Does Aya ever DO anything?

[Coldhands]

Like, important to the plot? I'm getting near what I assume is the end of the story, and so far I'm not sure things wouldn't have played out the same way if Aya wasn't a character. : \

[Fiasco]

Aya doesn't do anything much besides lookin' good and messin' up Bayek's life for no good reason.

[RippieFlippie]

she literally decided the Siege of Alexandria by lighting the light house fire. But yeah, nothing...

Other than that she keeps Bayek going. I mean face it, he would probably just enjoy life and have a good time, but everytime they meet she is like "we are bound by violence", "we must kill them all", "dadada" and he is like "ok, done".

[Rain]

Originally posted by Coldhands:

^I can't agree. She shows up a couple hours in, pretty much out of nowhere and has killed two of Bayek's targets. I don't see why Bayek couldn't have killed those targets himself though; he killed the rest, before and after, and that's at least two missions I could have played.

Then she runs off to help Cleopatra, I guess, but it's never really explained what she's doing that's so important to progressing the story. I played a boat mission with her, but she didn't actually DO anything, she was just there.

Later she shows up again and I have to play as her, but it didn't seem like Bayek was doing anything critical at the time. Again, I'm not sure why I need to play as a watered down version of the main character, with fixed weapons, when I have a perfectly good and well established protagonist right there to handle things.

Now she's running around Siwa with me, but again ... why? What purpose does this character serve in the narrative framework of this game?

And because she's only around occasionally, Aya has no character arc, no growth. We're told she's a badass via feats of badassery in cutscenes, but she never earns any respect; she just shows up and starts acting tough. There's no personal struggle, or failure, or redemptive arc. She never gets time to develop personality or a unique outlook. She reacts to the death of her son (who we never see her with) the exact same way Bayek does, so there isn't even an interesting dynamic where Aya and Bayek have different ways of dealing with grief.
Aya is a nothing character. She's like Luigi to Bayek's Mario.
It almost feels like the game was written without her and then she was spliced in later. : \

Well written. I actually thought Aya would get a couple of DLCs, this with Bayek not killing some of the targets, and one never really sees their death, if I remember correctly (which I also think is a weird way of making progression in a story).

[Coldhands]

^Yeah, I kept thinking I'd get to play as Aya in some kind of flashback at some point to take out those two targets the game just suddenly crosses off your list when Aya shows up. But that never happened; those targets were just added and then removed.

Does Aya feature in the DLCs at all? I feel like they really need to develop her character. Make her something more than just female Bayek. Give her some personality beyond the strong, driven female trope. Or just stop using her altogether and focus completely on Bayek.

Originally posted by Power Social Justice Warrior:

she literally decided the Siege of Alexandria by lighting the light house fire. But yeah, nothing...

Like I said, there's no reason Bayek couldn't have done that. I don't get why I needed to play as Aya there if Bayek is available and they aren't going to give Aya any unique gameplay mechanics. It's just a missions where you have to use some worse gear. : \

[EbonHawk]

Originally posted by Coldhands:

Does Aya feature in the DLCs at all? I feel like they really need to develop her character. Make her something more than just female Bayek. Give her some personality beyond the strong, driven female trope. Or just stop using her altogether and focus completely on Bayek.

Very much so, in The Hidden Ones.

[Coldhands]

^Good. Once I get through more of this side content and clean up the map, I'll grab the DLCs.

[VortexMars]

She's important enough to get mentioned in previous Assassins Creed games. A statue of her was literally in Assassins Creed 2 underneath the Monteriggioni among statues of the greatest assassins known to the Brotherhood. I won't spoil anything but The Hidden Ones will clear a lot of that up if you know your AC lore. She's pretty important. Apparently more important than Bayek since he didn't have a statue anywhere in the sanctuary in AC2.

[Coldhands]

^I'm all for the story making those kinds of connections, but now that I've finished Origins' main quest line, I don't think any further content will improve what I've already seen. That last third or so of Origins was a mess, and Aya's character was a big part of why.

Ubisoft should have used her character the same way they did Adewale in 4; a support character who never steals the spotlight from Edward, and then is explored more fully in his own DLC.
By the end of Origins, Bayek's slow burn revenge story had been almost completely subsumed by a messy political thriller that didn't have enough time to establish its characters or explain why it mattered, and had two different protagonists vying for the spotlight, one of whom wasn't real well written.

Hopefully the DLCs are more focused on telling just ONE story well.

[CHAO$$$]

Aya is kinda annoying, writing is definitely not Ubisofts strongsuit. (RAAAIIIIDEEEEER!!!!)

[b̸o̸i̸l̵e̷d̴ f̴l̶e̶s̶h]

Aya is a very meh character, not to mention a very unlikable one. But gotta have some stronk woman to praise all game, right? Just note how many times she is praised for being a true goddess or whatever

[Coldhands]

Kotaku wrote an article a while back where a few of their writers discussed what they did and didn't like about Origins' story, I think they did a good job summarizing the reasons I think it kinda sucked.
https://kotaku.com/what-we-liked-and-didn-t-like-about-assassin-s-creed-1822385322

[Paranochat]

Originally posted by Eclipse:

that was the MOST pathetic origins story for the hidden blade ever.

It consisted of handing over an already made object and a couple lines of dialogue to explain where it came from!

I have to admit I expected something better for the hidden blade, especially in an episode that's supposed to show to origins of the Assassins. Showing how and why or at least by whom the hidden blade was made would seem almost mandatory.

Originally posted by Coldhands:

^Good. Once I get through more of this side content and clean up the map, I'll grab the DLCs.

Don't get your hopes too high, considering your view on how Aya was written in the main story, the DLC probably won't change your mind at all. She just appears out of nowhere to make Bayek open his own eyes (because apparently, even 4 years after the main story, he's still not that smart). It felt more like a teasing for a following game where we'll probably mainly play as Aya, which could actually be interesting, but her role in the DLC on its own isn't well written.

If you have ever played any AC game before, you should know by now that the narrative is always one of Ubisoft's weaknesses. They struggle to properly develop characters, doing one good protagonist is already a challenge, though I feel like they've improved a bit with Origins compared to the previous game...

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

(RAAAIIIIDEEEEER!!!!)

Have to admit this scene made me laugh :D