I want to expand on my aggravation for the end of the second act of Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions) and why I’m dragging my feet on doing the third act. In yesterday’s post, I talked about my issues with the story. Now, I want to get more into the gameplay. I’m halfway through the third act, and I’m bored. Again:
*SPOILER WARNING*
In the third act, I have to go to a bunch of different homesteads and get the piece fo armor that a famed armorer made for Khan. The armorer ran instead of giving the armor to the Mongols, but he was caught. I think he hid the pieces before getting caught or he gave them to the villagers or whatever. I don’t remember nor do I care. Each Mongol stronghold has one of the pieces of armor, so there are two reasons why I have to liberate each stronghold.
Instead of doing this, I spent several hours just wandering around and gathering supplies while I had my traveler’s outfit on. Why? Because you get a ton more resources that way. Or rather, because I have a certain charm equipped with that outfit. Instead of, say, one predator hide, I’ll get two, and then a bonus of three to four others. I wanted to max out all my armors, so this was a good way to get the money (“supplies”) needed to do so.
Which brings me to another issues with the game–though it’s not really the game’s fault. Before I get to that, though, let’s talk about Ryuzo. My childhood best friend turned betrayer. Of course I knew he was going to betray me–that was something I saw coming a mile off. However, when I confront him for that betrayal, I (as the player) find myself wanting to let him live. Not because I forgive him, but because I understand what he did. And because it’s not really his fault. And because he doesn’t really deserve to die for what he did to Jin.
Do I get that choice? Of course not. The game tells me I have to kill Ryuzo, so I reluctantly do just that. There’s a side mission in which I do not want to kill the purported baddie of that side mission, either,. but I must to finish the mission. I’m not mad about not having the choice necessarily because that’s how games go. I am just not happy with the direction of the story–that’s all.
Back to the issue of min/maxing. I love the armors of the game. They are very different from each other, and there are reasons to wear certain ones for certain situations. The traveler’s out fit is for resource gathering. The Sakai armor is for standoffs. The ghost armor is for, well, ghosting around. There is a second armor that is also good for ghosting. And another for archery.
You may be able to guess what the issue is with this. If not, I’ll just tell you. The resource armor is so good for getting extra resources, I want to make sure I have it on before picking anything up. I ride around with that outfit on and then if I run into a band of Mongols, I quickly changed into my Sakai clan armor for the bonus standoff perk. I can kill up to five enemies without fighting them if I get the timing right. And because the timing is fairly generous, I can get it roughly 75% of the time. I used to use this armor to clear out the camps and then change into my travelor ‘fit before gobbling up the resources. Now, though, I either use the Ghost armor because it enhances Ghost weapons, or the Mongol armor I just picked up from the mission I mentioned above. I can’t upgrade it, but it’s really great in the first place.
The game has become 100% gamefied now. I put on the traveler’s outfit immediately after clearing out a horde of Mongols, and then I let whatever cutscene happen. I do it before saving a hostage because they give me shit, and I want to increase the amount I get. They are so reverent as they call me “Lord Sakai”, and I’m wearing basically rags. Immersion what? I don’t care at this point because the end of the second act totally broke me. Any interest I had in the story (which, admittedly, wasn’t that much) vanished, and I can’t believe how much people gushed about the story.
I mentioned in the last post that this was such a male fantasy. Father -son turmoil (uncle in this case, but close enough). Oh, I should mention that Sakai watched his father be brutally murdered when Sakai was in his twenties it looked like. Maybe a bit younger. When his uncle informs him that he wants to adopt him, it’s a powerful moment. Or it would be if I didn’t know it was going to lead to some kind of schism.
This is so geared to men. All the themes. Loyalty to the family, father-son tension, betrayal of the family clan, etc. As I’ve said, I liked the NPCs better than I liked Sakai, and I knew there was a reason for it. I liked him much better after he betrayed his uncle and fully embraced his ghost side. And the ghost technique you learn fairly late is by far my favorite. I can see why they left it until late in the game, though, because it’s super OP. So is Dance of Wrath which is a special move that needs three resolve points to use. You do three unblockable moves, and it can mow down enemies.
I’m so powerful now (on medium) that I get a tad bit cocky at times. I’m not invincible, but most of the time, my deaths are either because of the bloody hwacha (arrow shooting turret thing) or me rushing in when I should be stealthier. Sometimes, I just do not want to stealth around to find the perfect opening to pick off the enemies one by one. Especially then to die to the fucking hwacha and have to make the trek again. I am eternally grateful that this game is generous with the checkpoints in the missions because otherwise, I would be more irritated than I already am.
I cleared out all the extra missions. I only have one story mission, but I know the game is not over when I finish this main mission because I have several side missions I haven’t finished (and can’t do yet). Plus, I have to make up with my uncle. Do not think for a minute that isn’t going to be the ending. I mean, they can’t lock off the first two-thirds of the map for the rest of the game, can they?
When I think about the DLC, I just shake my head. I want to do it for completionist sake, but I know I’ll hate it if I do it now.