Metacritic will now delay user reviews for games for 36 hours after release, the company announced. This comes a few weeks after the release of The Last of Us Part II, which was review bombed on Metacritic (which, like GameSpot, is owned by ViacomCBS).
“We recently implemented the 36 hour waiting period for all user reviews in our games section to ensure our gamers have time to play these games before writing their reviews,” a Metacritic spokesperson said. “This new waiting period for user reviews has been rolled out across Metacritic’s Games section and was based on data-driven research and with the input of critics and industry experts.”
Metacritic said that the decision was not based on users’ reaction to any game in particular. Metacritic is a review aggregate site that provides two scores for every game, one based on critics and one based on user reviews.
Review bombing is the practice of users giving a large number of negative scores, typically as low as possible, in order to drop the game’s overall score. The issue isn’t exclusive to Metacritic, also occurring on Steam user reviews whenever a fanbase is upset about a game.
A new note from the Pokemon Masters team was the kind of thing that usually raises alarms among mobile game fans, but this one had a secret weapon: Steven, in a swimsuit.
The message from the Pokemon Masters team detailed a number of upcoming changes including a Champion Stadium, revised Training area, and Type Skills that let Pokemon of the same type work together. Among those changes was word of a trial launch of a stamina system, with a note that the team will be looking at feedback.
Ordinarily, stamina is one of the most divisive mechanics in mobile games. It usually restricts you from playing beyond a certain point in a set amount of time unless you pay to unlock more stamina, and as a result it’s often seen as a predatory microtransaction. Plenty of mobile games have issued updates to remove stamina due to player feedback, not add it a year after launch. Judging by the Pokemon Masters subreddit, though, fans seem fine–or at least cautiously optimistic–about the impending revision.
As of the time of writing, most of the top posts on the subreddit are instead devoted to Steven, an upcoming Summer Sync Pair Scout. In Pokemon Masters, you collect characters in pairs–a famous trainer along with a Pokemon associated with them. Steven is already one of the most popular Sync Pairs in the game, having been paired with the Steel-type Metagross. The upcoming Sync Pair will give him an Alolan makeover and pair him with an Alolan Sandslash, and the fans are here for it.
This isn’t entirely surprising. The Pokemon Masters subreddit is often fixated on popular Sync Pairs, and special outfits have particularly popular. There are some threads devoted to the stamina system, like this poll asking what fans think, but even those results show most fans are content to simply wait and see.
This is partly a result of how Pokemon Masters has evolved over the past year. As more and more Sync Pairs have been added, many players have commented on the game becoming too grind-heavy. A stamina system is a blunt tool to reduce grinding, but players seem willing to give the benefit of the doubt. At the same time, it was probably smart to combine the announcement with a fan-favorite in a swimsuit.
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Ghost of Tsushima has a variety of useful armor sets that help make you a formidable foe against the Mongol invasion. Most of them have their own special perks that enhance your abilities in various ways. For instance, some armor sets better cater to stealthy players, while others strengthen offensive power–though the minutiae of such gets deeper with each set. Regardless, you acquire several of the armor sets by completing story missions, but there are others that you can only get by completing special side-missions known as Mythic Tales, which unlock at different points in the game.
To help you find and understand all of Ghost of Tsushima’s armor sets, we’ve compiled the guide below, which details how to get them, their perks, and what they look like when upgraded. We’ve got plenty more guides and coverage to help you get everything out of the game. Check out our full Ghost of Tsushima guide rundown, and if you haven’t already, read our Ghost of Tsushima review.
Broken Armor
You start the game with the Broken Armor set–though it isn’t quite broken until after you’ve cleared the prologue section. It has no particular perks or advantages, so it’s really just a cosmetic set you keep just for the heck of it. You definitely don’t want to wear this any longer than you have to after the game’s world opens up, so quickly discard it and wear a better set as soon as you get one. Still, it does have memories attached–the death of your old ways and the beginning of your path towards becoming a dishonorable proto-ninja. Good times.
Also, for some reason this set featured in all of the technique videos? It’s a weird choice. Whatever, this battered and bloody set is only for those who insist on playing the game at a disadvantage.
Traveler’s Attire
Recommended For: Players who want to optimize exploration and collecting Artifacts.
How To Unlock: The Traveler’s Attire is automatically given to you by the first Merchant you speak to in the game.
What It Does: As armor, the Traveler’s Attire doesn’t offer any additional protection, but it does look way cool. It super fits Jin’s attempts to more or less look like a mysterious wanderer during the beginning of the game. But what the Traveler’s Attire does do is enhance is your ability to track and sense Artifacts in the world. Artifacts are special collectible items that further expand on the state of Tsushima. Some Artifacts even yield tangible rewards if you collect enough. Sashimono Banners, for example, can be exchanged for new horse saddles when you collect enough.
With the Traveler’s Attire on, your controller will vibrate when near an Artifact and the Guiding Wind will point to them from time to time. Though oddly enough, you can also sense Vanity Gear with the Traveler’s Attire. Lastly, as you explore the world with the Traveler’s Attire equipped, it clears more fog of war from the map, making it easier to find side-activities and points of interest.
Samurai Clan Armor
Recommended For: Players who want to get up close and personal with their enemies.
How To Unlock: The Samurai Clan Armor is given to you for free during The Tale of Lady Masako–one of the first story missions you can do after the world opens up at the start of Act 1.
What It Does: The Samurai Clan Armor is a sturdy set that helps make you quite the resilient fighter. It reduces damage from enemies, increases your maximum health, and even builds up your Resolve upon being damaged. This is definitely for ideal for situations or missions early on where you’re charging into the heat of battle, taking on numerous waves of enemies.
Ronin Attire
Recommended For: Players who enjoy being both loud and stealthy.
How To Unlock: You get the Ronin Attire as a reward for completing Blood on the Grass, a story mission that becomes available after clearing The Broken Blacksmith–which is the first mission you do with Yuna after the world opens up at the start of Act 1.
What It Does: With the Ronin Attire equipped, you get an increase to your melee damage and a reduction to enemy detection speed. This is a great outfit to wear for those who want to ride the line between going loud and stealthy–just like a real morally questionable ronin. Another cool perk of the Ronin Attire is that enemies are slower to detect you after leaving pampas grass while crouched, further improving its functionality as a stealth-focused armor set.
Lastly, the Ronin Attire is the set you want to wear when you want to feel and look like Toshiro Mifune from Yojimbo. Okay, him and maybe hundreds of other classic samurai film protagonists. Whatever, this game needs to patch in the ability to say “abayo” (casual goodbye in Japanese) and coolly walk away as if nothing happened. I would use this at the end of every Tale. Joking aside, the Ronin Attire is a great all-around balanced armor set and should be a mainstay in your outfit lineup.
Tadayori’s Armor
Recommended For: Players who love using bows.
How To Unlock: You get Tadayori’s Armor by completing The Legend of Tadayori Mythic Tale, which becomes available after completing a few story missions early on during Act 1. You can find the Tale just south of the river at the Rustling Bend in the Izuhara region. For more details, check out our Mythic Tales walkthrough.
What It Does: Tadayori’s Armor is a set that benefits those who rely on the bow. Its perks increase your ability to pick off enemies and mostly keep your distance. Equipping the outfit increases your draw and reload speed, while increasing your total Concentration time. Headshots also restore more of your Concentration meter, ensuring that you’re always getting as much time as possible to line up shots. Ghost of Tsushima’s combat flow prevents you from being an all-out ranged fighter, but Tadayori’s Armor at least allows for a thrilling hit-and-run playstyle. I highly recommend using it every once in a while just to see how you like it.
Gosaku’s Armor
Recommended For: Aggressive players who are–quite frankly–sick and tired of enemies guarding so much.
How To Unlock: Gosaku’s Armor is your reward for completing the The Unbreakable Gosaku Mythic Tale. You gain access to the Tale at the start of Act 2. It’s a short ways southeast of Akashima village–you can’t miss it. This Tale is quite involved, requiring you to liberate five Mongol-occupied farms to get the key items necessary to unlock the way to the armor. For more details, check out our Mythic Tales walkthrough.
What It Does: Gosaku’s Armor allows aggressive players to really take the wind out of enemies. It provides an increase to your Stagger damage and gives you some health back after killing a Staggered enemy. If you’re unfamiliar with how Staggering works, it’s the damage you do with heavy attacks to an enemy’s defense. When you inflict enough on your foe, you’ll break their guard, leaving defenseless. Gosaku’s Armor is all about ensuring you Stagger enemies often, and with the slight bump it also gives to your maximum health, you’ll have a better chance of staying in the game to do so.
Kensei Armor
Recommended For: Scrappy offensive players who enjoy using Ghost Weapons.
How To Unlock: The Kensei Armor is your reward for completing The Six Blades of Kojiro Mythic Tale. You gain access to this Tale during Act 2, where it can be found in Umugi Cove after clearing the first section of the story mission there called A Message in Fire. For more details about the Six Blades of Kojiro, check out our Mythic Tales walkthrough.
What It Does: The Kensei Armor rewards those who rely on Ghost Weapons in battle. When equipped, your Ghost Weapons deal more damage, and hitting an enemy with one causes that enemy to deal less damage and receive more damage. Lastly, you get an increase your Resolve gains during combat, ensuring that you can always recover from a hit or two as you’re lobbing Kunai and Sticky Bombs at everyone.
Sakai Clan Armor
Recommended For: Offensive players who want a balanced armor set that rewards upholding the tenets of being a samurai.
How To Unlock: The Sakai Clan Armor is given to you during Ghosts from the Past story mission, which you can complete as soon as you arrive to the Toyotoma region at the start of Act 2.
What It Does: The Sakai Clan Armor provides a solid boost to your melee damage and maximum health, but its most notable perk is increasing your Standoff Streak and the chances of terrifying enemies after winning one. The streak increase even stacks onto the maximum three you can do with all the Standoff Streak techniques unlocked, allowing you a total of five by the time the set is fully upgraded. In a way, the Sakai Clan Armor rewards those who fairly approach and challenge enemies–though it’s not so fair with that killstreak perk.
Ghost Armor
Recommended For: Players who want to emphasize stealth and strike terror in the hearts of their enemies.
How To Unlock: You get Ghost Armor the moment you start the From the Darkness story mission during the end of Act 2.
What It Does: The Ghost Armor rewards stealthy players by reducing enemy detection speed, the number of kills needed to enter the Ghost Stance, and even increases the chances of terrifying a nearby enemy. It’s unfortunate that you don’t get this set until a little later into the game, but once you do, it’s likely to become a mainstay when you’re sneaking about and engaging in all manner of dishonorable combat tactics. Be the Ghost (and not the Batman).
Mongol Commander’s Armor
Recommended For: Players who want to absorb a lot of damage and play practical jokes on Mongols.
How To Unlock: You get the Mongol Commander’s Armor as a reward for completing Fit for the Khan–a Tale of Tsushima you can complete as soon as you gain access to Jogaku Temple in the Kamigata region during Act 3. The side-mission is a bit time-consuming, as it requires you to liberate some Mongol-occupied territory to get all of its parts. For more details about Fit for the Khan, check out our Tales of Tsushima walkthrough.
What It Does: The Mongol Commander’s Armor is a hefty set that increases your health and reduces a ton of damage, making it pretty ideal for big fights. It bears noting that it cannot be upgraded past its base stats, but that won’t matter much when you realize its final perk: massively reducing Mongol detection speed. That’s right, this set is essentially a disguise you can use to easily sneak into Mongol camps without arousing too much suspicion–you’ll still need to use some discretion as you walk in front of Mongols, of course. Regardless, the Mongol Commander’s Armor is a set you can use to be a total pest. It’s wonderful.
Fundoshi
Recommended For: Players who like streaking…I m-mean sneaking.
How To Unlock: The Fudoshi is your reward for resting at all 18 hot springs. If you haven’t found them all, then check out our Hot Springs locations guide.
What It Does: The Fundoshi is less of an armor set and more…Well, it’s basically traditional Japanese underwear. And in Ghost of Tsushima, wearing nothing but a Fundoshi makes it so that running and sprinting no longer creates any noise. That’s actually super useful! It comes highly recommended if you’re fond of sprinting through Mongol-occupied territory at the dead of night just for the thrill of it. That, and it makes every cutscene a great laugh.
Finally, if you’re a true master of combat, then the Fundoshi is a solid way to up the stakes of combat. After all, in the words of Jin Sakai after too much sake: “A true samurai needs no clothes.”
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Hasbro has revealed a new wave of six-inch Star Wars: The Black Series action figures inspired by the final season of The Clone Wars. Based on the climactic Siege of Mandalore storyline, this wave features a new rendition of Ahsoka Tano along with a 332nd Legion Clonetrooper and two types of Mandalorian warriors.
All four figures are exclusive to Walmart and were revealed as part of the Walmart Collector Con 2020 promotion. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below:
These four Clone Wars figures are priced at $25 each and are on sale now for a Fall 2020 release. Unfortunately, all four sold out on Walmart’s website within minutes of going live. But just in case Walmart adds new stock in the weeks ahead, here are the links for all four figures:
It’s hardly surprising Hasbro would devote an entire wave of Black Series figures to the Siege of Mandalore storyline. IGN recently rated those four episodes as the #1 best Clone Wars story of them all. We can only hope Hasbro eventually reveals a Clone Wars-inspired Darth Maul figure to go along with this quartet.
The good news is that even if this particular Ahsoka figure remains elusive, there is another. Recently Hasbro unveiled an entire wave of Star Wars Rebels-inspired figures, including all the members of the Ghost crew and Ahsoka herself. Like these Clone Wars figures, the Rebels wave will feature redesigned packaging with a montage image printed on the sides of each box.
We made it to Friday! The deals are wild and varied today, so let’s get into it. Newegg has a great deal on an RTX 2060, bringing the price down to nearly $300, but that’s not all. You also get a copy of Death Stranding with the purchase, which is an amazing deal on top of some already great savings. If that’s not for you, how about picking up some discounted Amiibo at Best Buy, or checking out the giant cataloged of pre-owned games on sale at GameStop.
GameStop has made the decision that all of its stores in the U.S. will require customers to wear face coverings as of July 27, 2020, due to the “growing spread of COVID-19.”
GameStop announced the decision 10 days before it will begin enforcing the new rule to give the company time to “inform customers of the change, post signage in stores and train associates on the new protocol.”
“We believe this is the right thing to do to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our associates and customers from the growing spread of COVID-19,” said George Sherman, chief executive officer for GameStop. “Providing a safe environment in our stores for all customers and store associates continues to be our top priority and wearing a face covering is a simple step every one of us can take to ensure the safety of others in our stores.”
GameStop also mentions that any customers that have concerns or health-related issues in wearing a face covering can always shop online at GameStop.com or its mobile app. Both will allow for customers to utilize GameStop’s Buy Online Pickup at Store and contactless Delivery@Door curbside service.
