 What's up everybody? I'm the hook and I'm the blade and together we're you know welcome to the hook blade podcast Where we discuss all things assassin's creed. I'm your host Lawson and with me as always is my co-host Tim Tim, how are you doing today? Each episode I get a little better, you know I'm I'm also doing doing pretty great today because I just had a wonderful time listening to Assassin's Creed Gold. Oh, yeah. Yeah Today today's episode guys. We're talking about Assassin's Creed Gold Which is an audio drama an original audio drama from audible set in the world of Assassin's Creed Tim and I have both listened to this and this episode is all about Reviewing Assassin's Creed Gold discussing it. What are our thoughts? What are the implications of its story for the future of Assassin's Creed? Tim, yeah, give me your entire thoughts on Assassin's Creed Gold in three words Not that great I mean, I mean, I think we could probably start with what we liked Yeah, let's start with the things that were good and then we liked about it. All right, so I'll have you kick that off Yeah, I mean first of all, I think that if you're going to do an Assassin's Creed story about a blind dude a blind assassin An audio drama is literally perfect for that for obvious reasons. I was like Why did I never think about how smart it is to do an audio drama about a blind character? Yeah, it just makes sense. It's a great idea. You can't see It's an audio drama Yeah, and I mean and going off of that too like I think In terms of the historical main character, which is Omar, yeah I do think they picked a setting like I had no idea what the what the fuck the great re coinage was right So it's it's nice that it was it was a setting that was decently interesting totally And I think it's a great example of when you have these sort of trans media facets of the Assassin's Creed universe You can choose Settings and time periods that don't make sense for a video game No one wants to play the great re coinage But I might listen to a story about it or to read a comic about it Right exactly and Anthony Del Col the writer on this he's he kind of comes from the comic side of things doesn't he? Yeah, he's I remember we were both really into we were excited for for trial by fire the the first like comic Right series back in 2015. Yeah, that yeah, that was like the big Titan comics thing and he wrote trial by fire I'm not sure if he wrote any arcs past that but he definitely wrote trial by fire So I would not be surprised based on how well this audio drama has done for them financially I would not be surprised to see him return or do something else for Assassin's Creed in the near has it done well financially Yeah, um, let me see if I can pull up the thing. I was looking at it's got it's got good reviews on the audible site Which is probably a good sign for them. Yes. Yeah, it's there. It's audibles top-rated series of 220 it's the number one good after a thousand reviews and counting Yeah, and you know what? I mean, I see the appeal like I understand Why people would like Assassin's Creed gold? You know, I mean like even if it didn't blow me away. I didn't love it I I see where people could love it. Does that make sense? No a hundred percent? I mean, I feel the same way. I'm glad that people are getting enjoyment out of it like a hundred percent Yeah, I don't think that like just because I didn't love it doesn't mean that other people shouldn't have fun with it Like and I would welcome that perspective. Like I haven't even seen anyone talking about it So like in my circle, I guess like there hasn't been a lot of Assassin's Creed like fan community Yeah, I totally I missed that it even came out. It seems like no one knows exists It's interesting because I think that audio dramas are kind of coming back into the the zeitgeist a little bit because of audible and podcasts and things of that nature and Assassin's Creed makes sense for that medium and I'm always I'm always excited about pieces of media and Assassin's Creed that are at least intending to further the modern-day story because That's an element of the franchise. It's really important to me And since they're always Ubisoft is really nervous about doing modern-day in games every time They're like all but but some of the reviewers don't like it when we do when we do modern-day stuff You don't like it. So we're not gonna do it. I love your Ubisoft voice. This is my Ubisoft voice. It's so great Which isn't which isn't my impression of Eve Guillemot, which we're saving for a special occasion Yes, I will say though in that and what you just said intended to move forward the modern-day is a very important Let's talk about that Wait, wait, so are we done with the things we liked it was the Okay, we're not I also I like Riz Ahmed. I think he does a good. I like his voice. I like his accent in this Really didn't like Riz no, what what what what was wrong with Riz? He I just look It's a great actor if you're listening I like you Riz But in this I don't I didn't love you I see this is really strange to me because usually really like when especially assassins Creed characters go for the stoic badass vibe Yeah, but it's just like I don't know it didn't it didn't Find itself in the like Altair realm it found itself in like the Connor boring realm No, no, I'll tell you is worse the well AC one I'll tell you is like a much worse iteration of stoic badass than well You're wrong Mar like I think Omar I think his voice he was able to capture like the sort of thoughtful stoic badass like you can tell he's choosing his words carefully I got the vibe of the character someone who's been through like, you know He's experienced racism and and you know ableism because of his blindness and the world that he's Sort of grown up in has been kind of harsh to him I totally bought that he's the kind of guy who just You know, he keeps things close to the vest so to speak like he's not he's not talking all over the place He's not saying things that are Superfluous or extra. He's just you know, he's being calm collected thoughtful. I thought he did a good job In terms of in terms of Riz Ahmed's character. I mean spoilers. Yeah for this But even in his most like passionate scene with rose, there's no emotion It seems Like no, that wasn't my read of it. I felt like he was he's maybe I kind of relate to this a little bit more I think he's just maybe one of those guys who's not super openly emotional like that can be a character. Perhaps. Yeah But even when he's angry like there are very little times when he's like Like like the rage inside of him is coming out and there's not a lot of emotion You know, I think that's part of what we're dealing with like the medium, too I mean when you're trying to express rage and you're trying to express anger Like purely with your voice. It's gonna be a little challenging versus But it's yeah, so like out of all the voice actors in in AC gold for me Riz did the best job And I guess it's not surprising because he's the like professional Hollywood actor in the cast and I just saw the other day and add For Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Riz Ahmed is playing a character in that So I feel like his agent. He was probably like hey set me up with audible. Let me just do it I wonder if he's like a rich tech guy in that movie in what movie and Candyman No, no, no Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Oh the Sandman. Yeah the comic I don't know why I thought he's a candy man. Yeah, okay Yeah, but you're right though that Riz Ahmed he was playing rich tech guys and things cuz born and venom and isn't there another one. I Don't know probably another one you could say he's rich with life in nightcrawler Okay, we all are to some extent. Yeah. Yeah Anyway, any other good things about AC gold? I think the rose galloway actress did probably the best Oh, I thought she did great too. Yeah, she was very fun to listen to she actually I bought Her like emotional state. Yeah most all of the all of the historical voice actors were Fairly decent like Isaac Newton. He's definitely a little corny, but it fit with the tone of assassin's creed Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's a very like vibrant and animated voice that he he comes up with excrement. Yeah I appreciated that Um, and I also want to say I like a couple things about the way that Look, and I'm not gonna get too deep into this But something that people talk about on assassin's creed is how you know You can be playing as Cassandra and Odyssey, right? You can be a female warrior in Uh ancient Greece and people think oh well in these in these assassin's creed games. They never want to acknowledge like actual you know Discrimination and racism and sexism like those elements never factor into their historical stories and I'm never one that I don't protest that I think that that just makes the game more inclusive and entertaining for the most amount of people But I liked that they had the freedom in assassin's creed gold to actually, you know, there is racism against Against Omar in the story and it and it feels like part of the world and it feels like part of his character It's not ignored Same with with furrows, you know, she talks about the unique pressures of And expectations of a woman in that time period and that that all struck me as authentic and well handled So I applaud del call and the team for that choice. I agree so I guess in terms of now things that we didn't like. Yeah Um I I guess just off the bat. There's no more general complaint that I had. Yeah, um, there was just a lot of pacing issues I felt Uh, for sure. I haven't there's like eight chapters or both like half an hour So there's a lot of time in this to cover. Yeah, and I just I felt like especially like early on in the story when aliyah aliyah khan is first in the Animus and omar is like doing some cool shitties fighting people and like in between those scenes aliyah just pops up and she's like I never liked washing machines And it's like this completely breaks the pace like Let me let me get into omar like stabbing dudes and then she's like I can't do a british accent. My cousins trapped me in a washing machine. It's like This isn't what I this isn't the exposition I need right now. I agree. I look aliyah I don't think she's a bad character necessarily, but I do think that a lot of those Those sort of monologues that would kind of come in in the middle of things Like I felt like they didn't do a great job of justifying their existence I never felt like I was learning anything Really insightful or valuable about aliyah to justify her like jumping into the middle of the historical stuff Uh, you know like yeah, I mean sorry go ahead Actually, I lost my turn to thought you go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, no, I was just gonna say I mean and speaking of justifying their existence. I mean they kind of just pop up out of nowhere I suppose this is just her internal thought But I would have much rathered Like and and I and I'll get into my problems like with with gavin's character But I think having her Express herself to like gavin or michelle would have been a much better way to dump all that exposition Then and I understand it's a problem with the medium like You can't Yeah, there isn't a lot of room to to have these long drawn out scenes So you got to kind of put it in the middle of the action. Yeah, but I would argue that Having her talk to gavin about herself and maybe trusting him a little And revealing that would have been a little bit better for her character and in the pacing probably Yeah, because it would be accomplishing more than one thing at a time Which is definitely a signifier of good writing is when you can nail plot development and character development in the same scene in the same conversation Didn't feel like they were doing that with those like aliyah monologues and speaking of aliyah kind of interrupting things There's a lot of moments, especially early on where like she sort of comments on The historical stuff that's happening, which I think is an interesting device and can be used really well in assassins creed but Definitely like it kind of suffers from the assassins creed movie syndrome where it just pulls you out of what's happening in the moment Where you think that in one moment you're hearing this historical story And then they just really want to remind you That you're actually like watching through someone's memories in the modern day And all that that reminder is earning for them is like a snide comment or joke from aliyah. Yeah. Yeah, it's like Like very very early on, you know anything. Omar does or says, you know, she's just like wow She kind of she kind of just interrupts the dialogue a little bit. Yeah So as far as the modern day goes there's kind of a lot of things wrong with it and I want to talk about Sort of what I see is like the central mistake of the modern day story And this is something that happens in assassins creed All the time where they're trying really hard to justify The story But they're not Following a consistent like plot logic whatsoever And what happens here is the the big threat that they're trying to thwart is that this this woman Who works for obstergo And it's a writer I believe is her name who conveniently happens to be like this girl boss idol for aliyah Yeah, yeah, I I I just it was not It's the way she just name drops one person from obstergo and that one person so happens to be the bad guy And people don't tend to have that kind of like real admiration for like pharmaceutical executives It's like it's like if elon musk's lawyer was my idol Yeah, like any it's a writer from what they describe of her is not Is not doing things that are necessarily worthy of everyone being blown away by her and it's not like there aren't Female leadership at obstergo like isabel ardant was around at the time I think You know like people like yeah anyway All I'm saying is yeah very convenient But there's a lot of convenience like My dad left me also happens to be a big templar guy who's working on this project Even though that has literally no causal or direct relationship whatsoever To the fact that gavin banks and michelle. What's her name? Have grabbed me to view my ancestors memories. You know what I mean? Like yeah, you can draw a very thin causal line there where the likelihood of Your ancestor being an assassin when your direct parentage is also involved in the assassin templar Conflict that there is some relationship there. Yeah But it's it's not really really direct enough Yeah, I mean it's just really trying to add some tension in that last scene. Yeah Like It's it's just to go like wow the first person aliyah killed was her father That's what they're like like it's just I honestly I did I did I didn't mind that whole bit where they were like infiltrating Obsturgo. I I didn't mind it. It's just like I also felt like when aliyah was describing Her relationship to her dad and the way that she kind of like daydreamed about Like if she'd met him what she would say to him what she would do That's all super authentic and very like legitimate character stuff and I appreciated that I was disappointed that all it led up to was like I'm your daughter. You piece of shit. No, you're not and he's like, what are no, you're not and then she kills him And he's like and he's like, I'm sorry aliyah I should have been a better father to you like not in those exact terms But basically no no no that's pretty much what he does. Yeah, he's bleeding out and he's like, I'm sorry and it's like No, no, you're not No, if you're not if you were an actual piece of shit that beat father and a templar villain who's just died I think your last words would be closer along the lines of fuck you Yeah, and then all that you really get from aliyah after it never mind the fact she's Like killing a person is one thing killing your your father is definitely another thing I feel like her reaction to it afterwards like damn that shit sucked like Yeah, she was just a little moody But but a little moody and that's it, but exactly um, but back to the thing that I was trying to say earlier so like the big risk the high stakes of this story is that anya to rider um is developing a Virus software thing that if I understand correctly We'll give the templars control over the dark web. They'll be able to redirect and And control the transactions that happen within it So I believe if I'm understanding correctly that the big fear they have about this is that you know templars would be able to intercept like Transactions regarding, you know, say someone tries to contract a hitman on the dark web, right? And then templars intercept that and they make it so the target is someone else or something Or they just control the drug trade or they control all of this Very vague sort of a very consequence also completely impossible because Controlling the dark web or intercepting the the activity of the dark web Is about as as logical and and possible of a thing as just intercepting all of the purchases made on the internet Because really the dark web is just part of the internet. It's just not indexed by search engines, right? right, so how are they going to? Do that in the first place and even if they were able to do that What is the actual consequence that happens? Like what is what is the abstracto able to do? Because they can control the dark web. I know that listeners can't see me making the quotation marks with my fingers But i'm doing that I guess they could like incriminate People they don't like It's not it's not talked about. It's not very it's not very much. You're not supposed to think about it All all you're supposed to know is that there is this very big threat And for whatever reason only gavin and michelle are trying to fix it also The only way to fix it is with a password On a coin on a coin from The 1600 now let's think about this for a second Why What is What is the causal relationship between these fuckos at obstegos saying Let's make the password for this something that was printed on a coin in the 1600s And then how do gavin and michelle Know about it. Yeah, it's like if you know about the phrase you'd probably know the phrase How do they know? Oh, yeah. Well, I have this buddy at obstego who is like, yeah The password was printed on a coin in the 1600s It's like a scavenger hunt, but through memories. What the the shit kind of sense does that make? I mean, I do appreciate that they're not going back for a piece of eden. Yeah That's going back for information is a really great idea Yeah, but It's like it almost it almost feels like like here's the thing I think the problem with it is that the phrase in the back of the coin means nothing to the historical characters Also, how do you as gavin and michelle as assassins, right? How do you go? Okay? Well We have this one ancestor that there's like direct lineage access to Uh, and he was blind How how sure can you be at all that there's even a chance that that dude ever learns the the phrase on a coin Yeah, and what and what gavin says is we're putting all of our like we're we're betting it all on this We're putting all our eggs in this fucking basket, right? And this blind basket that might not even go anywhere. Yeah, and of course it does because they need it to of course it does but Jesus it is it would have been great if she came out and she didn't find it and then you know, it was over That would just be what happened at unity. Yeah Spoiler alert for unity. Yeah. Spoiler for unity. We ain't found shit Roll credits. I don't think anyone I don't think anyone who is listening to this has somehow not played unity there I I don't I just you know Do you know how often on my youtube videos I've been slaughtered for not putting a spoiler warning and it was like The video is titled assassins creed origins. What went wrong? What do you think I'm going to talk about? Anyway, so speaking of like just gavin and michelle like like I like from from the initiate stuff um for those unfamiliar gavin It kind of was brought up and developed and within initiates when that when that happened and uh, I always Was like i'm so excited to see gavin banks and now there's finally an actor that portrays and whatnot And he is like the worst leader possible You know like you told me that at one point before I listened that like gavin banks They really like ruined his character and I yeah, I don't think I fully agree I think that the weaknesses the weaknesses you're talking about like him being stupid They're less gavin problems and more plot problems like yeah, it's stupid to decide that Omar that you should put all your your eggs in the omar basket for this problem But that's not because gavin stupid. It's because That was all that they could think of for the writers to get this for you know, Anthony del call that was the choice that he made about how the plot should go Sure. I mean, but just just in general like his His plan with aliyah is to uh, is to like Pay off her student loans or not. No, sorry. What he does is he gets her Back into the college essentially and then she meets him and he's like hey I'm a part of the assassin brotherhood want to join. Yeah That's like that that's his pitch and I just meanwhile I would have like the the I felt like the omar when he's trying to recruit rose I thought he did a beautiful job of kind of explaining and Justifying the assassin brotherhood, but you're right. Gavin's just like i'm part of the brotherhood of assassins Do you want to join us? And then michelle's like uh gender neutral, please. Yeah, michelle's like Wow, you're a stupid bitch like just being really rude to aliyah Yeah, literally she's like Fuck you like it. She just met this one. Yeah, michelle is my least favorite in this entire thing Oh, she is the worst on a writing and an acting level just Just very very bad. Like the same like if you go back and play ac2 and shan is like a dick for no reason But that was charming. No, it was annoying at first shan got to be be pleasant and charming later But when he's introduced an assassin's creed too and he's like, I don't have time for this. Fuck off. It's like Fuck you dude. What are you? Who are you? I I I agree with you, but like I think Yeah, michelle. I agree with you. We agree with you. Oh, absolutely. Yes And she never becomes charming or interesting in this story No, like her she's just like I know what it's like to lose everything. Oh dude There's literally a moment where it's like oh someone pressed the michelle tragic backstory button Because that's happening now and the sad music is coming in and it's like When other when omar talks about his tragic backstory at feels that feels Real that feels normal in the conversation. And then when michelle starts talking about her tragic backstory, it's like Why? Who asked? Come on gang, let's go find out who asked That's the thing about the whole thing is like she doesn't know these people There's nothing about their cause And then she wakes up out of the animus occasionally and michelle just will talk to her or be pitchy to her whatever it is And it's like She hardly knows these people. Yeah, also it doesn't feel earned. She just wakes up and michelle's like exposition You're completely right. Also, um I think my bigger problem you you mentioned you said that like the the character relationships between like Aliyah and michelle like it's not earned and something that's really not earned and really frustrating to me Is how many times in the historical plot you have this like really cheap switcheroo of like You know, there's this moment where they really want to convince you that newtons actually a bad guy They're trying really hard. Yes, and you know that that's not the case from the jump You just know like yeah, I mean the the big problem with that is is at first. Omar's like it's not true I won't believe it and I'm like, okay. Yeah, cool. You know like because that twist isn't terrible It's just I felt no it's smart to have challenger the villain frame written for all of the things that challenger is doing That makes sense, but then try to convince omar and the audience that it's true Yeah No, like absolutely, but the also as omar goes from I I don't believe it and then like in the next scene He's completely Operating on the hypothetical that that isaac did it. Yeah Like like in the prison and everything he's like he killed those 12 men How about how about the part where he falls in love with rose and they Apparently have sex while we listen to aliyah and shawn banter in vr and then After they've had this moment where she's like i've always loved you and he's like yes I felt the same and then um, you know A scene later. She's like he's tossing throwing knives into dudes next left and right She's just straight up murder and she's become a bad guy and it's like Where's this coming from first of all you've just been like getting punched by omar for like a week And now you're like you're a badass assassin, but also you're you're working for the bad guys You're you're helping the bad guys out. It's like That was not a turn that felt authentic I mean already I felt like the love plot the chemistry romance between omar and rose Like it was almost there like I almost totally bought it They spent enough time with the two of them that you could kind of get in the sense of like Yeah, I see him being attracted to her. I see her being attracted to him And then when she becomes a villain It's like the idea that she's someone who would be willing to kill omar potentially Like to protect her dad or whatever it was That I didn't buy at all and then i'm just rolling my eyes No, none of that is particularly earned and You you get into a more interesting point there too is She goes from like yeah, she's been being trained by omar for let's say like a week maybe two weeks And the only training that we see is them like fist fighting. That's it and And and while you think it's good and I agree with you it's good But omar's explanation of the creed to her begins and ends in one scene She accepts it without any like apprehension. She's like yeah, that sounds cool to me similar to aliyah I think her has made more sense to me though because I bought her as a character and she says that she's like I want to do something important with my life But the only options that they give me are like this Dumb boring woman housewife shit and then for someone to say hey you can be this you know Assassin you can you can save the world from these evil people I can see her being like all right. I'm not going to ask too many questions about this sounds cool Also, like you're hot. I don't know. I disagree I I disagree on that I I just like look I mean I'm not saying I wanted like a whole episode or chapter rather of rose like deciding on it It just it seemed very quick for someone to commit their life to the assassin cause with only knowing the tenets And he didn't even mention the most important part of which is nothing is true everything's permitted Like he didn't even meant he didn't finish the explanation I liked that the way he explained the tenets. He at least gave them context in their world Yeah, something that doesn't always happen when they talk about the creed. Yeah, where they'll be like I agree, you know stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent Duh Hide-and-plan sight. What does that mean? You know like And he kind of I know I justifies it and very often I feel like the the creed doesn't actually when you look at it on its own feel that important like it's basically just like top 10 tips to be an assassin, but When you frame it the way that Omar frames it then he can kind of he suggests this deeper meaning to each of the tenets and to me That stuff worked Yeah, and and and I agree. I just I feel like Also, well, yeah, and I I I feel like him and rose is kind of had a had a very Rushed acceptance of all that and I will say what I didn't like about Omar and rose as well Is they treat eagle vision as if it's a superpower, but it always has been though No, it has not really ego Eagle vision does not make you be able to suddenly be able to parkour And do all that stuff like eagle vision assists you and you can see shit It doesn't make you better a better assassin. Yeah, it does like the fact If you could the fact that if you could see through walls, you would be a better assassin No, no, but no, but that's different though is is what is she what's happening in In rose's perspective is like she can literally anticipate movements And she like can run across rooftops now because she has eagle vision and my recollection I don't remember anything like that in any of the but okay, but but it's not that she can run across rooftops Now that she has eagle vision. She's Always had the the sense of it, you know, like but she's never known how to apply it I think that's the idea is that all my is like here are the ways you can use it So like yeah, it's a sudden turn, but it's just sort of tapping into an ability She's always had look I would totally agree with you if it weren't for the fact that eagle vision has never been consistent in In an ac game. It's always meant different. I think it's only not been consistent recently though And yeah, now you can literally see through the eyes of your bird And that strikes me as a lot less realistic than the way rose uses eagle vision in this I I just yeah, I mean, I would agree with you that it is it is a Convenient gameplay mechanic, but I do also think that the eagle vision thing. It's just yeah I mean it becomes less rare whenever you're sashing you play Yes, but it is like it's not even It's not even consistent who does and does not have it and for what reason Because it used to be this like bloodline thing and now it's like I mean, we're going to be playing a viking in this next game who will have odin site And will not have any formal connection to assassins at the start of the game by our by our understanding they've definitely just given the volume of Excuse me the volume of content in the series eagle vision has been played around with a lot I just originally, you know, it was like the sixth the sixth sense that they hid from everyone and and the issue have it But only certain Very directly related issue or sorry very directly humans related to the issue like can possess it But you I mean you can train it because it's like a latent ability. You can train it apparently But anyway, I don't want to get too deep in the eagle vision garbage. It's just not garbage, but yeah Yeah, I I just I I think like the way like look the way omar uses it to be daredevil I'm not a big fan. I like but uh, whatever because whatever if eagle vision lets you see through walls How is it controversial that it lets you see period? Look, okay, sure When you put it like that, I'll accept that premise Omar Omar, I also think I mean in his explanation of the creed and everything and look I appreciate his his the way he's kind of like a pacifist now Just because he doesn't want to unleash them the monster that's within him and all that and I appreciate that It's a it's a trope and it's not my favorite trope to be like, yeah I'm seeing I'm like this badass warrior But I I keep it I keep it within because I don't want to I don't want to hurt people Right. He's dangerous, but he can control it But the thing is is like the way he explains the creed and everything I just like I appreciate the pacifist perspective of the creed And I I don't think it's unreasonable. I just I also don't know if I agree So much that like the assassins are are pacifist by nature Right. He kind of presents you kind of presents it like They're like jedi. They they have always had this problem in assassins creative this sort of dissonance where Like on one hand, we are supposed to be the good guys But on the other hand our chief means of achieving those good outcomes is with killing And I I think that they should lean into that and explore that Whereas a lot of media ac gold included Kind of ties to tries to sweep it onto the rug a little bit like uh, well We try not to kill people, but sometimes we have to you know Yes, like just just lean into it. Just be like this is not morally good. It's morally gray We're doing something that obviously it's there's no moral justification for killing people Um, no matter how many like trolley games you want to play, right? But yes at the same time like you have to acknowledge that Yeah, it would be better if we weren't killing this many people or we know that this is bad But we do it anyway because that's the choice we make and we understand it and we know it but Whatever, I mean I think at the end of the day the biggest thing for me, right is you have the entire plot of the story resting on this completely unfathomable and illogical You know threat and then you have These characters where I feel like for aliyah and omar as the primary characters of the story I don't feel like they have an arc at all. I feel like both of them are written to be Like cool clever badasses from the beginning to some extent and yeah, they have flaws, but They're never confronting or addressing those flaws. They're never changing or becoming better people At the end of the story the only change for aliyah is that Like she might I don't know. She might try to be an assassin now Which would be cool and fine But that's about the most boring arc you can do for an assassin's creed character When the only thing that that happens is that they decide to become an assassin like for edward kenway Yeah, that's his arc. He decides to become an assassin But it has so much more meaning because Of the changes he's gone through where he's seen all of his friends die And he's lost the the love that that mattered to him And his pursuit of greed has returned him nothing That is a is a story That is that is impactful change on a character and you understand at the end Why devoting yourself to a higher cause is something that he would do Now you have aliyah. Aliyah goes from I don't know my dad. I sure wish I could pay back my investors to I killed my dad and also paid back my investors But as a character, there's nothing going on deeper than that Omar starts the story as a stoic badass You find out more about him as time goes on and he is kind of a an interesting character to listen to for me But by the end he's still a stoic badass. Like maybe he'll train more people or or you know Take a rest or whatever, but again, there's no clear Visible or in this case audible change No arc Yeah, I agree with you and I think that was very well said. Thank you. I think um Yeah In like aliyah's big revelation Is like at the end, you know, um Everything works out. She's paid off her investors, you know, I mean she found her dad and fucked him up and got rid of him And uh, and then she's like, you know, I think I might be an assassin. That was pretty cool And her big like arc is that she gets over her claustrophobia Like that was her big character moment Gavin implies that this whole like prince george thing where they're going to go around like You know putting criminals in jail and and returning their their stolen money Like he acts like oh, this is just something you inspired us to do aliyah Really as an assassin You never thought about that you never had the idea like what if we robbed from the rich and gave to the people they stole from Or or what if what if we held people account like I don't know what That no that That's the thing is is they don't allow gavin to be smart and thinking for himself He's so he's a plot device in character form. Yeah, he's he's just a character there for aliyah to Like bounce ideas off of essentially I mean it's just and and speaking of like I don't mean to jump around too much But there was something interesting that I wanted to mention that I thought I found was really silly was like when rose Uh makes that very very graceful turn into into villain She yeah, that turn is handled with about the grace of an 18 wheeler full of spaghetti careening a tight corner Yes, very much so Like that turn she throws the knife, you know And there's there's also there's no mention that they even trained with knives Anyway, she throws the knife in his in his neck perfectly and finnigan is down finnigan's done for and five seconds later Omar and Nicholas or nikolai or whatever his name is and isik newton Are like bantering about a carriage I don't know if you remember this but like literally I mean, I remember the finnigan's down I guess you're right. It was an abrupt turn finnigan is finnigan is on the ground dead They've just said they're goodbyes and isik newton is like We need a carriage and and nicholas. I think is is like Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna have to take a public one and isik is like a public one And Omar is like isik excrement. It's like Okay, my least favorite thing like my nitpick That's my my least favorite scene is that they're breaking into obstergo and they've got to tie up this like janitor And and he's like, yeah, I've got a family. I've got kids I'm just trying to live my life And and she's like, yeah, but you work for the bad guys in it And and of course you're supposed to you know, think oh poor guy and they're kind of doing this meta commentary on How often like these innocent guards get fucked over by these assassin escapades Which is a fair point and very true and I would love to see that be acknowledged somewhere um But then like later of course because you know if the only thing that you learn about this guy is that he's called a family that he's gonna die and of course they're like You know, oh, yeah, we found the body of a janitor. It's like That's just emotional manipulation and it's not even particularly effective at all Yeah, like I never when the only detail I learned about a character is that they have a family And and aliyah's like relating to him. She's like, oh, yeah, you from where I'm from bruv like Why do I care about that? Yeah, I don't care about that. Yeah, I don't even care about you I believe Why should I care about this like yeah, and you can tell in the moment when they discover the body that he thought Like he thought he was being clever like they thought this was and I'm sorry It's just not good. But like the michelle and like shawnai relationship, you know, like at the end at the end She's like, oh, they're best friends now and they what's up with I can't do an accent. I'm sorry, but why is he here? Because I am convinced that ubisoft said look, we need to get some shawnai. I don't know, man They're not particularly Interested in putting shawnai in anything else. I don't know why they'd want to put him If he could use shawnai, why would they use an ai word? It's so weird And I was watching the behind the scenes like Like reading of the lines and stuff and shawnai. Yeah. Yeah, and uh And shawnai popped up and and I just thought it was so sad Just to see this this this wonderful guy that we all love Danny Wallace just reading these terrible lines Maybe that's harsh. I just not great lines Again, I think annie del call is a talented writer and I think I want to know more about how this story came to be because if he just wrote all of this and no one Metaled with it at all that would surprise me a little bit because I mean like he's written a bunch of things And I've I've read some of his comics. I think I think he's a good writer So this just doesn't make sense to me. There's so much wrong with this story and the things that it chooses to To talk about I I do agree with you. Um Yeah, I should be I I think I think he's a great writer. We have both read trial by fire. We were both really, uh excited about that when I was coming out um, so I I don't think that this necessarily reflects This talent or anything. It's just something happened with this and and there are good things and there are bad things about it And I hope they do more I hope we do another audio drama and they do a cool setting and they get some cool cast members and they you know Make it happen And I wouldn't even hate seeing anthony del call come back and do another one Honestly, all I want all that I need from an assassin's creed audio drama is just focus give us meaningful stakes Give it some thematic resonance. Give it some some narrative oomph some interesting drama I don't think this is too much to ask. I really don't make it feel like Like it was rewarding to listen to Beyond just knowing what's happening in the world of assassins creed We're going to talk a little bit more about this in the modern day episode that we have planned but The balance of power in the modern day assassins creed world is really unclear It feels like the assassins are underdogs when they want them to be and superheroes when they want them to be And so it's really hard to get a hold of what the balance of power who's winning You know, what is what are the stakes? What's going to happen if we lose this battle? What's going to happen if we win this battle? And it just makes it all all of it from the layla story in the games to the comics to the books to this All of it feels A lot less tangible and a lot less easy to understand and care about Yeah, I I agree with you. And I think they used to have a much tighter grasp on that So I guess to kind of sum this up a lot of Promising things about ac gold a lot of things that that are likable and and Good about it, but on the whole kind of falls short and a lot of the really important narrative senses and uh, so on the whole I'd give it like Like a five out of 10 Maybe a four and a half. What do you think? Uh out of 10 Uh, I'm gonna have to go with like a two really. I know I'm just joking. Oh, okay. Okay. I would say I would It wasn't like completely incoherent. No. Yes. I I think I'm more in line with your rating I I'd say a four and a half. Yeah, okay. I'll give it a solid five. I'll go five really All right. Yeah, I think Yeah, because I thought I liked it more than you did But maybe you know what I think what it is is I enjoyed it more than you did But I think less of its quality from a critical perspective. Yeah So thank you guys for listening. Um to this episode of the hook blade podcast I've been the hook and I have been the blade again titles, which mean nothing But simply serve to make our podcast title makes sense Thank you for listening to this episode of the hook blade and we will catch you next time