A trend I see often lately, with games and other forms of media, seems to be people judging a video game based on what it isn't, rather than what it is. I'm certainly guilty of this very same thing, and the reason I'm even writing about it is that I caught myself doing this very thing earlier this evening.
I will admit that the examples of it I've seen lately are in reference to films. The most common being that they made an assumption of what the film would be like in great detail, almost a synopsis of the entire film's premise in a way, only to find themselves disappointed by it not being something that it wasn't trying to be in the first place. I'd seen this same reaction in regards to the Godzilla film that was released last year, people making claims that it wasn't a true Godzilla film (though it sure felt like one to me and a lot of other hardcore fans as well).
But moving on to my most recent foray into this unfair criteria for judgment. I'm a rather voracious fan of the Assassin's Creed series. As a franchise, it's certainly had it's share of controversies, from the main characters primarily being white males and Ubisoft's remarks regarding the difficulty of female character models. Black Flag did a rather good job of making the gender and races of the characters feel more diverse, which was refreshing, but alas, still none of them set as a main character, even though there roles were prominent. Yet, despite these faults and controversies, it still managed to stay as one of my favorite franchises in gaming, even if the Desmond storyline did get a little stale for me after a while.
However, there is a female character who I really wanted to see get her own game. Shao Jun. A relatively minor character, being part of the Order of Assassins in China. She appeared in the film Assassin's Creed: Embers and was also mentioned in Black Flag, which is how I first became aware of her. She was intriguing, wearing similar robes that the assassins commonly like to wear, but this time in a deep black with red trim. It was a unique look, and the game only briefly touching on her time spent meeting Ezio left me wanting more.
I couldn't help but think of how fantastic it would be if she received her own title. I was falling in love with this daydream of mine, thinking of how amazing it would be to play as Shao Jun, and delve into the assassin order around the world and play into Chinese history. I figured it would simply remain as that, though; a daydream.
That is, until, I heard of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. A small game set in the universe whose main character is none other than Shao Jun. My heart nearly stopped when I read this. I couldn't believe it. In a rare instance, a daydream I had was coming true. It didn't seem like a major title, but neither was Liberation, yet it still had the same style as one of the major franchise releases. I didn't hesitate in getting the game for myself.
Only after purchasing it and starting the game up for myself did I discover it was not what I expected or wanted. What I wanted was to experience a lengthy narrative centered on Shao Jun, set in open-world China, getting a chance to explore and roam the streets, climb atop new buildings, see new sights.
What I got was a linear side-scroller with a very minimalist narrative, the kind I've grown to expect from these types of games. I admit, I was incredibly crushed. I played the game anyway, but in that defiant sort of way, where it's done more because you paid for it so you may as well get some use out of it, but you stubbornly refuse to enjoy it. You won't give the game and developers that let you down the satisfaction of you enjoying their product.
I let the game sit untouched in my PlayStation 4's library for the longest time, hardly even touching it since purchasing it. I'd started it up every now and then, play for a while, only to get frustrated and just feel a perpetual nagging disappoint that it wasn't the game I envisioned in my mind.
Once again, today, I started up this game once more, and yet, this time around something was different. I played the game for more than 30 minutes. I found myself wanting to continue. When I wasn't playing it, all I could think of was playing it. I found myself noting particularly good parts of the soundtrack, admiring the backgrounds (looking like incredibly gorgeous paintings) and the artwork used in cutscenes (sadly, no fully animated cutscenes in this game, but they sport some beautiful artwork).
Even the missions themselves were becoming enjoyable and giving me the same sort of thrill of sneaking around, quietly taking down enemies and finding new ways to progress without being seen that I got from the major titles of the franchise. I thought I might have gone crazy. Was I really just that deprived of amazing games to play that even this disappointment was bringing me joy?
The answer, quite simply, is no. Something simply changed in how I was viewing the game, it seems. My time playing it now, I realized, was spent seeing the game for what it was and what it was trying to be, and not for what I wanted for it to be and wished it would be. We all have our expectations, and those are fine, those are not terrible things to have. However, sometimes, you need to set those aside and simply let something impress with you with what it's trying to be, not what you want it to be.
It's a simple matter of not judging a fish by it's ability to climb a tree.
