Ghost of Tsushima (2020)

[Cult Icon]

Ghost of Tsushima (/ˈtsuʃiˌmɑː/) is an action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4. Featuring an open world for players to explore, it revolves around Jin Sakai, one of the last samurai on Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_of_Tsushima

 

 

 

[Michael*]

When it was first announced, I was picturing some sort of cool wandering samurai game with intense blood feuds that escalate into amazing duels.

 

However the more I see of it, the more it looks like an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan. I don't particularly have a problem with that, but it's probably not going to be the groundbreaking new experience it perhaps could have been.

[Cult Icon]

17 hours ago, Michael* said:

When it was first announced, I was picturing some sort of cool wandering samurai game with intense blood feuds that escalate into amazing duels.

 

However the more I see of it, the more it looks like an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan. I don't particularly have a problem with that, but it's probably not going to be the groundbreaking new experience it perhaps could have been.

 

I've already spent some time reviewing it as the game is on  youtube already.  It is quite like an Assassin's Creed game.

 

The best part of the game is the amazing world design, it's up there with Red Dead Redemption 2 if not better.  They studied the most beautiful areas in Japan and replicated it in exhaustive detail throughout the game.  The world design is so good that it conceals some of the issues with the game.  I also don't think that there are any game quite like it and there are LOTS of homages to Kurosawa and classic black & white Japanese medieval films and some with old school Japanese horror.  This is very entertaining to me every time it pops up. I also like the theme of the world being a post-invasion disaster zone with people trying to get by, and the "Ghost" being the heroic guerrilla.  This resembles Velen from the Witcher 3.

 

There are a few weak points of the game.  The biggest weakness is the combat- some minor adjustments could make it much better.  The only good combat in the game is the handful of boss battles. The Mongol enemy could have been far better than the one in the game.  The game is also designed to be too easy.  The "Hard" mode is more like "Normal" mode for an average game.

 

The other weak point is that they really did the the Mongols dirty.  The game's theme is the greatness of Japanese spirit and bushido & extremely biased towards this perspective.  The Mongols are a very fascinating subject and their viewpoint could have been in-cooperated in the story/worldbuilding instead of making them boring, one-dimensional villains.  The mongols are poorly researched and poorly presented throughout the game.

 

The majority of the relatively few bosses in the game are terrific duels but they are other Japanese.  There are really only two Mongol bosses.  This shows how little attention they gave to the Mongols!  The compelling villains are mostly from the side missions, and they are Japanese.

[Cult Icon]

All they have to do to make the combat much better is to patch it and make some simple modifications:

 

eg.

 

-increase player health, make the enemies have 2- 2.5 times more HP.  

-remove the archer distinction- give all mongol fighters bows and arrows as a ranged weapon and shields. Make them switch to melee weapons (spears/halberds/swords) in close combat.  

-heavy melee warriors do not need bow and arrow. Halbred and double sword guys don't need shields.

 

 

Also, the structure of the game is a bit unexpected.  The youtubers are finishing the main game in about 40 hours.  It's a long game, 60+ hours or so with lots of side missions.  I can't help but notice that the game didn't have to be this long, and could have traded quantity for quality.  Most of the side missions are pretty mediocre and simplistic in gameplay and story, and not memorable.  Even the biggest confrontations, like the castle assault, aren't that impressive.

 

There is opening for a sequel, which is very good if they address the issues of 1. combat 2. quality and quantity 3. quality of storytelling and writing.  If Sucker punch makes a Ghost 2 for the PS5 and gets focused on these issues, they could make one of the best games ever made.

[Cult Icon]

The use of Death poem riddles and paintings in the game- while minor- is a neat touch and a homage to Japanese culture.  I was surprised to see them included in the game.

[Cult Icon]

I have been studying the playthrough of this streamer.  The first "interesting" regular enemy appears half way through the game.   It's far too late at this point though.  If only all the regular enemies were programmed to be this interesting:

 

 

[Michael*]

On 7/17/2020 at 1:11 PM, Cult Icon said:

The best part of the game is the amazing world design, it's up there with Red Dead Redemption 2 if not better.  They studied the most beautiful areas in Japan and replicated it in exhaustive detail throughout the game.  The world design is so good that it conceals some of the issues with the game.  I also don't think that there are any game quite like it and there are LOTS of homages to Kurosawa and classic black & white Japanese medieval films and some with old school Japanese horror.  This is very entertaining to me every time it pops up. I also like the theme of the world being a post-invasion disaster zone with people trying to get by, and the "Ghost" being the heroic guerrilla.  This resembles Velen from the Witcher 3.

 

The monochrome "Kurosawa Mode" is a pretty mouthwatering prospect, I must say. I do love a game with a striking visual style and an open world aesthetic, when it's so highly detailed and visually stunning I'm often just distracted from soaking it in.

 

We may have to balance that against some slightly lacklustre elements too of course, some of which sound like they perhaps hold it back from being a real masterpiece. I personally would settle for an excellent world and decent gameplay.

[Michael*]

On 7/18/2020 at 5:41 PM, Cult Icon said:

Also, the structure of the game is a bit unexpected.  The youtubers are finishing the main game in about 40 hours.  It's a long game, 60+ hours or so with lots of side missions.  I can't help but notice that the game didn't have to be this long, and could have traded quantity for quality.  Most of the side missions are pretty mediocre and simplistic in gameplay and story, and not memorable.  Even the biggest confrontations, like the castle assault, aren't that impressive.

 

I must confess, I fear that's how the majority of open world games are going these days. Somewhat restrictive RPG elements and worlds filled with side quests that quite quickly turn into chores.

 

It's increasingly rare to find something in the genre that gets the balance just right. The recent installments of Assassin's Creed have gotten better at it, but I would say the only ones to have done it really brilliantly are Horizon Zero Dawn and the Witcher.

[Cult Icon]

An interesting bit about the game is that they used average looking characters throughout- they actually look like REAL Japanese people.  Nobody is particularly attractive.  There are no beauty queens, model, popstar, stylized anime, half white looking, white looking, etc. in the game.  All the female characters in the game are very average looking and not attractive.

 

There is also some LGBT/feminism inserted in the game- several of the side characters- boss ladies and female warriors- are women when they should be men and there is lesbian love affair.

[Cult Icon]

definitely a highlight of the game- the Temple battle and the Ronin duels- The Six blades of Kojiro

 

 

This part of the main story is very well done and reminds me of the quality of the stories in Witcher 3.  They really should have put it in the beginning of the game, it's very important information:

 

 

[Enrico_sw]

The game looks really good. I hear that Japanese reviews love it and they say it's really faithful.

 

The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay looks nice. I don't mind that it's an AC-like gameplay.

 

The only problem is it's another PS4 exclusive.... games look so much better on PC. I really don't get the point of consoles anyway (except to tie people to certain hardwares ). I already bought a PS4 to play some other exclusives (they already got me...), so I'll be able to play it eventually when I finish other games I'm playing atm.

[Enrico_sw]

23 hours ago, Michael* said:

It's increasingly rare to find something in the genre that gets the balance just right. The recent installments of Assassin's Creed have gotten better at it, but I would say the only ones to have done it really brilliantly are Horizon Zero Dawn and the Witcher.

 

Horizon ZD is the game that made me buy a PS4   Otherwise I would've stayed with PC only... I still buy all of my games on PC when they're not PS4 exclusives.

 

Luckily, Xbox exclusives are either bad or inexistant. I would've hated to have to buy both a PS4 and an Xbox

[Cult Icon]

7 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

The game looks really good. I hear that Japanese reviews love it and they say it's really faithful.

 

The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay looks nice. I don't mind that it's an AC-like gameplay.

 

I am now watching Act III.  My previous comments were about Act I. The quality of Act II is far better than Act I, which has so much boring filler content.  

 

The game reminds of Witcher 3 more than Assasin's Creed.  I am almost done with viewing the playthrough, that particular youtuber is trying to get 100%.  I think you will like it.  The game,  while having some flaws that they could easy address in a PS5 sequel, is a major achievement in open-world gaming and it has one of the best themes/settings ever for a game.

[Cult Icon]

On 7/21/2020 at 5:50 PM, Michael* said:

 

We may have to balance that against some slightly lacklustre elements too of course, some of which sound like they perhaps hold it back from being a real masterpiece. I personally would settle for an excellent world and decent gameplay.

 

IMHO the biggest flaw in the game is the combat.   It's very , very repetitive and there are limited tactical options even well into Act II.  Act I combat is boring.  Little real enemy variety.  The enemies on hard have one type- easy.   I think they messed up on the design philosophy for the regular enemies.    IT makes me feel like they were too influenced by Japanese samurai tropes.  The duels are great though. 

 

Basically Jin only uses the Katana as a primary armament and has the bow for secondary.  He doesn't use spears, long swords, broad swords, axes, maces, spears, halbred, etc., etc.  This severely limits range of the combat.   

 

[Cult Icon]

On 7/21/2020 at 5:54 PM, Michael* said:

 

I must confess, I fear that's how the majority of open world games are going these days. Somewhat restrictive RPG elements and worlds filled with side quests that quite quickly turn into chores.

 

It's increasingly rare to find something in the genre that gets the balance just right. The recent installments of Assassin's Creed have gotten better at it, but I would say the only ones to have done it really brilliantly are Horizon Zero Dawn and the Witcher.

 

Yea, this game has issues with mission quality.   There are three types of missions: - main story - primary side missions - secondary side missions.     I am watching a 100% playthrough and the greater half of the content are in fact secondary side missions.  Meaning that the developers decided to bloat the game with filler!

 

IMHO the main story missions in Act I I would rate it a 7 out of 10.  Act II,  more like an 8 out of 10.  Act II however ends great the final segment of Act II is a 9.5 out of 10.  

 

The primary side missions in Act I are more like a 5 out of 10. Act II, 7 out of 10.  The secondary side missions in Act I/II are all very boring and look like a waste of time.

 

I have seen one main story mission that is as good as the best in the Witcher so far.

 

All this takes place in the one of the best game worlds ever made, an 11 out of 10.  The only big flaw is that there aren't enough buildings.

[Cult Icon]

There is something really fascinating about the stories and future potential in this game.  They are drawing from the vast cultural reservoir of Japan and these stories are uniquely Japanese.  There are an enormous number of side stories, albeit they are mostly underdeveloped and thus boring.  

 

They seem to have lacked the development funds to  really make them Witcher quality material.  However, the ability to do so is right there though...

 

A Ghost of Tsushima 2 would have the benefit of the strong foundation established by its predecessor, making it having a lot of high quality, innovative content a very real possibility.

 

And the premise of the game is just so awesome and full of even more potential- you are a partisan-patriot helping people in trouble and fighting against criminals and traitors to your own people and the Mongol occupation.  And you are trying to get the regular military forces into a position where the can systematically counterattack and retake the island.

[Cult Icon]

The Mongol enemies- badly designed imho- in the game are also much more like Chinese soldiers than Mongol ones.     In the next game I hope they will do massive research on the Mongols and make them rival the Japanese in importance.

 

The primary weapon of the Mongol trooper was the bow and the 5-6 horses per trooper they used for carrying bows/ dozens of arrows.  Being born hunters and horsemen, their skill in archery and their skills in riding made them deadly in individual combat.  Swords and maces were secondary weapons, not primary ones.  They also carried shields.

 

perhaps in the next game they can make the Mongols/player fight from horseback or make Mongol groups hardcore with the bow.  This would make the combat a lot more difficult and interesting, and encourage stealth. 

 

In this game the design philosophy was to give an impression of a samurai cutting down groups of enemies with ease, IMHO they went too far in this area and made it too easy.  They could revamp the design philosophy and make it so the Mongols are superior in mobility and ranged combat (the bow) but are inferior to the samurai in close combat (swordfighting).  And make it so, eg. a key would be to maneuver into close range to offset the Mongols' superiority.

[Cult Icon]

most the actors are Chinese. 1 korean?  The Lord is played by a half-asian.  

 

at least Jin is played by a Japanese guy lol.

 

83% Critics, 9.3 Metausers

 

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/ghost-of-tsushima

 

2.4 Million sales in 3 days

 

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-24-ghost-of-tsushima-sells-2-4-million-in-three-days