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Shanw Layden (Former PlayStation CEO) on Ghost of Yotei protagonist being a female: "Don't like it? Don't buy it"

Fake

Gold Member
Yeah, but he wouldn't be the "Ghost of" of a different place (in this case Yōtei).

He will be called Ghost of Yotei my friend. People wasn't aware of him past criminal actions in the previous game because he was at the other place.

Maybe some would called him Tsushima, but always end up what the write would want to the franchise.

Please, just don't act like everything is impossible. They can do very easily.

Ghost of Tsushima was VERY well received by players.
The folks who played and enjoyed it never thought of it as an Assassins Creed clone.

I’m not sure Sony first party studios should design games with the thought process of “What would Grummz think?”

Is someone here denying the game was well receive? Doesn't matter, people would still point out the similarities with Assassins Creed. I like the game, but is indeed similar to Assassins Creed, besides Jin being a hell of a character.

Isn't it up to the developers who the 'Ghost' is?

Yep. Thats my point. Thats why I don't fall to that '300 years ahead' bullshit. They would replace Jin even if it wasn't 300 years later.

This is just their trump card. Now everyone is using this stupid argument about 'dude, 300 years Jin can't survive'.
 
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I do get some satisfaction seeing the beloved dev of the antiwoke last gen turn heel so to speak. The fucking whining about pronouns and scars in Dragon Age, whinning about not having a male japanese samurai in Ac Shadows and now, the mental gymnastic they need to do to actually buy and enjoy Ghost of Yotei is delicious.
Seriously I saw the fucking pronouns! meme guy tweeted about being level headed and trusting Sucker Punch. If this was the easy targets they would crucify the game to the core. Fucking grifters.
 

Fake

Gold Member
Devs aren’t allowed to make their own stories anymore, it seems.

You call replacing a character from a franchise 'make their own stories'?

Its another revenge plot dude. Are you not familiar with past Sony games?
 
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midnightAI

Member
Yep. Thats my point. Thats why I don't fall to that '300 years ahead' bullshit. They would replace Jin even if it wasn't 300 years later.

This is just their trump card. Now everyone is using this stupid argument about 'dude, 300 years Jin can't survive'.
I'm not using that excuse, my excuse is his story is finished, doomed to be hunted by the Shogun for the rest of his life so all he can do is go into hiding, he isn't going to fight the Shogun.

I'm all for them changing the Ghost each game, they can change time periods to whatever they like (no modern day stuff though please, keep to historical stories)
 

Mr Moose

Member
He will be called Ghost of Yotei my friend. People wasn't aware of him past criminal actions in the previous game because he was at the other place.

Maybe some would called him Tsushima, but always end up what the write would want to the franchise.

Please, just don't act like everything is impossible. They can do very easily.



Is someone here denying the game was well receive? Doesn't matter, people would still point out the similarities with Assassins Creed. I like the game, but is indeed similar to Assassins Creed, besides Jin being a hell of a character.



Yep. Thats my point. Thats why I don't fall to that '300 years ahead' bullshit. They would replace Jin even if it wasn't 300 years later.

This is just their card point. Now everyone is using this stupid argument about '300 years Jin can't survive'.
*Jin wears mask all through the story so no one knows his identity, until the end where he finally takes it off*
"It was me all along!"
"Wait what!? You're not the Ghost of Yōtei, you're the Ghost of Tsushima! Now we feel silly"

Even better if it was a Noh mask, imagine the outrage (nō-men? Fucking agenda!).
You call replacing a character from a franchise 'make their own stories'?

Its another revenge plot dude. Are you not familiar with past Sony games?
Final Fantasy does it all the time. Tales of series does it.
 

Toons

Member
ghost-of-tsushima-2-confirmed-as-ghost-of-yotei-at-state-of_3vap.jpg


Source

He ain't wrong. More people need to do this.

Plenty of stuff I can whine about. I jsuf don't buy it and move on lol. Gaming is a big industry. Theres stuff for me, and stuff not for me.
 
Many fans are primarily concerned because they don't want modern social and gender politics injected into Ghost, or to associate the sequel's protagonist with these characters:
aloy-image.jpeg
OIP.ilC-Qy_LK7ymAATBnOzoeAHaEK
maxresdefault.jpg
abby-the-last-of-us-part-2.jpg


It's a valid concern, considering so much of modern media forcefully injects DEI into everything. The concern was amplified once people found out about Erik Ishii's vocal trans activism and rampant gender fluidity posts on X.
It falls onto Yotei's game director to decide how the character will be portrayed, and the themes that will be present within the game. Hopefully Yotei's story is solid, and the protagonist Atsu doesn't disappoint and can join the ranks among the best female characters in gaming. Sword + wolf combat should be an awesome time.
 

yurinka

Member
I wouldn’t go as far as labeling Jin a PlayStation Icon, and certainly this is unlikely to tank in sales.
Well, GoT sold 13M. Maybe there's only between half a dozen and a dozen Sony games who achieved that. But yes, I buy that with a single game maybe still doesn't deserve be called PS icon.

Devs aren’t allowed to make their own stories anymore, it seems.
Yep. Well, in reality games always have been by teams. And there are people in charge of different things, and sometimes they discuss if this or that is better and end doing whatever the people in charge says.

Nowadays, they have a censor in charge of DEI. Which means that person mandates to make woman ugly and androginous, to replace white/male/heterosexual because they are white/male/heterosexual, and to put woke propaganda in their stories and character designs.

Ghost of Tsushima was VERY well received by players.
The folks who played and enjoyed it never thought of it as an Assassins Creed clone.
Yes. I platinumed it, something not usual at all. Loved it, even if I felt that it would have been better to slice repetition of most things in a third or so.

I’m not sure Sony first party studios should design games with the thought process of “What would Grummz think?”
Sure, in the same way they shouldn't design their games with the thought process of going against the tastes of the vast majority of their players just to appeal a woke censor / woke propagandist / DEI employee.

They should instead focus on doing what most of their customers want.

Which is not to replace Nathan Drake, Joel, Peter Parker, Deacon, Jin, Kratos with more woke friendly replacements, as part of a plan of getting rid of all male protagonists in internally developed games.
 
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Hmm I have no issue with the fact that it is a female protagonist, I’m concern that there might be some self inserts and current world “issues” injected in the game.
Please don’t fuck it up SP!!
 
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Fake

Gold Member
I'm not using that excuse, my excuse is his story is finished, doomed to be hunted by the Shogun for the rest of his life so all he can do is go into hiding, he isn't going to fight the Shogun.

I'm all for them changing the Ghost each game, they can change time periods to whatever they like (no modern day stuff though please, keep to historical stories)

Nah, I don't think his story is finished. You think, but I not. He could easily fight the Shogun if the plot let him, maybe fight about corruption in his country.

*Jin wears mask all through the story so no one knows his identity, until the end where he finally takes it off*
"It was me all along!"
"Wait what!? You're not the Ghost of Yōtei, you're the Ghost of Tsushima! Now we feel silly"

Even better if it was a Noh mask, imagine the outrage (nō-men? Fucking agenda!).

Final Fantasy does it all the time. Tales of series does it.

Assassin's Creed do this all the time as well. I don't see what are you getting into.

The game stop being a unique and is start to becoming a generic. Thats my point. And about FF, nobody forget Cloud as a character and if you can bring FF to the conversation I can bring the inumerous remakes Square Enix are doing with this franchise. Because, you know, they do this a lot.

We all see. If this franchise doesn't get the same amount of sucess as GoT, lets see what they will do. I sure they will go back to Jin in a blink of eyes.
 

Boss Man

Member
People will ruin whole projects to insert their milquetoast political statements and then immediately turn around and demand that everyone stop having opinions about it.

They didn’t accidentally choose a woman to be the samurai. They did it because they believe in a religion that says everyone is the same and that any differences in group outcome or group representation are caused by racism and bigotry so need to be actively “corrected.”

The most annoying thing about it is how insulting it is. Like my politics will change now because of the lady samurai in the video game. I was just ignorant before, but now I can see. It’s like being constantly lectured by a (dumb) child.
 
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makaveli60

Member
Thanks for the tip, I’ll be doing just that. Will get a used copy for cheap later down the line. And not because the female MC but because it’s political pandering. And because there is nothing nextgen about it so far compared to the first game.
 

midnightAI

Member
Nah, I don't think his story is finished. You think, but I not. He could easily fight the Shogun if the plot let him, maybe fight about corruption in his country.
I personally would think that's a bit of a stretch, he didn't really have an issue with the Shogun as such, they just have an issue with him due to the dishonourable methods he used (such as poison) which isn't the Samurai way.

I quite like the idea of individual stories though, let each game be it's own individual thing with a conclusion. But I do understand many got attached to Jin (me also) but I always thought the next game would be a new protag I just thought it could have been Yuna.
 
Well since he insisted. Then again, that's not too hard for me considering the fact that I haven't purchased anything Sony related since Bloodborne and Gravity Rush 2. Definitely not the same brand I grew up with.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
He is not working at Sony anymore, so he should be more careful choosing his words. He could make his former company lose money and risk the jobs of devs who do not work for him anymore

For what? Telling people if they don't like something they are free to buy something else? lol

Regardless of anyone's feelings, he's not wrong.


Its a moot point.

KormaChameleon KormaChameleon lol ok, so if they said buy it day 1 special edition at $500 everyone would buy it or?


Those people were not fucking buying the game in the first place, so why would the "advice" matter on something they are not going to buy?

He even states "DON'T LIKE IT" as in if you don't fucking like it, to not buy it.

Are you telling me if he said "Don't like it, buy it anyway" everyone would buy it? Problem solved? smfh

We not going to sit here and pretend that is how any of this works, so if they told you buy Concord even if you hate it, you diving in face first huh?

This makes zero sense lol
 
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StueyDuck

Member
Everyone's taking the bait.

Shawn layden has fuck all to do with Sony and hasn't for many years.

Just ignore this story... its literally meaningless
 

playbignbox

Member
Many fans are primarily concerned because they don't want modern social and gender politics injected into Ghost, or to associate the sequel's protagonist with these characters:
aloy-image.jpeg
OIP.ilC-Qy_LK7ymAATBnOzoeAHaEK
maxresdefault.jpg
abby-the-last-of-us-part-2.jpg


It's a valid concern, considering so much of modern media forcefully injects DEI into everything. The concern was amplified once people found out about Erik Ishii's vocal trans activism and rampant gender fluidity posts on X.
It falls onto Yotei's game director to decide how the character will be portrayed, and the themes that will be present within the game. Hopefully Yotei's story is solid, and the protagonist Atsu doesn't disappoint and can join the ranks among the best female characters in gaming. Sword + wolf combat should be an awesome time.
Please don't compare Viola with those other 03 ugly girls
 

strike670

Neo Member
Many fans are primarily concerned because they don't want modern social and gender politics injected into Ghost, or to associate the sequel's protagonist with these characters:
aloy-image.jpeg
OIP.ilC-Qy_LK7ymAATBnOzoeAHaEK
maxresdefault.jpg
abby-the-last-of-us-part-2.jpg


It's a valid concern, considering so much of modern media forcefully injects DEI into everything. The concern was amplified once people found out about Erik Ishii's vocal trans activism and rampant gender fluidity posts on X.
It falls onto Yotei's game director to decide how the character will be portrayed, and the themes that will be present within the game. Hopefully Yotei's story is solid, and the protagonist Atsu doesn't disappoint and can join the ranks among the best female characters in gaming. Sword + wolf combat should be an awesome time.
There is nothing wrong with having unattractive female playable characters in gaming. Just like there is also nothing wrong with having attractive female playable characters. Why not both?
 
I don't mind the fact that it's a new character. Maybe horizon forbidden west would have been better if they went with a new character instead of aloy.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
I don't mind the fact that it's a new character. Maybe horizon forbidden west would have been better if they went with a new character instead of aloy.

Depends on how they'd do it, a lot of HZD is her, like she is the core of too much in that universe to really have someone else, but its not saying it can't be done.


There is nothing wrong with having unattractive female playable characters in gaming. Just like there is also nothing wrong with having attractive female playable characters. Why not both?

Agreed.

Let artist decide what they do with their games.

To much have tried to force this either or when both shouldn't be an issue in the first place.
 

StereoVsn

Member
There is nothing wrong with having unattractive female playable characters in gaming. Just like there is also nothing wrong with having attractive female playable characters. Why not both?
We don’t have both from Western Studios lately though. Look at the recent Ubi BS where devs were saying they were told to make female characters plain or look at Sony’s output or at Fable and so on.
 
You call replacing a character from a franchise 'make their own stories'?

Its another revenge plot dude. Are you not familiar with past Sony games?
It's not like Ghost of Tsushima is some old running IP like Rachet & Clank where the main characters were replaced. Chill. It's literally one game.
It's not like Sucker Punch said something regarding Jin Sakai being the main character for god knows how many games and now changed everything...
 

GHound

Member
As a general rule I try to not pay too close attention to the ramblings of people that have names like "shawn layden 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇸🇯🇵" on social media.
Especially when it starts with "shawn layden".
 

Thabass

Member
He's called Shawn (or Shanw). He doesn't work for Sony.
I swear people can't read.
It doesn't matter who said it, it's the opposite thing that someone in (whether they are currently or FORMERLY) in charge should be saying. You want the most people to buy your product, you don't want to say "don't buy this product", ever. Stupid thing to say regardless of their current place in the industry.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
It doesn't matter who said it, it's the opposite thing that someone in (whether they are currently or FORMERLY) in charge should be saying. You want the most people to buy your product, you don't want to say "don't buy this product", ever. Stupid thing to say regardless of their current place in the industry.
It's not his product. If you don't like a game (any game), you shouldn't buy the game. I've been doing that since forever.
 

sendit

Member
Jin is the ghost dude, doesn't matter the place. He will always be the ghost. Its just because they release this new 'sequel' and now 'everyone can be a ghost' become a thing.
Gay Lgbt GIF by giphystudios2021


Don't worry, your beloved Jin is still the ghost. Literally a ghost as this game takes place 300 years later. I'm predicting he will show up in spirit form to duel Atsu.
 
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larrybrady

Neo Member
He's just saying,vote with your wallet,that's it .... Ppl know he's not sony anymore...... There's been so many great games with female leads.. as long as this game has nobody pushing their political agenda, or telling you what the new normal is, or telling you how to vote, or telling you if you don't agree with them, you're the devil,or acting crazy unnecessary levels of sassy(which I doubt this game will have any or most of these things,because of its time period), than were golden,and ill get this game day 1
 

Sethbacca

Member
Sigh... I know this is gonna be a hell of shield for any argument between replacing Jin from his franchise.
It was a single game not a franchise until we got this sequel. They’ve defined the franchise as Ghost of and not something that revolves around Jin. It doesn’t preclude them from revisiting Jin’s story at a later point in time if they wanted to.

Also, we’re just expected to act like assassins creed hasn’t been doing this for 15 years now changing timelines and main characters. Such a ridiculous hill to die on.
 

Griffon

Member
Again with the gaslighting "wHy dO YoU cArE? thEre's no agEndA I cAn SeE!" when Sony has so blatantly typecasted a trans dude as the protag of the game. The heroine face looks like an old lady at best. But noooo, it's all innocent, no propaganda going on...

Go eat a dick. I'm all for a female protag, but not... this.
 
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EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
It's not like Ghost of Tsushima is some old running IP like Rachet & Clank where the main characters were replaced. Chill. It's literally one game.
It's not like Sucker Punch said something regarding Jin Sakai being the main character for god knows how many games and now changed everything...

Whats crazy, is many of us jokingly fucking said this shit for years.

It would move on with a different character, that isn't some wild idea, its already mimicking Assassin's Creed, so I'm not shocked that those that failed to see that similarity, failed to see them using a different character and set in a different time

Many of us predicted a different character, a different time, I literally called they would do it in Edo Period based on them using many, many ideas from that time in Ghost Of Tsushima despite it being completely inaccurate for that time frame, so it was easy to predict they would do it in Edo based on the love for that time and Kurosawa films etc

I think many on here were completely blinded to that btw and it seems only Danjin44 Danjin44 , a few others and myself sorta caught those inaccuracies based on being fans of anime, japan etc and being able to spot some of those Edo Period concepts..

So I think the shock of it being with a different character and different time is more to do with many on here simply not seeing this for what it was. It seemed like Sucker Punch had to do the Mongol Invasion, but LOVED Edo Period and Kurosawa films more or something lol and the invasion is a limited thing, it is not a open story concept that leads itself to like 3 or 4 titles or something, so guessing they would do Edo and seeing it would be a different character imho isn't really that wild of a stretch.

That is a educated guess that several of us accurately made many times throughout the years.
 
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