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General Chat => Games => Topic started by: Pete Wells on 24 July, 2020, 10:01:32 AM

Title: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: Pete Wells on 24 July, 2020, 10:01:32 AM
This game is absolutely wonderful and I can't recommend it enough!

It's beautiful, like reeeeeeeally beautiful, has an excellent story (well, bunch of stories) and the game mechanics are simply fantastic. You can change and adapt fighting styles and weapons on the fly giving you a real sense of power and control. As you level up, that feeling of calm and confidence as you call out of group of bad guys is exhilarating!

As a samurai story, it's pitch perfect, with you being rewarded for being honourable in combat and an all round nice guy. However, the gravity of your situation makes it difficult not to follow the way of the ghost - using more sneaky and very much less honourable (yet more fun!) tactics. The way in which the game is constructed is exceptional as you inevitably make some difficult choices and abandon your honour code.

I saw one guy refer to the story as "You slowly turn into Batman!" which I think is a great analogy, and maaaaan, it feels so good when you get there! It also has that very Star Wars-y feel, with the quick and easy path leading to the dark side and the stuffed shirt samurai being caught up in hubris and tradition like the Jedi.

After about 50-odd hours I completed the excellent main story last night, but I've still got LOADS of side quests left that I'm desperate to get back to. I really 'enjoyed' last of us 2 but it was a harrowing experience to play. Ghost of Tsushima, which I'm sad to say will be overshadowed by TLOU2, has given me as much of an emotional rollercoaster but in a MUCH more varied and dare I say enjoyable way?

Possibly my game of this console generation.
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 24 July, 2020, 04:57:56 PM
I'm very glad to hear this. I have been tempted by Ghost (although I've yet to complete TLOUII) as I loved the samurai and ninja games back in the day, such as Tenchu. I may still hang fire for it to come down in price a little, and no doubt I'll snap it up when I see £10 knocked off later this year.
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: Pete Wells on 24 July, 2020, 07:57:40 PM
Hey Dave, I'll send you my copy when I'm done.
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 24 July, 2020, 08:03:02 PM
Wow, really?! That would be awesome, thank you very much!
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: Keef Monkey on 27 July, 2020, 10:42:59 AM
Really enjoying this too, and it is indeed beautiful. It has a great photo mode and I find I'm constantly bringing that up because the scenery is so gorgeous.

In a lot of ways it's structurally what you expect from an open world game these days, but it's a very good one of those, and with much more engaging and deep combat than I'd generally expect from the genre. It leans towards something like Sekiro or Fallen Order in the fighting but has its own identity, and doesn't give me the same levels of frustration that Sekiro has done in the past (still not finished that damn thing).

My favourite innovation though is the removal of the traditional on-screen mini-map and route, in most open world games there's a tendency to 'play the minimap' more than pay attention to the world, but the way the path of the wind will always blow in the direction of your next objective here is a really smart solution to that. It also gives them an excuse to have tons of leaves, blossoms and other particle effects blowing around all the time out of necessity which adds to the beauty of it.

Loving it, but going through all the side stuff so can see me taking a while to get it finished (I can easily spend a couple of hours just following the wind to fox dens or the bamboo cutting spots and never progress the story)!
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: shaolin_monkey on 30 August, 2020, 08:36:40 AM
Huge thanks to Pete for the lend.

Just finished Act I, moving to ACT II - taking my time with it, finding all the hidden locations, understanding and practising the stances, really getting into the vibe.

Hugely enjoyable!
Title: Re: Ghost of Tsushima
Post by: repoman on 03 September, 2020, 09:23:32 AM
I'm looking forward to playing this.  Got sent a review code for it but gave it to another writer to do but I will pick this up when it goes cheap.  Preferably for a bit of Xmas action.  I always like to take a week of at Xmas and play through my pile of shame.