Ghost of Tsushima

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onesecondglance

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I'm looking forward to this one. Did you see the reveal trailer?

On the one hand, it's kinda an Assassins Creed clone. On the other hand, ditch the mindless map-clearing repetition from AC and put it in an environment as gorgeous and atmospheric as this, and that's an auto-buy for me...
 
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DeleyanLee

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That's the trailer that finally convinced me to give it a go.

Yeah, the likeness to AC is a positive for me too (though I got Shadow of Mordor for that reason and was seriously disappointed). I'm not big on Feudal Japan (or Asia at all), but it looked interesting enough. I also like that there's no multi-player.
 

mwritesdragons

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Previews and reviews dropped today ahead of the release on Friday *cough* Thursday at midnight, totally won't stay up why would I do that *cough* so if you're on the fence I'd take a look! Reviews/previews seem positive so far. I already had a ticket for the hype train and I've now boarded and am growing quite excited!

People are saying it does not feel like a rendition of Assassin's Creed: Samurai necessarily, and the feel of the open world is getting a lot of praise. I saw a comparison to Breath of the Wild, which, we'll see, but, if so: HYPE. :e2bear: :e2bouncey
 

DeleyanLee

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My local Gamestop isn't doing the midnight releases anymore (thank you COVID), not that I'd be going anyway since Friday's a work day Clearing the schedule over the weekend, though.

I'm a huge AC fan, so if there's a flavor of it, I won't object. I'm just hoping it's not a better AC game than Valhalla. ;)
 

Kjbartolotta

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Dangnabbit, another PS exclusive.

*leaves thread in a sulk*
 

mwritesdragons

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I mostly do digital downloads now, to save on shelf space and so I can remote play as many games in my library as possible. They have the added bonus of unlocking at midnight on the dot! ...I am still pretty confident I'll end up with the PS5 with disc drive, though, because my current PS4 is my dedicated blu-ray player. There's no way I'll have room for both given how much of a (glorious, beautiful, wonderful) spaceship the PS5 is rumored to be.

I miss being a huge AC fan still. Ubisoft is finally wearing on me with their lack of ingenuity in the past few AC cycles. Valhalla's proximity to Cyperpunk2077's release also doesn't bode well for my grabbing it at launch.

JOIN US Kjbartolotta! The Sony kool-aid is delicious.
 

DeleyanLee

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I miss being a huge AC fan still. Ubisoft is finally wearing on me with their lack of ingenuity in the past few AC cycles. Valhalla's proximity to Cyperpunk2077's release also doesn't bode well for my grabbing it at launch.

The only AC game I didn't play was Rogue. Valhalla is their last chance to get back to Assassin's Creed for me. I've preordered every game since the first, and this will be the end of it for me if it doesn't get back to the base conflict. Doesn't mean I might not get the games, but I'm not paying the big money for them. But that's me.

Here's hoping Ghost will be as exciting as it looks. I have some concerns because I seriously suck dirty duck butt at combat, so.... (it's why I adore the hidden blade.) We'll see.
 

onesecondglance

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Valhalla is their last chance to get back to Assassin's Creed for me. I've preordered every game since the first, and this will be the end of it for me if it doesn't get back to the base conflict.

I assume you mean a focus on assassinations over open combat - in which case you must have hated the latter stages of Odyssey where even low-tier enemies could survive a hidden blade attack! Apparently in Valhalla any "failed" assassination can be "fixed" by completing a quick time event (it's like the 00s all over again), but that still speaks to them having the same basic issue. I guess it does bring a bit more excitement to stealth gameplay, although if your game is built right, just sneaking from A to B should generate enough excitement by itself... let's see whether Ghost can get that bit right.
 

DeleyanLee

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Got about 8 hours into it the first day then life got away from me and couldn't get back. Still haven't finished the first main mission because of all the little golden birds leading me to places to that improve health (not a bad thing!).

Visibly gorgeous and the soundtrack is very lovely. The combat isn't as hard as I was afraid it was (I suck at combat), and yet challenging enough to prove that I truly suck at combat. LOL! Learning the combat system is done through flash-backs with Jin's uncle as he learns to be a Samurai. The means is good, but I found myself commenting that this character has so many flashbacks that I felt like I was playing a Dan Brown novel.

The side quests are actually short and slightly varied enough to be interesting (so far). The biggest problem I've had is that there's no guidance to the tutorial bits that explain the things that help boost anything (there's various challenges, etc, that the golden birds will lead you to), though I did run into the random peasant that told me to follow the birds. Apparently there's lots of random peasants that will explain things to you, if you can find them in the opening area. But I didn't know to look for random peasants, so I went ahead with one of the two main missions and completely missed all this explanation stuff, which is annoying.

All-in-all, I'm enjoying it more than I expected. It has a bit of an AC feel, but I don't feel like I'm playing AC: Samurai. Jin is an interesting character with enough mix of conviction so you can play him as the honorable samurai and cowardice is you want to play him as the "dishonorable" ghost and it's still within character. That's some good writing right there.

I'm playing it in English with subtitles, which matches the visuals of the characters speaking. I understand there's a Japanese with English subtitles selection, but I found it annoying since the mouths aren't forming those words, so I switched.

What do you guys think of it so far?
 

mwritesdragons

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I finished Act 1 and am into Act 2, so a bit farther along than you, Deleyan, but my thoughts are similar! I completely agree the first bit of story where you get the combat tutorials is a little unwieldy; I think it works as a way to get you some core skills before the world opens up, but, the flashbacks are a little jarring. So far they happen very infrequently after the tutorial story section, so the beginning of the game isn't emblematic of the rest of the game.

I am thoroughly enjoying myself. I am also not super good at combat. My favorite combat systems are ones that make me work a little bit, but are also forgiving, and are satisfying to use as they're designed (aka don't feel grindy). Ghost of Tsushima fits this. It slowly adds additional mechanics (stances, ghost skills) so you can learn at a gradual pace. And standoffs NEVER get old. They are so satisfying to execute well.

I'm also finding the side quests interesting. They really are tales. Little bits of story, many of which have a twist ending of offer different perspectives on life in Tsushima. They are varied and I haven't gotten bored of them yet. The thing I love the most is the attention to detail, and how organic everything feels. From chasing golden birds to undiscovered points, to following foxes to shrines, to wandering across peasants who have quests for you, the world feels built for Jin's story. Little things, like how Jin sheathes his katana with precision and how he talks sweetly to his horse when you mount up endear me more to the character and the world.
 

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This game's story is absolutely amazing. Between cut scenes and the ability to interact with the common folk for side quests and hear their woes, the creators made sure you feel invested in just about every character (including NPCs). I am notorious for never finishing a video game with a really involved story (due to my own attention span), and I actually finished this game. So many laughs and tears!
 
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