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LttP: Ghost of Tsushima: Great main story, but the rest....not so much.
hemo memo
You can't die before your death
I disagree. I loved it from start to finish and the side stuff are actually fun and the world is the perfect balance between bloated and empty. It was the perfect balance. Didn’t care about the story much but the gameplay is amazing. Funny as I remember my negative reaction watching that awful State of Play.
I have a relative who is the typical Cod and FIFA player and he told me that GoT is his first platinum. This is how great the game is attracting this type of player.
I have a relative who is the typical Cod and FIFA player and he told me that GoT is his first platinum. This is how great the game is attracting this type of player.
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Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
Best new IP in awhile imo. I bet the sequel will be even better with the groundwork laid. I was surprised at all the new stuff in the iki island expansion. That almost felt like a whole new game.
tmlDan
Member
i've played every ass creed and the combat is much better than those games, its more varied in tool usage and the animations are a tier above.
I've never felt satisfied killing anyone in ass creed and the combat, especially in valhalla, is very poor compared to it.
On top of that, the visuals in GoT are a million times better than any Ubi game, hell, pretty much the prettiest open world game ever created (stylistically, RdR is not creative it's just a copy and paste from a western) the story is on par with Ubi games, i would say - prob the weakest part of it.
People also forget the DLC adding horse combat and the MP, which is fantastic. Those should be added to the score cause they're amazing.
for me its a 9/10
I've never felt satisfied killing anyone in ass creed and the combat, especially in valhalla, is very poor compared to it.
On top of that, the visuals in GoT are a million times better than any Ubi game, hell, pretty much the prettiest open world game ever created (stylistically, RdR is not creative it's just a copy and paste from a western) the story is on par with Ubi games, i would say - prob the weakest part of it.
People also forget the DLC adding horse combat and the MP, which is fantastic. Those should be added to the score cause they're amazing.
for me its a 9/10
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TheGodfather07
Member
The combat was just too easy. You can become overpowered very quickly and it becomes boring. Still a very good game though.
Sleepwalker
Member
I didnt find it entertaining at all, felt like a pretty but cookie cutter open world game.
I gave up during a stealth mission iirc.
I gave up during a stealth mission iirc.
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
Agreed.
I like Ghost Of Tsushima, but felt a massive amount was done better by other teams, even with how amazing it is. How the world looked and how it was designed was amazing, but the combat was just horrid. Great sword play, but stealth stuff for a character literally called "ghost" felt like it was an after thought, like they already called it "GHOST" yet tried to apply it to the stealth, yet it feels like that portion got little attention.
In regards to best stealth games last gen, MGSV, The Last Of Us 2...Ghost can't be in that conversation with all the issues it had lol I never felt like going behind some enemy was some massive deal, they had this robot pattern, the AI didn't respond to many things going on around them and the dogs seem slow compared to something like The Last Of Us 2 where they literally can smell you and track you.
So I hope Ghost 2 corrects all of that (if they even call the sequel Ghost, that shit might be Shadow Of Osaka) lol
Don't even get me started on them not being able to capture that brutality. What went on in that period was just horrible, from rape, murder etc and it seems the game tries to make some PG type shit about this, yet is rated M.... I'd rather have them go 100%, balls deep and bask in that horror to truly support this "honor" meter to really judge your actions. I find that it rarely amounted to much, in a time frame where lawlessness could clearly allow for another path. So like RDR2, its like they had a set story, but wanted to entertain this fucking fake "good or bad" bullshit that literally does NOTHING in the actual game. I love Sucker Punch, but they don't seem to want to really, really make a story about good and evil regarding choices of the player.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I had to force myself to beat it, but I felt a lot of missions like that weird "save meh farms" filler type quest overstayed their welcome.
I think its a great game, but I think in many areas its more average then many care to admit. If Ubisoft did this game, you wouldn't see this exact type of reaction by some gamers, granted....they did a great job for a new IP as it took several AC titles to even get them doing the series they way they did, so hats off to them for doing such a great job with their first outing. I'm ok with a new IP being average, if they can correct that with a sequel. I'm willing to give a pass with new IP as maybe average is better then unplayable or broken lol
Mr Hyde
Member
It was a fun romp. Main quest was good, I liked the characters and the setting (not really into samurais usually) but it was too much filler, ie the foxes and shit like that. But overall I enjoyed it. Platinumed it just because I had a good time running around the beautiful world. Not really sure if I'm up for a sequel though. Haven't bothered with the Iki-expansion either. I rate it a 7/10.
Roberts
Member
There is nothing particulary wrong with it - it is a polished, beautiful game, but it never clicked for me. Every time I got back to it, i felt more and more disconnected from it to the point where I simply lost interest. The beauty of open world games is to discover new areas, new characters, new stories and this game’s world simply didn’t feel interesting enough to do all that. Confession time: I think all three latest AC games do a better job at this.
Icymanipulator
Member
Funny, I thought it was the other way around. Story was just OK, but the combat and exploration was fun.
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
Same.
I like Ghost Of Tsushima, but I also like the last 3 AC titles too and feel in many of those titles Ubisoft's teams do many things better.
For Ghost being a new IP, I think its still pretty fucking good to even be compared to such a series after 1 title. So if I feel Ubisoft does a better job in those areas, they also have a longer history with that type of thing and Sucker Punch did pretty good for their first outing.
The story imho was pretty tame, it gets even more bad when you factor that whole Ryuzo storyline
Who the fuck betrays their country for food? Oh you mean the shit they are running past with bores, bears, entire fucking fishing villages, foxes and wildlife? kind a dumbass story is this? lol It was soooo bad, I was laughing cause I thought he just lied to his friend, like his real goal is to get power, like the Mongols promised him some whole area or something, that MUST be it and he is just asham-....oh really? Oh it really is for food? the fuck? lol Nahhhhhh lol
playsaves3
Banned
Still sad it won’t get vrr support
Finished the main story yesterday after finally getting to play this (I had been waiting until I got a Ps5 to play at 60fps and with Japanese lip sync).
While I overall enjoyed my time with it, I have to say I was surprisingly underwhelmed by the game. I love the setting, the visuals are often quite nice, the main story is enjoyable and the combat is simple yet fun. But a very Ubisoft-like open world design, lack of challenge and terrible side content really hold it back.
Even though the textures and animations aren't the best out there, the often nice lighting, wind and leaves flying around do a lot to turn this into one of the nicest looking open world games out there
They could have done so much more with an open world, while the same old Ubisoft design (and it’s VERY Ubisoft like) is a bit boring after games like Elden Ring earlier this year, it’s what they’ve filled it with which I found mostly bad . Almost every side quest is extremely basic and plays out the same: Watch a short conversation, either follow a character or follow footprints, fight the same 4-5 enemy types as always and get some minor passive upgrade as a reward, that’s it. They do almost nothing to shake things up and when they do it’s even worse stuff like a tailing mission. They don’t tell interesting stories, you don’t reach unique locations or well designed "dungeons", there’s no interesting setups or choices, etc.. It’s a short conversation → follow a path → samey fight with the same handful of enemies in samey locations over and over again.
I eventually dropped the regular sidequests and decided to only do the ones that focus on specific characters, assuming those would be more interesting, but aside from slightly more engaging plots they are virtually identical in their design. Only the blue quests that unlock new gear and or abilities are somewhat more unique and varied, but there’s only a small handful of them.
The side “activities” aren’t much better. Do random Haikus to unlock headbands, reach temples in autopilot platforming that makes the platforming in Uncharted seem engaging, clear nearly identical enemy camps that get old after you’ve done 5-6 of them and follow foxes around.
"Someone must have left footprint around here....for the 50th time!"
At least the main quest is good. I liked the characters, I liked how the story focused on honor vs doing what is needed, I thought the characters were pretty good (as a side note there's some great examples of cool non woke female characters), it's well paced and not bloated like other games and even though the mission design also involved a lot of following a trail and fighting the same handful of enemies, at least they have bigger and more complex locations, more interesting setups, more setpiece moments, etc that make it varied enough to not outstay its welcome.
To an extent I can't help but think this might have been better as a more linear game. The visuals are great, the core of the combat is really fun and the story was enjoyable , but this came out 6 years after Infamous Second Son and it still feels like Sucker Punch makes open world games just for the sake of it and still haven't figured out how to actually put worthwhile content in them.
Strider Highwind
Banned
I absolutely loved it...been waiting on some good samurai games so in a way they both did way more than what I even expected/hoped for. Excited for the yakuza spinoff too since I beat kenzen back in the day and barely understood anything lol, hoping Isshin is great too.
Fbh
Member
This too. By the end you have so many OP tools it's really easy even on lethal difficulty.
You can take down like 4-5 enemies with a standoff, then slow down time and headshot 2-3 more, then throw a smoke bomb and chain assassinate 3 more.
That's like 11 enemies in a couple of seconds with zero effort.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
I liked AC Odyssey better. Nice visuals and the story was cool on the first map. Never did finish it but I’ll probably get it on PC.
![[Sigma]](/data/avatars/m/701/701747.jpg?1726376545){kind=avatar}
Fbh
Member
Haven't played Valhalla but compared to Odyssey I think this one has better combat, a better main story and nicer art direction.
But I found the world of Odyssey more fun to explore and I thought the side content was much stronger.
Batiman
Banned
I’m not sure why you would rate the game a 9/10 after reading your post. Especially after saying you couldn’t finish it. Something doesn’t add up
semiconscious
Member
same. really loved the gorgeous environments, but i thought that the game itself was both way too long, & way too earnest/serious for its own good - i mean, even kurosawa himself knew that, no matter how serious the subject matter of your story, if you want it to feel authentic, then you need to occasionally lighten things up a bit & allow some humanity to shine through now & then...
Roberts
Member
You are right. I didn’t think of it that way. If SP is fully aware of all its flaws and shortcomings, the sequel should be a banger.
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
Agreed. I'm willing to give a pass to many shortcomings if a sequel is very progressive with changes.
We need heads coming off at will, I never understood that being some rare thing just for the sake of it lol
The dogs need AI that can smell. After The Last Of Us part 2, i just don't think any stealth game can really have dogs and NOT have them smelling for your location.
The Enemies in general need that same type of group, pack AI like in The Last Of Us Part 2 calling out names, looking for fellow samurai or noticing when someone is missing as going from Part 2 to Ghost Of Tsushima, you feel those flaws 10x as you just played something with superior AI and stealth.
Prone. I want to hid in MO grass lol I was surprised they didn't have this considering it is a stealth game and ability to do this creates all sorts of amazing situations, playing dead, covering yourself with mud, rolling.
So I want to see what they do in the future with all of this and maybe its a tall order to ask a game to beat like a dozen games its first outing lol I feel strongly though that for a sequel I'm not asking for much imho. Those sound like expected features.
This summarises the game well. It is an uninspired ubi clone with boring and repetative combat (which should be great in a samurai game).. and it doesnt even have ragdolls but canned animations (this is such a facepalm design in a sword combat game)
GymWolf
Member
Story was ok, not sure about great, the evolution of jin is well made, but the whole honor thing is just pure cringe, i'm sorry, especially when we know how samurai fought in the past, his uncle being a retarded was just maddening, not entertaining.
The main villain is cool in the first 5 hours when he defeat jin in the bridge, then he become a school girl with the only objective to make jin's uncle mad by telling him what his nephew does (without success because the uncle doesn't believe a word) and then in the end, he run scared like a little bitch, it was extremely anticlimatic killing him (also the game is pretty unbalanced so when you reach him you are a god on earth and he last like 30 sec)
Some secondary characters were pretty good like lady masako, the bow master and the funny guy.
A good 7/10 like days gone with big margin for improvements in all areas.
I did 2 runs and bought the dlc so definitely liked enough (but less than days gone tbh, mostly because i'm not really a feudal japan samurai stuff fanboy)
The main villain is cool in the first 5 hours when he defeat jin in the bridge, then he become a school girl with the only objective to make jin's uncle mad by telling him what his nephew does (without success because the uncle doesn't believe a word) and then in the end, he run scared like a little bitch, it was extremely anticlimatic killing him (also the game is pretty unbalanced so when you reach him you are a god on earth and he last like 30 sec)
Some secondary characters were pretty good like lady masako, the bow master and the funny guy.
A good 7/10 like days gone with big margin for improvements in all areas.
I did 2 runs and bought the dlc so definitely liked enough (but less than days gone tbh, mostly because i'm not really a feudal japan samurai stuff fanboy)
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dDoc
Member
If only the main missions weren't so strict and linear, the economy was better and the camp activities like getting food etc had more impact/gameplay everyone could endorse this statement.
Kokoloko85
Member
It could be better for sure. I need more world interaction and better NPC’s. Some better side quests too.
Combat was was better than anything outside of Playstation studios when it came to open world. And Story was decent.
Looking forward to see if they take it to the next level for number 2. Good start but not on the level of a Naughty Dog or Santa Monica yet
Fbh
Member
Yeah the Khan was a bit disappointing too
I loved his introduction in the first trailer:
Seemed like he could turn into one of the great villains of modern gaming. But in the game he is just ...there. The story is more about Jin and his uncle, the mongols are there as an overall threat and a common goal but aren't really the focus of the story.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I dont know lol. Maybe an 8? I didn't hate it.
DragoonWalker
Member
The blue print of current open world games have very little to do with the hardware and everything to do with game design. Ubisoft is financially successful and their game design makes things easier for game devs to fill the game with "content".
The real difficult thing in open world games is to design a whole set of fun side activities that actually bring in new mechanics and gameplay which doesn't revolve around the primary combat mechanics and encounters, but is integrated into the world somehow, and not only fit the tone of the game but to make you feel more of an inhabitant of that world/culture. The best ones even have their own metagame. Lots of games today are missing that entirely, and the ones who have something like that just aren't developed to be worth it. Successful examples including Witcher's Gwent, Yakuza's hostess bar/property management sim (or just about any other mini game), Red Dead's hunting/fishing, GTA's property management, and Saints Row's insurance fraud/septic avenger. Again, it's not hardware restricted, look at the engrossing empire building/racketeering of Scarface and Godfather games. Ideally, any open world game should be filled with these immersive side activities, but I imagine it's very time consuming to create a bunch of tonally relevant fun mini games outside of your primary game.
Ghost of Tsushima's haiku strings and fox shrines are just not deep or interesting enough, and the sidequests aren't interesting enough to make up for a lack of engaging side activities.
Batiman
Banned
You’re worse than modern reviewers with their number scaling! Or they morphed you to theirs. Lol
DaedalusGrim
Banned
I found the story to be its weakest aspect, tbh. Its perfectly fine, but the world and gameplay are its real strengths.
Ironically people shat on TLoU2s story for being a generic revenge story, then praised this game for... being a generic revenge story. Ah well, you like what you like.
Ironically people shat on TLoU2s story for being a generic revenge story, then praised this game for... being a generic revenge story. Ah well, you like what you like.
kiphalfton
Member
Was extremely burnt out by the end of the game, and just wanted it to be over with. BUT I would say that's true of any game I play that's longer than 10 hours.
TheGodfather07
Member
Also, why do people keep saying it's like the old assassin's creed? Because they are both 3rd person and have a sword? The similarities end there. You can't even free climb in tsushima.
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Batiman
Banned
I guess the boring side content aspect. By the numbers
Fess
Member
Thanks for reminding me that it’s 60fps on PS5. How long is it? I’ve played maybe 20 hours, should go back and finish it. I mostly liked it, the combat was really unique. It felt super limited with no free climbing though, should’ve been like AC Odyssey, I hope they add that for the sequel.
ikbalCO
Member
I finished this game a week ago.
Main story and side stories all together.
Main narrative was quite strong, aspecially the last act was quite impactful. Wasn't expecting the story to go that way, that hard.
I think this games proves that there is still a lot of qualities to traditional open world formula. Since elden ring, pretty much everyone says open world games have to adabt what er has brought. Mind you, i put in 120+ hours in elden ring and love that game with all my heart but once you nail the combat and overall atmosphere, classic open world games can be still amazing hence the ghost if tsushima.
Its a wonder how gameplay never gets boring and you feel badass through out the whole campaign.
One thing though, worst looking water i have seen in recent video games at a level where i think in one specific envoirment, "this is just emberassing"
Main story and side stories all together.
Main narrative was quite strong, aspecially the last act was quite impactful. Wasn't expecting the story to go that way, that hard.
I think this games proves that there is still a lot of qualities to traditional open world formula. Since elden ring, pretty much everyone says open world games have to adabt what er has brought. Mind you, i put in 120+ hours in elden ring and love that game with all my heart but once you nail the combat and overall atmosphere, classic open world games can be still amazing hence the ghost if tsushima.
Its a wonder how gameplay never gets boring and you feel badass through out the whole campaign.
One thing though, worst looking water i have seen in recent video games at a level where i think in one specific envoirment, "this is just emberassing"
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Drizzlehell
Banned
I barely got a paragraph into the OP and I already couldn't disagree more with everything you said about this game lol.
Seriously, you couldn't be farther off the mark than this. Side quests in this game are anything but boring and flesh out the game world nicely aside from being just interesting and varied rather than repetitive and generic. The combat is also pretty great and its only hindrance was the annoying camera work (at least upon the release, I haven't played too much of the DC yet) but apart from that it had decent variety to it and it was impactful, visceral, and fun.
I also really hate how people fall back on this shitty argument where they compare everything to "Ubisoft open world" just because the game has an open world. Bitch, you don't know shit about dick. The thing that characterizes Ubisoft's games is that they're bloated with meaningless and painfully repetitive content, as well as game mechanics designed around predatory monetization. The vast majority of open world games that do not roll out of Ubisoft's production line are anything but that. They're just open world games that happen to be much wider in scope than games from previous generations, which means that there may be more stuff to do in them. But they rarely pad out everything to such an absolute extreme that Ubisoft's games do. Ubisoft is just a whole 'nother level of extreme bloat in video game design and games like Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon Forbidden West simply pale in comparison.
Like, seriously, how can you even compare a game like Assassin's Creed Valhalla to Ghost of Tsushime, when you could easily 100% Ghost of Tsushima in the same amount of time that it would take you to barely grind through only about half of AC Valhalla? Literally every open world game that's not produced by Ubisoft is like 10 times more compelling and fun to play so seriously, shut up about it already.
Seriously, you couldn't be farther off the mark than this. Side quests in this game are anything but boring and flesh out the game world nicely aside from being just interesting and varied rather than repetitive and generic. The combat is also pretty great and its only hindrance was the annoying camera work (at least upon the release, I haven't played too much of the DC yet) but apart from that it had decent variety to it and it was impactful, visceral, and fun.
I also really hate how people fall back on this shitty argument where they compare everything to "Ubisoft open world" just because the game has an open world. Bitch, you don't know shit about dick. The thing that characterizes Ubisoft's games is that they're bloated with meaningless and painfully repetitive content, as well as game mechanics designed around predatory monetization. The vast majority of open world games that do not roll out of Ubisoft's production line are anything but that. They're just open world games that happen to be much wider in scope than games from previous generations, which means that there may be more stuff to do in them. But they rarely pad out everything to such an absolute extreme that Ubisoft's games do. Ubisoft is just a whole 'nother level of extreme bloat in video game design and games like Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon Forbidden West simply pale in comparison.
Like, seriously, how can you even compare a game like Assassin's Creed Valhalla to Ghost of Tsushime, when you could easily 100% Ghost of Tsushima in the same amount of time that it would take you to barely grind through only about half of AC Valhalla? Literally every open world game that's not produced by Ubisoft is like 10 times more compelling and fun to play so seriously, shut up about it already.
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Skifi28
Member
My biggest two issues with the game were:
1) The world felt really lifeless. Other than the occasional Mongol patrol there was nothing really going on outside of quests, maybe you'd very rarely stumble upon some rebels fighting a bear and that's about it. They could have done so much more with the setting.
2) 99% of cutscenes were people standing still moving their lips. You'd think it was some unknown studio with a tiny budget and not a major Sony production.
Everything else was mostly great (maybe minus the very basic stealth.)
1) The world felt really lifeless. Other than the occasional Mongol patrol there was nothing really going on outside of quests, maybe you'd very rarely stumble upon some rebels fighting a bear and that's about it. They could have done so much more with the setting.
2) 99% of cutscenes were people standing still moving their lips. You'd think it was some unknown studio with a tiny budget and not a major Sony production.
Everything else was mostly great (maybe minus the very basic stealth.)
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
Can't think of any reason to call story (character related missions as well, which are not even tied to the main story in any way) in this game great, it's just as below average and boring as the rest of the game, minus visual design and art - the same can be said about the rest of the games from SP, except maybe Sly series. I couldn't even force myself to play story expansion. Hopefully the next game will be better, but somehow I doubt it.
Ghost of Caelid
Banned
Game has so much style it’s worth playing but it does all the played out design conventions of open world Ubisoft games. I think it’s 82 metacritic is a proper rating. It is a bit overstated since it’s an exclusive.