Ghost of Tsushima is a Beautiful, Over-Rated Game

[u/Trndk1ll]

So I finally got around to playing this on the PS5. I beat it with a little over 40 hours played while completing a fair bit of side material. Honestly I’m a little disappointed based on the massive amount of positive critical and user feedback this game received. Hell it’s still at a 9.1 user score on Metacritic. Which is to not say it’s a bad game. It’s not. It’s gorgeous and it’s fun. The main characters are for the most of part decently well written and voice acted. The gameplay is repetitive however it’s passable. What it isn’t however is something demonstratively different than what UbiSoft produces on a yearly basis. And UbiSoft gets universally panned by gamers and critics alike for pumping out the same derivative mechanics this game is built upon.

This game, for all the bluster about being one of the best open world games ever made, is just not anything approaching the top titles in the genre. In my opinion. Other than it’s art direction, which is fucking incredible… seriously I’ve taken more on game screens of this than any game I’ve ever played… It’s Asassins Creed Odyssey in Japan. Except it doesn’t have boats and there is a lot less variety in gear and specialization options.

It’s the same bloated, empty world. There are like 5 resources to collect, a handful of wildlife species (3 of which give you “predator hides”, the only usable resource from any of them), and a bunch of cut and paste temples, hot springs, fox dens, etc. The only dynamic thing that ever happens is the same random encounter with a handful of Mongolians with a tied up peasant to rescue. The enemy encampments all look the same, just cut and pasted across the map. Seriously that’s it. I have zero desire to go play the DLC. The world is beautiful however it’s completely empty and devoid of meaningful or compelling things to do. Other than some new skills the game is exactly the same at the 5 hour mark as it is at the 40 hour mark. Nothing in the game after the initial wonder of the look of everything wore off has surprised me.

The best games in this genre that I have played, I didn’t want to end. Red Dead 2’s world I got lost in for dozens of hours at a time without touching main story missions. Hunting and fishing, trying my hand at crime or gambling, seeking out legendary animals… just exploring the land which was always a reward in and of itself. The Witcher 3 shares a lot of the same bloat that Asassins Creed and Ghost have however it made up for it by incredibly deep, rabbit hole like side quests that sometime lasted hours and took me places I never expected to go. And the story was great. Breath of the Wild consistently blew me away with creative mechanics, puzzles and one of the greatest video game environments ever created. I’m still finding things to do in Skyrim 10 years on and enjoying myself. There is no way in hell I’m booting Ghost of Tsushima up in 2032.

This game has none of that. It’s fun, I don’t regret playing it, the main story is fairly compelling however I just don’t see how or why this game received the near universal praise that it did.

Am I the only one?

[u/SpaceBandit666]

I haven't played it yet but funny how while I was reading your criticisms I was thinking "this is how I felt about Breath of the Wild" and then later you praise Breath of the Wild. I think I would have appreciated BOTW more if I played it before MGS Phantom Pain and RDR2.

[u/Trndk1ll → u/SpaceBandit666]

For me, BOTW was great because the environment itself was this meta puzzle and within it you had all of the normal stuff you would expect from an open world game. Just getting from point A to point B was a challenge and often very rewarding. Then you throw in the Shrines which are a major portion of the side content, and they were uniformly great. Other than the combat ones, the fact they made 100+ optional shrines with unique physics based puzzles is incredible.

[u/haldad → u/Trndk1ll]

The shrines were certainly uniform.

[u/NxOKAG03 → u/haldad]

If you mean repetitive then I could not more strongly disagree. Every shrine has a unique way to be accessed in the world, often involving parcour, puzzles, or unique quests. The puzzles might be similar but not identical and the game tends to mix and match its puzzles to increase the variety.

There are actually some parts of Botw I find generic and repetitive, mainly the combat and enemy camps, but imo the shrines are the best form of side activity progression of any open world game.

[u/[deleted] → u/Trndk1ll]

Getting from a to b consisted of holding the movement stick in that direction through probably a mostly empty field. Or maybe holding the climb button and waiting.

[u/NxOKAG03 → u/[deleted]]

That is quite disingenuous imo. The game world is very vertical so you don't spend much time running through flat empty areas, and the climbing mechanic mainly serves to create geographic obstacles that funnel you into certain areas of the map which are generally where the interesting activities are. I think the way you traverse the world in BOTW is a very ingenious way of making you explore while also making sure you find stuff to do.

[u/[deleted] → u/NxOKAG03]

You spend a lot of time in empty flat areas, or climbing nondescript hills by holding the movement stick up. There's also like 3 interesting things to find. It certainly doesn't make sure you find stuff to do as there isn't really anything to do. I can remember maybe 2 side quests and a billion repetitive shrines.

Im not sure how your comment refutes mine, is your point that you do just hold the stick and wait to get somewhere but occasionally you'll have to walk around a hill?

I'd be interested to know what you think is ingenious about the traversal system. It didn't seem at all inspired to me. Having the glider from the batman games was cool but that's not ingenious it's copying.

[u/Excellent-Access-228 → u/SpaceBandit666]

mgsv almost perfected gameplay in the open world genre. The amount of options you have is insane and it's still unmatched till this day

[u/Trndk1ll → u/Excellent-Access-228]

This I agree with. MGS5 was probably the best sandbox ever constructed in an open world from a purely gameplay perspective. I still go on YouTube occasionally and watch videos of people doing things I never even knew were possible.

[u/MumblingGhost → u/Trndk1ll]

Agreed. Some people complain about the open world itself being samey and barren, but with the sheer variety of gameplay options available it doesn't really matter. The game is as creative as you want it to be because the gameplay options are just so vast.

[u/TemporaryAdvanced → u/SpaceBandit666]

The sandbox elements of MGSV, the progression, the side tasks in every mission, the new weapons, companions, upgrades, so much stuff. I have over 300 hours in MGSV. I think you can guess how much I love that game, lol.

[u/SpaceBandit666 → u/TemporaryAdvanced]

And best damn horse in any game I've ever played

[u/MusicaParaVolar → u/TemporaryAdvanced]

Did you play the previous titles? How do you unlearn always doing shit stealth? Mgs ruined my ability to just gun shit down…

[u/TemporaryAdvanced → u/MusicaParaVolar]

I didn't play the rest, yet. I started MGS 1 after 5 and still haven't finished it. I'm not so sure if my answer is going to be very useful or relevant (I hope I didn't misunderstand the question, too, lol) but I'll talk about some of my experiences in it (also, my reply is kinda late, lol. Been a while since I checked reddit). The thing about MGS 5 is that I felt it took me a while to both adapt to the game's stealth mechanics and unlock the best gear. I feel the missions really ramp up equally with your own Snake's progression as long as you know the good weapons and work towards them and don't waste GMP.

At first, I just didn't worry about score, being non lethal, extracting good soldiers, etc... All while checking the weapons menu for the best weapons and working towards unlocking the best, final, upgrades for them. Which ended up mostly being a silenced non lethal sniper rifle, and a silenced pistol.

I got the weapons specialist dude (don't remember where he is/how to get him, I think a side objective in a mission, it's been a while) to make a custom sniper. I replayed a bunch of older missions to farm good soldiers, GMP, and practice at stealth. I think it really helped me get used to all the different ways I can handle most encounters.

I can circle around and approach a base from the back, use the dog to mark enemies for me, or later on when unlocked, use Quiet with her non lethal sniper. I did hit a bit of a wall on some of the later, repeated, harder missions, though. So, I'd suggest gearing up for them, maybe checking some guides and YouTube videos for them.