Ghost of Tsushima - open world game set in feudal Japan

[DalekFlay]

The real parallel I suppose would be playing a Mongolian in the sequel and ruthlessly butchering the hero of this one to resounding applause, right?

 

[Jasede]

I watched a friend play this when I came over for some screwdrivers.

In my professional opinion it looks well-done, suitably challenging (you die fast and so do enemies) and with a somewhat satisfying skill tree. Presentation is very good.

Nice bit of popamole for normies.

Wouldn't want to play it, open world games make me puke.

 

[Isak]

Isak the muthafuckin samurai bro got a cool ass flow yo



Man I love the standoffs in this game


Also, yeah, open world is an unfortunate trend in the industry, every game has it tacked on to a fault with some exceptions like Tsushima.

 

[LabRat]

Spoiler

It’s weird to see people outside of a said culture being super protective about it. Like in this case other people caring about authenticity more than Japanese people do. It’s soooo weird to me to be honest. Now that Japanese media is praising the game I bet those who dissed it feel pretty stupid now.
It happened with Ghost in the Shell when Scarlett Johansson was cast to play Major Kusanagi. Westerners screamed about whitewashing while almost all Japanese did not give a single shit about it.
It’s pure misinformed virtue signaling that assumes things are off within the game. I’m more confident that the Japanese reviewers at Famitsu know their own culture better than some fucking white Australian in Sydney reviewing for Kotaku.

Anyways, for future Sushi players, the combat is complex in mash/selection/timing in the early stages, but be patient and you'll find it doesn't lag once you've learned the mechanics of the system. It uses a new better button layout, that gives you quicker access to attack combinations; with smart blocking and avoidance.
The one recommendation I can give to future players is bump up the difficulty as soon as you feel you can. Normal is a bit easy, and hard feels just about right once you unlock the ability to block arrows with your sword. I wish there was another level of difficulty, because once you get those Perfect Parry timings down, enemies often go down in one hit. And then there is that one charm which makes Perfect Parry etc. easier. Halfway through your playstyle, you will keep owning people, except for the bosses, those need a bit more timing and strategy.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is fun and superbly entertaining, but still a bit derivative at times -- the entire genre as a whole does need some novel ideas/concepts. I’m a bit bored by “clear the enemy outposts” gameplay these days but I appreciate how much of the game’s emphasis is on just vibing. It looks and sounds gorgeous, and the exploration feels a lot like BOTW. The game doesn't do anything new or surprising if you've played any of Sony's recent first-party offerings, but it does it all in a way that's quite polished and sharp as a bushido's blade, and that is fundamentally enjoyable, if a little derivative and generic at some points.

Concept vs. execution comes to mind on this. A well-done, even over-done thing can be good if it’s execution is very good. If the game just feels fun, regardless of non-inventiveness, it will do well.
I like all of the Marvel movies a lot, knowing well that most of them have very, very formulaic summer-blockbuster structure. But they also have tight, solid execution. They’re summer popcorn flicks done well.
Videogames-wise, I think of Spider-Man. It has all of the same trappings and doesn’t reinvent the wheel anywhere, but I played the whole game, something I hardly ever do these days, especially with open world games. It would have overstayed its welcome had I collected every collectible and done all the DLC, but I chose not to, knowing myself. The collectibles and side-quests I did do were fun enough, and the core components of the game just felt fun.

The combination of novel concept/mechanic and solid execution is honestly rare, especially among AAA games that are, regardless of our opinions on this, also partially treated as investment commodities rather than purely seen as media/art.

It's really funny, the SJW starting to blaming the japanese is nazi and militarism.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Isak the muthafuckin samurai bro got a cool ass flow yo



Man I love the standoffs in this game


Also, yeah, open world is an unfortunate trend in the industry, every game has it tacked on to a fault with some exceptions like Tsushima.

What's with that retarded slow mo?

 

[Isak]

What's with that retarded slow mo?

It's the standoff/duel/challenge mechanic in this game.

Early standoffs are easy and retarded. But there are more varying enemy types later in the game. Some fake attack three times, some move very fast. It definitely ramps up.
By the end of Act 1 I was winning every single standoff with ease. In Act 2, on Hard... I was getting demolished... they were moving much faster and their fake out animations were different enough to actually fake me out.

The key to winning hard stand-offs is obviously not what button to press but to always watch 'all' of the opponent, not just the hands or eyes. Later enemies use feints and move faster, it’s less about getting the timing right than spotting the giveaway that the attack has started. By watching their feet, or their lower half, you're ensuring you check when they intend to 'close the gap' between you and them, if they stand still, they can wave their weapon all they want, but they'll never reach you, when they actually move, they intend to strike. It's one of the basic rules of martial arts. It's how most point sparring fighters actually know when to block or strike during contests (I've seen professionals use the technique during competitions, they're great fun). Sucker Punch REALLY did their homework with this game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

What's with that retarded slow mo?

It's the standoff/duel/challenge mechanic in this game.

Early standoffs are easy and retarded. But there are more varying enemy types later in the game. Some fake attack three times, some move very fast. It definitely ramps up.
By the end of Act 1 I was winning every single standoff with ease. In Act 2, on Hard... I was getting demolished... they were moving much faster and their fake out animations were different enough to actually fake me out.

The key to winning hard stand-offs is obviously not what button to press but to always watch 'all' of the opponent, not just the hands or eyes. Later enemies use feints and move faster, it’s less about getting the timing right than spotting the giveaway that the attack has started. By watching their feet, or their lower half, you're ensuring you check when they intend to 'close the gap' between you and them, if they stand still, they can wave their weapon all they want, but they'll never reach you, when they actually move, they intend to strike. It's one of the basic rules of martial arts. It's how most point sparring fighters actually know when to block or strike during contests (I've seen professionals use the technique during competitions, they're great fun). Sucker Punch REALLY did their homework with this game.

So what you're doing is waiting for them to start attacking and you cut them off by being the faster guy?

 

[Isak]

So what you're doing is waiting for them to start attacking and you cut them off by being the faster guy?

Not to mention the feints can increase at random. As I went north in Act 1 towards Kaneda enemies started to feint but only ever once before attacking. Then in Act 2 I fought Ronin who would feint upwards of 4 times or sometimes not once at all.
As you go further north the feints just keep on getting more and more random. I've had none or I've had 5 sometimes. And I even had a ronin who just didn't want to charge me in standoff streak. I think the AI adapts like MGSV and their fakeout animations change and maybe get quicker.

For instance, with spear boys you need to watch the weapon because of the range. Dual sword guys, watch the feet because their feints are harder to see. Long sword, watch the weapon because they have it over the shoulder, shield men feet and brutes whatever because they're slower. Though you won't win every time with this strategy it ups your success rate.
But at the same time, you must also --- at all times ---- watch their feet, I don't think I've seen an enemy feint with footwork, so when they actually step forward it's almost certain they're really going to attack and, therefore, should be your cue to respond. It’s kinda like when you're tackling an opponent in football, if you focus on their upper body they’ll juke you right out of your socks, instead you focus on the bottom half. Similarly, when the enemy moves his lower half (feet/hips) toward you that’s when you’ll know to attack.

But, later on, like you said, reaction times/reflexes also play a huge role. The enemies get much faster, getting the guys after the first one is pretty easy but the first guy is way too fucking fast, combine that with the feints and it’s pretty hard to win these things in the 2nd half of Act 2 and on.


But still i find myself ignoring stealth options in favor of kicking the door down big dick style and yelling for a fight.

 

[LabRat]

 

[Markman]

Might get it on sale. Looks interesting.
Main thing putting me off from buying it right now is listening to the airplane engine next to the TV.

 

[Alienman]

Isak How much of the UI and vision effects etc can you remove?

 

[Jasede]

When I was watching a friend play it there was very little UI visible, I think it fades out when not in use.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Pretty fun game. I like it. Just ignore all the dress-up shit (unless you're into that, i'm not).

Rented from Gamefly.

Zep--

 

[Kem0sabe]

I follow this guys channel for his movie reviews, which are quite entertaining, but he occasionally does game reviews.

 

[Dwarvophile]

Kurosawa mode ?? Cooooool! So it's a sort of ass creed but with proper combat and story ?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Kurosawa mode ?? Cooooool! So it's a sort of ass creed but with proper combat and story ?

And apparently inadequate stealth, but ass creed is already there, as like as not.

 

[Zep Zepo]

If the game had Target Lock-on, it would truly be an 11/10 game.

I can't count how many times I was beating a Mongol's ass and the game would randomly switch to another target.

Also, fuck archers. Kill those fuckers ASAP. Trust me on that.

Zep--

 

[NJClaw]

It's very cool and all, but enemies who patiently wait behind you while you cut their friends are too big of a no-no for me. When it doesn't happen the encounters are very fluid, but when it happens it's so ugly it gets depressing.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Game is huge, spent a week playing it and only last night finished the story of the first of three zones in the game and i still need to track back and finish exploring the rest of the first map. This is probably the best console exclusive of this generation.

 

[cvv]

This is probably the best console exclusive of this generation.

Oh rly?

TLoU2 has raked in 100+ threads and this game only 11.

Meaning TLoU2 is 10x more popular on the most prestigious gaming forum in the world.

I rest my case.

 

[DalekFlay]

Game is huge, spent a week playing it and only last night finished the story of the first of three zones in the game and i still need to track back and finish exploring the rest of the first map. This is probably the best console exclusive of this generation.

Your last sentence might be correct, how would I know, but your first sentence would have nothing at all to do with it.

 

[J_C]

It's very cool and all, but enemies who patiently wait behind you while you cut their friends

That's a staple of old school martial arts movies. :D Maybe it was intentional.

 

[Cromwell]

Your last sentence might be correct, how would I know, but your first sentence would have nothing at all to do with it.

I didnt spend as much time with it yet but from what I have seen the "points of interest" you have in this game are not nearly as uninteresting as in other such games. So "its big" this time really means "theres a good amount of stuff to do" instead of "theres a lot of things to kill your will to live".

 

[Roguey]

It's very cool and all, but enemies who patiently wait behind you while you cut their friends

That's a staple of old school martial arts movies. :D Maybe it was intentional.

It's good brawler design, though the best try to look busy https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132323/intelligent_brawling.php

 

[Kem0sabe]

Game is huge, spent a week playing it and only last night finished the story of the first of three zones in the game and i still need to track back and finish exploring the rest of the first map. This is probably the best console exclusive of this generation.

Your last sentence might be correct, how would I know, but your first sentence would have nothing at all to do with it.

Most people didn't use fast travel in spider-man ps4 because it was so fun and effortless to just swing around the city even if it took longer. The same thing happens with Ghost's exploration and combat, the world is so beautiful, the combat is so entertaining that you dont mind traversing a big open world and getting into fights every time you run into mongols.