"Ghost of Tsushima's lighting, physics and environments look like nothing we've seen this generation. @digitalfoundry checks out the E3 demo running on PS4 Pro:"
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digi ... h-analysis

Sounds wonderful. I was a little surprised by the somewhat muted response in certain quarters, I thought it looked absolutely stunning, especially the night ride through the swaying heather.

I think my current caution with this one is that games that sell themeselves entirely on visuals don’t always play the best. I think it’s just too early to really judge it much yet,

I have to say that the temptation to pick this up earlier than I normally do, hell, maybe even day one, is growing!

I'm pretty interested in the game. It looks visually amazing and the setting is really appealing. From what we've seen, the gameplay looks pretty good too, albeit perhaps not the deepest. But the extent of those systems is still a bit of a mystery, so it's hard to tell what's really going on there. But the swordfighting seems to have a satisfying impact to it.

But there's something about this game that raises an eyebrow that I haven't really seen anyone bring up. That trailer is full of it too. But it seems... very nationalistic? In a pretty straight an unironic way too. Maybe we just haven't seen enough of the game and it does something more interesting to subvert or deal with that later, but right now it could go either way. With Japan's history of uh... troubled international relations, it does raise a bit of a red flag. Whether that actually means anything at this stage though, I have no idea. And on top of that, the fact that it's an American studio making it throws another questionable spanner in the works. Not really sure what implications that brings.

I didn't see any overt nationalism in this aside from the fact that in the era the game is set in Japan had been a very closed country for centuries and the premise itself being based on an actual invasion of Tsushima by the Mongol army.

I do know that they're working closely with a team at Sony Japan to try and avoid any blunders in regards to what they're depicting, so much so that they omitted a scene from their reveal trailer because it was pointed out to them the day before it was shown there was something historically inaccurate in it.

For the Japanese dub, the Sony localisation team is apparently working hard to use speech that sounds authentic for the period it's set in too (I sincerely hope that the game comes with a Japanese dub option - I know that my better half would prefer it).

I am interested in seeing what the response from Japanese gamers is to this trailer though, whether it's met with interest or wariness.

I take Scrustle's point, but I think it's really a matter of picking the right historical period for it to work. The Mongol invasions of Japan of the 1270s are very different in terms of their power dynamics and eventual outcomes compared to the horrifying campaigns led by Imperial Japan in the beginning of the 20th century.

It's very similar to, say, 300 in that regard. There's a lot of criticism that could and should be levied against the politics, mores and international relations of ancient Sparta. But the specific story of the Battle of Thermopylae works in their favor and portrays them as brave defenders of their homeland fighting against the technologically superior forces of a ruthless, charismatic invader. All the right elements are combined in order to turn that historical event into a feel-good, nationalistic, morally unambiguous popcorn action drama with just the right amount of selective editing.

I expect this game to take a similar approach in regards to its historical context.

It will be interesting to see the critical and popular response coming from other East Asian countries, of course.

Ah, yeah, 300's a good analogy

Do we know what sort of game it's going to be? Like Ninja Gaiden style action or more stealth based? Or like Sekiro, a mixture.

Here's the Japanese version of the trailer, which for me works better (it also includes legendary voice actor Akio Ōtsuka within its cast), not least because of that "15 years later" screen 33 seconds in looks so much better! It would definitely be my preferred choice of dub if it's included in the Western version.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑March 6th, 2020, 12:32 pm Do we know what sort of game it's going to be? Like Ninja Gaiden style action or more stealth based? Or like Sekiro, a mixture.

Open-world, action-adventure, if I had to hazard a guess probably not too dissimilar to other Sony first-party titles like Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone. No idea as to how deep the combat's gonna be

Looks more like a cinematic Assassin's Creed type of experience with focus on spectacular 1-on-1 duels from what I can tell at this point. Given the footage I've seen and the developer's pedigree, I doubt this would be anything remotely similar to Ninja Gaiden or even Sekiro.

PS: I have to say though, this one does look a bit more interesting to me than the usual cinematic AAA fare. Might give it a go at some point.

I'll day one this if it's nothing like Sekiro

Sadly, I haven't been bowled over by the inFAMOUS games (and haven't tried Sly Cooper), but this recent trailer definitely has me interested.

In contrast to DomsBeard, I loved Sekiro, and am slightly worried about how much of a shadow it might cast over this for me. Going to have to marshal my expectations and try my best not to compare the two too heavily/directly, I think.

Extended State Of Play all about this tomorrow:

https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2020/05 ... -tsushima/

Sadly, this gameplay showcase pretty much killed any budding interest I had in the game as it proudly displays all the usual shallow genre-mixing AAA trappings I've come to dislike so much. All that budget and it's yet another QTE combat / diet stealth / open world game that plays itself. Pass.

Oh, well. At least it looks and sounds amazing.

"Bamboo x 4"

It's amazing how much time, money and effort has gone into something so derivative.

I can only imagine that nobody really wants to make these cookie cutter games, but if you want AAA funding, you've got no choice.

Still, I put fifty hours into AC Odyssey just because it was a pleasant place to be and it was fun enough to keep me ticking along, so I'll be there day one. I get what I deserve.

This looks far more appealing to me than Sekiro did.

Different people like different kinds of game, who knew?

I've already had this on pre-order and I'm so glad I did, the game looks stunning! I've been hankering after an open-world game with samurai for literally years and the addition of what looks like a truly impressive photo-mode means I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on this!

I didn't really have any interest in this before watching that video but now I'm definitely looking forward to it. I didn't realise horse travel was such a part of the game. The combat looks fun, so if the story is decent I'm there. The only thing I'm not sure about is the constant oppressive lighting. It looks very impressive, but it looks like you're always seconds away from a huge storm!