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Ghost of Tsushima - dull and repetitive

poodaddy

Member
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Yeah... no
How do these pretty gifs, and they are pretty gifs mind you, actually debate his point in any way?

It's like someone pointed out that dresses aren't utilitarian in combat and you responded with a gif of someone looking great in a dress....just kinda silly. Elden Ring is a great game, noone could seriously debate that, but it doesn't quite have the bespoke level design of previous Souls games, as it's impossible for an entire open world to be made with the careful and attentive level design of Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, or Dark Souls. Noones saying Elden Rings bad, just that some people prefer the classic Souls style to the open world approach.
 
I didn't really think too much of this one. Finished it and will probably never touch it again, unlike Infamous and Sly.

Sucker Punch probably feels like they're "above" doing Sly again so I'll forget about that one, but I wish they were working on an Infamous sequel or even a new IP instead of a GoT sequel.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
Thanks for putting your thoughts out there, OP. I have GoT in my backlog and keep intending to get to it, eventually, but my open-world fatigue is a real factor. I tried to get into it once and just couldn't. I'll try again eventually but may run into similar concerns.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
My man.

It gets severely under-rated here because 'lol ubisoft' but Odyssey was an addictive as fuck game. Beautiful visuals / locations, easy to pick up game play and a great sense of exploration. The two story expansions it got were also massive, bigger than most released games, and added substantial story.



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Yeah AC Odyssey is slept on. I should go back and do the DLC.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Combat system, if good, should carry the game easily. Otherwise it shouldn’t be called good.
Agree.

It's why I love the Dragon's Dogma games so much.

Because I can stomach a bad story or whatever other thing if the game is fun to play. Can't and will never be able to do the opposite.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I liked it well enough but I never finished it both times I tried. I like AC Odyssey more.
Guess I should add that back to the wishlist.

Something I'm worried about is the exp gain. Wasn't the game balanced around the user buying the exp boosts MTX or some shit like that?
 

Business

Member
I agree with the OP. The start was great but once I was dropped in the open world and I started to get map markers yeah... I've played this game 1000 times before.
 
Where did I critique Elden Ring's art direction? My critique is the repetitive side content. The legacy dungeons are good to great. The caves and forges are total wastes.
Thanks for the clarification and I will agree on the repetitive side content some boss re-use. To me, the pros of Elden Ring's open world significantly outweigh the cons, so I can't agree on side content being justification to avoid open world design.

Tangentially, I would argue that the side content in the expansion (caverns, forges, etc.) is heads and shoulders above the base game and very unique. If anything, I wanted more side content in the expansion, since the quality was so high.

The usefulness of the loot/rewards is subjective though. Personally, I enjoy collecting everything in a first playthrough so that I have everything available to make a new build for NG+1 and can just focus on the content that I find the most enjoyable.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Guess I should add that back to the wishlist.

Something I'm worried about is the exp gain. Wasn't the game balanced around the user buying the exp boosts MTX or some shit like that?

I used this when I played and set like a 1.5x multiplier or something

 
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Topher

Identifies as young
Meh each their own 💁 one of my favorite games.

Some people like short quick games and rush to get it over with. Always seemed weird to me.

One of my favorites as well. I love these big AC-ish games with a shitton of stuff to do. Looking forward to AC: Shadows as well.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I ended up enjoying it but I completely feel your pain of having to force yourself through it.

The mid section..for me was also extremely rough but I did try to more or less 100% it. I gave up once I'd levelled everything and finished it.

Basically I think i completely agree with you OP.

Another ubisoft game like horizon when it boils down to it.
 

Yoda

Member
It certainly had more polish than the average AC game, but I'd agree with your assessment. Lots of copy and pasted content with a new coat of paint. Game needed less fighting content and more exploration/story telling content.
 
The game started off very brightly (I thoroughly enjoyed Act 1) but I have developed severe burnout and fatigue from this game. I am currently nearing the end of Act 2 in GoT and but it is difficult to finish the game

As I've spent so much time in the game already, I will force myself to to completion but if there is one thing I know, I will safely skip Ghost of Yotei. Whether Act 3 or the finale wins me over remains to be seen.
thank you. my take in a nutshell (btw, act 3 / finale didn't win me over)...
 
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hussar16

Member
Weirdly enough 20 hours in and I felt exactly like you... But I kept playing and after 40 hours none of that bothered me anymore and I ended up getting the plat.

It's even more bizarre because the opposite of that happened with me on Assassin's Creed Odyssey, I started playing and I loved the game, after 40 hours I started hating and I ended up never finishing it for the exact same issues.

Also, I agree that the dlc is a lot better than the base game.
That's because around the finishing mark 40 hours is when the game picks up and nears finish while in oddysesy it never really picks up to a climax
 

Fbh

Member
Accurate, but I think inFamous SS is their best game. One of the best OST of that whole gen. Top tier art design like the neon and smoke powers and video. Environments had a bit more destruction so I was into it for longer than GoT. Story is carried by Troy Baker who is basically just playing himself so it works. It still suffers from almost the same act structure and shallow side activities but the art carried it further for me.

Second Son was basically the same as this. Nice visuals (it honestly still looks great today) and a simple but fun core combat mechanic, but it's just completely let down by a lack of enemy variety, boring missing design and terrible side content.
They had an open world sandbox where you play as a superhero with multiple powers and the best they could come up with for the side content was stuff like "destroy a drone", "find a security camera", "find the person on this picture in this crowd" and some other boring shit I don't remember.

At least with SS they had the excuse that it was an early launch window game and it came out less than 3 years after Infamous 2. I always assumed Sony forced them to rush the game because they needed more content to promote the Ps4, and so they weren't given the time to fully flesh out the world. But Ghost of Tsushima came out 6 years after Second Son, there is no excuse here.
 
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The game started off very brightly (I thoroughly enjoyed Act 1) but I have developed severe burnout and fatigue from this game. I am currently nearing the end of Act 2 in GoT and but it is difficult to finish the game

As I've spent so much time in the game already, I will force myself to to completion but if there is one thing I know, I will safely skip Ghost of Yotei. Whether Act 3 or the finale wins me over remains to be seen.

Pros:
- Combat is satisfying and fun. You have different stances which are effective against different types of enemies. It's also nice the game is not a carbon copy of Souls like combat (which has been done to death in the genre).
- Duels/1v1 fights are fantastic.
- Good visuals and superb art direction. Despite having weak textures, GoT looks like a painting come to life.
- Excellent sound design and soundtrack; this is one of the few games which makes use of a good surround system and has an excellent implementation of LFE effects.
- For an open world game, environments and locales are extremely varied, and the dynamic time of day and weather system is very impressive.

Negatives
- Repetitive missions. Lots of fetch quests, walking segments, and 'tracking' enemies. Once you've done 2-3, you've done them all. As a result, side missions are mostly awful. Individual character quests should have been condensed. Who needs 9 missions of running around like a headless chicken before you get to the meat of the issue?
- Bland characters and story. It is difficult to care about many of the characters.
- Ubisoft style open world. Playing GoT reminds me why I hate open world games so much. Far too bloated for it's own good.

I heard Iki island is a considerable improvement over the base game, but my only objective at present is to speedrun the main story and be done with the game.
I agree with all of the negatives, I’m main pathing the story and the combat is fun enough to keep me entertained.

I only play about 2 hours a week though. So no burnout for me.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
Game is depressing AF.
Repetitive stories that were all downers.
I wish I had known to just do the main quest only. Maybe do the side stuff years later in a replay.
It's a decent game but I recommend just doing the main quest to not get burned out.
 
How do these pretty gifs, and they are pretty gifs mind you, actually debate his point in any way?

It's like someone pointed out that dresses aren't utilitarian in combat and you responded with a gif of someone looking great in a dress....just kinda silly. Elden Ring is a great game, noone could seriously debate that, but it doesn't quite have the bespoke level design of previous Souls games, as it's impossible for an entire open world to be made with the careful and attentive level design of Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, or Dark Souls. Noones saying Elden Rings bad, just that some people prefer the classic Souls style to the open world approach.
I would rank a lot of the legacy dungeons in Elden Ring up there with some of the best dungeon design in all of the Souls series. I also prefer the relaxed pacing of the Elden Ring's open world to break up the progression of legacy dungeons, whereas classic Souls formula had you going from one level to the next with minimal breathing room. Sure, the experience was a lot more streamlined in that sense, but I enjoyed the aspect of taking a break to enjoy the lush scenery of the open world after making my way through narrow corridors, carefully navigating each corner of dungeon in anticipation of enemy ambushes, and ultimately culminating in a tough encounter with boss that left my palms and controller sweaty.

I gave a bit more thoughtful response regarding some of the side content here:
Thanks for the clarification and I will agree on the repetitive side content some boss re-use. To me, the pros of Elden Ring's open world significantly outweigh the cons, so I can't agree on side content being justification to avoid open world design.

Tangentially, I would argue that the side content in the expansion (caverns, forges, etc.) is heads and shoulders above the base game and very unique. If anything, I wanted more side content in the expansion, since the quality was so high.

The usefulness of the loot/rewards is subjective though. Personally, I enjoy collecting everything in a first playthrough so that I have everything available to make a new build for NG+1 and can just focus on the content that I find the most enjoyable.
 
Every single open world game has quest repetition.

How many garbage repetitive dungeons did they throw out there in Elden Ring?

How many check the box ubisoft style activities did they have in Tears of the Kingdom?

This complaint isn't a GoT thing, or even an Ass Creed thing, it's prevalent even in all the critical darlings people love.

What sets GoT apart is the great narrative, immersive world, and fantastic combat/duels. The ubisoft stuff, if you don't like it, is just something to put up with like any game of this type.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
Where did I critique Elden Ring's art direction? My critique is the repetitive side content. The legacy dungeons are good to great. The caves and forges are total wastes.
Agreed and I loved Elden Ring (the first playthrough was fantastic, but replaying it is a slog).

Too many repetitive caves/dungeons/crypts and that leads too many repetitive enemies and bosses.
 
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nikos

Member
Bought the game twice and never finished it. Played for 6.7 hours on Steam.

It wasn't necessarily bad, I just had no desire to continue playing for some reason.

I keep for getting there's a multiplayer mode that I was interested in trying.
 
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The core combat mechanics are excellent but yes it's extremely repetitive and has a serious lack of enemy variety. The game should have leaned more into the fantasy elements and had more demon enemies from the multiplayer mode.
 

Roberts

Member
I don’t mind the repetetive nature of the game. After all I finished AssCreed: Odyssey and Valhalla and enjoyed them. And it’s not like there is anything wrong with the game, at least not on the surface but I eventually dropped it because I simply wasn’t enjoying the experience. These games are all about exploration and discovery and I never felt compelled to do any of these things. Even enjoyed the first Horizon more and it pains me to say it as I’m a huge fan of 60’s and 70’s Japanese samurai cinema, both high and low brow.
 
I just made it to act 3.

I'm enjoying it, having not played a game of this kind since the original Assassin's Creed back in 2009 or 2010 (didn't play it when it was first released).

I have one issue with the dialogue translations. I studied japanese for a few years (20 years ago) and even though I can't understand a lot, I noticed a lot of what is said in Japanese does not exactly match the subtitles.

Only other thing that bugs me is the auto-aiming during fights. Like how does the game decide who the Ghost is facing, in cases where there's numerous enemies? I wish I could choose.
 
I tried Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, Days Gone. None of them gripped me at all. GoT is beautiful and the combat is interesting, but they all feel like Ubisoft games.

I might give Days Gone another go as I'm on a zombie kick at the moment.
 

lordrand11

Member
The overworld genre and soulslike genres in general have been suffering from this lately. Bland, repetitive gameplay and missions.

It's hard to identify what the developers can to do to make reasonable changes to it as a whole.

I felt this way about Zelda BotW and TotK as well so it's not just those two types earlier too.
 
If it you didn't enjoy it the first couple of hours, i think you never will. You become overpowered real quick and the story goes on and on and on.
There needs to be a hook point for me with these long open world games. Cyberpunk is a good example. Get about 5 hours in, you've got a bike and you're taking multiple calls setting up jobs whilst on your way to another one, that was when I was hooked.
 

Magister

Member
If it you didn't enjoy it the first couple of hours, i think you never will. You become overpowered real quick and the story goes on and on and on.
Overpowered? I struggled with hordes and I was playing on easy. Not everyone is skilled at games. That being said, Days Gone is one of the few cinematic games I actually liked. Meanwhile, Ghost is sitting on my shelf waiting to be played someday.
 

Cakeboxer

Gold Member
Overpowered? I struggled with hordes and I was playing on easy. Not everyone is skilled at games. That being said, Days Gone is one of the few cinematic games I actually liked. Meanwhile, Ghost is sitting on my shelf waiting to be played someday.
Overpowered when fighing normal enemies. When you first sruggle to beat two of them, they later become Diablo stysle trash mobs. Hordes are always a bit challenging unless you cheese them.
 
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