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[Bartski]

Interview: Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut - Sucker Punch Talks PS5 Features, Iki Island Expansion, and Japanese Praise

Behind the mask

www.pushsquare.com

Push Square: Straight into it, how big is the Iki Island expansion?

Nate Fox, Creative Director: If you're familiar with Ghost of Tsushima, Iki Island is the size of, really, the first act of the main game, Izuhara. It's a big, dense story with a lot of landscape and secrets to discover.

Can we expect Iki Island to have the same kind of open world map density as Izuhara from the main game?

NF: So, it's very similar to Ghost of Tsushima, where we strove to get this just-right feeling of, you know, exploration and discovery, of moments of quiet and moments of violent tension from swordplay. So when we got that dialled in for Ghost of Tsushima, we used that same overall feeling of peaks and valleys for Iki Island.

Does Iki Island utilise the same gameplay mechanics as the main game? Following the wind — all that kind of stuff? Is it building on Ghost of Tsushima?

NF: Iki Island is absolutely building on top of Ghost of Tsushima, but does add in a raft of new things as well. You know, new skills for the player to discover, new armour — of course new stories — and that's what drives a lot of the feeling of growth and newness when you play through the Iki Island experience.

How difficult is the expansion? You can travel to Iki Island from as early as Act 2 in the main game, right?

NF: Right, that is a terrific question. So, the Iki Island expansion is available once the player gets into Act 2. However, we really wanted to also embrace our players who had faithfully played through all of Ghost of Tsushima and wanted to have this experience.

So the Iki Island expansion will kind of jump up in difficulty for those players who have really explored breadth and width of Tsushima Island.

Does that mean we can expect more complex enemy encounters?

NF: It's a more difficult combat experience that will require you to use all of your weapons and skills, really at their highest level.

Are there any new mythic tales on Iki Island that you can tell us about, or is all of that a secret?

NF: Yes, there are. And it is a secret.

But that's part of the fun of discovery!

Are there any new weapon types or additional gameplay mechanics in the expansion? Or is it, again, just kind of building on what's already there in the main game?

NF: We're absolutely building on what's already there. There are no new weapons or stances in this upgrade, but there are a good number of new armours, and in particular, skills that you can find that really change the way that you play the game.

We wanted to lean in on this idea that player expression, particularly through combat, is one of the things that makes the game very much your own. So whether you're a ranged player, a sneaky player, or just a straight-up 'let's fight sword-to-sword' player, we wanted to give you more to dig into.

So can we expect new enemy types as well?

NF: Yes, absolutely.

more in the link

 

[The_Observer]

That’s awesome. I really like this new approach to big games where we get big expansions like in the 90’s. I think it’s beneficial to both us gamers and developers as well.

 

[[Sigma]]

More Tales! Lets go!

 

[JoeBudden]

Day fucking one

 

[catvonpee]

Day fucking one

P-p-p-puh- PUMP IT UP

 

[Kupfer]

The best part of the game are the 1 vs 1 duels. The fight against Kojiro took me hours and countless tries, but it never felt unfair. I would like to see optional, REALLY hard duels.
However, the game had the same problem as horizon, even on the hardest difficulty level you were just OP in the end. I hope Iki Island still a challenge.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Pretty good. Id rather they put resources and time, so we can get it quicker and better. But Ill be getting the upgrade for sure,
Im still sad about my horse… I want revenge in the sequel

 

[Javthusiast]

 

[MrS]

Sounds good!

 

[crunchyBiscuits]

Hell yeah! Looking forward to getting the expansion day one. Platted the main game. Worth the price of admission imo

 

[Markio128]

Sounds like there is a sizeable chunk of game to get through on the new island and with the PS5 upgrade, it should look very nice indeed.

 

[Bryank75]

Yeah, that's pretty big. Hopefully it is as interesting and beautiful as the first or second parts of Tsushima.

I really want fishing and maybe some games or sake drinking or something to have fun with on the side.

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

I know the original island wasn't the biggest map in terms of landmass compared to other games but I often found myself surprised by how little of the map I'd actually covered as I was playing the game. This sounds just about perfect to me, it should easily be worth the asking price if it's as good as the main game.

 

[MrS]

day one

 

[mejin]

1/3? More like half for me. I spent more in Izuhara than on th others regions.

Anyway, good for am expansion.

 

[JoeBudden]

The best part of the game are the 1 vs 1 duels. The fight against Kojiro took me hours and countless tries, but it never felt unfair. I would like to see optional, REALLY hard duels.
However, the game had the same problem as horizon, even on the hardest difficulty level you were just OP in the end. I hope Iki Island still a challenge.

You do get OP in Ghost, but I think that's mainly due to mastering the mechanics by the end of the game.

In Horizon, however, Rockbreakers and Thunderjaws will still be challenging regardless of being maxed out. The corrupted Rockbreakers up north in the map are very difficult to fight. If you play on Ultra Hard, every battle becomes challenging and resource exhausting (really recommend this mode since its really fun). I really disagree in Ghost being comparable to Horizon in terms of difficulty.

 

[kyliethicc]

Sounds like a nice meaty 8-10 hours on average. Love it, can't wait to explore Iki.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

The legend continues!

 

[Heisenberg007]

So 4-7 hours of story and 14-20 hours of content seem realistic. That's excellent for a $20 DLC.

Though quality is always > than quantity, and GoT is pure quality.

 

[EDMIX]

P-p-p-puh- PUMP IT UP

lol they too young for that reference doe!

 

[Imtjnotu]

Fuck I can't wait to slice and dice everyone who even looks at my horse funny.

 

[JoeBudden]

lol they too young for that reference doe!

Lol Joe is actually more popular than ever with his podcast now (even tho there's some drama rn)

 

[Freeman76]

This game had an amazing setting, amazing artwork, amazing style, but 45 mins into every session I was like hmmmm I gotta do the same thing again? Dunno if I can bothe....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[GymWolf]

Not bad.

 

[EDMIX]

Lol Joe is actually more popular than ever with his podcast now (even tho there's some drama rn)

Agreed. Regardless of the memes, the man has done a lot in music.

 

[NorthernSword]

Ghosts of Tsushima now with 30% more boredom!

 

[Punished Miku]

Not having a new stance or weapon is a little lame. Almost every answer to the questions basically just said that it's more of the same. Nioh 2 managed to put in 3 weapons of extra DLC with a ton of unique skills, and Nioh had a lot of weapon variety from the start. This seems far inferior to Nioh's DLC.

I'd like to be proven wrong and see that the new skills really impact gameplay that much, but I'm skeptical at this time. I intend to get it eventually after a discount, and enjoyed the main game. I don't expect people are going to be completely blown away by this DLC though. We'll see; I'd be happy to be wrong.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Ghost of Tsushima is one of those rare games that rely on execution over innovation, but don’t suffer from that decision at all, due to its handful of thoughtful twists to the formula that make it feel much more like a step forward than it otherwise would have.

The outstanding gameplay, deep combat, and magnetizing story make it’s few rough edges virtually invisible, so while an open-world samurai story might not quite be for everyone, clearly, Ghost of Tsushima is still one hell of a game.

 

[Melfice7]

thats the size the original game should be

 

[Hobbygaming]

Ghosts of Tsushima now with 30% more boredom!

I'm about to karate chop yo ass

 

[TheAssist]

Crazy how we've come full circle again. Releasing big expansion packs to games do actually work :O

The publisher wins, the devs win and the fans win. Its a non predatory way of making more money and adding value to the original game at once. I wish more games would do this again. But in a time of GAAS this is probably not very likely for 3. party pubs.

 

[NorthernSword]

I'm about to karate chop yo ass

Hahaha hey if you wanna walk around fighting the same 6 enemies yelling the same things over and over again with the 1 fight style that is disguised as 4 fight styles that are really all the same with all the same combos but you have to arbitrarily switch based on the enemy's weapon...enjoy yourself...

 

[Markio128]

Hahaha hey if you wanna walk around fighting the same 6 enemies yelling the same things over and over again with the 1 fight style that is disguised as 4 fight styles that are really all the same with all the same combos but you have to arbitrarily switch based on the enemy's weapon...enjoy yourself...

You can belittle any game like that. Throw me a game and try me.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Ghosts of Tsushima now with 30% more boredom!

Dude, be careful while you are neo member.

I liked your comment and would like you to stay here longer.

 

[Coolwhhip]

You can belittle any game like that. Throw me a game and try me.

Tetris.

 

[Shmunter]

How does an owner of PS4 game update to PS5 without being charged for dlc also? Oh they can’t? You want to charge them for dlc even if they don’t want it right now? Go F yourself with a broomstick!

 

[Markio128]

Tetris.

You’re stacking the same 7 different shaped puzzle pieces together until the game ends.

 

[Markio128]

How does an owner of PS4 game update to PS5 without being charged for dlc also? Oh they can’t? You want to charge them for dlc even if they don’t want it right now? Go F yourself with a broomstick!

There is a different thread for your concerns.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Hahaha hey if you wanna walk around fighting the same 6 enemies yelling the same things over and over again with the 1 fight style that is disguised as 4 fight styles that are really all the same with all the same combos but you have to arbitrarily switch based on the enemy's weapon...enjoy yourself...

This isn't true, the different styles have different combos