Topic: Ghost of Yōtei

I thought I'd create this since nobody else has.

I'm having a blast so far, everything feels a lot more weightier than I remember in the first game. It's been awhile since I played it so maybe I'm misremembering.

The touchpad mechanics were cool at first but they've gotten quite tiresome for me.

@Hapless as of now all I've done is unbox it and marvel at the lovely CE. And download the game. I look forward to playing it tonight, though.

I remember GoT having quite a bit of trackpad stuff, but I played the Director's Cut so don't know if it was added later

Only played a few hours cause it is a school night but my first impressions are mostly positive. It looks absolutely gorgeous, even on a base PS5 in performance mode. It is the kind of game where my playtime will probably be expanded by about forty extra hours just taking screenshots.

The opening few hours are quite hard, I am getting my ass kicked a lot, but it is not really unexpected. The first few hours of the first GOT are arguably as hard as the game gets, given Jin refuses to break his honour code and lacks many of his abilities and tools he earns later on, so I expect this to balance out in time as I get more gear and abilities.

Disarming a guy, picking up his sword off the ground and throwing it into them has so far not gotten old once, and I appreciate I can do stealth takedowns and use a grapple straight away. I also love the wolf saving my ass before I die. Oh and absolutely pounding bottles of sake as your screen gets all distorted to top up your spirit gauge.

Not sure how I feel about the enemies ability to disarm, I already fought at least one bounty target who spammed all three types of attacks that lock you into only one kind of defensive strategy and I barely beat them cause I was just overwhelmed (honestly if my wolf hadn't flown in and gave me a second wind, I would have died).

I am not the kind of person who enjoys aimlessly wandering around an open world, but I also don't like the map to be completely populated from the moment I start either, and I feel like the game meets a nice middle ground in that regard. Key locations are marked on the map with a lot of undiscovered space in between, and along the way you'll organically discover little events, side quests, vendors and it all feels like it is feeding into Atsu's core goal, rather than just busywork (even if it basically still is).

I'm playing in performance mode on the base PS5 and still in awe of the scenery, I can't wait for the PC version 😄.

After going back and forth for a while, I finally decided to pull the trigger. Downloading this now. I have been looking for a game to dive into for a while and this might be it...hopefully.

@ShireGamer Nice! I'm having a great time with it, I think it's better than tsushima.

@Hapless That is very high praise! I can't wait. I played through Tsushima for a second time recently and that is what convinced me to get this.

Instincts took over and I must have thought I was playing Assassin's Creed. The Shamisen didn't stand a chance!

First impressions. I forgot that Hard mode was actually pretty hard. Took a second to get used to it in the tutorial segment fights. I don't think I dare play any harder than hard. I might even downgrade to normal if I don't gel with timings 😱

@Ravix Nice shots, this has already turned into a screenshot thread 😄.

I'm playing on normal and found it somewhat difficult, I've died a fair few times particularly when dealing with a few tankie enemies at once. The game will punish you if you miss a step.

I'm loving the kusarigama, it's so much fun.

Currently playing on hard mode, was getting my ass handed to me at first but now the combat has clicked and honestly feels way better to play thenTsushima, as all of your screen shots show Sucker Punch have well and truly cooked with this game.

@Oram77 I loved tsushima but this is the better game, the combat in particular just feels so good.

@Hapless Also Atsu is a total bad ass!

Yeah, I've not done enough to judge combat yet, but as I am someone that likes to parry, I have taken a sword to the face many times already with late timing, especially after I added the perfect parry trait so i'm trying to press as late as humanly possible. I might have to dodge more, dodging feels good when they flail past you and it is probably as good as a parry anyway and probably more forgiving as you still evade even if it isn't a perfect dodge. Holding block and dodging is something that felt like it worked in the tutorial, too. I will be seeking out lots of fights to get used to everything, I guess 😁

I will say that some of the NPC's do stand out against the niceness of everything else. It is a little jarring, as it seems more of a gap than some other games, but gaming jank has never stopped me. It is kind of like some old school Bethesda NPCs escaped into a much better rendered and more realistic looking game world, though 😂

@Ravix You have to mix it up in combat, relying on a single move is going to be rough. I highly recommended you get the combat roll from the survival tree.

Outside the big cutscenes the game can look a bit janky, the animations during some of the side content gets a bit rough.

Parrying has been my bread and butter so far, you get some really good charms for it (not even that far into game either). I think open world and janky NPC's go hand in hand at the point, but they aren't too offensive, and the writing for the side quests are also a step up from the last game.

Guys if you want a good laugh, look at the metacritic player scores, I can't even 🤣

@Hapless oh yeah, I will mix it up based on attacks for sure. It's mostly been bog standard attacks that I've missed the parry window on that get me in trouble. It is entirely possible to just stand holding L1 to block and then only dodge red attacks, but i'd rather risk a perfect parry over a block for my own personal pride 😁

My actual main issue, I realised, was trying to do the weapon throw, as I was holding R2 and wondering why Atsu was just stood there doing nothing as enemies converged, but I now know you just press it once and let go before pushing square!

@Elfuggingjefe Well said. Sometimes it is like I'm in a bad dream or woken up in a alternative universe.

The hottest take I've seen about this is game is that somone said they didn't count it a Sony first part game, as it set in Japan but not made in Japan...

It took probably about sixish hours, but this has really clicked for me.

Kinda like with GOT, you start off very weak and underpowered, and it makes the opening hours very frustrating for me. I don't like that kind of difficulty tuning. It only takes a few upgrades though on gears and unlocking skills etc and then you delta over it and I've basically been smiling from ear to ear ever since. Just like it was in GOT, the excitement of getting to a new enemy camp, your massive dashboard of approaches and tools before you, and just how cool you feel when it all goes just right and you effortlessly glide through the enemies raining carnage down upon them. Game is just a total joy.

Oh and some of my own contributions: