The intro never felt more epic.
Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!
An open world sandbox game about a one of the last samurai on his native island waging an open war to drive out enemy invaders with the help of the few surviving samurai clans will undoubtedly be filled to the brim with incredibly awesome moments.
- The beginning of the game is extremely cool; after the murder of Lord Adachi by Khotun Khan, Lord Shimura roars to his men "No Mercy!" Then the full might of the Samurai of Tsushima attack the Mongol hordes. It goes poorly of course but as an introduction? Beautiful.
- Khotun Khan in turn wastes no time showing his Combat Pragmatist tendencies. A good chunk of the Samurai he faces simply cannot deal with him. He is here to win and but for Jin, he damn well could have taken an entire country with just his starting army.
- Jin doesn't stand a chance in his first duel with Khotun Khan, but he still refuses the invader's offer to join him, even slashing him across the cheek before he falls off the bridge. The resulting scar stays with Khotun for the rest of the game.
- In the Mythic Tale, "The Heavenly Strike", Jin duels against Yasuhira Koga, the butcher of Yarikawa, who murdered many people including the last student to learn the Heavenly Strike. During the fight, Jin manages to learn the move himself before using it on Koga, who is then struck by lightning and burned alive as if it was punishment for him misusing the technique.Jin: The Heavenly Strike couldn't save you.
- Made even more awesome by the fact that the Heavenly Strike was originally used by the heroic samurai Shigenori to defeat lightning beasts, implying the lightning beasts were angered that Yasuhira desecrated the legacy of their Worthy Opponent.
- Another Mythic Tale, "The Spirit of Yarikawa's Vengeance", has a peasant assuming the mantle of the titular Spirit looking to get revenge on Jin for his family's role in putting down the Yarikawa Rebellion. She knows a supposedly unbeatable move called the Dance of Wrath. Just like what he did against Koga, Jin proceeds to teach himself how to use the move in the midst of battle. The game then prompts you to use the move to finish her off.Spirit: What are you doing?!Jin: Learning. I know how to defeat you.
- The ending of Act 1: Retaking Castle Kaneda is suitably awesome after all the work Jin put into it, going from him making a one-man assault through the front door and managing to get as far as he did mostly through luck and chance, due to the Mongols not having been expecting such swift retaliation after their crushing victory at Komoda, and thus the castle being under-manned with weaker troops until Jin ran into Khotun Khan, to Jin instead taking a thought-out multi-stage plan of attack that makes use of all his allies and skills to silently sneak in, focusing upon stealth mostly so the Mongols won't kill Shimura before he can be rescued, then once the alarms are disabled cutting his way through the courtyards of the castle one by one alongside Yuna, mixing his Ghost skills with his samurai ones to devastating effect against the Mongols, even if they are better prepared and defended this time around.
- The attack climaxes in a somber note with Jin being confronted by Ryuzo as the Climax Boss fight, his old friend turning on him for the Khan's bounty to feed his men, as well as due to envy against Jin for his success compared to Ryuzo's own and not trusting that Shimura wouldn't use and discard his men as Cannon Fodder in further fighting against the Mongols. note . The fight is incredibly cinematic and intense, with Ryuzo's sword skills being a cut above any of the other duels Jin can fight in the first section of the island, yet Jin still prevails in the end. Showcasing his humanity and generosity towards his fallen friend, Jin actually offers to overlook his betrayal and attempted murder of him, offering Ryuzo's dropped straw hat back to him as a peace offering, pointing out that if he helps in the last leg of the rescue mission, nobody will ever know that he turned on Jin, and they can still work together. Sadly, Ryuzo denies his offer, and Jin is forced to slice his way through waves of enemies all the way up to Shimura's prison cell to free him in the end.
- Throughout the sidequest with Sensei Ishikawa, Jin receives many opportunities to call out his senior in the face of Tomoe's actions, the result of Ishikawa's harsh training. Ishikawa makes a poignant counterargument at one point, though.Sensei Ishikawa: You expect us to be perfect. Your uncle. Me. Masako Adachi. But only a child expects perfection of his elders.
Jin: Finish your thought, Sensei.
Sensei Ishikawa: We all carry weapons. We all choose between life and death.
Jin: And you're too comfortable with that power.
Sensei Ishikawa: And if I weren't, I would be dead. And so would you, "Ghost."
Jin: Not everyone can be a samurai.
Sensei Ishikawa: But we're all killers. - Jin first learning the Ghost Stance. After driving off the first waves of the Mongols as they break through Yarikawa's gates, and then destroying their siege weapons, Jin turns back to find that the Mongols have nearly broken into the inner keep, where the surviving civilians had taken shelter, and then engages the Mongol general Temuge in a duel, and emerges victorious. Surrounded by the enemy Mongols, Jin slips into a righteous state of rage and ferocity, beheading Temuge, and swiftly cutting down the others. He then slowly walks towards the Mongols heading his way, with each single swing of his katana brutally slaughtering the handful of Mongols who try to strike back at him, while the rest of the horde flees in complete and utter terror of him, almost single-handedly saving the people of Yarikawa from the invaders.Jin (After beheading Temuge and entering Ghost Stance for the first time): Invaders! Look at your general! Run! Or THIS will be your fate! (Proceeds to cut down the terrified Mongols while the rest start running away) People of Yarikawa! Hunt every Mongol to the last man! Spare no one! For Yarikawa!Yarikawa Peasants and Samurai: FOR YARIKAWA!
- When Jin has enough kills to enter Ghost Stance, the weather will suddenly change into a thunderstorm and will continue to be a thunderstorm until Jin uses Ghost Stance or is hit. As if nature itself is warning everyone to not start a fight with Jin or else.
- Non-Action Guy Taka's Dying Moment of Awesome; Khotun tells Taka to kill a tied up Jin or he himself will be killed, Taka instead takes a swipe at Khotun. He fails and is brutally killed by Khotun, but it still shows that Taka was a brave man to the end.
- The retaking of Castle Shimura definitely counts as one in "The Fate of Tsushima", in which you get to fight alongside your allies, the samurai from Yarikawa and the mainland, and your uncle as well, all in an epic battle against the Mongols. Considering the techniques the player would have acquired, it makes the battle all the more epic, especially when you also manage to take a hwacha and use it against the Mongols.
- The climax of Act 2 in the mission "From The Darkness". After the Mongols take out the bridge leading to the main keep of Castle Shimura, Jin decides to sneak to the other side and poison the Mongols. Yuna gives Jin the Ghost Armor, as it was Taka's last gift to Jin before he goes. Jin learns quickly that the Mongols already have defenses and explosives ready to destroy Lord Shimura's army so he takes to the high ground and uses the keep's garden path, making his way to a feast the Mongols are having and poisons their milk before making his way inside the Castle where he finds Ryuzo waiting for him. Jin, still enraged by Ryuzo's betrayal and his part in Taka's death, tells him to surrender. Ryuzo refuses and the two have a duel that ends with Jin winning and killing Ryuzo. Afterwords, Lord Shimura comes into the main keep and is in disbelief over what Jin has done. Saying that the Shogun will demand a head for what has happened, he begs Jin to renounce his identity as the Ghost and put the blame on Yuna. It is a little Tear Jerker moment.Shimura: Tell them... You are Jin Shimura. Loyal servant to the Shogun. My heir... (Holds out a letter) My son.Jin: I am not your son. I am the Ghost.Shimura: And you will be judged for it.
- Jin's final confrontation with Khotun Khan. The first time they fought, Jin was wounded, broken and downright suicidal, leading to a swift defeat. The next time sees them both go at it full strength, leading to an epic one-on-one duel. Pushed into a corner, Khotun Khan throws poison in Jin's face and hightails it back to his ship. Jin powers through the pain and carves his way through every Mongol warrior foolish enough to stand in his way before facing Khotun again, this time with his troops to back him up. Jin slaughters them all with the full use of his arsenal, leading to beautiful moment in the fight where he uses the Khan's own weapon to jump over him and bring the sword down in a mighty blow that shatters the later's weapon to pieces! He finally brings it to a close by impaling his foe through the stomach into the main mast of his own burning ship.Khan: We will be remembered...forever.
Jin: No. You will be forgotten. (decapitates the Khan with one swift move) - Jin started the invasion as a Jack of All Stats who is capable of fighting fairly well with sword and bow, but is defeated by the veteran warrior Khotun Khan. By the time the Khotun Khan meets his end, Jin has become a Lightning Bruiser Master of All, capable of slaughtering his way through dozens with both samurai and stealth skills.
- Before the final battle against Shimura, the old man wistfully tells Jin "You have no honor." Jin fires back with a truly well deserved "And you are a slave to it." This shuts the old man up real good.
- It's just as, if not even more awesome in Japanese, where Jin's reply is instead "What is honor to you?" This is a Meaningful Echo of the question Shimura asked Jin back when Jin was a young boy. What's more is that Jin had been able to answer the question: Already back then he knew that his honor was keeping his people safe, and over the course of the game he's done exactly that. He hasn't lost his honor, he has upheld it. By contrast, Shimura cannot even put into words what honor is to him; he cannot answer the question that he, himself, had asked Jin to answer, and whatever answer he could come up with would not hold a candle to the code of honor that Jin dedicated his life to.
Iki Island Expansion
- Jin's new horse gets one right from the beginning. Despite having been shipwrecked ashore on Iki Island, his new horse knows how to charge down his enemies and knock them aside, as he does with multiple Mongols before Jin finds him. And even after Jin has found him, he's able to carry out this new technique in what's now known as the Horse Charge.
- The final fight between Jin and the Eagle, where he manages to come to terms with the guilt over his father's death and overpower the Eagle's brew to defeat and kill her. Throughout most of the expansion, the Eagle continually torments and taunts Jin in order to break him after making him drink her medicine. The Eagle's reaction to Jin overcoming her poison just compounds the Moment of Awesome.The Eagle: The sacred medicine no longer affects you. How is that possible?
- Jin is the only person to beat the Eagle's sacred medicine without giving in to her orders. Everybody else only stop hearing her voice and remain traumatized. Jin hallucinates his way through the entire island and fights it off with no drawbacks through Heroic Willpower.
- The Sarugami Armour. Not only does it look awesome (especially when fully upgraded), but its perks allow for a large timeframe for perfect parries and perfect dodging. It also allows Jin to unleash a very effective and stylish spinning attack if the dodge is timed right and if perfectly parried, Jin can unleash a heavy-handed three-strike combo that utterly demolishes any opponent's stagger gauge. The daring style of combat it encourages you to use, the swift and nimble moves and the apish design of the armour can make Jin appear like an avatar of Sun Wukong himself.
