Ghost of Tsushima - Review of Not the Director's Cut!

[ZyroXZ2]

EricHiggin said:

ZyroXZ2 said:

As mentioned, the hardware is different, but the application and APIs are really not.  Again, my PC has gone through three different GPU architectures, and yet they all run the same games (just better and better, naturally!).  Trust me when I tell you that after the X360/PS3, the consoles aren't really doing as much custom work as you might imagine (again, with the exception of the PS5's custom I/O SSD setup; which is only barely matched at the top level of PCs using PCIE4.0 NVME SSDs).  This is partly why you see so many "remasters" and "ports", too: it's easier than you think.  All of these graphics engines have a lot of scaling built in, there's just a lot of marketing in the way because, well, marketing is what sells the consoles.  While the PS4P and X1X were, indeed, midgen upgrades that followed along in the "family" of hardware components, you might be surprised that simply swapping in newer hardware in the PS5 and XSX don't exactly create whole new beasts to contend with.  The most custom thing about consoles now is form factor, not hardware.  That, and targeting aggressive price points by way of compensating with mass production, aka "affordable".

And let me just say, I don't trust ANY fanboys to turn on their fav company when it gets out of line.  Most calmer Nintendo fans have long seen where complacency in the fanbase led, and I've known MANY that have simply left Nintendo behind for "greener pastures", if you will.  Fanboys may seem like a vocal minority, but the reality is that there's a larger fiefdom in play that, yes includes casuals, that companies definitely love: they KNOW they'll get their money, so they look at the data, and try to inch their way little-by-little.  Some of us see it ahead of time, but by the time it's a real problem, it's too late.  Companies are smarter than that, Nintendo knows what they're doing.  Never once did I say these companies were stupid.

Case-in-point: I'm a car guy.  The company I buy my piggyback and tuning from is the premium pricing in the market, though they do make quality products.  But they "reward" my loyalty with discounts across each upgrade.  Ergo, I got 15% off the ECU tune because I was running their Pro piggyback tuner.  The VAST MAJORITY of the world of business revolves around building customer loyalty, and MS is clearly doing this through free upgrades and good value services.  It's GOOD business practice to do so: it's not about giving the best away or people being beggers.  People want to feel "benefits" of being part of the loyal fanbase, and apparently "gamers" don't have very good money sense and instead just say, "well I get the games I want, here's my money".  I'd happily NOT buy a game because I don't see the company putting valuable effort behind it because it's my ONLY way of saying, "I love you, but that's not good enough".  It's why I didn't buy Skyward Sword HD DESPITE the fact that some people have now recognized that I used Fi's sound as my intro/outro in season 1 of my channel for YEARS lol

You're making it sound like the x86 direction the console companies have taken is a bad thing, like it's lazy and should mean cheaper everything. Would it be better if PS5 was another PS3 like nightmare architecture? Just because the consoles are x86 now doesn't mean everything get's cheaper. I mean just look at Nin hardware and software and their pricing. If PS5 is 'just an expected step up', then so is the XB S/X. Did RTX not bring a GPU price hike and force you to upgrade for new features?

Fanboys gunna fanboy. PS, MS, Nin. The rest, a significant portion of the core, and semi hardcore casuals will speak up. Enough casuals will naturally follow suit. The companies don't want to fold, but all 3 have given into pressure when it's applied hard enough for long enough. Nin is the toughest to crack by far though.

So what? You're saying the GOT DLC + upgrade should cost $40 instead, but if you're a loyal fan, or maybe have PS Plus or something, you get a $10 discount? PS and MS now have to jack up prices just to have 'discounts' for the core? Nobody knows what the total value of the DLC and upgrade is worth in general since we don't even have it. For all we know it's worth $40 already but only costs $30.

That's... that's EXACTLY it... While we have made increasingly complex games, we have also dramatically altered and improved the tools to do it.  If you spend time looking into Unreal engine, for example, the leaps and bounds they've made to speed up and improve game development and rendering tools is absolutely amazing.  There's a reason you see YouTube channels simply making their own things, now.  What was once a joke is now true: anyone can make a videogame (not speaking to whether it would any good, though lol).  Game development IS easier now, and so are the tools to do it.  Humans work smarter, not harder.  That doesn't mean there aren't hard-working people in game development, but it means there's a clear correlation between the overall industry's increase in ports and remasters because, well, it's "easy" money.  You can also dig into marketing budgets, and you'll be shocked to find that marketing budgets have MASSIVELY increased overall, sometimes quadrupling what used to be spent before.  An example is that the marketing for TW3 was $30 million... If you wanted to know what's gotten more expensive, it's the marketing!

The only company I've seen fold recently was MS when, admittedly, they made a dumb move of trying to double the price of yearly XBL Gold (likely in an effort to shoehorn more people into GP).  Nintendo is nearly impossible mostly because they'll simply rely on legacy, but the fact that their Nintendo Online itself offers no real "online" function (their multiplayer games are still peer-to-peer, and there's still no Switch-based party chat or party invite system) but instead is more of a limited retro library access point says how they seem to be ignoring just how much even their own fanboys want better online functionality.  Naturally, I HOPE they rectify this with the next Switch... not to mention ditching the abysmal Friend Code system lol

Hynad said:

That was yet another cringeworthy review by you.

Lose the act. It’s utterly bad, fake, and not funny. And maybe try to find and bet on an ounce of authenticity. 

Your definition of authenticity is hearing the words you want to hear.  There is nothing I can do on planet earth that you won't find cringeworthy.  Just say you don't like me and move on rather than create forced critique.

Angelv577 said:

I am not gonma get it either. I feel like $30 is too much. the game already has plenty of content at 60fps. I dont mind dlc but at a reasonable price.

Oh I definitely find the DLC to be priced reasonably.  I'm going to buy the $20 DLC island on the PS4 BC version, though.  It's the fact that in order to get the "true" PS5 version, I have to pay an extra $10 for its enhancements.  That's almost universally THE sticking point right there.  I'm actually excited about the island DLC itself, haha