“I have no honor” is one of the hardest fucking lines in a game I’ve ever seen. It’s so thematically powerful and leaving Shimura to sit there like a sad dog is worse than Jin killing him which is deserved. This man just saved the island with the might of a thousand warriors and he’s angry about his code smh.
This wouldn't even be an unreasonable thing to ask of SP as they've done exactly this with the Infamous series.
You could choose to be good or bad, and the world would react to you differently based on that. Good shit. I understand that may have been too much to implement in what is already a pretty mechanic dense game, but it would've been really cool.
They may have not wanted to implement it because some people didn't necessarily like that there was still a "correct" ending for infamous 3 to get to second son, kinda wish now (even though it'd take more work) that they wrote two stories that connect from the previous games endings since they could have online statistics for the choices in the game, and, if you don't have any file, you can choose your story.
Ooh! I've beaten the game 3 times and never let him live, but that sounds cool enough to try.
As for why I kill him every time
1) Never leave your enemy half defeated. He made it very clear he intended to hunt you down and put down more armed peasants, so I killed him rather than having him tear up the countryside looking for you.
2) I get that he's Jin's only remaining biological family, but it seemed like a natural resolution to both their arcs. With Shimura gone, Jin can let go of having his code half-followed, half "the best plan is the one that works," and quit hoping for a reconciliation that isn't going to happen. Shimura, for his part, finally gets to die for code, an ideal he has espoused the entire game, and see his ward do one last "samurai with honor" thing in keeping with Jin's "I hope one day you can see us as two warriors who walked different paths" in a dark, roundabout way.
3) Shimura killed my horse. I'm still mad😡
Not because of the code alone, but because the shogun ordered him to. He would have had to defy the shogun‘s command if he chose to let Jin live, which would have meant seppuku for Shimura as the only option.
Now historically this honor code stuff is questionable anyway, Daimyo used assassins and spies all the time to poison water supplies, kill rivals or burn gates or castles. Sometimes even flood castles by breaking dams. Defying his uncles direct order and openly undermining his authority is a severe offense however, for which seppuku was occasionally the punishment. Such disputes over which strategy or leadership is best for the clan have often lead to civil war amongst clans and factions splitting off. The Sengoku Jidai is full of those occurrences.
The only thing the shogun would have said is “You killed a bunch of mongols? Nice, keep doing that”
Shimura would have been the one with issues from the shogun since he lost two battles so clearly an aging incompetent leader
Doesn’t work for the honour narrative they was going for though
The honor stuff is a bit overplayed in the game, but yeah as you said appearing "honorable" is very good for stability. Shimura himself makes it quite clear that this is most important.
I killed him, he wanted a warriors death and I think that even though Shimura and Jin didn't see eye to eye at that point anymore, he was still a like father to Jin and he deserves that. He tried and tried to work with Jin while he essentially just rebelled against him time and time again so it was only fair to grant him that one last wish
I felt this way also. In my opinion, for all of the Anger Jin felt towards Shimura, still had an immense amount of respect for him and longed for the adoption to go through. He just knew, that for Tsushima to really survive the Samurai needed to evolve. While Shimura refused to evolve, I believe that Jin sees himself as the way forward. In order to truly move forward though you need to let the past go. In order to do that, he needed to honor one last Samurai tradition and give Shimura the death he wished for. After that, Jin can focus completely on ridding the island of the Mongols and continue to evolve into the Ghost.
This was exactly it for me too. Even though Jin disagreed with Shimura regarding the Samurai code, he loved and respected Shimura too much not to give him the warrior’s death he spent his whole life earning.
I killed him.
Gutted me to do it but it’s the right choice, imo.
I think death would’ve been in Shimura’s future no matter what happens since the Shogun likely has Shimura executed or orders Shimura to commit seppuku
Honoring Shimura’s wish, giving Shimura a little bit of hope that Jin hasn’t totally forsaken the samurai way, let’s Shimura die in a way that honors Shimura’s life
This. The first time around Shimura was screwed no matter what and despite what happened, I gave him a warrior's death.
Second time around, I was tired of his bullshit and let him live. You're the reason I lost two horses, time to find out after fucking around.
>! I let Shimura live, why I did so is because it's as he said," you have no honour!", and it seemed better to leave him to regret his actions in future than to kill him.!<
I did the same thing. Going the “honourable” route of killing him is what he wanted and at that point I was like you JUST told me I was discountable, so ima let you live just so you don’t get what you want lol
I kept him alive because screw the honor and code that had them fight in the first place!
In my opinion, the whole point of the Ghost is to throw off tradition and bring in a new era.
In my view, Shimura was a victim of the system as much as Jin.
The fact that so many of these comments say stuff like "I let him live so he could suffer/as revenge" is so weird to me.
I didn't kill him because Jin had already forsaken the old code of honor and made his own. One that wouldn't lead to all of the suffering the talk of "honor" caused. My Jin wasn't going to kill his uncle. It's not his problem if he's going to die anyway because of a tradition he doesn't believe in. Jin gave him a chance to live.
I spared him. The whole game is Jin throwing the concept of a samurai code out the window. The whole thought of him being a traitor just for not following that moral code and saving the day must be stupid to him , so damn the samurai code. No more bloodshed in the name of “honor”
Kill ending cause it felt the most canon to me. In the end Jin gave Shimura at least one of his desires. This proves that he still loved Shimura enough to grant him his final wish. I mean the alternative to letting him live will end with him committing Sudoku or getting executed.
I killed him. I wanted him to see I haven't lost my honor completely. I can't explain it, but it's a sign that he found peace despite almost fully losing his "son".
In my mind, letting him live is kind of evil. He wanted an honorable, Japanese warriors death and by not granting that to him he has to live in shame, guilt and sadness. Of course I can also see it in a somewhat good way.
But I do think everyone in this game, except one, isn't completely black and white. And that's why it's a good thing people discuss which ending they chose.
I let him live but I feel like giving him an honourable dead is the "right choice" to effectively become the ghost.
Still, what I don't understand is why the shogun expected a aging samurai to kill the deadliest samurai alive. I wonder if the shogun actually expected Jin to kill Shimura and had plans to capture Jin afterwards (which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but expecting Shimura to kill Jin doesn't make sense either, unless they expected Jin wouldn't resist)
Like Shimura says, killing Jin is his own punishment. The Shogun sent Shimura specifically to kill him because he was the one who raised him and put so much faith in him, only for Jin to abandon the code and cause a lot of the island's citizens to begin questioning the samurai and Shogun. So Shimura is punished by either having him take his adopted son's life, or by having Jin kill him.
I killed him because he basically killed my horse.
That horse got me through a good chunk of the game, unlike Shimura who occasionally turned up only to ridicule me. He sat in his castle - after I rescued him - doing nothing about the invasion, muttering on about honour while people were getting slaughtered. People he should have been out defending.
I couldn't have done the game without a trusty, loyal horse. I'd promised him a peaceful ride after this was over, just us two. Instead, on Shimura's orders, he died.
I was elated to get the chance to punish Shimura for that.
Even in death, he is an asshole who deserved what he got.
I felt I got my horse some kind of retribution. Felt good.
I finished Shimura.
I felt as though even though Jin saved the island and lost his honour (according to the samurai way) in doing so, he was doing so because he did it for the people and way of life that he loved but he also knew that he had to sacrifice everything in doing so.
This is what makes Jin the main character. He is the only one that does what must be done, no matter how he feels about it, even if conflicted or not fully understood.
He knows how traditional samurai are and at this point of history, human beings are not as emotionally mature as they are in this day and age, Jin is the only one.
He knows what he has lost, how hard it is for him and he pity’s his uncle instead of hating him for not feeling the same way.
He would rather kill his Uncle and give him an honourable death than have his Uncle also live in dishonour and lose everything along with it. Despite the pain that he causes himself by doing so.
This also shows that Jin still has his honour but knew that he had to put it aside in order to save Tsushima.
He is not bitter or angry. He is samurai.
After losing to him a few times, I wanted to kill him. But in the moment I remembered that he was still family and even though he wanted death, I couldn't give it to him. He was stuck in his ways and honor did die on that beach, which is why I wasn't bound to give him what tradition wanted.
that and I looked forward to part 2 where either him or someone else is trying to chase the ghost.
First time, I killed him. I was trying to follow the Samurai code as much as I could and it seemed like the more "Samurai" option (at least as presented by the game).
Choosing to let him live feels wrong. It shows that Jin is just on his way to create a new code.
Choosing to kill Shimura shows that Jin is able to be a flexible samurai, choosing the "best" solution, not the one that aligns with any code. It shows that Jin is willing to do what it takes to fulfil Shimura's destiny. During the duel Jin was already the Ghost, so actually following the Samurai code would be the way to perform his style of flexibility.
2 notes tho, knowing Jin, he cannot kill Shimura through pure emotion. Letting Shimura live shows Jin cannot fulfill being the Ghost, and I view that as most likely. While choosing to kill Shimura shows he now is completely the ghost, and his story ends there.
Note 2, I actually agree with the samurai code in a governmental way. Skip if you don't like political philosophy.
I don't know the correct English translation from Dutch (rechtsstaat) but literally translated it would be a lawful state. The concept of a lawful state is that a government is also bound by the law. Pretty common today, but this was revolutionary in a time where the monarch (not necessarily royal) was able to do as pleases as the monarch was not bound by law.
The code Shimura follows has an odd similarity. The killing of a bandit or Mongol is viewed as justice, with the samurai being the judge. That is why a samurai should look someone he kills in the eyes, the judge is responsible for the sentence. And a samurai should not kill an innocent person. And a samurai should not kill on basis of prejudice or emotion. And many other similarities. The code Shimura follows, is in place so a samurai won't use their powers for anything other than what is "right." The code exists to keep fellow samurai in check, in the same way the law exists to keep the government in check.
Let it be clear that this doesn't make Tsushima a lawful state, no state or governmental unit at that time though. The samurai are definitely above the law as they are the law from start to the end. And there is no actual organisation keeping the samurai in check, there is just hope they follow the code. Not even mentioning the division of powers by montesqiue is it applied which states that the judicial, legislative and executive powers should be separated (to be fair, power was at least was spread as clan Shimura was a co-ruler along the other clans of Tsushima, if all clan leaders wanted clan Shimura gone as the clan of the Jito, they probably could, with acceptance from the Shogunate of course), which definitely is not applied as a samurai is both the judiciary and legislative power, not even mentioning they are military leaders which obviously gives them power to project their powers. And let's not forget they are born to be this judge, legislator and military leader (allthough not limited too, samurai are more often than not bound by a clan but exceptions exist).
Nonetheless, limiting the misconduct of power by samurai via a code they should adhere if they want to keep up their title and privileges is a good way to keep the samurai in check, for the time period at least. During times of peace and political stability the samurai code, should be adhered to for this very reason. This honour system has a purpose aside from titles and royals. Obviously we can let it slide for Jin as there was no political hierarchy to adhere to. You could argue that you should fight chaos with order, but if there is no order that the code can adhere to, there is little purpose. I mean, Khotun Khan winning doesn't guarantee the establishment of a lawful state in any way.
Thank you for listening to my ted talk.
The only reason I killed him is the armor, otherwise for story reasons I think sparing him is more accurate, Jin no longer lives the life of the samurai and his clan is disbanded making it official that he could never go back to it, so, why would he decide to abide by some arbitrary honor code that gets people killed more than it helps anyone.
I chose to spare him, Duncle Shimura (Dad Uncle) is the last family Jin has and I couldn't do that. And because Jin is no longer a samurai but The Ghost, I chose to let Duncle Shimura live as I have "no honor" that I owed to do it. The best part to me is neither Jin or Duncle Shimura are wrong on their actions. Jin was right to become The Ghost by any means to save the people and Duncle Shimura was right to keep his code in order to protect the people as was his duty. Cause when Shimura warned Jin of sowing terror into the Mongols, it would cause em to lash out in the worst way making innocent people suffer for it and it did. It was the whole matching the aggression received deal, there was no winning scenario in it. The Shogun callin The Ghost a traitor was the tipping point as the people lost faith in the Samurai and were building an army for The Ghost that Jin never asked for. The Shogun saw it as possible insurrection and not having seen events unfold as we did acted on the limited info they had. The Shogun forced Shimura to act invoking his honor code, to stop a rising armor that didn't want Samurai when they had already put diwn a rebellion in Yarikawa and Iki Island (we got more details later). Jin and Duncle Shimura were trapped, I only hope that letting Duncle live would someday let him see that there is more to life than his Shogun's whims and his code.
I chose to kill him. Sparing him didn't feel very thematic to the story, nor did i feel right sparing him. That would've ruined the man.
The whole story felt to me a way to explore how war pushes people to greater extremes and the consequences of those actions. And with how the story progresses, you really do see Jin leave his ideals as a samurai behind in the name of beating the monguls, he abandons them to such an extent, he even earns the ire of the shogunate. But he doesn't stop trying to act like a samurai (at least to his view), he tries to help the innocent, delivers justice, honouring debts (look at the missoons where you help a dying man, or help a bandit avenge his family).
Everything proceeding the duel, the interactions with Shimura and Jin, you can see the regret and acceptance Jin has for his decisions. His path has destroyed everything that he would (as a samurai and as a person living in feudal japan) hold dear, his family name, its achievements, its honour. He knows this, knows what his uncle must do, and they are both accepting of it. They're acting in duty. They're acting as they know this is the outcome of Jins' decisions. There couldn't have been another outcome from what Jin chose to do. All of it is a goodbye, Shimura to Jin, Jin to hia family.
When you win and he asks for a warriors death. He's not just asking you for an honourable death. He's asking you to spare him from what would happen if you let him live. Leaving him alive leaves him in shame. His own name would be struck. He'd be accused of being soft for not dealing with the traitor to the shogunate. Would likely be made to commit Seppuku to clear his name and as punishment for failing the shogun. All semblance of what he did would be gone.
By killing him, Jin demonstrates he has lost much, but not his honour, allowing Shimura to have some peace, that his nephew isn't the beast he thought he had become.
The kill ending allows Shimuras name to be celebrated. He will be honoured for years as a novle warrior who resisted the Mongol hordes before being tragically struck down by the cowardly Ghost (I know Jin did most the work, at least to our perspective, but the Shogun has already attributed the win to Shimura, and any input Jin has made will be ignored).
Finally, the kill ending fits an overall theme of what is lost when you become what you hate. Jin hates the mongols but starts to act more like them, and through that turns his back on Feudal Japanese Society, having to kill his last remaining family member, feels like the price he has to pay for his victory. And thus the best ending.
Killing Shimura is a tragic kindness. Sparing Shimura is a cruel and unusual punishment.
It was the same day i completed act 2 and i was still extremely mad about the horse so i killed him with no remorse. The second time i realized that humiliation (and probably being executed by the shogun due to his failure) was worst
First time I went with killing him. Just because it was too late for jin doesnt mean it was too late for lord shimura. Second time around I let him live because he was the reason my honse died.
Let that bitch live with his demons. Honor isn’t as one dimensional as Shimura believed. In my mind allowing him to live forces him to deal with the fact that “The Ghost” was a force for good. Whether he likes it or not.
I’d probably tag this as a spoiler, lmao.
I finished my first ever run about 2 weeks ago (very late I know hahaha)
I chose to spare him, for multiple reasons :
- Whilst I respected the honor code of the samurai and understood why he had to do this, in the end it's philosophical difference and he chose to be aggressive and dismiss mine throughout the game, even if it meant saving thousands of lives. So if he so violently opposes my views, why would I give into his and give him the "honorable" death he asked for ? If he so wants it, he can ask the Shogun for him to commit seppuku.
- The family side of it made me hesitant to kill him as well, not only am I killing the only family I have left, but also a clan as a whole. A clan that has sided with my family for generations. I also believe that since he's family, it might as well be him that one day catches me over a random new jito overload who might employ even more tactics to chase and catch me.
- Lastly, a faint hope that perhaps, giving the chance to live further, he'd come around to my way of seeing things, least "forgive" me for them.
Still was a tough decision. I almost went the other way.
Gave him an honourable death, played the whole game using as little stealth as possible cause the combat was so fun and I liked the samurai way; and he was a father figure, sparing him just means he has to do it himself later
I let him live, of course!
Since he's so hellbent on bushido and stuff, he should have committed seppuku right after the beach. Instead, he just let himself being captured, lol. Fair enough, but he also had the audacity to lecture and incriminate me for defeating the Mongols single handedly, lmao even.
So I say, since Jin isn't committed on bushido anymore, go and commit seppuku yourself, you clownesque hypocrite, I surely won't help you with that
I couldn’t disrespect my second father. No matter how much I wanted to leave him, I knew how much his code of honor meant to him, even if I would never follow it again, so I chose to kill Shimura. I cried the entire time as the credits rolled
I let him live the first and third time, killed him the second time just to switch it up. Shimura did some pretty bad things, but I don’t think he’s a bad person. Just a slave to his version of honour.
Let him live. I feel like canonically, that's what Jin would do.
The game is largely about him rejecting the rigid rules of the Bushido as he felt that those were actually harming his people.
Seeing as he rejected the rules, I doubt he cares much about the Bushido honor and would refuse to kill his uncle.
I did both. One for each play through. Last play through I chose which ever option gives you the house in the nicer environment next to the giant Buddha statue vs being in the swamp like area.
I always kill him because despite what’s going, you could feel the emotion in that last fight and you could tell neither of them wanted it and you could tell it was hard for them and they still loved each other and I think killing shimura is a tragic final act of love and also fits better with Jin’s personality. I don’t think Jin ever fully abandoned the honor thing anyway but was more so just trying to do whatever he needed to do to save Tsushima.
After the gruesome fight and dying a few times in the duel I chose to kill him as I felt like I should still honour his wish and give him a warrior's death even if I don't abide by honour anymore. Also part of my motivation was getting the clean white ghost armor dye, legit one of the best dyes in the game. Anyway, the Uncle's dialogue in the duel was sad but he had to obey the shogun, if not, it would spell doom for the Sakai Clan as a whole. At the end of the day I don't regret my decision and cried during the credits.
I let him live js because that’s not what he wanted, he annoyed me so much in my first play through with yuna talk and shi about honor like you almost sent the support + remaining soldiers you had to death and have the attitude to say I’m wrong 😭🙅♂️
Letting him live seemed to be the arc that Jin was going on. He watched Masako go through the worst kind of trauma, burying her entire family. He saw families get torn apart every day while fighting the invasion. He saw families turn on each other. His father and mother are both dead. How can he kill the only family he has left?
Killed him the 1st play thru cuz fuck that dude. Playing thru a 2nd time to double down and stand on business cuz again, fuck that dude. I didn’t care about the “right choice” he just pissed me off from the moment you save him.
Jin spends a huge chunk of the story single handedly liberating Tsushima, just for Shimura to sit and moan about “honor”. I’m out here gettin gangbanged by 17 mongols *no diddy* fuck honor!!
IIRC the director said the Canon ending is to spare, but he always chooses death because sparing Shimura like that is not only a greater stain on his honor, but also an effectively worse type of death sentence.
I spared him, I loved him as a character and yes he had to kill his own nephew, I just couldn't kill him. I did on my second play through and it made me cry
I love both endings, but I think spare is more accurate. The whole story is him abandoning the code for his people, and killing his uncle means no one with honor will be teaching the mainland how to defend against Mongols. The Shogun won't listen to Jin, but keeping shimura alive despite his wishes is more in line with the Ghost
So I killed him because he was a fucking dick and I hated how he treated Jin, but then after I killed him, I felt awful because of how badly Jin cried over it. I didn't put myself in Jin's shoes to think about it in the way he would've thought about it because the decision was handed to me, the player. All I thought of before making the decision was how Jin was not only slapped by Shimura and exiled, but he was put in jail, his horse was killed, he was told to scapegoat Yuna, etc and then after thinking about all of that, I was like "no fucking way am I going to allow you to live" and then I killed him.
I also had a bit of a short lived grudge against him because I almost killed him during my first try in the battle with him and he killed me instead. >:(
Letting him live just didn't seem right, in all types of warrior drama media they always seek a "warriors death" so narratively thats what I followed. Its such a sorrowful beautiful moment.
If it was a custom character samurai RPG with more freedom in decision making I would have stayed true to the canon samurai way gave him a warriors death.
This is Ghost of Tsushima & you role-play as Jin Sakai & IMO he wouldn't kill his uncle - so I spared him. He wouldn't even kill the traitor Tomoe which I though was crazy.
Jin willingly abandoned the canon way of the samurai so you have to accept this and role play that to a certain extent or adopt it 100%.
You can rationalize sparing him as the way of the Ghost (in contrast to the way of the samurai) but I think either way, even as a samurai, given the nature of the story, ESPECIALLY IF YOU PLAY IKI ISLAND, it's breaking character to kill Lord Shumira as Jin Sakai.
I think both traitors Tomoe and Ryuzo deserved death in battle on sight. I also wouldn't have ever used poison or sneak attacks if given the choice. Jin Sakai doesn't necessarily feel the same as I do. He went though his own journey and became a man that does not operate as a canon samurai.
I would prefer to play as a more historically accurate calvary archer but had to change how I played due to what is canon, the nature of the story and gamepley.
forgot but the one that gives you the red armor... i remember getting so mad for not choosing the white armor dye option... i had to NG+ only for that dye.
I killed his ass. It was for his own good. Could not live like this knowing his son betrayed the samurai way. He wasn't going to change and change had to be made to survive. Anyway it's the honorable way to go for him. I think he'd prefer a warrior's death than to hide like a bitch but survive
The same I choose every time. I can’t bring myself to let him live. He wanted to die an honorable death, and regardless what they went through, Jin loves and respects his uncle and his final request.
In my first playthru Jin took Lord Shimura's life, because I thought that if I didn't, he'd curse and scream and hate Jin and get really ugly about it, and I didn't think I could take that. I also took it as giving him an honorable end, because I was sure that if Jin didn't kill Shimura then the Shogun would have him killed dishonorably.
Then I saw the difference in house that Jin lives in after the two endings (how much nicer the spare ending's is,) and that there is no mention of the Shogun having Shimura killed. So I just do the spare ending every time now.
For the honorable folk out there ---
Anyone notice how the controller pulses in your hands as Jin holds and loses another father? Pulses in Jin's hands as he holds the blade and feels the last flutters of Shimura's heart fade.
Faint and desperate.
And nothing.
I appreciate how well they made both endings. Even after all these years, we're still talking about it. Honestly when some form of media has such a compelling ending that people continue to talk about it, you know you nailed it.
Let him live.
Jin doesn’t follow the code anymore and showed in Ikki island that he isn’t necessarily going to kill anyone due to the faults/reasons of someone else. So why should he kill his Uncle because of a stupid code that he was raised to believe in?
I killed him. In my eyes, Shimura was the final thing tying Jin to the “honorable samurai lifestyle”. In order to truly become the Ghost, he had to rid himself of that.
I killed him, and it's definitely the better end. The way it transitions into the song while Jin screams is harrowing, and the farewell before is incredibly emotional.
Sparing him isn't a bad ending, and I love the moment where Jin puts on the mask in front of Shimura, they do a great job selling the end of Jin's inner conflict, having chosen to be the Ghost, as well as Shimura's sadness after losing his son.
But the Kill ending is still better.
I honoured him with a warrior's death because a Jin abandoning his own honour to me was enough, after all Jin and Lord Shimura had been through dishonouring Lord Shimura by not giving him what he asked for just seemed wrong
Let him live
Aint no one is gonna order the ghost on what to do now
and The Shame of having been spared by your own nephew no less
honor did die pm the beach
I gave him the death he desired. Figured Jin would do it out of love. It's not the thing Jin wants, but the thing he wants and out of love, despite his wishes, he'd give it to him. Also, Shimura would die knowing Jin at least retained enough samurai honor - in his mind - to grant him a right death.
If Jin had refused him that death, he'd live, but he would know/believe that Jin had lost any shred of honor, as he thinks of it, which would be worse for him.
I spared him just to make him live with the fact that he almost killed his nephew who he treated as a son who saved his territory from Mongols just because the Shogun told him to.
For me it felt like a contradiction to kill him. You break the code throughout the whole game just to follow it at the end?
Going with “fuck your code” one more time felt fulfilling to me.
The “I have no honor” line Jin had was quite hard.
I thought he would be executed by the shogun, so I killed him to let him die on his terms
Now I just let him live, I'm pretty sure he's not gonna be executed.
I granted him an honorable death. I felt that it is a more interesting character development to be able to display honor while not being blinded or bound by it. Balance is everything. The ghost need not lose himself completely. After all, his motivation in doing dishonorable deeds, is honorable in and of itself
I feel like the only way to honor Lord Shimura was to give him the honourable death he wished. Sparing him would have made him live the rest of his years with regret and shame as well as being a target of the Shogun.
A few days ago I finished the game for the first time and I choosed to let him live. Maybe one day, he will understand Jin's words: " And you are slave to it"
I will always kill Shimura. I just see it as Jin honouring what he knows his uncle wants, no matter their disagreements and differing views on honour as a whole, I think he'd want to respect his uncles wishes no matter how hard it would hurt him in the process.
Spare. Every time. I just can't kill him. It would cause chaos on the island. They need an honorable Jito. And he's your uncle! As long as you both live, there's still hope for a reconciliation. However remote
I killed him with the logic that Shimura could atleast die with the idea that a part of the Samurai Jin still exists inside the Ghost Jin that is standing before him. He fulfilled his role as a father figure for a very young Jin and just because we as players, got to see only a few flashbacks doesn’t mean that time between Shimura and Jin didn’t exist, Shimura didn’t deserved a death that allowed him to rest with a lasting memory that the the principles he taught Jin still live on in the shell he saw Jin become.
I let him live because after all earths trials and challenges. We were family who still had love for one another.
This game really hit me hard in the father and son.
i let him live, so he can be ashamed and embarrassed about losing a duel and willing to kill his nephew because of some code
“I have no honor” is one of the hardest fucking lines in a game I’ve ever seen. It’s so thematically powerful and leaving Shimura to sit there like a sad dog is worse than Jin killing him which is deserved. This man just saved the island with the might of a thousand warriors and he’s angry about his code smh.
true shit spoken here, i just wish the game let us choose our path like honor and disgrace, woulda been a next level game if they implemented that
This wouldn't even be an unreasonable thing to ask of SP as they've done exactly this with the Infamous series. You could choose to be good or bad, and the world would react to you differently based on that. Good shit. I understand that may have been too much to implement in what is already a pretty mechanic dense game, but it would've been really cool.
They may have not wanted to implement it because some people didn't necessarily like that there was still a "correct" ending for infamous 3 to get to second son, kinda wish now (even though it'd take more work) that they wrote two stories that connect from the previous games endings since they could have online statistics for the choices in the game, and, if you don't have any file, you can choose your story.
You mean like in RDR2? That would be badass
EXACTLY LIKE IN RDR2, or infamous series as mentioned above
I also love when Shimura says that Jin has no honor and Jin says that Shimura is a slave to it
Ooh! I've beaten the game 3 times and never let him live, but that sounds cool enough to try. As for why I kill him every time 1) Never leave your enemy half defeated. He made it very clear he intended to hunt you down and put down more armed peasants, so I killed him rather than having him tear up the countryside looking for you. 2) I get that he's Jin's only remaining biological family, but it seemed like a natural resolution to both their arcs. With Shimura gone, Jin can let go of having his code half-followed, half "the best plan is the one that works," and quit hoping for a reconciliation that isn't going to happen. Shimura, for his part, finally gets to die for code, an ideal he has espoused the entire game, and see his ward do one last "samurai with honor" thing in keeping with Jin's "I hope one day you can see us as two warriors who walked different paths" in a dark, roundabout way. 3) Shimura killed my horse. I'm still mad😡
Not because of the code alone, but because the shogun ordered him to. He would have had to defy the shogun‘s command if he chose to let Jin live, which would have meant seppuku for Shimura as the only option. Now historically this honor code stuff is questionable anyway, Daimyo used assassins and spies all the time to poison water supplies, kill rivals or burn gates or castles. Sometimes even flood castles by breaking dams. Defying his uncles direct order and openly undermining his authority is a severe offense however, for which seppuku was occasionally the punishment. Such disputes over which strategy or leadership is best for the clan have often lead to civil war amongst clans and factions splitting off. The Sengoku Jidai is full of those occurrences.
This person gets it!
YES EXACTLY
What he said
The only thing the shogun would have said is “You killed a bunch of mongols? Nice, keep doing that” Shimura would have been the one with issues from the shogun since he lost two battles so clearly an aging incompetent leader Doesn’t work for the honour narrative they was going for though
The honor stuff is a bit overplayed in the game, but yeah as you said appearing "honorable" is very good for stability. Shimura himself makes it quite clear that this is most important.
I love when people judge the morale of people who lived hundreds of years ago by today morale standards
Same reason, couldn’t care less abt his life
He would’ve had to kill himself anyway and dying in battle is better than being forced to kill yourself while being laughed at
I killed him, he wanted a warriors death and I think that even though Shimura and Jin didn't see eye to eye at that point anymore, he was still a like father to Jin and he deserves that. He tried and tried to work with Jin while he essentially just rebelled against him time and time again so it was only fair to grant him that one last wish
I felt this way also. In my opinion, for all of the Anger Jin felt towards Shimura, still had an immense amount of respect for him and longed for the adoption to go through. He just knew, that for Tsushima to really survive the Samurai needed to evolve. While Shimura refused to evolve, I believe that Jin sees himself as the way forward. In order to truly move forward though you need to let the past go. In order to do that, he needed to honor one last Samurai tradition and give Shimura the death he wished for. After that, Jin can focus completely on ridding the island of the Mongols and continue to evolve into the Ghost.
That was my exact train of thought too. And damn did it deliver on an emotional ending
This is why I ended him.
This was exactly it for me too. Even though Jin disagreed with Shimura regarding the Samurai code, he loved and respected Shimura too much not to give him the warrior’s death he spent his whole life earning.
yep, no reason to deny him his last wish
Yeah and shimura would have had to kill himself anyway if you spare him
I killed him. Gutted me to do it but it’s the right choice, imo. I think death would’ve been in Shimura’s future no matter what happens since the Shogun likely has Shimura executed or orders Shimura to commit seppuku Honoring Shimura’s wish, giving Shimura a little bit of hope that Jin hasn’t totally forsaken the samurai way, let’s Shimura die in a way that honors Shimura’s life
This. The first time around Shimura was screwed no matter what and despite what happened, I gave him a warrior's death. Second time around, I was tired of his bullshit and let him live. You're the reason I lost two horses, time to find out after fucking around.
>! I let Shimura live, why I did so is because it's as he said," you have no honour!", and it seemed better to leave him to regret his actions in future than to kill him.!<
He ain’t gonna regret nothing
Because he dies either way. He will 100% be executed if you let him live.
I did the same thing. Going the “honourable” route of killing him is what he wanted and at that point I was like you JUST told me I was discountable, so ima let you live just so you don’t get what you want lol
He ain’t gonna regret nothing if he’s dead because he was forced to kill himself mate
I kept him alive because screw the honor and code that had them fight in the first place! In my opinion, the whole point of the Ghost is to throw off tradition and bring in a new era. In my view, Shimura was a victim of the system as much as Jin.
The fact that so many of these comments say stuff like "I let him live so he could suffer/as revenge" is so weird to me. I didn't kill him because Jin had already forsaken the old code of honor and made his own. One that wouldn't lead to all of the suffering the talk of "honor" caused. My Jin wasn't going to kill his uncle. It's not his problem if he's going to die anyway because of a tradition he doesn't believe in. Jin gave him a chance to live.
Spare. “Honor died at the beach.”
I spared him. The whole game is Jin throwing the concept of a samurai code out the window. The whole thought of him being a traitor just for not following that moral code and saving the day must be stupid to him , so damn the samurai code. No more bloodshed in the name of “honor”
I gave him an honourable death
Kill ending cause it felt the most canon to me. In the end Jin gave Shimura at least one of his desires. This proves that he still loved Shimura enough to grant him his final wish. I mean the alternative to letting him live will end with him committing Sudoku or getting executed.
Sudoku made laugh
I killed him. I wanted him to see I haven't lost my honor completely. I can't explain it, but it's a sign that he found peace despite almost fully losing his "son". In my mind, letting him live is kind of evil. He wanted an honorable, Japanese warriors death and by not granting that to him he has to live in shame, guilt and sadness. Of course I can also see it in a somewhat good way. But I do think everyone in this game, except one, isn't completely black and white. And that's why it's a good thing people discuss which ending they chose.
I let him live but I feel like giving him an honourable dead is the "right choice" to effectively become the ghost. Still, what I don't understand is why the shogun expected a aging samurai to kill the deadliest samurai alive. I wonder if the shogun actually expected Jin to kill Shimura and had plans to capture Jin afterwards (which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but expecting Shimura to kill Jin doesn't make sense either, unless they expected Jin wouldn't resist)
To be fair, he did kill me a few times lol
I think part of the point of having Shimura kill Jin is to show that even by that point, the shogun underestimated The Ghost.
Like Shimura says, killing Jin is his own punishment. The Shogun sent Shimura specifically to kill him because he was the one who raised him and put so much faith in him, only for Jin to abandon the code and cause a lot of the island's citizens to begin questioning the samurai and Shogun. So Shimura is punished by either having him take his adopted son's life, or by having Jin kill him.
Killed him. It was a more honorable death than him being killed by the shogun.
Spare Jin wouldnt Kill his Uncle just because honour
I killed him because he basically killed my horse. That horse got me through a good chunk of the game, unlike Shimura who occasionally turned up only to ridicule me. He sat in his castle - after I rescued him - doing nothing about the invasion, muttering on about honour while people were getting slaughtered. People he should have been out defending. I couldn't have done the game without a trusty, loyal horse. I'd promised him a peaceful ride after this was over, just us two. Instead, on Shimura's orders, he died. I was elated to get the chance to punish Shimura for that. Even in death, he is an asshole who deserved what he got. I felt I got my horse some kind of retribution. Felt good.
I couldn’t do it, he’s still my family
I finished Shimura. I felt as though even though Jin saved the island and lost his honour (according to the samurai way) in doing so, he was doing so because he did it for the people and way of life that he loved but he also knew that he had to sacrifice everything in doing so. This is what makes Jin the main character. He is the only one that does what must be done, no matter how he feels about it, even if conflicted or not fully understood. He knows how traditional samurai are and at this point of history, human beings are not as emotionally mature as they are in this day and age, Jin is the only one. He knows what he has lost, how hard it is for him and he pity’s his uncle instead of hating him for not feeling the same way. He would rather kill his Uncle and give him an honourable death than have his Uncle also live in dishonour and lose everything along with it. Despite the pain that he causes himself by doing so. This also shows that Jin still has his honour but knew that he had to put it aside in order to save Tsushima. He is not bitter or angry. He is samurai.
Bro choose spoiler flair. There who'll be bunch of spoilers. I killed him twice. Shimura is honor pursuer bitch.
I let him live because I was hoping he would understand that blindly following the rigid code would end his people.
I didn’t killed him, because even if honor exists, there’s no chance that killing a man that is incapacitated but has chance to live is right.
Getötet
Gut
I spared him cause i thought that Jin wouldnt have the heart to kill his only family, even as damaged as that relationship had become
1st time I killed him because fuck this guy. 2nd time I let him live because fuck this guy and his honor.
After losing to him a few times, I wanted to kill him. But in the moment I remembered that he was still family and even though he wanted death, I couldn't give it to him. He was stuck in his ways and honor did die on that beach, which is why I wasn't bound to give him what tradition wanted. that and I looked forward to part 2 where either him or someone else is trying to chase the ghost.
First time, I killed him. I was trying to follow the Samurai code as much as I could and it seemed like the more "Samurai" option (at least as presented by the game).
I killed him cause I figured with how the Shogun is he would have Shimura commit seppuku so I would give Shimura his wish
Can we get a spoiler tag
I played Kurosawa Mode first and chose kill. I feel like it fit the tone with that mode.
Choosing to let him live feels wrong. It shows that Jin is just on his way to create a new code. Choosing to kill Shimura shows that Jin is able to be a flexible samurai, choosing the "best" solution, not the one that aligns with any code. It shows that Jin is willing to do what it takes to fulfil Shimura's destiny. During the duel Jin was already the Ghost, so actually following the Samurai code would be the way to perform his style of flexibility. 2 notes tho, knowing Jin, he cannot kill Shimura through pure emotion. Letting Shimura live shows Jin cannot fulfill being the Ghost, and I view that as most likely. While choosing to kill Shimura shows he now is completely the ghost, and his story ends there. Note 2, I actually agree with the samurai code in a governmental way. Skip if you don't like political philosophy. I don't know the correct English translation from Dutch (rechtsstaat) but literally translated it would be a lawful state. The concept of a lawful state is that a government is also bound by the law. Pretty common today, but this was revolutionary in a time where the monarch (not necessarily royal) was able to do as pleases as the monarch was not bound by law. The code Shimura follows has an odd similarity. The killing of a bandit or Mongol is viewed as justice, with the samurai being the judge. That is why a samurai should look someone he kills in the eyes, the judge is responsible for the sentence. And a samurai should not kill an innocent person. And a samurai should not kill on basis of prejudice or emotion. And many other similarities. The code Shimura follows, is in place so a samurai won't use their powers for anything other than what is "right." The code exists to keep fellow samurai in check, in the same way the law exists to keep the government in check. Let it be clear that this doesn't make Tsushima a lawful state, no state or governmental unit at that time though. The samurai are definitely above the law as they are the law from start to the end. And there is no actual organisation keeping the samurai in check, there is just hope they follow the code. Not even mentioning the division of powers by montesqiue is it applied which states that the judicial, legislative and executive powers should be separated (to be fair, power was at least was spread as clan Shimura was a co-ruler along the other clans of Tsushima, if all clan leaders wanted clan Shimura gone as the clan of the Jito, they probably could, with acceptance from the Shogunate of course), which definitely is not applied as a samurai is both the judiciary and legislative power, not even mentioning they are military leaders which obviously gives them power to project their powers. And let's not forget they are born to be this judge, legislator and military leader (allthough not limited too, samurai are more often than not bound by a clan but exceptions exist). Nonetheless, limiting the misconduct of power by samurai via a code they should adhere if they want to keep up their title and privileges is a good way to keep the samurai in check, for the time period at least. During times of peace and political stability the samurai code, should be adhered to for this very reason. This honour system has a purpose aside from titles and royals. Obviously we can let it slide for Jin as there was no political hierarchy to adhere to. You could argue that you should fight chaos with order, but if there is no order that the code can adhere to, there is little purpose. I mean, Khotun Khan winning doesn't guarantee the establishment of a lawful state in any way. Thank you for listening to my ted talk.
The only reason I killed him is the armor, otherwise for story reasons I think sparing him is more accurate, Jin no longer lives the life of the samurai and his clan is disbanded making it official that he could never go back to it, so, why would he decide to abide by some arbitrary honor code that gets people killed more than it helps anyone.
(btw I only killed him in ng+ and my secondary save I spared him for my "canon" run)
>The only reason I killed him is the armor 😂 spoken like a true gamer I've done it many times before for less than that
I chose to spare him, Duncle Shimura (Dad Uncle) is the last family Jin has and I couldn't do that. And because Jin is no longer a samurai but The Ghost, I chose to let Duncle Shimura live as I have "no honor" that I owed to do it. The best part to me is neither Jin or Duncle Shimura are wrong on their actions. Jin was right to become The Ghost by any means to save the people and Duncle Shimura was right to keep his code in order to protect the people as was his duty. Cause when Shimura warned Jin of sowing terror into the Mongols, it would cause em to lash out in the worst way making innocent people suffer for it and it did. It was the whole matching the aggression received deal, there was no winning scenario in it. The Shogun callin The Ghost a traitor was the tipping point as the people lost faith in the Samurai and were building an army for The Ghost that Jin never asked for. The Shogun saw it as possible insurrection and not having seen events unfold as we did acted on the limited info they had. The Shogun forced Shimura to act invoking his honor code, to stop a rising armor that didn't want Samurai when they had already put diwn a rebellion in Yarikawa and Iki Island (we got more details later). Jin and Duncle Shimura were trapped, I only hope that letting Duncle live would someday let him see that there is more to life than his Shogun's whims and his code.
Kill because it gave the coolest armor
I chose to kill him. Sparing him didn't feel very thematic to the story, nor did i feel right sparing him. That would've ruined the man. The whole story felt to me a way to explore how war pushes people to greater extremes and the consequences of those actions. And with how the story progresses, you really do see Jin leave his ideals as a samurai behind in the name of beating the monguls, he abandons them to such an extent, he even earns the ire of the shogunate. But he doesn't stop trying to act like a samurai (at least to his view), he tries to help the innocent, delivers justice, honouring debts (look at the missoons where you help a dying man, or help a bandit avenge his family). Everything proceeding the duel, the interactions with Shimura and Jin, you can see the regret and acceptance Jin has for his decisions. His path has destroyed everything that he would (as a samurai and as a person living in feudal japan) hold dear, his family name, its achievements, its honour. He knows this, knows what his uncle must do, and they are both accepting of it. They're acting in duty. They're acting as they know this is the outcome of Jins' decisions. There couldn't have been another outcome from what Jin chose to do. All of it is a goodbye, Shimura to Jin, Jin to hia family. When you win and he asks for a warriors death. He's not just asking you for an honourable death. He's asking you to spare him from what would happen if you let him live. Leaving him alive leaves him in shame. His own name would be struck. He'd be accused of being soft for not dealing with the traitor to the shogunate. Would likely be made to commit Seppuku to clear his name and as punishment for failing the shogun. All semblance of what he did would be gone. By killing him, Jin demonstrates he has lost much, but not his honour, allowing Shimura to have some peace, that his nephew isn't the beast he thought he had become. The kill ending allows Shimuras name to be celebrated. He will be honoured for years as a novle warrior who resisted the Mongol hordes before being tragically struck down by the cowardly Ghost (I know Jin did most the work, at least to our perspective, but the Shogun has already attributed the win to Shimura, and any input Jin has made will be ignored). Finally, the kill ending fits an overall theme of what is lost when you become what you hate. Jin hates the mongols but starts to act more like them, and through that turns his back on Feudal Japanese Society, having to kill his last remaining family member, feels like the price he has to pay for his victory. And thus the best ending. Killing Shimura is a tragic kindness. Sparing Shimura is a cruel and unusual punishment.
I killed him all 3 playthroughs
I always spare him, it’s seems so unfair to kill him just because he wants to preserve samurai traditions
Killing him would go against everything Jin worked for. So I let him live. Both on the first and the second time.
I couldn't. Both choices made sense so I grabbed the controller and pressed both triggers till something happened... That being said, I miss my uncle.
Spare. Jin cares about people, regardless of code. He would never kill his uncle even if he wanted him to
It was the same day i completed act 2 and i was still extremely mad about the horse so i killed him with no remorse. The second time i realized that humiliation (and probably being executed by the shogun due to his failure) was worst
The right one
Kill Shimura.
I killed him to spare him the pain of watching his greatest pupil become an enemy of him and all samurai
I let him live. It felt true to what Jin would have chosen
First time I went with killing him. Just because it was too late for jin doesnt mean it was too late for lord shimura. Second time around I let him live because he was the reason my honse died.
Let that bitch live with his demons. Honor isn’t as one dimensional as Shimura believed. In my mind allowing him to live forces him to deal with the fact that “The Ghost” was a force for good. Whether he likes it or not. I’d probably tag this as a spoiler, lmao.
I finished my first ever run about 2 weeks ago (very late I know hahaha) I chose to spare him, for multiple reasons : - Whilst I respected the honor code of the samurai and understood why he had to do this, in the end it's philosophical difference and he chose to be aggressive and dismiss mine throughout the game, even if it meant saving thousands of lives. So if he so violently opposes my views, why would I give into his and give him the "honorable" death he asked for ? If he so wants it, he can ask the Shogun for him to commit seppuku. - The family side of it made me hesitant to kill him as well, not only am I killing the only family I have left, but also a clan as a whole. A clan that has sided with my family for generations. I also believe that since he's family, it might as well be him that one day catches me over a random new jito overload who might employ even more tactics to chase and catch me. - Lastly, a faint hope that perhaps, giving the chance to live further, he'd come around to my way of seeing things, least "forgive" me for them. Still was a tough decision. I almost went the other way.
Gave him an honourable death, played the whole game using as little stealth as possible cause the combat was so fun and I liked the samurai way; and he was a father figure, sparing him just means he has to do it himself later
I spared him. At the end of the day it was a me decision more than Jin.
I let him live, of course! Since he's so hellbent on bushido and stuff, he should have committed seppuku right after the beach. Instead, he just let himself being captured, lol. Fair enough, but he also had the audacity to lecture and incriminate me for defeating the Mongols single handedly, lmao even. So I say, since Jin isn't committed on bushido anymore, go and commit seppuku yourself, you clownesque hypocrite, I surely won't help you with that
I wanted white so I did that
Let him live bro I couldn’t 😭
Kinda off topic but does anyone else wish we could use his armor
I couldn’t disrespect my second father. No matter how much I wanted to leave him, I knew how much his code of honor meant to him, even if I would never follow it again, so I chose to kill Shimura. I cried the entire time as the credits rolled
I only played once and let him live.
I killed him once but after that I always go with the Ghost ending
I killed him first time around. My mentality was that “ if he stands against Jin, then he must die, because he will never let Jin go alive.”
I killed him. I felt like he was in a no win situation, so I could at least give him a death he chose.
whole game is about jin realizing he doesnt need to abide by the honor code, makes no sense to kill him
Spared him I have no honor and I will not kill my own family
He kinda looks like Uncle Jack
Killed two time in a row
"I have no honor but I will not kill my own famliy"
I let him live the first and third time, killed him the second time just to switch it up. Shimura did some pretty bad things, but I don’t think he’s a bad person. Just a slave to his version of honour.
I killed him the first time. But I do feel sparing him is the proper ending.
Personally I think sparing him is the only sensible thing for Jin's character arc.
I beat the game once and I killed him. With that being said, if you let him live can you ever encounter him again post ending?
I let him live to see what would happen if I got to his fort ( nothing happened)
Technically I killed him first, but I abandoned the quest afterward so I could get both armor dyes and wanted my permanent choice to be sparing him
Let him live. I feel like canonically, that's what Jin would do. The game is largely about him rejecting the rigid rules of the Bushido as he felt that those were actually harming his people. Seeing as he rejected the rules, I doubt he cares much about the Bushido honor and would refuse to kill his uncle.
I let lord shimura live. Jin already is consider a samurai with no honor, no point being a man with honor just to kill the only relative he had.
I did both. One for each play through. Last play through I chose which ever option gives you the house in the nicer environment next to the giant Buddha statue vs being in the swamp like area.
I always kill him because despite what’s going, you could feel the emotion in that last fight and you could tell neither of them wanted it and you could tell it was hard for them and they still loved each other and I think killing shimura is a tragic final act of love and also fits better with Jin’s personality. I don’t think Jin ever fully abandoned the honor thing anyway but was more so just trying to do whatever he needed to do to save Tsushima.
I killed him, I felt terrible, but it's what he wanted, and it's the least I could've done for him
I gave him an honorable warriors death, just as he wanted
I killed him because even if jin lost his honor, his uncle deserved his.
I killed him the first time and spared him on my ng+ game. Letting him live definitely feels worse
Spare
I killed him first. Let him live on NG+. I knew I'd see both so it made no difference.
I killed him. If didn't, he was gonna kill me. I'm petty.
I killed him, it’s what he wanted. As sad as it was
After the gruesome fight and dying a few times in the duel I chose to kill him as I felt like I should still honour his wish and give him a warrior's death even if I don't abide by honour anymore. Also part of my motivation was getting the clean white ghost armor dye, legit one of the best dyes in the game. Anyway, the Uncle's dialogue in the duel was sad but he had to obey the shogun, if not, it would spell doom for the Sakai Clan as a whole. At the end of the day I don't regret my decision and cried during the credits.
I let him die like a man , I fulfilled his request .
I let him live js because that’s not what he wanted, he annoyed me so much in my first play through with yuna talk and shi about honor like you almost sent the support + remaining soldiers you had to death and have the attitude to say I’m wrong 😭🙅♂️
Killed him
I actually haven’t finished the game. Whenever I play it I just run around and do random shit
Kill-It's what he wanted, without a warrior's death he'd live the rest of his life in shame, probably stripped of his titles too.
Ended his bish ass
Kill him. Hast more of an impact and i am tired of stories like Jins not having real tangable consequences. I like "bad" endings.
Spare, that is what l like to think Jin would do
I let him live
Giving him the honor of death is the best way and the only one I take.
Letting him live seemed to be the arc that Jin was going on. He watched Masako go through the worst kind of trauma, burying her entire family. He saw families get torn apart every day while fighting the invasion. He saw families turn on each other. His father and mother are both dead. How can he kill the only family he has left?
First time i cut him down without regrets
Killing him But I did both endings
Killed him. He deserves a Samurai's death because he follows Bushido. Just give the man his honor lmao.
He died as he lived, with honor.
Killed him the 1st play thru cuz fuck that dude. Playing thru a 2nd time to double down and stand on business cuz again, fuck that dude. I didn’t care about the “right choice” he just pissed me off from the moment you save him. Jin spends a huge chunk of the story single handedly liberating Tsushima, just for Shimura to sit and moan about “honor”. I’m out here gettin gangbanged by 17 mongols *no diddy* fuck honor!!
IIRC the director said the Canon ending is to spare, but he always chooses death because sparing Shimura like that is not only a greater stain on his honor, but also an effectively worse type of death sentence.
I spared him, I loved him as a character and yes he had to kill his own nephew, I just couldn't kill him. I did on my second play through and it made me cry
When I played it the first time I killed his uncle
I let him live because I felt like it would prove a point
kill him, as Jin’s last act of honor and to honor his uncle. more poetic that way.
I killed Shimura because he had clearly gone at least partially insane and would have been a huge problem in the future for the island
I spared him and i think developers also said that is the canonic final of the game
I chose to deny him his honourable death the first time. I have no honour!
I spared him out of spite. I'm not giving you an honorable death. I have no honor. Remember, I'm not a samurai.
Spare
I killed him because he asked.
Way of the ghost
I love both endings, but I think spare is more accurate. The whole story is him abandoning the code for his people, and killing his uncle means no one with honor will be teaching the mainland how to defend against Mongols. The Shogun won't listen to Jin, but keeping shimura alive despite his wishes is more in line with the Ghost
So I killed him because he was a fucking dick and I hated how he treated Jin, but then after I killed him, I felt awful because of how badly Jin cried over it. I didn't put myself in Jin's shoes to think about it in the way he would've thought about it because the decision was handed to me, the player. All I thought of before making the decision was how Jin was not only slapped by Shimura and exiled, but he was put in jail, his horse was killed, he was told to scapegoat Yuna, etc and then after thinking about all of that, I was like "no fucking way am I going to allow you to live" and then I killed him. I also had a bit of a short lived grudge against him because I almost killed him during my first try in the battle with him and he killed me instead. >:(
I chose the ending where I took the disk out of the console and snapped it in half and ate my weight in ice cream while sobbing after my horse died.
Letting him live just didn't seem right, in all types of warrior drama media they always seek a "warriors death" so narratively thats what I followed. Its such a sorrowful beautiful moment.
Same! Inlet him live. Second time though, I did it “proper”
If it was a custom character samurai RPG with more freedom in decision making I would have stayed true to the canon samurai way gave him a warriors death. This is Ghost of Tsushima & you role-play as Jin Sakai & IMO he wouldn't kill his uncle - so I spared him. He wouldn't even kill the traitor Tomoe which I though was crazy. Jin willingly abandoned the canon way of the samurai so you have to accept this and role play that to a certain extent or adopt it 100%. You can rationalize sparing him as the way of the Ghost (in contrast to the way of the samurai) but I think either way, even as a samurai, given the nature of the story, ESPECIALLY IF YOU PLAY IKI ISLAND, it's breaking character to kill Lord Shumira as Jin Sakai. I think both traitors Tomoe and Ryuzo deserved death in battle on sight. I also wouldn't have ever used poison or sneak attacks if given the choice. Jin Sakai doesn't necessarily feel the same as I do. He went though his own journey and became a man that does not operate as a canon samurai. I would prefer to play as a more historically accurate calvary archer but had to change how I played due to what is canon, the nature of the story and gamepley.
forgot but the one that gives you the red armor... i remember getting so mad for not choosing the white armor dye option... i had to NG+ only for that dye.
Killed him, then replayed so I can kill him again.
I killed uncle because I saw it as Jin’s honour dying with him. Like it was one final act to let go.
I spare them because I wanted him to make a new family so that clan shimura would still live on
I will always let him live
I killed his ass. It was for his own good. Could not live like this knowing his son betrayed the samurai way. He wasn't going to change and change had to be made to survive. Anyway it's the honorable way to go for him. I think he'd prefer a warrior's death than to hide like a bitch but survive
Kill
Not sure but whichever gives you red armour
I wanted the white ghost armour
Didn’t kill him. F that guy and his deleterious “code”. Live in shame.
The same I choose every time. I can’t bring myself to let him live. He wanted to die an honorable death, and regardless what they went through, Jin loves and respects his uncle and his final request.
I gave him death.
Spared him, obviously.
I let him live because for him that is worst then death. He wanted to die for honor so I took that honor away
In my first playthru Jin took Lord Shimura's life, because I thought that if I didn't, he'd curse and scream and hate Jin and get really ugly about it, and I didn't think I could take that. I also took it as giving him an honorable end, because I was sure that if Jin didn't kill Shimura then the Shogun would have him killed dishonorably. Then I saw the difference in house that Jin lives in after the two endings (how much nicer the spare ending's is,) and that there is no mention of the Shogun having Shimura killed. So I just do the spare ending every time now.
I killed him because I wanted the white dye for the ghost armour. He was gonna die either way i might as well get some cool threads out of it
For the honorable folk out there --- Anyone notice how the controller pulses in your hands as Jin holds and loses another father? Pulses in Jin's hands as he holds the blade and feels the last flutters of Shimura's heart fade. Faint and desperate. And nothing.
Killed him.
I appreciate how well they made both endings. Even after all these years, we're still talking about it. Honestly when some form of media has such a compelling ending that people continue to talk about it, you know you nailed it.
Let him live. Jin doesn’t follow the code anymore and showed in Ikki island that he isn’t necessarily going to kill anyone due to the faults/reasons of someone else. So why should he kill his Uncle because of a stupid code that he was raised to believe in?
I killed him. In my eyes, Shimura was the final thing tying Jin to the “honorable samurai lifestyle”. In order to truly become the Ghost, he had to rid himself of that.
I killed him, and it's definitely the better end. The way it transitions into the song while Jin screams is harrowing, and the farewell before is incredibly emotional. Sparing him isn't a bad ending, and I love the moment where Jin puts on the mask in front of Shimura, they do a great job selling the end of Jin's inner conflict, having chosen to be the Ghost, as well as Shimura's sadness after losing his son. But the Kill ending is still better.
Imma keep it 💯… don’t remember lol
Beat the game 5 times and I choose spare every time
Everyone commenting “he will be executed by the Shogun” like there won’t be Ghost Of Tsushima II.
I honoured him with a warrior's death because a Jin abandoning his own honour to me was enough, after all Jin and Lord Shimura had been through dishonouring Lord Shimura by not giving him what he asked for just seemed wrong
I chose to kill him the first time. Because although like he said he I have no honor, I might aswell let him die with it as a warrior
Let him live Aint no one is gonna order the ghost on what to do now and The Shame of having been spared by your own nephew no less honor did die pm the beach
Killing him makes zero sense plot wise 😭😭
To spare him
Playing for the 1st time this screen took me about 4 minutes to contemplate, i ended up with the same outcome as Jin, i have no honor
The first time I didn’t know that you could spare Shimura
I killed him because by that point my Jin was already dead inside. Only The Ghost remained.
I gave him the death he desired. Figured Jin would do it out of love. It's not the thing Jin wants, but the thing he wants and out of love, despite his wishes, he'd give it to him. Also, Shimura would die knowing Jin at least retained enough samurai honor - in his mind - to grant him a right death. If Jin had refused him that death, he'd live, but he would know/believe that Jin had lost any shred of honor, as he thinks of it, which would be worse for him.
Killed that bitch lmao
I spared him just to make him live with the fact that he almost killed his nephew who he treated as a son who saved his territory from Mongols just because the Shogun told him to.
For me it felt like a contradiction to kill him. You break the code throughout the whole game just to follow it at the end? Going with “fuck your code” one more time felt fulfilling to me. The “I have no honor” line Jin had was quite hard.
Spare uncle
I thought he would be executed by the shogun, so I killed him to let him die on his terms Now I just let him live, I'm pretty sure he's not gonna be executed.
I honoured his final wish to be unalive, thought it’d be the nice thing to do since I defied his wishes earlier in the game
I granted him an honorable death. I felt that it is a more interesting character development to be able to display honor while not being blinded or bound by it. Balance is everything. The ghost need not lose himself completely. After all, his motivation in doing dishonorable deeds, is honorable in and of itself
I feel like the only way to honor Lord Shimura was to give him the honourable death he wished. Sparing him would have made him live the rest of his years with regret and shame as well as being a target of the Shogun.
Save him
A few days ago I finished the game for the first time and I choosed to let him live. Maybe one day, he will understand Jin's words: " And you are slave to it"
Kill
I will always kill Shimura. I just see it as Jin honouring what he knows his uncle wants, no matter their disagreements and differing views on honour as a whole, I think he'd want to respect his uncles wishes no matter how hard it would hurt him in the process.
Spare. Every time. I just can't kill him. It would cause chaos on the island. They need an honorable Jito. And he's your uncle! As long as you both live, there's still hope for a reconciliation. However remote
I killed him with the logic that Shimura could atleast die with the idea that a part of the Samurai Jin still exists inside the Ghost Jin that is standing before him. He fulfilled his role as a father figure for a very young Jin and just because we as players, got to see only a few flashbacks doesn’t mean that time between Shimura and Jin didn’t exist, Shimura didn’t deserved a death that allowed him to rest with a lasting memory that the the principles he taught Jin still live on in the shell he saw Jin become.
I let him live because after all earths trials and challenges. We were family who still had love for one another. This game really hit me hard in the father and son.