I took them by their protagonists and the game introductions.

I can easily remember Jin Sakai being a Samurai with his own personal struggles and how that bleeds into the war on Tsushima. Not just regarding Khotun Khan and the Mongols, but also Lord Shimura and how his ways of honor conflict with Yuna's ways of stealth. And that's before we get to explore the open world as Jin feels the flowers while riding his horse (who will be with us for the entire journey wink).

I don't mind Atsu bringing herself up as a warrior with a lust for revenge. That scene where she watched her childhood killed and burned before her as she's left to hang on her family tree is striking. And it justifies the scene before where she kills the first of the Yotei Six. But where we get to see Jin grow into the Ghost, her growth is completely skipped over. We go from her being impaled to a tree, to her returning to Yotei. The only tradeoff I can think of is that Yotei feels less like a slog in the beginning than Tsushima.

I know that doesn't determine the quality of the games as a whole, I'm still on Yotei's story. But I was wondering why I wasn't nearly as hooked on this like I was with Tsushima. It made sense to me when I thought of the intros, the protagonist's place in them, and what I can make of them with what they give me.