Is Yaske an imaginary friend?

[T-800]

he suddenly appears in cutscenes just out of nowhere and disappears after the same way. does this character just not fit into the story,
a slave who speaks at least three languages? seriously? it's just a cringe and such an absurdity.
And Naoe accepts him after he killed her neighbors and the headman, if her father had been there, he would have killed him too. and after that, she talks sweetly to him, God, this is so absurd! the one who put this character in the game, I hope he will never find a job.

[Coffee Addict]

he is a glitch in the animus that the templars have been unable to patch

[RainWolf]

REMEMBER GAMERS VOTE GAME OF YEAR

[Shin Happens]

Maybe a mod can turn him into a giant white rabbit and rename him Harvey ;-)

All joking aside, Yasuke was and is side character material, he should have been an ally with a side quest chain. The way they handle the dual protagonist here is more than just clumsy. Whatever character you do not play as suddenly appears in cutscenes, only to disappear again once they end. If you play the entire game as Yasuke (as much as Shadows lets you after the first 10+ hours of being Naoe exclusively) you may come to believe Naoe is Yasuke's imaginary girlfriend or so.

Naoe letting him off so easily even though Yasuke was part of the clan that is responsible for attacking Iga does not feel authentic.

About Yasuke's language skills... apparently, according to the very sparse records that we have, he did indeed speak a little Japanese, certainly some Portuguese and whatever language he spoke in Africa. It's not TOO difficult to learn three languages or at least some of the basics. Doesn't mean Yasuke could hold a fluent conversation about philosophical matters in Japanese. Most certainly not. But the game is entirely fictional anyway, so that is no problem.

The real problem is how the dual protagonist is approached here. Ideally whatever character you do not play as should be an ally who can fight alongside you at least for a while. Transitions between characters should be seamless, I mean even an ancient, by now, game like GTA V had a much better solution for switching between characters.

They could have done something like that maybe. Maybe if Naoe is about to get overwhelmed (only she doesn't if you build her right) you have a shortcut that allows her to call for Yasuke, Naoe sees how he comes crashing through a wooden door or so and then the camera moves from Naoe to Yasuke, whereas Naoe retreats into the shadows to recover (only she never needs to recover when you build her right). That would be immersive. Only the game doesn't even allow you to switch characters in castles etc. Which is just dumb.

Shadows will NOT win GOTY. It can be fun, it is fun, but it has too many flaws, feels way too undercooked in so many regards. The year is still long. In fact, a game like Clair Obscur looks more intriguing than Shadows, at least a lot more original. KCD2 will also be a contender, I think. And we still have 8 more months to go.

[Coffee Addict]

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Maybe a mod can turn him into a giant white rabbit and rename him Harvey ;-)

what about a dark bunny named frank?

[Voland]

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Transitions between characters should be seamless, I mean even an ancient, by now, game like GTA V had a much better solution for switching between characters.

its not "solution" though, its just the need to put much more work into details. consindering that GTA always have biggest budget in gaming industry, its not surprising

[Shin Happens]

Originally posted by Voland:

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Transitions between characters should be seamless, I mean even an ancient, by now, game like GTA V had a much better solution for switching between characters.

its not "solution" though, its just the need to put much more work into details. consindering that GTA always have biggest budget in gaming industry, its not surprising

I do not think the character switch meachnic is a matter of budget. It's a matter of "wanting to do that" or "let's be a bit lazy and cut corners". I cannot say if the Anvil engine used here has certain limitations that prevent a more immersive character switch mechanic.

[HorzaEdeo]

the horses might be imaginary too, they appear out of nowhere

[Acpolax]

Yes you actually play a split personality in this game.
I know it seems weird cause of how different these personalities are but all things considered there is no other explanation for that brain fart of a story.

[Kanye FarEast]

how dare you

[AdahnGorion]

This game is fiction, so you could say all of it is imaginary.. but why is this important to the game.

[Maschendraht]

Originally posted by T-800:

he suddenly appears in cutscenes just out of nowhere and disappears after the same way. does this character just not fit into the story,

It's the same thing the other way around when you play Yasuke for a while. Then Naoe appears all of a sudden as if she's been travelling with you the whole time. The whole thing isn't implemented well, but it's not specific to Yasuke.

Originally posted by T-800:

a slave who speaks at least three languages? seriously? it's just a cringe and such an absurdity.

Throughout history slaves were often teachers and spoke multiple languages. But that aside, when people come around and live among people who speak different languages, they tend to adopt that languages. That's just how it works.

Originally posted by T-800:

And Naoe accepts him after he killed her neighbors and the headman, if her father had been there, he would have killed him too. and after that, she talks sweetly to him

While technically true, you leave out a lot of context as to WHY she spares him and teams up with him. Which also takes some time, but I won't go into spoiler territory here.

[NuclearSnail]

it's there to account for you playing either character without having to develop the same cinematic twice. You know, thus reducing production costs.

[T-800]

Originally posted by Kanye FarEast:

how dare you

XDXDXD

[jillsandwich]

Originally posted by Voland:

Originally posted by Shin Happens:

Transitions between characters should be seamless, I mean even an ancient, by now, game like GTA V had a much better solution for switching between characters.

its not "solution" though, its just the need to put much more work into details. consindering that GTA always have biggest budget in gaming industry, its not surprising

Just a funny trivia: there's a Cyberpunk 2077 mod that adds seamless transitions to the game. It works flawlessly even with Path Tracing enabled

[CapuchinSeven]

It's about the only part of the game I don't like much, I mean I'm okay with it, it's a game and stuff like this happens but it feel a little badly done.

The only other part is not being able to change the time. That really bugs me.