Why did you like Ghost of Tsushima?

[Meus Renaissance]

After spending 12 hours, I've given up. But hearing this game spoken of so highly has made me genuinely curious why it has gained so much favour.

I'd like to specifically read comments that address the protagonist and the appeal of the main story.

 

[The Unsent]

Pretty simple really, I like the setting, different sword stances, and the music.

 

[Martylepiaf]

Visually beautiful and it had quite strong moments with a unique atmosphere. Exploration was a huge letdown, but I'm glad I managed to finish the game after a few moments when I though I would just drop it.

 

[Deleted member 7051]

There were bits I liked and bits I didn't, but overall it was a good game. I do think the ninja stuff makes it too easy and I'm not sure it should have been open world, either, but the core combat mechanics with stances was excellent and I really enjoyed the story and the characters (even if Jin himself was rather stoic and boring).

Honestly the Legends mode kinda proves that if Ghost of Tsushima had been a linear game with a stronger focus on level design, it would have been a lot better 'cause it's in the level design (which we see occasionally in the main game) and the combat that the game truly shines.

 

[TheBaldwin]

Playing on ps5 at 60fps 4K makes it one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. I didn't think a game would overtake red dead 2.

I also just enjoy the side quests and main story. The voice acting is great and so is the sound effects and there's enough stuff to explore in the world both for visuals and upgrades.

it's not an absolutely amazing game, it's a open world game that has a great combat system surrounded with a beautiful world in a unique setting

 

[theaface]

Gorgeous game world, really interesting and atypical-for-AAA lead character, engaging combat, fun side missions for a game that takes a fairly standard approach to modern open world games.

 

[Lowrys]

It was OK. Fantastic presentation and good combat, but that was it for me. The rest was extremely average.

 

[madridi-gh]

Best combat in any open world game
Visually stunning
Great soundtracks
Exploring the world
The wind mechanic is genius

Story wise:
The good:
Jin's struggle with his identity
Side tales

The bad:
Weak villain

 

[Ehoavash]

I too given up cause jin is..
Boring tbh and I don't have time for stealth games anymore

 

[Plax]

The combat and exploration carried it for me. I think the story was decent but not at all impressive. Jin was also a bit plain. Voice acting was on point, but as an actual character I didn't find him all that interesting.

But I thought it was a great game overall.

 

[Kadey]

It's like an opened world Onimusha with a bunch of other things. Also the most atmospheric and tranquil visuals of any recent game.

 

[EJS]

I thought the story was straight forward and practical - which I enjoyed. The combat was awesome and deep (ghost or samurai) and the atmosphere was amazing.

Honestly, it's my favorite new IP of the generation and one of my favorites in Sony's catalogue.

 

[JusDoIt]

I loved the gameplay and setting from the start, but like you I wasn't invested in the story at first.

Midway through the second act that changed, and it changed big time. If you haven't finished the second act, keep playing.

 

[Richter1887]

Great combat, awesome story and characters, one of the most interesting open worlds, great music, great side content.

Also Jin was awesome. He is stoic protagonist done right. His character development was really cool.

Edit: To expand on the story and Jin. He is a really interesting character especially if you do the side content. The insights into his character when bathing and the journal when you check the objectives on the map do a lot to make him feel human. He is a samurai and the samurai had to act tough especially at the time of invasion but underneath all that is someone that does worry and think about his life choices. Like, how many times do we see a character think to themselves that they haven't been laid in a while?

Also half way through the story he starts changing. The stoic cover he has starts to crumble and his emotions start showing more. I thought that was done really well and felt natural.

 

[Amnixia]

Idk OP. I played it and despite loving the setting and the visuals it felt like a bland open world game.

It is probably a case of a game just not being for me, which is fine.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Being absolutely truthful, because it was top-to-bottom a quality open-world action game. In my opinion, it did almost nothing unique but did all of its borrowed elements really well, overall feeling rather exceptional to me. I played it enough to Platinum it, so I did most — but not all — of its activities.

 

[Potterson]

Combat and the world, mostly.

Just how the hitboxes work is amazing. Playing Valhalla after this felt like playing AA game.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Gameplay, presentation, story and characters are all great. It also has really good side-quests for major characters. It falls into some open-world-traps here and there. You become too strong too fast and there are too many foxes to follow. But overall it's a solid 9/10 game for me with a memorable cast. Combat is fun as fuck and looks stellar, too. Really makes you feel like a mighty samurai/ninja hybrid.

Combat and the world, mostly.

Just how the hitboxes work is amazing. Playing Valhalla after this felt like playing AA game.

Click to shrink...

I went from GoT to AC: Odyssey and yeah ... It shows everything wrong with Ubisoft games. I still enjoy Odyssey, but it's a whole class below GoT.

 

[Nameless]

It was cool for 20ish hours, then the you're super OP(even on Lethal) to the point combat starts to feel a bit trivial. Also by that point you've pretty much seen all the [bog standard Ubisoft style] open world has to offer. There are some wonderful side characters, but they couldn't get me through the story.

 

[GIANKRATOS]

Fun combat, gorgeous game, beautiful soundtrack, nice characters (also the loading times were crazy fast for an ow game on ps4, i don't know how they did that). While i could see that the game after a certain point was becoming pretty ripetitive (still a big step up from the infamous games), thanks to those elements mentioned before it never weighted on me. Never got bored of fighting enemies.

 

[Dan-o]

I played the full game in Kurosawa mode, which was a blast.
Loved the gameplay/combat, setting, story, etc.
Didn't love some of the more annoying side quests and collectibles though.

 

[kriskrosbbk]

Gameplay, graphics on PS5.
World, story and sidequest were really average for me.

 

[Spacejaws]

Felt like a love note to kurasawa and samurai movies in general. Great combat and gadgets I played on hard and some duels were a real challenge. Looked visually stunning, the world was interesting to explore and I loved the side characters questlines I thought they were all pretty well realised cathartic stories that fit Samurai cinema quite well and had great performances.

It has flaws but yea I loved it.

 

[AllThingsPurple]

The game is beautiful, I really enjoyed the characters and the story, for the most part the mission design was engaging. I loved the wind mechanic and the birds, you could literally play the game without looking at the map if you wanted.

It's my game of the year and I can't wait for what Suckerpunch do next now.

 

[SpotAnime]

Glad to see this thread started, I've had some thoughts about the game since it was released I wanted to share...

I posted on the OT shortly after launch that I quickly got burned out on the open world. There were only so many bandits and Mongols I could fight before I got sick of the repetition of it all. And it very much had that Ubisoft outpost feeling of opening up the map. Every time I talked to someone there would be more and more sidequest waypoints added, which when finished would unlock more, and so on, and so on...

When I posted of my burnout, a lot of people said stick with it, that Act II was so much better. But I let it sit on my backlog for a couple of months before I returned to it. Things quickly happened in my second round of playing that enhanced my enjoyment of the game: 1) My understanding of the stance system and how to use it properly; and 2) unlocking the grappling hook, which added a new dimension to enemy encounters. And yes, that Act 1 ending was pretty awesome to experience, and made me want to push forward to further experience the story.

I'm a completionist, so these types of games really wear me down. If I see a marker on a map I feel like I have to clear it before I continue. I'm still struggling with this feeling in Act II, primarily because the world is so beautiful I don't want to miss something spectactular or enjoyable. And also, now that I have added some skills and understand how to switch stances based on enemy encounters, I'm pretty overpowered and combat is a lot of fun.

I also took another break, for no other reason than I was just busy with life, but I plan to pick it back up this weekend in hopes of completing the game by the end of the year. I'm about 27 hours into it, but haven't played any of the main quests in Act II yet.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

comments that address the protagonist and the appeal of the main story.

Click to shrink...

Can't say much about that, but so far I reeeeally like the combat (it's more about skill than show but the latter doesn't fall short, too). The exploration feels rewarding and you don't get a ton of "activities" and side quests once you open the map.

The first time I saw a fox I didn't know I was supposed to follow them because I hadn't reached the point where they explained that to you (which they did through in-universe dialog rather than meta-text in style of a textbox). I was curious whether he was running away from me or if there was more to it. I just wanted to try out how far can I follow it and slowly I realised that it was rather taking a path instead of randomly running away so I kept following the fox and was rewarded with a shrine. This felt actually really amazing.

I like how organic the wind direction feels so I don't have to constantly open up a map or, again, look at meta information but instead have something that lays itself organically into the game world.

Side quest presentation and characters are so far pretty cool, too, and interesting. Some side quests are given because you hear a rumour or someone specifically heads toward your character because he or she is in need of help and they're not always just standing around with a big exclamation mark and just waiting for you to come by. And the side quests are more like stories in several parts and not all are just one and done.

The bamboo mini game or the shrines or hot springs you find to improve your character feel very organic, too.

Soundtrack and presentation is excellent, too.

 

[Pablosamo]

The thing that worries me, is the same problem with Spiderman, those need to revisit the same location. Tsushima was invated twice, so there is sequel material, there was a sort-of "war" wit pirates, so, naval combat?

Anyway, I just hope the can reimagine the island.

Guess they can add a second zone, mainland Japan or something

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

I loved it but I can see why people maybe got the "Ubisoft game" feel from it.

I don't play Ubisoft open world games and haven't for a long time, so it was a fresh experience for me and one that I enjoyed and platinumed and honestly list as one of my favourite games of the year, if not the gen.

 

[gdt]

It was solid. Actual gameplay was generic in terms of stealth and design. Combat was fun

 

[Chopin the Third]

It's a great game, for starters.

The combat is very fun. I really enjoyed exploring the island. It has insanely gorgeous visuals/art. I spent many hours playing around with the photomode. The soundtrack is fantastic. I liked most of the characters throughout and they delivered some decent to great performances. I liked the story overall as well. There were a few moments that even had me in tears.

 

[Fat4all]

the way it presented its world, the performance capture on the faces, the surprisingly emotional moments

 

[Mathieran]

I've played maybe 6 or 7 hours so far but I like pretty much everything about it.

standoffs are probably my favorite thing

the story isn't amazing but it's serviceable. I do like the side quests that follow a person's story. There seems to be a bit too many missions where I find someone's footsteps or follow behind someone to a location and kill people there. Mission design could be a bit better.

I think visually it's my favorite open world of the PS4 generation. Didn't think anything would top HZD for me.

the combat is fun. I struggled a little bit at first but now I'm tearing down mongols like nobody's business

 

[Bundy]

After spending 12 hours, I've given up. But hearing this game spoken of so highly has made me genuinely curious why it has gained so much favour.

I'd like to specifically read comments that address the protagonist and the appeal of the main story.

Click to shrink...

Great world, great soundtrack, great character, I like the story and the combat is amazing.
Overall a great game.

 

[Lunchbox]

The open world was really gorgeous, the story got weaker as it went on but it satisfied me! It was very polished.

 

[Martinski]

I like because it is good game with stylish graphics and combat.

 

[teruterubozu]

I enjoyed it, but it is admittedly repetitive. In fact, I'm getting tired of OPEN WORLD RIDING A FUCKING HORSE games. Tsushima, Assassin's Creed, RDR, Witcher, Zelda, etc., etc. Like 70% of the gameplay is riding from point A to point B. I'm getting really tired of this lazy gameplay mechanic. It's just not enjoyable anymore.

 

[Greywaren]

It was beautiful and it was fun to play, that's all I ask for in a game.

 

[TsuWave]

Fun to play with great combat

mythical tales were awesome

 

[PenultimateFantasy]

It looked very nice and had a very ubi Assassin's creed feel which I liked. I enjoy open world games with ? On the map to reveal

I found the story incredibly dull - it was very well told but all those samurai honour stories are basically the same and very boring to me

 

[YaBish]

It reminds me a LOT of Horizon Zero Dawn, where you can see the blueprint for the sequel to become a masterpiece.

 

[Billdrew]

I love Japanese history and culture, so the setting was a big draw for me. Just exploring the world and finding beautiful places and gorgeous architecture kept me playing, and I loved finding new outfits/vanity items just to see what they looked like.
The combat was also very satisfying to me, and although the main story was average at best, it had some good moments and the set piece duels were gorgeous and tense.

I think overall being a big fan of the setting and theme of samurai/ninja helps a huge amount to enjoy the game though

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I like but did not love GoT. It was a fun platinum. But here is what I liked:

1) Uncommon and underserved historical setting.
2) Combat is really good for this type of game.
3) The characters are great even though the story is bland.
4) Environmentally it is very beautiful.
5) Costume customization is very satisfying.

However, underneath these features is a standard checklist open world that for a game that claims to be inspired by RDR and BotW doesn't seem to take much of what was great from either of them. Mechanically speaking this game could have come out in 2013. This doesn't make it bad — it is good and enjoyable — but I definitely struggle with how much people love it more than anything else that came out this year because I don't feel it delivered on its own promises at all. It is a game I wish I played 7 years ago so we would have a really good sequel on its way right now.

It is a great basis for a better game I hope we get, whether it's in the form of a direct sequel or a similarly branded follow up in another setting. I really liked the game but I am more pragmatic about it as well.

 

[GazRB]

It's the best samurai/ninja simulator out there. Fun story, amazing and lethal combat, beautiful world. I wish I could experience it all over again.

 

[z1ggy]

The combat is really good, the writting is quite solid, the exploration is rewarding and its visually stunning.

 

[greenhadoken]

I loved this game, it's probably the best 8/10 I've ever played. It does nothing new, but it takes the tired open world formula and refined it in many ways. It's gorgeous to look at, the amount of side content is respectable, not overwhelming. Graphically the game is gorgeous. 10/10 photo mode, I never understood the appeal of photo modes until this game, now I use them all the time. The load times are unbelievable for a PS4 game, combat was satisfying and managed not to get old. Loved the armor sets and customizing those. These are all the reasons I enjoyed this game.
Unfortunately I have really nothing to say about the story either way, it was unremarkable

 

[ninnanuam]

It was more than the sum of its parts. The enemy encounters were much more fun than I was expecting so were the duels.

I found the world interesting to explore and i liked collecting and upgrading the gear.

The story is ehh especially the main plot, but it didn't repulse me.

 

[Tora]

It was a very good 8/10 open world; not too bloated like Ubisoft so by the time I was bored of it, I had completed the game, unlike Ubi open worlds where i'm burnt out.

 

[Transistor]

Great characters, fun combat, beautiful music, and a good amount of side content that didn't feel too bloated.

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

Love the environments and how the combat feels. Legends is super cool as well.

 

[acebeam]

After spending 12 hours, I've given up. But hearing this game spoken of so highly has made me genuinely curious why it has gained so much favour.

I'd like to specifically read comments that address the protagonist and the appeal of the main story.

Click to shrink...

Japanese voice acting, historical setting, art, gameplay is solid. Love the fights with stronger enemies. Anyway, after 20 hours of playing you can be overpowered.