Tracy Y

I am half way through the game. I am grading this without the Legend Mode. Overall this worth a 4 to 4.5 out of 5. It's not fair to compare this to RDR2 (which is a total legend of open world game and the top notch in cinematic), but just came out from RDR2 and jumped immediately to Ghost of Tsushima, I can't help to notice the difference. The open world is great. The Japanese setting amazed me and sure to lots of others. I am now feeling a little tired of the side stories and the side quests. There isn't much duplication on the side stories, and I can see the producers put the effort to script different stories. However the side quests level up system is really tiresome (although the foxes are adorable), some are even meaningless collections (etc., head bands). The random encounter rescuing civilians from the soldiers on the road is repetitive and overwhelming. Combat system could be a little unrealistic if player choose normal or lower mode for the game, but at least I welcome there's a choice of easy/difficult (comparing to Sekiro, which I dumped the game during half way feeling the meaningless to repeat one single combat for 4 hours but still no way to get out from it). The duel is more enjoyable to me. It can be challenging, and not being insane (at least Jin is fighting another "real human" with a normal sword or weapon, not a human-like monster can move in the speed of light with magic that could hit opponents 4 meters away - you know which game I am talking about right) The main story is no mystery, and I can almost guess what's coming next or even to the end. The story telling itself is very Japanese - like a riddle, very indirect, and give out a small part at a time. Just my own feeling that the story itself is not too important. I am in Act 2 and I have the feeling to fast forward already. The game is a bit buggy. The character can be stuck at some landscape. The details are ignored - like the horse is invincible. Those aren't major factors to affect the enjoyment of the game but SP could do better or to patch them. I would highly recommend this game if you like open world game. It can't compare to GTA or RDR but still a great game.

I am 30% ~ 40% through the game. I am giving 4.5 to the game for usual gamers. A 5 to intensive gamers. For people bad in reaction game, I deduct a full 1 point from the score. The goods: long enough game play. Each side quest has its own unique story. Multiple endings enrich the mainline story. I have read ahead of the story and find that it is engaging. This is not exactly an open world game, but there are good enough hidden places on the map for players to uncover and explore. Graphics is great if you like Japanese historical game. The only good thing about the combat is that the AI is not too stupid. The foot soldiers are tough enough to give players the challenge. The bads: while some players said the combat is challenging, the "perfect reaction" combating mechanism is a torture to me. For some people, reaction cannot be trained - I can play many sports well or at least manage the basic after training and practice, but never on table tennis. I am on patch 1.06. Almost all the guides were on the original game, and most of the tactics are not applicable anymore. I can understand when a glitch is patched, but I can't accept a patch to close off a legitimate (not cheese) but non-deflective way to beat a boss. For example, many side stepping tactics won't work well anymore. On top of that, the patches give new moves to bosses, make blocking more punishing to the players, and strengthen the bosses to be less "confused". One statement to summarize: the developer wants players to be perfect in reaction to use deflect only. Last words, if you are usually good in intensive action game, this game is definitely for you. If you are bad in reaction like myself, then most of the boss fights are actually a torture (a 2 to 4 hours long torture). You may not want to waste the time to do something you don't enjoy doing.

I will give this game a 3.5 to 4 stars. The game is fun for the first half. It gives you enough flexibility to solve the puzzles, and the various ways to complete the missions maintains the fun and playability of the game. The map is huge and gorgeous. It's not easy to die for most of the parts. The little things happening on the map are fun to watch and to mass around with. The deduction goes to the high repetitive of the missions. Like many open-world based games, this is an unresolvable problem. The hiring system sounds unique at the beginning, but end up only a few number of characters (spy, hitman, SIR officer, getaway driver) worth to recruit. Not to mention that the recruiting missions are highly repetitive as well. In the end, if you do not mind the perks on the special characters (spy quick stealth kill, hitman's two high damaging weapons), any character can camplete a mission with more techs unlocked. The main storyline lasts for, roughly, somewhere between 30 to 40 hours. The story is quite short IMO; but based on the story it's telling, it can't stretch any longer. It is not a good or bad, it depends on how long one wants to spend on a game. For the side missions, again they are repetitive. I would recommend this game at a discount price.