I meant they ditched the loveliness for the advert. I'm sure the game itself looks great.

Are there any definites regarding PS5 compatibility? I remember reading than anything released from maybe July onwards would be backwards comp, but that could've been a rumour.

Blocks100 wrote:

I bounced quite hard off SoM because despite the combat being quite morerish, it felt too 'gamey' with all the icons everywhere. Following the wind with Ghost sounds likes a better plan to help minimise 'gamefication' of the open world.

I like the idea , it looks like it's been implemented beautifully too both visually and in a functional sense. The fewer icons the better for me. I don't need a padded game, a smaller more detailed game with that cinematic look is what I prefer.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Are there any definites regarding PS5 compatibility? I remember reading than anything released from maybe July onwards would be backwards comp, but that could've been a rumour.

We've just gone past the date when games submitted for certification have to be PS5 compatible last week so it won't cover TLOU2 and this but I think someone from Sony mentioned the later stuff has been checked. I'd guess all the big first-party will be prioritised or it'd be embarrassing.

Dinostar77 wrote:

@curtis do you prefer this to Nioh2 or are they not comparable?

Not comparable at all. The combat in this is completely different.

Bob wrote:

I’m in day one!

Day one was last Friday Bob.

JonB wrote:

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

Kernowgaz wrote:

I wouldn’t say they’ve ditched the movie loveliness at all but I’ve only played for just over an hour. I thought Last of Us 2 was stunning to look at but this is another level on the Pro with HDR.

Wha?  This really looks better than LoU2?

It doesn't have anywhere near as much detail and the characters and buildings are pretty simple and generic. But it's very good at big landscape views, especially with its use of colour. I certainly used photo mode more often on this, but overall TLOU2 is a much better looking game.

I’m a HDR whore, that wins for me every time.

Blocks100 wrote:

Bob wrote:

I’m in day one!

Day one was last Friday Bob.

Yeah that was the
Joke well done

Ah! That's another of those jokes well done, isn't it.

Sometimes blue.

Just spent 6 hours with this, so here are my initial impressions...

It sets the scene very well with an on-the-rails bit that depicts the mayhem and horror of the Mongol invasion (although it lasts for a touch longer than I would like before you're able to explore the wider world).

Feudal Japan sure is very pretty, but I did reach a point after six hours where I was reaching for my Dyson leaf blower, because boy, do they over-egg that effect!  The much spoken about ability to 'follow that distant wisp of smoke on the horizon to find something interesting' isn't evident after 6 hrs of play either. The landscape just isn't setup that way - too many god damn bamboo trees in the way. Instead, friendly npcs will mark a point of interest or enemy encampment on your map. Rarely will you stumble upon a place by accident; it's always by design.

The brave attempt to produce a minimal HUD with the introduction of the 'magic wisp of wind' that leads you to your destination is laudable, but had me hankering for a good old-fashioned mini-map. But I probably just need some time to acclimatise to it.

What I am enjoying though is the combat. Much to my surprise, I am not playing the sneaky Samurai. Why? Because it's too much fun striding up to the gates of an enemy stronghold and shouting a challenge to the Mongol dogs within to send forth their best warrior for a one-on-one duel. Which is typically over in mere seconds as I read the enemy's attack correctly and release the triangle button at just the right moment to eviscerate them on the spot.  I can't see that mechanic ever getting old.

General combat is a mixture of heavy and light attacks with you switching back-and-forth between stances (momentarily slowing down time as you do so) to maximize damage against certain enemy types (of which they are a pleasing variety of). It equates to a pleasant kind of button mashing that leaves you feeling kind of bad ass after you clear out an enemy dojo.

Voice acting so far has been universally excellent, although your little Samurai guy is a touch flat.  If you go in expecting something as sleek as Assassin's Creed: Feudal Japan Edition, you're going to be disappointed. (which is the error I made). But if you accept the fact that Sucker Punch are still a Journeyman when it comes to building open worlds you will enjoy it on its own terms much more.

I dunno, I think both Origins and Odyssey set the bar very high in relation to open world action RPGs. All the talk about Ghost prior to release was how Ubisoft had missed a trick and essentially let Sucker Punch get there first in releasing an assassin game based in Feudal Japan.  

However, comparisons between AC and Ghost are pretty redundant, not least because there are no levelled enemies and no dialogue choices.   You've got spearmen, archers, shield warriors, swordsmen and heavies that all demand a different strategy to overcome. And whilst there is a dizzying array of skills to be unlocked, it's clear that your Samurai does his talking with his Katana - words are never weilded as weapons.

Which is a shame because their is plenty of good material to work with here. Indeed there is no shortage of talkie bits during some early flashback sequences, but you never get to input into these. A good Samurai apparently listens, never questions. Most of this centres on your 'inner struggle' to keep on the honourable path of the Samurai or turn to the shadows and become an assassin. But this 'battle' is played out via your actions, not by dialogue choices. And there appears to be no penalty to stalking down the darker path, no tangible loss of honour, despite what your Samurai uncle keeps telling you.

Now I've slept on it, there's a few other things that are grinding my feudal gears about this game:

- there is no penalty to death. In fact there's a very generous autosave that immediately resurrects you at the exact location where you died, with your gear, weapons and inventory all intact. All you 'loose' is the potential Legend points you could have gained if you hadn't been slain by your assailants.  This makes dying feel like a none-event. Sucker Punch cited Breath of the Wild as one of their inspirations; pity then that they didn't introduce a hearts (lives) mechanic. Get more hearts when you visit Shrines or something.  Without this (or even gear degradation) death feels pretty meaningless.

- this digital recreation of feudal Japan is pretty, but it's also pretty vacant.  After 6 hours, I only came across only a handful of Mongol invaders. The game really suffers from a lack of random encounters. Perhaps I am to blame for this though; I've been sticking religiously to following the magic wind, which oft takes me through forest and glen. Maybe if I stuck to the roads more, I'd run into more bad guys.

- there's an alarming lack of interactivity to the world. Sure, you can shoot red barrells and hornets nests to er...stir up an hornets nest to panic enemies, but that's about all. Don't expect to be flinging enemies through the shoji or picking up the weapons of fallen foes and using them against them.  By way of consolation though, if you roll around on the ground a lot, you can become a very muddy Samurai. 

Bad Samurai, bad!

That's not very ninja like.

Biffo says it's not as good as TLoU2...ho-hum.

Feck, I paid £55 for it on PSN and I'm already regretting it a bit! That CEX price be crazy.