Ghost of Tsushima Critique: Who Cares About Honor?

[@darkrinji]

Thank you so much for this critique! It baffles me that this glaring problem was brushed under the rug by so many reviewers. This game was crying out for cause and effect moments to show you the consequences of honour or dishonourable gameplay and I'm still stunned at the fact player choice was hamfisted at the end. It reminds me of how we had the option to spare people in TLOU 2 but the result is then forced on us by narrative and the enemy ai deciding to fight as soon as we turn away.

[@bluebirdjay4592]

For me I'd never really use the ghost tactics I fought head on and proudly but once taka died I decided to change and it was worse when my horse died

[@glennjonathan2066]

yeahhhh rest in peace kage my man

[@cenderawasihhh]

not using ghost tactics like buying a pizza and then store it at trunk of ur car

[@Ghostlllly]

Their is a part where he reflects a little about the poison when he comes across a house with a lady in side poisoned she yells this is his fault you should of never did it to the Mongolians however in the end jin gets back to her house with medicine however her home is being burned by the Mongolians and she basically says I should of let you in and im glad you at least came back then dies which is basically the game reassuring jin is still in the right

[@duffar8444]

good video (i havent seen the whole thing but i want to push the algorithm)

[@atticanalysis]

o7

[@mitesneiko]

Yet another great video!

[@Youssef-uv9cv]

amazing analysis ! I even started doubting myself when i saw GoT being praised for its story especially.

[@mphylo2296]

One thing I really dislike about this game's story is the way it refuses to address classism in any way. The developers claimed to take a lot of inspiration from samurai cinema but the theme of class, which is intrinsic to so many great stories from that genre, is missing from this game. Instead we have a fairly flat and bland rumination on the merit of honorable conduct in war, which barely develops or evolves past the five minute mark. Moments that could have had impact are downplayed by the game's uninspired cutscene direction. A man is set on fire in the first scene and it is almost comical how easy to watch it is. A moment like that should really make your stomach churn but it absolutely does not. I think the root of these issues is that the game is ultimately a corporate product. The samurai have become so heavily politicized and tied to Japan's national image that there was no way Sony were going to let an American development team like Sucker Punch tell a truly critical or insightful story about them, and high impact scenes would require a higher rating and therefore limit the potential audience for the game.

[@atticanalysis]

Late reply, but I agree with the issue on class being fairly absent from the game. There was a bit going on with Ryuzo's arc, but it is sadly too short (and makes him out to be quite evil!) I can give the lack of direction in cutscenes a pass, but probably just because the industry has set a low bar when it comes to cutscene cinematography (though maybe this is a bad reason to give it a pass.)

[@nomi-non]

I hate how quiet conversations like this, against the depiction of honor and class, or really how quiet any criticism toward the game's story is. It drives me nuts when I see any criticism brushed off with "Well it's fine because it's an homage to Kurosawa", when it never is on any meaningful level. Kurosawa was a man who critiqued the Imperial administration through a propaganda film and a man who came from a samurai family while regularly depicting samurai as holding themselves to lower standards than the people below them in class. On one hand I can get the fear of writing a story that critiques cultural icons as an outsider to said culture, but the alternative presented feels more reductive to the image of samurai. It's not like there isn't a balance. Even if Shogun isn't my cup of tea it tried to find that balance and was better received for it.

[@paullogan5627]

10 mins in and the gameplay has obvious friction with the narrative . One example is the camps with hostages. This is an all out war but Jin is expected to save everyone. The game doesn’t allow for the possibility of rescuing one or two of the hostages and the other dying , it auto fails the camp and resets the encounter. Simple examples like this were areas the developers could have used the gameplay to enhance the theme that one samurai can’t save everyone .

[@paullogan5627]

Just finished the video and excellent analysis sir

[@atticanalysis]

@@paullogan5627 Thanks! Yeah, the hostage camps are a really great example, especially since they're much easier to clear with a stealthy approach. If they could have been fail-able without an auto-reset, it'd be a very interesting way to drive home to both Jin AND the player how much they need "dishonorable" tactics to win.

[@vaxildagger]

@@atticanalysis I feel like removing the auto-reset on a failure wouldn't do much to encourage people to use ghost tactics next time. I could be wrong, but I imagine that, in general, people would just push through and say "oh well".

[@atticanalysis]

@@vaxildagger For sure. There would have to be a secondary incentive to get players to try ghost mechanics. Perhaps it could be something narrative (Jin would remark on how he failed to rescue them cleanly) or it could even be mechanical (maybe there are special XP or item unlocks for saving everyone in a camp that you're locked out of on a failure). That could make it into more a choice between trying to save everyone for a reward, rather than being funneled into following what was intended just because it's expected.

[@brobruh7850]

Late replies to this comments but I’ve been trying out lethal mode which makes the open combat insanely difficult, making taking on 10 guys at once nearly impossible if you’re not amazing at the game/have an OP build. Lethal mode has forced me to consider the stealth route more than I would’ve in a normal or even hard play through. And I absolutely agree on being able to lose a hostage, they tried that out once in the Iki island DLC among other ideas but the situation was different since it was a forced choice but the player could’ve very easily saved both guys (I’ve done it like 25 times before, why not now?)

[@collyflower6623]

Really insightful analysis! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on whether infamy and fate could play a role in the player's lack of choice. Does the game treat the player as Jin might be perceived by enemy propaganda, to be dishonorable no matter what actions you take? Is there a belief in fate in Japanese culture that would justify the player's lack of influence over the game's ending?

[@atticanalysis]

Thank you! That's a good question. There's a flashback around the midpoint of the game with Jin's father acting sort of cowardly. Between that and his dad's impact on the Yarikawa rebellion, maybe there is a sort of "sins of the father" connection there. What could be really cool is if the Shogunate still outlawed Jin regardless of how the player acted *because* a rogue samurai acting on his own would be perceived as a threat to order just as much as an invasion, like you mentioned with propaganda. Something simple like that would have been a neat way to keep the ending pretty much the same but acknowledge the different play styles one might take.

[@HARU11211]

You deserve more subscriber this is pure effort

[@soggywafulz]

Yeah I decided Honor was for the dead samurai on the beach, jin's Honor died on the beach when he became the ghost. The rest of the story is just him realizing what he has become.

[@miguelcostapower8837]

Things that upset me about GoT 1- Your gameplay doesn't change anything 2- The way how kazumasa is his clan leader but we never see the sakai real special ability. Like he beat up the yarikawa clan with thoose insane skills with what? 3- Consequences for jin's ghost rampage after shimura's tale