Topic: Ghost of Yōtei

@Th3solution I use to be a massive AC fan, with Revelations being my favourite in the franchise. The last one I played was Odyssey while I thought it was great, I am so tired of the "RPG" era we are in and just cannot play anymore. So playing GoY feels so refreshing as you are not held back by some generic level grind, also the world map is just the right size and isn't bloated at all (so far me at least).

@Oram77 As far as the world map, I saw some complaints that the map is actually a collection of several smaller open areas rather than a true contiguous world map. It sounds like that really doesn’t make the game feel restricted in any way?

@Th3solution I haven't found it an issue, kinda makes sense in the way the have done it, I find it funny they have failed to mention just how QUICK the fast travel is! literally 2 second wait max it's honestly wild.

My opinion of open world games is don't bother unless there is content, anyway. Initially I thought, uh oh, this map looks small. But it would only be open wasteland, forests and inaccessible mountains if they filled in the gaps they have chosen to have gateways replace. I haven't even left the first area, and it is plenty big enough for the type of game it is.

If they went the RDR2 route (which also had gated off areas for the intro) they would have to change the entire pacing and form of the game. Ideally, i'd like them to go full on realism, but they haven't, and to be honest, i'm fine with it now. You still tear round the countryside at a million miles an hour hoovering up resources with the flick of a button, but having an even bigger area would make that even more shallow.

My one wish is for one more medium horse speed, so I can explore a bit slower. You either walk the horse slowly, full on gallop, or mega super turbo boost gallop, and i'm constantly trying to half tilt L3 to try and explore at a moderate pace without the speed boost kicking in. Damn you HORSE!

The game itself would suit a slow, methodical finely crafted open world, but players even moaned about RDR2 being slow and boring (crazy people) and Ghost is kind of a blanace between RDR2 and AC games, leaning towards AC and to change now would be awkward.

@Ravix He definately no Pebbles that's for sure...

@Th3solution This is actually true, but I didn't notice until you said and I thought about it. Like you need to travel via boat to get to the area on the top of the map (and it is a cutscene, you aren't driving the boat yourself gta style or whatever), and three of the Yotei Six disappeared for me after I did their initial quests but there is nowhere else I can go on the map right now, so I assume their zones will open up later on somehow.

There is this weird sort of anti-intellect branch of gamer discourse over the last few years where people build criticisms out of hyper focused in my mind meaningless criticisms like the old Avowed "well in Skyrim I could pick up a jug off of a table and move it onto a chair" 'discourse'. Like that even matters at all and like we even want our teams wasting resources on features like that.

But as someone who is absolutely not in that crowd, dinging a game cause you can't seamlessly move from the bottom end to the top end of the map like just doesnt even exist in my world view, it is in the bottom 0.01 percent of things I am thinking about personally.

Loving this game so far. I haven’t done much story yet. Too busy exploring the open world.

@Oram77 I'd take good old Pebbles to explore on at a reasonable, casual pace in GoY, for sure. It also reminded me that KCD2's map is split in two with a loading scene (due to the areas being far, far away) and it really doesn't detract from the game and is hardly worth critisism and as @Pizzamorg says, I don't know what people expect, more open space, or a smaller overall island that feels cramped for the sake of not having a gateway with fast travel to a further region.

Guys, I think I beat the main antagonist a little early! 😅 (Early main quest spoiler/silly screenshots)

Can we all please take a moment to appreciate just how well this games run. I've playing on ray tracing pro and it's been running smooth as silk, is what it feels like when studio on a AAA level care about the product they are making? Also I don't think I can ever get tired of watching Atsu during the stand off cut scenes.

I have found my Photo Mode muse, once again. I love the high contrast effects you can get in the right weather conditions and locations.

Also cleared a few bases which was super smooth and enjoyable switching from combat to stealth is really nice. This is where the AC likeness is most beneficial. Its just fun and you can plan a route or freestyle your way through, decimating everyone in your path.

I did want to push on with the one main yellow quest to get some actual cutscenes going, but the route (clearly designed as a mini tutorial) is very distracting in an incredibly fun way. My final bounty (for now) was also on the route, very handy. This is where i'm now seeing the improved nature of structure and how it feeds you things to do. It is clearly far better than GoT in that regard, now.

Do I keep playing to get to the quest I want to follow? "Shogun in the North". I think so. It is very moreish. If I actually get there without further distraction before calling it a night, who knows 😁

Edit: I've also seen some people say Atsu lacks humour or likability. I think that is not the case. She makes little sarcastic quips quite often, I find. But perhaps in the main quest she is more seious (understandably so, I'd imagine)

@Ravix Now those screen shots are amazing 🔥 I think this and Stellar Blade have the best photo modes I've seen in a game, more games need this quality/options going forward!

Since I haven't played Shadows I can't comment on it, but I hope it has improved over Odyssey because oh boy that combat got old real quick (looking at you 5 bounty hunters at one time). But yeah once you get into a flow the combat is just pure poetry in motion.

Honestly I think Atsu is a great main character, leading up to the game's release I thought she would super serious all the time and bland, but no, she has a lot of personality and let's her down in some quest, I think people saying that either played the game (looking at you Twitter trolls) or haven't done a lot of missions.

@Oram77 I read someone's (I think a reviewer or at least someone making an article about their experience) thoughts, or at least the first paragraph of them as it popped up on my feed somewhere, in which they said it took them 16 hours to complete the main story, and that was with them doing some side content. And I just thought, nope, you're playing games wrong and will add no value with an opinion on it. I wasn't going to read it anyway, but come on, guy. 16 hours with side content? Not a chance.

I swear these people don't actually experience the games they play, they just blitz with no thought as to what they are doing for the sake of telling people they played it and have an opinion on it.

I've played about 10/12 hours, and i've only just met a bear that doesn't want to maul me, ffs 😂

Cheers! I loved the GoT photomode, and knew i'd find a way to get some cool stuff out of this one. They really do put a lot of thought into it.

Man, smoothly clearing a camp with stealth tools is cool and all but levelling up the wolf bond and then clearing camps with them in all out carnage is just peak fun.

I'm glad I went to do the Shogun in the North quest before going in my next direction. I feel like it has set up the rest of the game nicely, now. Because I had explored a lot early I had all 4 Yellow Ginko Leaf quest options open, and I think I'd have regretted leaving that one until last as it was almost like a stealth tutorial and gave my playthrough a nice bit of momentum. It also followed on from the Dual Katana master quest logically. I assume it doesn't matter which order you do any of these, but I was in need of some act 1 cutscene goodness at that point and it felt right for Atsu to focus her energy on this task first.

I've now done a fair amount in the first 2 regions that don't require a gate/passage. And last session I was making my way back round to the west to track my first Yotei 6 sub-boss, but I ended up visiting a garden, having some more memories, and then going up to the Yotei shrine.

I've also picked up maybe 5 or 6 more bounties, so I will get to them when I am in each area. There is a surprising amount of depth to some of these simple quest pickups. It also feels like I already have a tonne of potential side quests unlocked in the region i'm about to visit, which makes me more confident that this is my ideal path to follow. These were initiated by rumours and information I picked up in the first regions, so another big plus for game design!

And also, my new main goal is to, of course, become Coin Flicking champion of Ezo

As someone who struggles badly with burnout in games, who likes their games to be 40 hours tops save for truly special occasions, and one who felt even GOT that I loved for the most part, still dragged a bit in the final third, I am getting a little nervous about Yotei's length / pace.

Since around the 15 hour mark, I have been trying to focus more heavily on story missions as they show up, but I'm now almost 10 hours later, three showdowns with different members of the six and a rug pull each time to mean that actually it isn't really over yet and needs to keep going.

I've not like done a 180 and soured on the game or whatever, I want to keep playing, but I also have this huge collection of other 2025 titles I want to play, and each time another rugpull happens that means actually the story hasn't really progressed forwards at all, my eye wanders further and further out towards my list of other titles.

I am finding a good balance of side missions, exploring and the main story. I like the map and how you have to find new locations either with the spyglass or by talking to people.

Side note: I love that you can pick things up without getting off you horse. I remembered other games you had to stop, get done and pick the object. It was boring and seemed like a waste of time. Now I just run through bamboo and grab it on the go.

If the crafting was genuinely more in depth then i'd like to be able to forage at a slower pace, but less often, but the crafting is a very shallow element again, so i'm glad they stuck with quick pick ups for the way it works as I can just fly around gathering way more than I need on my regualr exploration, and then never have to look for an ingredient again. There is so much more to do and the fast paced but pretty meaningless crafting is their style now, and they have improved on everything else.

The weird VR blacksmithing was questionable, however. Blacksmithing is only really needed if you are actually deepening the crafting mechanics in a meaningful way, ala KCD. Waving the controller about wii style while ghost hands flatten a rod of metal may not be a worthwhile inclusion 😅

I'm still loving the game. I almost forgot there was an actual important story to be consumed until I went through to the second region gate, and was like, "oh yeah, this is what the classic GoT quest structure was like, let's get to it"

Difficulty seems to fluctuate too. At some points I think I'm really OP. And then I get absolutely wrecked 10 times in a row to remind me i'm not 😂 I definitely still need to keep improving and trying to do the perfect parry less, as I keep getting smashed in the face with swords (Perfect parry armour that turns off regular parries is back too, which I have on one slot and use it a fair bit)

New tip. Carrying an empty jar of Sake or a discarded weapon highlights enemies in stealth 🙌

I finally took down a second of the Six. The boss was fighting with no weapons and was immortal. I won't spoil it, but in the context of the fight, I did wonder if it was on purpose and was googling how to overcome the mechanic and just couldn't find anyone else talking about it, so I reset and realise it just bugged out 😂

Aaaaaaand that's roll credits (and platinum) in approx 72 hrs. What a truly fantastic gaming experience, Sucker Punch should really be proud of what they made here, dare I be so bold and say it's their magnum Opus. Looking back I kinda regret playing it on hard mode, because some of the final fights can kinda be "cheap" and the damage they do is ridiculous, which I will admit got me raging 🤣 . Personally I thought some of the armours were a bit meh, then again maybe it was just my play style. But apart from those two gripes, I really can't fault them on much. The story is just as good as Tsushima, Atsu is 100% a better character than Jin (sorry fan boys). But they really did improve with the side quests (as you guys have noted too) none of them came across as filler. So in closing, this game just shows what a Sony first party studio are capable of, 9/10 would play again. Looking forward to see how y'all think of the game after completion (minus random bear attacks)