So I finally finished Ghost of Tsushima and this is a brutally depressing game storywise

[spman2099]

I know the game you're talking about. It was definitely very sudden and shocking in that game. But I felt zero attachment to the horse. In Ghost, the horse is basically your only travel companion. And you talk to it every time you ride. Made the death more impactful for me.

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For me personally, I built a relationship with the horse in that game. It was all completely organic, too. It developed over the course of the game, so when my horse was taken from me, I was legitimately shocked. The fact that I could have just grabbed another horse at any given moment, but I hadn't, made it feel even more powerful. I felt even more responsible.

In GoT there are all those little cutscenes that play after every event you clear, and I felt like they were trying to create a bond that I never felt. It just didn't work as well for me.

 

[AllThingsPurple]

I killed him and I think that was the right decision.

 

[AllThingsPurple]

I killed him. Despite shedding his "honor" by the end of the game, I felt like this was the most human choice for Jin. No way I wanted Uncle to live around in shame like that for the rest of his days.

And now the Ghost can roam with no strings attached.

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This.

I killed him, not because jin was suddenly a redeemed honorable samurai again but because letting him live would hurt and upset his uncle even more than he already was.

Killing him was the good guy move imo.

 

[Shakerovic]

"You have no honor"
"and you are a slave to it"

couldn't ask for a more epic ending to the epic campaign

 

[Siggy-P]

I feel like the games mechanics become tiring and overly repetitive as the stories really start to pick up. The later missions are really good stories and I basically just rushed through the game to see them.

In particular the mission with

Spoiler

the old woman his dad had an affair with

was absolutely fantastic. Was genuinely not expecting something like that in the game and it hit really hard.

 

[Kadey]

If Shimura was a COD or competitive player, he'd be the first to die. No time for that honor crap.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

You know for some reason I thought the nanny was Jin'a actual mom which makes her storyline even sadder

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In the Japanese dub he calls her Yuri instead of Yuriko, which may be a name change but I took to be an affectionate nickname. Somehow it made that relationship cuter, and ultimately more sad.

Also, the Japanese dub is truly excellent, but it makes Jin sound like too much of a badass. Once I switched to English I didn't look back. The softness in Jin's original voice suits him too well.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Play tlou2 and come back then

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Yeah, I was gonna say ... that game is absolutely devastating.

 

[Musubi]

Let him live. Its the entire point of Jin's arc. Jin values life. And he even broke his own code to save the people of his country. Meanwhile his uncle stays strapped forever a slave to the code of the Samurai.

 

[madgorillaz]

This part of the game made me cry.

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Me too. It really got to me. I feel that all of us aren't many steps removed from such a scenario.

This game's narrative has some really powerful moments.

 

[Mirage]

Honor, in the form of a warrior's death, was very important to Shimura.

Because Jin loved him so much, even though he does not believe that Shimura should be beholden to honor or that he deserves death for anything, the fact remains that Shimura wished for it and it made sense that he would grant Shimura his wish, despite how much of a sacrifice it is for Jin.

After making this choice and watching the other ending, for me the difference between them is almost jarring. There is very little emotional payoff, if any, in the spare ending. The interaction between the characters is barely believable, it looks and feels extremely forced and bare-bones. Almost as if that ending was an afterthought, despite some people who worked in the game mentioning that they feel Jin sparing Shimura would be the "canon" choice in their eyes.

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I would have preferred if there wasn't a choice here. Kind of felt off after a whole game without any choices. Like just go all out with one ending instead of trying to make multiple.

 

[Necron]

Let him live. Its the entire point of Jin's arc. Jin values life. And he even broke his own code to save the people of his country. Meanwhile his uncle stays strapped forever a slave to the code of the Samurai.

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Indeed.
In my opinion, they shouldn't have added a choice to that encounter.

 

[Saturday]

Yeah, this game was just brutal. The only other comparison I could make is the Witcher 3 in how most of the side-quests end somberly.

I killed Lord Shimura, and judging by the small but real powerful detail of feeling Shimura's heartbeat through the DS4 as you kill him there was probably more thought and weight put into the kill ending (although the arguments made to spare fitting Jin's story and character are completely valid)

 

[SirKai]

Honor, in the form of a warrior's death, was very important to Shimura.

Because Jin loved him so much, even though he does not believe that Shimura should be beholden to honor or that he deserves death for anything, the fact remains that Shimura wished for it and it made sense that he would grant Shimura his wish, despite how much of a sacrifice it is for Jin.

After making this choice and watching the other ending, for me the difference between them is almost jarring. There is very little emotional payoff, if any, in the spare ending. The interaction between the characters is barely believable, it looks and feels extremely forced and bare-bones. Almost as if that ending was an afterthought, despite some people who worked in the game mentioning that they feel Jin sparing Shimura would be the "canon" choice in their eyes.

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This is how I feel. Jin's disruption of the traditional Samurai honor is driven by pragmatism, but more importantly, compassion. Jin still clearly loves Shimura, and his values and committed actions are more flexible and nuanced than just "fuck honor." Him agreeing to kill Shimura at his request is completely consistent with his character since he's still operating out of compassion, and the emotional reaction Jin has when holding his uncle's limp body is a very powerful and effective moment. It seems way more believable than the kind of edgy mean spirited snark he has in the other ending.

 

[iFirez]

The results of this poll are super interesting to me.

How do they do a sequel with this ending too? Seems impossible to me.

 

[Pyccko]

I killed Shimura because it's what let him have peace. He would have never been satisfied living after that fight, he'd probably just end up committing seppuku down the line. Anyway I don't personally buy Jin's arc as some kind of "sanctity of life over the illusion of honor" thing, more just a pragmatic view winning out over a dogmatic view. The man personally kills hundreds to thousands of people with his own two hands by the end of the game. His primary role in life is as a killer soldier. So, he needed to viciously murder as many Mongols enemy combatants as he possibly could i.e. via assassination, poisoning and terrorism and sticking to the samurai lifestyle just wasn't as efficient.

Anyways, watching the spare ending on youtube now, I'd say the kill ending is more poignant and much stronger performance, cinematography and impact-wise, but that's just me.

 

[forgiventhrice]

I killed him. That was his wish and who am I to deny that. Amazing game

 

[Neuromancer]

The part about

Spoiler

Taka being sexually abused as a child and Yuna feeling responsible

was really rough. I was not expecting that level of darkness from this game.

 

[Morrigan]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

 

[AllThingsPurple]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

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My horse was nobu and he was white

My next was a dappled named kaze

 

[tripleg]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

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This was precisely what I did. Man I am very obvious and unoriginal :)

 

[JoeNut]

Shimura is all about respect and honour, killing him was Jins way to show that respect by honouring his request to die.

 

[N64Controller]

"Don't kill" is way better and fits the overall theme and Jin's character development a lot more.

Lord Shimura will be in Ghost 2.

 

[YukiroCTX]

I feel the same about the people who say "It's not political like TLOU2!"

When it's actually way more politically charged than that game. The villain specifically exploits outdated tradition and class resentment to cement control of the Island.

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Political is just used as loaded word people use to describe people themes and minorities they don't like in ND games especially using it against TLOU, ND nearly every single time talks about a minority whether it's Nadine or Ellie or Dina to an obsessive level. But agree, Ghost revolves around politics, His conflict with the Khan, Conflict with his Uncle, finding allies and agreeing/disagreeing, power dynamics etc. Even the ending conflict is literally about disagreeing viewpoints and how Jin has broke down the class structure. It's like how the game spends a lot of time basically condemning the Samurai's through main quest and side stories but people only see "badass Samurai".

 

[MDSVeritas]

"Don't kill" is way better and fits the overall theme and Jin's character development a lot more.

Lord Shimura will be in Ghost 2.

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Yeah I felt the same.

Also, Nate Fox, the game director has said that leaving Shimura alive is the "true" ending in Kinda Funny's Spoilercast on the game:


(in cast the time tags don't work its at 28:47)

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

Where's the option for "I killed him because he was a dick and it also made for better dramatic storytelling for Jin, then I reloaded my save to watch the different cut scene" option? :D

But I agree, it's a really bleak world. Honestly, it's probably darker and bleaker than TLoU2.

Another of the really bleak side-quest is the one about the villagers having lost their women to the Mongols. Then when you go kill the Mongols the women tell you they aren't returning to the village because the men in their village actually sold them to the Mongols. So you go back and decapitate the guy who admits he did that and the rest scatter off, terrified of Jin... but holy fuck was I on Jin's side here.

It's a really dark side-story, because while the game doesn't make any explicit reference to it, it's obvious that those women have all been repeatedly raped. Brrr.

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Asides from Kenji's antics almost every side story is pretty dark.

Lots of dead kids, trying to do something only to see Jin was waaay to late.

The one that hit me was the one where the Mongol's made a father choose which son to hang, and they let the one he picked live and killed the other one. The other child thinks the father hates him, and asks Jin to tell the dad he was dead but when Jin goes back the father has committed suicide.

And I'm just like... fuck man.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

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Black Nobu.
Then Dappled Kaze.
Cause a White Kage would just be wrong.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

The results of this poll are super interesting to me.

How do they do a sequel with this ending too? Seems impossible to me.

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Nate Fox said the "spare him" ending is canon.

So that's where they go.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

I killed Shimura because I felt letting him live would just cause him more pain. It's pretty clear he was either expecting to die or take Jin's life in their fight. Letting him live means he will probably be dishonored, or even executed by the Shogun for failing.

Thematically the spare ending is the right one, but the kill ending is the ending that you choose if you actually like Shimura which I did.

Also, the kill ending is more poignant/powerful.

 

[iFirez]

Nate Fox said the "spare him" ending is canon.

So that's where they go.

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Oh interesting! I didn't know that. I mean Sucker Punch like their multi-choice endings and they picked one at the end of Infamous 2 to impact the world in Second Son, so that doesn't surprise me. I chose kill but I can totally see share spare him is the canonical choice.

 

[Zachary_Games]

I killed him. It was the right thing to do.

It was Jin's uncle's dying wish. IMO, Jin would have honored that request.

 

[Cleve]

Shimura turned his back on the innocent and suffering, and the wellbeing of his men so he could cling to his pride. I let him live so he could go back and be shamed and mocked by his peers. Seems like I'm the only one so far. Saving his people wasn't as important as his pride and the respect of the shogun.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

Oh interesting! I didn't know that. I mean Sucker Punch like their multi-choice endings and they picked one at the end of Infamous 2 to impact the world in Second Son, so that doesn't surprise me. I chose kill but I can totally see share spare him is the canonical choice.

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They picked to make Second Son continue after the good ending because thats the choice most players did on their first run. Nate Fox talks about how he really wished they got to continue with the bad ending of Infamous 2, so I guess thats why they might have decided before hand to make one canon.

 

[Iacomus]

Tbh I never really thought about that while playing. Generally I felt it was a real take where Jin isn't Superman and can't save everyone. Then again looking back yeah there were a lot of messed up missions.

dealing with your nanny's progressing dementia and eventual death (Yuriko missions)

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Jin playing along with the dementia was really brutal at parts. Like he didn't want to break her out of her happy place.

 

[Ænima]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

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Lol indeed. My 1st horse was Black named Kage, and the 2nd one was White called Kaze. Kage translates to shadow, and Kaze translates to wind, to me was the most fitting names for the horses that represents both Jin and the insland of Tsushima.

 

[Richiek]

I feel like the games mechanics become tiring and overly repetitive as the stories really start to pick up. The later missions are really good stories and I basically just rushed through the game to see them.

In particular the mission with

Spoiler

the old woman his dad had an affair with

was absolutely fantastic. Was genuinely not expecting something like that in the game and it hit really hard.

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Seeing

Spoiler

the old woman mistaking Jin for his father and hitting on him was really creepy and sad.

 

[Morrigan]

This was precisely what I did. Man I am very obvious and unoriginal :)

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Originality is overrated! You did good

 

[Musubi]

Tbh I never really thought about that while playing. Generally I felt it was a real take where Jin isn't Superman and can't save everyone. Then again looking back yeah there were a lot of messed up missions.



Jin playing along with the dementia was really brutal at parts. Like he didn't want to break her out of her happy place.

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Having dealt with grandparents that had Alzheimers that's kind of what you have to do sometimes. Its a brutal disease and honestly one of the most tragic ones. There is nothing more crushing in the entire world than a family member you love not even recognizing who you are.

 

[E.T.]

Horses:
Black Nobu
Skinny Horse Kage

Let Uncle live

Game is amazing. I could not put it down.

 

[Mechaplum]

I like how everyone called the horse Kage, as it should be. I imagine y'all picked the black horse too, and named the successor Kaze, as it must.

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My horse was a white Kage. The second one was a black Kaze.

 

[Lkr]

Let him live
He doesn't deserve to die with honor, so I will not give that to him.

Loved the game, the uncle's "betrayal" is so out of left field for how I expected it to go.
Coop is a cool update but I would pay for another area to explore

 

[JEH]

I killed him because I wanted the white armor lol.

but yeah every side quests turns into the quest giver dies, lied about their intentions, or tries to kill you.

The results of this poll are super interesting to me.

How do they do a sequel with this ending too? Seems impossible to me.

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it's easy to write a sequel. you just don't acknowledge the specifics of what happened. either way shimura is out of the picture no matter what the player's choice was.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I had a white Nobu, and replaced him with a Dappled Sora. I did a ton of side quests before I got Sora, though, so I did a lot of Act 3 with a bootleg horse. Jin only says "Horse!!" when you call it, lol

 

[Nephilim]

Literally finished the game ten minutes ago.
The finale against the Kahn and then Shimura was great. Fantastic ending to a beautiful and fun game.
I let him live.

Bravo Sucker Punch!

 

[Samiya]

Just finished the game and yeah it's pretty brutal. Lot of downers in this game, especially Taka. But also so many side missions are just pure doom.

I guess I respected that the game had a consistent tone overall? That shit was just overall pretty bad and everyone got screwed over by the war. A very surprisingly good game, to be honest and the story after arc 2 was *really* good.

 

[Redbarrel]

Killing him was my choice, Jin could never go back to what he was but killing the uncle was a way to show his uncle that he didn't completely forget what he learned. You fight as a samurai and die as a samurai.

 

[P A Z]

Jin went to see Shimura with the intention of a reconciliation between the two, and that's how I kinda treated the final choice. Jin was honourable, just not completely to all aspects of the Samurai code anymore, I believed he would want to do right by his friends and loved ones so I killed Shimura, mainly for two reasons. As a loved one, I respected his wish and killed Shimura to put him out of his misery. I didn't believe in the framing of the "spare" option either and treated it as kill him quick or let him die slow. I don't think Jin would've chose the latter for his uncle. Killing Shimura also proved to Shimura that Jin still had honour within him, at least enough to grant him his final wish of a swift death.

I haven't seen the other ending but from what I've read in this thread it doesn't make sense to me for Jin to choose the spare option.

 

[dadoes]

Where's the choice that says I wanted to kill him but accidently pressed the wrong bottom and saved him.

Lol

 

[Ewaan]

I let him live as killing him seemed to go by his honour code. The Ghost had left that honour code behind to become the person he had to become to save Tsushima Island. To allow him to live is to embrace the Ghost imo!

 

[Deleted member 7051]

I let his uncle live. I figured the whole point of the story was that Jin learned the way of the samurai is archaic, stiff and uncompromising. He had to adapt and evolve his techniques to combat the Monguls and his uncle fought him every damn step of the way. Even after he saved the whole island and possibly Japan itself from the invasion, the Shogun still wanted Jin's head on a stick.

If "honour" means valuing pride over life, then I believed Jin had no honour and that was a good thing.