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Ghost of Tsushima is the only PS4 game I've ever platinumed (gotten all the achievements for), despite it having a combat system that becomes extremely repetiti

by danso 5y ago

Ghost of Tsushima is the only PS4 game I've ever platinumed (gotten all the achievements for), despite it having a combat system that becomes extremely repetitive and trivially easy halfway into the game. That, combined with its trite samurai story/themes, should've been enough to make me bounce. But the nearly non-existent load times really is GoT's killer feature, because it allows you to goof around and experiment, die, and get right back into the action without feeling frustrated. What's even more amazing to me is that it's not just "instant revives", but actual "fast travel". I'm not a huge fan of open world games either, but GoT makes it easy by letting you fast travel across the continent in seconds. Conceptually, instant loading of localized action sequences seems doable. But instantly loading of entirely different environments on demand, from an old fashioned HDD, feels like black magic.

y-c-o-m-b 5y ago
I second everything you said. I was pleasantly surprised (and dumbfounded) when I discovered the quick load-times. After playing many of the Assassin's Creed games, I expected the usual die-and-wait-5-minutes for the world to load, but Ghost of Tsushima continues to impress me in many ways. I'm also one to get easily bored by repetitive combat, but for some reason this game's fun-factor makes it very tolerable. My only issue is sometimes after completing a mission, there's what appears to be an abnormally long cut scene of the character sitting or standing next to his horse. This is a very minor thing though. Everything else with this game is exceptionally well done.
paisawalla 5y ago
Great insight! I'll add the Hitman series of games, which have low load times as well. It's a sandbox style of game where you need to spend time exploring and iterating on your course of action to get the full experience. Without fast loading, it would quickly go from fun to unbearable.
imbnwa 5y ago
Even on Lethal difficulty the combat can be mastered, but for me it was too easy to exploit archery since most of the time there aren't any straight up ambushes in the game and you can see all the world encounters twenty - thirty yards away. God of War got it right in making the world encounters primarily ambushes and not allowing one-shot ranged combat. The bandits in GoT should've been primarily ambushes with only the Mongol patrols been spottable from a distance.

by danso 5y ago

y-c-o-m-b 5y ago

I second everything you said. I was pleasantly surprised (and dumbfounded) when I discovered the quick load-times. After playing many of the Assassin's Creed games, I expected the usual die-and-wait-5-minutes for the world to load, but Ghost of Tsushima continues to impress me in many ways. I'm also one to get easily bored by repetitive combat, but for some reason this game's fun-factor makes it very tolerable. My only issue is sometimes after completing a mission, there's what appears to be an abnormally long cut scene of the character sitting or standing next to his horse. This is a very minor thing though. Everything else with this game is exceptionally well done.

paisawalla 5y ago

Great insight! I'll add the Hitman series of games, which have low load times as well. It's a sandbox style of game where you need to spend time exploring and iterating on your course of action to get the full experience. Without fast loading, it would quickly go from fun to unbearable.

imbnwa 5y ago

Even on Lethal difficulty the combat can be mastered, but for me it was too easy to exploit archery since most of the time there aren't any straight up ambushes in the game and you can see all the world encounters twenty - thirty yards away. God of War got it right in making the world encounters primarily ambushes and not allowing one-shot ranged combat. The bandits in GoT should've been primarily ambushes with only the Mongol patrols been spottable from a distance.