Game Diary - Ghost of Tsushima

These aren't my favorite pants, but this is one of my favorite screenshots so far.
I'm not going to talk about combat at all in this post, but if you're curious - combat's fuckin' awesome. 

I've cleared the southern island.  Mostly.  There are still a dozen or two... or three things out there that are question marks - and those question marks can blossom into multiple new things to do, but every quest and side quest that I'd stumbled across is done, I've unlocked all stances - I've probably done too much side stuff.  I am, at this point, very pleased with how I've got Jin looking.  He's in a simple, sort of expensive-looking black Kimono - the base version of the Ronin equipment - and I've progressed far enough in the story to get a straw hat I'm very fond of.  

And you know the drill in an open world game.  Three colossal areas.  I'm a quest and a half into the second area, very confident and pleased in how thoroughly I've protected my people in the south, when a messenger informs me that the Khan has dispatched several units to retake farms and fishing villages

For hours I've been hearing complaints that my people are starving in the wake of Khotun's army, and again he means to slap the food from their mouths.  

Naturally, this shall not stand.  The next section is gleaming with new vanity gear and quests probably new awesome moves and shit, but I turn Kage around, and we head south. 

Kage, you should know, is the name of my horse.  Upon choosing the black one, I was presented with three names.  Kage means "shadow."  GotfY, moving on.  

News of the Khan's dispatch only reached me at about midnight last night, and I spent the next two hours beating those Mongol bastards out of four beautiful little farms across our idyllic countryside.  This morning, I set my sights on the fishing villages.  And when I say beautiful farms and idyllic countryside I'm sure you think I'm just being patriotic or something, but let me assure you, Tsushima is fuckin' gorrrgeous.  Our hills are rolling.  Our trees are lush. 

It's so beautiful that Kage and I haven't really formed a meaningful bond, beyond the naming.  What is Ghost of Tsushima like, in the playing? 

It is a gorgeous walk through the most beautiful wood / meadow / beach / mountain pass this side o' yo Mama.  And I'm not even puttin' yo Mama down, that's the level we're operating at, here.  Yo Mama could literally be Janelle Monáe and I'd be the boyfriend in the meme, side-eyeing the sunlit-dappled dirt path that leads to the Golden Shrine, dusted as it is with a constantly-swirling dance of translucent yellow leaves.  It's just that powerful.  The constant, incredible beauty of the world really is the single 11/10 aspect of Ghost of Tsushima.  

In the playing, Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful, beautiful hike, punctuated with brief explosions of awesome Samurai violence.  So far - lots of tiny complaints of course - but so far, it's fucking perfect.  For me.  

So the Khan's after my people's foodstuffs, and I'm after the Khan, and I'm two-thirds of the way through this latest insult to my people.  I'm travelling south on foot - as is my custom, given the aformentioned gorgeousness - and I come across a few Mongol camps I hadn't put to the sword.  Yet.  

So I deal with them.  Our farms and houses, our temples and crossroads - so beautiful.  Our work is beautiful.  A Mongol's work is... work I'd put a stop to.  

Mother fuckers.  Cleared them out with... prejudice.  

So I'm riding south and I hit the second-last fishing village.  Get the Legend bonus for damaging 3 enemies with my black-powder bombs and get away with a full resolve meter and health bar - not bad!  I want to get back to the north, at this point - I'm itchin' for what's next! - but there's just one fishing village left.  Obviously, I will complete this endeavor and break the Khan's stranglehold on my people before I turn my back on the south and march north.  

As Kage and I ride up the coast, I spot a sand bar just off the beach.  Could probably walk across to it - and there are some flowers growing on the tufts of grass at the top of a dune on it, so I pull Kage off course into a gentle curve, and he races across the shallows, up onto the dune.  

There, in the sand, just out of sight are four dead bodies.  A tableau.  The story of a Samurai's last stand against the Mongols, written in blood. 

"Neat!" I think to myself, and take some screenshots.  And now here, finally, I'm going to talk to you about the mechanics of the game.  Some of them have been covered extensively in previews or demo videos, but... well first of all, when you start the game - if you're like me - it's going to drive you crazy for a few minutes while you try every button to figure out which one draws and sheathes your sword.  You'll try literally every button, and come away disappointed.  And you will only be able to determine, from this, that the command does not exist.  

What kind of fucking Samurai game doesn't have a dedicated sheathe / draw button?! 

A pretty shitty one, I tell you what!  And this is an excellent Samurai game, let me assure you. To draw or sheathe your blade, swipe right on the touchpad. 

We all know about swipe up to blow the wind (awesome mechanic for bigger reasons I'll talk about in another post).  Swipe up to blow the wind, swipe right to draw or sheathe your sword.  If you sheathe it after a battle, Jin will either flick the blood off before he returns it to its scabbard, or he'll draw the blade through the pit of his elbow to wipe it off.  

Awesome.  

Swipe to the left, and Jin will draw out his flute and begin playing a gentle tune.  You can walk as he plays, and you may soon notice that every time you play this particular tune, the sun clears up and it stops raining.  Huh.  

Fuckin' awesome.  

Finally, if you swipe down on the touchpad, Jin will stop, place both hands on the tops of his thighs, and lean forward in a perfect, light bow.  You can bow to fishermen and washerwomen, farmers and merchants.  You can bow to foxes and the birds who guide you, if you like.  When you meet the Lords of Frogs, be sure to bow to them.  

And after I'd thought "neat!" and taken my screenshots and moved to reunite with Kage, I stopped for a moment and returned to the Samurai, still kneeling there in his armor, and bowed to him.  

"You deserve more respect than this," Jin told him.  

My point being, Ghost of Tsushima is devastatingly good.  I am, repeatedly, multiple times daily, bowled over little touches that shove my affection for it a notch higher.  It's so constantly perfect, for me, that it's almost numbing in its awesomeness.  I need to take breaks, walks away, eat something, watch some stand-up comedy or just stare at some trees on my street to remind myself of the uncomfortable, imperfect reality of this flesh world.  This blog post has served that function well, and I now find myself starving for it again. 

I want to tell you so much, but I don't want to spoil nothin', and if I'm being honest with both of us I'd... rather just keep playing it.  

So I'm gonna'.  We'll talk about combat another day, but for now, let me leave you with... just one of a thousands walks in the woods. 

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