Ghost of Tsushima.

Yep, many people are so narrow minded about what type of demographics is in a studio when it comes to making a game, movie, song, etc. People who love something or have passion always do the best job in creating something. You can tell the people at SuckerPunch are really passionate about the Japanese Samurai culture, otherwise Ghost of Tsushima would've ended up being as obnoxious as Sekiro or Nioh. I'm incredibly thankful this dude and his studio didn't work on this game. He doesn't seem to have the capacity to do that given the way the Yakuza games present themselves. Ghost is an entirely different story but at least we can compare the energy and feel of it's journey to Shenmue. It's about time we can actually say something like that. Personally, I haven't found a new franchise since Shenmue that has excited me like Ghost of Tsushima has.
 
Yep, many people are so narrow minded about what type of demographics is in a studio when it comes to making a game, movie, song, etc. People who love something or have passion always do the best job in creating something. You can tell the people at SuckerPunch are really passionate about the Japanese Samurai culture, otherwise Ghost of Tsushima would've ended up being as obnoxious as Sekiro or Nioh. I'm incredibly thankful this dude and his studio didn't work on this game. He doesn't seem to have the capacity to do that given the way the Yakuza games present themselves. Ghost is an entirely different story but at least we can compare the energy and feel of it's journey to Shenmue. It's about time we can actually say something like that. Personally, I haven't found a new franchise since Shenmue that has excited me like Ghost of Tsushima has.
Yes! Ghost has a vibe that is really doing it for me, kind of like Shenmue.
Hard to explain. The world feels so special. I am kind of overlooking things like there being no pedestrians wandering around, etc, but they made the world so beautiful and peaceful that I hardly think about the game’s shortfalls.
 
Yes! Ghost has a vibe that is really doing it for me, kind of like Shenmue.
Hard to explain. The world feels so special. I am kind of overlooking things like there being no pedestrians wandering around, etc, but they made the world so beautiful and peaceful that I hardly think about the game’s shortfalls.
Yeah! I never rate games on technical specs or technical perfection, unless they're so broken its unbearable. Ghost has camera issues while fighting at times as many critics have pointed out..so what? It has a freshness and spirit to it that hasn't existed in a new franchise since around 20 years ago. Shenmue 3 has some issues, I loved it all the same regardless. Even Shenmue 1 had issues for its time regardless of it being 10-15 years ahead of everything else in 1999. Ghost seems to have an energy and spirit to it that other lesser Asian based warrior games don't have: Sekiro, Nioh, Way of the Samurai, Ninja Gaiden, Dynasty Warriors and even Tenchu are all for the most part ranging from passable to really good entertainment based games, but they're all flash no substance on a higher purpose level, spiritual level or heroes journey level. Ghost of Tsushima is a great game that stands alone regardless of its flaws. I cant believe people are comparing it to Sekiro or Assassins Creed...the WWE 2K20 of open world third person games.

On another note I finished Uncharted Lost Legacy tonight, it was good but not great, kindve falls into the category I mentioned above with flash/little substance. It's a watered down mostly soulless Tomb Raider reboot clone. Much like Ghost vs Sekiro or Yakuza vs Shenmue. The difference between a well rounded meal that tastes great and leaves you feeling great and sugary junk food which can be enjoyable but doesn't whet the appetite.
 
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You're making me want this.

I have too many games to play.

STOP IT!


Hey mjq, now that you've played through Ghost and I see you're loving it, what other games were you going to pass it up for originally?😂
 
Hmmm... perhaps Nagoshi will use his upper management weight to get at least Ishin, if not also Kenzan localized/remastered for PS5...
 
:coffee:
Hey mjq, now that you've played through Ghost and I see you're loving it, what other games were you going to pass it up for originally?😂
Breath of the Wild or Monster Hunter
 
Hmmm... perhaps Nagoshi will use his upper management weight to get at least Ishin, if not also Kenzan localized/remastered for PS5...

Nah, just wait for the next interview with Daisuke Sato or Nagoshi
and they will change their statement from "the feudal japanese setting isnt very popular in the west"
to "there already are too many games with a feudal japanese setting now."
We will be stuck in this loop forever :p
 
I might be wrong; but in my opinion this guy is only saying these things because the game is breaking record sales everywhere even in Japan.
I seriously doubt we would say the same things or even acknowledge the games inovations if it hadn't sold well enough.
 
I finally managed to play a few hours, so far it seems great and I am enjoying a lot the touchpad "emotes".
  • I did not expect Jin to actually do anything when I found a corpse, dismountedand then bowed but hey he did apologize for not protecting him.
  • The clean blood from the sword action is also great and been spamming it.
  • I am also playing the flute while riding more than i want to admit.
The photomode is glorious.

The only bad impression I had is the gathering system that encourages to loot from villagers houses.
 
Well, i finished the game today. Dont know how many hours it took exactly, i received the game on July 16
and played it every day for about 2-4 hours. So i guess a playtime of 55-70 hours.
I had 90% of the trophies by the end, i did all of the side missions, all of the question marks cleared etc.
Overall i loved the setting, the atmosphere, details in clothing, the characters and their mindset,
the production quality and fight mechanics. I would rate it 8.5/10 (i love this japanese setting)

I was a little bit surprised how short the main storyline is.
Yes i know, i played the game for at least 55 hours but like 75% of that time was exploring the map.
It felt like there were only about 20 main missions? (i dont know the actual number)
So i was pretty surprised how fast i was in the finale of the game after clearing the northern part of the map.
I thought well now that i cleared all of the side content its time to enjoy the main story ... cut ...
three hours later i'm in the end credits scene. It felt a little bit rushed,
like if you dont explore the map at all and only play it for the story, i'm pretty sure you could finish
this game in 10, 12, 15 hours without even rushing it.

The storyline was okay, a little bit flat and a bit too simple for my taste.
A typical videogame story - step A, step B, step C, step D, the end, without any real depth or complex structure
and a really easy writing style where the main hero gets way too strong for the setting hes in.
I feel like the game world with the weather, the nature, the lighting, exploring
has a way higher and deeper quality level than the main storyline.

I still loved the game, the world alone was already worth every cent and i enjoyed it all the way
but i expected a bit more from the main story.
 
This game is absolutely a dream to play and the world is beautiful, but you are right. There is a shortage of "substance" if you can get past how gorgeous the game is and how fluid it plays. Hopefully the next game remedies that, and we actually encounter friendly NPCs as we explore the world, villages with a little more variety, varied mission structure, and a more complex story. Stealth could also use some tweaking; in its current form it is very, very basic, but it's still such a joy to sneak into a camp and take out most of the guards. They really nailed the feel of the game.
 
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I had to take a break from the game after playing it nearly every day since the release. I read negative reviews regarding the mission structure beforehand, but I didn’t think that would bother me. But I gotta say, all those side missions really started getting repetitive. It’s unfortunate to hear that the story isn’t very long either (I too find it very bland and just okay so far). Really, if the game didn’t look as good or play as well as it does, I don’t think I’d have any real reason to play it. I only say this because I’m a sucker for strong narrative-driven games.
 
Its hard to explain and of course i dont want to spoil anything.
Its just that the world feels very rich, well designed, really immersive, high production value.
There are all of these well made camera shots and small details everywhere
which all makes it feel like a very expensive high end polished product in the beginning
and you immediately think "wow, this games has so much to offer, i wonder where the story is going".

But to me after finishing the game it felt like the overall quality of the game world
and the overall quality of the main storyline (the writing, the length, the structure)
dont match. The game world is clearly the winner,
the story is too simple, short and predictable. The game world, the setting
has more character than the storyline. I was expecting a really deep, meaningful and long journey with Jin
and not ... i dont know "GTA mission structure".
 
Its hard to explain and of course i dont want to spoil anything.
Its just that the world feels very rich, well designed, really immersive, high production value.
There are all of these well made camera shots and small details everywhere
which all makes it feel like a very expensive high end polished product in the beginning
and you immediately think "wow, this games has so much to offer, i wonder where the story is going".

But to me after finishing the game it felt like the overall quality of the game world
and the overall quality of the main storyline (the writing, the length, the structure)
dont match. The game world is clearly the winner,
the story is too simple, short and predictable. The game world, the setting
has more character than the storyline. I was expecting a really deep, meaningful and long journey with Jin
and not ... i dont know "GTA mission structure".

Exactly my thoughts.

I was also a bit surprised at some of the, I guess you could call them “shortcuts” in the presentation. For example, whenever a mission requires you and an NPC to take a boat to board a Mongol ship, the game will fade to black, inserts a few sound effects, and then transports you to the ship. Or how almost all side mission in-game cut scenes are shot from wide angles with very little character animation outside of canned animations. They’re not really distracting, but just really strange considering this is a first-party AAA title. Almost reminds me of similar shortcuts taken in the Yakuza games.
 
so you found a copy of the special edition?

No, those are normal ingame outfits. Everyone can get them.
I dont have the hero of Tsushima outfit or what the Special / Collectors Edition armor is called
 
The best way I can sum up some of the stuff everyone is saying negatively about Ghost(cause I see some of it too)is that it has a PS2 era feel to it at times...almost GTA 3 like in the way characters move glitchy during cutscenes and the camera being pulled far away from the characters often times during dialogue. Overall I loved the game and would easily say it's one of the few games I've played in the last 20 years that I love most aspects of, but there is still a bit of brokenness in some of it's elements, but personally it doesn't bother me too much. Shenmue 3 also feels like a game that plays from the PS2 era and I enjoy playing that.
 
The GTA 3 comparison is on the money. That’s exactly what I was reminded of. I don’t mind them all the much either. Just surprising to see. And those wide shots during side-mission cut scenes kind of feel like a creative choice. At least, with the game being as beautiful as it is, I’d like to think that.

And fully upgraded keisei armor with white dye. My favorite armor so far. Jin looks like a samurai pimp.
 
The GTA 3 comparison is on the money. That’s exactly what I was reminded of. I don’t mind them all the much either. Just surprising to see. And those wide shots during side-mission cut scenes kind of feel like a creative choice. At least, with the game being as beautiful as it is, I’d like to think that.

And fully upgraded keisei armor with white dye. My favorite armor so far. Jin looks like a samurai pimp.

GTA 3 was amazingly revolutionary for its time, even more so than GTA 5 was in 2013, though 5 is a much better game there's no way the leap from GTA 2 to GTA 3 wasn't more impactful. Shenmue 1 set the standard and created the open world style that GTA 3 took to the next level(though I prefer shenmue 1 100% more, I cant deny gta 3 took the open world aspect to the next step. I feel Tsushima shares the same common feeling with Shenmue 3 in that it often times plays like a game from the early 2000s era, even though it has lots of elements of the current gen(much more so than Shenmue 3). While I do enjoy movie cinematic type games like the newer Tomb Raiders and to a lesser degree The Last of Us, I enjoy when a game can take a risk and combine elements of older gens with the current gen and that's largely what I feel Tsushima does on all levels. It also has a timeless feel to it like Shenmue, where you could pop it in 30 years from now and if the graphics were remastered the story would still hold relevant and feel new. GTA 3 does not 19 years later and GTA 5 will not have that feel 20 years from now. No one can take away the acclaim and presence GTA 3 set for 2001, but would I want to play it in 2020? Not a chance. When I revisited it in 2019 it was dated really poorly, besides GTA 5 is so much better. Its like sports games, most people don't go back to the previous year's unless they screw something up horribly(WWE 2K20). Much like Shenmue I feel Tsushima will be playable in 20 years, whether it gets sequels or not.
 
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