Ghost of Tsushima - The Kurosawa game we always wanted

The front-page review is glowing. I already pre-ordered last week. Can't wait for Friday.

Beside myself with excitement. This is precisely my favorite type of game in my favorite possible setting (aside, perhaps, from a good open-world French Revolution game, and AC: Unity absolutely does not count).

Pre-ordered yesterday. Looks like fun.

This is the sort of shit that makes people get PlayStations. If it were earlier in the generation, and if I weren’t already locked into Xbox this gen, etc. Would love a PC port but that’s unlikely. Enjoy everybody!

I’m watching Yojimbo tonight to get myself ready!

Really looking forward to this one. My birthday was yesterday, and I told my wife not to buy anything because I wanted to buy the game on Friday. Pre-purchased the digital version and it's downloading now.

I'm torn though. I am off Thursday night, so I COULD start playing as soon as it unlocks, but my wife just got out of a 5 day stay in the hospital, so I should probably spend time with her.

Famitsu gave it a perfect score. Generally high praise from Japanese reviews for closely following Japan culture, and not butchering it based on western expectations and assumptions.

Took Friday off. My birthday is Saturday, so early birthday gift to myself. Best Buy was nice enough to give a 10% off coupon for my birthday, so I used it as a treat for the Steelcase edition, instead of the regular box. Hopefully they deliver early in the day Friday for me to enjoy it.

My parents took me to see Yojimbo, Wolf with cub series, Zatoichi, etc. when I was a wee lad and it's a setting I enjoy.

I'm not great at melee combat though, and it sounds like the boss battles are tough. So I suspect I'd be fine with the lower difficulty parts then get stalled at the first boss battle .

Guess I have to vote 'Yes, now' as I've already pre-loaded.

It was a birthday gift to myself along with Death Stranding. Very excited about this one. I remember watching Seven Samurai with my dad when I was just a kid and it left a lasting impression for sure.

Fired it up right when it unlocked and my first impression is yup, it’s Assassin’s Creed: Mifune. Fuck yeah! Chopping up the first Mongol after getting the katana is incredibly satisfying. Graphics, music, and voice acting are all top-notch. PS4 Pro’s fans almost immediately went into full-on jet engine mode, of course.

Louis XVI said:

Fired it up right when it unlocked and my first impression is yup, it’s Assassin’s Creed: Mifune. Fuck yeah! Chopping up the first Mongol after getting the katana is incredibly satisfying. Graphics, music, and voice acting are all top-notch. PS4 Pro’s fans almost immediately went into full-on jet engine mode, of course.

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Yup, did the same, felt the same. I WANT ALL THE SKILLS NOW! Though the comparison to Assassin's Creed seems like it ends at 'you can use stealth' and 'there's some climbing'. Walking into a fight, having a showdown, and then cutting through a bunch of enemies...SO GOOD.

After reaching a Shrine, I definitely got way more of a Uncharted vibe in terms of climbing, etc. than AC.

Having a ton of fun with this. It's nearly 1:30am and I'm finally putting it down...

Mine is still on UPS truck scheduled for delivery

I watched a bunch of it... it looks good, sounds good but for me it seems like its lacking a 'hook'. Im on the fence. probably will wait for it to come down in price. I dunno.

maybe you call can convince me how good it is in a few days

Gandhim3 said:

The front-page review is glowing. I already pre-ordered last week. Can't wait for Friday.

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Gandhim3 said:

Famitsu gave it a perfect score. Generally high praise from Japanese reviews for closely following Japan culture, and not butchering it based on western expectations and assumptions.

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Sam's review was definitely glowing, and whenever I read something so full of praise, I typically go looking for thoughtful counterpoints. Eurogamer and Polygon (along with plenty of others) have said GoTsu is very enjoyable, but a blatant AssCreed copy and not the monumental GotY candidate that Sam's frontpage review makes it out to be.

Specifically, it's an extremely gorgeous game that seduces players right from the off, before overwhelming the senses with a ton of bloat and what is ultimately a shallow experience. One example: GoTsu constantly distracts gamers with tweeting birds and rushing winds trying to lure the player to the next (highly repetitive) optional side-quest. The first few times you encounter these sorts of things, it's very cool, but soon it feels like the big huge arrow from Bioshock. Ditto the stealth, which is said to be stealth-lite crap that is even worse than AssCreed junk. Combat? Mediocre depending on what you think of soulsborne games or the lack of lock on causing camera problems. Haikus? Polarizing.

Good news is the characters you interact with are said to be a high point (even if it's still fetch-quest-o-rama), which helps move things along if you minimize interaction with the weaker parts of the game. Audio is also said to be stellar. Via the numerous critical reviews, the recommendation across the board is Ghost of Tsushima becomes vastly improved if, after the first few experiences with the ad nauseum bloat, skip 90% of it and focus on the core quests. Mythic quests? Yes. Farms, birds, billowing winds? Fuggit.

After my experiences over a decade ago with Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, the idea of playing any further AC games or its clones would have been an instant no-go for me. I just recently finished AC Odyssey tho, and was very pleasantly surprised. Still a lot of things I hate, like map icon hell and massive bloat, but that stuff is easy enough to ignore without feeling angsty FOMO. I'll do the same when I get around to playing AC: Origins and Ghost of Tsushima.

Tempted to pick this up now, but may hold out and wait for ps5 (ditto these other late-gen Sony releases). 4k @ 60fps would be well worth the wait. I'll probably just keep enjoying the massive progress I've made on clearing out my backlog during these covid times, buuut... Digital Foundry said the differences between base ps4 and Pro amount to essentially a resolution bump and not much else that actually matters. That makes GoTsu highly tempting. My base ps4 has been sitting in a box for the past year+, but this, TLoU2 and the FF7 remake will be played at some point. HDR is said to be stunning, but often overwhelming with both bright and dark elements onscreen searing the eyeballs. The grass and wind-blown foliage interactions are amazing, but the tradeoff was animations called out as better than the stilted stuff in The Witcher 3, but not on par with modern AAA titles or something top-notch like The Last of Us 2.

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39071262#p39071262:glat3829 said:

coconutboy[/url]":glat3829]Specifically, it's an extremely gorgeous game that seduces players right from the off, before overwhelming the senses with a ton of bloat and what is ultimately a shallow experience. One example: GoTsu constantly distracts gamers with tweeting birds and rushing winds trying to lure the player to the next (highly repetitive) optional side-quest. The first few times you encounter these sorts of things, it's very cool, but soon it feels like the big huge arrow from Bioshock. Ditto the stealth, which is said to be stealth-lite crap that is even worse than AssCreed junk. Combat? Mediocre depending on what you think of soulsborne games or the lack of lock on causing camera problems. Haikus? Polarizing.

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Disagree on all of this.

Care to expand? What's your experience? Beyond the pretty graphics, what do you really like about the game?

I'm just summarizing what I've read, doesn't make it true (although I focused on criticisms that were noted in multiple reviews rather a single reviewer's take). A counterpoint to my above post would be that, even Eurogamer's rather critical take still said the game is "largely, quite fun".

Eurogamer":383q4t9r said:

It's desperately frustrating, because I maintain that Ghost of Tsushima is still, largely, quite fun. The problem is it's an easy, breezy, lite beer kind of fun - the kind that Sucker Punch is known for, after all - and the blanket genericism of it just doesn't sit well against such a po-faced tone. It's another game fallen victim to the palatability blender, coming out the other side as a slightly formless smudge of every genre, without a mastery of any. Going back to Ghost of Tsushima's roots, as an American game inspired by the comics and the movies of Japan, in a way it's quite apt. It's what happens when you want to pay homage, but don't want to add anything new of your own. It's Hollywood.

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[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39072137#p39072137:2zyzgux8 said:

coconutboy[/url]":2zyzgux8]Beyond the pretty graphics, what do you really like about the game?

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Everything? I didn't go into it expecting some genre-defining game.

The only thing that's really bothered me at all is the lack of lock-on, but it hasn't been hard to adapt to.

Magus` said:

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39072137#p39072137:1tfuy929 said:

coconutboy[/url]":1tfuy929]Beyond the pretty graphics, what do you really like about the game?

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Everything? I didn't go into it expecting some genre-defining game.

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I’d agree with this. The game makes me feel like a I’m samurai, having samurai adventures. For me, that’s more than enough.

I, too, enjoy getting naked and thinking about my uncle.

Really enjoying this game overall. Love the world, the characters are good. Some reviews say there is too much side stuff, but all that can be ignored. I'm still doing everything I see, but when I get tired of it, I will stop and focus on the main quests.

Certainly has its problems. Combat isn't great, no lock-on, keep having fights obscured by trees, building, rocks. Early on, stealth doesn't seem super useful as enemies are often within sight of another.

The game isn't genre defining in any sense, but it's a good "one of those".

NCPar8hd said:

The game isn't genre defining in any sense, but it's a good "one of those".

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Yeah, that sums it up for me. Combines the best aspects of various open world games out there in to an excellent Samurai adventure. The developers really hit it out if the park for wanting ti impart a feel of a samurai movie. Started playing around 6 pm and did not notice the time fly by four hours later. It really is beautiful though - sometimes it feels like a pre-rendered cutscene.

I really, REALLY, wish they had loadouts for your outfit. It's super annoying to be running around with my Traveller's 'rags' on (bonus to Fog of War removal and item detection), and then you come across a fight. Sure, I could win with that outfit, but I want to look badass. So pause, change hat, change outfit, change mask. Badass fight! Pause, change hat, change outfit, change mask. So far it's the most annoying aspect of the game to me.

I really enjoy the combat, the stances, after finishing a particularly flawless fight, just feel SO badass.

I can see the 'tedium' of the open world activities already. Traditionally it's not something that bothers me that much, so it isn't ruining the experience, but it's there. That said, I just popped over from Death Stranding to this, so it's pretty diverse coming from that.

For fun, here's a couple screenshots (no spoilers, despite the tag)

Another bonus that separates this game from other open world games besides the stunning beauty? The super fast load times - fast travel really does mean fast travel. It really encourages experimenting and trying to take on a whole group of soldiers in true Samurai style because I don't have to sit there staring at the loading screen for a minute or more.

Those are fuggin' sexy screenies M4EOzzy. Ps4 Pro on HDR TV? I'm wondering if GoTsu does something unlikely like capturing HDR screenshots even when playing on a standard TV/monitor.

M4EOzzy said:

After reaching a Shrine, I definitely got way more of a Uncharted vibe in terms of climbing, etc. than AC.

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My thoughts exactly. It's Uncharted's Climbing, a bit of Far Cry's base assault, some AC in terms of the combat (but far better) and it's a straight rip of Witcher 3's investigation (to the point that I half expected Jin to say "A kikimora, hmm" when he finishes with every 3-interaction investigation) and the post saving a location for the locals to move back in to (including the obligatory merchant of various types).

None of that is a knock against it. If you're going to make a game that's an amalgam of several different games within an overdone genre then do it this well and all will be good.

Edit: Anyone playing with the Kurosawa filter? If so, did they do something with maybe a frameskip type of filter to make it speed up just a bit (or erratically) because I thought the opening where they ask you if you want the filter looked like the banners were moving at an odder framerate compared to in the normal HDR presentation. Like it was being played back from film that had an inconsistent framerate (which really would be a thing for older films than Kurosawa's but still...).

coconutboy said:

Those are fuggin' sexy screenies M4EOzzy. Ps4 Pro on HDR TV? I'm wondering if GoTsu does something unlikely like capturing HDR screenshots even when playing on a standard TV/monitor.

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PS4 Pro, but not HDTV TV, just my standard computer monitor that I also use for PC gaming (no HDR).

Some more non-spoiler screenshots, cause this game demands it:

Magus` said:

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39071262#p39071262:yi2elm7y said:

coconutboy[/url]":yi2elm7y]Specifically, it's an extremely gorgeous game that seduces players right from the off, before overwhelming the senses with a ton of bloat and what is ultimately a shallow experience. One example: GoTsu constantly distracts gamers with tweeting birds and rushing winds trying to lure the player to the next (highly repetitive) optional side-quest. The first few times you encounter these sorts of things, it's very cool, but soon it feels like the big huge arrow from Bioshock. Ditto the stealth, which is said to be stealth-lite crap that is even worse than AssCreed junk. Combat? Mediocre depending on what you think of soulsborne games or the lack of lock on causing camera problems. Haikus? Polarizing.

Click to expand...

Disagree on all of this.

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I kinda agree with him. It's incredibly fun but it's a bit repetitive and the camera lock on is a bit of a issue for me. Stealth doesn't bother me because I hate stealth games with a passion so I'm all for something simplified.

For me, I love the setting, I love its not westernized and the graphics are quite good(except for the NPCs, they look like ass to me) and that's enough to sell me on it. It could have been a crap game but with the graphics and the setting I'd still probably be hooked.

My bigger issue is keeping away from my wife.

The lack of a mini-map is killing me. I find that I cannot leave little peninsulas of the fog of war (or even worse, islands) on the map so I'm constantly flipping the map open to check my bearing and make sure that I'm not leaving wisps of it behind me. Then the wind blows toward my tracked objective (whatever it is) becoming seriously annoying the more I check the map to make sure I'm clearing all of the fog of war around me. A two-level mini-map would clear the entire issue up and it could be configurable to be turned off in the options. It would also make searches much quicker since you'd be able to tell when you were reaching the edge of the search area without having to pop open the full map all the time.

Aside from that I'm still enjoying it. Having a hell of a time against the armored spear users (most spear users only have a single or fast-double glowy attack but the big armored guys have that and a delayed second-into-fast-third attack). I think I've finally gotten the polearm smashy guys' patterns down and also have to memorize the double scimitar wielding guy's attack patterns better.

If you clear all the mongol bases in an area supposedly it'll clear out the fog of war, so you could just wait before you get that picky about clearing it

I have kind of an embarrassing question:

So, I was walking along a cliff looking for the cursed longbow, when I stumbled upon the most spectacular sunrise. I said to myself, “self, this is a great chance to try out photo mode!” I entered photo mode, fiddled around with all the settings, got the perfect shot lined up....and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to take the damned picture! The moment is lost, like tears in the rain.

Could someone please let me know what fucking button to push to take a picture? I don’t want to share it to social media or anything (which apparently is what pushing the “share” button lets you do), I just wanted to save a screenshot and maybe use it for my PS4 background screen. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Magus` said:

If you clear all the mongol bases in an area supposedly it'll clear out the fog of war, so you could just wait before you get that picky about clearing it

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So liberating each third of the island clears the fog of war completely from that third? Maybe I can turn it off but there's so much incidental running around and map checking that I'm kind of afraid that it will just keep triggering my "Must Clear It All" reflex.

Louis XVI said:

I have kind of an embarrassing question:

So, I was walking along a cliff looking for the cursed longbow, when I stumbled upon the most spectacular sunrise. I said to myself, “self, this is a great chance to try out photo mode!” I entered photo mode, fiddled around with all the settings, got the perfect shot lined up....and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to take the damned picture! The moment is lost, like tears in the rain.

Could someone please let me know what fucking button to push to take a picture? I don’t want to share it to social media or anything (which apparently is what pushing the “share” button lets you do), I just wanted to save a screenshot and maybe use it for my PS4 background screen. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Click Share button and then press 'Triangle'. That'll just take a screenshot and add it to your capture gallery. You can then choose what you want to do with it. For me, how I was posting those above, is then sharing them to my 'Activities' status on PSN. Which I think I have two friends on PSN, so no one is really seeing it, but then I can access that on playstation.com and link to the pictures directly.

That's good to know about clearing the camps. This was once instance where I was kind of missing the AC style 'climb a tower and reveal an area of the map' mechanic. So I won't stress too much about clearing away the fog.

Lock on would be nice.

I still REALLY wish it had loadouts (one for travel, melee, archery, stealth).

I'm probably grinding on the first island more than I should be (already have all the stances unlocked), but have been peppering in the story missions to keep it interesting. I have hit some shrines though that say I'm missing something to be able to complete them, so that's compelling me to push forward.

Thanks!

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39076230#p39076230:70d8px5d said:

M4EOzzy[/url]":70d8px5d]Click Share button and then press 'Triangle'.

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Note that if you go into Sharing Settings, you can change your mode to "Easy Screenshots" and then simply pressing the Share button will take a screenshot, while holding it will get you the other options.

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39076218#p39076218:70d8px5d said:

krimhorn[/url]":70d8px5d]So liberating each third of the island clears the fog of war completely from that third?

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Yeah.

Magus` said:

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39076230#p39076230:1njgwr3b said:

M4EOzzy[/url]":1njgwr3b]Click Share button and then press 'Triangle'.

Click to expand...

Note that if you go into Sharing Settings, you can change your mode to "Easy Screenshots" and then simply pressing the Share button will take a screenshot, while holding it will get you the other options.

[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=39076218#p39076218:1njgwr3b said:

krimhorn[/url]":1njgwr3b]So liberating each third of the island clears the fog of war completely from that third?

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Yeah.

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Pro tip on the Share button, will do that for sure.

M4EOzzy said:

Click Share button and then press 'Triangle'. That'll just take a screenshot and add it to your capture gallery. You can then choose what you want to do with it. For me, how I was posting those above, is then sharing them to my 'Activities' status on PSN. Which I think I have two friends on PSN, so no one is really seeing it, but then I can access that on playstation.com and link to the pictures directly.

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Small correction - correct address is "my.playstation.com" and log in is the same one you use for your PS4.

Is that a "bench" rock with a "sit" action on it or did you find a poses option? The lack of poses was seriously pissing me off last night and makes the screenshot tool pretty pointless beyond the first few "ooh pretty landscape" shots (same reason as I didn't bother with Last of Us 2 screenshots after realizing that their tool had zero character options).

krimhorn said:

Is that a "bench" rock with a "sit" action on it or did you find a poses option? The lack of poses was seriously pissing me off last night and makes the screenshot tool pretty pointless beyond the first few "ooh pretty landscape" shots (same reason as I didn't bother with Last of Us 2 screenshots after realizing that their tool had zero character options).

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Jin sometimes sits down and has a drink at the end of a mission or clearing out a camp.