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Ghost of Tsushima |OT| - Summer blade cuts through, the PlayStation shall go on, this is its swan song

nowhat

Gold Member
Not sure but I think there’s some level scaling in this. I saw a streamer do an early mission after upgrading a bunch of skill trees and armor and they were fighting heavies that I didn’t when I played it.
If you mean early mission as in happening in the first part of the island (act 1), some quests there unlock after you reach act 2. And yes, the enemies are much more of a challenge.
 

dorkimoe

Gold Member
Went to look at this game on bestbuy and see if i had anymore rewards certificates. Its sold out within 250 miles...i havent ever seen a regular version of a new release sell out in forever.
 

Darklor01

Might need to stop sniffing glue
Went to look at this game on bestbuy and see if i had anymore rewards certificates. Its sold out within 250 miles...i havent ever seen a regular version of a new release sell out in forever.
Well damn, I live near New York City in a suburb. From Best Buy, Target, and Walmart it is sold out for over 250+ Miles (Standard Launch Edition). Crazy!
 

vpance

Member
If you mean early mission as in happening in the first part of the island (act 1), some quests there unlock after you reach act 2. And yes, the enemies are much more of a challenge.

Yep really early on missions in Act 1.

Good to hear it'll get much more challenging, because right now I feel like I shouldn't be wearing the samurai armor. I feel like I'm starting to be able to tank a tad too much.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Also anyone find it funny to pick up “supplies”? Like what exactly is that? Rations? Bandages? Not complaining it’s just vague. Might as well call it “Stuff”. Lol

I really love the stand off what a cool way to do first strike. The music kicks off and the battle starts it’s just a really cool way to transition from walking around into the action.
 
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Rikoi

Member
Yep really early on missions in Act 1.

I feel like I shouldn't be wearing the samurai armor. I feel like I'm starting to be able to tank a tad too much.
I use it only for boss fights, you can swap armor at the beginning of the fight anyway

Also anyone find it funny to pick up “supplies”? Like what exactly is that? Rations? Bandages? Not complaining it’s just vague. Might as well call it “Stuff”. Lol
No idea, yeah it's very generic lol
Might also count them as money
 
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Entroyp

Member
If you mean early mission as in happening in the first part of the island (act 1), some quests there unlock after you reach act 2. And yes, the enemies are much more of a challenge.

The one with the new unconventional weapon caught me off guard (I don’t want to spoil anything). Bastard lol
 

Darklor01

Might need to stop sniffing glue
Yep really early on missions in Act 1.

Good to hear it'll get much more challenging, because right now I feel like I shouldn't be wearing the samurai armor. I feel like I'm starting to be able to tank a tad too much.

I felt the same way. I'm in still in the first part of Act 1. I keep doing side activities. The world being that engaging and all. That said, I felt exactly the same way until I came to a cliff/wall area and the game warned me.. You're approaching an area with an overwhelming number of enemies. ... .. Yeah, if the game is giving a hint like that.. Not ready to move on quite yet Samurai.
 

devilNprada

Member
Game is pretty great...

As an open world I am pretty impressed by the sidequests.. They are actually interesting and fitting.
I hated in AC, ES and dragons age games; where I am the greatest fighter in the land, and they are sending me on fetch quests...

Took me a while to get the combat down and I have yet to do a full stealth clear.. I always get caught up in a big fight.

Looking forward to go full Ninja though!
 

Zimmy68

Member
Went to look at this game on bestbuy and see if i had anymore rewards certificates. Its sold out within 250 miles...i havent ever seen a regular version of a new release sell out in forever.
I actually went to my local Best Buy because I saw the same thing online.
They had plenty of copies of the regular version.
Online, I only saw 2 options, Deluxe and Launch and they were both sold out.
And lo and behold, they had none of those at the store.
I ended up getting it digitally to get as close to GCU as possible.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Not only that but in and out of the photo mode and the menus are also lighting quick. Every other open-world game is so sluggish with this stuff.

Maybe it's because they made peasant water that looks like a 240p sludge so they can boost everything else in the game.
There's not a ton of variety on screen from what I can tell, might be why the load times are low. It's a lot of repeated models/textures.

You are also fairly zoomed into the character and generally can't see too far past obstructions; so they are likely doing some smart streaming/loading behind the scenes.
 
Stand-offs have really grown on me. Straight to the action instead of having to run up on enemies and having them be alerted progressively. A couple of extra animations would have been nice to have for that starting slash attack.

The wind guide to me just needs a bit of tweaking with regards to visual cues - specially at night in the forest. Definitely a plus, and much much better than freaking lines. They just need to iterate more on it.
 
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I'm having a pretty good time with this game and my overall impressions are quite good bbuuuuutttt I dont think it deserves the praise its been getting. Here are my gripes

-There are times where the game looks gorgeous but when you are just climbing a cliff face or rummaging through a house, it looks like PS3 era assets (No I am not exaggerating). The immense number of pretty particles helps mitigate this a bit but just about everything looks substandard for this gen under closer (and even not so close) scrutiny (character models look pretty good though)

-Combat is probably the best part of the game but there are times where it becomes just an absolute cluster. Just did a mission where you fight guys on boats and camera management and enclosed quarters made it a slog.

-Stealth works but it doesnt feel very polished. Many of the areas don't feel like they are designed with stealth in mind. There is murder grass and areas to hide but there are quite a few situations where there is no stealth way to attack a group of enemies. Even with my stealth group take down maxed out, you can usually only get 2 of 3 sitting around a fire because the fire is in the way. Feels janky. Also, the smoke bomb + chain stealth kill maxed out is almost an instant 'get out of jail free' card. You can hold 3 smoke bombs and kill 3 people instantly so if you do it right (all that means is wait for them to group up together) and you can easily kill 9 enemies. (I've actually be able to make it more with the extended smoke bomb, you can just standard stealth kill an enemy then launch into the group takedown.)

-I do like the minimal hud but lets not kid ourselves; this game is still going through all the same open world motions that every other games do but they hide the checkpoints sometimes. There are tons of '?' spots that give you minimal stat boosts or loot.



With all that said, when this game clicks, it fucking CLICKS. Combat can be really satisfying when you just decimate a group of bad guys. This game is a pretty good first effort but I would be very interested in seeing a refined sequel on PS5.
 

nowhat

Gold Member
Also anyone find it funny to pick up “supplies”? Like what exactly is that? Rations? Bandages? Not complaining it’s just vague. Might as well call it “Stuff”. Lol
I think it's pretty great. I don't think every game needs to have crafting and gear upgrades, but I guess that's just the way things have to be nowadays. If that's really the case, I'm glad to be collecting "stuff" instead of a zillion different items I need to craft a single item/upgrade. Or collecting just "flowers" in general, instead of having to hunt for a particular colour to get a certain skin.

In general, I really like the crafting system. It's simple. For example, your swords. You don't get new ones, you just upgrade them (or apply cosmetics). And what do the upgrades do, that's pretty straightforward as well - for your katana it's "kills enemies faster". Ok, sounds like a reasonable upgrade, I'll take it.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
Also anyone find it funny to pick up “supplies”? Like what exactly is that? Rations? Bandages? Not complaining it’s just vague. Might as well call it “Stuff”. Lol

Reminds me of how they handled the upgrades in Tomb Raider 2013. They simply called the stuff you collected “salvage.”

Mad Max had “scrap” you collected lol
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Yeah, I had the same thought. It makes no apologies for being a game and everything is tailored to how important it is to the gameplay. There is no aping movies here. Everything is about removing those annoying but realistic barriers that just wear down your enthusiasm. Want to fast travel? Sure, 2/3 seconds. Want to loot that plant without getting off your horse? Sure, it's a game why would we make you dismount just for that? Died in an encounter, no worries, you can try again in 5 seconds. I really like the balance they've struck with this, and really hope more open world developers follow this trend. Similar to how Odyssey is loot on run over as well

I had to train myself not to smack my horse with the sword (Triangle to mount in RDR2) and not get off of them when getting hides or resources.

Then when I played RDR2 for doing daily challenges online, I almost shot my horse (you really can't) by pressing R2 to mount. :pie_roffles:

I enjoy both, but could not agree more and was relieved that had all those QoL refinements in Ghost, because I could not bear to have more than just RDR2 doing that.
 

Keihart

Member
I think that is the goal Sucker Punch designers had in mind when they made that roll range as far as it does and in essence behave like a double roll in other games in the genre. A get out of jail free card. Where it goes wrong is that a player can often miss-press a sidestep in an encounter (at least once on average, specially if surrounded by a mob) and thus fall into an unwanted roll that takes the player away from the action completely and forces the player to recenter the camera on the action/enemies. Meanwhile as you wrestle with the camera to recenter after the "extended-range roll" the enemies already repositioned themselves with respect to you (enemies have lock-on, you don't) and you probably lost sight of your target and are in no way positioned to attack or even evade properly.

A smarter design would have the player do a short-range roll animation for one circle press, then another short-range roll animation for the double press. Here the player as he rolls has all the visual cues to decide by himself whether he's far enough from the enemy to dodge the attack (on an initial roll) or whether he needs more distance and thus go for a double-roll by doing the extra circle press. But the sidestep (in Ghost) and the roll (as implemented in other games) overlap controls so I can see the issue they ran into. They fell in love with that sidestep. If the designers want to keep the sidestep (as it defines the uniqueness of the combat) AND also the roll (and have it all work seamlessly); the option here for them is to make the double-circle press a short-range roll, and a triple circle press a double-roll. Hold-circle is also a bandaid for a single roll to avoid miss-pressing - don't know how it would work for double rolls however. Anyway they decide, that single-animation extended-range roll needs to go.

Alternatively they could rid themselves of the roll evade altogether by adding a backstep after a sidestep (same button press, directional circle, followed by circle). But I guess the problem the designers will run into is enemy collision as the sidestep puts you right beside enemies for a quick counter. If you're surrounded by a mob, a backstep after a sidestep could potential put you right next to one and be hammered either way - defeating the purpose - not to mention it would look hella weird without proper collision animations in an environment rich on random variables. Not easy.

Thus we come back to my conclusion - they need to tweak that "extended range single-roll aka double roll" and go traditional like Sekiro/Ni-Oh/God of War single rolls. They have to decide that themselves however - perhaps they come up with something better. What they have right now however is poor design that leads to confusion. The user who brought it up is the perfect example of a player experiencing the gripe. I merely agreed that it exists because it's obvious after playing for a while. It's not a git-gud problem.

And here is another player. No one that has played this game hasn't encountered this. It's unavoidable by law of averages.





Lock-on is an option. It's a tried and true option - and the enemies in this game obviously have lock-on (surprisingly the player does not). The bottomline is that whatever the game has right now is not working properly or to phrase it differently - very far from optimal. God of War has lock on and puts as many enemies on screen too. And the player has the choice of playing with or without lock-on. The character in God of War also takes much more space on the screen (meaning a lot of things go behind the players eye-view that he does not see). But GOW has very good camera re-centering and implements a crutch with the down- d-pad, plus companion (the boy/head) alert of incoming attack and has visual alerts/aids around the screen. All the aids employed - done unobtrusively.

So what I'm saying is - there is no excuse to not come up with a better camera recentering system, with or without lock-on (which should always be there as a toggle-able choice). What you have now is players trying to fight both the enemies and the camera (with no aids at all). Every time the character gets out of enemy range or gets into a mob the camera will present all sort of problems when trying to pick targets/evading or when going on the offensive.

One way that players behave and are behaving to solve this problem is simply backing-up and backing-up and backing-up when faced by mobs to pick an enemy out of the bunch that's closer to the character (as he retreats). That happens in other games but in this game it will happen a hell of a lot more often - and depending on the size of the mob even that can be an issue as you usually get a trail of 3 enemies very close on you alternating attacks (taking turns) between themselves. In essence; given the lack of lock-on and proper camera recentering the player is trying to "cheat" enemy AI to get the same result of lock-on. Funny how that works.

Batman Arkham solves their mob problem with one solution (technically several but the main one with respect to this is) - the triangle counter (brilliant design), with brilliant camera work to go along with it. They could look into that as well. In other words, not every counter/evade maneuver has to be tied to circle. Parry is not an evade/counter unless you tie an uninterruptible animation that punishes, automatically, as the parry lands (becoming a counter sort of like in Arkham or a "mikiri counter" in Sekiro).

To allude that wresting with the camera is part of a git-gud process is to me beyond dumb.
Managing your distance with enemy it's like the basis of melee combat, taking that away with an auto counter as batman it's not brilliant, but boring and uninspired... but maybe it's just taste, maybe you are not that into action games.

As much as i love the new GOW, it's far from optimal camera wise, they had to create hud warnings for things coming off screen.Instead of looking at melee action games with flawed systems like batman and to an extent wow, why not look at the superior ones. In DMCV for example, you have a very comfortable camera that adjust itself to action and enemy and player positions but also allows you to move it freely. Lock on it's not tied to the camera angle and enemies out of camera can't initiate attacks. You have every possible scenario there solved. In the case of Ghost you wouldn't even need a lock on since there is a soft one already and there are no directional inputs.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
So far, my favorite thing to do in the game is clear out the camps using stealth. It’s fun, I like taking guys out one by one, and leaping down from up high to assassinate. And if you mess up, it’s fun trying to fend off many guys at once.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
So far, my favorite thing to do in the game is clear out the camps using stealth. It’s fun, I like taking guys out one by one, and leaping down from up high to assassinate. And if you mess up, it’s fun trying to fend off many guys at once.

The chain assassinations (basically the multi take downs in Arkham Knight) are great. Even better when you use a smoke bomb beforehand 😋
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
So far, my favorite thing to do in the game is clear out the camps using stealth. It’s fun, I like taking guys out one by one, and leaping down from up high to assassinate. And if you mess up, it’s fun trying to fend off many guys at once.
Same here. Playing on hard mode helps, because even if you clear out a couple people first with stealth it feels more valuable. The whole point is that he's supposed to be totally outnumbered and has to resort to stealth to win.

I feel like they still could have done a bit more with stealth in mind, like moving bodies, using traps and caltrops, or other more ninja-focused abilities.
 

nowhat

Gold Member
Has Sony said anthing about this game getting an update to PS5?

(one I don't have to pay for?)
Sony hasn't yet said anything about any game getting an update to PS5. But I think late releases such as this are a safe bet.

(shouldn't they have some kind of PS5-related stream coming up next month?)
 

HotPocket69

Banned
Same here. Playing on hard mode helps, because even if you clear out a couple people first with stealth it feels more valuable. The whole point is that he's supposed to be totally outnumbered and has to resort to stealth to win.

I feel like they still could have done a bit more with stealth in mind, like moving bodies, using traps and caltrops, or other more ninja-focused abilities.

Gotta save stuff for the sequel, homie
 
Managing your distance with enemy it's like the basis of melee combat, taking that away with an auto counter as batman it's not brilliant, but boring and uninspired... but maybe it's just taste, maybe you are not that into action games.

As much as i love the new GOW, it's far from optimal camera wise, they had to create hud warnings for things coming off screen.Instead of looking at melee action games with flawed systems like batman and to an extent wow, why not look at the superior ones. In DMCV for example, you have a very comfortable camera that adjust itself to action and enemy and player positions but also allows you to move it freely. Lock on it's not tied to the camera angle and enemies out of camera can't initiate attacks. You have every possible scenario there solved. In the case of Ghost you wouldn't even need a lock on since there is a soft one already and there are no directional inputs.

The soft one is horrible, many times leaving the enemies you supposedly want to attack behind your forward facing stance. Specially in sloped terrain. In effect, you're facing forward while the enemy you wish to engage is directly behind you and the camera doesn't budge.

I was going to record it in one of my worst experiences with it recently but decided meh.... why bother. The team at Sucker Punch probably knows already what the problems are. They have play testers and paid QA. The question is whether they're listening or they simply didn't have the time to rework the whole thing and had to push the game out (or a combination of factors).

I don't think it's up to taste here. These are things we can objectively discuss. But I personally don't like hack-n-slash games (weightless combat and crazy particles everywhere and often a button mash fest), didn't complete DMC5, despite trying to push myself to. Got it on PC I think. Edgy angry teen power-trip. Nope.... Forgot what it was even like to play it
 
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devilNprada

Member
Sony hasn't yet said anything about any game getting an update to PS5. But I think late releases such as this are a safe bet.

(shouldn't they have some kind of PS5-related stream coming up next month?)

Maybe I am thinking in too much in terms of PS3-PS4 era.. It maybe just the same game, not a remaster.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Am I the only one who finds the black powder bombs OP so far? Maybe it’s because I’m still in act 1 but they get me out of any jam super easily. It’s like a cheat code.
 

Camreezie

Member
Has Sony said anthing about this game getting an update to PS5?

(one I don't have to pay for?)
Theyve not said this about any ps4 game as far as I'm aware, only that games that are releasing on both platforms case by case you will get both formats for buying the ps4 version
 

Rikoi

Member
Same here. Playing on hard mode helps, because even if you clear out a couple people first with stealth it feels more valuable. The whole point is that he's supposed to be totally outnumbered and has to resort to stealth to win.

I feel like they still could have done a bit more with stealth in mind, like moving bodies, using traps and caltrops, or other more ninja-focused abilities.
Totally agree, I think they nailed the samurai part, but hopefully they add more ninja stuff in the sequel (if they make one) like shurikens, poisons, caltrops and stuff.
There is room to improve the ninja abilities.
 
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TheMan

Member
I really wish they would you just give you supplies and other currencies after you liberate a village or whatever. Having to run around and explore each room of each building is already starting to get old because they all pretty much look the same so far
 
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Keihart

Member
The soft one is horrible, many times leaving the enemies you supposedly want to attack behind your forward facing stance. Specially in sloped terrain. In effect, you're facing forward while the enemy you wish to engage is directly behind you and the camera doesn't budge.

I was going to record it in one of my worst experiences with it recently but decided meh.... why bother. The team at Sucker Punch probably knows already what the problems are. They have play testers and paid QA. The question is whether they're listening or they simply didn't have the time to rework the whole thing and had to push the game out (or a combination of factors).

I don't think it's up to taste here. These are things we can objectively discuss. But I personally don't like hack-n-slash games (weightless combat and crazy particles everywhere and often a button mash fest), didn't complete DMC5, despite trying to push myself to. Got it on PC I think. Edgy angry teen power-trip. Nope.... Forgot what it was even like to play it
i mentioned DMC5, because like most of the games in it's genre, they are the most mechanically competent ones in giving the player the agency to look cool without making it automated.
I feared that this game was going to be like AC and Batman at first, which for me would have taken a lot from the combat. But luckily the combat here leans more towards a stylish action game even if there is no juggle system, making it very satisfactory to have clean cool looking fights.

The camera and lock on are not tied, nor they should be. Fixing the camera would be a big improvement tho.
The soft lock on works alright since pressing run takes you out of it and it's pretty easy to aim at enemies by pointing the stick in their direction since there is no directional inputs.
 

GlockSaint

Member
Boys, me and brother both want to play the game. Can you have multiple save files for this game? If he starts a new game will it delete my old save or overwrite it?
 
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