Ghost of Tsushima Looks Like Breath of the Wild Without an Art Direction

Ghost of Tsushima may be a pretty looking game, but it certainly doesn't have any personality.

[AspiringProGenji]

A game ser in japan with japanese aesthetics has no personality? Wtf?

“ Contrast that against Breath of the Wild, where everything is very distinct and appropriately Zelda”

Not everything... and in BotW there were plenty of empty spaces too that served no purpose, so why is that a problem with GoT? the purpose of the state of play vid explain the features and gameplay of the game, not to showcase every environment in the game. The game still looks hella beautiful and has much more to show

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[bouzebbal]

I personally thought botw had zero soul.. Was boring as hell and the precious zelda were much more fun, intense and engaging

[Sono421]

Gonna go ahead and fix the name of this site real quick from thegamer.com to TheBlindNitnendoFan.com

[mav805]

I've tried to play BotW so many times, but I can't play for more than 20 minutes at a time before being bored to tears. It's too bad, because the world looks great--it's just entirely devoid of anything interesting or challenging, with awful combat and item mechanics, obnoxious music, and half-baked ideas. Oh well.

[Jrios355]

It's all a matter of preference. I spent about 100 hours on Breath of the Wild, and finished it. I loved it, despite its problems.

[abstractel]

Zelda has nostalgia working for it, it has some great moments but the general world could not be more bland. Horizon Zero Dawn, and _especially_ Ghost of Tsushima each has a clear and defined art direction. You could show me a screenshot of anywhere in these games (unless you do something dumb like zoom into a wall) and I would know what game it was. That's strong art direction. Now, if you don't like that art direction, that's fine. Everyone has their own taste but to say GOT is devoid of art direction is just stupid.

[StormSnooper]

It’s clickbait. It’s intended to rile people up, thus comparison to a famous but completely different game. Usually you get these when a game has an unknown element to it such as when it is trying something new, such as a new setting, which unfortunately then allows troll/clickbait author to draw on the unknown to make whatever claim he/she wants.

[GottaBjimmyb]

Yea, dumbest article title as well as content I have seen in a long time. There is an extremely clear direction for the art and it is executed extremely successfully by any measurable factor. I guess subjectively one might prefer cartoony whimsical landscapes more, but hot sure how adding realism means less art direction....

The arguments saying it looks boring at least make sense, (though I disagree) as the trailer was more a landscape/environment presentation than specifically showing combat and other gameplay mechanics. I am however looking forward to this game quite a bit.

[Ratchet75]

Totally agree with you on that one.
To me, they re both great looking games.
Period

[rainslacker]

I think the author doesn't understand that art style is a chosen method of presenting the game, not a measure of the scope of the games environments. For instance, BOTW had that cartoonish, Nintendo like art style which we've all become to know. GoT uses a more realistic, yet also somewhat Japanese painted art style...actually a combinatino of several art styles that pushes more towards the realistic.

There is character in spades in GoT, it doesn't even take a keen eye. Putting aside a undying devotion to say that Nintendo are Gods of game creation that no one can match helps to see it.

[Tacoboto]

Breath of the Wild had so many empty spaces and bland AF textures. I wanted to show my spouse the first day how cool it is that Link could climb any mountain and go anywhere.

The reaction seeing that mountain: "What's wrong with the TV?"

[Rude-ro]

I love seeing the imaginary anti troll farm doing their disagrees/agree randomly as if this site is actually responsible for it because there is no pattern supporting said farming from the regulars on this site.
And it only lasts for about 10 comments.
🤔😂🤔

[StormSnooper]

Not sure what you meant but I got curious. Are you saying there is a “farm” like a bot? That does what? And what pattern? I’m actually asking.

[frostypants]

Wow. Where'd the Nintendo brigade come from? All the downvotes showed up at once.

[StormSnooper]

Is it a bot?

[phoenixwing]

i own botw and it's definitely overrated. ghost of tsushima destroys botw as far as looks go, half the colors don't really even pop in botw they're kind of bland on my switch lite

[StormSnooper]

That game wasn’t really about graphics, Zelda is, well, Zelda. Graphics are good/important, but not everything. Imo

Having said that, I’m super hyped for GoT

[Tech5]

this is a good topic actually, for future games references on historically accurate depictions.
does 1 to 1 historically accurate designs and abilities lead to losing a game's personality and uniqueness.
Ryse had this same topic years ago. it worked for games like Red Dead, Mafia and L.A. Noire with not having outlandish concepts. but for Ryse it lead to feeling repetitive not being able to move like Dante or Ryu Hayabusa. even-though none of this existed in their culture. the question remains should games be criticized for 1 to 1 accuracy. from clothing, faces, hair styles, to personality growth. beyond how people really were back then.

[Tekken66634]

"When I sent the trailer to my friend to discuss how I was pretty disappointed with the generic-looking open-world design, the first thing he said to me was, "Breath of the Wild looks better." He wasn't referring to gameplay, but rather the art direction of Nintendo's smash hit open-world adventure game."

there is probably the source of your topic. as a historically accurate creation it recreates everything quite well. but this can be achieved by plenty of historical based artists that know plenty about the culture.
not all gamers i'm guessing want complete accuracy in their games.

[Tito08]

That friend he's talking about is himself, lol.

[Hungryalpaca]

There was nothing historically accurate about Ryse. What are you babbling about?

[bishup25]

names, location, theology, armor, weapons, combat moves and battle formations was accurate.
Damocles is part of roman theology and literature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

the only thing that is inaccurate in Ryse is story plot and native language.
the roman empire did in fact go to war with Boudica. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

[Genkins]

Hungryalpaca-
"There was "nothing" historically accurate about Ryse."

?????
the Romans never had a Colosseum?
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

my sources say otherwise?
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[ShipWreck200]

the only thing i thought was mostly inaccurate in ryse was boudica ridding an elephant. which she hijacks from roman exotic live stock. not impossible to see elephants in Rome at this time. because Rome did establish trade in India and Arabia. and part of that trade was exotic animals. as depicted in the movie Gladiator.

though Boudica in particular was extremely i'll equipped and did not know how to ride exotic animals. so for the sake of the game Ryse chose to go with with a more epic entrance for gameplay. not accurate though.

[DigitalHope]

Except this game isn’t historically accurate and Sucker Punch has even said it’s not historically accurate. They just want to tell a sick story. The game takes place in the 13th century and his armour is from the 17th. So yeah, facts.

[-Foxtrot]

Breath of the Wild was not that amazing. It was an alright game, well made, top quality in terms of little details but it was a shit Zelda game where past games in the franchise did those Zelda elements better (story, dungeons, boss fights, side quests etc)

I’m really fed up of people making out BotW revolutionised open world games while using it to shit on every other open world game. It’s just a Zelda open world game at the end of the day and many things it does can be found to be done better in other games.

Only reason it seems why people over praise it, especially developers is because they remember Zelda and Nintendo during the golden age of video games, that nostalgia growing up as young children, playing on their Nintendo games and feeling the need to thank Nintendo even today, giving the benefit of the doubt because of the memories they gave them.

Flaws people “ignored” in BotW will be called in this game just you watch, same happened to Horizon, even the same types of articles near release.

[solideagle]

Sssshhhhh you cannot say that. Every Nintendo title is gold, flawless, and have 97+ meta. /s :)

On Topic: there is a reason there are 6+ billion people in the world who have distinct taste/values/etc. If you like Zelda better, it does not mean you shit on another game. I personally find it beautiful doesn't mean I would say Zelda is cartoony and not lifelike etc

I personally think Nintendo is always given more love by media than any other company. where are articles about their greedy practices of sales etc from big sites?

[-Foxtrot]

I can hear the assassins closing in on my house as I type this...

No but seriously, I have friends who do the whole "Oh it's the best game ever " or "best Zelda game" and I ask them the same things. What's your favourite Zelda dungeon, favourite boss battle, music, memorable NPC, moment, side quest, story, themes? So on.

Almost ALL of them with their answers mention every other Zelda game except BotW, it's very rarely it gets mentioned for any of the questions. So I then ask "If BotW is your favourite Zelda game like you say then why is it that you never picked it for most of your answers?"

They usually have nothing to say...the fact is, from the story, dungeons, boss fights etc, past games did it better, you know things which make a Zelda game...Zelda. Seems they only say it's the best because seeing it online be praised and that everyone is saying it's the best they feel the need to say it aswell without thinking about it.

I'll give it top marks for little details like going down a steep hill in your shield, making things, gliding, the clouds shadows on the ground, turning water to ice using them as platforms and so on but when the rest of the game is just a step back from other main Zelda games, what's the point, these things don't hold it up on their own.

[-Foxtrot]

@Pekeni613

The fact you've just joined 19 minutes ago from writing this, to repeat yourself 3 times about fanboy bullshit and twisting it into something it's not in pathetic. Let me guess, didn't want to say it on your actual account...

[imtiyaz6]

This. Cell-shaded design has been done countless times already. Nintendo always plays it safe when it comes to presentation and graphics and they are always commended for it. GoT designers have actually taken risks, and put in more work. GoT doesn’t look like any other game on the market and SP deserve praise. Imagine if every developer goes for the cell-shaded art style to give the game a ‘timeless’ aesthetic, I’d be pretty sick of it.

[Tacoboto]

@Foxtrot

The last paragraph about the little details is why BotW is my favorite Zelda game. It's not about how "Zelda"-like it is, especially because there are no gameplay-mechanical similarities between something like Link to the Past and something like Skyward Sword. The overall experience for me matters way more than any specific thing (all of your subsets would fall into moments of Ocarina for me, but I still had more fun in Wind Waker).

It set you on a journey for you to complete yourself. I don't know how I spent 100 hours on it but I did, something no other game has done to me since ES4: Oblivion.

The fire is my favorite little detail. It reacted to the wind. To my blade, to my armor. If I hit it with a stick. It is incredible all the subtle environmental reactions this game has.

It's that much more incredible when something like Horizon had Alloy speak a canned phrase about her boots getting wet only when I entered a river. It was raining, I was already drenched, and the torches along that stretch of river remained lit in Horizon.

When you notice and pay attention to those often-overlooked details, BotW seems that much more "amazing" in how it tries so hard on getting those right. For me, I didn't even really care or think about the Zelda norms until I was done and realized that... For the first time, I beat a Zelda game without switching to a different game. I missed the dungeons because I expected them, but after 100 hours, maybe leaving them out kept BotW fresh instead of just being another formulaic Zelda game.

[Nyxus]

While I think BoTW is still a great game, I agree that it had some noticeable flaws and that a lot of things were overlooked in the game that other, similar games were critized for.

[Moe-Gunz]

100% Agree. BotW is grossly overrated. I found Horizon to be vastly superior but nostalgia and what I call “the Nintendo curve” blind people. That’s how I feel about the situation.

[-Foxtrot]

I found Horizon Zero Dawn better aswell

The story was better (it actually had one), voice acting, music (Aloy's theme was superb), the open world, variety in enemies (f***** dinosaur robots man) and I enjoyed the side activities, the main character was developed and more interesting. Even the Cauldrons shit on the shrines in BotW.

However even though it did fantastic in reviews, there were some things here and there journalists nit picked about the game they totally ignored in BotW. I mean even the weapon breakage system, just one flaw, was never mentioned in any of the Zelda reviews but was then talked about in a negative like well AFTER release.

The issue with Horizon in this comparison is that because it's a Playstation exclusive, it ends up being turned into a fanboy thing where people say you are only saying it's better because Sony vs Nintendo.

[solideagle]

I found Horizon's gameplay to be very addicting for some reason, I loved it. I rarely get this feeling of addiction from a game :)

[kneon]

Just trim 10-20% from every Nintendo game review score to account for the nostalgia bonus and you'll have a better idea of where the game really stands

[notachance]

by the time I went to the 3rd beast I practically abandoned the game because it's the same flow of meeting the successor -> getting their help in entering the beast -> puzzle time -> ganon boss fight

literally they can make 4 different story arc with the 4 beasts but I guess that takes too much work, better put 100 shrines with similar puzzles instead

[remixx116]

Yup I tapped out on the 4th beast, someone told me the final boss fight with calamity Ganon wasn't worth it and I just had to go look it up on YouTube after. I was pretty pissed.

All that effort and I couldn't get a single good dungeon, a memorable story or at least a good final boss. I sunk 70 hours in that I don't regret but it seemed more like a foundation for a future game than a complete experience in itself.

[notachance]

@remixx
yeah it's an okay sandbox game, the spell and interactivity with the world is just.. unique, it manages to be different and it sets a good foundation for their next game

but in terms of gameplay and story it's a godawful decrease in quality from previous zelda games, copy pasted beast, lack of enemy variety, godawful weapon breaking mechanics, and practically non-existent narrative..
I swear the only side-quest I remembered having storyline is just that one village where you tail someone in the middle of the night, others are basically collect this or kill x number of enemies

[Imalwaysright]

Of course you are fed up. You were on a vendetta towards BoTW before the game was even released and people including the devs that praised the game made well thought out arguments as to why and how Zelda differs from 99.9% of open world games that you can buy right now. Here's a few examples of what I'm saying

https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.engadget.com/20...
https://www.destructoid.com...

[-Foxtrot]

1) Before the game came out I basically said things I was right about, lack of enemy variation, barren landscapes that go on for miles in the distance, lack of huge towns with crowds full of towns folk. If I saw it, questioned it and then ended up being right, what can I say, people like yourself said "wait for the game to release". I did...I played it...my opinion never changed as it didn't give me a reason to change it. So what I said before release and after means nothing really.

2) As for developers. Well I mentioned this in my comment above, most developers always have a big spot for Nintendo anyway but going through your video links, things I've seen before they don't actually explain WHY? It's sad because some of them who have done open world games have actually done certain things better than the game they are over praising. Another thing to consider is you are cherry picking things with those links to fit your narrative, there's so many developers, you are acting the majority of them are saying the exact same things. However like I said in another comment above, they still have a big spot for Nintendo as I'm guessing most of their games when they were younger influenced them. I mean can you imagine if someone said something bad about BotW? Even those 7.5 reviews were getting torn part so...you know.

Does Zelda BotW have superior dungeons? Nope. Boss battles? Nope. Enemy variety? Nope. You can twist it but it would be laughable to say other wise, that's the facts no matter how many developers or journalists say otherwise.

[Imalwaysright]

https://n4g.com/news/202511...

"The more Japanese it is, the better it is - Famitsu logic" This is what you said before the game was even released and you had the opportunity to play it. I'm not wrong when I say that you were demonstrating your negative bias towards the game before it was even released. No wonder that you're fed up.

2) Bullshit. Some of the videos I posted even say why in their titles: "open world design". That's what makes Zelda different. It turns the open world formula that has been established years ago completely upside down but you'll just sweep what other people have to say under the nostalgia rug anyway.

"Does Zelda BotW have superior dungeons? Nope. Boss battles? Nope. Enemy variety? Nope. You can twist it but it would be laughable to say other wise, that's the facts no matter how many developers or journalists say otherwise."

Yes, BoTW is a different beast when compared to other Zelda games wich makes it ironic when you say that the praise the game got can be boiled down to the word "nostalgia". BoTW went another direction but that doesn't mean that the things it did differently weren't done right.

[rainslacker]

That vandetta may not have grown so strong had Nintendo fans not tried to pit BOTW against Sony games, and treat the game as if it was the best game ever made, while ignoring it's flaws.

BOTW was an OK game. It's differences aren't anywhere close to what people make them out to be, and as I recall, that "exploration with no set course" wasn't highly regarded by many for Death Stranding.

" It turns the open world formula that has been established years ago completely upside down "

These are the kinds of claims I'm talking about. What does that even mean? Why did the open world formula need to be turned upside down? Instead of just making a hyperbolic claim with no substance, say how it did this. Then at least people can discuss those points without wasting time. It'd be a waste of time anyways, because some people just won't accept that Nintendo didn't really innovate with this game, but at least people could get right to expressing why they think you're wrong.

[Imalwaysright]

rainslacker

Ahh here comes the playstation fanboy bullshit as if Sony fanboys weren't upset because BoTW got higher scores than Horizon. The narratives and excuses around here were as follows

- Nintendo games get a pass.
- Nostalgia
- Reviewers are Nintendo fanboys
- Sony is a poor victim and their games are always judged harshly.

This is what happens EVERY time when a Sony 1st/2nd party game doesn't get close to perfect scores or isn't considered to be the best. It happened with the Order, it happened with Days Gone, It happened with Death Stranding got some average scores. It's always the same with you sony fanboys and BoTW had to be the target of your pathetic fanboy rage because 100 or so reviewers gave it better scores than the 100 or so reviewers that reviewed Horizon.

"What does that even mean" Simply put no illusion of freedom. While Nintendo said go, explore and create your own adventure, other developers are constantly telling the player where to go to start a mission, how to get there, how to do the mission, what you can't do to not fail the mission and that cycle continues until you finish the game. BoTW broke the shackles imposed by the established open world formula and gave meaning to the word "open". If you want to go into more detail on how Nintendo achieved that you can watch some of the links I provided above.

"Why did the open world formula need to be turned upside down" Yeah settling with stagnation is where it's at right? Nintendo should have just followed the established formula we've seen dozens of times before. Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves.

[rainslacker]

Sure, it's both sides fault. But why get into the chicken and egg scenario, when the Nintendo fans most certainly did go out of their way to say why BOTW was truly innovative in spades. Well above what would be required to just pit it against Horizon. And yeah, Sony fans were more than willing to say why BOTW wasn't innovative.

But, that's two sides engaged in the discussion, and I know most certainly that you were in on that discussion. Your part in what I said is indeed real, regardless of who started it.

Sony fans had a critique against the reviews which said that BOTW was better than Horizon, when there are objective ways to say it wasn't. Nintendo fans took that as the means to push BOTW being the most innovative game out there because you could climb mountains and play anywhere you want at any time, because I guess progression is antiquated or something.

"Open world freedom"

And what game really pushed that as it's main directive. That you could go anywhere, at any time? There hasn't been a single open world game like that, and the reason it's not like that is because those games had real progression, and purpose to keep the player from advancing to areas where it wouldn't make sense for them to advance. In the mean time, you have BOTW, which had the most cursory of progression schemes, with no plot or reason not to go anywhere, but it's great you can go explore anywhere, even though there was absolutely no point in doing so other than to see more of the same no matter where you went.

You suggest settling with stagnantation is what those other open world games have to offer, so I guess my next question is, would you rather have a stagnant game design that's interesting, or a truly open world where you can go anywhere, but not have anything to see, nor anything meaningful reason to go see it other than you can?

THere has to be a point to turning things on their head. I'll concede if that's your reason that Nintendo did that, now you just have to explain how it made a more meaningful game by doing so, because it certainly didn't help with the story, character agency, or motivation of the player to do what they did.

Oh, BTW. BOTW wasn't the first game to actually be like this. MMO's have been doing it for years. After the starting zones in WOW, you could truly go anywhere you wanted. Wasn't always a good idea to, because of that whole progression thing, but it was possible. But, if you want to keep credit with Nintendo, why not just cite that the first Zelda game allowed you to do this?

[Imalwaysright]

Meaningful is in the eye of the beholder. Most gamers don't even finish linear games let alone open world games with disjointed storytelling that take 30+ hours to finish.

Also, there is purpose in exploring hyrule. Everything you do is to prepare you for the fight with Ganon or to learn about the backstory of the game while other open world games give you an illusion that you're exploring their world and give you checklists but if you don't want to explore Zelda's world then don't it. Challenge yourself and go for Ganon. This kind of freedom as opposed to the annoying handholding in other open world games is what makes this game different. It's up to you to decide what you want to do. A game where the choices you make are your own.

Character agency? Nah I rather have player agency and just because you don't see value in it it doesn't mean that others don't. There are people such as myself that rather create our own stories than having to be forced to follow mediocre stories and if you don't see value in it there is no point in me telling the importance of what Nintendo achieved with this game.

The original Zelda was not an open world game but contrary to some narratives BoTW is closer to Myamoto's vision than previous Zelda games and WoW is again, a different genre.

[rainslacker]

"I’m really fed up of people making out BotW revolutionised open world games while using it to shit on every other open world game"

This so much.

I liked BOTW well enough I guess. It was kind of a trudge after a while though, and after finally deciding to just finish the game, I had no desire to go through all the extra stuff that I hadn't done up to that point.

Nothing about the game play was innovative, and while it's my only complaint about the game play, the broken weapon system also makes the game annoying and frustrating at times, until suddenly, it's not an issue anymore because you get the Zelda equivalent of an ultimate weapon.

Yeah, the environments were nice, but unlike what this article says, is not something that will be held in the annals of games with the most amazing graphics. They were acceptable for what it was, but certainly not better looking than other games that have come out this gen, or what I've seen of GoT so far. It didn't really have soul, and the things you did in this environment were not engaging enough to last the whole game.

I think the game is good overall, and I can see why people would praise it, and I can even understand why it'd rate so high. But this penchant for making it into one of the greatest games ever has gotten stale, and to me, shows a lack of understanding that many gamers, and journalists have to really look at how a game is constructed, and consider objectively the quality of the game. Further, if they're the ones that think BOTW is this amazingly innovative game, it just makes me think that maybe they only play Nintendo games, and need to branch out more and have more varying experiences.

[Morbid Bulldozer]

It's hard to compare aesthetics of Assassin's Creed: Japan and Zelda. Both may be open world, but visually they serve different purposes.

[sampsonon]

Assassin's Creed was set in Japan? When?

[Mr_Writer85]

@sampsonon

He's basically calling GOT an Assassins Creed clone.

[sampsonon]

@Mr_Writer85: Oh! I get it now. I don't see how you can compare games when one hasn't been released yet. Ans isn't almost all openworld games kind of cut from the same cloth? Until the ps5 of course.

[DOMination-]

I get more of a Witcher 3 vibe

[WillyC009]

Lol. Can’t take this seriously and didn’t bother to even open the article. I’m sure this game will thankfully not have breakable weapons though. Breath of the Wild was one of the only Zelda games I never bothered to complete. As far as I’m concerned the best Zelda game continues to be Link to the Past.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

It's fallen angel. look at his history of anything playstation.....

[RazzerRedux]

He is fine as a poster, but he submits a lot of shit articles.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

I was talking about his articles, and based on those I don't want to see any of his posts, he has a massive bias.

[Nyxus]

Ridiculous statement, this game looks to have a ton of atmosphere. Just because it isn't cell shaded doesn't mean it has no art direction.

[crazyCoconuts]

Maybe they haven't gone past water colors in the writer's art class. Realism is next semester.

[Teflon02]

All I'm saying is, Dark Cloud 2 for PS2 has a way better art direction than Zelda and to this day doesn't look dated outside the slide walk animation lol. While DC2 has an amazing art direction. Zelda is literally nothing special in the art direction category. I don't get how anyone would say the nonsense. GoT has an amazing art direction. I'd argue that everything shown so far focused more on art direction than gameplay lol

[Silly gameAr]

Oh, GOT is looking like one of the most overrated games ever? Cool story.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

What are you basing this off?

[AnubisG]

What's with all the GoT hating articles?

[SamPao]

I have only seen this one? But yeah comes from a author that had no eye for art aparently :)

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Umm it's fallen angel..he hates everything playstation, every article he does is like this, concern trolling 101, praise everything MS.

[rainslacker]

Hadn't you heard? The game is releasing soon. IT's time to interject opinions about other games that people like to ride the wave of media attention that GoT will be getting, rile up fan boys, and get them clicks....so these websites and their employees can afford to buy the game they're going to trash.

Apparently the game media's job nowadays is to make sure that they trash everything, because why bother celebrating games, when you can make more tearing them down.

[Pancit_Canton]

LMAO. The author must be blind and a complete Nintendo fanboy. Ghost of Tsushima's art direction is more inspired to Shadow of Colossus than anything else. I'm sure Nintendo stole a lot of ideas from Shadow of Colossus from exploration and giant boss battles.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

He is actually a blatant MS fanboy, he has many articles like this, every mention of playstation games or system has a negative slant.

[DankSinatra]

It was outright stated to be inspired by BOTW

[DankSinatra]

All these disagree’s but nobody debating otherwise because you all know the lead art director stated it themselves. LMAO

[DethWish]

Looked more like AC imo. Hopefully it plays more like Witcher 3

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Lets hope it doesn't.....Witcher 3 was amazing, but the gameplay mechanics/combat were mediocre. The writing/atmosphere is what makes that game great not it's mundane gameplay.

[DethWish]

Well, we saw what the gameplay looked like, it was the atmosphere/writing/side quests I was refering to. I shouldve been more clear

[FlavorLav01]

Thank you for saying this! I was beginning to think it was only me. Considering it got GOTY and everyone rides CDproject red’s jock for this game. The story was indeed GREAT! The gameplay though, bored me to death! I shouldn’t have played Bloodborne right before this, it put my combat expectations on a new level...

[imtiyaz6]

Nah unlike AC and witcher, the combat is actually engaging.

[FlavorLav01]

Witcher 3 had horribly boring combat, AC wasn’t a whole lot better. I’m hoping it plays like it’s own game or more akin to Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and Metal Gear 5 (stealth-wise, minus the guns obviously)

[TechnoGoat]

This guy wanted to write a Breath of the Wild article so bad... lol

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Fallenangel bashing another PS exclusive..pretends to be shocked...The art direction is being praised everywhere, dude is an xbox troll look at his article history, it's fanboys steps how to concern troll 101.

Sorry this is another bad article trying to paint something PS related in a negative light...it's all you do bro. You don't fool anyone.

Saying it has no "Personality" without playing it is ridiculous. It's 50 + hours, no way to know this yet. The game looks incredibly atmospheric.

[sampsonon]

Breath Of The Wild was barren.

[Melankolis]

Correction : Ghost of Tsushima is Breath of the Wild with art direction.

[LoveSpuds]

A really flawed arguement as far as I am concerned.

While the game sticks to historical accuracy to inform its rendition of architecture, clothing, geographical and environmental characteristics, there is still a very strong art design in how they choose to style those things. The colour pallete, the dramatic skies, the adaption of Japanese folklore, the interaction with animals. The music and mood which is more akin to Japanese cinema than historical accuracy.

This is a really poor article written by someone with a pretty obvious bias.

[Nacho_Z]

Of all the things I expected people to cook up to criticise this game for, I never thought the art style would be one. It looks beautiful and I mean in an arty way not graphical detail.

[buffig]

People, please don't click on the link. I nearly fell for it and went on a big rant. Alternate timeline me feels real foolish right about now

[jdoe]

what a load of garbage

[RazzerRedux]

Ghost of Tsushima Looks NOTHING Like Breath of the Wild. This comparison is just absurd.

[DreadGara]

Botw is a Chinese Red Dead knockoff game without art or direction.
Horrible Zelda game yet it's praised by today Nintendo Fanboys.

[PCgamer98]

Botw isn't even anything groundbreaking, It's gameplay is basically been there done that by most open worlds since last gen. Game is good but it's also a pretty flawed game and people thinking it's a meter stick for every new open world game to reach is just hilarious.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

BOTW is a good game but yes perhaps the most overrated game ever made, because nintendo fans keep talking like it invented Open world games or exploration, BOTW did absolutely nothing new, and the combat was mediocre, story non existent, and the lack of dungeons hurt, the shrines, korok seeeds = padding to the max..But that gets ignored cause Zelda.

[SCW1982]

You have no Idea what art direction actually means if you think this way.

[Pekeni613]

Although the games lead art director said inspired by botw art direction.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

That has nothing to do with the authors points, which is what he is alluding too....The game oozes atmosphere and style...

[-Foxtrot]

Urm...he mentions it but it's not main inspiration

https://www.ladbible.com/te...

"I would say the number one inspiration for the title was Red Dead Redemption - not Red Dead 2 but Red Dead Redemption, - because they did such a fantastic job bringing the fantasy of being an outlaw cowboy to life"

Try again

[DragoonUS]

Clickbait dishonesty at it best.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

FallenAngels MO...it's what he does.

[staticall]

Sometimes i wish people should be forced to take some kind of test before writing such dumb articles.

I mean, first of all, how do you know game doesn't have any personality, when it's not even released and all we saw - a couple of trailers and a gameplay? I thought, personality is about characters, their interactions, locations. Ghost of Tsushima looks good so far.
«What I can't wrap my head around is how flat, lifeless, and utterly boring the game world appears to be» and «There are barely any people, small shrines have no distinct look to them, and even the protagonist's clothing options have no personality» - come on, you must be either trolling or dumb, there's no other way. You do know what the story is about, right? Let me quote Wikipedia «Set on Tsushima Island in the year 1274, the game revolves around one of the island's last samurai, Jin Sakai, during the first Mongol invasion of Japan.». Are you expecting people to do during an invasion - just walking around, smelling the flowers and saying «Oh, hi, mongols! Welcome to Tsushima!»? And what were you expecting clothing-wise? Pony outfit? Pink clown? It's an appropriate armor for appropriate time.
«Contrast that against Breath of the Wild, where everything is very distinct and appropriately Zelda.» - «appropriately Zelda», really? What's «appropriately Zelda» about Breath of the Wild? Art style? No, because Zelda has a huge variety or art styles, from completely cartoony to almost realistic looking. Open world? No. Breaking weapons? No. Cooking? No. Lack of dungeons? No. Ganon? No every Zelda has Ganon though. Zelda herself? Well, maybe. Still not convincing.

To me, this article looks more like a way to remind people how much you like BotW (which is fine). And you're doing that by comparing to completely different games. What's next, «Cyberpunk 2077 Looks Like Breath Of The Wild Without An Art Direction»?

[Psychotica]

I don't get the need to have every space filled with people, structures or some objective, that's not how the world really is. To exclude these areas would make the game world less believable in my opinion.

[SpinalRemains138]

I don't understand the bashing for a game which hasn't been released yet. Play through it first and then decide how you feel. This is judging a book by its cover.

[Veneno]

This is just one of those games that Sony will just not show much of before release. The reviews will give us a better look at the game. Maybe after Tlou 2 is out they will give us a better look. So it's really impossible to say either way. I hope in the next deep dive they show the villages and communties. Actually show the wonder of the Japanese culture. Make us as the player care about the people we are supposed to protect.

[Veneno]

The disagrees are saying you don't care about Japan in a game set in historic Japan?

[WeAreLegion]

Of all the things to bash, art direction is NOT one of them. You see people praising the art direction all over the internet. It's beautiful.

[BQ32]

I am assuming this article certainly doesn't have any personality.

[TheColbertinator]

Great article. The author is smart.

10/10

[averagejoe26]

Haha this is hilarious

An article posted by a known Sony hater trying so desperately to make himself feel better.

Sorry buddy, Playstation is the console king and the exclusives are amazing.

You didn't even use the term art direction correctly. What a joke.

[Magog]

Lol. Shit tier cartoon graphics is an art direction but gorgeous samurai aren't?

[andron]

Eh wot?...

[RoseSapphire]

Who wrote this shit? Wow.

[lazyboyblue]

And all for clicks. Shameful.

[2ndhandcorn]

Do not have a ps4 but the game looks fine from what i have seen they sound bitter.

[isarai]

Every scene with a landmark in it looks so damn painterly, it's like staring at concept art sometimes. Sounds more like you just prefer BotWs art style, doesn't mean it's better. I don't know how you can see the short montage of the scenery and it's landmarks in the last trailer and say it has "no art direction". Clickbait for sure

[neomahi]

Oh brother, the writer of this game has no taste and he's never played Metal Gear Solid V which was repetitive and boring. You ran around the same mountain. In the end, ALL open world games have the same problem but, I'm not worried about this one at all. Played all the InFamous games and they were great. I'm far more worried about The Last of Us Part II than this game

[EronY]

Another bullshit biased article submitet from fallenaxbot1984 lol.

[Smclaren1985]

Click bait nonsense don’t fall for it

[mkis007]

How did this get approved?

[Elda]

Imo the game looks nothing like BOTW.

[LucidIllusion]

God I can't handle the stupidity anymore just go extinct already

[Kaedro]

It's articles like these that give opinion articles a bad name.

[NealGamby]

Comparing Hyrule(a fictional place) to Tsushima(a real place) and complaining it doesn't have an art direction like said fictional place is about as moronic a comment one could make.

[YourMommySpoils]

Talk about trolling.

[NeodeosX]

Imagine being a videogame journalist and not even knowing what "art direction" actually means and involves.

[CrimsonWing69]

Huh? I would say this has incredible art direction. What game looks similar to this?

Are you sure you’re cut out to be writing about games?

[lellkay]

Oh boy, here we go

[Jorgeb93]

Nintendo Fan Boy Opinions

[Passerotto]

No sense.
Clickbait.
Shit.

[gammaray13]

i say the idiot that wrote this article has no personality

[SIdepocket]

“An art direction”?

Sounds like a preview, but without a grammar check.

[knickstr]

The game isn't even out yet. Can we at least wait till the game is out? And let's stop propping up botw up so much. The game was good, but it is greatly overrated with how it's reviewed and talked about.

[RabbitFly]

This article seems to equate art direction with stylized. Because Ghost of Tsushima is dripping with art direction, claiming otherwise seems to be more than stretching for straws.

Botw is stylized, comic book-ish if you like. Nintendo's staple of using stylized comic-esque graphics to appeal to a broad range of ages is rightly celebrated. But to claim that Ghost of Tsushima looks worse for not doing the same? Calling it a lack of art direction for mot trying to copy Botw more? Come on.

[MidnightMay0r]

Take it they don’t do much moderation around here? Who lets this garbage through?

[ILostMyMind]

Well, I think GoT has achieved enough quality to attract the attention of Nintendo's army of fans. They ran to compare it to ... Zelda, for some reason. And, obviously, they considered it a disgusting thing. 🤨

[oasdada]

A game like breath of the wild WITH better gfx* There fixed it.

[Sprucegoose77]

Holy clickbait Batman!

[Kratos0289]

Excuse me mr writer you didn’t explain why it doesn’t have an art direction lol you don’t make an assertion and not back it up

You’ve failed as a writer

[sushimama]

This is what's wrong with N4G. Anyone can write any opinion on gaming, even if the author themselves don't even believe it, and it gets approved.

N4G just has too many opinion pieces. On all sides. Positive and Negative opinions. There's too many on this website. Gaming Websites thrive on opinion Console War-Click Baiting.

[Father__Merrin]

i knew it. ghosts of tsushima is not zelda is not witcher is not halo or forza therefore it cant be any good. the article author at thegamer.com is a pathetic troll. at least say you prefer Botw because you prefer zelda games not spew rubbish. anyway back to reality playstation 4 owners will have another great game to play i would recommend the author at thegamer.com to play a few rounds of bumpies party lol

[Tito08]

Game journalism isn't different from mainstream journalism, they're fake lol.

[Charlieboy333]

Did Fallenangel hit his head in the fall ?

[yellowgerbil]

article from thelamer.com

[jznrpg]

That’s the dumbest title I’ve read and N4G has had some dumb crap on here .

[Hotabang]

It's weird saying that it doesn't have an art direction when it does everything an old school samurai movie did, it's like a video game homage to those movies, isn't that the art direction?

[Limitedtimestruggle]

I struggled to really like Breath of The Wild on the Switch, I really did not like the game reeled me in the first 15-20 hours of gameplay that I put down into it. Then I picked it up about 4 months later...and just got to it. Around the 30 hour mark..something just clicked..and I really struggled to put it down ;p

That said, Ghost of Tsushima is not a game I feel like I HAVE to pick up...but I really hope I will get the same "Aright, this game is really good after all" vibe from :P

[NewEnds0186]

Why is Botw held so high? I found literally nothing above average about it. It took months to even finish because it was so boring.

If someone changed the characters a bit and took the zelda name from it I bet it would have been ate alive by fans and critics.

[capjacksparrow]

So... guy is mad that it isn’t extremely colorful? The color that is there seems purposeful and creates a striking juxtaposition. I didn’t even finish Breath of the Wild, it had no worthwhile story. This, on the other hand, looks like it may be worthwhile. I’ll try not to freak out on account that the art director didn’t use every single color hue and shade in his library, like my dear beloved Breath of the Wild.

[The_Sage]

Zelda is ridiculous. I guess it's cool if you're 10.

[Avalanche]

"Art Direction"

Translation= I need pretty colors

[Pyrofire95]

Played the video with no display?

[Pyrofire95]

Also pretty freakin rude.

[Good-Smurf]

Seeing the disagrees grew like bots overnight are hilarious.
Somebody's got desperate that's for sure.
All top comments got disagrees to balance it out for some reason.

[AndrenNguyen1471992]

Bullshit and look nothing to read here
If you don't touch to GOT, so stop comparing between two games here
That proven you just a Nintendo fanboy but just attract people to clickbait
BOTW is not that great to receive so much 10 from so much reviews ... ok?

[tool-parabola]

Thegamer.com looks like a website without a brain.

[Tex4242]

It pretty much comes down to BOTW is a very stylized game and Ghost is going towards the realism. As far as the game itself, you cant judge it until you've played it. I for one am very excited.

[Master of Unlocking]

WTF?
Look guys, I know this is chinese cinema, not japanese, but still Ghost of Tsushima reminds me of this
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
At 2:19 for example, the leaves in the wind, the colors... ah yes, I do think this reflects a distinguishable art direction.
Sorry, author.

[SubtilizZer]

The up votes to down votes in these comments tell the whole story.

GOT doesn’t look that great. There is nothing wrong with the fact that you like it though. If you’ve been playing PlayStation exclusives then you’ve basically played this game before is how I see it.

I’m sure the game will be ok though.

[Kratos0289]

I know right Sony needs to stop pumping out all of these open world Samurai games I was already over it by Spider-Man

[The_Sage]

How much to cross your bridge, troll?

[Steppenwolfmother]

Oh great another quality opinion piece from “the gamer” 😂
I’m not sure this guy even really knows what art direction is.

[Weapon_of_choice]

The author is getting payed by MS and Nintendo it seems..

[Gameplayer1]

Yawn,yawn. Sigh.

[GrizToof]

Once again the stupidest article on n4g floats to the top.... And here i am adding to the pot.

[MADGameR]

Why make the comparison to a fricking BABY kiddy game? Ghosts of Tsushima if FAR superior than that baby game BOTW.

[michaux025]

This review is laughable at best. There is 100% an art direction, you just clearly decided you weren't going to like this before you gave it a glance.

[The_Sage]

It doesn't tickle that little immature child part of him that he is most excited by. I bet that he has an adult onesie. With footies of course.