Ghost of Yōtei and Ghost of Tsushima

Including today we have 3 more days till launch and Ive already bought the complete OST. Also, would like to preload it but because work schedule will likely be a Day 1 Download that will be unplayable till Sunday....🥺

Started playing Ghost of Tsushima this evening....PLayed about 90-95 minutes, still trying to get used to some of the key bindings on the Controller-- used to playing Forbidden West or Jedi Survivor- expecting to be able to roll (but I guess Samurai don't...roll?) The scenery is absolutely stunning, the gameplay is quite fun....the graphics (very surprisingly) I'm actually running things accordingly the Girlfriend Experience (mostly on Very High settings and 16x Anistropic Filtering, only two or three minor settings are on High) and it is running gorgeously (60 FPS... But I do have V sync ON).

Totally worth the money! Looking forward to really getting into the story and enjoying the adventure!

This afternoon, I attempted to liberate the dojo just north of where you find Lady Masako, and after three attempts and getting my ass kicked every time....I turned and high-tailed it outta there. I'll come back once I'm stronger and have more abilities. Then I continued my search for Lady Masako and shortly after was met with an arrow pointing at my head. Then she asked me to ride with her.

I kinda feel like I've left Sensei Ishikawa in the wind, but it was he who told me to search for Lady Masako... so I guess I'll find him later and continue his search for Tomoe.

I havent quite got the combat mechanics down yet but it's really fun nonetheless and Im really enjoying the story. Not to mention, the graphics are gorgeous; this is right up there with Forbidden West and Jedi Survivor and Im enjoying it equally as much.

I found that sessions of 2-3 hours worked best for me, both for maintaining my reaction time in combat and keeping the incredible style and graphics from fading into the background. By the late game I used Water and Stone Stance almost exclusively since unshielded swordsmen are so vulnerable in general and spearmen clearly telegraph their lunges and allow for an easy dodge + counterattack or parry. 

For Mongol camps, be aggressive and keep moving if you want to do it the honorable way. Take out archers first (of course), and move around and try to overwhelm the enemies in small groups where you can keep your eye on what you're up against and change stances as necessary. Dodge around a corner when you're about to be surrounded or killed and race to engage elsewhere while they scatter searching for you. You don't have to sneak, but you have to be fast and ready to seek higher ground at a moment's notice. Think predator picking out the lone prey from the herd and whittling it down to something manageable. Killing lone and isolated enemies lets you accumulate Resolve and heal in relative safety, and the duel-challenging mechanic is great for accruing a fair amount right from the start while taking a bite out of their numbers in one part of the camp.

Also, don't be afraid of the whole dojo coming down on you for starting a fight in one corner. Mostly you'll only be drawing aggro in one section of a camp at a time even if it turns into an all-out brawl, especially if you keep an eye out for someone pulling a horn, and slice them open before they can blow it. But even then it'll take time before anyone responds to it. Mongols are neither very quick or very solidary in this game.

No problem! I wouldn't worry about the side quest order. The game does a really good job of coming up with plausible reasons why it might take a while for one part of a character's side story to follow the other. The cast all feel like they have more than enough going on to keep themselves busy, and understand and respect that Jin is a busy man as well and their problems aren't more important than all of Tsushima's, so I never felt awkward leaving one questline hanging in favor of another. Which is stupidly refreshing, honestly. If something seems like a matter of haste, it's usually resolved within the same mission.

The retaking of Castle Shimura at the end of Act 2 is a minor point of no return, and I'd suggest you complete all the available side missions in the region before doing that particular story mission. But that's the only point in the game I felt weird for having to eventually circle back and do a quest or two a little belatedly, and was one of the things that broke the game's rhythm a bit for me in Act 3.

I was just testing it with an end game save and revisiting hot springs recovered my health, not my resolve though. It also seemed like just fast travelling to a hot spring was enough to recover health. Obviously, you won't get the increase to overall maximum health when returning a second time though.

Also, a tip that I discovered this playthrough, when in the wind stance using heavy attack will knockdown/block enemy spear attacks, if you are having trouble parrying or more likely you haven't unlocked the parry ability yet. 

Haha. True enough, I forgot it takes a while to unlock new stances. My advice if you haven't been doing it already, is to make sure you observe Mongol Commanders before killing them. Sometimes it is easier said than done, but you will unlock stances faster.

My day was going pretty well....This afternoon I started playing Ghost of Tsushima again, picking up where I left off. I had only been playing for about 15 minutes and I was engaged in some heated combat- pressing RB, LB, different buttons combos and I  squeezed the LT on my controller when suddenly *SNAP-O!!!* I heard and felt something *snap*, and then instantly there was no tension in the LT as there was in the RT...There was also no in-game response when I squeezed the trigger.  It was just very loose. and when I wiggled the controller around I could also hear/feel something jumbling around inside. I'm fairly certain the tension spring snapped. So I immediately saved my game where it was using KB/M, exited the game, packed up the controller...found my receipt (luckily I also had an e-copy of the receipt, and also lucky that I purchased the two-year extended warranty that covered repair-or-replacement for damages/defects) because I took it straight back to my local Best Buy...told the girl what happened...she took one press of the trigger and a little wiggle, then no questions asked, said, "If you want to send it in for repairs you can, but honestly...This brand, POWER-A, is garbage- not worth it. We get a lot of these controllers back within less than a year for this exact reason and even the supposed repairs only last six months. So, go ahead, grab another...grab any other controller you want and I'll ring it through for you. We even have some in the back, not on the shelves that I can show you..."

So this time I picked a genuine Microsoft Xbox/PC Controller- still got the two year extende warranty because who knows, right? But she said the actual legit MS Xbox branded PC Controllers are far superior to any of the third-party ones. She then rang it up...taking the 35.99 CAD value for the POS off the regular price of the new controller....And it still ran me $65.00. Of course, I didn't realize until I was walking out of the store that the new controller is wireless. Ugh. So I tried it...tried to get it set-up, and it's not working. The Xbox button just keeps flashing away and eventually after about 20 seconds, turns off. My PC won't even pick it up.

Gonna need to look into this. Any suggestions? This is why I prefer wired controllers.  I'm sure it's just the batteries or something simple, but still.

Started ACT II about an hour ago with the opening quest "NEW Horizons"....Going to get into that now.

Edit July 3rd 2:50 pm ET:  Act II is quite fun so far....I've gained the Moon Stance, really become quite good at the CQB now that I've taken to parrying the combat is a whole lot more enjoyable.  I've made a good dent in the beginning of ACT II liberating the farms and I'm trying to make the Mark IV upgrade to my Clan Armour-- but damn if they don't demand a shit-ton of resources for it!

story-wise when is it appropriate to show Jin wearing a face mask in cutscenes? (I presently have the face mask option toggled OFF in the Game Menu so that I can see his face) but at an appropriate time I would like to see him donning a mask as he fully transforms into The Ghost.