• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ghost of Tsushima - Review Thread

Check my other post for the combat, I've been experimenting with the game a bit and if you try to play like it's assassin's creed or god of war, it's not going to be as satisfying. you have to bait out attacks and than punish, keeping proper spacing is also key, along with certain upgrades.

My dude, I totally read it earlier and I've actually taken your advice to heart as I play the game as we speak :)

Thanks for the tips!
 

Amiga

Member
Because the world can't work like that. You can't distrust everyone just because there are some cases of reviewers clearly lying/getting their info from somewhere else without playing the actual game.
If there are hundreds of outlets worldwide and you can only show me 2-3 examples of "reviews gone wrong", were on a pretty good road, I'd say.

Why are you on this forum? How do you know the people discussing the game here aren't lying about having played it? They could've watched a walkthrough on Youtube?
You need a certain amount of trust or any kind of discussion, opinion or review won't work at all.

this happened twice with the same outlet IGN, there is a 3rd story about IGN editors pushing narratives for sensationalism according to a former member, and the other example is from GS, these are the 2 biggest games media outlets, and we only know these stories because they got exposed. there plenty more such stories, if you open a thread we can discuss them.

and my original point is media reviews have no more value than user reviews. so I actually value overall opinions more than media.
 
You know I think people who have a problem with the combat probably aren't playing the game properly. Mashing triangle and wearing down the opponent's stun is out of the question if you want to get the most enjoyment. The basic tenet of its combat plays very similar to a fighting game, you have to focus on keeping proper spacing using your backdash or moving away, and than just bait an attack and whiff punish your opponents. It's also a must that you need that upgrade where you can hold down after your quick attack for a stronger follow up attack and you also probably need that double stab upgrade for swordsman and level up the water stance for shielded enemies. I space the opponent just inside the range of the oponnent's attack trying to bait them and than I back dash or move back slightly out of range to make their attack whiff and than hit them with the double stab, water stance shield buster combo, or the quick attack/hold down/follow up attack while they are recovering. If you want to play more aggressively there are also plenty of combo routes depending on if you dash in or are standing still. I'm still experimenting with everything and trying to create different combos but It's actually a lot of fun and helps if you have a background with fighting games.

Im not very far into the Story but so far I've been playing mostly with those block/counter moves. Killing enemies left and right. Obviously once you face multiple stronger enemies the right stance for each enemy is also important. I want to play as a honourable samurai so I am currently not focusing on those shadow/ghost techniques.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I'm guessing that I'm only about 30% into the game so far, and I'd already be giving it an essential rating to any seasoned gamer.

The combat felt off a little at the start - no fault of the game, under pressure it is easy for me to revert to AC combat dumbness - but it reminds me a lot of Severance Blade of Darkness combat, with Batman Arkham for linking combos, and Soul Calibur Mitsurugi finesse for the lightning fast finishing animations.

Story is also feeling really well paced and seems to encourage open world side story distraction, rather than just a linear objective of A,B,C in an open world - in that regard it reminds me a little of how Sleeping dogs was enjoyable for gamers, but not all reviewers got it.
 

Dodkrake

Banned
Just moved on from Act 1. I'm trying to clear the first section now in order to have as many skills as possible before fully tackling act 2.

The game has picked up substantially. I'm not sure if I'm even at 50% now, but I'm clocking around 20h of playtime.

Playing on hard, once you have a decent skillset the game is not overly difficult. Yes, you will die, but I've seen myself easily clearing a camp with 8+ brutes.

Revised and more detailed review below:

Graphics: 7/10 - some texture work is bad, and the game is wildly inconsistent with its graphical presentation.

Art style: 10/10 - easily the selling point. While the graphics are not that great, the way the lighting plays, the wind blows leaves and trees, the gore on enemies, it feels like an old Japanese movie.

Sound: 9/10 - materials sound appropriately whether you're walking or riding your horse, the soundtrack is beautiful, combat sounds strong and powerful. Deducting 1 point for voice acting. It sounds recorded in a studio.

Gameplay: 9/10 - super fluid, fast paced. Both samurai and ghost approaches are carefully weighted and have the desired impact. You can clear a camp in quick succession if you know what you're doing. Deducting 1 point for the not so good key binding.

Story: 7/10 - Meh. Seems to take itself too seriously but the acting is not there to back it up. It's also a bit boring at the beginning. Side quests / tales are just grindy.

Performance: 5/10 - the Achilles heel, at least on OG PS4. The game does not run smooth, with frequent frame drops and frame rate fluctuations, especially during battles and duels. This is where this shouldn't occur, as it impacts the fluidity of your gameplay. To me, it's not acceptable to have a AAA game with such piss poor performance.

Overall: Solid 7/10, bumping from my previous 6/10 assessment. Will keep on posting updates.
 
I mean I'm just saying it's odd and out of character for Ben who's a huge weeb to post this on twitter, EZA are the most milquetoast, pussified video game group on the net they don't ever dare talk badly about a game. His reasons are also very generic, every game from god of war to TLOU2 has bad AI, you can't fault GOT for that, it's not any worse than I've seen elsewhere.
The AI in TLOU2 is not bad in any way. Maybe if you play the game on easy but then that's to be expected and you can't fault the game. Maybe you should actually play the game and play it on a hard difficulty and then you'll see just how smart it is. The AI in Ghost of Tsushima can be dumb as rocks even on the hardest difficulty.
 
Because the world can't work like that. You can't distrust everyone just because there are some cases of reviewers clearly lying/getting their info from somewhere else without playing the actual game.
If there are hundreds of outlets worldwide and you can only show me 2-3 examples of "reviews gone wrong", were on a pretty good road, I'd say.

Why are you on this forum? How do you know the people discussing the game here aren't lying about having played it? They could've watched a walkthrough on Youtube?
You need a certain amount of trust or any kind of discussion, opinion or review won't work at all.
There are some really dumb people in this world. I had to put a certain someone in this thread on ignore b/c they wanted to act like every reviewer was untrustworthy and didn't even play the games for review. Like how dumb can you be to think that every reviewer is hacking their save file to unlock trophies so that when you look at their profile online it looks like they actually played the game. That's the biggest conspiracy theory bull shit I've ever heard.
 

idrago01

Banned
Im not very far into the Story but so far I've been playing mostly with those block/counter moves. Killing enemies left and right. Obviously once you face multiple stronger enemies the right stance for each enemy is also important. I want to play as a honourable samurai so I am currently not focusing on those shadow/ghost techniques.
So your quick attacks remain the same, the stances only change your heavy attacks and it's pretty much mandatory to use all of the stances when you get into the later levels, you will eventually get use to switching on the fly. Proper spacing and whiff punishing is still what I would practice the most regardless of playstyle, it also makes it easier to react and parry or dodge if you keep the right spacing between your opponent which is just outside your opponent's attack range. You can than punish them when they whiff an attack, or just parry/dodge, there's even an upgrade that automatically does a punish on a perfect parry or dodge which is very useful if you like that play style. Also, be sure to upgrade your water stance since there are a ton of shielded enemies in this game and you need to use that shield break move a lot in this game (same method just have them whiff, charge up your shield break move and than let him have it). Lastly, if you want to be an honorable samurai get the attack from the horse upgrade since it can get a bit tiring dueling at the start of every battle (there are a LOT of battles in this game) and as for the ninja/ghost side get the smoke bomb and chain assasination, one of the coolest combos you can do in the game is use your smoke bomb in a crowd of enemies and than chain assassinate everyone.

Finally, make sure you clean your blade by swiping right after flawlessly clearing out a group of enemies, you truly will feel like a samurai at that point :messenger_sunglasses:
 

GymWolf

Member
I haven’t beaten the game yet due to work so I can’t confirm, but so far other than some usual feminist tropes, the purposefully fugly women, and the laughable samurai grandma Rambo, I’ve had a great time with the game. I just see a trend that people who went on twitter virtue signaling about lous2 are now conveniently being overly critical of GOT. Perhaps they are just playing the twitter game since the sjw’s and blue check marks are apparently raging about GOT and claiming cultural appropriation and all that shiet. Easy allies gotta keep their REEEsetera pets in check by throwing them raw meat for them to feed once in awhile.
Lol yeah masako is a little bit too aggressive when entering battles :ROFLMAO:
 

GymWolf

Member
What.

Nah man, GoT enemy AI is as basic as it comes.

Playing on Hard mode does not make the enemies smarter, it makes them become unfair as you'll just be attacked by 3 guys at once (out of 5 - 8 guys) and the games mechanics fall apart a little at that point.

You cannot compare the enemies in this game under the same level of TLOU2.

God of War? Yeah okay, to a certain extent. Don't recall the enemies being dumb, but maybe because their combat animations are more varied in the game.

But definitely can't say AI is weak in TLOU2.

If you insist that it is, it means you either played the game on easy mode or you have never played the game at all.
Yep, ia during stealth is fairly atrocious, even worst than days gone or ac games onestly.

Tlou2 has some retarded moments during stealth (a lot of moments tbh) but it's still far better than tsushima.
 

idrago01

Banned
Yep, ia during stealth is fairly atrocious, even worst than days gone or ac games onestly.

Tlou2 has some retarded moments during stealth (a lot of moments tbh) but it's still far better than tsushima.
To be honest I only really use stealth when you're forced to, I'm just too impatient or just a bit tired of the assasin's creed games
 

idrago01

Banned
Lol yeah masako is a little bit too aggressive when entering battles :ROFLMAO:
I mean I understand there has to be some suspension of disbelief, but I just can't let that one go, an asian grandma is not charging into battle and killing a group of trained men it's just a laughable notion
 

GymWolf

Member
To be honest I only really use stealth when you're forced to, I'm just too impatient or just a bit tired of the assasin's creed games
I use stealth mostly because every camp gave you more exp if you do some things like killing 3 enemis woth chain finishers or killimg 5 enemies without being discovered etc.

Stealth itself is pretty shitty in this game.
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
I mean I understand there has to be some suspension of disbelief, but I just can't let that one go, an asian grandma is not charging into battle and killing a group of trained men it's just a laughable notion
I mean, mongols killed all of his family so i get her being reckless...she doesn't care for his life anymore.

Still, kinda hilarious seeing her screaming at enemies with that angry granny voice :ROFLMAO:
 

idrago01

Banned
That is very solid advice. Kunai's are very useful against crowds so are the bombs
Thanks man, kunai's are a little overpowered almost feels a bit like cheating sometimes but I still like them from time to time to mix things up, i'm starting to use the smoke bomb and than chain assassination when I'm outnumbered which also works very well when outnumbered
 

idrago01

Banned
My dude, I totally read it earlier and I've actually taken your advice to heart as I play the game as we speak :)

Thanks for the tips!
Yeah keeping proper spacing is key, I try to stay just right outside the opponent's attack range at all times it feels almost like your dancing with the opponent sometimes, the spacing also gives you enough time to react to what the enemy does and makes it easier to perfect parry or dodge in addition to whiff punishing. after you get the hang of that than i'd practice the different punishes or combos that you want to use, the best punishes are either the shield break move from the water stance or the piercing move from the stone stance (but be careful since that has a slower startup). I also like using the delayed strike upgrade since it looks cool and you can make different combos but it can be easy for the enemy to block at times especially if you hold the pose too long.
 
Last edited:

tassletine

Member
You know I think people who have a problem with the combat probably aren't playing the game properly. Mashing triangle and wearing down the opponent's stun is out of the question if you want to get the most enjoyment. The basic tenet of its combat plays very similar to a fighting game, you have to focus on keeping proper spacing using your backdash or moving away, and than just bait an attack and whiff punish your opponents. It's also a must that you need that upgrade where you can hold down after your quick attack for a stronger follow up attack and you also probably need that double stab upgrade for swordsman and level up the water stance for shielded enemies. I space the opponent just inside the range of the oponnent's attack trying to bait them and than I back dash or move back slightly out of range to make their attack whiff and than hit them with the double stab, water stance shield buster combo, or the quick attack/hold down/follow up attack while they are recovering. If you want to play more aggressively there are also plenty of combo routes depending on if you dash in or are standing still. I'm still experimenting with everything and trying to create different combos but It's actually a lot of fun and helps if you have a background with fighting games.
Listen to this guy. This is how you play the game. Try not to die and it works beautifully.
 

Eiknarf

Member
I'm using japanese audio, I'm scared to hear how they made her sound in english
I can’t believe I’m saying this. But the English audio is better. Do you know why? Because it’s native. They made the game in English first

I played the first several hours with Japanese audio and I wasn’t loving it.
Now you know why: The Japanese was done second... and you can tell

If it was like a Japanese movie, where it was recorded in Japanese, then yes I would watch that Japanese movie in Japanese and gladly put on the subtitles.
 
Last edited:

Gamernyc78

Banned
The AI in TLOU2 is not bad in any way. Maybe if you play the game on easy but then that's to be expected and you can't fault the game. Maybe you should actually play the game and play it on a hard difficulty and then you'll see just how smart it is. The AI in Ghost of Tsushima can be dumb as rocks even on the hardest difficulty.

I noticed ppl have an inclination to auto "bad al" comments when many of the games thy mention actually have good AL. Tlou2 does not have bad AL thts nonsense, they detect you, move accordingly, even if thy don't see you but see a dead body thy also react to tht and act accordingly.
 

idrago01

Banned
I can’t believe I’m saying this. But the English audio is better. Do you know why? Because it’s native. They made the game in English first

I played the first several hours with Japanese audio and I wasn’t loving it.
Now you know why: The Japanese was done second... and you can tell

If it was like a Japanese movie, where it was recorded in Japanese, then yes I would watch that Japanese movie in Japanese and gladly put on the subtitles.
Well I used to love kurosawa movies, so I had to try the japanese language first, but I will admit the voice syncing in the game is pretty bad, I remember FFVII used AI to make the syncing look more seamless and natural when changing languages
 

neoism

Member
So it’s about the principle?

Eh, I suppose I can respect that in a way, it just strikes me odd when it doesn’t compromise a creator’s vision. Put an easy mode behind the Konami code if you must, make me wear a pink anklet, but at least include one. Guess as an old geezer my reflexes aren’t what they used to be and I’m searching for an out.

Well FROM disagrees with this because otherwise they would include a journalism mode!

Also you do have an option

Buy the PC version

and then download a trainer mod or slow-mo mod. I wouldn't do this personally unless i beat the game first..
but if you don't care to cheat yourself of earning it by all means... doesn't mean the developer as to do it for you!

hell if you do it outright you may as well just watch it on YouTube.
 

Amiga

Member
MC user reviews have doubled over the last few days . the rating is still 9.2. so it's not just a case of protest score markup.
on the other hand negative user reviews were over 200, now the number is about 150, MC mods must concluded 25% of them were negative review bombing.
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
I tried going with the japanese language audio with english subtitles, but I quickly realized that the mouths were speaking english. Was annoyed with that so switched back to english audio
 

Bryank75

Banned
g3Zwkqn.png


The people have spoken.

Biggest new exclusive IP of the generation.

For all the shit they get, IGN was very much on point with their review.
 
Last edited:

Bryank75

Banned
Poor Suckerpunch don't realize a lot of these user scores come from people who just want to try and spite tlou2
Only fair since one of the mainstream media brought TLOU2 up 5 times in a single review....

I think we have all been played beautifully. PlayStation launched two games back to back and played both sides off eachother and they are the ones who won big!
 

Amiga

Member
Only fair since one of the mainstream media brought TLOU2 up 5 times in a single review....

I think we have all been played beautifully. PlayStation launched two games back to back and played both sides off eachother and they are the ones who won big!

Don't think Sony or SP are playing anybody, other than ND all other studios are just focusing on making great games.
even ND it's probably just Niel forcing the whole studio to toe the line.

the MC user score matches the popular perception you find on play-streams and social media. there is no obvious reason to score GoT down. it doesn't have technical issues like Days Gone. the game-play is accessible to the mainstream, the art is beautiful. the mainstream gamer will not nitpick searching for faults or arbitrarily scale his score in comparison to other games.
 
Top Bottom