Cult Icon Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 I finished the audiobook for Hagakure, the famous and infamous book on Samurai Ethics and DT Suzuki's talks on Zen and Bushido which is on youtube. It is certain that the developers of this game read it as one of the quests is taken from the Hagakure. The central moral idea of the samurai is to live in reverse- to live and act towards the "good" death while having a slave-like obedience to their Lord. "why" they should be slaves to their lord is not clarified in the Hagakure. Ideally the Samurai should meditate on their death and die daily, every morning. The moral teachings have some straight up brutal behavior such as putting monks in their place by beating them if they influenced Samurai too much with the dharma, killing civilians who show disrespect, and a lot of cases implies that the Samurai were too eager to kill each other or kill civilians for trivial offences. Also important was to the Samurai were the right conditions to commit suicide or fight to the death. DT Suzuki's talks on Zen is introductory and a good starting point as to why the Samurai adopted Zen Buddhism. Basically Zen training improves their effectiveness as samurai. This practice of warriors and Zen originated in China. Overall I feel like the game romanticized the Samurai as the film "The Last Samurai" but did expose some of their contradictory and flawed views & behaviors. Jin in the game was, by the idealized standards of the Hagakure, a humanist and a pragmatist- thus a rather poor Samurai who didn't adhere much to their ethics. Japanese people know that the Samurai were really a mixed bag, some adhering to the Bushido ideals while others resembled businessmen or gangsters. The practice of writing haikus and death poems among Japanese warriors was a real one, I have a book about their Death poems and these are written by monks and warriors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cult Icon Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 DT Suzuki: "The Lebensanschauung of Bushido is no more nor less than that of Zen. The calmness and even joyfulness of heart at the moment of death which is conspicuously observable in the Japanese, the intrepidity which is generally shown by the Japanese soldiers in the face of an overwhelming enemy; and the fairness of play to an opponent, so strongly taught by Bushido—all these come from the spirit of the Zen training, and not from any such blind, fatalistic conception as is sometimes thought to be a trait peculiar to Orientals." “The spirit of Bushido is truly to abandon this life, neither bragging of one’s achievements, nor complaining when one’s talents go unrecognized. It is simply a question of rushing forward toward one’s ideal.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morells Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Thats new product for me too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrico_sw Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrico_sw Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cult Icon Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cult Icon Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 @Enrico_sw It looks like the GOT DC includes a main story expansion pack, I wonder how long it will be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrico_sw Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 3 hours ago, Cult Icon said: @Enrico_sw It looks like the GOT DC includes a main story expansion pack, I wonder how long it will be? I loved playing this game. If the DLC has a decent lifespan, I'll definitely buy it! (after I finish FF7 remake) The trailer looks good, really in the spirit of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrico_sw Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 As soon as I have more time, I'll buy the expansion. Jin Sakai, Yuna, Lady Masako or Sensei Ishikawa are some of the best gaming characters in the past years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cult Icon Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 23 hours ago, Enrico_sw said: As soon as I have more time, I'll buy the expansion. Jin Sakai, Yuna, Lady Masako or Sensei Ishikawa are some of the best gaming characters in the past years. The expansion looks legit! It continues the story and has some length. I will watch it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrico_sw Posted August 27, 2021 Share Posted August 27, 2021 This game is the real GOTY of 2020. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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