 What's up everybody? I'm the hook and I'm the blade and together we are, you know Welcome to the hook blade podcast a show about all things us politics assassins creed I'm your host Lawson and I'm joined as usual by your host Tim Burton. Hello. It's been a while dude. It's been a minute It's been a couple minutes I literally I was pulling my mic out from its corner on my desk and it literally had dust on it I literally dusted off the old microphone to get going on the hookie blade again Let me just dust off the old microphone real quick What have you been up to on this long, uh break from podcasting? What kind of valuable and educational exploits have you filled your time with? Well, the holidays happened and that's always a cluster fuck. It's always a good time especially bad time Especially especially around this time of you especially on this time of our existence is as people Yeah, let's see. What interesting things have I been have I even done at all? I'm trying to think because I know I have some anecdotes. I'd like to share Do you fuck I'm gonna pass it to you and if anything pops in my head, I'll just I'll I'll say it Yeah, we'll come back to you. You can just interrupt me mid mid anecdote. I don't know. I've been chilling. I got a vr headset That's been pretty fun Playing poker and vr a lot to replace the empty void of social interaction that uh, currently is my life I'm starting classes Next this monday, and I'm also an intern at a hollywood studio now And that's fun. That's right, and I got a job. So It's busy days. Oh, and I found out yesterday. I probably have cove it. So that's fun Yeah, which is it was just a matter of time really but but everyone uh, keep me in your thoughts and prayers Yeah, everyone do that I I've been meaning to ask you a question So please do and this is gonna sound this might sound like ridiculous to ask Right, but okay. Okay. So that like tv's monitors screens in general, right? Like you were telling me about how our samsung has like an OLED screen apparently our phones our phones Yeah, like we have the same phone. Yeah, so they both have a 10 plus. It has a beautiful OLED screen, right? Okay, so my question So I keep thinking like, you know as we're getting into like 4k televisions are pretty prominent right now in people's homes I guess 8k eventually will be a thing and like I know that like q leds and whatnot like they're supposed to like Give you a bigger Spectrum of color and whatnot to pull from yeah at what point are we just going to exceed where our eyeballs are able to process? Is that ever gonna happen? I mean debatably we already have I don't believe anybody who tells me they can look at an 8k monitor side by side with a 4k monitor and tell me they see a difference now I know everyone says that every time there's a jump that like we how am I supposed to tell the difference between 1080p And 720p. So maybe I'm just talking out of my ass here. Maybe I'm just blowing this right out my ass cheeks, but I really feel like I really feel like I could never imagine what 8k looks like having any difference or impact on on my enjoyment of visual content I just I just can't picture it. I I've seen plenty of a cave I up until the pandemic I worked at best buy and I had to walk past a Wall of 8k monitors every time I went to piss. So I've seen it. Okay. I know what it looks like And could I tell you side by side? Blindly which one is is 8k which one's working? No no Not a chance And that's why I think like things like OLED and micro led in the future That's going to be more important because you can actually tell the difference right with those technologies. They make a difference to have an OLED um higher refresh rate also will be a big deal depending on certain applications But I do I think there's going to be a big like do I think anyone's really pushing to have 8k content And presentation I hope not seems like such a waste of data and size and space and everything just seems like a waste of time Yeah, I I guess I just because like for instance, right like Filming things in black and white is a way that like like it's not natural We don't see in black and white. So there are there are maybe some things that are going to appear on a camera That's filming in black and white that we wouldn't see normally I mean you kind of get that with like when you put things under like a black light, you know, and you can see semen so Okay, like Whatever, let's just keep going. Let's agree about it. I don't think I know where you're going with that But uh Speaking of semen, um, so that's a screed for black flag assassins creed valhalla So a couple notes at the top of the show by the way guys, uh, we have As you might have noticed a new design new aesthetic Uh, for no real reason other than that it gives me something to do and I like to do it Well, it's also a new year. It's a new it's a new year It's a new era of hook blade a new season of hook blade Just sort of moving away from the like northern lights motif that was very valhalla centric But kind of keeping that mint green because it is a it's a foxy color. It's really sexy And you know, it just sort of respects our roots. You know what I mean? It's just sort of how we stay in touch with our roots But also alongside this new design. We do have a new upload schedule Because of my aforementioned clusterfuck of a life that includes Classes interning and working and coven all from the comfort of my bedroom We're gonna try this. We're gonna go a little bi-weekly. We're gonna be a little less frequent just every two weeks just for the The near future and we're gonna see how well that works for us and we'll just we'll see how that goes And we're only uploading now instead of on thursdays. We're uploading on tuesdays Don't ask why because it doesn't matter and it's not interesting. It's really easy to remember every two weeks on tuesday Just get that in your brain It is this two tuesdays a month Two of the tuesdays every month. Yeah two out of four two weeks on a tuesday. It's the number two There are two twos in the year 2021 There are also two twos in 2020 Shut the fuck up Tim, do you know why what we're what we're here to talk about this week? Um odds and ends odds and ends What are odds and ends? Um, well, they're they're just little things that kind of get the get they just you know, miscellaneous items What's the metaphor i'm going for here? Fuck um Help me out. Come on. Uh, yeah, I don't know but look odds and ends. Okay. Everyone knows what odds and ends are I don't need to explain it to you They're just we're gonna talk about some assassins creed News and developments that that has sort of come and gone without us really addressing them Uh, so that's everything from like the vr game idea to like the yule festival some patches some Controversial changes that they've made All adding to the general feeling and i'm sure you're gonna agree with me on this tim It really seems like since we stopped paying attention to valhalla and stopped playing it It's just sort of kept getting shittier. Yeah, I mean keep in mind I haven't touched it since we talked about it in depth on the show I haven't even I think I booted it up once after that But it's it's it's been probably like what a couple months now. Yeah, I haven't touched me either really I played around with it on when I got my ps5 to see if it was much better and I mean 60 fps makes everything better, but It's still valhalla at the end of the day, unfortunately and that means it's still not that great So like the yule festival thing was really interesting and by really interesting. I mean really boring Um But what was interesting about it was how it fucked the game in half in so many different and interesting ways like uh, you know, um people talked about Pretty much universally they would load in drunk anytime they fast travel that happened to me in in the base game But was it during the yule festival that it happened to you or no? No, no, no, no It was it was way before when when I was doing my original playthrough of it whenever I would load up I would be shit-faced drunk and I would have to Run around and fight people just to have it wear off. Yeah, or you'd have to like talk to an npc or something Well, it no it wouldn't go away even then So what i'm thinking is that the people who are reporting it happening in the yule festival Something that same glitch was just perpetuated among like everyone for some reason. Yeah I also heard people would load in completely blind with a black screen and that would only fix by talking to somebody So you had to navigate yourself from pure memory From where you load in on the on the settlement to go talk to like gunner or something Just to have your vision restored. That's that's pretty location. That's pretty fabulous It was all these things that made me not want to do it and also the fact that like What do I like it's okay, so it's snowing and there are some activities Like drinking games and shit. I don't even know I I just I could never I could never care about this. I'm sorry I mean, I like the idea of like Having sort of an update in content of like, uh, hey, here's Here's a new thing you get because it's holidays and because we're a live service We can just do a holiday thing that only lasts but you know I also it's also part of the experience that's like it's time sensitive And it's like what am I gonna get for for doing all these activities? Well, apparently some tokens of some sort that'll let me buy some gear that I'm not going to use because I don't play the game anymore Because there's nothing to do. Yeah, I found all the things Like what are people who keep playing the game actually doing is it just are you doing all of the like red uh radiant missions? Is that the idea is okay So is the idea that the yule festival is only accessible if you've beaten the game Because I could see people who are taking their their time with it and haven't beaten yet Which is a possibility that they're just that like the yule festival could be more Aventages to do then because you'd have stuff to take in with you for the rest of your playthrough Maybe but it's it is available to people who haven't finished the game right it was available to everybody. So maybe that's you know I don't know it's just it's it's yule festival Tell us in the comments. Did you like the yule festival? Was that something you actually enjoyed doing? If so, why because I just could not yeah be arsed to give clarification See if anyone else had the same issue with the drunken with being drunk I when I first went to yotenheim I I did the quest where I got blackout drunk with the yoten with with those day of yachtner And it was yachtner Every time every time even after finishing the quest every time I would load up a yotenheim Like if I would leave the game and come back into yotenheim I'd be shitfaced And so yeah I think it was the fault of the yachtner the the damn yeah Well, I mean we can we just we can blame them for all of our problems and not hold the right people accountable I think so too. I love that idea Yeah, so that takes care of the yule festival though, um, there is a more hilarious change that recently came in a patch Have you have you heard of this? Do you know what I'm talking about? The last thing I heard of is that bosses were level scaled with you Yeah, that did happen if that's not this That I don't know I can't really get a grasp on the significance of that mostly because I haven't kept playing but I do know a lot of people who are really upset about the way that they changed level scaling because it made it so Like I know one person was talking about how they try to keep their character under leveled and what they would essentially run into I I think this person was I think this was obese ninja 07 one of the one of the mods It might have been them or or kisex. I don't remember someone if it was you tell me in the comments who was telling me about this um But they would keep they would try to keep under leveled. I think it was obese ninja They would try to keep under leveled so that the game would actually be interesting challenging difficult in any way But then what happened after the update was The bosses wouldn't scale the same way as the enemies in the world did So if you kept yourself under leveled so that the world enemies would challenge you Then the bosses would just spank you you had no hope in hell of ever Managing the boss. So then you'd have to go back into your menu Level yourself up by tediously allocating all those hundreds of skill points that you have avoided spending Then you can fight the boss and then every enemy in the area is piss easy And you just you cut them with your sword like a droid in the prequel movies Like it's just it's that drastic that sounds like a nightmare. I don't like that. It seems like the whole level scaling thing Uh would worse impact people who were still playing the game as opposed to people who have beaten it Definitely, I think so. Yeah, uh, which is part of why no one will be finished with this game until fucking march Yeah, pretty much Yeah, so there was a post on the subreddit from domvgt who's kind of like the patch notes guy He's always talking about patch notes on twitter and reddit He says, you know, hey everyone we we want to take a moment to provide you with some information about a recent community discussion Revolving around the replacement of diamond rune slots. So tim, you know how on your gear You'll have circle rune slots that are just like piss baby runes And then you'll have diamond runes that are like big boy runes actually make a difference Apparently in the most recent update They just got rid of a lot of those diamond rune slots on gear nice crucially on mostly The gear that people paid for in the store. Oh boy They said our development team has recently discovered that a few gear set items Had diamond rune slots by mistake I'm sorry How does that happen by mistake? How do you recently discover that that can't be the case right they had to just decide For some other reason to get rid of those I would think And then they've said that in an upcoming title update They're going to replace the diamond rune slots in the the niffelheim Gear set the gothic gear set the hell's damnation gear set now I'm not I'm not in tune enough with the game to really understand exactly the extent of this change like It seems like maybe it's only affecting certain items within those gear sets I guess maybe the idea is that one item is supposed to have a diamond rune And the rest are not supposed to have those diamond runes But a lot of people bought those gear sets Because of the fucking diamond rune slots and they spent like four on 20 dollars on gear Only to have it be Just ripped away from them afterwards and it seems like there's no plan for them to like Refund any of those people or even give them back their helix credits. It seems like a really weird thing to do I gotta say I really I really have an issue with I remember I sent you this tweet and it's like It was from like ubisoft and they were like, all right Well, we have we have we have a list here of all known issues And it's like the fact that there's even a list of all known issues is a problem I feel like I think most games at least in the modern era of Relying on patches and changes. I think it's a common practice But the list is pretty long for what it's not. Yeah, but yeah, but it's just like generally speaking Like it's not it's not just ubisoft. It does it's obviously but like I just hate I hate hate hate how so many issues can can just fall through the cracks and affect players like you And where people have to fucking like replay the first three arcs over and over and over again because of these issues And they're like, well, fuck it. We'll just fix it in a patch And if we don't fix it that one we'll put out another one and it's like I just wish games could come out released Finished and not be fundamentally broken on so many levels It's like I I might get it like like, you know bugs and gitches like that's always going to be a thing There's always going to be some some some oversight and sure like and that's where patches can come and really and handy But this is another fucking level like There are so many issues that like I I don't think I've seen a single person in our twitter sphere That hasn't had one like very Hindering issue with the game experience. Yeah, um, and in some cases I'd say like I'd say like one out of every three people have had a game breaking bug. Yeah, it's fucked It's also really interesting when I think about when I compare this experience to what unity was like at launch And unity was pretty broken at launch too But the majority of unity's bugs seem to be like visual cosmetic bugs like people fucking losing their faces and shit and popping all over the place And it got this huge reputation of everyone talking about how disappointing and frustrating that game was Almost largely because of how buggy it was And now this game has not really had that experience And I'm trying to figure out is it because They weren't as easily memeable bugs like we couldn't put a reddit post with a screenshot of this bug so it didn't go viral Is it because Genuinely if fewer people are experiencing those bugs. I I doubt that very much from experience I think it's I think it's a mixture of What you're saying as as it's not very memeable a lot of these things are just very frustrating but not screenshot worthy I also think the game's length Because you could you know, let's say you play the game for like 30 something hours and then you're writing an article about it You may have not seen all of the shit that you could see yet because I mean just doing the essentials It took me like 80 to 80 90 hours or so, you know So the game the game got increasingly more broken as it went on too because they prioritize Fixing the bugs that more people are likely to encounter So I I feel like it's a mixture of that the glitches that people do come across It's not like they can make a really like that Unity screenshot with with the faceless charles dorian, you know, that was everywhere That is funny as in and of itself because that only affected a handful of graphics cards Like 98 of people who played the game didn't even ever see that glitch and cyberpunk 2 has a lot more visible Memable glitchers and accepting like the the the last gen console experience Which was clearly super fucked for everybody Like I almost did feel in general like valhalla was more broken than cyberpunk was and I also have to throw in that like I was playing valhalla a week earlier than it launched So that was part of the problem too like I was running into When I when I had my game breaking bug, I believe I was the first person to post about it on the forum And then by the next couple of weeks, there were hundreds of posts. It was on the known issues list And that that certainly is part of the experience as well, but yeah all in all I feel like valhalla is almost It deserves more hate and not even when it comes to like faceless character models or whatever. I just I mean every Once every hour probably I would crash and I had to reload it. I mean that's just not fun Not fun. Not cool. Not very cash money at all. Not at all But you know, it's going to be great and not have any problems a c vr Assassin's Creed on vr. I'm actually able to weigh in on this with some experience because I've been playing Uh vr games recently. I've been trying out a bunch of them Some of them are great. You know, I love super hot. I love beat saber It is fun to play poker with a bunch of randos, but I have noticed something about vr Which is that uh, one of the strengths of vr. Let me phrase this differently One of the weaknesses of vr is any game that requires you to be moving, right? Like most games that you're playing in vr The idea is that you're teleporting from place to place because if you actually smoothly Ambulated between these places if you smoothly walked between those points you would get hell emotion sick because From your eyes and your brain you are moving, but your body is not experiencing motion Obviously, that's weird, right? Unless you're one of those random like rich assholes who has a vr fucking treadmill. What are they? The treadmills the 360 treadmills I know they make shoes now that are supposed to do that. I don't know. Yeah, I I don't know how they're They plan on simulating what you can do in like the regular games in terms of parkour It in vr. I I'm I'm really skeptical of that A sputter cell almost seems like the easier one to tackle out of those two because hitman is already doing their vr And I'm sure that there's a lot of crossover in terms of what they would do when a stealth game on vr The hitman's already doing like maybe May like maybe it could work just maybe I mean I can imagine teleporting around a little Tuscan countryside and stabbing people behind the backs if hitman's doing it I guess assassin's creed could do it. I do want to Say though that I I want to I want to put out like what I what I think is most likely in terms of map I think I think what's most likely to me is that it's going to be like a highlight reel of all the most famous ac locations So it will have like venison maybe even like boston. I could see that maybe being different in a vr setting Definitely a lot of the xco locations Maybe some black flag stuff But either way I just think that it's going to be like a like you're going to be jumping through these different time periods and In different in these different maps. I don't know if they're going to make like an original story or an original map for the vr I don't think I don't know if that's super likely. I think that's what they're going to do I think it's I think that's what makes most sense to me But also I want to uh I want I want to wager a guess at what the poster is going to look like for it Or or rather like the cover for it. Do you think they're going to put an assassin like atco and a vr helmet? No Close I think it's going to be like some random schmuck like you or me and Like a brahman headset with the absurd go symbol on it and it's going to like shooting out from around him is going to be like Italy and boston and all that and that's going to be the game and we're all going to love it I think that the problem with that idea is it would require a lot of different assets If they're just putting them in from the old games If they're just putting them in there's no guarantee They'll work with whatever the movement system is that they come up with for this game So I'm not saying it's going to be the entire map of venice, but it's certainly I know it could be a significant different arenas if they do little like Like squared away gameplay segments. That's totally possible. Also, are these going to be for the quest too because There's only so much you can do with games on the quest It's it's kind of not a super powerful platform because it's probably got less than a you know, your average mobile phone pretty much Hardware inside there. I don't really know. I don't know how it's going to work But you know what I like VR VR is cool. I like assassin's creed Sometimes so maybe I'll like assassin's creed on VR. Let me ask you this Lawson Do you actually like when at any point when you're playing ac? Have you ever said to yourself like this would be pretty cool in VR? Imagining that VR is as best as it could be Do you think that the ac experience could be better in VR? Not better, but good That's the thing and and here's where it gets interesting for me is because That phrase you used the ac experience Unfortunately is not a phrase that means anything anymore because There is no such thing as an ac experience That's fair because the experience you'll have in vahala is Fundamentally diametrically different than what you would have out of the ac experience of 2009 or 2014 And so like as a really obvious example of that you mentioned parkour and yes That is a curious idea of how do you do parkour in vr? I think it could work because a couple of the games I've played Involve you climbing things and you kind of just have to move your hands to different handholds and pull yourself up Which is immersive and cool and exciting and you actually get that sensation when you're really high up of like, oh fuck I'm really high up In fact, if you climbed like a viewpoint in ac vr, you would be like shitting yourself, right? Yeah You'd be like, holy christ. I'm really high up a point if I slip I could fall and die That sounds amazing But if you look at the most recent ac games parkour doesn't really matter that much Well, so maybe i'm just writing a horse in vr. That's the thing lason is is It goes back to our discussion about the netflix show Yeah, this vr experience has to tap into even the most like casual assassin's creed players Knowledge of assassin's creed and so it's gonna have to it's gonna have to be like you could climb up this viewpoint And like they're gonna have to to focus on parkour a little because yeah Your average show that goes and walks into gamestop to buy this is going into want to run around On rooftops and stab people. They're not gonna want to ride a horse And you know, you still have viewpoints and shit. So you're gonna have those in vr theoretically, but I also think about, you know, there was a game that came out on mobile a while ago called assassin's creed identity Did you ever play that? I I know I know what it is. I've never played it, but I know I like it takes place in realm The idea of it is it's like well, that's how do we turn Your actual experience of playing assassin's creed game into a mobile game And it is kind of it is I mean that is what they do But it really just means you have a very small map You can do very basic parkour in And you can do very basic button presses, you know do assassinations and stuff It's not very open worldy, which I guess the vr game probably wouldn't be either It would probably just be like, yeah, we drop you on a tiny map. You have a linear mission There's one guy you got to kill at the end of it and you run around you do assassin things So you kill them and then you play the next level is probably what this is gonna be Probably the same for splinter cell and imagine if they're both being co-developed at the same time by the same studios There might be some interesting similarities in terms of design philosophy between the two and I don't know shit about splinter cell So I can't weigh on on what that would look like for either game I know a little I mean I I've played a I've played a couple of them I think they they're gonna have an they're gonna have such an easier time with splinter cell Just because splinter cells splinter cell In stealth games in general In terms of stealth games that are as stealthy as splinter cell They kind of promise the idea of being patient moving slowly Waiting for guard paths and being and just overall being incredibly patient and waiting for the right time to move And I think and I think that really helps them with vr because the less you are The slower the pace I imagine the the easier it'll it'll feel right like yeah And in terms of like splinter cell does have a lot of like you're climbing up on a rafters and you're And you're kind of like climbing on pipes on the ceiling and whatnot and that's very easily Simulated through vr. So they're gonna have a really easy time with with with splinter cell I think compared to assassin's creed I think in terms of the assassin's creed vr experience As so long as they give you a hidden blade and they can let you like kind of scale buildings in that way That you were describing and like just air assassinating a guy in vr would probably be kind of cool That would be pretty weird They got to be careful with how they do this because I mean There's like a game on the fucking vr store that I looked at it was called like Richie's plank experience or something And it really is just a game that puts you at the top of a tower and you have to walk out on a little plank And be scared shitless by it and they charge 15 dollars for that And there are all these warnings and things that they ask you to do They're like you should have two spotters when you play this game Standing around you in case you fall That's something that they actually have to tell you to do and I can't speak from experiences to whether that's necessary Because i'm not paying 15 dollars to step out on a plank, but it makes me wonder like In terms of the motion experience and the comfort level of it. How crazy can they really go? How how well can they do the viewpoints? How well could they do an air assassination? Without genuinely risking making people sick when they play it is the question and the answer is like Do they just not do those things? Do they just put you inside and just change the entire perspective of the game? Or do they have you controlling somebody in a weird third person way that vr games sometimes do Uh and and do it that way that could be kind of interesting. I bet I would have a lot less Motion sickness if I was playing an assassin's creed game in vr That was still third person and I was just watching you know, that's not that that's not a bad point I I I think that that that could kind of even kind of simulate the whole uh Assassin's Creed identity thing you were talking about right and then it's it's just about putting yourself in the world and having the the sort of immersive And maybe it maybe it shifts you into first person at strategic moment So you get that oh shit factor of climbing a viewpoint I do think the first person aspect of it It might be the selling point when it comes to viewpoints and like maybe a leap of faith or whatever But you're you're right in that there is the risk of making people sick and and whatnot So I don't know I but like I feel like doing a leap of faith in vr Not in first person would suck. Yeah, maybe yeah So, you know, we've talked about vr. We talked about these patch notes Uh, I wanted I've been I've been wanting to ask you Tim. I've been thinking I've been wanting to ask you Can I ask you a question? Are you asking me to prom? How do you feel about Assassin's Creed in general as a brand as a product as a as a thing as a fandom community a thing you're a part of Like let me take your pulse. Where's your heart beat at with with assassin's creed? It's not looking good Um, I might I might have I might fall on the cardiac arrest here soon Yeah, you know, look like when odyssey was coming out and I was very absent from the whole hype cycle of that And I wasn't active on ac twitter very much during that time and or the subreddit That was kind of where I fell off the subreddit. Um For a while I just kind of felt like oh, you know, it's just going through a phase, you know It's just acting out. It's it's being impulsive and sometimes rebellious Sometimes you have to let the teenager go to the party and get drunk, you know and just make sure that he doesn't drive home drunk I feel like right now though, they're getting behind the wheel and they're starting and they're not calling us for a ride home. They're not Setting up a designated driver They're just fucking getting in the car and they're hitting the gas You know, and if they hit a mailbox, they hit a mailbox and I I feel like the mailbox at the moment And I'm not yeah, but I mean worst-case scenario They just fly off the side of a bridge and they go into the water and you never see or hear from them again I That's the that's the like That's the most likely progression of this right is like, I think it's acid screen is gonna Fuck in just bury itself If it keeps going this route because they're going to alienate everyone that made the game successful I feel like to a certain degree Obviously like we mean you and and and like to rule We're not the ones that are making ac sell very well, obviously, but what I mean is yeah Eventually assassin's creed isn't gonna mean anything as you said earlier the ac experience doesn't mean anything anymore Uh, and so it's like being a fan of assassin's creed. Like what does that? What does that mean exactly? What are you a fan of what am I a fan of my fan of? Kind of historical accuracy, you know, like like what am I a fan of right now? And if you had asked me When I went to the revelations midnight release when I was 11 years old Why am I assassin's creed? I could give you 10 reasons now. I could maybe give you one or two I'm not happy with it. I I feel and I obviously that's kind of the the motif of this podcast Right, it's not being happy with assassin's creed, but and and this is good I think to refresh ourselves on in this episode our first episode of 2021 because We're gonna have an idea by the end of the year Where it's going is it is it going is it getting on the bridge and and getting really shaky and and we're Suspenseful and like oh god, this could be it Or is it like hey they they pulled over And they called us and they said Mom, I'm not okay. And now we maybe have a chance right and we're not mad. We're just disappointed We're getting the minivan. We can drive to where they are You know, maybe call a tow truck or something or find a way to find a place to park on we drive them home And they can tell us in the car. They can be like mom. I really fucked up and he'd be like, hey It's okay, son. You have to learn from your mistakes assassin's creed in this case is a teenage son because Boys are stupider than girls are and because they never advertise women right in the franchise the the sister is at home setting Yeah, the the ac sisterhood is at home being a very good Child, they're not doing anything wrong and we love them. We we love them right but uh as far as assassin's creed goes that rascal listen And I I struggle with this because like I'm I'm like I'm an eternal optimist I don't know if you know that about me, but I'm very optimistic person in life in general I'm not we're not gonna get too deep into this because we actually have a real fun epic time plan for our next episode We're having on as a guest mr. N staff 13 who is a working game developer person and and he has some insights some some thoughts to share on the recent spate of leaks and You know, I say quote-unquote leaks because they're not they're not really leaks. Sorry they tim they're pretty much What's another good word lies? They're lies that people are telling That are not based in fact the reality they're not leaks. What's another good word? I bullshit Someone yeah, someone did an ms paint map of india and we're gonna talk about it next next episode Yeah, I guess the preface our positions on it. Yeah, we They're kind of bs, but well, you know, we'll talk about them I guess and and the most exciting or the one that everyone's picking up Is this idea that in 2022? Uh, like maybe quarter one of 2022 we're gonna get a smaller game That is and I'm kind of I'm fusing a couple of different rumors together because they're pretty compatible but this idea that the next one will be set in like medieval france in germany like medieval europe basically in general and that it's going to be uh, uh, they they've said a fantasy take on assassin's creed and As if that hasn't already been a thing As if as if they haven't been fantasy games since 2017, right? No But but just in that just think about this with me for a second. Let's just play this out hypothetically Hypothetically for the sake of argument So let's say hypothetically for the sake of the argument. Okay, um We have these last three games they exist that we know what they are. They're very mythologically influenced They have these mystical elements to them some are more grounded than others And at no point in these three games has ubisoft called them fantasy games So the question becomes If this game this new one that they're definitely making and isn't a complete bullshit leak If they're willing to call that a fantasy game What does that mean for what the game actually is? Yeah, and here's here's the confusion for me is I felt I thought like phoenix Whatever and mortals rising like I thought that was kind of their way to take The elements of odyssey that they really wanted to explore more and expand on and then make its own ip So that they didn't piss off more people We also know that at one point ubisoft cancelled like a full-on Arthurian legend fantasy game too like it was called avalon people were really excited about it And then the higher ups at ubisoft were like, what if instead we didn't do that? It's like it's like they all want to do these things and they have to like prove Themselves by doing it in an established brand first So they all have to like muck about and they have to piss in the pool of assassin's creed In order to get approval. Yeah their own thing that they want to do It does seem as if though we got about like three different potential games that people are talking about right like yeah We have the medieval france germany fantasy garbage. We have the india and some parts of Pakistan, right? I don't fucking know. Yeah, and and then what's the third one? I'm missing the third one China or japan. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes. We've got yeah. We have china potential No, wait, wasn't there one that might be read that was japan? Uh, yeah that that leak and I I still don't know if that's been yeah leak. Yeah, I keep I keep saying leak I mean rumor or lie That lie I don't know if it got reposted It was like intercepted by our auto moderator and it may never have gotten past it Right people may not have seen that one probably for the best because it is It's it's like real fan fiction type shit for sure But out of all of these three proposed ideas that is the one that I hope is true So if we get into that next episode that could be fun. Yeah, and no uh, uh He's he's such a handsome lad. Uh, it's gonna be fun. What a great guy We don't want to blow our load for that episode. I can't believe he got I I can't believe he finally settled down, man I mean, uh, he's off the market for you, Tim. I know I really pissed about that Okay, here's something remember when I tweeted you not tweeted you when I sent you the tweet about the xiaojun manga I I thought that already happened. Am I losing my mind? Didn't the xiaojun manga already happen? It did but it was in Another language, but do you think this do you think is this is just a translation or is a new story? Uh, I gotta look at it again. Let me uh, let me see if I can find it again I mean, look, I'm never gonna read a manga. So sorry You'd be soft and vis media partner up for an assassin's creed manga Yeah, three days ago from euro gamer blade of xiaojun This is different. Oh wait. No, it's not it's not different from the one that was already out It doesn't look like it to me. Shit. This is one that's coming that will be available in english I'm seeing in november of 2020. It says assassin's creed blade of xiaojun manga coming in 2021. So It's possible that I was thinking about the announcement of it But I I thought there was already a xiaojun manga that came out like years ago No, you know what there was a chinese comic that came out That was not about xiaojun and that's probably what you're thinking of it was called assassin's creed dynasty It was not to my knowledge ever released in english and it was created in china written by chinese authors Published in china was never it never came to the us or or france or duke or anything, right? So that might be what you're thinking of because I think xiaojun appears as a character in that but it's not about xiaojun If that's not what you're thinking of then you are just probably thinking of an earlier announcement for the xiaojun Right. Yeah, I think I think it's I think it could be a combination of the two. I think I I think I might be thinking of the comic and I'm torn on this because like I love I mean xiaojun is is cool xiaojun is some would say xiaojun is my queen Yeah, yeah, don't say you love xiaojun. What is it? I fucking love about the character anyway? Well, well what you have to understand Tim is that xiaojun is my queen. That's right. I'm sorry I that's what I say all the time and I've never heard anyone else say that Right Just kidding. Aren't you writing aren't you writing a trilogy of novels about xiaojun? Yeah, people know that I'm writing a trilogy of fan novels called the blade in the shadows That's the thing that I'm doing Uh that you might be familiar You might have seen on twitter Might have seen on twitter No, we're just we're having fun. Uh shoutouts to sarib underscore beg. I think that's how it's pronounced. It probably isn't Uh, he's writing a trilogy of xiaojun fan fictions And uh, I can't wait the first one is coming out soon. It's coming out soon Maybe maybe even be out by the time we push put out this episode I don't know. I'm not sure if the manga is gonna interrupt some of that. Maybe we'll see Yeah, might I mean I've uh, I've definitely had to cancel a fan fiction project Due to a different trans media thing coming out that would have stepped on it. Yeah, I've done that I know I know about that one. Yeah me and me and blue from overly sarcastic productions had a really cool idea That we were gonna write about and then they made a last descendants novel and we said, why don't we just not do this anymore? Look, I here's how I feel about xiaojun. Let's just talk about xiaojun real quick Do I have a little chat about xiaojun? I uh, yeah, that's yeah, sure. All right, listen xiaojun Cool character design embers is great There was definitely a time in which had they announced like a xiaojun full on Chinese set assassin's creed game That would have been great Now if they were to announce that next year or something I would have the same reaction to it as like the black widow movie at marvel. It'd be like cool But too late. You should have done this five years ago Now I just don't care that much and with every like trans media announcement they make Uh, that they're doing more stuff with xiaojun in these comics and manga and chronicles and what have you That feels to me like pretty solid indication not only that they're never getting a xiaojun game but also that we probably shouldn't have one anyway because I would at this point. I would rather see a china game with a like a completely new character And xiaojun can be a side character xiaojun can maybe be like the the ancestor who leaves collectibles for you to find or codex pages or what have you that that was what I was going to say too Is I feel like if they do make a china game It's not going to be xiaojun But xiaojun is going to be like like you can collect her sword or some shit right like she's going to be a A formidable assassin that everyone talks about and she's like a legend among among the creed there But she's not going to be present in the game necessarily or you know They do a china game before xiaojun exists and then you get little like teasers of the of the zhun family You get like helix rift style flash forwards because she would be like you're descended And you can play a little little gameplay segments of xiaojun in a future In a later china than the one you're in in the game because they've talked about I think ancient china as being a possibility I don't know I'd personally rather see japan than china in a game Maybe I know everyone thinks that that'll be too ghost of susama Ask but I still think it'd be cool. I don't know too much about like chinese history I don't know like what ancient china looks like compared to like i don't know medieval china I don't I mean I have no idea but this isn't the podcast for people who care about history Yeah, go over to osp production sarcastic. We'll ask we'll ask noah next episode osp history and we'll hear what he says osp sarcastic productions podcast productions overly sarcastic osp Our overly sarcastic osp productions podcast xiaojun is fine I liked her and I liked her in embers. I appreciate the little foot blade thing Yeah, but beyond that. I don't I think I think people fell in love with the idea of xiaojun. They don't know like they don't love the character They love the idea and well, that's the thing. She's just she's a great design Yeah, she's she's a good template, but there's not a character there It's like boba fet like we just like thought he looked cool And everyone confused that for thinking he was a good character. It's exactly like boba fet It's exactly like that literally the euro gamer article just said like fan favorite xiaojun. It's like they're It's a fan favorite like character design pretty much as you're saying it's not like I mean she is a fan favorite How many people do we know with xiaojun avatar? I know, but okay, tell me losin What is a okay? I actually know I'm gonna leave it to the people in the comments Uh list off xiaojun character traits and if you can't name more than one that is a problem Okay, yeah, that's a fun challenge tell us tell us what defines xiaojun as a character beyond her aesthetic So hey everybody look if you enjoyed this episode of the hook blade podcast Shout it from the mountaintops tell your friends Who like assassin's creed and podcast that they need to listen to this one? Leave a comment leave a like Subscribe to us hit the bell icon Tweet at us at hook blade leave a review on apple podcasts These are the things that really help us out They go a long way and so we really appreciate when you do them. I have been the hook No, fuck. No, that's not right. I've been the blade I've been the hook and I've been the blade and We will see you on our next episode when we are joined by Mr. N staff 13 or or noa As we sometimes call him as well And uh, we will we will have a good time We will talk about the leaks the rumors the lies. I appreciate uh, you guys being patient With us putting out this episode overall though We've got to be recording these again, and we've got some pretty good ideas We still got to finish off our our unity and syndicate replays and Boston's gonna try and get me to play origins and we'll see what the fuck happens with that And maybe I'll try to get him to play odyssey. Yeah, you're gonna have to like blow me like six days a week Look nothing's off the table tim Yeah, the man who gets what I want overall. Thank you so much for listening to us And I would say we'll see you next week because that's not yeah, we had an episodes But we're not gonna see you next week. We're gonna see you in two weeks on tuesday It's really easy to remember when you say it like that Right It's super helpful. So, uh, yeah, enjoy the rest of your couple weeks. Uh, have a good one. Bye. Bye So you can use one or the other an elegant design design design Do you want to hey real quick? Do you want to segue into this topic and talk about it? Sure Okay, hey, so lost and how do you feel about us? That's the screen right now Hold on i'm gonna do it. Okay