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Ghost of Tsushima - Spoiler Thread

What was your choice at the end of the game?

  • Spare

    Votes: 279 57.5%

  • Kill

    Votes: 206 42.5%
  • Total voters
    485
Nightengale

Nightengale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,708
Malaysia
Didn't see a spoiler thread for this, so...

abxfedZ.jpg


Feel free to discuss the game openly. Please do not scroll down beyond the OP and second post if you do not wish to be spoiled on the game.
 
Much

Much

The Gif That Keeps on Giffing
Member
Feb 24, 2018
6,067
Awesome! Can finally talk about the game.

I thought the ending was incredibly well-done, and now I am filled with classic post-game depression.

FWIW: I killed
Shimura
, because for me I still felt Jin had that last bit of honour in him, even though the game was nudging you more and more towards the Ghost towards the end.
Shimura
wanted me to give a warrior's death, and so I granted that wish to them, preventing them from being disgraced as a leader and warrior. Surely, it pains Jin to kill
his uncle
but it felt like it made sense to me. That said, I do see the other option as the canon choice, given that that is the direction the narrative is pushing for towards the end of the game.
 
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SickBoy

SickBoy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
193
I killed, after choosing it, then Googling it after being asked "are you sure???" to make sure I wasn't ruining anything content-wise and to see if I was a total monster.

After watching the other ending on YouTube, I think the "kill" ending is better. My rationale is that while Jin would never want to kill Shimura, denying his wishes is sentencing him to end his days in misery, either hunting down his nephew or living in shame.
 
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formasymphonic

formasymphonic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,645
I chose to kill him. As I said in the OT:

I didn't really want to -- but he's bound by honour, so at least I'd let him have an honourable death. As far as the shogunate is concerned it would look like he fell in combat to an exile while trying to uphold his/their values. Otherwise they would probably see him as some kind of disgrace and made him commit seppuku anyways.​
​
The running theme of the game is that Jin is willing to undergo increasing personal disgrace for the sake of protecting something for others, and so I figured remaining an "outlaw who killed his uncle" (in order to protect the public image of Shimura) was a logical extension of that. Its end scene played out very emotionally and was handled as well as I expected. I can completely see how others would want to say "fuck the whole system, I'm not killing you" though.​

EDIT : Is there any way to read your final Haiku or the letter that you uncle writes? You can read all your other ones in the summary of the headbands they unlock so it would be a real shame if you couldn't see the story's most important one.
 
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KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
Killed the uncle.

It's what he wanted, and it's my way of Jin realizing that his uncle is the last remaining thing attaching him to the Samurai code. Killing the uncle is him killing Samurai code and fully becoming the Ghost of Tsushima.
 
Pyro

Pyro

God help us the mods are making weekend threads
Member
Jul 30, 2018
14,505
United States
I killed him because it's what he wanted. Jin said it perfectly at the end saying Shimura was a slave to honor. Even if I disagree with it, it's what he wanted.

Also Yuna/Taka gets robbed in their backstory. It's tiring playing game after game confusing trauma with character development. And I'm not talking about the alcoholic mother (though that's the same), but rather the guy you kill on the boat.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,875
I spared him because I was truly touched by their relationship despite their extreme differences. But in hindsight, as well as reading other opinions, I think it would've made more sense to kill him actually. I didn't put much thought into what Shimura's life and mental state would be like after not only failing to kill me, but also being spared by me. He probably would've died anyhow as a result, except in an actually shameful fashion.

I agree with the take that Jin only forsakes the samurai code as a means to an end. Just because he's not a slave to honor like his uncle is doesn't mean he has to completely abandon every aspect of it permanently. It's what his uncle wanted in the end.

KOfLegend said:
Killing the uncle is him killing Samurai code and fully becoming the Ghost of Tsushima.
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But it's not though, killing him is the honorable thing to do and shows that he still has some ties to the samurai code.
 
Maxime

Maxime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,986
#TeamKill

Although I already asked in the OT, in the Dawn Refuge I have three "racks armor". On them I have the OG Ghost armor, one that looks like a samurai armor but the one on the right is empty. Same for everyone or it is depending a what you were mostly wearing (in that case, my Travelor costume is missing!)

Neat little game overall. But definitely "one of those" open worlds collect-a-thon.
 
Arkestry

Arkestry

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,920
London
Maxime said:
#TeamKill

Although I already asked in the OT, in the Dawn Refuge I have three "racks armor". On them I have the OG Ghost armor, one that looks like a samurai armor but the one on the right is empty. Same for everyone or it is depending a what you were mostly wearing (in that case, my Travelor costume is missing!)

Neat little game overall. But definitely "one of those" open worlds collect-a-thon.
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I assumed that's for the Mongol commander armour but I haven't got that yet.
 
OP
OP
Nightengale

Nightengale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,708
Malaysia
I chose to spare.

Ironically, even though it's a really emotional ending, I actually thought the father-son bond between Jin and Shimura was one of the weaker aspects of the story. As in, the way the relationship was presented throughout the game, even with the scenes of both of them together throughout the years, I didn't really get pulled into this emotional touchstone of a parent and son torn apart by the different pursuit of their values.

It worked well enough, but it could've been so much more powerful had the character dynamics been just a bit better. Same with Ryuzo - I didn't really buy-in into the childhood friendship angle.
 
Mafro

Mafro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,365
Killed the uncle. Seemed the right thing to do given the story.

Also, said this in the OT but Tomoe was criminally underused in this.
 
SickBoy

SickBoy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
193
FWIW, I thought the game did a better job than I expected it would, coming off TLOU2, of delivering some heartfelt moments. For as flat as Jin is early on, there's some good stuff going on in Act 3 that resonated with me more than I would have expected. I would even go so far to say that I felt some of this stuff a bit more than some of the moments in TLOU, if only because it feels like you're building your own story more in the open world.

That said, while I like the setup for the postgame content (and I still have some tales I want to clear out, which is kinda rare for me in an open-world game -- often I'm done when I'm done), there were some broad plot bits I didn't love:
- Mongols learning how to make poison after Jin murders them at the castle. How did this happen? You murder everyone and then during the duel with Ryuzo (where he says, IIRC, that Khotun Khan has left), a small team of Mongol CSIs probes the scene? (I think the plot point of "the Mongols learn how to make poison due to Jin's tactics" is fine, but it didn't really work for me as delivered.)
- Mongols preparing to attack the mainland, after you've massively disrupted their occupation of Tsushima, seemed especially ridiculous to me. It didn't hamper my enjoyment of the story because it was much more about the personal angle, but it did seem kinda silly. They are hardly holding onto this little island, now on to their conquest of the Japanese mainland!
 
KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
Lotus said:
But it's not though, killing him is the honorable thing to do and shows that he still has some ties to the samurai code.
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It's how I tried to rationalize it, I guess. I respected the uncle too much not to kill him, knowing that not killing him is the equivalent of basically spitting in his face.
 
Oneandonly16

Oneandonly16

Member
Mar 11, 2019
1,384
Mafro said:
Killed the uncle. Seemed the right thing to do given the story.

Also, said this in the OT but Tomoe was criminally underused in this.
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I agree with this so much. I think she was a great side character that shouldn't have been limited to her quest. I wanted a side story or DLC that followed her but once I got to the end of her quest line I don't think it'll happen.

On topic: I chose to spare his uncle because I couldn't see Jin as holding onto the code anymore given how he acted through the game.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,875
KOfLegend said:
It's how I tried to rationalize it, I guess. I respected the uncle too much not to kill him, knowing that it's the equivalent of basically spitting in his face.
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But the scene shows that not killing him is what he would consider as spitting in his face.

I mean even as someone that spared him, I recognized that it was clearly something that would greatly offend his uncle, even if he one day gets over it.
 
KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
Lotus said:
But the scene shows that not killing him is what he would consider as spitting in his face.

I mean even as someone that spared him, I recognized that it was clearly something that would greatly offend his uncle, even if he one day gets over it.
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Yes, that's what I'm saying! (Edited the post for more clarity!)
 
Akalance

Akalance

Member
Oct 27, 2017
652
Philadelphia
I killed Shimura. While jin had totally separated himself from the Samurai code, he still has a great love and respect for his Uncle and Father figure. It made sense that Jin would respect Shimura to the point where he would give him the honorable death he wanted, rather than sentencing him to spend the rest of his days hunting down someone he looked at like a son.'

Also, it helps Jin close that chapter of his life. One final act so he could honor his uncle and start a new life.

As an aside, I was glad to see how they treated Yuna. I love that they respected each other as friends and warriors, and that was it. I was afraid they were gonna go for more especially the night before the final battle.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,875
KOfLegend said:
Yes, that's what I'm saying! (Edited the post for more clarity!)
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Ah okay, I got ya lol

But yea, in the end, I think it comes down to whether Jin would rather kill his uncle by his own hands, or if he'd prefer the IMO high likelihood of his uncle being forced (or maybe he'd willingly do it out of shame) to commit seppuku.
 
Decarb

Decarb

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,643
#TeamSpare

I usually spare people if game gives me a choice. I'd spare them in TLoU2 too if they didn't shoot me in the back as soon as I turned.
 
DGxO

DGxO

Member
Oct 21, 2018
432
While I felt like the cinematography in the game was good to decent for most of its runtime during cutscenes, it never reached the Kurosawa esque heights it was clearly striving for...

Except for the end duel with shimura.

The build up, the music, the lighting, the ridiculous number of leaves and petles, everything about the ending was phenomenal. Truely incredible finale for a great game.

Also I killed shimura, and when he thanked me for giving him an honourable death by calling me his son with his final words, and jins scream of anguish, I felt terrible guilt for making that decision.

Also I nearly shed a tear when they killed my boi kage, you beautiful dumb horse, I'll miss you.
 
CosmicGP

CosmicGP

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,888
Astrochelys said:
I was very curious where they'd take the story when Tomoe acted as someone else near the end. For me it was obvious it's Tomoe but I secretly hoped they would've developed something more interesting out of it.
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I really liked that bit, when the story strays off it's standard path for the sidequests.

There's some of that, and things like the missions with Kenji, or that one small mission about finding ghosts in a forest. It seems like the game is just dipping its toes in missions that are a bit more unique, but if they really went all out for them (the Tomoe final quest, I expected something unusual to happen, but not really), I think they'd really have some Witcher 3 level of sidequests.

The mythic missions are interesting but the way they progress is nothing too special. Well, the fire blade one was a nice touch, having to endure the extreme cold up in the mountains.
 
Zomba13

Zomba13

#1 Waluigi Fan! Current Status: Crying
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,940
"I have no honour"

I couldn't do it. Jin wouldn't do it. It's his only remaining family. Plus the whole stuff with samurai and honour was shown to be too rigid and restrictive and I felt Jin had moved past it by that point. I know to his uncle it was a sign of great disrespect, but he believed Jin had already lost his honour, wasn't his son any more, wasn't a Sakai. I think Jin is at the point where he can pick and choose what parts of being a samurai are really important. It's not honor killings and sending people to die, it's protecting the ones who can't fight for themselves, protecting your home from invaders.

Just looked up the other ending and it's also good, didn't know you get different colour for the ghost armour and different' base location. I like the location for sparing him better I think but that white is dope.


Anyway, can we talk about the true MVP? Kage (black, of course) was the best friend I've ever had. I hated starving horse and Kaze (dappled) is no replacement...
 
KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
So, how would a sequel play out? From what little I know about history, there were two Mongol invasions, no? But the ending feels definitive, so I don't know where they could take it.

I'd prefer if they go the anthology route, but what would be the connecting tissue? Stuff set in major historical events?

The naming convention is in a pretty weird place, too. If it's an anthology, I don't see future game being called "Ghost of _____"
 
Akabeko

Akabeko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
817
I killed but that was a really tough choice. I actually teared up a little bit which is rare for me in games. I watched the spare ending on youtube and I'm ok with my choice, but I'm glad that neither really felt like the "right" decision.
 

Deleted member 16876

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Spared Shimura.

Jin realized how following the samurai code will only lead to pointless death. Killing his uncle and only remaining family is pointless. What good is showing "respect" if it meant pointless death?
Jin is a complicated character. At heart he is a samurai but not the kind of samurai that would let the samurai rule his life and make it worse. He saw first hand how the samurai code can destroy lives. The quests for Ishikawa sensei and Masako are all about lives being ruined by the samurai so he would have learned from this that strictly following the rules without question is bad.

Also my poor Nobu man... I was pissed of I took a break from the game. Poor thing. Seeing him limping and the finally collapsing was really sad. We went through a lot together...

Taka as well. I really liked his character and it made me play through act 3 as fast as possible to get rid of the Khan.

As for the rest of the story. Loved Masako's character a lot. Her story was really heartbreaking. Same goes to Yuriko and Norio.

Hopefully the sequel brings back the side characters and especially Tomoe. Really liked her story.
 
495

495

Member
Jun 17, 2018
287
Kill.

Shimura was still hanging on to that "honorable" bs until the end, and that was what he wanted, what was honorable. He even said thank you, if i remember correctly.

Have no idea what happens if you choose spare though... dont even feel like looking it up on yt.
 

Deleted member 5725

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,115
CosmicGP said:
I really liked that bit, when the story strays off it's standard path for the sidequests.

There's some of that, and things like the missions with Kenji, or that one small mission about finding ghosts in a forest. It seems like the game is just dipping its toes in missions that are a bit more unique, but if they really went all out for them (the Tomoe final quest, I expected something unusual to happen, but not really), I think they'd really have some Witcher 3 level of sidequests.

The mythic missions are interesting but the way they progress is nothing too special. Well, the fire blade one was a nice touch, having to endure the extreme cold up in the mountains.
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I really want them to improve their side stories a bit for the sequel to reach that Witcher 3 level, and they definitely have that potential. They did a pretty good job for their first entry in this IP.

I liked the mythic missions for their scenery and the duels and how they got started with those animated folklore stories.
 

Deleted member 29639

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,111
Kill. It just felt like the stronger ending of the game, tying up thematic threads, with Jin doing the 'honorable' thing and respecting his uncle's wishes. (Executionally, the 'Spare' ending feels about a half-second away from Jin mumbling "I'm Batman!" through the mask)
 
Silvergun-Blue

Silvergun-Blue

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,939
I honored his wish and gave him the death he wanted. I think you need to look at that situation from his uncles point of view and not killing him would be like a spit in the face and incredibly upsetting to him.
Despite his insistence that Jin no longer has honor, I disagree. He may not follow a specific, too-rigid code but he's still honorable. You just need to look at the dialogue between them after the sparring match flashback.

Shimura: What does honor mean to you?
Jin: I guess.... Protecting people, the ones who can't fight for themselves.

Jin did everything he did to protect the people of Tsushima and prevented a lot of unnecessary deaths even though he knew it would make him an outcast. To me that's the definition of honor, total selflessness.
 
Shadowninja100

Shadowninja100

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
113
I spared.

When the choice came up I sat there for a solid five minutes trying to make a decision. On one hand a honorable warrior's death is what he wanted, but in my mind Jin had left the samurai code behind and would never kill his family.

After watching the kill ending I feel like I made the wrong decision. I didn't take into consideration that Shimura would either live in shame for failure or be killed by the shogun anyway. Even though I picked spare I think that killing him is the right thing to do.

Definitely the best ending for an open world game that I've ever played.
 
Trago

Trago

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,605
Can we all agree that Sucker Punch, as far as presentation is concerned, has earned their spot next to the likes on Naughty Dog, SSM, and Guerrilla Games?


The very best cinematics in this game can definitely stand with the other big boys.

Also, I chose to spare because I thought that choice fit the story much better. Jin is no longer a samurai, so fuck tradition!
 
Akabeko

Akabeko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
817
During Masako's final mission, I was kinda expecting at least something redeeming about her sister to make me feel bad about killing everyone in that fortress, but nope, she was pretty much an evil selfish person (although she definitely had a hard life).

Overall I was really happy with the side story quality in the game. Although I was hoping for a few more happy endings to some of them. I know the world is rough out there but give me some hope every now and then...
 
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