Ghost of Tsushima - open world game set in feudal Japan

[Correct_Carlo]

Man plays game using cheese, complains combat is boring.

Try melee fighting, it's quite good in this game. Not enough to make the Ubisoft gameplay worth it, but at least that part is good.

Nah, it's really not that good. Honestly, I don't know if I'll finish it. Life is too short to play shit games. This game is just the definition of "mid."

The side activities are so repetitive, the combat is dull, the Parkor/platforming is awful, it's a mindless "rock paper scissors to win" style of combat, and the story is dull.

In fact, talking about it, fuck this game.

It's shit, not because it's overtly bad, but because it does absolutely nothing new and takes zero risks. Which, honestly, is 1000 times worse than a game that swings for the fences, but fails.

I don't think I'll finish it.

I might finally just start Stranger of Paradise instead.

 

[Roguey]

Plays AAA Snoy game, surprised that it does nothing new and takes no risks.

 

[cvv]

Sank about 60 hours into this, really enjoyed it. It's like AssCreed in Japan, except 100x more stylish and smarter than anything the blue-haired vegan farts at Ubisoft have been able to produce in the last 10 years.

To be clear, it's no timeless masterpiece but in this day and age of stronk wahmenism, muh nignogs everywhere and hilariously inept diversity hires-grade writing it's like a breath of fresh air (game has its small, obligatory share of stronk fearless wahmen warriors but somehow they don't reek of hair dye and vegan farts).

I really liked the combat too, that's how you design a fun, immersive third-person combat without ripping off FromSoft. Also don't remember the last time I kept sitting and staring at the screen during the title roll. The story culmination is really fucking good, like some quality Kurosawa shit, especially if you pick THAT ending.

It's not gonna be my GOTY but for everyone who enjoys open-world games it's like a quality, stylish, tasty comfort food. Plus there's the Legends Mode for those who enjoy some co-op grind action. Good stuff.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I enjoyed the combat and the style too, but as a whole, it's really not a good game. The repetitive and utterly pointless nature of gameplay would make Ubisoft proud. That alone knocks it down many pegs. Instead of participating in some organic progression, you just clear a bunch of checkmarks on the map for 100+ hours.

In a more nuanced way, the plot also feels "fake". It is a plot made by a western company in 21st century, adhering to modern western values. It doesn't really feel like a Kurosawa movie, or a period piece.

 

[cvv]

The repetitive and utterly pointless nature of gameplay

It's an open world game. It does what almost all OW games do, only in grand style. Maybe this genre just not for you.

If you don't like driving, don't buy Forza.

In a more nuanced way, the plot also feels "fake". It is a plot made by a western company in 21st century, adhering to modern western values. It doesn't really feel like a Kurosawa movie, or a period piece.

I suspect you're just flapping your gums here. You have no clue. Have you even seen any period Japanese movies? Because I've seen almost everything that's been translated and this is as close as you can get to the traditional style and the drama in a videogame.

And yes, it's p. jaw-dropping this game has been made by a bunch of currentyear Americans, not sure what happened here. My sense is this has been in development for a very long time and most of the structure has been built before the wokapocalypse started. Meaning the sequel is prolly gonna be fully predictable - female samurai hero protagonist fighting toxic masculinity in a feudal Japan.

 

[Roguey]

I suspect you're just flapping your gums here. You have no clue. Have you even seen any period Japanese movies? Because I've seen almost everything that's been translated and this is as close as you can get to the traditional style and the drama in a videogame.

With all the strong women and homosexuality? I don't think so.

 

[cvv]

I suspect you're just flapping your gums here. You have no clue. Have you even seen any period Japanese movies? Because I've seen almost everything that's been translated and this is as close as you can get to the traditional style and the drama in a videogame.

With all the strong women and homosexuality? I don't think so.

There are two stronk wahmen and one of them is actually half-credible. Haven't noticed any homosexuality, must be tucked away in some sidequest I haven't play. Which also says a lot btw - none of that is front and center like in all the other tryple A gunk and p. much everything - except Yuna, granted - feels natural and non-intrusive.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

And yes, it's p. jaw-dropping this game has been made by a bunch of currentyear Americans, not sure what happened here. My sense is this has been in development for a very long time and most of the structure has been built before the wokapocalypse started. Meaning the sequel is prolly gonna be fully predictable - female samurai hero protagonist fighting toxic masculinity in a feudal Japan.

I suspect that Ghost of Tsushima suffered from a lack of overall writing direction, such that the various writers each placed their own ideas into the game for anything aside from the main quest without reference to each other, until it was too late to avoid overlap or prevent inconsistencies from occurring (the other possibility is that certain aspects were intentionally imposed to support progressive dogmas). After the opening of the game, where the protagonist is rescued by the thief Yuna, the player is directed to the beginning of three quest lines, each of which grants the player a new ability vital to playing the game:

• Yuna the thief teaches the protagonist how to sneak, the first in a series of quests revolving around this character, who is treated extremely sympathetically and with the protagonist implicitly having romantic feelings for her regardless of the player's decisions
• An old archery expert teaches the protagonist to use a bow, the first in a series of quest revolving less around this male character than his extraordinarily-gifted female former apprentice, who eventually makes an appearance and is ultimately treated in a positive light despite having aided the Mongol invaders for most of her quest line
• An elderly wife of a now-deceased samurai, who looks as though she could crumble to dust at any second, has her own quest line in which she engages in much swordplay against the Mongol invaders

Aside from the main quest and these three quest lines, there is only one more quest line in the game, when the protagonist meets a male monk who that quest line revolves around, which starts in the second of the game's three stages as divided by the main quest. There's also a miscellaneous quest where the protagonist meets a swordswoman who is part of some secretive group, and another one where the protagonist ends up duelling against a swordswoman, aside from anything else I might have forgotten or missed.

Individually, each of these might not be remarkable (overlooking the decrepitude of that samurai wife, Lady Masako), but collectively, in an ostensibly historical game set in 13th-century Japan, these decisions are evidence of Current Year dogmas in the writing, whether because most of the writers separately decided to make the same decision or because this was imposed from above.

Above: Yuna and the protagonist
Below: The samurai's wife and the protagonist

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The repetitive and utterly pointless nature of gameplay

It's an open world game. It does what almost all OW games do, only in grand style. Maybe this genre just not for you.

If you don't like driving, don't buy Forza.

You are nuts. I am a huge open world fan, and all the GOOD open world games do it completely differently.

The best of the lot (Gothic 1/2, Risen, ELEX, Fallout: New Vegas, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Breath of the Wild, etc) do it completely differently. In those games, there is an underlying structure and purpose to how the open world is designed. The things you do are unique to a large degree, and meaningful, they play a role within the overarching plot, and doing them makes the player feel like they are making a difference. Whether it's doing some handcrafted quest, rising up in some faction, exploring unique content, solving some interesting puzzles, all of these things make for meaningful gameplay.

In GoT, on the other hand, if I had to guess based on my experience (I finished it earlier this year), roughly 85% of content is completely meaningless. Clearing out some Mongol encampment, fighting a Mongol patrol, following a fox to some shrine for the 70th time, climbing your way to another mountain shrine, bathing in some magic springs, freeing a village, etc, etc, etc, all this shit grows old very fast because it's so formulaic, repetitive, and pointless. Nothing in the story/plot changes whether you clear 400 of these, or none.

Even the other 15% of content, the unique main quests or named character side-quest lines are not that good. A few have some interesting twists, but mostly it's just a lot of busywork, follow this companion here, fight those guys there, follow them somewhere else.

In a more nuanced way, the plot also feels "fake". It is a plot made by a western company in 21st century, adhering to modern western values. It doesn't really feel like a Kurosawa movie, or a period piece.

I suspect you're just flapping your gums here. You have no clue. Have you even seen any period Japanese movies? Because I've seen almost everything that's been translated and this is as close as you can get to the traditional style and the drama in a videogame.

And yes, it's p. jaw-dropping this game has been made by a bunch of currentyear Americans, not sure what happened here. My sense is this has been in development for a very long time and most of the structure has been built before the wokapocalypse started. Meaning the sequel is prolly gonna be fully predictable - female samurai hero protagonist fighting toxic masculinity in a feudal Japan.

Yes, I have seen a lot of Kurosawa movies, and Samurai movies in general. And GoT doesn't have that feel. Jin is too modern, he thinks and talks too much like a modern 21st century western hero. Oh he can't hurt those guys, and it would be bad to abuse these guys, and Mongols are evil because they kill all those peasants. What do you think Samurai/Ronin did? They lived to fight in wars, much like knights. They didn't give a shit generally about peasants, other than as a source of food and labor. It would've been a much more interesting game if it captured that atmosphere, different from our modern one.

 

[Ash]

You are nuts. I am a huge open world fan, and all the GOOD open world games do it completely differently.

The best of the lot (Gothic 1/2, Risen, ELEX, Fallout: New Vegas, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Breath of the Wild, etc) do it completely differently.

Fairly respectable, Porky. Especially since you've now dropped Witcher/Cyberpunk. I would add/replace a handful but yeah, I don't hate this.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Have you even seen any period Japanese movies? Because I've seen almost everything that's been translated and this is as close as you can get to the traditional style and the drama in a videogame.

The game has the superficial appearance of a Japanese period movie but the theme doesn't match. Most Japanese media has a far more nuanced view of the samurai.

 

[cvv]

There's also a miscellaneous quest where the protagonist meets a swordswoman who is part of some secretive group, and another one where the protagonist ends up duelling against a swordswoman, aside from anything else I might have forgotten or missed.

I repeat - is it the 3rd time now - that yes, the game has its share of stronk wimin. Said it in my OP. Thing is if you play the game, you just don't smell the hair dye and vegan farts like you do in most modern Western games now.

There's an important nuance - stronk wimin fighters have been a cherished tradition since at least the 1980s, whether it was Valeria in Conan or Red Sonja or Xena or the long list of female fighters in various kung-fu movies (Cynthia Rothrock, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, many others; Tarantino riffed off that in Kill Bill with Uma Thurman).

Now of course back then the reason for that wasn't female empowerment or any such nonsense, it's was much simpler - sweaty neckbeards who comprised 99% of the audience of these films just loved looking at oiled, half-naked, muscular women running around.

Tsushima feel more like a call back to that tradition than blue-haired Western feminism of today. At least my vegan fart radar didn't go off while playing the game (maybe except a few moments with Yuna, it bleeped fainlty) and it's a very sensitive instrument. There's a reason the game is generally beloved and didn't receive any anti-woke backlash when it came out.

 

[Roguey]

Ghost of Tsushima is very respectful about avoiding male gaze, meanwhile the hot springs cinematic always ends with a shot of man-ass (and you can't skip any cutscenes, you can only close your eyes).

 

[Elttharion]

They literally used the male protagonist ass shots in the marketing of the game. The only reason this didnt get anti woke backlash is because the comparison was The Last of Us.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Remember that retardera was mad because GoT didnt force the players to play as a dyke like TLoU2 and japs were also seen as "almost white" and insuficiently representing PoC. This was a low bar indeed.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Didn't play the game
But I really like how pretty it looks, a lot of tasteful eye candy:

 

[Silva]

You all discuss this or that topic, and okay, I mean, you are all entitled to your minor concerns and all, but how about addressing the elephant in the room already?
Why can you pet adorable foxes but never endearing cats?

The outrage!

Wait, why Zombra has a pretigious kitty emoji like that and I don't?

 

[Modron]

Wait, why Zombra has a pretigious kitty emoji like that and I don't?

https://rpgcodex.net/campaigns.php?id=33

 

[Konjad]

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I heard good things about mongol horse archery, I didn't know it was so good their archers could invent samurai pong.

 

[cvv]

I heard good things about mongol horse archery, I didn't know it was so good their archers could invent samurai pong.

Vaguely remembering there were places on the map where you weren't supposed to go too early and if you did this was this game's idea of an invisible wall - a magine-gun barrage of arrows from nowhere. Normally, standing on the ground, you just died immediately but I guess game can't kill you while you're in the air.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I guess game can't kill you while you're in the air.

I think dude was gaining enough resolve from taking damage to get pincushion'd indefinitely.

 

[anonagon]

In GoT, on the other hand, if I had to guess based on my experience (I finished it earlier this year), roughly 85% of content is completely meaningless. Clearing out some Mongol encampment, fighting a Mongol patrol, following a fox to some shrine for the 70th time, climbing your way to another mountain shrine, bathing in some magic springs, freeing a village, etc, etc, etc, all this shit grows old very fast because it's so formulaic, repetitive, and pointless. Nothing in the story/plot changes whether you clear 400 of these, or none.

Even the other 15% of content, the unique main quests or named character side-quest lines are not that good. A few have some interesting twists, but mostly it's just a lot of busywork, follow this companion here, fight those guys there, follow them somewhere else.

The really tragic thing about this is the open-world collecting activities (foxes, shrines, bamboo cut, hot springs, haiku, etc) are all very cool the first time you see them, and some are still decently interesting up to about the 5th time. But of course there's like 20+ of each, and you'll already be tired of them by the time you get done with the first act of the main story - a point at which you won't even have unlocked ghost stance and seen the full extent of the combat. The game is just too big and too long, and there's not enough unique content. I think I dropped it midway through act 2.

 

[cvv]

But of course there's like 20+ of each, and you'll already be tired of them

I kindda agree but again, it's a traditional open-world trope. I'd like the devs handle it differently, in a less repetitive way in the sequel, but I didn't mind it that much in GoT1. You have a huge open world and you have to fill it up somehow.

Plus most of the activities are far from pointless, unless you play on Normal or Easy. On harder diffs you absolutely want all the level ups and improvements you get from the activities, especially the foxes.

This is very different from shit like, say, RDR2. The side activities in that game (hunting, camp upgrading robbing etc.) are truly pointless because they don't benefit your character at all. I mean why rob trains and coaches when you don't need a single extra cent to finish the game? It's not like this in GoT.

 

[Zombra]

I mean ... we've had this conversation before but you don't have to 100% every game you play.