Ghost of Tsushima

The Phantom Pain

Still on act 1 as I've only started playing this evening. Early impressions is that it’s good. The best thing is the exploration and discovery. You can put a marker on the map but you’re highly likely to get sidetracked by a dozen other objectives along the way, and nothing feels repetitive yet. I also don't feel like I need to go out of my way to do side objectives in order to level up for the main ones because the way you go about the world and progression feels natural. I love composing the Haikus and can’t wait to find more of them lol

The combat is incredibly satisfying. I've already put a lot of points into deflection because it feels so good to one-hit kill an enemy with a perfect parry.
It has one flaw that leaves it a notch shy of perfection and that's the camera. Too many times fights are taking place off screen and I feel like I have to micromanage it in order to make Gin and whoever is fighting visible again. A real shame because other than that it’s awesome.

The “wind is your guide” mechanic is annoying AF. Sorry. I actually find it immersion breaking. Rather than simply having a waypoint the world is screaming at you where to go with the petals and bushes and trees blowing everywhere, it's sensory overload. I also don't think the graphics are that great for an open world game this late in the generation.

The overall tone of the world is a bit too serious for it's own good as well. I get the story subject matter and time period is probably equal to the tone but I think you can at least make the characters more likeable. The lack of ambient music doesn’t help – makes it feel oppressively depressing and desolate.

Zero-Cool

Still early on but really liking it. Could of niggles, I've had to turn HDR off because of the word blurriness when i turn the camera, same with hdr on every other game. Pity, it looks way nicer in hdr.

The camera seems to be pointing away from the enemy 50% of the time and like above, feel like I'm micro managing it during battles.

Anyway rise give their a horse a slap of the sword by pressing triangle to mount?

For pro's, the combat is so slick and satisfying. The loading is some of the fastest I've seen on ps4, kudos to that. Still don't know what to make the wind. It's great not staring at a minimap but the wind can be a bit much sometimes.

BeerWolf

What are those shrines with the BOW emote signs? When I do that I get a varying particle effect, such as fire flies, petals, and what not, swirling around me.

Doesn't count towards any collectables, so are they just some fun gimmick?

Edit -- Ah, for a Hidden Trophy to do 10 of them.

petes

Caved and now downloading it.

I do love that they included a Kurosawa mode.... Think it's the most fun I've had in an open world since the first Red Dead.

shrewdness

When this was first announced, it looked interesting but I wasn't as excited about it as some people. Then when I seen the gameplay trailer, I wasn't blown away as it looked pretty similar to many other open world games and didn't look to be showing off much new. But after reading how some reviews described it and hearing the reactions of people that had got it, I caved and got it myself.

Some hours in, I have to say I'm really enjoying it. Wasn't too sure what to make of it at the beginning - it seemed a little clunky to me, but that was only the intro and the combat hasn't really been properly introduced yet, nor the world opened up. Once you get past that and do a few missions, and unlock some techniques, it improves a whole lot. The combat is hugely satisfying, especially once you introduce new stances and moves. When fighting a group of different sorts of enemies, it's handy being able to switch between the stances seamlessly. I love the style of it, it really makes you feel like a traditional samurai, while also mixing in that "ghost" type stealth(haven't done a huge amount of that yet though tbh). The world looks amazing too.

On the wind, I do find it handy if I get sidetracked doing something else while on the way to a quest, being able to swipe up and get the general direction again - rather than having a big minimap stuck in the corner taking your attention (I love the minimalist hud in this). But I wish the wind didn't go on so much - just a quick gust to remind me of the direction would be grand, and then gone again. It can be a bit distracting having this big wind going across the screen non stop for a full minute or so. Maybe that can be adjusted in the options? Haven't looked into it too much tbh.

Sephiroth_dude

You know the way it say The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa (Ishikawa Tale 1 of 9) is that mission 1 of 9? so 8 more to come for this character?

EoinMcLovin

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

You know the way it say The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa (Ishikawa Tale 1 of 9) is that mission 1 of 9? so 8 more to come for this character?

Yes that's correct

Sephiroth_dude

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Yes that's correct

Will they all come in the first region do you know ? I just did the bow guys first mission but he doesn't have another mission atm.

EoinMcLovin

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Will they all come in the first region do you know ? I just did the bow guys first mission but he doesn't have another mission atm.

I've only done the first one for him too. The second one should show up after a while.

His second one was available to me almost right away , I just had to fast travel back to his place. Theres a picture of him on the map.

Sephiroth_dude

Deleted User wrote: »

His second one was available to me almost right away , I just had to fast travel back to his place. Theres a picture of him on the map.

Oh dear maybe its bugged for me so, as it wasn't there for me :-/.

rm212

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Will they all come in the first region do you know ? I just did the bow guys first mission but he doesn't have another mission atm.

No, they’re spread across all 3 regions. You’ll get the same style of side story arcs [“A Blah Tale (X of Y)”] with several other characters but only the first mission is a main one (or sometimes none), then they become side missions.

Zero-Cool

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Oh dear maybe its bugged for me so, as it wasn't there for me :-/.

I did read that some quests were bugged, I'd say give it a giggle to see if it's the same as other people. I saw powerpyx day to make a manual save regularly in case what's end up disappearing and the fix is to do all quests in a tale before moving to the next but that sounds stupid.

Arcadeheroes

I picked up the game today and just finished the opening tutorial of the game .
I was not very impressed with the gameplay showcase when it was shown at state of play and kinda made up my mind this game was not for me as it looked way too much like Assassin Creed and I am kinda tired of that same Ubisoft-Like formula every game seems to like to copy when it comes to open world games.

But actually after having hands on playing the game its actually very enjoyable so far albeit I am only at the start of the game .
I encountered a bug already at the very start of a cutscene when the frames dropped to 10-15 fps . Thought it was a dramatic feature effect or something until I checked it on youtube :pac:.

So far I am pleasantly surprised.:)

The Phantom Pain

Does anyone else just walk up to every npc just to greet them with a bow or is that just me?

CrazyFish

The trailers nearly put me of getting this and was no too interested in it. But I was bored so decided to pick it up. Really enjoying it. I hated the combat initially but once you get some levels into it you end up feeling like a bad ass. It is super satisfying. Doing loads of side stuff at the minute and its actually a pretty decent standard for even some of the side stuff. Find the combat much more satisfying than assassins creed. I like that your characters progession is actually through a mix of gear and skills. (And the skills are actually effective and really add to the combat).

I can't be delaing with door so I slash my way through every time

The combat is actually decently done. I was expecting it to be more like Assassin's Creed and while it is a bit how they handled enemies is great, they don't all just pile in and have at you so you actually have time you use parry and counters etc .

Sephiroth_dude

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Oh dear maybe its bugged for me so, as it wasn't there for me :-/.

Ya its glitched, never showed up after I replayed it .

The Phantom Pain

btw if you stand and bow over a dead body you find in the world Gin will give a little speech.

Zero-Cool

The Phantom Pain wrote: »

btw if you stand and bow over a dead body you find in the world Gin will give a little speech.

That's a badass bow as well. I can see myself accidently doing that to a person working in a shop or something.

The Phantom Pain

re combat I think that they got the button mapping for the stances all wrong... I've only unlocked 3 so far but water should be triangle as it's over the head and triangle is at the top, wind should be circle as Gin holds his sword to the right where the circle button is and stone should be square.

Gyan84

Enjoying this so far.

The camera is definitely a bit wonky though. I've failed stealth sections a few times due to the camera messing up a chain assassination streak.

Only other issue is the platforming is a bit janky. I've gotten stuck in an infinite falling animation a few times but they clearly knew it was an issue as it fades to black and resets you after a few seconds.

I'd suggest to everyone to get the major charm from one of the first shrines that increases the amount of supplies/crafting materials you pick up as it makes the later upgrades much easier to get.

Anybody know if there's anyway to sell/discard charms ? Every side quest seems to reward one so now my inventory is clogged full of duplicates.

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Ya its glitched, never showed up after I replayed it .

What part are you on ? I've had two quests stop at 4/9 but I think that's intentional as both characters said "we should go do main quest event X but don't forget to finish this after."

EoinMcLovin

Gyan84 wrote: »

What part are you on ? I've had two quests stop at 4/9 but I think that's intentional as both characters said "we should go do main quest event X but don't forget to finish this after."

If it's the quests for Sensei and the other ally, I just completed the main quest level to free your uncle. I unlocked quest 5 for each of them even though only on second for each of them which shows in journal too meaning I've 2 missions for each of them. I'm planning to go through the lower part of the map before going any further in the main quest line

shrewdness

Gyan84 wrote: »

I'd suggest to everyone to get the major charm from one of the first shrines that increases the amount of supplies/crafting materials you pick up as it makes the later upgrades much easier to get.

Where is this shrine?

Zero-Cool

shrewdness wrote: »

Where is this shrine?

Where you start in the middle of the map, there was a question mark. It was a foxes den and i followed the fox to a shrine by a waterfall. Sorry, not much help that's all i remember about it.

Sephiroth_dude

Gyan84 wrote: »

What part are you on ? I've had two quests stop at 4/9 but I think that's intentional as both characters said "we should go do main quest event X but don't forget to finish this after."

Near the beginning I guess, doing bow mans quest to recruit him, his side quest (tales 2 of 9) should appear automatically on the map with a marker with his face on it after it and it didn't, even when I restarted from a save it didn't appear, I did the old ladies quest as well, and her tales 2 of 9 never showed on the map either, so I'm gonna start a new game and see if that fixes it but I doubt it will somehow, only other option then is redownload it .


*cries at the thought*

Zero-Cool

Did you try go to his dojo place in the East? His icon might be missing from the map but he might still be there to talk to? If not, I'd say you'll be back to that bit in no time starting again.

Sephiroth_dude

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Did you try go to his dojo place in the East? His icon might be missing from the map but he might still be there to talk to? If not, I'd say you'll be back to that bit in no time starting again.

Ya he wasn't there, no icon on the map either.