Ghost of Tsushima (First Post!)

I recently “finished” Ghost of Tsushima on YouTube. What a game. The two Mongol invasions of Japan are significant historic events that are only briefly mentioned in the history textbooks outside Japan AFAIK. This game prompted me to do some research and learn more about them. This alone is already worth the (metaphorical) ticket.

(By finishing on Youtube, I mean playing on the second screen as background in my leisure time. This way, I don't have to put in 20 to 30 hours grinding to enjoy the content of a game. I'm sure there are a lot of people doing this already. Just to make sure everyone knows what I'm talking about.)

Of all that I've learned, firstly, is that about half of the first invasion (on which this game is based) had about 30,000 invading soldiers. About half of them are Korean, the other half of them consists of people from the northern part of modern China conquered by the Mongolian. Exactly how many Mongolians are in the invading army is unclear. So to be precise, the samurais in Tsushima is not exactly fighting Mongolians, but the people from in the Mongol empire.

Secondly, the Tsushima was taken rather easily by the Mongol. It took only a few days to secure the entire island. So the game's antagonist Khotun Khan's obsession to turn Lord Shimura is really contrived in this perspective. His force was strong enough to crush any local resistance. And if he really had studied the Japanese culture at that time, he should've realized that turning a samurai is nearly impossible. In the end, he only successfully turned the straw hat ronins. The game's writer is also telling us what a fool he was.

The way of ghost adopted by the protagonist sounds a lot like the way of ninja. However, ninjas were not widely used by the Japanese until the 15th century, so it's explainable why the protagonist was treated as a pagan to the Japanese culture.

I think the protagonist's action is entirely justifiable. If you play dirty, I'll also play dirty. Otherwise, you just become a fool being taken advantage of. I don't mean it by the an-eye-for-an-eye way, as extremely as in “you kill my children, then I kill your children”, but rather as in “you kill my children, so I'll never consider you as an honorable person, nor will I ever sign any deals with you.” In the game, the Mogol soldiers kill Japanese soldiers and civilians with no honor, so poisoning them with no honor seems perfectly fine to me.

Given the scale of the campaign and the ostensible stake involved, it would make more practical sense if the story happens in Kyushu, but it'll become more historically inaccurate. It would be even more interesting in terms of gameplay if the game was based on the Japanese invasions of Korea. However, playing as the invading force will be very insensitive to the Korean, and since the Chinese were involved in the war as well, the nationalistic emotions will very likely make the game very controversial. So unfortunately I don't think we'll see it done well in any foreseeable future.