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[Fbh]

Finished the main story yesterday after finally getting to play this (I had been waiting until I got a Ps5 to play at 60fps and with Japanese lip sync).
While I overall enjoyed my time with it, I have to say I was surprisingly underwhelmed by the game. I love the setting, the visuals are often quite nice, the main story is enjoyable and the combat is simple yet fun. But a very Ubisoft-like open world design, lack of challenge and terrible side content really hold it back.

Even though the textures and animations aren't the best out there, the often nice lighting, wind and leaves flying around do a lot to turn this into one of the nicest looking open world games out there

They could have done so much more with an open world, while the same old Ubisoft design (and it’s VERY Ubisoft like) is a bit boring after games like Elden Ring earlier this year, it’s what they’ve filled it with which I found mostly bad . Almost every side quest is extremely basic and plays out the same: Watch a short conversation, either follow a character or follow footprints, fight the same 4-5 enemy types as always and get some minor passive upgrade as a reward, that’s it. They do almost nothing to shake things up and when they do it’s even worse stuff like a tailing mission. They don’t tell interesting stories, you don’t reach unique locations or well designed "dungeons", there’s no interesting setups or choices, etc.. It’s a short conversation → follow a path → samey fight with the same handful of enemies in samey locations over and over again.
I eventually dropped the regular sidequests and decided to only do the ones that focus on specific characters, assuming those would be more interesting, but aside from slightly more engaging plots they are virtually identical in their design. Only the blue quests that unlock new gear and or abilities are somewhat more unique and varied, but there’s only a small handful of them.
The side “activities” aren’t much better. Do random Haikus to unlock headbands, reach temples in autopilot platforming that makes the platforming in Uncharted seem engaging, clear nearly identical enemy camps that get old after you’ve done 5-6 of them and follow foxes around.

"Someone must have left footprint around here....for the 50th time!"


At least the main quest is good. I liked the characters, I liked how the story focused on honor vs doing what is needed, I thought the characters were pretty good (as a side note there's some great examples of cool non woke female characters), it's well paced and not bloated like other games and even though the mission design also involved a lot of following a trail and fighting the same handful of enemies, at least they have bigger and more complex locations, more interesting setups, more setpiece moments, etc that make it varied enough to not outstay its welcome.
To an extent I can't help but think this might have been better as a more linear game. The visuals are great, the core of the combat is really fun and the story was enjoyable , but this came out 6 years after Infamous Second Son and it still feels like Sucker Punch makes open world games just for the sake of it and still haven't figured out how to actually put worthwhile content in them.

 

[Represent.]

Honestly one of the most overrated games of the gen. Highlight was the grass. Everything else was done better in other games.

Combat was weak, same death animations for literally every kill, all standoffs identical. Bland boring empty open world. Horrible cutscenes... Auto-fail stealth missions in 2020. Didn't capture the brutality of the era with its atmosphere.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It was a great game for their first go round. Loved the world/art design where the color coordination made you want to explore the new areas. Looking forward with what they can do with experience and PS5 only.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Honestly one of the most overrated games of the gen. Highlight was the grass. Everything else was done better in other games.

Combat was weak, same death animations for literally every kill, all standoffs identical. Bland boring empty open world. Horrible cutscenes. Didnt capture the brutality of the era.

Has an 83 on Metacritic which means is a great game. Overall, a pretty fair score.

 

[Represent.]

Has an 83 on Metacritic which means is a great game. Overall, a pretty fair score.

I'd give it a 6.

 

[SlimySnake]

Yeah, the open world exploration left a lot to be desired, but I quite liked the character specific side quests. They were far more involved than your typical Ubisoft side quest, and I just fucking love the main quest. Those two things made me fall in love with the game and helped set it apart from every Ubisoft game in existence.

I think the problem with last gen open world games is that they are lacking that dynamic element which makes it more rewarding to explore. Those stupid foxes were terrible. The poems were god awful. And outpost felt like Far Cry 3 on PS3.

And GoT isnt the only game to have this issue. Every game from Red Dead to Horizon and Ass Creed has the same issue. These vast open worlds have nothing to do except for killing things and while the combat system in GoT is fun, at the end of the day, the world and mission design simply hasnt changed from the PS3 era. TBH, Thats why I liked the Arkham games so much. They saved the open world for riddler puzzles but all of their story missions were held indoors and still followed the metroidvania design with puzzles mixed in with combat encounters.

Im hoping that with the new next gen CPUs and SSDs, the devs are able to come up with something better than the blueprint Ubisoft came up with in the PS3 era because these games have begun to feel very tedious. I have Elden Rings, Cyberpunk, Mafia, AC Odyssey, and several other open world games installed and ready to be played, but I just cant get into another 40-60 hour committment where im doing the same thing I did in the first 10 hours over and over again.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I'd give it a 6.

This is why Metacritic is the way. Accounts for people(reviewers) giving a wide range of scores. At the end you have a consensus.

 

[SLB1904]

10/10 for me. best open world game i ever play cant wait for the sequel

 

[RyRy93]

The open world while empty felt alive due to the art direction and effects, the little activities you mention aren't too bad and they're areas that could be developed upon in a sequel (more challenging platforming, better rewards, more surprises via environmental storytelling and level design, etc.).

It's a great game overall but it's often the case with open-world games that they'd be better off as linear experiences.

 

[Batiman]

Ya I thought the game was horrible. Just really boring overall. Art style was great and story was decent. I even thought the recent assassins creed games were better and I don’t even like them. It doesn’t help that I played Sekiro right before it though.

Edit.- I think saying it was horrible is unfair. Obviously some hard work went into it and it’s a very polished game, but I just consider it really mediocre . I really wanted to like it too because I love the setting

 

[ABnormal]

What you described put it significantly above the very most of open world games out there (and it is). That's already great, it's very difficult be the absolute best, and compared to the competition on console the quality is on another level.
But everything can be improved so I hope they will evolve and refine the next iteration. That was their first try on something like that, and they will surely evolve on that initial foundation.

 

[Bragr]

I loved the ending that went straight into that great song.

 

[RoadHazard]

I loved all of it, completed it 100% (main game and DLC).

Sure, some of the side activities got a bit old, but I never got sick of it, because the game just felt so good to play. Much like Spider-Man.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

10/10 for me too. 4rth favorite game of the gen after the two Ori games and God of War.

 

[SlimySnake]

Highlight was the grass.

Yeah, but Grass alone deserves a ten.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Ghosts is a really interesting game top 5 open world game.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Good gameplay, good use of open world cues for traversal, great visuals and a very solid story.

Hopefully they can really take that next step with an even better story/characters and memorable side quests. I’m not going to hold my breath because Sucker Punch hasn’t impressed me with their sequels.

 

[kyliethicc]

It’s a fun beautiful game with a great core player fantasy (ninja Samurai) but yeah it’s got flaws. It’s Japanese Batman with great art direction. Not some masterpiece in storytelling but well done, and the ending is a good payoff. The choice bit was a nice touch too. Unneeded, but cool. The art direction is easily the most standout aspect of the game.

Design wise it’s not on the level one world design of like RDR2 or Death Stranding but there is variety. Foxes, duels, bamboo, haikus, and of course, story quests. I appreciate the design choice to have a bunch of optional vignettes basically but allow players to just focus on the main path if they want. As for difficulty, lethal difficulty is quite hard so idk maybe try that.

 

[RoadHazard]

Good gameplay, good use of open world cues for traversal, great visuals and a very solid story.

Hopefully they can really take that next step with an even better story/characters and memorable side quests. I’m not going to hold my breath because Sucker Punch hasn’t impressed me with their sequels.

Yeah, if they could get TW3-level side quests in there they could have the best open world game ever on their hands.

 

[jm89]

Reguler side missions definitely can use improvements. Hopefully sucker punch do a horizon foribidden west, cause guerilla serously upped the quality of their side missions and not just because of the animation.

I would have loved more side missions kicking of whilst you traverse the world, more random events that lead to bigger side stories. So the open world between towns has some life to it and when you pass some place you remember it like oh shit i remember meeting this cool side character and doing this cool side mission here.

 

[Punished Miku]

I couldn't finish it. Bailed in Act III.

I still rate it a 9/10, and it's a fantastic game. Amazing graphics, setting, pretty solid combat gameplay similar to the old Assassin's Creed games. Stealth is not very good because there's not enough architecture to really make any of the approaches interesting. That was the biggest disappointment for me is that there's really not much of a notable transition from samurai to ninja. He just kind of does it all, and the story transition was extremely rapid. When I delve into a martial arts centered story, I expect much more substantial training segments to completely change your fighting style like that. I also didn't really feel anything at all in regards to the story. All side quests are also about as barebones as they can get, but I expected that from inFamous SS devs and it met my expectations of what they would make. I think the lack of alternate weapons also really limits the game, especially for someone improvising and experimenting with stealth tactics.

It's a fun action game modeled after the old Pre-Origins Assassin's Creed games, with beautiful visuals. There's definitely room for improvement.

 

[rofif]

This is what keeps me away from it for now. I will get to it one day.
This and spider man are my biggest backlogs.
Days gone was highly praised and I got it and it was tragically bad for most part

 

[Danjin44]

I enjoyed my time the game but just like Horizon, the open world was super dull, the sword combat is just no where near fun compare to Sekiro.

I might have issue with enemy/boss variety in GOW 2018 but the the actual combat blows Ghost out of the water and even tho its not real open world it has much better exploration.

 

[SSfox]

It's not the best story, but it's good enough, and everything else is great, art design, graphics, gameplay (specially for an open world). Incredible experience overall.

It's one of the best open world game of last gen easy, only one i would put beyond is the untouchable RDR2.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's not the best story, but it's good enough, and everything else is great, art design, graphics, gameplay (specially for an open world). Incredible experience overall.

It's one of the best open world game of last gen easy, only one i would put beyond is the untouchable RDR2.

RDR2 is GOAT

 

[El Pistolero]

I could be wrong, so I am genuinely open to being corrected, but this could be the result of the team being rather modest in size, compared to the juggernaut studios that employ hundreds, if not thousands of people, in order to craft the minutiae of open world titles...
Sorry, I'm drunk...

 

[Punished Miku]

It's not the best story, but it's good enough, and everything else is great, art design, graphics, gameplay (specially for an open world). Incredible experience overall.

It's one of the best open world game of last gen easy, only one i would put beyond is the untouchable RDR2.

The combat is honestly about the same as Assassin's Creed 2. The same kind of auto-lock on, focus on counters and cool animations. I think people would be surprised to replay an old AC game and remember how fun that combat was.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Was loving it until I suddenly got bored of the open world at the middle of act 2. Story was very cool, but not enough to make me push through the usual open world stuff.

Liked the visual design and wind mechanic.

 

[skit_data]

The score is probably one of the best in a game in a long while IMO.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

10/10 for me. best open world game i ever play cant wait for the sequel

I simply can’t understand this, the game is really flawed. I think these scores come with people obsessed with Japanese culture and over romanticize any related to it.

I'd give it a 6.

7 or 8 would be more fair. It’s a less annoying Assassin’s Creed. And there isn’t anything innovative about it. It’s agree really overrated. Probably got hype from the “anti-woke” crusaders against TLoU2.

Has an 83 on Metacritic which means is a great game. Overall, a pretty fair score.

Pretty fair. Maybe 81.

 

[RoadHazard]

The combat is honestly about the same as Assassin's Creed 2. The same kind of auto-lock on, focus on counters and cool animations. I think people would be surprised to replay an old AC game and remember how fun that combat was.

Really? I've really only played AC4, and while I liked that game I thought the combat was terrible. It felt like you were watching animations play out rather than being fully in control (often with the clashing sounds and such not even matching what you were seeing). The combat in GOT felt miles better to me. Very responsive and satisfying.

 

[Punished Miku]

I simply can’t understand this, the game is really flawed. I think these scores come with people obsessed with Japanese culture and over romanticize any related to it.

7 or 8 would be more fair. It’s a less annoying Assassin’s Creed. And there isn’t anything innovative about it. It’s agree really overrated. Probably got hype from the “anti-woke” crusaders against TLoU2.

Pretty fair. Maybe 81.

It's an 8/10 game. I give it an extra point for the incredible visuals.

 

[Punished Miku]

Really? I've really only played AC4, and while I liked that game I thought the combat was terrible. It felt like you were watching animations play out rather than being fully in control (often with the clashing sounds and such not even matching what you were seeing). The combat in GOT felt miles better to me. Very responsive and satisfying.

They seem virtually identical to me. I think the Ghost lock on is slightly softer, and you have a little bit more mobility. But it's essentially the same kind of set up. You have similar lock on, side dodge, block, or counter with very cool animations. I used to just play AC1 back in the day and alert the police and pile up nearly a hundred bodies in the town just fighting people and landing counters. I never played AC4, but Ghost reminded me of AC1 and AC2.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Really? I've really only played AC4, and while I liked that game I thought the combat was terrible. It felt like you were watching animations play out rather than being fully in control (often with the clashing sounds and such not even matching what you were seeing). The combat in GOT felt miles better to me. Very responsive and satisfying.

That's how AC is from 4 going forward to today.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Pretty fair. Maybe 81.

In my mind, if is 83 is and 80.

 

[Flabagast]

Even the main story is pretty average tbh.

I just found it was not a really interesting game. Way behind best Sony first party games imho.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Honestly one of the most overrated games of the gen. Highlight was the grass. Everything else was done better in other games.

Combat was weak, same death animations for literally every kill, all standoffs identical. Bland boring empty open world. Horrible cutscenes... Auto-fail stealth missions in 2020. Didn't capture the brutality of the era with its atmosphere.

The combat was great for an open world game. I cant think of other open world games with better melee or weapon combat.
( not including sleep dogs lol ) its way better than assassins creed etc in combat

 

[SLB1904]

I simply can’t understand this, the game is really flawed. I think these scores come with people obsessed with Japanese culture and over romanticize any related to it.

Us the best samurai game ever made hands down. And people who play the Japanese dub without speaking Japanese missed a lot of dialogue because for some reason they aren't subbed. Loads of great stuff coming from npcs. Just a few examples. This woman wanted her husband to die fighting Mongols.
Some dudes were debating if they should join the Mongols because the Mongols were providing great life. And the soundtrack cheff kiss. The burial of the ronin on the bitch that probably most people missed. The lady masako side quest is top tier. The exploration for cosmetics that are pretty unique and cool. I follow every bird and never was disappointed.
Beatiful vistas. Random encounters have a small story. Like the guy who ask me to save his family just to find them dead by the river.

I can go on. This game is top tier. Is not my fault people played it wrong and miss all these stuff

Edit: oh and the duels! Fuck me I wish there was more. The first one I encounter in the chapter 2 just by exploring were the arena as a low fog and swords. Banderas.gif

 

[skit_data]

I played Assassins Creed Origins (after a looong AC hiatus, last one I played was AC2 Revelations) recently and found it pretty damn good too tbh.

I think both are damn good action games but unlike in AC Origins I never felt bored by the traversal in the same way. AC Origins also had those great moments of exploring but it never felt like you came across them naturally (maybe following a yellow bird instead of having a ”?”-sign was all that it took. )It’s just a different flow in the game. Also I found the score and story of GoT better despite findinf AC Origins equivalent very strong as well.

 

[Represent.]

The combat was great for an open world game. I cant think of other open world games with better melee or weapon combat.
( not including sleep dogs lol ) its way better than assassins creed etc in combat

Combat itself was solid. but felt like it was a shell of its own potential. coming right off TLOU 2 I was extremely disappointed in the lack of brutality in a game about war. felt like Childs play. and I absolutely hated how the death animations were the same for every. single. enemy. no matter how I killed them.

as much as I was disappointed in the game, Ghosts 2 could be fucking epic if they do a few things.

I wish part 2 would go wide-linear Ala God of War/Last of Us but it'll never happen

 

[SuperSaiyanWithDreads]

Finished the main story yesterday after finally getting to play this (I had been waiting until I got a Ps5 to play at 60fps and with Japanese lip sync).
While I overall enjoyed my time with it, I have to say I was surprisingly underwhelmed by the game. I love the setting, the visuals are often quite nice, the main story is enjoyable and the combat is simple yet fun. But a very Ubisoft-like open world design, lack of challenge and terrible side content really hold it back.

Even though the textures and animations aren't the best out there, the often nice lighting, wind and leaves flying around do a lot to turn this into one of the nicest looking open world games out there

They could have done so much more with an open world, while the same old Ubisoft design (and it’s VERY Ubisoft like) is a bit boring after games like Elden Ring earlier this year, it’s what they’ve filled it with which I found mostly bad . Almost every side quest is extremely basic and plays out the same: Watch a short conversation, either follow a character or follow footprints, fight the same 4-5 enemy types as always and get some minor passive upgrade as a reward, that’s it. They do almost nothing to shake things up and when they do it’s even worse stuff like a tailing mission. They don’t tell interesting stories, you don’t reach unique locations or well designed "dungeons", there’s no interesting setups or choices, etc.. It’s a short conversation → follow a path → samey fight with the same handful of enemies in samey locations over and over again.
I eventually dropped the regular sidequests and decided to only do the ones that focus on specific characters, assuming those would be more interesting, but aside from slightly more engaging plots they are virtually identical in their design. Only the blue quests that unlock new gear and or abilities are somewhat more unique and varied, but there’s only a small handful of them.
The side “activities” aren’t much better. Do random Haikus to unlock headbands, reach temples in autopilot platforming that makes the platforming in Uncharted seem engaging, clear nearly identical enemy camps that get old after you’ve done 5-6 of them and follow foxes around.

"Someone must have left footprint around here....for the 50th time!"


At least the main quest is good. I liked the characters, I liked how the story focused on honor vs doing what is needed, I thought the characters were pretty good (as a side note there's some great examples of cool non woke female characters), it's well paced and not bloated like other games and even though the mission design also involved a lot of following a trail and fighting the same handful of enemies, at least they have bigger and more complex locations, more interesting setups, more setpiece moments, etc that make it varied enough to not outstay its welcome.
To an extent I can't help but think this might have been better as a more linear game. The visuals are great, the core of the combat is really fun and the story was enjoyable , but this came out 6 years after Infamous Second Son and it still feels like Sucker Punch makes open world games just for the sake of it and still haven't figured out how to actually put worthwhile content in them.

Lol the side quest consists of OMG THE MONGOLS KIDNAPPED SUCH AND SUCH PLEASE GO FIND THEM! Then you follow footprints in the ground to go find out the person is already dead by the time u get there and then rinse and repeat over and over again I have the plat trophy

 

[Majormaxxx]

I thoroughly enjoyed it but I played it to completion and the side activities got old - repeating the same thing...

 

[ReBurn]

I couldn't finish it. Bailed in Act III.

I still rate it a 9/10, and it's a fantastic game. Amazing graphics, setting, pretty solid combat gameplay similar to the old Assassin's Creed games. Stealth is not very good because there's not enough architecture to really make any of the approaches interesting. That was the biggest disappointment for me is that there's really not much of a notable transition from samurai to ninja. He just kind of does it all, and the story transition was extremely rapid. When I delve into a martial arts centered story, I expect much more substantial training segments to completely change your fighting style like that. I also didn't really feel anything at all in regards to the story. All side quests are also about as barebones as they can get, but I expected that from inFamous SS devs and it met my expectations of what they would make. I think the lack of alternate weapons also really limits the game, especially for someone improvising and experimenting with stealth tactics.

It's a fun action game modeled after the old Pre-Origins Assassin's Creed games, with beautiful visuals. There's definitely room for improvement.

This was largely my experience.

 

[samoilaaa]

does valhalla has better story ?

 

[Mobilemofo]

Whilst I respect your opinion op, your wrong. Seriously, I loved it. Each to their own.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I had to force myself to complete it. It was an average to good game for me. Glad others enjoyed it though.

 

[SlimySnake]

7 or 8 would be more fair. It’s a less annoying Assassin’s Creed. And there isn’t anything innovative about it. It’s agree really overrated. Probably got hype from the “anti-woke” crusaders against TLoU2.

It definitely got a boost from the anti-TLOU2 crowd but I think its mostly because its a fun game to play unlike TLOU2 which despite its greatness was a drag to playthrough.

Ghost had a beautiful world to explore. A likeable protagonist. Great fucking combat systems. And a classic Samurai western story told beautifully. I think it was the perfect game to play after TLOU2 and I gave TLOU2 my GOTY over GoT that year.

 

[Zathalus]

Solid 8/10 for me. Loved the story, art style, and combat but the open world was pretty much bog standard ubisoft style open world. I'd place it on the same level as AC: Origins or AC: Odyssey.

 

[Fbh]

Yeah, the open world exploration left a lot to be desired, but I quite liked the character specific side quests. They were far more involved than your typical Ubisoft side quest, and I just fucking love the main quest. Those two things made me fall in love with the game and helped set it apart from every Ubisoft game in existence.

I think the problem with last gen open world games is that they are lacking that dynamic element which makes it more rewarding to explore. Those stupid foxes were terrible. The poems were god awful. And outpost felt like Far Cry 3 on PS3.

And GoT isnt the only game to have this issue. Every game from Red Dead to Horizon and Ass Creed has the same issue. These vast open worlds have nothing to do except for killing things and while the combat system in GoT is fun, at the end of the day, the world and mission design simply hasnt changed from the PS3 era. TBH, Thats why I liked the Arkham games so much. They saved the open world for riddler puzzles but all of their story missions were held indoors and still followed the metroidvania design with puzzles mixed in with combat encounters.

Im hoping that with the new next gen CPUs and SSDs, the devs are able to come up with something better than the blueprint Ubisoft came up with in the PS3 era because these games have begun to feel very tedious. I have Elden Rings, Cyberpunk, Mafia, AC Odyssey, and several other open world games installed and ready to be played, but I just cant get into another 40-60 hour committment where im doing the same thing I did in the first 10 hours over and over again.

I liked some of the stories of the character specific side quests but their design is still very basic. I found many of the sidequests in AC Odyssey a lot more involved than the stuff here.

I don't really think it's necessarily a hardware question though. It's more about the design.
BoTW is made on weak hardware and while the game has plenty of issues (at least IMO) it does nail the exploration and traversal elements better than most Ubisoft style games. Or you have stuff like Elden Ring where the design is also focused on killing everything that moves but it's complemented with fun exploration in unique and well designed locations, with tons of enemy variety, cool optional bosses, etc. This game has nothing even remotely close to Stormveil Castle or Raya Lucaria academy.

I could be wrong, so I am genuinely open to being corrected, but this could be the result of the team being rather modest in size, compared to the juggernaut studios that employ hundreds, if not thousands of people, in order to craft the minutiae of open world titles...
Sorry, I'm drunk...

Don't know, could be.
If that's the case I hope Sony has increased their budget for the next game given how successful it was

I loved the ending that went straight into that great song.

The ending was great.
I love how it doesn't end with the fight against the Khan but rather with Jin fighting his uncle. It was one of the more emotional finall boss battles of recent times IMO.
In general I like how the story is just as much about Jin and his relationship with his uncle as it is about fighting the Mongols.

Solid 8/10 for me. Loved the story, art style, and combat but the open world was pretty much bog standard ubisoft style open world. I'd place it on the same level as AC: Origins or AC: Odyssey.

I like the mains story and combat more here. But I thought the world and quests were a lot better in AC Odyssey.

 

[slade]

I'm convinced this game only hit it big because of the controversy around TLoU2. Otherwise, TLoU2 did everything better and if you were coming off Ass Creed Oddysey, this was just such a bland game to play.