Ghost of Tsushima Catch All

Vector wrote:
Middcore wrote:

How does this game run on the base PS4?

I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.

If not, it runs great and pretty much every post has mentioned how impressive it looks and feels.

Not sure why I would be joking. Considering looking for a cheap secondhand PS4 to play this and for the waifu to play PS5 but I didn't want to find out it runs like crap on the base console and I'm sure not shelling out for a new PS4 Pro. I'm sure it looks nice, since it's widely reputed to be the final graphical tour de force to show off what the PS4 can do before it's replaced... but that's why I thought it might chug on the base model console. Even games like Control from last year were noted to run quite badly on the OG PS4 (and base XB1) at launch.

Middcore wrote:

Even games like Control from last year were noted to run quite badly on the OG PS4 when at launch.

Control ran exceptionally bad to the point that it stands out as an example of poor performance. I'd say that's less the PS4 and more Remedy's lack of optimization. Ghost of Tsushima definitely runs better than Control.

Control probably has a lot more going on in terms of physics.

Vector wrote:

When you upgrade them they change in appearance and you can cycle through the older appearances too! Each outfit has 4 variations!

Nice, thanks for mentioning this! I didn't notice you could do that. I'm at level 3 samurai armor and I prefer the basic level 1 look without those shoulderpads.

Okay, got this yesterday and loving it, but I can’t figure out the Standoffs - hold triangle and release right when the enemy attacks, right? But when I do that, Jin just stands there and gets smacked. Do you need to press it twice or something? Or am I misunderstanding?

You seem to be doing it right. If you get smacked then you released too late, or it was a feint and you released too early.

From googling I think I’m too early in the game for the enemies to be feinting, so I guess I just haven’t got the timing down.

Release triangle right as they get close and raise their sword or pull back to thrust a spear. This is the same for when you unlock the follow-up strikes.

It is amazing to me how developers have a certain feel. I could tell after playing this for about an hour that it was a sucker punch game. it feels a lot like infamous second son the way you move around the areas and there's random pockets of bad guys you can take on or avoid, the little missions that pop up as you're walking around etcetera.

one thing I do find kind of annoying is that if you take a mission and then you wander off because you see a cute, or something interesting the game stops you by saying "you're leaving the trail you get back on there" I thought this was a game where I could take a mission and wander around and do whatever I wanted but really you can't. once you take a mission you need to follow that mission until it's over don't take another one if you want to go exploring. not really a bad thing and in fact I believe that feels a lot like second son as well but it is clear that the developer has some systems in place for how they design games which prevent open world exploration fully

Vector wrote:
Middcore wrote:

How does this game run on the base PS4?

I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.

If not, it runs great and pretty much every post has mentioned how impressive it looks and feels.

I feel kinda dumb now, because I had heard/read elsewhere that the base PS4 version was distinctly scaled down in comparison to the PS4 Pro version to where it felt compromised. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether comments like that are merely technical snobbery or not, and I have admittedly not had the chance to keep up with this thread.

Sounds like I was misinformed so I'll likely go with this one sooner rather than later!

Middcore wrote:

Not sure why I would be joking. Considering looking for a cheap secondhand PS4 to play this and for the waifu to play PS5... Even games like Control from last year were noted to run quite badly on the OG PS4 (and base XB1) at launch.

Just skimming then! I'll agree with the other comments on the past few pages, my base PS4 runs this fine. I haven't noticed slowdown or pop-in or anything. Their lead engine programmer talked to Kotaku about some of their optimizations, which is interesting, and also noted that the style of the game's world loaned itself to aggressive optimization. And, of course, a console exclusive means you can aggressively optimize for the hardware.

Control (which I also played on the base PS4), on the other hand... the frame rate would get pretty bad when there was too much going on. I think Remedy is a "PC-first" outfit.

Farscry wrote:

I had heard/read elsewhere that the base PS4 version was distinctly scaled down in comparison to the PS4 Pro version to where it felt compromised. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether comments like that are merely technical snobbery or not

Well, you can judge for yourself in this comparison video. The framerate doesn't seem to change much. The guy keeps saying the PS4 Pro is "infinitely" "clearly" better in how it looks, but I personally can't tell the difference. So I guess it depends how good your eyes are or whatever.

Vector wrote:

Release triangle right as they get close and raise their sword or pull back to thrust a spear. This is the same for when you unlock the follow-up strikes.

I have released triangle the moment I saw the foe move and never failed a standoff, knock on wood. Maybe it's compensating for my slow response times? (Also, I'm playing on Normal difficulty, which might be more forgiving.)

I am having a lot more fun now that I decided to stop calling the horse all the time. I find more items and locations and really notice the beauty more. I kind of thought I was supposed to use the horse all the time because the first couple missions some led on horse so I had to ride mine to follow but I think the game is better experienced by walking.

I also like how you can pet the fox after you visit it's shrine.

I am having a thousand times easier experience now that I've switched into the samurai armor. I put on the wanders armor because of the bonus again just for exploring but keep forgetting to change it when I get into fights. Once I made that change fights are much easier

I’m an idiot - I had the ‘toggle hold’ accessibility setting on, so it would require a second tap to win the standoffs. Once I turned that off I was grand.

Happy Dave wrote:

I’m an idiot - I had the ‘toggle hold’ accessibility setting on, so it would require a second tap to win the standoffs. Once I turned that off I was grand.

I hadn't looked at the accessibility standards. I found a setting called "simplified controls" that simply seems to be a way of dropping the time constraint on the bamboo cutting sequences. I'm really glad they have a way of simplifying those sequences, since they are tied to getting more resolve.

Happy Dave wrote:

I’m an idiot - I had the ‘toggle hold’ accessibility setting on, so it would require a second tap to win the standoffs. Once I turned that off I was grand.

Did the same thing. The hold triangle popup wouldn't even show up. So I had no idea how to stand off until I turned that setting back to default.

As they gradually give you tools and you pick upgrades combat is just getting more fun. Kunais are great to give you a bit of breathing room and advantage, upgraded bow is quick enough to pop heads even in the midst of combat, smoke bomb+chain assassination if you get surrounded, blowing up fools with bombs. Makes combat very dynamic when you mix it up.

I'm starting to really like this game because I am starting to finally understand the combat. I actually like going up against enemies instead of stealth. Also, standoffs are cool

I find stealth is best as a way to thin the herd and get an idea of your immediate geography. Once being stealthy fails I can usually take everyone out. It helps that this era of the world everyone's hearing and eyes are extremely poor.

I'm quite happy that stealth is overpowered, and that the game is also fun when stealth breaks. I just spent a good amount of time sneaking my way through a shipyard, and even though I broke stealth a few times, I was able to deal with it and not have the entire camp pounce on me. In my last outpost, I jumped out of a tent to double assassinate a few guys, an archer on a tower saw me, shot at me and then slid down the ladder as I shot him in the back. Then the leader attacked from behind and I had a brief boss fight to finish the area. It all felt good.

I traded out of The Last of Us 2 on Friday to buy this instead. I found TLoU2 to be too slow. Realistically slow, but not enjoyably for me.

A few hours in i'm finding Ghosts of Tsushima to be... fine. Everything that you'd expect in a 3rd person action game is there, though the world currently feels a touch empty. It makes me realise (again) what a fantastic job Rockstar did in Red Dead Redemption 2.

I just managed a quick hour with game, and I wish to recant my heresy. GoT is more than fine. It's good. The combat clearly has some depth to it, and I expect that - by the end - I'll be free-flowing like Batman/Spiderman. For the first time in ages in a game, I'm actually taking the time to practice my moves in game.

Like others, I too am struggling with my parries. Not least because the lack of a 'lock on' means that I'm not always clear who I'm engaging at any one time. And sometimes, the camera is a little unhelpful. But I probably need to get better at managing the space around me.

One other thing that I'm finding a bit challenging is the darkness. When it's night in this game, its properly effing dark! I could barely see anything in the Prologue. And there's one mission where I had to track someone, where I literally could not see where I was meant to or what I was meant to do. I had to look it up online, otherwise I'd still be there.

I basically never use stealth in this game unless required to do so for story beats, which thankfully are few and far between at this point. There's nothing really wrong with the stealth, I suppose, but there are many, many other games that do it better and the swordplay in this game -especially after unlocking the other stances- is far more unique so that's what I do.

There are definitely some areas that you can find yourself in where you feel almost under-leveled for if you venture too far off the story path initially. I'd agree with the post above saying to at least get the archery ability to give yourself an extra option or two for combat.

Oh, and here's a tip that I don't think the game really ever explained. In some of the fortress type places (and scattered about here and there) are boss dudes. When you kill or "observe" them you get points to unlock the other stances. They tell you that much pretty explicitly. What I don't recall them telling you is that you can do BOTH. If you observe a boss before fighting them you will get 2 points, which unlocks stances.. get this.. twice as quickly.

Last night I did a quest that is making dealing with mobs a bit easier - I will spoiler

Spoiler:

You can do The Curse of Uchitsune Mythic Tale which gets you a long bow that has explosive arrows. You shoot one of those to a crowd of 3-4 men standing around and vola! the area is down by half (roughly) The Tengu Monk was a bit of a hard fight but the bow has been worth it so far.

r013nt0 wrote:

What I don't recall them telling you is that you can do BOTH. If you observe a boss before fighting them you will get 2 points, which unlocks stances.. get this.. twice as quickly.

Yup, I've been trying for this approach, though I dunno if there's anything truly significantly different between stances aside from how effectively the triangle attack stuns them. Everything is otherwise the same. Dante's styles this is not.

I'm getting the feeling that this is one of those "greater than the sum of its parts" games. Every aspect of it I feel has plenty to criticize, but put together those flaws don't feel as significant as what the full experience delivers on.

ccesarano wrote:

Yup, I've been trying for this approach, though I dunno if there's anything truly significantly different between stances aside from how effectively the triangle attack stuns them. Everything is otherwise the same. Dante's styles this is not.

While this certainly doesn't have the depth of a character action game, the styles absolutely help when you start getting into fights with larger groups and some of the more "advanced" enemies, from what I've noticed. Even if that doesn't amount to all that much more than just being able to break the guard of spear users, shield users, and brutes instead of always having to just wait for parry opportunities.

I'm really enjoying this game. In a way, it reminds me a lot of Days Gone - an open world game with some interesting mechanics, largely dismissed by critics as formulaic, but striking a real chord with me. I'm finding the world a lot of fun to explore in a way I haven't for a while. And the combat is great - I've really struggled with the combat changes in the Assassin's Creed games, and this for some reason, while superficially similar, is gelling for me far more.

I heard a good description of this as Assassin's Creed (prior to Origins) and Mad Max. It was meant as a negative but that's a big positive as I really liked Mad Max. There are flaws and it is certainly repetitive but also wonderfully relaxing. The scenery changes pretty dramatically over every hill and in every valley. Stand in one place will too long and there's a chance a storm might start to kick up. Scattering the birds and bugs, lighting scaring the deer, wind blowing the grass and pollen all around. I lose a lot of time just stopping and taking it in.

Not sure how many hours in I am now, probably in the 10-15 range, still in the first act/section of the island. Absolutely loving it so far.

  1. Totally addicted to the photo mode. Can't stop taking screenshots. This game is SO pretty. Shameless show-off album: https://imgur.com/a/dxDhV46
  2. Standoffs are my favorite thing right now, and I love that the game encourages you to get right up in the enemy's face even though stealth has its own skill tree, advantages, etc.
  3. I LOVE that you can one-shot a mini-boss enemy if you take him out in a standoff or nail a perfect parry just right. There are enough fights that making a "big" one occasionally trivial doesn't ruin the pacing, and it feels GREAT when it happens.
  4. Jin is kind of hilarious, in that he spends all his time telling islanders not to be superstitious and spread ghost stories and fairy tales, and then he's like "BRB gotta follow this fox to the magic shrine so I can carry more charms that boost my damage". Not a complaint, just amusing.
  5. Maybe the best design decision they made was the guiding wind. Not having to go back to the map all the time (or ever, if you're collectible hunting) and also not having your screen cluttered with arrows and icons is HUGE for the aesthetic immersion of the game. Most of the time it's basically UI-free, without losing any needed information. Brilliant.

On the whole, the whole thing feels a bit like 4K Breath of the Wild + Assassin's Creed gameplay, which is a catnip combo for me if there ever was one. I'll be in here a long time.

If you're just starting out,

Spoiler:

get these two charms early. You'll be glad you did https://gameranx.com/features/id/204...

.

Is there no enemy lock-on? Slightly annoyed by that so far in the tutorial area.

No no lock on.