Current Events > Ghost of Tsushima is the best worst game I've ever played, maybe?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Have such mixed feels about it. On paper, it is:

• Another action adventure open world derivative a la assassins creed, horizon zero dawn, shadow of mordor etc
• Half baked stealth mechanics that are nevertheless OP as fuck, like every one of these games
• A pretty derivative and predictable story
• Lots of really, really repetitive, boring map marker quests. Go here, clear out camp. Go there, climb tower. Go there, collect item.
• Copy pasted content everywhere
• More boring and pointless climbing stuff that was already old when Uncharted 4 was released

And yet, AND yet. It's so fucking stylish. It's so fucking beautiful. The combat feels so deadly. The gear is the best looking I've ever seen in any game. Just traversing the place is a joy. And the samurai stuff really tickles my inner weaboo.

Great game. Don't know if I'll ever play it again, but great game.

It's very pretty and I thought it was fun but the story drags on too long. The final third was kind of a drag. Probably also has to do with the final third area on the map being the most boring to explore.

sure it might not be original but it does what it does really well IMO!

plus the visuals are a delight to look at!

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the formula, just that I'm personally a bit bored of it. Like I feel the same about marvel superhero movies, but the formula clearly works.

I feel similarly about the Just Cause series, every game is simultaneously awesome yet terrible

DipDipDiver posted...

I feel similarly about the Just Cause series, every game is simultaneously awesome yet terrible

I had SO much fun with Just Cause 3. It felt weirdly refreshing in this day and age to play a big budget game that clearly remembers it is a fucking video game and not a blockbuster drama.

Like nothing about it makes sense, and yet... 'splosions.

I never quite got into it. I've tried it a couple of times and it never quite clicked

Not having a HUD makes open world games way more interesting. I turn most the HUD off in all open world games now. It stops that checklist feeling and makes you play at a pace that doesn't feel like a chore. It feels way more like a chore when you know exactly what you're doing when you make it where you make it.

pinky0926 posted...

I had SO much fun with Just Cause 3. It felt weirdly refreshing in this day and age to play a big budget game that clearly remembers it is a fucking video game and not a blockbuster drama.

Like nothing about it makes sense, and yet... 'splosions.

If you've never played 2 it is most definitely still worth checking out for all those reasons

im not saying this game is perfect but i dont see how they could improve it in case of a possible sequel...

it's a legitimately mediocre game, IMO.

• stealth sucks, because the enemy AI isn't designed to deal with it, regardless of all the moves and tools that you're given
• the swordplay is initially cool, but there's no real "nuance" to it, as enemies just charge at you in groups, and in duels, you either have to use the move you learned during that quest or you can just spam the OP ones you already know
• the open-world structure feels boring and generic, where you have to clear out bases, deal with groups of enemies, blah, blah, blah...the wind thing is also an annoying gimmick, since you have to click on the menu to choose different locations for it
• the world is also lame since there's nothing to do outside of kill stuff. and no, going to a bath or choosing the options to finish a pre-written haiku doesn't count
• and maybe it's because I played in English, but the characters are pretty dull, and the drama around Jin being the Ghost feels really forced (oh no, poisoning enemies )

I was so sick of foxes by the end of that game

Exactly how I felt about it

suoer generic open world but the sword combat was SO SATISFYING.

Itachi157 posted...

I was so sick of foxes by the end of that game

surely you wont think that when you see this little fella: https://youtu.be/xwtaekgVt9Q

Itachi157 posted...

I was so sick of foxes by the end of that game

Really?

Like the Fox Shrines are a goofy gimmick/sidequest, but I liked the actual foxes so much that the one quest you get about the Mongols murdering all the foxes legitimately made me angry >_>

The stealth being bad was the thing that drove me crazy when I first started the game and I still wound up loving it lol

To be fair, when I say bad I just mean unpolished. Like, when I would get to areas where had to use stealth it just didn't feel well designed from a map standpoint. I remember a specific instance very early on where I had to kill like 6 guys around a random hut. The hut was next to a ten-ish foot tall cliff with a tree branch growing out of it toward the hut's roof.

When I saw that, my first reaction was "climb the cliff, walk across the branch, jump to the roof" just like every other stealth game designed in the past decade. Only this time, the jump came up short. The pathway wasn't there, and this tree that was literally pointing at the roof for me was actually just too far to reach.

There's lots of that in the game, and it really makes the stealth sections tall grass simulators.

Love the game though, the combat feels amazing and I'm generally pretty awful at games that require you to be fast to block/parry/dodge and counterattack.

One of the other things I loved that they did: there's a slew of cosmetic unlockables that I don't have to pay actual money for. Found a cool cliffside? There's a skin for your katana, or a new headband, or a sick mask.

It reminded of playing Spider-Man on the PS1 and unlocking every costume he's ever worn. Games just don't do unlockables like that anymore. I hope developers see how much we nerds like to play dress up from Ghosts and RDR2 and start adding those back in.

codey posted...

One of the other things I loved that they did: there's a slew of cosmetic unlockables that I don't have to pay actual money for. Found a cool cliffside? There's a skin for your katana, or a new headband, or a sick mask.

It reminded of playing Spider-Man on the PS1 and unlocking every costume he's ever worn. Games just don't do unlockables like that anymore. I hope developers see how much we nerds like to play dress up from Ghosts and RDR2 and start adding those back in.

I agree. I was in the while "If it's just cosmetics, who cares" camp initially. But now that we're deprived in a lot of games it really makes a difference to me when games flesh out cosmetics and don't nickel and dime real money out you. I consistently make stops to change cosmetics in games. I prefer it to be in the game world though and not in pause menus. Makes it feel more like something to do when convenient

Personally I really liked the story (Jin is a great character) and found the combat supremely satisfying. There's something that feels awesome about waltzing into a crowd of goons and surgically taking them apart without getting touched.

The stealth is for sure basic and underbaked but the animations and feedback are really satisfying there too and that goes a long way for me.

Definitely has open world checklist syndrome though, so that's a huge dealbreaker for a lot of people. I did find that the lack of HUD helped with that to the degree - the wind blowing in the direction you're supposed to go rather than a giant obnoxious marker makes it slightly more palatable IMO.

it is a very polarizing game. It's in my top 10 ever tbh