

All of the children ran towards Malik, feeling the sudden shift in the air.

Ezio kept his head down as he heard Altaïr walk towards him.

“Ezio Auditore.”

Ezio could see the tip of his shoes stop in front of him.

He felt the cold metal of the hilt of his sword press against his chin, “His prophet.”

Ezio let the hilt tilt his head up to stare at the man in front of him as he said, “His favorite.”

Ezio could feel cold sweat run down the back of his neck.

His favorite?

He had a feeling Altaïr was here for a reason but he truly hoped it wasn’t to fight him over some title or something incredible stu-

“Did he order you not to die as well?”

Ezio blinked.

What kind of question was that?

“Desmond…” Ezio paused, wondering what kind of relationship Desmond had with Altaïr, “… never gave me any orders.”

He gave suggestions, sure.

He even made plans.

But he always let Ezio do what he wanted.

Was Altaïr hunting Desmond because he had a less cordial relationship with him?

Should Ezio be worried?

“Good.”

Seeing the satisfied smile on Altaïr’s face, Ezio realized…

He should be worried for Desmond…

But not the way he was thinking just now.

Normally, Desmond is sent back in time to mess with things.

But what if it wasn't him?

Like, maybe Desmond couldn't go back in time himself but he could, in the split second he touched the apple, send someone else.

What if one of his ancestors went back in time? (Upon their deaths or something.)

I imagine a young Altair (who might be using a fake name) running around Italy with a tired Ezio following like a worried mother hen. (No, Claudia, he is not hovering he is just concerned) He ends up taking Altair under his wing (No, Claudia, it is not adoption.)

Or maybe Altair ends up in Bayek's time, Oh! Or Connor in Ezio's time. (Edward and Ezio would either get along badly or be too powerful if they were together in the same time period.)

These boys ruin the timeline and somehow save the world/future by simply stumbling through everything with no clue what's going on. and of course the power of friendship and really sharp blades.

Desmond and Clay are laughing their asses off in the afterlife as their ancestors destroy centuries worth of carefully calculated plans. (They might also manipulate things a little to help.)

And the time traveling ancestors for the most part, are doing the best they can in their current situation.

They are freaking the fuck out the whole time but are excellent at hiding it.

Poor Ezio.

(No, Altair, you can't kill that person because that have information we need, yes, I'm sure, Claudia don't encourage him.)

Well… How about we add some… ‘order’ to the chaos?

Desmond only had a fraction of a second to send his ancestor back in time.

And he hesitated.

He didn’t know which one to send.

Should it be Altaïr? Altaïr always felt like he would find out what to do even if he was given only minimal clues.

But Ezio was his prophet, the one he had been with the longest…

Ratonhnhaké:ton though… he deserves answers. He deserves the truth.

And when he woke up…

In that endless sea of gray…

The first word he heard were…

“’Morning. Which fucked up timeline do you want to hear first?”

Desmond sat and blinked as Clay stood before him, arms crossed with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Uuuhh…”

“Do you want to hear about how Edward Kenway managed to save his grandson and his grandson’s mother from the fires that should have killed her?” Clay asked before adding, “Oh… and he’s learned that his son’s a Templar by the way. At least, one of his old friends believe he’s actually Edward Kenway. If you think the Kenway Family Drama is bad when you were reliving Connor’s memories, then you gotta see the top tier drama that’s happening with Edward and Haytham right now.”

“Or maybe you want to hear about how Connor got kicked into Ezio’s time? He has no idea what’s happening but he got appointed as Federico’s combat instructor. He knows jackshit, by the way, about the tragedy that’s about to happen but, hey, at least Giovanni believes he’s an Assassin from another country or something. Oh.” Clay rubbed his chin as he added, “Connor doesn’t like how close Giovanni is with the Medici by the way. Lorenzo reminds him a bit of Washington or maybe he’s projecting, who knows?”

“Maybe you’ll like to know how your dear prophet is doing? Well, he’s doing badly in preserving the damn timeline that’s for sure. Let’s see… he got in touch with Alamut and managed to bluff his way into making them believe he’s the mentor of a destroyed Assassin branch from the crusader lands, he got the mentor’s permission to make his own branch in Levant, made a deal with said mentor to become a thorn in Al Mualim’s side and find out what he’s hiding, adopted Altaïr and even went as far as adopt Abbas because he believed he could ‘change’ things.” Clay was quiet for a moment before he added, “Oh and his branch is in the underground temple in Jerusalem so he has the Apple with him already.”

“Then there’s Altaïr.” Clay said with such… annoyance Desmond was actually afraid of what Altaïr had done. Clay rubbed the side of his forehead as he started, “See, they can only be transported into what counts as their past so we can’t have something like Altaïr being pushed into his future in Ezio’s time or something. And, since your only instruction to the Moraes was to ‘change the past’, they had to improvise with Altaïr considering he’s more or less the starting point. They had to pick another one of your ancestors who was important to your past and this world’s future so…”

“Altaïr’s been sent to the time of the Isu-Human war and his knowledge of the POEs and getting unconstrained access to the POEs at their full power… well… let’s just say…” Clay’s tone was drier than the desert as he said, “The Isus didn’t know what hit them.”

Desmond could only stare at Clay as he said.

“Soooo… which one do you want to contact first as their ‘patron’?”

[rachelkaser]

The case for a female protagonist in Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red

Assassin’s Creed has hemmed and hawed on giving its games a solo female protagonist. Codename Red might be Ubisoft’s chance to go all-in -- if it takes the plunge. Here’s how it could work and why the developers should do it.

You know the expression, “The opposite of love isn’t hate but indifference?” The point of it is to demonstrate that lack of care is the greatest sign of love’s absence. But turn it on its side slightly, and what it’s also telling you is that love and hate can exist in the same space. I have seen no surer proof of this idiom’s truth than my own feelings towards Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. I love it . . . oh, but how I hate it, too.

For those of you just joining us, I am a fan of the series, but I am also very critical of it. I have loved this series for almost half of my life, but its evolution and overarching story is messy at best and insultingly incoherent at worst. I accept and embrace the series as it is, while also despising it for its unrealized potential.

With that being said, and since I’ve mentioned unrealized potential, let’s talk about the future of Assassin’s Creed -- specifically, the upcoming game currently codenamed “Red.” This might be the ideal time for Ubisoft to introduce something Assassin’s Creed has avoided like it avoids the modern day storyline: A starring female protagonist. Not only are conditions for this “bold” move ideal, but I would argue the company has to do it. Let’s talk about it.

Let’s Talk About the Female Assassins

Before we go on, I know I should address the series’ existing heroines, lest anyone accuse me of not thoroughly covering my material. I’m aware that Assassin’s Creed has given us a few heroines already -- they’ve even said that the female characters are the canon leads.

However, as we talk about it, I think you’ll notice a common theme with all of these characters. I call it the Not So You’d Really Notice It effect. We’re told they’re definitely the canon characters and are important to the history of the series . . . but Not So You’d Really Notice It.

Evie Frye

The ninth game, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, was the first in the main series to feature a playable female character. Syndicate follows the adventures of twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye, who are attempting to retake London from Templar control. Now, according to the developers, Jacob and Evie were supposed to be equal co-leads in the title -- but Not So You’d Really Notice It. Jacob dominated in all of the marketing, and Evie’s story in the actual game is static and boring compared with his. She has fewer story quests -- should the player so choose (some missions you can select which twin to play), they only have to play as Evie for about 30% of the game.

To be fair, this is not just because Evie is a woman -- another factor is that Ubisoft was trying to marry its two different kinds of protagonists into one game. I mentioned this when I first reviewed the title, but traditionally AC protagonists fall into one of two camps: They’re either reserved stoics with a temperamental streak (Altair, Connor, Shay) or charismatic, flirtatious extroverts (Ezio, Edward, Arno). Ubisoft has always been better with the latter, rather than the former -- or rather, the games in which the extroverts star seem to be better received.

Ubisoft knows how to write a story starring a character like Jacob. They don’t know what to do with stiff-upper-lipped Evie besides make her perpetually irritated at Jacob. Her brother gets to undergo a whole character arc, while Evie doesn’t really get the same treatment. To reiterate, I don’t think that’s just because of her gender -- but I’m also convinced that was at least part of it.

Syndicate also hides its most interesting character in what amounts to a mini-game: Lydia Frye, a WWI-era British Assassin spy who worked alongside Winston Churchill. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better hook for a character anywhere in the series, but Lydia is only in about an hour of the game, total. I would love for Ubisoft to make a game about her, but I know how likely that is to happen.

Aya, a.k.a. Amunet

In the next game, Origins, Ubisoft decided to change up the formula slightly by making the protagonist an older, married father. Bayek is himself a breath of fresh air, having a different motivation than other protagonists and not really fitting the previous templates. He’s assisted in his quest by his wife, Aya. She’s supposed to also be pursuing vengeance for their murdered son . . . but Not So You’d Really Notice.

Hold onto something, because this might just give you the vapors: Aya was originally supposed to be the main playable character in Origins. According to a Bloomberg report, the original plan for the game was to sideline Bayek early (it’s not exactly stated how) and for Aya to take over. However, if this Bloomberg report is to be believed, Aya was slowly pushed to the margins over the course of development.

You can see traces of this in the final game, as there are a few sequences where you play as Aya. She’s off on her own quest to avenge her son’s death, at least at first. One problem with her diminished role in the game is that her motivations are incredibly difficult to follow. She’s out for revenge, up until the moment she meets Cleopatra, with whom she becomes smitten and flips on a dime. She’s given some more screentime in the DLC, which I assume was because the higher-ups were no longer paying as close attention.

Kassandra

Out of all the female characters in Assassin’s Creed, Kassandra is probably the best-received. I’ve yet to hear anyone say they dislike her or, worse, are indifferent to her. While I only have anecdotal evidence, I’ve heard that some people who’ve never played Assassin’s Creed before jumped aboard because they wanted to play as this dry-witted, badass Amazon woman.

According to the aforementioned report, Odyssey was also originally conceived of with a solo female protagonist -- Kassandra. Her brother, Alexios, was in the game, but he was presumably consigned the role of villain Deimos. Eventually this morphed into the version of the game we have now, where the two are interchangeable protagonists, and whomever isn’t selected is Deimos. According to Ubisoft and Odyssey’s novelization, Kassandra is the canonical Eagle-Bearer -- but Not So You’d Really Notice It.

To be clear, the Assassin’s Creed meta-narrative is that a modern-day person is reliving the life of an historical figure via genetic memories. Having two distinct people who could be the protagonist doesn’t really work... at all. It’s not the only concession Odyssey makes in an effort to be more like an RPG, but it’s probably the one that requires the biggest break from established series conventions.

Eivor

This brings us to the most recent game, Valhalla, which once again features a man and a woman sharing the throne. In this case, they’ve ditched the idea that they’re separate people and just made them a single person named Eivor. You can choose to play as a male or female version of the character.

Eivor is a Viking warrior who departs Norway with their brother Sigurd and founds a settlement in England. They’re eventually drawn into the apparently eternal battle between the covert forces of chaos (the Assassins) and the oppressive forces of order (the Templars). It’s not helped by mysterious stranger (and future protagonist) Basim attempting to manipulate both Eivor and Sigurd.

Just like Kassandra, Female Eivor is the canonical character. Male Eivor is actually the Norse God Havi. Eivor is his reincarnation and thus shares his DNA. Once again, you can tell that the female character is supposed to have been the lead here: Eivor is a female name. The in-game character selection gives players the option to “Let the Animus decide” which makes Female Eivor the Viking-era protagonist but Male Eivor the Asgard-era protagonist.

WTF, Ubisoft?

As you can see, Ubisoft has come very, very close to having a female protagonist lead one of its titles. But every time it’s come close, it’s choked at the concept stage, throwing in a male protagonist as a preemptive tonic. Why did this take place?

Apparently the directives to change all of these games from women-led to shared adventures or male-led came from the marketing department or Ubisoft CCO Serge Hascoët. Both claimed that games led by female characters wouldn’t sell. The report doesn’t say whether that same thought process applied to Valhalla, but I think I can assume so.

To be fair to Ubisoft, that presumption may not have been too far off. According to director Scott Phillips, the majority of Odyssey players chose Alexios, though he added that their popularity was about even in playtesting. But I take that with a grain of salt -- the entire games industry has historically been gun-shy about female protagonists and gives them much less marketing than they might otherwise receive.

I’m not even going to dedicate much space to Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles, which gave separate episodes to some peripheral Assassins of history. The China episode is led by Shao Jun, but I can’t exactly give Ubisoft props for that -- for one, she’s sharing the spotlight with Arbaaz Mir and Nikolai Orelov. For two, Chronicles is an offshoot game that got precisely zero marketing compared with the mainline titles.

The only character in the franchise so far who has carried a game entirely on her own is poor Aveline de Grandpre, the protagonist of Liberation. Honestly, Liberation is so unusual compared with the rest of the series that I have to believe it was a fluke. It had to have been made while Ubisoft higher-ups were looking the other way -- and given that it was originally a PlayStation Vita exclusive, I wouldn’t have blamed them for not paying attention.

Also, I want to be clear that I bear the male protagonists in these games no ill will at all. Jacob is a glorious himbo; Bayek is complex and original; Alexios has some of the series’ best voice acting; and Male Eivor is an awesome Viking warrior, and we can never have enough of those. I love this series’ badass men. I just want them to stay in their own games to give the badass women a chance to shine.

Forward to the Past

With all of this history, let’s talk about what the future holds for Assassin’s Creed. We already know that the next game in the series is Assassin’s Creed Mirage, set in 9th Century Baghdad. It’ll star Basim, the mysterious stranger from Valhalla. No female counterpart, but he will have a female mentor character, a Persian Hidden One (precursor to Assassins) named Roshan. Funnily enough, Roshan got almost as much focus in the reveal as Basim, most likely because she’s voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Other than Mirage, Ubisoft is working on games codenamed “Jade” and “Hexe.” Jade is a mobile RPG with a customizable player character set in ancient China -- doesn’t interest me much, seems designed to capture the Chinese mobile audience. “Hexe” is a cipher, and we have no details about it from which I could speculate on what kind of story to expect.

The game I wish to focus on is Codename Red, which Ubisoft announced during its big show earlier this year. Codename Red is the fulfilment of a longtime fandom wish: An Assassin’s Creed game set in historical Japan. Players have been asking for this because its such an obvious fit for the series mandate: The fictional Assassins and the historical ninja are obviously simpatico, and Japan has a number of points in its history where the traditional Assassin vs Templar narrative would fit perfectly.

So far we don’t know much about the game. According to the trailer, it’s set in “Feudal Japan” (which could be anywhere within a roughly 500-year period), it’ll have the action-RPG gameplay of Odyssey and Valhalla, and it’ll let players live a “shinobi fantasy.” That’s all we’ve got to work with, outside of rumors.

Now let me explain why this game should have -- nay, cries out for a female shinobi to lead.

The Land of the Rising Sun

Ubisoft has used Japan as a setting in the expanded AC universe, most notably in the French novel Blade of Aizu and in Memories the card game -- yes, Assassin’s Creed had a digital card game. The latter revealed that the Assassins established a Brotherhood in Japan during the Sengoku Period by allying with the country’s ninja, including Hattori Hanzo.

Let me paint a picture of the kind of female character we’d have if Ubisoft actually moved forward with this idea. We’ll call her “Akane” for reference. Suppose that we start in feudal Japan -- perhaps slightly before the age of Hattori Hanzo, but still within the Sengoku Period -- and Akane is a young merchant, perhaps someone who participates in the burgeoning trade with newly arrived Europeans. One day something happens that almost makes her a casualty in this time of upheaval -- I leave it to those who are more well-versed in Japanese history to say what.

Akane obtains a Hidden Blade, either from one of her European friends, or perhaps a member of the Chinese Assassin Brotherhood (Shao Jun would have been active around this time). Determined to keep the common people from being wrapped up in the machinations of those in power, Akane swiftly begins growing a network of spies across the region, participating in several covert assassination missions, and essentially starting an Assassin’s bureau all by herself in Japan.

I don’t have the requisite academic background to speak from authority on the subject, but even cursory research shows that female spies, assassins, and warriors were not rare in Japan. In fact, one such historical figure, Mochizuki Chiyome, recruited an entire spy network of female shinobi. She’s a character in Memories, albeit working for the Templars and opposed by Hattori Hanzo. There is historical precedent aplenty for this “Akane” character, and I’m excited just at the idea of what Ubisoft could do with her if they really cared enough.

Having said all that, I’m not going to bother giving an historical justification for a female protagonist in this game. I am not going to address them directly, but the misogynistic fuckwits who oppose the concept of a female protagonist on principle (or the illusion of principle) often use “historical accuracy” as a flimsy shield for their real intent. I don’t want to even give the impression that I’m meeting them on their level. Because here’s the fun thing: Historical accuracy could not possibly matter less in the Assassin’s Creed series.

Nothing is True...

If we’re being very honest with each other (and we always are here in my house), AC’s pretentions to historical accuracy have always been shallow at best. For the last few years, the developers have tried to position AC as some kind of portal to a proper history education, which is commendable and also kind of adorable given how little their series resembles real world events. (Those Who Came Before, anyone?)

But leaving aside all of that, the entire conceit of the series is that history was not as we’ve been taught it. Major forces in the world have deliberately obscured or buried historical facts and figures, and the version that we’ve been taught is a sanitized version palatable to the Templar overlords. If you played Black Flag and spent any time in the modern day (though if you avoided that, I wouldn’t blame you), you’ll remember that the entire point was that Abstergo is Templar-washing the historical people who’ve opposed them.

Connor became a brutish savage. Ezio became a deranged serial killer. Altair became an arrogant heretic. Aveline was lauded, but they notably cut off her story around the time she pretended to join the Templars, making it seem that she did come around the “right” way of thinking. I found that part of Black Flag surprisingly clever -- while we, the players, know that’s not an accurate view of their lives, we can also see how Templars can paint that picture with just a slight twist of the facts. When it comes to history, it matters who tells the story.

My point being that this is the most elegant venue ever to tell a story about a person who may not have a whole lot of historicity. Oh, you don’t think women could have feasibly been warriors and assassins at this time and place in history? That’s what the Templars want you to think! Especially when you consider that the Templars in the games are traditionally the rich and powerful, while the Assassins recruit from society’s oppressed and downtrodden. Seriously, I could not create a better stage than this to tell this kind of a story.

...Everything is Permitted

One thing I have not yet addressed is why it might be in Ubisoft’s best interest to put a woman in the lead of this game. Three words: Ghost of Tsushima. Let me expand.

Players have been asking for a Japanese Assassin’s Creed game since the series began, but Ubisoft never delivered on that. AC3 creative director Alex Hutchinson once said, by way of explanation for why they weren’t considering it, “People on the internet suggest the most boring settings. The three most wanted are WWII, feudal Japan and Egypt. They're kind of the three worst settings for an AC game.”

He later added, “Feudal Japan would work as an Assassin's game, for sure, but I feel like it would start to look like 'oh, have I played this?' You know what I mean - 'oh, I've been a ninja before, I've been a samurai before'." Well, if the problem was that ninja and samurai were too common for Ubisoft, then they’re really not going to like the market into which Codename Red will launch.

In terms of a quasi-historical fantasy game set in Japan where players are a sneaky anarchist people’s hero trying to topple a militant regime, we’ve got Ghost of Tsushima. And it was both a great game and hugely successful -- enough so that I’m not sure Ubisoft should try to beat it.

To make matters more unfavorable, Ghost of Tsushima 2 is heavily rumored to be in the works. Team Ninja is also working on Rise of the Ronin. Honestly, if even one other “Japanese historical fantasy” title launches in the same year as Codename Red, then it’s going to be in trouble.

So if Ubisoft really wanted to stand out, they could do something I’m quite certain the other games won’t do. It’s a really easy solution, too: Make the protagonist a woman. The historical background is there, insofar as Ubisoft has ever needed it to be. They’ve come very close to doing it many, many times. Now I want to see this franchise grit its figurative teeth and take the plunge of actually giving a woman the starring role.

Appendix: Reality Check

Having said my piece, I wanted to add that I’m aware just how remote the possibility of this actually happening is. While female game protagonists are not as rare as they once were, and studios are becoming slightly less reluctant to greenlight a game with a woman in the lead role, the chances of Ubisoft finally giving in and making a female Assassin-led title are smaller than I’d like.

In part, the problem is Ubisoft. The company’s alleged culture of hostile, noxious masculinity was only revealed recently, and I’ve seen no sign that it’s made significant enough improvement to give me hope. For one thing, TheGamer recently reported that devs are actively avoiding Red because director Jonathan Dumont allegedly has a history of being verbally abusive, particularly to women.

The other part of the problem is that, as optimistic as I am that there’s a sea change in the industry, a game with a female lead character is still a Big Deal . . . and not the kind of Big Deal that publishers want. And Ubisoft is not just any publisher -- it’s a publisher that has proven, time and again, that it’s not willing to put a woman in the spotlight all by herself.

I can’t lie: That makes me very sad. Having a female character should not be a Big Deal. It should not be something that requires extensive rewrites in order to shoehorn in a male option to steal her thunder. I can promise you that, when a Ubisoft creative pitched Mirage to his higher-ups, no one responded with, “Hmm, Basim, really? Not sure about that. Don’t you think we should make Roshan playable too, just for the people who want to play as a woman?”

In any case, we’ll likely hear more about Assassin’s Creed Red at some point in the near-future. My fingers are crossed, but my hopes are summarily tempered. I can still dream, can’t I?

[epochxp]

Ubisoft Formally Announces ‘Assassin’s Creed Infinity’

Comic Book

After several rumors, leaks, and fan speculation, Ubisoft formally announced that the next installment in its long-running flagship franchise is going to be Assassin’s Creed Infinity. The newest entry into the Assassin’s Creed series will be vastly different as, instead of a standard single-player experience, Infinity will be an online live service in the same realm of games like Fortnite, GTA Online, and Call of Duty: Warzone.

While every other Assassin’s Creed game has been single-player, story-driven, and set during one historical time period, Infinity will skirt around the norm. Players will be able to interact with one another and traverse multiple historical settings within the single game. Additionally, since the title will be an ongoing online service, players can expect frequent updates that will add new features, new historical periods, and improve the game’s overall quality of life.

The Future of the Series

Screen Rant

Fan reception has been somewhat mixed for Infinity, with many players questioning Ubisoft’s reason for creating an online service-based game. In their announcement, Ubisoft also seemed to hint that Infinity would be somewhat of a permanent replacement for the Assassin’s Creed’s standard single-player entries, with the new game being an “evolution” for the series. 

Ubisoft Montreal’s managing director Natalie Bouchard stated that “rather than continuing to pass the baton from game to game, we profoundly believe that this is an opportunity for one of Ubisoft’s most beloved franchises to evolve in a more integrated and collaborative manner…” This strongly suggests that Infinity will not only be an additional entry into the series, but also a replacement for future mainline games, with no plans for future standalone experiences. This is all speculation, however, as only time will tell what exactly series fans are in store for.

Which Historical Time Periods Will It Feature?

Escapist Magazine

With Infinity set to feature multiple historical periods, it will be interesting to see which ones we’ll traverse. We still don’t know how many timelines will be featured within the title, let alone how many will be available for players on day-one. We could wind up seeing a return to historical settings already featured in previous games, such as 15th century Italy from the Ezio trilogy or the Caribbean from Black Flag.

Or perhaps the game could finally feature some of the historical periods that fans have been requesting for years, including Feudal Japan or Medieval England. There are still plenty of historical periods that have yet be explored (and a few settings that could be better explored) and Infinity could be the perfect way for several underused eras to finally get their much-deserved time in the spotlight.

Not Much Is Known

Ubergizmo

Not many concrete details are known about Infinity, including gameplay, the official name, and any sort of launch window. Stay tuned for future updates on both Assassin’s Creed Infinity and other Assassin’s Creed-related news.

At Epoch XP, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch XP’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.

--

(This article is credited to Ben Price. For as long as he can remember, Ben has always loved playing, discussing, and writing about video games. Since receiving his B.A. in English, he now writes about them for a living.)

[chaos-monkeyy]

State of Chaos

Hi folks! Been awhile since I did this (and I meant to do it yesterday, whoops.. *pretends it’s still Wednesday* 😅). 

So as usual, I’ve wound up working on a lot of random stuff instead of getting all the languishing WIPs done 😂 But I have wrapped up a few things! Also, it’s almost November and I have something I’ve picked to try doing for NaNoWriMo… It’s already making me nervous because 1,667 words a day is rather a lot AND my idea has way more plot than I usually write (still porn too though, fear not). Anyway, I have no idea how well it’s gonna go but I can at least give it a shot! So if it actually goes well, I’m unlikely to be posting as much fic for the next little while. 

Oh! There are a couple new fandoms in the mix now too. Namely, the Thrawn Ascendancy novel as well as Stargate Atlantis, thanks to an exceptionally fun rewatch with Leif and DD 😁 I’m just horribly fixated lately on John Sheppard and his should-be-illegal pants… and now Ronon is there too, I may not survive 🤤 Backstory, I adore stargate SG1 and Atlantis, grew up watching it, but this is the first time I’m watching any of it since learning about fandom sooo… I’m having fun lol

(p.s. In case anyone was wondering, my little dumbass cat successfully learned how to use her fancy feeder. It’s adorable watching her nose it open, and Unauthorized Greedy Pet is extremely put out any time he tries to go steal her food now 😆)

Assassin’s Creed 

Diletto 

Shelved for now— not abandoned, just haven’t been feeling the het smut lately.

The skills of Assassins 

I’ve gotten a bit stuck on chapter 4 of the Ezio/Mario fic for some reason, but I did make some progress on it! So that fic update is still coming, just… slowly. 

Other 

I started some Shaun/Desmond AC3 cavern sex but got stuck and haven’t finished it 🙈 Also vague outlines written out for potential sequels to both Not Here (Desmond wetting himself in the Animus) and Demands and Desires (AC3 HaythCon filth). And I have been poking at the Witcher crossover fic too! 

Posted 

Demands and Desires - HaythCon smut; contains incest and ManipulativeAsshole!Haytham. Explicit.

Ache - Drabble smut about Ezio jerkin’ it; 100 words for my 100th fic 🎉. Explicit.

Midsomer Murders 

MM x Wallace and Gromit crossover

I’ve been thinking about this one recently, I’m gonna try and get access to s14 and 15 of Midsomer and maybe start working at it again! It’s the most long-running WIP I have… Actual Story is HARD 😭🥺

Star Wars

The self-indulgent Chiss-human orgy fic 

It’s very close to being done! I’m hoping to get it finished up with Jewell before too much longer 😊😏 

[Title redacted] 

Still working on this filth fest with Rev. It’ll be done some day, we just have too much we want to put into it where is the brain-to-fic machine already dammit 😭

Other

Someday I intend to get that part 3 of the Pinned (Thranto) and the Stripped (Thrawn/Thrass) series written. I also have a plan for another Thrakif fic, too damn many plans to continue the Inappropriate Places pissfic series, and a delicious kinky little Thranto prompt still in my askbox here that I am definitely going to fill sooner or later 😏

Posted 

A Moment in Private - Thrakif smut; Cadet Thrawn getting off while fantasizing about General Ba’kif. Explicit.

A rare thing - Thrawn/Ziara fluff and cuddles ficlet. Teen and up. 

Breathless - Thrakif breathplay; prompt fill with lots of desk sex and light Dom/sub. Explicit. 

(Come) Ride With Me - Thrawn/Eli/Thrass smut. I finally finished the chisscest-y Biker AU!! Explicit. 

Discoveries - Part 1 of Eli peeing in inappropriate places and Thrawn getting turned on by it (well, so does Eli). Explicit. 

Zombie / what’s in your head - A rare angst-tacular Thranto fic. MCD and heavy subject matter. Mature. 

Stargate Atlantis

Nothing specific in progress; it’ll be whatever I get inspired to write as I keep watching through the show! My personal rule for these is that I can write whatever grabs my interest so long as I don’t take too long working on it 🙈 

Posted 

Of rituals and birthday presents - Sheppard / Keras implied-smut. Light-hearted stuff featuring aural voyeurism and a very flustered Rodney McKay. Teen and up. 

The smart thing - dark!Sheppard / Kolya, includes fear-wetting and noncon facefucking. Mind the tags. Explicit. 

The Witcher 

I don’t have much Witcher fic on the burner at the moment. Kinda waiting for s2 at this point, really, and someday I’ll play TW3 and probably get some more inspiration from there! I have been picking at the Witcher x AC Gerezkier (Geralt/Ezio/Jaskier) crossover with Levs, though! I’m slowly getting more comfortable with the smut-to-story balance as we work out where it’s going 😁. Other than that, I have a few things still kicking around my ideas list that I might pick up at some point when brain decides it wants to randomly start something new instead of working on WIPs. 

Posted 

Flagrant Indecency - I did manage to get the final chapter of this finished and posted for the Finish Your Fic deadline! 🥳💦. Explicit. 

Don’t Stop - Geraskier somnomo prompt fill. Juiced-up Geralt, somnophilia, and watersports; some consent issues. Explicit. 

[calisotadreamin]

PKNA Issue 0/3 “Xadhoom!”

Script/plot: Alessandro Sisti and Ezio Sisto

Pencil art: Stefano Intini

Inking: Sandro Zemolin

Inducks

Index post to my entire essay series about PKNA.

We reached the third and final issue numbered 0, and it is also an introduction of another ally to PK, a very special one:

The villains remain the same, the evronians. We actually start with a few pages all about them, the first longer such sequence in the series. I really like the design of their leader Zotnam:

The head on his tail is doing the talking, I love it!

Anyway, the purpose of the sequence is build-up to our big introduction of the title character. They have identified DA as their major threat, but when sending out their ships, they’re attacked by a mysterious entity. It is not even made clear what the attack consisted off, which builds suspense rather effectively.

The evronians send out these weird droid things to search for the Duck Avenger, who probably describes them best:

This leads to a trap, the alley is filled with evronnians. Donald prepares to fight them as usual, but:

I love this little twist, for here Donald’s personal life and his life as the Duck Avenger intersect. Because he was so tired after being exploited by Angus in his job as caretaker, he forgets to take his weapons with him as DA. This feels very realistic and very in-character for Donald.

Anyway, he is saved by:

Oh hell yeah! This is how you introduce a character. Just have them burst through a wall and kicking ass.

Xadhoom’s doesn’t explain her backstory until the end of this story, but I’m going to skip ahead a bit because I want to do a little character analysis. I try to keep these things in the order the story presents them, but this essay might work better by starting from her story’s beginning. She is the person from the very beginning of issue 0/1, and the race that was conquered by the evronians was hers, the xerbians.

Xadhoom was once just Xado, one of their great scientists. When they first heard of the evronians, she believed in them and urged her people to welcome them:

Despite objections from Xari, who is heavily implied to be her romantic partner, she held fast to her policy and blissfully goes on to perform a great experiment:

She takes off on a spaceship and goes near the planet’s sun. And It works, but when she returns to Xerbia:

The planet has been swiftly conquered by the evronians and their inhabitants seemingly made extinct

Blaming herself, she swears to take revenge and drive the evronians to extinction. And thanks to her successful experiment, she can. Now, lets return to her introductory fight with the evronians. It doesn’t explain who she is, but it does a good job of establishing just how powerful she is.

She can resist their weapons easily and is even able to reshape her body at will.

And she can just overload the evronians with energy.

She is able to do this because she has effectively become a sun in a humanoid body thanks to the experiment, as she explains.

She is the powerful character in the whole comic, essentially a goddess. She can take on pretty much everything the evronians can throw at her and her goal to destroy them all is not that far-fetched for her.

I can’t deny thinking she is very cool, for she is. But what I really like about her character is that the comic explores the impact of her transformation on her personality and goals, in conjunction with the traumatic loss of her species and home.  She is certainly the most complex and dynamic character in the whole comic.

As Xado, she is a peaceful and kind scientist, kind to the point of naivety.  And when that naivety is cruelly taken advantage of by the evronians, she blames herself for the people’s defeat. Being Xado, with her kindness and trustful nature brought ruin to the xerbians. Thus she entirely disavows that identity and its entire personality and beliefs. She instead becomes Xadhoom, an avenger, determined to take violent revenge to the evronians.

She is not even kind or altrustic anymore, for Xadhoom’s  at this stage is entirely motivated by revenge, or at least so she claims. This is interesting thematically, because she breaks the simple binary of good vs. evil. Is a character a hero only because they fight the bad guys? Doesn’t heroism involve altruistic motivations? The very question Xadhoom’s story asks, is kindness always a good thing?

Interestingly, as angry as she is, because of her powers, she does have to keep her emotions in check:

Yeah, that would be bad….

Also apparently Donald doesn’t know what a nova is, he doesn’t understand what Xadhoom says here until One explains it. Of course, the purpose is to explain what a nova is to kids who don’t know.

Speaking about One, this comic really establishes One’s ability to hack into anything, any time. It’s ludicrous and the comic seems to know it:

Anyway, back to our star: unlike Xado, Xadhoom is very distrustful. DA wins the trust of One and Lyla relatively easily, but Xadhoom is a hard sell. She takes the Duck Avenger for an enemy at first and fucks up 313:

This by the way is the comic’s way of introducing DA’s new epic flying car that replaces 313 as his main vehicle in PKNA. It’s super cool:

Donald only wins her trust by proving himself to be an enemy of the evronians, which he does in a fight that also establishes the powers of his new ride.

She then accepts him as an ally in her fight against them. Of course, Donald is such a loveable duck that not even Xadhoom can resist him. I love the cute moment where she explains that getting energy from thermonuclear processes sometimes hurts and he gives her baking soda.

Best of all, it actually works.Just look at her eating baking soda straight from the can, so cute.

I love their friendship, it seems to provide a hopeful answer to Xadhoom’s cynical attitude. The problem with Xadhoom’s distrustful nature is that while she might not be taken advantage of, it makes her very lonely. It’s only when Donald trusts her to be good, despite what she initally does to him, and she trusts him in return that she can escape that loneliness.

The comics would later explore Xadhoom’s feelings of loneliness. Without the xerbians, she is all alone and with her transformation, it’s doubtful if she is even xerbian anymore. Her friendship with Donald then understandably becomes important to her. But that is only implied here.

I realize that so far I barely talked about the story itself, but the story is all about introducing Xadhoom and she is an awesome character, for reasons already explained. And the story does that really well. It is a mystery story, that builds up a sense of suspense about who and what Xadhoom is that persists almost to the very end of the story. Is she friend or foe? It is only relieved when Da builds enough trust with her to reveal her backstory. A great issue of PKNA, and a great character. Join me next time for Issue 1, finally.

[ofviolentdeath]

@amongstmortals​

“Ezio? As in the only person my baby sister likes? Oh man, she is not going to like knowing you crossed my path,” the witch laughed, terribly amused already. It would give her one more thing to tease Evelyn about and it was something she absolutely needed in her life. “Whatever can I do for you, oh mighty one that has gotten Evelyn to accept anyone outside of the family into her life? Hmm, no, that title is too long. I’ll have to think of something better.”

[tokiro07]

There’s two DLC slots left (assuming there’s only going to be one season pass), and there’s a lot of ways it can shake out, so I’m gonna cast as wide a net as I can so I have a decent chance of being right

The one thing that we can say for absolute certain is that the two characters will either be from a Nintendo property (1st or 2nd party) or from a 3rd party property that has been on a Nintendo system before

Since this post ended up getting kind of messy, I’m going to be highlighting the ones that I think are the most likely from each developer or category

If it’s from a Nintendo property, then it’d either be:

Someone from a relatively long-standing Nintendo franchise that doesn’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy yet; the best I can think of would be the Wars franchise (probably Andy), the Excite franchise (probably Excitebiker), Chibi-Robo, Custom Robo (one of the models of Ray), or Rhythm Heaven (if Spirits are out, then probably Tibby or Marshall, but if Spirits are in, Karate Joe or the Chorus Kids)

A character from a recent game or series such as BoxBoy (Qbby) or Ever Oasis (Tethu) which have been gaining some attention lately, or upcoming Nintendo game, like Astral Chain (Akira Howard), Daemon x Machina (either the pilot or the mech), or some other game that we don’t know about yet

A character from an older Nintendo game that may have only had one or two games, like Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, StarTropics (Mike Jones), or any others that don’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy

For 3rd parties, it could be from a developer already represented in Smash:

Of the 3rd parties already in, Bandai-Namco is the only one that only has one series as opposed to two (not counting Bayonetta, technically 2nd party, or Banjo, a former 2nd party), which is especially odd given their involvement in the creation of the game itself; their new series could be Dark Souls (most likely the Chosen Undead), Klonoa, Katamari (the Prince of All Cosmos), Dig Dug (Taizo Hori), Tower of Druaga (Gil), Tekken (Heihachi), Soulcalibur (Nightmare), or the Tales franchise (probably Lloyd). Alternatively, Bandai specifically could get in on the action with either Tamagotchi (Mametchi) or its more action-oriented counterpart Digimon (probably Agumon), which both started out as Game-and-Watch style digital toys and evolved into video game franchises in their own right, though Digimon had a much greater focus on that

Sega, who technically only has one (Sonic), since Persona was an acquired property rather than an original property, could get Alex Kidd, NiGHTs, Super Monkey Ball (AiAi), or Virtua Fighter (Akira Yuki, who already has a Mii costume), though their most likely addition would probably be Puyo Puyo (most likely Arle), as despite being another acquired property (from Compile), it is most heavily associated with Sega and is currently one of their most popular franchises. They could also get other Sonic characters, like Tails or Eggman, but I’m mostly leaning towards new franchises. Also, though I don’t believe it has any real shot, Sega does make the Vocaloid rhythm games, Project Diva, so there’s a non-zero chance that we could get Miku.

Capcom, who already have Megaman and Street Fighter, could potentially get Monster Hunter (as the Rathalos is already a boss), Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright), Devil May Cry (Dante), or possibly even Resident Evil (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, or most likely Leon Kennedy, since he has the closest ties with Nintendo)

Konami, who already have Metal Gear and Castlevania, could potentially get Frogger (an icon of arcade gaming), Silent Hill (unlikely, but Pyramid Head is a horror icon, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched), Mystical Ninja (Goemon), or Contra (Bill Rizer/Lance Bean). If Bomberman weren’t already an Assist Trophy, I’d say he was a strong contender as a Hudson rep, though Bonk is still in the running there

If you consider Banjo-Kazooie a Microsoft property, then it’s possible that Microsoft allowed Nintendo to use it on the condition that they get another character in as well, though this seems unlikely. If that’s the case, though, they’d most likely go with Minecraft (Steve/Alex), since as far as I know that’s the only property of their’s that’s ever been on a Nintendo platform outside of other Rare properties, though maybe that hypothetical deal would open the gates for series that have never been on a Nintendo console, like Halo (Master Chief)

Square Enix most likely won’t get another one, but they do own Taito, formerly a major studio in their own right, and thus could reasonably get Bubble Bobble (Bub/Bob) or even Space Invaders, though I’m not sure how viable that would be. For Square Enix themselves, the Mana series (likely Randi) or even Kingdom Hearts (Sora) would be good choices, but I don’t see it happening

If Nintendo wants to keep bringing in other companies, though, there are still four more of the top 10 biggest gaming companies in Japan that aren’t in yet:

Tecmo-Koei has pretty close ties with Nintendo, co-owning the Fatal Frame franchise, which already has an Assist Trophy; chances are good they’d go with Ninja Gaiden (Ryu Hayabusa), since that’s one of the iconic classic Nintendo games, though they could also potentially go with Dead or Alive (Kasumi) or Dynasty Warriors (though for the life of me I don’t know who they could go with. Lu Bu?)

Level-5, who frequently gets help from Nintendo with international publishing, would most likely go with Professor Layton or Yokai Watch (likely Jibanyan), though Inazuma Eleven (Mamoru Endou) or Ni no Kuni (Oliver, Evan, or Roland) would also work in a pinch. Interestingly, Level-5 also owns Comcept, so Mighty no. 9 (Beck) is a possibility, but an exceedingly slim one

Sony, Nintendo’s most major rival, doesn’t have much to offer since most of their first party games aren’t on Nintendo systems, and their most significant viable IP, Crash Bandicoot, is currently owned by Activision, so even if Crash got in, it’s hard to say that it would be as a Sony rep. Still, Crash is a gaming icon and former mascot of Sony, which would heavily symbolize the rivalry between Sony and Nintendo even if ownership has changed hands. If being on a Nintendo system isn’t an issue, Little Big Planet (Sackboy), Sly Cooper, or God of War (Kratos) would all be excellent choices. Interestingly, everything I’ve said so far has been developed by Sony’s American or European subsidiaries. For Japanese studios, their most likely reps would probably be Ape Escape (Spike) or Gravity Rush (Kat). Sony also currently owns Q*Bert (formerly owned by Gottlieb), who would be a perfect representative of arcade gaming, though I don’t imagine Sony would pick Q*Bert over any of their original IPs if given the choice.

Marvelous, who happens to be making Daemon x Machina with Nintendo, frequently releases their games on Nintendo platforms; by far their biggest series is Story of Seasons (likely Pete with Sara as an alternate costume, though other player characters such as Mark, Pony, Toy, Claire, Henry and Holly would also work), or its spinoff, Rune Factory (likely Raguna), but Muramasa (Momohime/Kisuke) would be a fairly strong contender if only because of popularity. They also own Senran Kagura (Asuka), which got its start on Nintendo consoles and still remains there to this day. Its risque nature makes me hesitant to call it viable or likely, though that certainly didn’t stop Bayonetta, but either way Story of Seasons feels a lot more likely. There’s also Little King’s Story (Corobo), but that’s a fairly niche title, I think

More in line with Microsoft, there are also a number of particularly big Western companies with a lot of support for getting into Smash

The biggest is probably Ubisoft, who is definitely the Western company on the best terms with Nintendo; they would most likely use Rayman, especially since he’s had a trophy and a Spirit, though a Rabbid is also possible. Assassin’s Creed (probably Ezio or Altair), Prince of Persia, or even Starlink (Mason Rana) may all work, but Rayman is definitely the best bet

A representative from Bethesda, another major Western company which seems to be on at least friendly terms with Nintendo; since Bethesda owns Id, I’m inclined to say Doom (Doomslayer), though I would think that Bethesda would want to use one of their original properties, so potentially Elder Scrolls (Dovahkin). Fallout (likely Vaultboy) may work too, but that’s also an acquired property

Though mostly inactive now, Atari was once one of the pillars of the video game industry. Unfortunately, they don’t really have many iconic characters that are particularly viable, but as I’ve said in the past, the Centipede would make a really interesting fighter

Activision Blizzard doesn’t have much that’s been playable on Nintendo, though there are games from both Activision and Blizzard individually: Activision could potentially contribute Call of Duty (Private Martin?), but they did acquire Spyro and Crash from Sony, so that would probably be a better fit for Smash, though it’s hard to say if they’d use someone else’s mascot; on Blizzard’s side, Overwatch (Tracer) was recently announced to be coming to Switch, and Diablo has gotten a lot of attention from Nintendo, what with the Diablo variant Switch and the Loot Goblin amiibo, though I’m not sure who would be a viable representative

Warner Bros. Interactive doesn’t really have a ton to offer since it mostly does licensed games, but it does publish NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat (Scorpion or Sub-Zero), one of the most iconic fighting games of all time, and 5th Cell’s Scribblenauts (Maxwell). The latter certainly isn’t as iconic as Mortal Kombat in terms of video game history, but it’s at least a lot easier to associate with WB

The Tetris Company doesn’t explicitly have any characters of their own as far as I know, though Tetrominos are a surprisingly popular choice. I however propose that they could use Tee from Puyo Puyo Tetris, as he is the closest thing to a Tetris character that there is. Unfortunately he’s probably considered a Sega character since he was designed by Sonic Team, but who knows, maybe the Tetris Company co-owns him

EA has...uh...the Sims, which used to belong to Nintendo? Dr. Wright from SimCity is already an Assist Trophy, but Nintendo never lost the rights to the character, so that doesn’t really count. They don’t really have much else that’s useful. Plants vs Zombies? Need for Speed? Dragon Age...? Regardless, EA has said that they are distancing themselves from the Switch (though they immediately backtracked on that statement), which seems evident since they don’t appear to be putting the new PvZ on Switch, so it feels unlikely that they’d get any representation in Smash at all

CD Projekt Red is getting Witcher III on Switch, and people really love Geralt, so maybe? Doesn’t seem super likely, but not impossible

Take-Two Interactive has GTA and LA Noire, but I’m not sure if those are viable

Epic Games has Fortnite which...I guess could just have eight different outfits? I don’t know anything about Fortnite

Some smaller Japanese studios (smaller than the top 10, not necessarily indie) may also be decent choices, since they have games with enough history to warrant being in Smash:

SNK has King of Fighters/Fatal Fury (Terry Bogard or Mai Shiranui) and Metal Slug (Marco/Tarma). SNK has officially gotten Fatal Fury’s Terry in Smash, seemingly to represent the Neo Geo system, which honestly I should have considered would make SNK a stronger contender

Cooking Mama Limited has...Cooking Mama

Nippon Ichi Software has Disgaea (Laharl)

ArcSystem Works has BlazBlue (Ragna), Guilty Gear (Sol Badguy), and iconic beat-em-up series Double Dragon (Billy/Jimmy Lee) since acquiring Technos Japan from Data East

Grasshopper Manufacture has No More Heroes (Travis Touchdown), which has had pretty much its entire history on Nintendo systems

Natsume is probably the least likely of this entire post, but they have what is currently called Harvest Moon (Farmer?) and their more well known original title, Medabots (Metabee or Rokusho) which is surprisingly still going

And of course, there’s the indies, both Japanese and Western:

Nicalis currently has the rights to indie forerunner Cave Story (Quote), and are the current publishers of classic SNES series Umihara Kawase, but the real star for them is definitely Cave Story

WayForward’s Shantae is already a Spirit in Smash, so of indies, I think she has the best bet, but only if Spirits don’t preclude fighter status

Not technically indie, but Inti Creates broke off from Capcom several years ago and released Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) before teaming up with various indie developers to help them with their projects, so I’m gonna go ahead and count them. They also have Gal*Gun (Ekoro), Dragon: Marked for Death (likely Empress) and now have the rights to Blaster Master (Jason) from Sunsoft. If they only have the license and the rights still belong to Sunsoft though, then chalk Sunsoft and Blaster Master up in the smaller studios category above

Toby Fox’s Undertale (Frisk) has a lot of demand, so it only seems fair to put it on this list

For the sake of acknowledgment, Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight is the only indie to have an Assist Trophy, so while I doubt Shovel Knight is going to be in the DLC, he could come up in a future Smash

Devolver Digital is getting pretty big lately and has a ton to offer, and with their flagship series Hotline Miami (Jacket) confirmed to be coming to Switch, their chances have certainly improved. The Messenger and Enter the Gungeon would both work too, but Hotline Miami is definitely the go-to for Devolver

Gears for Breakfast’s A Hat in Time (Hat Kid) is the latest indie darling making the rounds, and with its imminent release on Switch, its chances have only gone up

Similarly, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight is gaining a lot of traction, to the point that its sequel had its own segment at E3 this year

Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the Necrodancer (Cadence) has a crossover with Legend of Zelda, an honor that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an indie game get from Nintendo before

Choice Provisions’ Bit.Trip (CommanderVideo) had a trophy in Smash 4, making it the first indie to be acknowledged in Smash, although CommanderVideo did not receive a Spirit in Ultimate. They’re also the current publishers of Bubsy, which...I would hope doesn’t get in

Edmund McMillen has at least two successful indies, Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and while I don’t think either of them will make it, I felt that they were at least worth mentioning

StudioMDHR’s Cuphead is on Switch and ostensibly getting a physical release soon, and from what I’ve seen is one of the most hotly requested indies for Smash

Similarly to Cave Story, Kikiyama’s Yume Nikki (Madotsuki) was wildly influential for the indie scene and would be very interesting, though highly unlikely, for Smash

Speaking of influential indies, Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project (Reimu Hakurei) is one that I see a fair bit of clamor for, especially now that it’s getting console games

Supergiant Games’ Bastion (the Kid) is yet another influential indie game, and also interestingly enough was published by Warner Bros. Interactive, so if Mortal Kombat doesn’t work out, this is another good option

And of course, how could I forget Matt Makes Games’ Celeste (Madeline), a game with tremendous pull by fans to get into Smash

If I think of any I missed that I think have a decent chance, I’ll add them in later

[jacksgreysays]

Viridescent ficlets (2019-06-15)

"I have been sent by My Lady of Cosmos," says the woman standing on the inner walls of the fortress. She is more silhouette than person, the moon large and full and bright behind her, and Ezio internally admires both the theatrics and strategic practicality of such a position.

That puts him at the disadvantage, but still. He can appreciate an exemplary entrance.

"Prophet," the woman continues, and the use of his goddess given title immediately snaps him back to the moment, "We have a proposal for Desmond Miles."

Of course, what else could it be?

---

Kaiza holds out her hand: reaching but nonthreatening, steady but demure. Much like the way she first arrived at the Institute, standing just outside the boundaries of technological and telepathic security. Not intruding into their space, but standing firmly, patiently, until she was invited to the mansion proper.

Kaiza holds out her hand and waits, as if she could do this for all of infinite time, and Rogue doesn't know how to untangle the twist of anxiety and hope and dread and fear and hunger that bubbles up.

Kaiza holds out her hand, palm up, fingers open, bare. Rogue wonders if her skin is as soft and smooth as it seems, or if maybe there are callouses more perceptible by touch than sight. Her own fingers shake, picking at her gloves, eager, nerves alight as she removes them.

Kaiza holds out her hand, "Everything will be fine," she says. And Rogue knows that Kaiza can't possibly know--whatever her abilities may be, they don't include future-telling--but Rogue wants to believe. She wants.

Kaiza holds out her hand. Rogue takes it between her own.

---

When Watanuki finally gets to the shop--all by himself! No, he didn't need stupid Doumeki at all, it's not his fault that the giant oaf happened to be taking the same route--he finds that Yuuko already has company...

... but not a customer? It's the first time seeing the other woman, so he's not sure how he knows that, but somehow he does.

They don't do anything so rude as to keep talking when he enters, but nor do they fall into a sudden hush--it's as if, upon his entry, the conversation came to a natural conclusion and now he has arrived at the start of the next.

Coincidence, he once would have said. Not that he considers it fate, instead, just Yuuko's machinations at work.

As if hearing his thoughts, Yuuko turns a wide, evil grin his way, and Watanuki automatically scowls. The other woman glances at him and gives a smaller and far less devious smile.

"Is this him?" she asks, a little nonsensically, until she adds on, "Or is it the tall one?"

Upon remembering stupid Doumeki's existence and realizing the oversized lout followed him into the shop--even though Watanuki already told him he wasn't needed!--Watanuki bristles defensively.

"What are you still doing here?" he asks, completely calm and not flailing at all.

Doumeki, because he has no manners and is a bottomless pit, just shrugs. "I'm hungry."

Yuuko, that demon, laughs and claps along, "Oh, yes, me too, Watanuki! Go make zaru soba, it's been so hot lately!"

He angrily pulls on his apron, "And I suppose you'll be wanting tempura to go with it?"

"Of course!" Yuuko says.

"Inarizushi," Doumeki says, that ingrate.

"That doesn't even match!" Watanuki says as he walks into the kitchen, pulling out ingredients and kitchenware as needed.

He doesn't even hear the other woman behind him until she asks, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Watanuki definitely doesn't flail, startled, but the woman does manage to catch the pan he was holding before it fell to the ground.

"Ah, no, no," he protests politely, "I couldn't possibly ask that of a... guest?"

The woman blinks, a wry smile slipping onto her face as it becomes her turn to politely protest, "No, no, I'm not a guest, Watanuki-kun..." She pauses, for a moment, before explaining, "I suppose I'm your senpai."

~

A/N: ... I think I just want any prompt, tbh. So if anyone’s got a prompt in any of the previous ask box event styles, then feel free to send those in. I likely won’t get to them immediately, but I will hopefully get to them eventually :)

[fanworldbuildingfun]

Isu-era time travel

*looks at the whole time paradox of Zero Eclipse*

*looks at the “Juno and Aita’s artificial child” part*

Imagine if Desmond going back in the first place and dealing with all the drama of being Juno’s one and favorite child changes the future?

So after he uses the Temple instead of dying, he gets hit with full bundle of memories his Isu-Self experienced after travelling back in time. Sage-style. And given how long-living Isu were, and that doubtlessly his “parents” would have tried best to “educate” him, first thing he does is start an argument. By calling Juno “mother”

Or something of the like

(dear heaven the whole Elijah situation can get so awkward)

(I’ll just skip the whole “Adha is past incarnation of Desmond” because I’m still floating the happy feelings post the other Adha post ;_; This one is – nope *ugly weeping but still peeking through fingers because this would also be *fascinating*. However, does this also mean Altair is also caught in rebirth loop? For him to see Desmond die over and over)

The POE option is fun, though brings along the whole other aspect of “so close yet so far” wherein you can share minds but not touch. Unless something else is done about it – e.g. like Shroud of Consus, which gave way to possession

…What if the POE with Desmond is given to Cesare Borgia and he ends up possessed? This would be even worse than Cantarella, depending on which period of time is to be taken into account

Mind, the Temple idea is also fun, though waaay more likely to end up with Desmond being worshipped as deity – very Isu, but very “Please stop. Just… Please no” on Desmond’s part. Altair WOULD fare fine in this scenario, but better not let Ezio anywhere near there. Though! Imagine a small cult sticking around the are of the Temple, even if they can’t access it. And when Ezio comes? They see it as Ezio being the second Prophet and now the previous one can be laid to rest

(this one is sad for Desmond)

An Isu body before 21st century

Hmmm. Do three groups of three still qualify? *side-eyes the Egyptian Ennead and the whole Thing Ancient Egypt had for Afterlife* These are so… Good for founding the entire “resurrection” or  “memory” part of Isu research

I can easily imagine that. Does this change Eivor’s outlook on Desmond? Does he think that Desmond is Víðarr who liver this long, or does he think he is like him, a reborn person? (granted, “original” Víðarr would be the more likely option given Isu-height, but would make things so complicated for Desmond who is unlikely to know any things that he would be expected to remember)

…This sidetracked me from Nephilim and straight into Apple of Discord myth. With poor Altair who has to give away the Apple. Al Muliam, Robert de Sable, and Desmond being the “goddesses” (granted, the “fairest” choice is plain here)

All I’m hearing is “sugar daddy Ezio” to go along with the “sugar daddy Haytham”. Granted, the attitude would be vastly different

Have you ever considered - Desmond survives and gets to be(mentally) transported in time to some Isu temple. Except the eye doesn't have human genome templates, only Isu (thanks, Juno). New body is made wholly based on the Isu part of Desmond's genome. How hard would it be for Desmond to hide in plain sight, being at least a head taller than anyone around him?

Oh god. I read this and the brain immediately went "HEY LISTEN" so have this longass answer hahaha. Off the top of my head, I can think of three main ideas that incorporate this plot.

1 Desmond gets traveled back in time in an Isu body during the rise of the Isu civilization (or maybe even before the time 'everyone is scrambling to try not die from the sun, the prequel')

In this setup, I think Desmond's main problem would be trying to pretend that he's an actual Isu so that the other Isus won't think he's some kind of experiment gone rogue. He'll also be alone without any allies (Desmond would even be suspicious of Minerva because of how she acted in the Grand Temple and he only heard Tinia once so he doesn't know who Tinia is as a person). In this kind of plot, I think it would be fun for Desmond to be in the following scenarios:

Desmond accidentally helps Eve revolt and help the humans (... what if he was Adam??? Nah, it won't work. For one, Adam is a human and this plot gives Desmond an Isu body). Oh, oh, oh. What if Desmond (as an Isu) is the one to give Eve the Apple of Eden and this gets translated as him as the snake/devil giving Eve the apple hahahaha

Have some kind of tense alliance with Aletheia in her time as the Dikastes of Atlantis (maybe his body is one of Juno and Aita's secret pet projects)

Get in the middle of a war between the Asgardian Isus and the other Isus. Just imagine him awkwardly trying not to listen to Minerva and Odin having sex when all he wanted to do was check if there's any Isu bs that can help him in this supposed vault or whatever, why are they even having sex here, come on! Then Odin catches sight of him when he's trying to find the mead, maybe Desmond grabs the mead before he does because it's glowing hella gold in his Eagle Vision and Desmond sees shiny and thinks 'shiny? important? shiny!' and now Odin is chasing him all over the nine realms while Desmond just wants to find a way back to his goddamn time

2 Desmond gets traveled back in time in an Isu body before the 21st century

Alright, this spans all the (main) games' non-modern day plot but here's some of the key points I can think of:

In general, religious people might see him as either a god or a divine being sent by god (since Isu tend to wear glowing outfits). His height might even count him as a nephilim instead as they're usually described as giants with great power. This would get him in trouble or might get him out of trouble if he can, you know, pretend to act godly and stuff (it's Desmond though so my bet is awkward 'fear not for thou, uh, hast, uuuhhh...'). The idea that he's god would most definitely be the case for the three mcs of the Layla Trilogy and maybe even Ezio (but, let's be honest, Ezio is a special case).

Honestly, I think he has the best chance of hiding and figuring shit out with Bayek because Bayek would see him and go 'oh, he's in trouble. as a medjay and a good person, I will help him.' while the misthios (Kassandra or Alexios) would be like "A god! Or a demi-god! Must be one of Zeus' children, poor boy. Come! Join my crew and let's fuck shit up!" and Eivor would be more of "You must be a Jotun... Our clan is open to all! Even a Jotun like you. How do you feel about burning churches?"

Kicking him to the time of the Third Crusades will be hilarious. On one hand, the Templars definitely want him because holy shit (and I can just imagine Maria actually pledging to be his knight because she absolutely believes that Desmond is a divine being, if not her god then one of his divine messengers), the Assassins want him because also holy shit (and it would be funny if one of those who truly believe Desmond is some kind of god is Abbas, just the awkwardness and blatant hostility turning to confusion and mild annoyance in the same vein of 'please stop talking, abbas' 'of course, my lord' will be priceless) and the people who are left being 'sus, absolutely sus' are probably going to be Altaïr (who is an atheist in canon) and Malik (who saw the power of the POE in canon and went 'yeah, sounds like tech we don't understand yet') so they have this awkward possibly powerful being trying to hide behind the two of them because Desmond saw them not looking at him with any reverence and went 'yes, these two. These two will protect me while I have my silent freakout' but that only makes everyone believe that Altaïr and Malik have been chosen by 'god' and now Malik, being the more 'cordial' of the two (and the last time Altaïr spoke for them, he sounded so arrogant and full of himself (this is set before the start of AC1) that they could see the metaphorical pitchforks getting ready) have to speak for Desmond because it's clear that Desmond has no idea what to do and is freaking out but pretending not to be. This, in turn, makes Malik the unofficial spokesperson (prophet) of Desmond while Altaïr gets called his knight when all he's trying to do is keep Desmond from running away and building a fucking grape farm of all things (Desmond wasn't serious, he was rambling, but Altaïr didn't know that). Kadar (hell yeah, he lives) gets roped in as well and he actually believes all this Desmond-is-god crap so now Desmond has a very enthusiastic 'butler/acolyte' on top of everything.

Renaissance period depends on when Desmond gets kicked out of his timeline. If he gets kicked out before Ezio heard Minerva's message, Ezio would probably look at him with suspicion and maybe even be a bit hostile with him considering he's still hurting and wishing for revenge. If it was after Minerva's message (Brotherhood), Ezio would definitely help him, maybe try to learn from him, and may even think of him as an actual divine being because of his religious background which makes Desmond feel awkward and creates some kind of wall between the two of them. Desmond just wants to help Ezio and be treated normally (or as equals) but Ezio can't help but see Desmond as some kind of god or angel that has been sent to help them in exchange for his loyalty and servitude. (Insert angst here with bonus points for religious themes and imagery that will send my soul deeper to hell) Revelations-timeline Ezio already has enough and wants out. He would see Desmond as someone in a similar position as him and they'll have a peaceful life tending a countryside farm with Sofia and their children because THESE TWO DESERVE PEACE.

I think Haytham and the other characters during Rogue would look at Desmond and think 'holy shit, Isu' and try to capture him. Both Templars and Assassins want to capture him because he's some stranger who may or may not be an Isu and that means knowledge and power that the other organization should not have. The Templars would definitely send Shay (if this is after Lisbon) while the Assassins would send Liam or maybe Adéwalé or Kesegowaase. Desmond is sus of both of them because Templars are Templars in his eyes and he saw how Hope's Assassins are pretty much governing the criminal underworld of New York which is pretty bad, all things considered, so he's iffy about going to the Assassins. So who does he turn to? Ziio. Ziio with baby Ratonhnhaké:ton and fuck whatever is happening to him and what this means in the timeline, he's gonna hide in Ziio's village forever and be Ratonhnhaké:ton's favorite uncle. You don't have to hide in plain sight if you're staying in a village that thinks you're some kind of spirit or something and that's cool. So while the Assassins and Templars are scrambling to find him, he's just chilling and babysitting for Ziio. By the time they find him in Ziio's village, Ratonhnhaké:ton is old enough to think Desmond is his dad (but he's BFF with Ziio, not in a romantic relationship) so Haytham has to deal with a bad breakup, a son he didn't even know existed and a powerful being who may or may not have adopted his son.

Desmond would have a stressful time in the Carribeans, dodging pirates and everybody else. And he can't find any Assassins for some reason so he tries to take a breather by chilling on some uninhabited island. Cue Captain Edward Kenway who was just there because it was on some weird old map he found and he sees his big dude and thought "sure, let's make him part of our crew" while Desmond agrees because he has a hidden blade so he might be an Assassin (he's not) and his name is Kenway so he might be Ratonhnhaké:ton's grandpa (he is) and Desmond needs a break. Chilling with pirates sounds like fun (it's not)

I think Desmond would spend most of his time during the French Revolution trying to find a way to America because that's where Ratonhnhaké:ton is and he believes Ratonhnhaké:ton will believe him (at the very least, won't turn him away anyway) but he'll get roped into this because something inside him is telling him there's someone in Paris that is bad juju. His Isu body is reacting to Aita's Sage and it's giving him some kind of annoying headache. Before he knows what's happening, he's secretly helping an Assassin who reminds him of Ezio and forms some kind of alliance with him. He has no knowledge of the French Revolution other than the Liam Neeson movie (not the musical because, according to wiki, that released on Dec 25 2012 in the US and our boy is already dead by then) so good luck?

Victorian England, on the other hand, would have Desmond barging in on the train that the Frye twins commandeered because 'it's a train... if you wanted to be inconspicuous, you'd pick the sewers, not a train'. His height would leave him... well, pretty much benched unless it's nighttime and he stays on the roofs so he gets to help Greenie with research (and miss Shaun) and maybe awkward shuffle away when Evie and Henry start having a moment. He does help out during nighttime missions AND BECOMES ONE OF CHARLES DICKIN'S GHOST CLUB MISSION because people saw him and think 'holy shit, ghost!' and now Evie and Jacob have to pretend not to know that the ghost Charles Dickins wants them to find/debunk is actually some chill dude who likes going out at night to stretch his legs. (Jacob brings Desmond the dog to the train and introduces him to Desmond, Desmond is not amused, Jacob thinks it's the best joke he's made in a while, Desmond the dog thinks Desmond the Isu gives the best belly rubs)

3 Desmond gets traveled back in time in an Isu body during the 21st century (or farther than that)

For this one, I can think of two main plotlines

This one is connected to my previous idea of Elijah overriding Juno's new body and transferring Desmond's data into it. Cue awkward father-son bonding between the two as they try to escape Juno's lackeys with Charlotte and the other Assassins and Desmond is awkward around them because he doesn't know anyone (he's been isolated to the other Assassins since he got his own 'cell') and Elijah doesn't trust anyone at all. Their main problem now is trying to contact any of the other Assassins to help them escape while trying to escape from both Juno's lackeys and Abstergo who has now heard of Desmond's 'resurrection'.

This other plotline is kinda meh but you can throw Desmond farther into the future and have him get a more stable Abstergo-created Isu body during the timeline of Watch_Dog Legion. While the developers insist that Darcy (who is a descendant of the Fryes) isn't canon, fuck canon, have Desmond deal with the horrors of a dystopian future where his height will be a fucking red flag. He's stuck in London, allies himself with Darcy and Dedsec in a 'you scratch my back, i scratch yours' setup where he helps them out and they help him try and contact an Assassin he actually knows (like maybe Shaun or Rebecca).

In both of these plotlines, Desmond can easily blend in by using one thing: wheelchairs. While he's overall larger than normal humans, wheelchairs will make that less 'visible'... heightwise anyway

....... I just realize that I made plots instead of answering how Desmond could hide while using an Isu body... ooops?

[samspicturesandwords]

Next Assassin’s Creed Game

Predictions about the next Assassin’s Creed game

(Please note that I am not a journalist and I have no insider info about the Assassin’s Creed series or Ubisoft. This is all speculation for fun. Also, FYI this is not a history paper! I am looking up some facts and dates, but also just discussing things I’ve read and heard before and am hoping I’ve remembered correctly. Don’t take this as a good source of history. I apologize for any mistakes this post may contain and encourage you to do your own research into the topics mentioned if you’re interested in them. Sources I consulted for the history I discuss here include Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia.)

It’s a safe bet that the Assassin’s creed series will be around for a while yet, but what’s less certain is the form that the next installment will take. It has long been rumored that there will be title set in ancient Rome, and it seems likely that the next release will be exactly that – Rome would be a nice way to close out a loose “trilogy” of games set in the classical/Hellenistic Mediterranean after Egypt and Greece. But the history of Rome is long and complex.

In early times, Rome was a kingdom; it then became a republic from 509 BCE to 27 BCE, and then an empire that stood until the late 400s AD (in the west – the eastern half survived much longer). The period between the traditional date of the city’s founding in 753 BCE and the fall of the western part of the empire around 476-480 covers more than 1,200 years, and though the empire is long gone, Rome itself still remains, a beautiful and remarkable city I have had the pleasure of visiting. Obviously, a lot changed over more than one thousand years of Roman history, and saying that a game is set in Rome or the Roman Empire would be quite vague, so I’ll attempt to narrow it down.

I once thought that an Assassin’s Creed game set in ancient Rome would likely make Julius Caesar the main antagonist, because (spoilers for Origins and for real history!) he was famously assassinated after becoming something of an autocrat in what was supposed to be a republic. In Brotherhood, players can find the armor and writings of Brutus, one of the conspirators who killed Caesar. It could be fun to play as Brutus, or, as I suspected, to at least have him as a major character, as a way to tie the game to Ezio’s story. However, as those of us who have played Origins know, Caesar is assassinated by Aya at the end of that game, so it would make little sense to re-visit that exact time period since Caesar has already been used as an antagonist.

What if we look back further in history? My best guess now is that an Assassin’s Creed game set in Rome will take place during the second Punic war, which raged from 218-201 BCE. It was a particularly fierce and dramatic conflict fought between Rome and Carthage, a state founded by in north Africa by Phoenicians. Rome had defeated them once before – we are talking about the second Punic war here after all. Although their earlier loss had undoubtedly weakened Carthage, by the time of the second war with Rome they were still formidable.

While there may be no Romans from this period who are as famous to us today as some later emperors are, this is the war Hannibal Barca fought in. Most of you have probably at least heard of his daring invasion of Italy, in which he and his army, including elephants, crossed the Alps to attack the Romans from the north. Hannibal was a great military leader and has a lot of name recognition (more than Scipio Africanus does these days at least). Imagine fighting an army of Phoenician soldiers, their ranks bolstered by northern “Barbarians” who had joined the cause, and by a bunch of elephants. Elephants were already present as optional bosses in Origins, but imagine if they were integrated into field battles like the conquest battles of Odyssey. Historically, Hannibal had a fairly limited number of elephants at his disposal during his invasion, but they could appear as occasional bosses during story missions.

The Battle of Cannae, in particular, is one of the most famous battles in all of history and saw Hannibal defeat a larger Roman force. It could be a spectacular set piece.

One strike against my theory is that some prominent works of Roman architecture, like the Coliseum, were built after this time period, and would therefore have to be omitted if any semblance of historical accuracy was being observed. Then again, many of us already climbed the Coliseum and the Pantheon as Ezio in the Renaissance and wouldn’t miss them too much if they don’t show up in this game.

What would gameplay be like in this setting? Well, probably similar to the last two games in many respects. One way they could differentiate melee combat could be to re-introduce shields, which were present in Origins and absent (for the player character at least) in Odyssey. Shields were very important to Roman infantry (though as Blue from Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube has pointed out in his video “Historical Realism Review: Assassin's Creed Odyssey,” shields are an odd omission in that game, so who knows). The Romans also made use of javelins – could they be integrated, perhaps having higher damage than bows but also a shorter range?

Speaking of Blue from OSP, in the same video he mentions that it was unrealistic to see Greeks fighting in a disorganized melee when they actually relied so heavily on the phalanx formation. He said that he wished the game had been able to “bridge the gap” between a rigid formation and a “Battle royale.” In the unrelated game “Ryse: Son of Rome,” battles are split between sections in formation and sections of free-for-all fighting on your own. The latter type of gameplay is by far more common, but there are a few points at which the player character forms up with other soldiers and commands them to advance, brace behind shields to withstand incoming arrows, or throw javelins. An Assassin’s Creed game could do something similar, with some story missions embedding the player within a formation of soldiers and controlling them as a unit. This type of combat would likely be less engaging than the freer one-person army whirling through the battlefield, but it could be used occasionally in story missions to show a more realistic version of combat tactics at the time and to change up the pace of gameplay.

Naval combat could return with a twist: why not give the player’s ship a corvus? This Roman innovation is a type of spiked drawbridge that could be swung down onto a nearby enemy ship, allowing the Roman infantry to storm across and capture the vessel rather than destroy it. Historically, the Romans used the corvus in the first Punic war and it fell out of favour before the time we’re examining, but it is historically possible that at least the player’s ship could make use of this existing technology. Then naval battles could become deeper (no pun intended): players could decide whether to ram an enemy vessel or set it ablaze with flaming arrows, or attach the ships and engage in melee combat. Boarding already exists in Assassin’s Creed games, but the corvus could be a way to differentiate boarding a ship from destroying it. In Odyssey, boarding was only possible once a ship had been disabled and was nearly sinking from battle damage. What if in the next game, ramming or burning an enemy vessel would destroy it, while using the corvus would allow it to be not only boarded and raided, but captured? Troops on board your ship could be a resource, expended to board and subsequently sail enemy ships. I can imagine a system in which it was possible to capture enemy ships during battle, have your soldiers take control of them, and then have those ships assist you as AI companions. Maybe only one or two ships could be taken over before you run out of troops, and maybe they��d only assist until the battle was over, or perhaps they’d have to be manually dismissed to regain your full count of troops onboard your own ship. I think this would add a new dimension to naval combat.

The nation struggle system is likely to return, especially if the game is set during a period of intense warfare. I have written the preceding sections under the assumption that the player character would be on the Roman side. I do not know, of course, if the player character would be loyal to one side or the other, and if so, to which. I hope that they will fight for one side, because being a mercenary with no allegiance or real moral code irritated me in Odyssey. I feel that if the protagonist is loyal to one side, it will likely be Rome, partly because Rome would actually feel like the underdog in this conflict in which their territory is invaded, and partly because of Eurocentrism and the greater pop-culture familiarity with Rome compared to Carthage. Maybe we’d even go back to a system with two playable characters, like in Syndicate, but this time with one on each side of the conflict, but that might be too complicated to implement.

And now, just for fun, what could the title for this hypothetical Roman Assassin’s Creed game be? I’ve seen “Assassin’s Creed Legion” floated as a possibility by someone online. I also think that “Empire,” the rumoured title of Origins, could be appropriate. What do you think?

Again, I only looked up a few things here (and hoped I’m remembering the rest correctly), so I apologize if I’ve gotten some historical facts wrong. I mean, I’m just spitballing about what a video game might be, I’m not doing much research. Thanks for taking the time to read. I’d love to hear your theories and hopes for the game as well!

[jasontoddiefor]

Title: From wherever the wind blows

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed

Summary: They might have been useful NPCs at worst, and cute little duckies at best. But in the end, Ezio’s recruits were real people. (With their own agendas, such as food privileges, keeping their local artist/inventor/weapons' smith safe and setting their mentor up with his longtime best friend.)

AN: For AssCreedEvents day 3 original characters! Let’s be honest, we all gave our recruits in AC Brotherhood their own personality and backstory.

When Adele thought of her childhood, all she remembered was her mother’s kind smile and her beaten brother’s body lying on the cold stones in front of their house just after the guards had decided to rough him up. She had been exactly ten years old, not a day older, and her birthday gift had been a corpse and the sweet bread her brother had died for.

They had caught him stealing, they had said. It was his own fault.

Except that hadn’t been true at all because Adele had seen her brother sneak a few coins away in the evening before her birthday and he’d never steal anything from strangers.

Not even for her.

Adele couldn’t tell if it had been her mother’s tears or the guards’ sneers, perhaps the mix of both, but despite all her anger, she had been unable to do anything. She had been helpless. The only blood she drew was her own when she punched the walls of their house, screaming of the injustice.

Nowadays she didn’t scream anymore. She made barely any sound at all when she ran over the roofs of Rome, tailing her targets. She jumped over the small alley in front of her and turned around to wait for Saverio. The adolescent barely hesitated before he made the jump. He was the youngest of all the recruits but learned all the faster for it. For a moment it seemed like he would slip, but he caught his balance in the last second and the two continued on.

The mission was simple, meant to ease Saverio in the job of scouting targets for hours. A quite dull job for Adele, who had helped the Mentor take down Borgia hideouts for what felt like ages, but a necessary one.

“Adele?” Saverio spoke up.

“Keep your voice down. Yes?”

“Why are we following maestro Leonardo? He’s safe, isn’t he, since we, as well as the Borgia, protect him?”

Saverio was smarter than she had thought him to be, he had picked up on the confusing background of this training mission quite fast.

“S ì, but it’s not that easy. As long as maestro is still useful to them, they don’t care in what condition precisely he is at the end of the day.”

And Adele had seen the eccentric but kind man far too often with bruises to not take it like a personal failure that they couldn’t keep their best weapons’ smith in good condition. Of course, all of them could do basic adjustments and repairs on their hidden blades, but nothing ever was as good as a blade crafted by Leonardo.

Never mind the deep connection their mentor had to him. A dear friend of Ezio Auditore shouldn’t suffer from the Borgia.

Adele dropped from the roof of the house into the nearest haystack on the ground. It wasn’t quite a leap of faith yet, rather just a new height Saverio would have to master so that eventually he could jump from their headquarters like a proper Assassin. You had to train that particular skill and learn how to fall without injuring yourself or their ability to walk the top of the city as easy as the ground would be for naught.

When nobody was looking, Adele jumped out of the carriage and disappeared in the masses. It took a few minutes for Saverio to follow her, but eventually she heard him whisper “understood” right next to her.

They continued tailing the artist a little while longer, all across Roma, before calling it a day when the sun began to set.

“You’ve done well, Novice,” Adele praised her apprentice on their way back home.

Saverio beamed at her and his steps reminded her of that of an excited rabbit. He seemed quite eager to return home to dinner as well since he was in quite a rush to cross as many roofs as he could in the shortest of time.

Honestly, had she known that food was all it took to get him moving quicker, she’d have used that as a motivator hours ago. Either way, she was glad they could return at a faster pace. She hadn’t eaten since this morning, and she knew Ezio had bought sweet bread yesterday. For everyone, he had claimed, but Adele knew for a fact that he had only started to buy it once he had learned that she enjoyed it. He did that for every recruit. There were always apples for Piero and that one cheese from one specific farmer a bit out of town for Laura and new books for Beatrice.

Often things they hadn’t been able to afford on their own, but money was hardly a problem with how their order was right now. And sure, all these little gestures and things were wholly unnecessary in their fight against the Borgia, but it made all of them feel at home.

Once they crossed the bridge to the Tiber island, Saverio took off and ran all the way to the hideout, his bright smile enough of a reason for Adele to mirror it. She followed Saverio, but chose to enter their headquarters from above, she was closer to her room that way. She dropped her weapons and armor on her bed and continued on to the dining room in more comfortable clothes.

She was safe here, she didn’t need to wear heavy protection.

From outside the dining room, she could already hear lots of laughter and talk. A handful had returned from a mission this morning, they were almost altogether tonight.

“Buona sera, Adele!” Leonardo, who by all means should not have made it back to headquarters before Saverio and her, greeted Adele easily.

He was sitting comfortably at the long table they all usually ate at together, right next to their mentor. Dinner had already been served and the man seemed quite happy with the wine and food he’d be provided with.

Saverio, as tired and hungry as the teenager was, had already rushed past her still in full gear to the other recruits and helped himself to a large serving Adele concluded to be his second.

“Mentor, maestro,” she acknowledged them and sat down to their mentor’s left.

Machiavelli wasn’t in town for the next month, so she didn’t bother to keep space for him.

“How did the training go today?” Ezio asked her. “Good I hope?”

“Saverio’s a bit clumsy still, but he shows quite the promise,” is what Adele would have answered, hadn’t Leonardo stolen them right out of her mouth. “I doubt I would have noticed him if I hadn’t been paying attention to it.”

Adele was sure she hadn’t managed to hide her disbelieve as Leonardo began to laugh. “Don’t worry about your talent, Adele. Nowadays even Ezio has a hard time sneaking up on me. Being acquainted with Assassins does wonder to your perception of the world.”

His brown eyes shined unusually golden, and Adele would have attributed it to the light, hadn’t she seen her mentor’s eyes look the same too many times.

Well, that did give Adele a lot of answers she’d possessed concerning that man. Content knowing that it wasn’t her abilities that were lacking, but rather a further skill Leonardo possessed, Adele allowed herself to relax and enjoy the dinner.

And naturally, she reached for the sweet bread first.

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit’s Hopes and Fears For Kingdom Hearts III

We are one month away from the release of Kingdom Hearts III. Like many other fans I am excited to see the new entry in Sora’s story in his battle against Xehanort and Organization XIII. Although there are many things that I hope we get to see, I also have some fears regarding the new entry. So let’s go over what some of them are:

Hope #1: Enhancing combat:

If you played Kingdom Hearts 0.2, there may have been one thing you noticed in terms of its combat and that’s simply attacking enemies and using abilities does not always get the job done. There are moments where you will have to cast spells to either exploit a weakness or cause a status effect for you to easily dispatch them. Having spells be more necessary for fights is something that I hope does remain from 0.2 and into Kingdom Hearts III.

Fear #1: That the series recap packaged within Kingdom Hearts III may not be enough:

Square Enix has done an amazing job re-releasing all of the Kingdom Hearts titles to one platform. Doing so has almost destroyed the stigma of Kingdom Hearts being a “complicated and convoluted” series. Is it still poorly written and full of retcons? Yes it is, but a lot of the major plot points are now much easier for players to digest now that everything is on one platform.

However, I know that there will still be many newcomers to the series that will start with Kingdom Hearts III and not play any of the past titles. Although Square has stated that they will include something in Kingdom Hearts III to bring new players up to speed, my fear is that it will not be enough. I’m afraid that it could potentially leave out some important details that this new fan may need to know to understand certain events, which will in turn them off from the game completely.

Hope #2: More Representation From Other Square Enix Properties:

Dream Drop Distance opened the possibility that Kingdom Hearts does not have to just be tied down to representing Final Fantasy, but other Square Enix series as well. Dream Drop Distance featured characters from “The World Ends With You” and it got many players that did not play that series, more curious about it and wanting to play it themselves. With this I think it can open some other Square properties to also make an appearance such as Nier or even the new Octopath Traveler.

Fear #2: No Final Fantasy Representation:

On the flip side of my hope, my fear is that the Final Fantasy representation of this series, which is one of the main points that Kingdom Hearts was known for will be extremely minimal or not present at all. Birth By Sleep had extremely little representation from Final Fantasy and 358/2 Days and Dream Drop Distance only had Moogles representing Final Fantasy. My fear is that Kingdom Hearts III, might take the full plunge of having no Final Fantasy representation, which would also mean no optional Sephiroth boss battle, which was a major highlight for Final Fantasy fans in Kingdom Hearts I and II.

So having one of the main selling points of Kingdom Hearts that brought so many people to this series in the first place, could be a slightly upsetting subtraction.

Hope #3: Party Members are more competent:

We all know that setting priorities for party members has always been more of a suggestion rather than a priority. My hope is that when you set priorities for certain situations that they’ll be more likely to follow those prompts.

Fear #3: The Impact of Kingdom Hearts: Chi, Kingdom Hearts: Chi Backcover, and Kingdom Hearts: Union Cross to the story of Kingdom Hearts III:

This is perhaps my biggest fear for the entire game.

Kingdom Hearts: Chi and Kingdom Hearts: Union Cross are two mobile titles that Square released that told the story of the Keyblade War and the aftermath, an event only briefly mentioned during Birth By Sleep. Now, although Square and Tetsuya Nomura have gone on record to say that the Kingdom Hearts: Chi Backcover movie on the 2.8 collection will be all you need to know from those titles for Kingdom Hearts III, my fear is that it won’t actually be enough.

The movie only covers part of the mobile games events and it shows them in the perspective of a group of Keyblade Masters known as the Foretellers. It doesn’t show the perspective of your player character and more importantly, the events that happen after the movie which introduces a lot more elements and characters to the story.

To further show that these games are connected, we have already seen elements from the Chi story in some of the Kingdom Hearts III trailers, with Chirithy’s making an appearance as well as Daybreak Town where the mobile games and the Backcover movie take place.

There’s many other things that happen during the events of the movie that are only covered in the game so I would highly recommended reading the events that happen in these two games before going into Kingdom Hearts III. Nomura has gone record saying that when writing the story for Kingdom Hearts III, that the story for Kingdom Hearts: Chi and Union Cross were also being worked on at the same time, so you can bet that those three games will be very closely connected.

If you want to know the details of what has been going on in these games I highly recommend watching this link here. This video breaks down all the major events that have occured in the mobile titles.

Hope #4: This is the end of Sora’s Journey:

Square has stated that even though this game is the conclusion of the Dark Seeker saga, I also hope that it also brings an end to Sora’s story as well. When Square does advance to Kingdom Hearts 4 or the next Kingdom Hearts title, my hope is that it will follow a new cast completely, perhaps the apprentices of Sora and Riku or a cast that has no connection to them at all.

Fear #4: This Is Not The True End of the Dark Seeker Saga:

Although it’s possible Kingdom Hearts III will end with the defeat of Xehanort, my fear is that this will not really end the saga like Square Enix claims. I fear that there might be another Kingdom Hearts side title that gets released after Kingdom Hearts III that will have something that was left unfinished. For example, Nomura might have an idea that Xehanort left some small remnant of himself somewhere and that Sora and friends will have to journey to find this last remnant. I also fear that with time travel now a thing in the Kingdom Hearts series, that we still might encounter a past version of Xehanort that will try to put things back into motion. I’m aware that Kingdom Hearts has clearly stated rules for time travel and for those that would like a reminder of said laws, here is what the law states as stated by Xehanort.

“In order for one to travel to a certain point in time, there must be another version of them waiting at said destination. In addition, rewriting the events that are destined to happen is forbidden in the laws of time; what is set in stone cannot be changed. Upon return to one's original point in time, the traveler loses all memory of the experience gained traveling. In spite of this, the memories of these experiences are etched into the traveler's heart, which can potentially have an effect on their perspectives and decisions.”

Now, why could this open up a door of some form of Xehanort returning? Because the Kingdom Hearts series is known for not following the rules it has established. It’s already retconned events and rewrote already stated rules to better suit the story Nomura wants to tell at that specific moment, so what’s stopping Nomura and Square from bending the rules of time travel as well.

Those are my major hopes and fears for Kingdom Hearts III. I do have others, but I didn’t feel it was significant enough to include them as either the trailers have confirmed or refuted them. I’m looking forward to playing Kingdom Hearts III and sharing my thoughts with all of you!

Now for a shameless tail-end blog update because:

As a heads-up for how my blog will operate on January 29, I will be going on a hiatus to solely focus on Kingdom Hearts III. I’m going to be taking my time with this game. I want to really give it my full attention without having to worry about any other projects in the pipeline.  I’ll make a post when I’ll be going into that hiatus and another post when I’m getting out of it. When I make the second post that shows I’m back in operation, the Kingdom Hearts III review will follow shortly after, most likely a week from the return post.

As for the month of January itself, it’s going to be a bit of a strange month content wise. I have three reviews planned for the month. I’m going to be doing my reviews for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Revelations which will then end the first sprint of the Assassin’s Creed review series. It’s a bit of a weird stopping point but in some ways it makes sense to stop it there as Revelations closed out Altair and Ezio’s story. I will also be doing my Yakuza 2 review at that time as well. I just recently cleared the main campaign for it and am getting ready to go through the Majima Saga.

Usually I stick to a weekend posting schedule, but for January I’m going to experiment with a couple of things. With Tumblr making a lot of changes themselves with the “female presenting nipple” bot running around going crazy, I’m going to take time to evaluate and try out different posting times again.

Thank you all for following, reading, and liking! I look forward to ending the Xehanort Saga with you all!