• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

LTTP: Ghost of Tsushima (PS5 via PS Store) 2020

Bo_Hazem

Banned
It's an incredible game. I did a full graphics analysis on it and I saw some really excellent rendering tricks in the game. My #1 PS game at the moment.

Did you play GOW 2018? If not, you must! Avoid the highest difficulty if you're not nimble enough, it's pretty punishing on earlier stages.
 

Duchess

Member
I just finished this game last night.

Wow. Just ... wow!

The combat, the graphics, the whole concept. So very well executed.

I'm so glad I held off playing this until I got a PS5. It was so smooth at 60fps.

I knew Jin would have to fight his uncle in the end, but I really didn't want to have to go through with it. I hoped the uncle would walk away. Ending was very, very sad.
 
Last edited:

FunkMiller

Member
An absolutely brilliant game. One of the Ps4's best - and even better on Ps5 at 60 fps. It's great because it does everything right. It might not feature many aspects that are all that original, but it does everything so well, it hardly matters. Looks beautiful as well. Top of the open world pile.

Story-wise, it's basically 'The Ninja Begins' and I loved that. Hope we get a sequel that further explores the ninjitsu aspects.
 
Last edited:
I thought that GoT on PS4 was great, but not as good as TLOU2.

I finished up a few trophies of GoT on PS5, running at 60fps. Had my first impression been at 60fps, I might have crowned a different GOTY in 2020.
 

PanzerAzel

Member
Been Newgame+ing the everloving shit out of this game for the past few months. I would like to play at 60 FPS, but still can’t locate a PS5. I’m not paying a dime over MSRP for that fucking thing, damnit.😡

Aside. I absolutely adore Ghosts of Tsushima. Time to gush some hyperbole.

Far past the honeymoon phase now, and I’m still enthralled and drawn to play it often. This is one game that, IMHO, really lands everything it tries to achieve in execution above average. Albeit with some aspects admittedly weaker than others (stealth, some forgettable characters, AI), but none I feel are ever so detrimental as to compromise the greater over the sum of its parts.

The open world is gorgeous and its areas distinct, unburdened by an obtrusive UI, kept alive by constant motion, particles, adept usage of color and contrast, effective lighting, and an innovative navigation system seamlessly interwoven to afford utility alongside complimenting the world aesthetically. The music and sound design is well-suited and knows when to keep itself subtle and when to let fly. The story is simple and well-told. What I find especially impressive is the pacing and development of your character into the Ghost, with skill advancement and reflection seen in the world (“it’s the Ghost!!”) by the populace, the enemy’s fearful reactions of you, as well as your Uncle’s gradual disapproval reinforcing your divergence from his wishes, and how the story builds and culminates all this into an ending that actually moved me a bit...vocals soaring into a fade out to white, wrapping up everything beautifully all while letting you make a crucial choice central to the narrative. Simply brilliant. All done without having to “subvert my expectations“ while telling me I’m a bigot because I found the writing and execution to be utter shit.....but I digress.

....and this isn’t even mentioning the combat. While not the best the medium has to offer, Tsushima’s combat is some of the most engaging and satisfying in an open world I’ve experienced to date. The visual and audio feedback is gratifying as fuck. The feeling after taking down 10-15 enemies on lethal without a scratch and wiping the blood off and sheathing your blade to calmly walk away never gets old. Months later it still leaves me grinning, and I often roam around looking for fights. I’m fairly disappointed SP didn’t include challenge arenas (ala Arkham) considering how enjoyable the combat engine is, especially the duels. This was a missed opportunity that I hope gets addressed in the sequel.

I often hear the complaint GoT is generic....eh, I don’t see this. I suppose if I were to align with any criticism towards Ghost in similar vein, “rote” would be the word that first comes to mind, but I don’t find this to be a problem nor a detractor from the experience. The formula stagnates, but works, and a well-formed wheel is still an enjoyable ride. Assassin‘s Creed is what I’d consider generic....cookie cutter, assembly-line, obligatory garbage. Tsushima feels like a love letter to the source material and fans of it, as the Arkham games did before it. It’s the samurai game I’ve always wanted.

As ACG noted in his review, it really feels like Sucker Punch grew up a bit with this one. I loved every second of this game, and eagerly await a sequel. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish on the PS5.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Ive kind of fallen off it in the second Act. When I load it up I do enjoy my time with it. It's very good, just not something I can binge play and i don't have a massive urge to come back to it when I'm not playing it...it's such a strange thing because I've not really had this kind of vibe before.

So much stuff to love about this game, and I love the setting etc...I just cant quite put my finger on it. I feel like I have seen everything the game offers after 100% the first area.

I will get back to it after I finish these runs on Resi 8.
 

JayK47

Member
Wrapped this up today. I think. Credits rolled, but now I can play post credits. Timing felt off for the final boss battles. I died so many times. I could not seem to block or dodge worth a shit compared to regular combat. In the end the game suffers from the same problem as most open world games. It drags on too long since you spend so much time traveling. Some of the scenery is breathtaking, but the falling leaves/petals is overdone. Otherwise there are tons of copy/paste buildings with a whole lot of nothing in between. The combat was pretty fun most of the time, but when you engage in combat with a sword guy, a shield guy, a spear guy and a brute, it gets annoying switching combat styles 4+ times to take them down. And too often I would think I switched to shield to only be stuck on spear. Use the wrong style against a guy, and you look like a fool doing hardly any damage.

In the end I enjoyed parts of the game, but it dragged on too long. The good parts barely outweighed the bad or boring. Ending was a downer. On the upside, the worst bug I saw was a pig on a roof. I had a lot more fun with Days Gone. This game will get a sequel, Days Gone probably not.
 

noise36

Member
I'm not sure what's not to like about this game.

It's a massively overrated game, 7/10 that gets a 8/10 because of the amount of effort that went into making it pretty.

It looked at release like a derivative Ubisoft open world game wrapped up in Sony polish, I put about 15 hrs in on PS5 when it hit the bargain bin and this was confirmed.

The thing that stood out the most was the awful stealth, combined with repetitive clearing area tasks, snooze fest.

To be fair I don't really like open world games, only the best like Witcher, botw and rdr held my interest until the end.
 
Last edited:

Bryank75

Banned
Been Newgame+ing the everloving shit out of this game for the past few months. I would like to play at 60 FPS, but still can’t locate a PS5. I’m not paying a dime over MSRP for that fucking thing, damnit.😡

Aside. I absolutely adore Ghosts of Tsushima. Time to gush some hyperbole.

Far past the honeymoon phase now, and I’m still enthralled and drawn to play it often. This is one game that, IMHO, really lands everything it tries to achieve in execution above average. Albeit with some aspects admittedly weaker than others (stealth, some forgettable characters, AI), but none I feel are ever so detrimental as to compromise the greater over the sum of its parts.

The open world is gorgeous and its areas distinct, unburdened by an obtrusive UI, kept alive by constant motion, particles, adept usage of color and contrast, effective lighting, and an innovative navigation system seamlessly interwoven to afford utility alongside complimenting the world aesthetically. The music and sound design is well-suited and knows when to keep itself subtle and when to let fly. The story is simple and well-told. What I find especially impressive is the pacing and development of your character into the Ghost, with skill advancement and reflection seen in the world (“it’s the Ghost!!”) by the populace, the enemy’s fearful reactions of you, as well as your Uncle’s gradual disapproval reinforcing your divergence from his wishes, and how the story builds and culminates all this into an ending that actually moved me a bit...vocals soaring into a fade out to white, wrapping up everything beautifully all while letting you make a crucial choice central to the narrative. Simply brilliant. All done without having to “subvert my expectations“ while telling me I’m a bigot because I found the writing and execution to be utter shit.....but I digress.

....and this isn’t even mentioning the combat. While not the best the medium has to offer, Tsushima’s combat is some of the most engaging and satisfying in an open world I’ve experienced to date. The visual and audio feedback is gratifying as fuck. The feeling after taking down 10-15 enemies on lethal without a scratch and wiping the blood off and sheathing your blade to calmly walk away never gets old. Months later it still leaves me grinning, and I often roam around looking for fights. I’m fairly disappointed SP didn’t include challenge arenas (ala Arkham) considering how enjoyable the combat engine is, especially the duels. This was a missed opportunity that I hope gets addressed in the sequel.

I often hear the complaint GoT is generic....eh, I don’t see this. I suppose if I were to align with any criticism towards Ghost in similar vein, “rote” would be the word that first comes to mind, but I don’t find this to be a problem nor a detractor from the experience. The formula stagnates, but works, and a well-formed wheel is still an enjoyable ride. Assassin‘s Creed is what I’d consider generic....cookie cutter, assembly-line, obligatory garbage. Tsushima feels like a love letter to the source material and fans of it, as the Arkham games did before it. It’s the samurai game I’ve always wanted.

As ACG noted in his review, it really feels like Sucker Punch grew up a bit with this one. I loved every second of this game, and eagerly await a sequel. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish on the PS5.

People have to ignore an awful lot of great stuff to complain about this game, the aesthetics and sword combat are just incredible and I was absolutely addicted to the mythic quests and duels.

The costumes were great too, each earned from a unique activity or quest and with specific perks.

The only thing that really dragged for me was getting all the Inari shrines / fox dens when going for platinum.

I loved the side characters stories, they were very layered and some took unexpected turns but all were pretty dark..... people have to understand that you cannot make light of such a horrific event though. It would have been tasteless to put some lighthearted stuff in the middle of a real historical invasion.

Games like Witcher 3, BOTW and RDR just do not have the core combat to create a gaming loop of this quality. The mythic quests overshadow any quests in those games and duels offer a level of tension and high stakes that is just not available in those counterparts.
RDR does have more diverse characters and a more personable protagonist but it isn't dealing with a real historical event....
Art direction and aesthetics in Ghost blow the others away. Even if RDR2 is a technical wonder, it is far from an artistic one.

People often sugar over the fact that The Witcher 3 is basically just looking for Ciri for a long time and getting side-tracked. They also forget terrible sequences like hiding from the cold when you go through the portal near the end.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Ive kind of fallen off it in the second Act. When I load it up I do enjoy my time with it. It's very good, just not something I can binge play and i don't have a massive urge to come back to it when I'm not playing it...it's such a strange thing because I've not really had this kind of vibe before.

So much stuff to love about this game, and I love the setting etc...I just cant quite put my finger on it. I feel like I have seen everything the game offers after 100% the first area.

I will get back to it after I finish these runs on Resi 8.
The snowy regions up north look oh oh so cool too.
james franco GIF
 
Watch Skillups review of this game vs Assassin's creed Valhalla. It's not a challenging game for sure (it doesn't need to be) and its world is smaller and there's less activities. But every element it has is leagues ahead of the 80 hour fucking animation locked snoozefest like Valhalla.

Speaking of difficulty, literally everything in Valhalla can be smashed by grinding enough, none of the enemies in end game areas pose a threat if your lvl is super high. Sure you can grind in Gots and smash the fuck out of enemies using but at least the enemies don't become massive hp overlords - they become better adversaries with better movesets. Hopefully the sequel fleshes this out more.
 

PanzerAzel

Member
People have to ignore an awful lot of great stuff to complain about this game, the aesthetics and sword combat are just incredible and I was absolutely addicted to the mythic quests and duels.

The costumes were great too, each earned from a unique activity or quest and with specific perks.

The only thing that really dragged for me was getting all the Inari shrines / fox dens when going for platinum.

I loved the side characters stories, they were very layered and some took unexpected turns but all were pretty dark..... people have to understand that you cannot make light of such a horrific event though. It would have been tasteless to put some lighthearted stuff in the middle of a real historical invasion.

Games like Witcher 3, BOTW and RDR just do not have the core combat to create a gaming loop of this quality. The mythic quests overshadow any quests in those games and duels offer a level of tension and high stakes that is just not available in those counterparts.
RDR does have more diverse characters and a more personable protagonist but it isn't dealing with a real historical event....
Art direction and aesthetics in Ghost blow the others away. Even if RDR2 is a technical wonder, it is far from an artistic one.

People often sugar over the fact that The Witcher 3 is basically just looking for Ciri for a long time and getting side-tracked. They also forget terrible sequences like hiding from the cold when you go through the portal near the end.
You hit it on the head on why I enjoy Ghosts so much; it is the central gameplay and feedback loop that keeps me compelled and returning to it.

In many other open-worlds, there is always something that eventually makes coming back and pushing on to the end a chore and fatigues me, eventually to the point I won’t finish it. Such as in R*’s games....while I can appreciate the realism and sense of immersion Euphoria physics and the elaborate animations afford, there comes a time I just feel weighted down and sluggish. In The Witcher III, despite the competent narrative and characterization, general movement is clunky and the combat feels fragmented and cumbersome. Playing Ghosts has allowed me to better recognize what I’ve always felt these other games lack: a certain feeling of coherence and consistency in the collective of their gameplay systems in affording an immersive and gratifying feedback loop to the player as a whole. Almost as if each game system was developed independently with no feedback or cognizance of the others, no sense of parity, and then stitched together as best as was possible. I‘m not saying this is how these other games are designed (probably the contrary), but regardless, it’s how they feel to me when I play them. Compartmentalized and often combative in their systems respective to the functioning to the overall greater “game feel”.

I don't feel this with Tsushima; everything coheres and compliments each other equally, and it shines in moment to moment gameplay. Movement is precise and responsive, the game understands the line between cinematic presentation and efficiency of player agency with the implementation of mechanics like being able to R2 pickup items and also from horseback (and having your horse available immediately wherever you need and immune to death), and open-world traversal transitions into combat fluidly which flows seamlessly right back out of it, which is the main pillar everything leans upon. Ghosts really relies on its combat, and I think it’s a testament to how good it is that it props up the too often burden that typical open-world conventions often present that could quickly become detrimental if its execution were any less.

Everything else is just icing on the cake, really. As a whole, the game flows beautifully from system to system and consequently grants it a high factor of enjoyability (and replayability) from moment to moment gameplay, and there’s nothing in the game I see, either content or structure wise, that impedes this satisfying gameplay loop. I’ve played through it five times now, platinuming each, and I’ve loved it each time.

The more I play the game, the more I’m impressed with it, and I feel a bit frustrated that criticism is being laid at its feet comparatively to other open-worlds without an acknowledgement that, at a core gameplay level, the thing is just damn fun to play. It’s easily my favorite open-world to date even though there’s really not that much that hasn’t been done before.
 
Last edited:

JayK47

Member
I did not hate the game. But I was looking forward to playing it and it did not quite meet my expectations. I enjoyed it about as much as God of War. God of War didn't drag on at least.
 

Sinthor

Gold Member
So do I have to buy this game again digitally on my PS5 to play the PS5 version with the extended content? Sorry if I missed it, but I didn't see anything about a PS5 upgrade option?
 

GymWolf

Member
Having a lot of fun with legends during these days but for the sequel they need to make the class more differentiated and to introduce new weapons other than the katana.

If someone want to do some coop my psn tag is Lupo46.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom