Ghosts of Tsushima Review thread

BrawlMan

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Hasn't AssCreed started being basically wannabe RPGs at this point? They have leveling and dialogue choices and whatnot. I personally gave up on the series at AC2. I recall Skill Up's Odyssey review complained greatly about the grinding really low-tier content to actually get to the good stuff. In Ghosts, you don't have to do anything you don't want to basically. I recall you complained that you did like everything on the first island and unlocked everything and didn't see the point in doing more fox dens and whatnot. Well, you don't need to anymore nor did you even have to do one of them whereas Odyssey forced that on the player. You can just do the main story and main tales in Ghosts if you want. Density of content is meaningless to me, it's the quality of the content that matters. Not that Ghosts has top-notch quality of content but overall I'm just enjoying playing it, the tales aren't just lame side quests as they go on for multiple missions. Just walking through the world and doing some of the fox dens, haikus, hot springs is just rather relaxing. I'm really enjoying the combat in the way I'm playing it. I don't love the game by any means, but it's an enjoyable experience that I'd probably put at somewhere in the 6-7/10 area.

I mostly agree with this, though I love this game. when you lie in the same boat, because I stopped plating Assassin's Creed since Brotherhood.

I just got to Act 3. I miss Taka & Kage! Why did they have to die? I already have the Ghost armor upgrades Max. I just need a couple of more items and it's completely upgraded
 

happyninja42

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Hasn't AssCreed started being basically wannabe RPGs at this point? They have leveling and dialogue choices and whatnot. I personally gave up on the series at AC2. I recall Skill Up's Odyssey review complained greatly about the grinding really low-tier content to actually get to the good stuff. In Ghosts, you don't have to do anything you don't want to basically. I recall you complained that you did like everything on the first island and unlocked everything and didn't see the point in doing more fox dens and whatnot. Well, you don't need to anymore nor did you even have to do one of them whereas Odyssey forced that on the player. You can just do the main story and main tales in Ghosts if you want. Density of content is meaningless to me, it's the quality of the content that matters. Not that Ghosts has top-notch quality of content but overall I'm just enjoying playing it, the tales aren't just lame side quests as they go on for multiple missions. Just walking through the world and doing some of the fox dens, haikus, hot springs is just rather relaxing. I'm really enjoying the combat in the way I'm playing it. I don't love the game by any means, but it's an enjoyable experience that I'd probably put at somewhere in the 6-7/10 area.
Well I do agree with Critical, that it feels like either the skill progression is too fast, or there aren't enough options for skill ups, based on how many talent points you get. I maxed out my level (legend), and had already maxed out EVERY skill probably mid way in act 2, maybe start of 3? And by the end...I had an EXTRA skill point. And I was confused as to just how that happened. You'd think they'd do their math well enough to make it zero out since there is a finite number of things to upgrade, but, apparently not.

And yes, I do think that if you are exploring, and doing the side missions (which are some really fun stories), you end up feeling "Wait, that's it? I'm already as awesome as I can be? It's all just random chance on charms until the end of the game?" I just habitually invested points into skills I never used, just because...well I had the points. And that was a bit of a let down for me personally. I mentioned in my breakdown that AC: Odd had a similar problem, in that you get so many points, that until you get some of the DLC, you feel like you're just burning talent points on nothing. Eventually they added a legendary track, where you could increase the percentages of your various stats, so you could still progress without buying any new talents. Like, I don't WANT to buy into Archery, I don't play AC: Odd as an archer. So it was nice to be able to boost things like "% damage with daggers" and "% damage from behind" which made my dagger butt pokes even crazier.

Ghost of Tsushima sadly, doesn't have this. Once you hit the cap...that's it, and you hit it pretty early.

My thoughts, on game design, is that if you have skill/level progression element, you should tailor it to fit the amount of game you create. So that you don't max it out so early.

I still love the game, but I was a bit irked by that design choice.
 

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Ghost of Tsushima sadly, doesn't have this. Once you hit the cap...that's it, and you hit it pretty early.

My thoughts, on game design, is that if you have skill/level progression element, you should tailor it to fit the amount of game you create. So that you don't max it out so early.

I still love the game, but I was a bit irked by that design choice.
I believe I said this earlier in the thread at some point. I really don't care when you max out your skills and whatnot in games because the main reason you don't just get everything at once is because it would overload the player at the start. Thus, it gives the player time to try out something they just unlocked vs probably never trying half the things if you got everything at the start. To me, unlocking all the skills/abilities is when I can finally fully play the game. And, I'm playing the game because I like playing the game, not because I'm earning more unlocks. Getting something for doing a haiku is not why I'm doing the haiku for example. I always like to compare this to online shooters where before, you just got all the guns and everything at the start and now you have to unlock everything (thanks COD4!!!). To me, that's an annoyance in having to wait until I can fully play the game. And, if you play an online shooter for hundreds of hours, well over 99% of your playtime is going to consist of you playing with having all the unlocks. Ghost (and most games) aren't quite the same as shooters as unlocking guns or sights isn't the same as slowly learning a new combat system. However, when I get everyone unlocked that I want in Ghost, it's me then being able to play the game basically unhindered which I prefer to happen sooner rather than later. I don't care about getting rewarded for doing things, the reward is playing a game I enjoy.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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Still haven't bought the game, but today I learned that the voice actor of Zoro from One Piece is the voic actor of Jin Sakai, and now I even more crushed that the Japanese audio isn't synced with the animations.
 

happyninja42

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Still haven't bought the game, but today I learned that the voice actor of Zoro from One Piece is the voic actor of Jin Sakai, and now I even more crushed that the Japanese audio isn't synced with the animations.
Yeah they apparently only mocapped it with english dialogue. I played it through first in english, and then again with japanese sub, and the mouth movements were definitely still the english ones.
 

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Ok I got have finally got the game. In has been a decent stress relief after my job. Not considering it took me a while to get with the combat cause spearmen were my bane for a while.

I got to the beginning of act 2 and here is my thoughts so far.

Positives
  1. It pretty......
  2. Combat has lots of options to let you do what you want
  3. You upgrade pretty quickly which I don't mind
  4. Side quest range from simple to really engaging my current favorite is Ishikawa and the student who betrayed him.
  5. Right balance of history and Kurosawa you feel like your in a period and classic samurai movie and just gels well together.
Negatives
  1. Despite great options for combat the combat can be uneven a lock on or better prompts would of been nice
  2. Stealth can be cumbersome because some places make trying to stealth the worse option
  3. Camera will fuck you up especially during combat.

But overall I am enjoying it especially just playing around. Last open world games I really have played have been BotW, Far Cry New Dawn and HZD. I do sometimes just enjoying riding my horse and enjoying the vistas. I like just stumbling upon town to liberate on my way to a mission and going fuck it time to save the day. The I like grabbing the collectible just for the small educational tidbits rubs the history nerd in me just right.

Overall as of now Sucker Punch its been a while I have not played anything from you guys since Infamous Second Son which I dropped and got bored with but we a friends again. Now if you guys could make another Sly Cooper that would be nice.
 

happyninja42

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Ok I got have finally got the game. In has been a decent stress relief after my job. Not considering it took me a while to get with the combat cause spearmen were my bane for a while.

I got to the beginning of act 2 and here is my thoughts so far.

Positives
  1. It pretty......
  2. Combat has lots of options to let you do what you want
  3. You upgrade pretty quickly which I don't mind
  4. Side quest range from simple to really engaging my current favorite is Ishikawa and the student who betrayed him.
  5. Right balance of history and Kurosawa you feel like your in a period and classic samurai movie and just gels well together.
Negatives
  1. Despite great options for combat the combat can be uneven a lock on or better prompts would of been nice
  2. Stealth can be cumbersome because some places make trying to stealth the worse option
  3. Camera will fuck you up especially during combat.

But overall I am enjoying it especially just playing around. Last open world games I really have played have been BotW, Far Cry New Dawn and HZD. I do sometimes just enjoying riding my horse and enjoying the vistas. I like just stumbling upon town to liberate on my way to a mission and going fuck it time to save the day. The I like grabbing the collectible just for the small educational tidbits rubs the history nerd in me just right.

Overall as of now Sucker Punch its been a while I have not played anything from you guys since Infamous Second Son which I dropped and got bored with but we a friends again. Now if you guys could make another Sly Cooper that would be nice.
Funny thing, I found a Second Son easter egg at one point. Didn't come across any other obvious references to their other games, but that one made me chuckle.

Anyone else found any subtle nods to their other games by chance?
 

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Still on Act 3.
  • Finished all of the side quests for Ishikawa, Lady Masako, and Norio. They all have bittersweet ends. I was not expecting to fight Masako in her next to last side mission. Norio's final side quest takes a pretty dark turn. They got their revenge, but Norio went nuts after doing his deeds, but is able to reign it in thanks to Jin. Masako's older sister, Han, was the one that killed her family. Masako got her revenge, but there almost no one left in her family now. Jin's sensei let's Tomoe go, but she abandons The Way of the Bow to live a quiet life in Kyoto.
  • I've fully upgraded the Ghost Armor a couple of days ago, and got the Mongolian armor set from completing a different side quest. You can't upgrade it though, but it can be used to heavily lower detection outside of combat. Ghost Mode is broken as fuck; especially when fully upgrading the Ghost armor, as it halves the requirement of kills without taking a hit. You can even carry it in to boss battles. Activating it at the beginning is basically the game saying: "Hey! Free 3 hits on this mother-fucker, right here!"
  • I did some main story stuff, but I got some ways get through. I also have to do one more blu marker story to unlock that flame sword move.
  • I played this game for 6 hours today.
 
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happyninja42

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Finished all of the side quests for Ishikawa, Lady Masako, and Norio. They all have bittersweet ends. I was not expecting to fight Masako in her next to last side mission. Norio's final side quest takes a pretty dark turn. They got their revenge, but Norio went nuts after doing his deeds, but is able to reign it in thanks to Jin. Masako's older sister, Han, was the one that killed her family. Masako got her revenge, but there almost no one left in her family now. Jin's sensei let's Tomoe go, but she abandons The Way of the Bow to live a quiet life in Kyoto.
Yeah the bit about Ishikawa.... My speculation is that they are setting up that character as a possible DLC or spinoff title, similar to what they did with inFamous: First Light. I dunno, something about the dialogue, and how she talks about "starting over" doesn't make me think she's actually going to be able to live a quiet life. They strongly push with her story that she did some bad things but, "she did what she had to, in order to survive", a phrase used multiple times by Yuna, and Jin. So to me, it makes her morality no worse than theirs in the long run. I'm actually kind of hoping they do a spinoff, even if it's not archery focused, just a different story. Perhaps in a "big city" setting, and it's like, stealth/espionage based, since she's REALLY good at that deception, trickery stuff.

  • I've fully upgraded the Ghost Armor a couple of days ago, and got the Mongolian armor set from completing a different side quest. You can't upgrade it though, but it can be used to heavily lower detection outside of combat. Ghost Mode is broken as fuck; especially when fully upgrading the Ghost armor, as it halves the requirement of kills without taking a hit. You can even carry it in to boss battles. Activating it at the beginning is basically the game saying: "Hey! Free 3 hits on this mother-fucker, right here!"
Yeah I love Ghost Armor, I found several charms that either directly boosted chance to Terrify enemies with attacks, or just boosted the % chance of things with a % chance to happen by 50%. Not sure how they handle cumulative % bonuses, if it's 1:1, or incremental, but it made it almost guaranteed that every time I killed someone, someone else would lose their shit and run away. So it felt REALLY good to leap down into a group of enemies, trigger a Standoff, kill 5 of them, THEN switch into Ghost Mode (because you'll be maxed out by the end of that Standoff guaranteed), kill 3 MORE, and then if anyone still hasn't shit their pants and run off, I trigger that 3 strike dashing attack, which usually was strong enough to kill enemies, or at least wound them. THEN, again, if anyone was still standing, I'd toss a few kunai, get some quick kills, maybe do a heavy strike to break gaurds, followed by Heavenly Strike to insta kill someone (and likely scare someone else off), by then I've most likely recharged Ghost Mode a second time, and trigger it to just keep wading through enemies. And if I could trigger Ghost Mode in a field of reeds? .....oh man, it was just SO damn badass. Love that armor and how it totally shifted my game style xD I've said it many times, you've got to work REALLY fucking hard to make me forgo stealth combat for your open melee, but damn of Ghost of Tsushima doesn't nail it for me perfectly. "Why yes game, I WOULD love to wade through 15+ dudes in a cinematically epic way, carving through them one at a time, like a wraith of vengence set upon them for invading my island. Yes I would."
 
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Jarrito3002

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Funny thing, I found a Second Son easter egg at one point. Didn't come across any other obvious references to their other games, but that one made me chuckle.

Anyone else found any subtle nods to their other games by chance?
Apparently there is a Sly Cooper armor set somewhere that I will find on principle.
 

happyninja42

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Apparently there is a Sly Cooper armor set somewhere that I will find on principle.
Just looked that up, and I'm pretty sure I have all those pieces? I might not have the headband and the sheath set, as I didn't really run around trying to get all of those. But I know for a fact I have the Gosaku armor. It was my favorite suit until the clan armor and ghost armor were unlocked. Gosaku has some awesome bonuses for open combat
 

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Finished Act 3. Beautiful. Absolutely, beautiful. Like I said before, the most fun I had with an open world game, in a long time. The ending...
  • A bittersweet end. I spared Jin's uncle, Lord Shimura. He's lost enough family. I thought back to Nero's "I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE !" speech. I've seen enough of children killing their father/mother/uncle/guardian figure in video games. I thought aboutmy uncle on my dad's side. I would not want to do that him or my father. My decision doubled as a big fuck you to the Shogun.
  • Khan was surprisingly easy. It helps that I maxed out on all moves, and I had a defense charm that eases the time of parries and dodges. Still a satisfying fight.
  • Can't wait for the free DLC and sequel on PS5.
 
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happyninja42

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Finished Act 3. Beautiful. Absolutely, beautiful. Like I said before, the most fun I had with an open world game, in a long time. The ending...
  • A bittersweet end. I spared Jin's uncle, Lord Shimura. He's lost enough family. I thought back to Nero's "I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE !" speech. I've seen enough of children killing their father/mother/uncle/guardian figure in video games. I thought by my uncle on my dad's side. I would not want to do that him or my father. My decision doubled as a big fuck you to the Shogun.
  • Khan was surprisingly easy. It helps that I maxed out on all moves, and I had a defense charm that eases the time of parries and dodges. Still a satisfying fight.
  • Can't wait for the free DLC and sequel on PS5.
Yeah duels become super easy if you have Ghost Mode ready, and full resolve so you can trigger your other legendary attacks. Plus building for heavy guard break always worked well for me.
Glad you enjoyed it.
 
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PsychedelicDiamond

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Finished it recently. It was mostly good on the virtue of its presentation, moreso than on the virtue of its mechanics or writing. You know, with a lot of open world games these days I more and more wish someone would cut out most of the open world and just edit all the actual setpieces together into a linear game. Ghost of Tsushima was at its best when you had some contextually charged epic duel beneath falling leaves with some fleshed out character, much less so when you're doing the usual old running about, collecting crafting items, doing odd jobs and liberating enemy camps. I've done this a million times before and neither the games combat mechanics, nor its writing elevate it above, you know, literally everything else that's coming out these days.

The open world sure is visually beautiful, great colours in this game, really made me want to travel to rural Japan. I just think there is a limit to how well wanderlust alone works as a motivator for exploration. At the very least when you don't have some actually engaging mechanics associated with that wandering, like in Death Stranding or Zelda Breath of the Wild. The actual content, you know, Assassin's Creeding your way up to shrines, following foxes for upgrades, liberating camps and settlements... I've done this before.

I also have my issues with the writing. The central moral conflict of the protagonist is "should I follow the, admittedly pretty archaic, moral code of my people, or commit war crimes." and the moral of the story seemed to be "commiting war crimes is perfectly okay, as long as it works.". I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and Jin to realize that he's gone overboards and needs to redeem himself but it never really does. There is a point where his uncle turns on him after, well, commiting a war crime, but the game never really seems to acknowledge that his uncle is in the right there. Doesn't help that they go out of their way to make the Mongols as unsympathetic as possible. And I'm not saying that they should bent over backwards to make the literal Mongol hordes likeable but that whole clear cut "anything is justified" approach didn't sit right with me.

Still, not a bad game, I did love me those grand cinematic one on one duels, I loved the falling leaves and the blades of grass in the wind and the bamboo trees. But gameplay and writing didn't live up to the presentation, which is a bummer.