Skeptical about 7/10 review score median and price point

[Hutchyio]

55 minutes ago, Vault-TecPhantom said:

I think people place waaaay too much importance on scores/numbers and don't listen to the actual comments within a review when making purchasing decisions.

From everything that has been said, it sounds like the game is in need of a few performance patches and balance tweaking for those difficulty spikes, BUT it also has that fast-food Ubisoft checklist stuff that scratches my itch when I'm in the mood for it. So I will be waiting for a sale when, hopefully, the aforementioned issues have been ironed out.

 

Never let reviews kill your excitement for a game you're looking forward to. And if you're really on the fence, just wait for a price drop.

 

Agree, always play the game yourself and not let reviewers dictate your enthusiasm or enjoyment for a game. Everyone has different opinions and what a reviewer find bad in a game you might enjoy. All that aside, this game is great and i recommend everyone if you like ghost of tsushima or assassin creed games and if you play on highest difficulty it is even like sekiro. Just my 2 cents! Have a nice day everyone! ✌️ 

[kkulifay]

1 hour ago, Vault-TecPhantom said:

I think people place waaaay too much importance on scores/numbers and don't listen to the actual comments within a review when making purchasing decisions.

From everything that has been said, it sounds like the game is in need of a few performance patches and balance tweaking for those difficulty spikes, BUT it also has that fast-food Ubisoft checklist stuff that scratches my itch when I'm in the mood for it. So I will be waiting for a sale when, hopefully, the aforementioned issues have been ironed out.

 

Never let reviews kill your excitement for a game you're looking forward to. And if you're really on the fence, just wait for a price drop.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  All of it. 

[Sicho]

10 hours ago, ZombiJoel_Tlou3 said:

Days Gone was way better than fucking botw ffs. 

 

😂😂😂😂😂

 

maybe if you are a wanna be edgy 16 year old who things zombies are the shit... but even then, the story was lame, the game buggy, the characters unlikeable, the gameplay janky and the mechanics frustrating.

 

And again, zombies are overdone. They are humans, but slower. That's basically it. In most games, they use zombies simply because there are countries were violence in games against humans isn't allowed. Back in the day, they had to replace the enemies in games with robots for example, to be able to release their game in certain countries. Nowadays, they simply say its zombies and it's alright - its the easy way out. And super unoriginal. I probably have literally hundreds of games in my collection were you fight zombies. In the 00's and 10's, zombies were what aliens where in the 90's... in pretty much every f'ing game.

 

And it's especially boring when it's hordes of zombies - because then, they aren't even creepy but just cannon fodder. It was fun in the first Dead Rising, thanks to the gameplay and the ability to use almost everything as a weapon, but the concept was already boring when the second game came out. That series is also dead now. Resident Evil would probably be dead now if they only used zombies and didn't stray into mutated monsters, werewolves, parasites and big titty vampires.

 

Hell, even the zombie movie genre is dead. And I loved me some splatter zombie film back in the day - but now, it's boring.

6 hours ago, asdfghjkl95 said:

In general, games with narratives should have a foundation in story, characters and themes. None of those is present in Rise of Ronin.

 

 

tell me you haven't played the game without tleling me that you haven't played the game 🙄

Edited March 24 by Sicho

[asdfghjkl95]

there

2 hours ago, Sicho said:

 

😂😂😂😂😂

 

maybe if you are a wanna be edgy 16 year old who things zombies are the shit... but even then, the story was lame, the game buggy, the characters unlikeable, the gameplay janky and the mechanics frustrating.

 

And again, zombies are overdone. They are humans, but slower. That's basically it. In most games, they use zombies simply because there are countries were violence in games against humans isn't allowed. Back in the day, they had to replace the enemies in games with robots for example, to be able to release their game in certain countries. Nowadays, they simply say its zombies and it's alright - its the easy way out. And super unoriginal. I probably have literally hundreds of games in my collection were you fight zombies. In the 00's and 10's, zombies were what aliens where in the 90's... in pretty much every f'ing game.

 

And it's especially boring when it's hordes of zombies - because then, they aren't even creepy but just cannon fodder. It was fun in the first Dead Rising, thanks to the gameplay and the ability to use almost everything as a weapon, but the concept was already boring when the second game came out. That series is also dead now. Resident Evil would probably be dead now if they only used zombies and didn't stray into mutated monsters, werewolves, parasites and big titty vampires.

 

Hell, even the zombie movie genre is dead. And I loved me some splatter zombie film back in the day - but now, it's boring.

 

 

tell me you haven't played the game without tleling me that you haven't played the game 🙄

There is literarily 0 persons that has praised the story, so I don't know what you are arguing against. 

[Mr_Wright95]

I probably am in the minority here but I usually don’t look at any review / gameplay beyond a trailer or (very rarely) the first few minutes of gameplay. 
 

So many of my favourite gaming experiences have come from going in blind. 
 

That approach probably isn’t for everyone, but I feel like limiting what you play to only games that review flawlessly will be fairly “boring” and will also set your threshold for what constitutes a good game far too high. 
 

Personally very keen on this one, I hope it serves me well when I get around to it!! 

[Garamoth]

When I played Nioh in 2017 I said: "That Ki/stamina thing is a great system! They should cut out the monsters, make all the enemies humans with similar stamina bars and put the game in a realistic historical setting where you're a ronin going on adventures and stuff."

 

Hey, I got my wish! Guys, guys, I think I could be a video game designer!

 

And yet...

 

Having played a few hours, the game's fine. The game looks great, the combat is smooth. It's fine, it's just... they leaned a bit too heavily on the cookie cutter open world elements, i.e. it has all the bad quirks of an Assassin's Creed game. You frantically hoover up icons on the map, because getting your % completion is basically what those games are all about. It has a Diablo-esque random loot pinata system, which I absolutely hate. "Oh boy, +0,4% stamina regain upon parry! Good thing I get 3-4 new items every fight!" The combat is fine, but I suuuck at parrying. Besides, your levels seem to actually be doing the fighting for you, at least on normal. You have a mute, player-created protagonist, so there's not much character interaction, which I'm fine with, but the game is stuck in that weird area of being story-heavy but everyone just talks at your character.

 

I'm not sure what I would have preferred. Less filler, certainly. Less Ubistuff. Maybe they should have stolen pages from Way of the Samurai instead. Or Sekiro, or maybe Zelda, something like a realistic Majora's Mask.

 

I'll never get tired of the late Edo period though, such a fascinating era. Samurai with guns! Gunboat diplomacy! Kimonos meet business suits!

 

Funny, I also bought Dragon's Dogma 2 on the same day, and I have a feeling it's probably the better game.

Edited March 24 by Garamoth

[ZombiJoel_Tlou3]

13 hours ago, Sicho said:

 

😂😂😂😂😂

 

maybe if you are a wanna be edgy 16 year old who things zombies are the shit... but even then, the story was lame, the game buggy, the characters unlikeable, the gameplay janky and the mechanics frustrating.

 

And again, zombies are overdone. They are humans, but slower. That's basically it. In most games, they use zombies simply because there are countries were violence in games against humans isn't allowed. Back in the day, they had to replace the enemies in games with robots for example, to be able to release their game in certain countries. Nowadays, they simply say its zombies and it's alright - its the easy way out. And super unoriginal. I probably have literally hundreds of games in my collection were you fight zombies. In the 00's and 10's, zombies were what aliens where in the 90's... in pretty much every f'ing game.

 

And it's especially boring when it's hordes of zombies - because then, they aren't even creepy but just cannon fodder. It was fun in the first Dead Rising, thanks to the gameplay and the ability to use almost everything as a weapon, but the concept was already boring when the second game came out. That series is also dead now. Resident Evil would probably be dead now if they only used zombies and didn't stray into mutated monsters, werewolves, parasites and big titty vampires.

 

Hell, even the zombie movie genre is dead. And I loved me some splatter zombie film back in the day - but now, it's boring.

 

 

tell me you haven't played the game without tleling me that you haven't played the game 🙄

You have to be a 16 year old to like the new not zelda games. Days Gone was way better, mature, way the fuck better story and characters, riding the bike is infinitely more badass and didn't have shit mechanics and way better gameplay than the shitty stamina bar climbing or weapons breaking after 1 hit. The only thing that game added was making Link a crossdresser which is no comment...

No zombies were creepy as hell in days gone and they tear you to fucking pieces if they swallow you. Zombies are cool af now that resident evil brought them back and I don't give a shit about other games using them those were just dumb comic relief games. It's not boring, you are fucking boring go back to your fucking cartoony zelda bullshit. Twilight Princess shits all over nu zelda 

[Hitman_Spinksy1]

18 hours ago, JoaLoft said:

7/10 is a good score.

8/10 is very good.

9/10 is amazing.

 

I fail to see how 7/10 is even average, let alone bad. I'm tired of people not using the full 1-10 scale and interpreting grades correctly. And even then, there's always going to be some subjectivity involved, based on tastes and experience with the final version. Personally, I reviewed Rise of the Ronin and it scored an 8/10 for me, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

And I disagree here in this thread that 6-7/10 is becoming the 4-5/10 rating. Some reviewers may forget how to count or apply the scale properly, but a lot of them including myself know what they're doing. People who think this game is a 4-5/10 haven't played an actual 4-5/10 game.

 

@ElektrickRage If you were looking forward to picking up this game: go ahead, pick it up and enjoy it. There's hardly any innovation present, but it borrows elements from other games and molds them into a fun experience, with a few caveats here and there.

 

That Australian price point does seem to be accurate when you look at the current exchange rate to euros or US dollars. No clue what the average wage of an Australian citizen is though.

You literally say 4-5/10 is an average game and then go back on yourself and imply an actual 4-5/10 game is a pile of garbage lmao

 

Just because it's a 1-10 scale does not mean 5 is in the middle or the average. That's just not how maths works or ever has worked. 5 is the median which is different and if you gathered every rating ever and find the middle point it still wouldn't be 5.

[JoaLoft]

26 minutes ago, Hitman_Spinksy1 said:

You literally say 4-5/10 is an average game and then go back on yourself and imply an actual 4-5/10 game is a pile of garbage lmao

 

Just because it's a 1-10 scale does not mean 5 is in the middle or the average. That's just not how maths works or ever has worked. 5 is the median which is different and if you gathered every rating ever and find the middle point it still wouldn't be 5.

 

Where have I implied that 4/10 or 5/10 is garbage? What I said is that 7/10 is being treated as a game that is subpar, which it isn't. If you came home with a grade of a 7/10, you'd be happy I would surmise. 4/10 is subpar and 5/10 is an average game, not a bad one, "lmao". Hope that wiped the implication off the table and offered you the clarity you so eagerly desired.

 

And yes, it does: if 1 and 10 are the extreme ends of a scale, you'd expect 1/10 to be the absolute worst and 10/10 to be the absolute best. A 5 hovers around the halfway mark. That's also why people jokingly rate something an 11/10 when they abudantly love it, but why you'll never see it in a serious review or analysis piece.

 

I can't believe I needed to do this, but I actually went and looked up the definition of "average" in the Oxford dictionary for you: "a number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data, in particular the mode, median, or (most commonly) the mean, which is calculated by dividing the sum of the values in the set by their number." So I'm afraid the English language disagrees with you on everything you just said.

 

You know what? Everyone here can argue all they want about review scores and the subjective dimension of them. Reviews are there to help guide people in the right direction. But honestly? If you've really been looking forward to that game, and you really want to play it: fuck the reviews and go play whatever game it is you want to play.

[EcoShifter]

On 3/23/2024 at 4:52 PM, Sicho said:

lo played it looooong after release when it was in that PS4 games for the launch of the PS5 PS Plus Bundle thingy and I had people flying through the air and other issues, even have a clip or two of that happening on my YT channel.

 

... Your whole comment is so disingenuous

 

All games have bugs and glitches no matter how polished they are or how big their budget is. This should be beyond common knowledge in 2024. Just to stress this point further, TLOU and TLOUII have had a ton of them from launch to present day (I have my own little collection of videos too like yourself), including characters/bodies flying through the air be it in SP or especially MP. And I'm speaking about universally common issues, not rare ones incredibly hard to come across.

On 3/23/2024 at 4:52 PM, Sicho said:

Also, when Days Gone came out, the world already played stuff like Breath of the Wild or Horizon for two years. It can't compete with that kind of excellence,

 

Pretty extreme to be comparing Days Gone to not one of the highest but one of the TOP-rated games in history, which btw Horizon Zero Dawn can't compete with itself (at least these two games are actually similar and launched the same year for this comparison to make some sense). Okay, so it's important to first start with the foundation that both HZD and DG are high quality games, period. And then that DG is at least onpar with HZD overall. From there however, it's much transparent that DG is also a better zombie-esque game than HZD is an RPG one. Let's go even further beyond... DG is much higher up on the hierarchy in its genre than HZD is its. You haven't gotten to even the half-way point of the former, so you can't exactly disagree. Since you love comparisons so much, we should bring up comparable RPGs like The Witcher 3 and Monster Hunter alongside TLoZ:BoTW and see how that all goes for HZD.

 

On 3/23/2024 at 4:52 PM, Sicho said:

(especially with a cookie cutter zombie apocalypse setting. Having big amounts of zombies that you can brutally kill already got old after the release of Dead Rising 2 in 2010.

 

Now you're lowballing the setting and magnificently missed its point. The world was purposely created as a very grounded simulation of how Oregon (the developers' residence) could look during an early-post-apocalypse (not PPA like TLOU, Mad Max, and HZD), and one main reason "zombies" were chosen is because when development started there was popular zombie movies like World War Z that just came out and the super popular TV show The Walking Dead existed which back then was still early in its life-cycle. Next thing. DG notably has one of the better openworld designs, one of the best weather systems, etc. You said you played for "6 or 10hrs"; this is more than enough time to at least grasp what makes the hordes in DG unique over "other" zombie titles like Dead Rising. Can you show me where hordes of several hundred zombies in DR chase you over long distances? And where they have their own ecological system which a player can witness and interact with? (I already know the answers.)

 

Also, I must be that guy- They're not zombies. 

Edited April 8 by EcoShifter
format style.

[Hitman_Spinksy1]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:00 AM, JoaLoft said:

 

Where have I implied that 4/10 or 5/10 is garbage? What I said is that 7/10 is being treated as a game that is subpar, which it isn't. If you came home with a grade of a 7/10, you'd be happy I would surmise. 4/10 is subpar and 5/10 is an average game, not a bad one, "lmao". Hope that wiped the implication off the table and offered you the clarity you so eagerly desired.

 

And yes, it does: if 1 and 10 are the extreme ends of a scale, you'd expect 1/10 to be the absolute worst and 10/10 to be the absolute best. A 5 hovers around the halfway mark. That's also why people jokingly rate something an 11/10 when they abudantly love it, but why you'll never see it in a serious review or analysis piece.

 

I can't believe I needed to do this, but I actually went and looked up the definition of "average" in the Oxford dictionary for you: "a number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data, in particular the mode, median, or (most commonly) the mean, which is calculated by dividing the sum of the values in the set by their number." So I'm afraid the English language disagrees with you on everything you just said.

 

You know what? Everyone here can argue all they want about review scores and the subjective dimension of them. Reviews are there to help guide people in the right direction. But honestly? If you've really been looking forward to that game, and you really want to play it: fuck the reviews and go play whatever game it is you want to play.

The difference here with you getting a grade 7/10 is you're not comparing it to anyone else. Games get compared to all the time. If every game had a 9/10 and then one game had a 7/10 would that still be a good game or the worst game ever made? That's basically how it is. The majority of games good enough to get reviewed end up on the high end so when a game does end up lower then it's considered not as good. Anthem has a 6.5 but I've never heard anything good said about the game and there are some real stinkers out there but I've never seen a 1/10 rating.

 

I do agree though, fuck the ratings and play what you want because at the end of the day, one person may hate it whilst the next loves it. 

Edited April 12 by Hitman_Spinksy1

[Sicho]

On 3/25/2024 at 1:41 AM, EcoShifter said:

 

... 

 

nothing you said matters when the game bores you to death and the characters are more unlikable then Cal in Star Wars: Fallen Order, which really says something since has the most punchable face ever. I didn't like it and many other people did not as well. It sold well but that doesn't mean it's great stuff - K-POP albums also sell well, that doesn't mean it's great music.

Also, for my taste, the game was too American and too "angry white bro-dude redneck" 'ish. The whole biker vibe, as I said before, was cringe (for me) and screamed "trying to hard to be edgy and tough". I know bikers IRL but the characters in the game came across more like "posers" to me. It didn't gel.

 

I take a Zelda or Rise of the Ronin or even the latest Saint's Row over Days Gone any day.

 

Also, having "zombies" and then calling them something else so that they aren't "really" zombies anymore is cringe as well. The only game that IMO can get away with that is The Last of Us because the creatures there aren't really zombies in the classical, voodoo "undead" kind of way but corpses controlled by a funghi - which is a real life thing that exists btw. But everytime a game has zombies, made by a virus or some corporation or whatever else, but then decides to call them Freakers or Walkers or Roamers or Infected or whatever.... I just cringe.

Edited March 26 by Sicho

[Sicho]

On 3/24/2024 at 8:47 PM, Garamoth said:

When I played Nioh in 2017 I said: "That Ki/stamina thing is a great system! They should cut out the monsters, make all the enemies humans with similar stamina bars and put the game in a realistic historical setting where you're a ronin going on adventures and stuff."

 

Hey, I got my wish! Guys, guys, I think I could be a video game designer!

 

And yet...

 

Having played a few hours, the game's fine. The game looks great, the combat is smooth. It's fine, it's just... they leaned a bit too heavily on the cookie cutter open world elements, i.e. it has all the bad quirks of an Assassin's Creed game. You frantically hoover up icons on the map, because getting your % completion is basically what those games are all about. It has a Diablo-esque random loot pinata system, which I absolutely hate. "Oh boy, +0,4% stamina regain upon parry! Good thing I get 3-4 new items every fight!" The combat is fine, but I suuuck at parrying. Besides, your levels seem to actually be doing the fighting for you, at least on normal. You have a mute, player-created protagonist, so there's not much character interaction, which I'm fine with, but the game is stuck in that weird area of being story-heavy but everyone just talks at your character.

 

I'm not sure what I would have preferred. Less filler, certainly. Less Ubistuff. Maybe they should have stolen pages from Way of the Samurai instead. Or Sekiro, or maybe Zelda, something like a realistic Majora's Mask.

 

I'll never get tired of the late Edo period though, such a fascinating era. Samurai with guns! Gunboat diplomacy! Kimonos meet business suits!

 

Funny, I also bought Dragon's Dogma 2 on the same day, and I have a feeling it's probably the better game.

 

I don't agree to all of what you said. I think RotR is one of those rare open-world "collectathons" that really seems to respect the players time - a feeling I don't have with most Ubisoft outings. Especially conveniences like Auto-Loot, endless stamina while out of combat, lots of fast travel and really, really fast loading times make it a breeze to play IMO. Also, there is lot's to do but the map isn't filled to the brim with icons like the Ubisoft games. I think each region so far stays positively clear and manageable and also, all the stuff you can collect and do gives you a feeling of progressing and not like wasting your time just to get a counter up. You always get lots of rewards, you level up bonds and open up new activities and quests by collecting cats or killing fugitives etc. In my opinion, it's one of the most enjoyable open world collecting experiences in a long time.

And the combat is sublime  It's Sekiro and Nioh turned into one tight, fun package! I really like it.
The loot system is straight out of Nioh btw, but made a bit more streamlined and casual. If you liked Nioh, I cannot see how the loot system in Ronin is suddenly a bad thing.

 

But I also can see how it's probably not for everyone. My guess would be that especially people coming from the simple combat of an AssCreed game will have a harder time with Ronin - or people like you who dislike parrying. It's easier/more casual than Nioh or Sekiro, but much harder than an AssCreed or Tsushima. But I personally like it a lot. But I must say that I had a hard time getting used to the button config, as it is just weird... picking up stuff with R1? Unmounting the horse with L3? What's going on with that?  

 

BTW the character isn't mute. It's true that the character doesn't talk in most dialogues etc. but there are some cutscenes where they actually have voice lines.

 

Also, there is a lot of Zelda in there. The obligatory glider every open world game has since BOTW is there, the horse-archery minigame is straight outta Ocarina of Time - as is having those minigames in the first place. The grapple hook is also a Zelda staple, although this is probably closer to the one used in Sekiro, as traversal feels a lot like it did there.

 

DD2 is great btw but Ronin is also super good IMO.

 

 

[Bunkerbudy]

26 minutes ago, Sicho said:

And the combat is sublime  It's Sekiro and Nioh turned into one tight, fun package! I really like it.
The loot system is straight out of Nioh btw, but made a bit more streamlined and casual. If you liked Nioh, I cannot see how the loot system in Ronin is suddenly a bad thing.

 

But I also can see how it's probably not for everyone. My guess would be that especially people coming from the simple combat of an AssCreed game will have a harder time with Ronin - or people like you who dislike parrying. It's easier/more casual than Nioh or Sekiro, but much harder than an AssCreed or Tsushima. But I personally like it a lot. But I must say that I had a hard time getting used to the button config, as it is just weird... picking up stuff with R1? Unmounting the horse with L3? What's going on with that?

It's weird because I think its the other way around, comming from WoLong, Nioh and Sekiro I think this games feels out of place. It's a big downgrade and Ronin reminds me a lot of why I stopped playing AC games... bloated open world games with lots to do but nothing is really rewarding and the game feels like it needed an extra year to really be done. I'm not saying Ronin is a bad game, but more that the 7/10 is a right score and there is a reason why games like Sekiro are 9/10.

 

26 minutes ago, Sicho said:

You always get lots of rewards, you level up bonds and open up new activities and quests by collecting cats or killing fugitives etc. In my opinion, it's one of the most enjoyable open world collecting experiences in a long time.

I think you might like the AssCreed games more than you think you do 😅

Edited March 26 by Bunkerbudy

[Sicho]

1 hour ago, Bunkerbudy said:

I think you might like the AssCreed games more than you think you do 😅

 

nah. If I collected something in AC, it was only because there was a trophy tied to it.

In Ronin, however, while there is a trophy collecting 100 cats, it also has a real, tangible benefit in the game. After a while you unlock the cat concierge activity and then you can loan out cats for money and items. Also, collecting cats gives bond points toward the cat geisha lady, leading to romancing her, if you wish to do so. As I said, everything has a system behind it that leads to rewards and new features. That is not so much the case in the AC games.

For me, there is a motivation behind finding the stuff that is more than just seeing 100% on a counter or getting a trophy. That's plus the fact that it really, in my opinion, isn't  bloated like the AC games are, makes this simply much more fun for me.

I mean look at this screenshot of how spaced out the icons are and how few there are...

 

... compared to a typical AC screenshot ...

 

... and I guess it's quite clear that Ronin has a "less is more" approach

 

 

[doerbenn]

Ive been Playing RotR for quite some time now and i think a 7/10 is completely fair. It definitely shows who Developed the Game if you are familiar with Nioh 1/2.

- The Game looks good, neither amazing or Bad.

- Combat can be very satisfying, especially Parrying a 4/5 hit combo but can also be a bit overwhelming when an enemy Bombards you with those "Harder to Parry" Red Aura attacks. IMO its a good Combat system

- Region Levels are somewhat Confusing, having a higher Level "District" of the City be surrounded by low level "Districts" (just my two cents)

- Not a big Fan of the whole Map/Region Checklist which is relatively Small in comparison to other games and rewards you with Items/Region and or Character Bond points which is pretty Neat.

- U can see Ronins of other Players roaming the streets who can be attacked to get Loot and Weapon affinity of the Weapon Type they were using.

- No MTX 

Cant say much about the Story since im not that far into the Game Might be good/Might be Mediocre

And if Streams/Videos cant get you to decide, just wait a bit and im sure the game will be on sale relatively soon.

 

 

 

[asdfghjkl95]

2 hours ago, Sicho said:

 

I don't agree to all of what you said. I think RotR is one of those rare open-world "collectathons" that really seems to respect the players time - a feeling I don't have with most Ubisoft outings. Especially conveniences like Auto-Loot, endless stamina while out of combat, lots of fast travel and really, really fast loading times make it a breeze to play IMO. Also, there is lot's to do but the map isn't filled to the brim with icons like the Ubisoft games. I think each region so far stays positively clear and manageable and also, all the stuff you can collect and do gives you a feeling of progressing and not like wasting your time just to get a counter up. You always get lots of rewards, you level up bonds and open up new activities and quests by collecting cats or killing fugitives etc. In my opinion, it's one of the most enjoyable open world collecting experiences in a long time.

And the combat is sublime  It's Sekiro and Nioh turned into one tight, fun package! I really like it.
The loot system is straight out of Nioh btw, but made a bit more streamlined and casual. If you liked Nioh, I cannot see how the loot system in Ronin is suddenly a bad thing.

 

But I also can see how it's probably not for everyone. My guess would be that especially people coming from the simple combat of an AssCreed game will have a harder time with Ronin - or people like you who dislike parrying. It's easier/more casual than Nioh or Sekiro, but much harder than an AssCreed or Tsushima. But I personally like it a lot. But I must say that I had a hard time getting used to the button config, as it is just weird... picking up stuff with R1? Unmounting the horse with L3? What's going on with that?  

 

BTW the character isn't mute. It's true that the character doesn't talk in most dialogues etc. but there are some cutscenes where they actually have voice lines.

 

Also, there is a lot of Zelda in there. The obligatory glider every open world game has since BOTW is there, the horse-archery minigame is straight outta Ocarina of Time - as is having those minigames in the first place. The grapple hook is also a Zelda staple, although this is probably closer to the one used in Sekiro, as traversal feels a lot like it did there.

 

DD2 is great btw but Ronin is also super good IMO.

 

 

AssCreed, lol. I don't know why I never thought about it. I usually just called it ShitCreed, but this is my go to nickname for it in future. Though i fail too see much difference between the two games, with RotR just having less bloated ubishit activities to engage in compared to AssCreed. 

[BENJAM1N_LINUS]

1 hour ago, Sicho said:

 

nah. If I collected something in AC, it was only because there was a trophy tied to it.

In Ronin, however, while there is a trophy collecting 100 cats, it also has a real, tangible benefit in the game. After a while you unlock the cat concierge activity and then you can loan out cats for money and items. Also, collecting cats gives bond points toward the cat geisha lady, leading to romancing her, if you wish to do so. As I said, everything has a system behind it that leads to rewards and new features. That is not so much the case in the AC games.

For me, there is a motivation behind finding the stuff that is more than just seeing 100% on a counter or getting a trophy. That's plus the fact that it really, in my opinion, isn't  bloated like the AC games are, makes this simply much more fun for me.

I mean look at this screenshot of how spaced out the icons are and how few there are...

 

... compared to a typical AC screenshot ...

 

... and I guess it's quite clear that Ronin has a "less is more" approach

 

 

Less is more is absolutely right. Ronin's open world is possibly one of the best I've experienced.

 

It probably doesn't hurt that I'm playing it right after FF Rebirth which, while it is a fantastic game overall, has what I found to be an annoying and tiresome open world due to various mechanics that slow you down and roadblock you.

 

In Ronin (so far at least) nothing in the open world feels like a chore to do, or more importantly, a chore to get to. It feels almost overlooked how good simply getting around feels. Tons of little things that add up to great convenience- the map isn't overstuffed, fast travel is quick and you're always close to where you want to go, aside from a few exceptions it's not a hassle to complete/reach any "checkmark item" you are going to, just running is fast and fluid (and unlimited) to the point that the horse or gliding feels like a bonus instead of a necessity.

The only traversal misstep imo, is that the glider is attached to your stamina bar, and instead should be unlimited like sprint is, but again that ends up not mattering really due to all the convenience already mentioned.

 

Add on top of that really fun combat and I am finding this game to be really great. It's weakness appears to be a light story, but I acclimated to the fact that it was going to be secondary to the "game" quickly and so my expectations in that regard were appropriately set.

[Sicho]

9 minutes ago, BENJAM1N_LINUS said:

Less is more is absolutely right. Ronin's open world is possibly one of the best I've experienced.

 

It probably doesn't hurt that I'm playing it right after FF Rebirth which, while it is a fantastic game overall, has what I found to be an annoying and tiresome open world due to various mechanics that slow you down and roadblock you.

 

In Ronin (so far at least) nothing in the open world feels like a chore to do, or more importantly, a chore to get to. It feels almost overlooked how good simply getting around feels. Tons of little things that add up to great convenience- the map isn't overstuffed, fast travel is quick and you're always close to where you want to go, aside from a few exceptions it's not a hassle to complete/reach any "checkmark item" you are going to, just running is fast and fluid (and unlimited) to the point that the horse or gliding feels like a bonus instead of a necessity.

The only traversal misstep imo, is that the glider is attached to your stamina bar, and instead should be unlimited like sprint is, but again that ends up not mattering really due to all the convenience already mentioned.

 

Add on top of that really fun combat and I am finding this game to be really great. It's weakness appears to be a light story, but I acclimated to the fact that it was going to be secondary to the "game" quickly and so my expectations in that regard were appropriately set.

 

 

this and I need to repeat myself but: those loading times!! Soooo good! AC Valhalla even on a PS5 takes ages to load just into the main menu, it takes ages to load the inventory or when you fast travel to load the map. Ronin's loading times, if there are any at all, are so fast, it's wonderful! It just makes the whole experience even better.

I like the world and "chores" more than those in Ghost of Tsushima for example. But GoT had slightly better graphics somehow, despite being a last gen game.

 

EDIT: but I don't agree with "light story". I love the general premise and there are many characters that you get to know and bond with. Also, the game has decisions and different ending paths, which is more than any AssCreed had storywise

Edited March 26 by Sicho

[BENJAM1N_LINUS]

6 minutes ago, Sicho said:

 

 

this and I need to repeat myself but: those loading times!! Soooo good! AC Valhalla even on a PS5 takes ages to load just into the main menu, it takes ages to load the inventory or when you fast travel to load the map. Ronin's loading times, if there are any at all, are so fast, it's wonderful! It just makes the whole experience even better.

I like the world and "chores" more than those in Ghost of Tsushima for example. But GoT had slightly better graphics somehow, despite being a last gen game.

 

EDIT: but I don't agree with "light story". I love the general premise and there are many characters that you get to know and bond with. Also, the game has decisions and different ending paths, which is more than any AssCreed had storywise

I think the story is light so far for where I am at, but I am also pretty early on in it (I've really only gotten to the point where

fight your twin for the first time

), since I've actually been spending the majority of my time 100% each zone since that's been so enjoyable. I could see it getting more involved for sure and do see the potential with the bonding and factions.

[LilJayR4-]

If youre still deciding, im having a blast. Feels more sekiro and a bit of assassin creed to me

[jasonhendricks88]

Personally, I'm having a blast. It scratches both the Nioh/Sekiro itch and the Ghost of Tsushima itch. If I had to grade it on a scale, I'd say 8.5 out of 10. I hope we get DLC, and I hope this IP takes off for Team Ninja. I'd love to see more games like this in multiple eras of Japanese history.

[vsvpl1501]

The game is really fun. The only thing I still can't get used to after 20 hours is the controls. (but that's down to my age)
Anyone who liked Ghost of Tshushima will also have fun with Rise of the Ronin. The characters and the story are very well told so far. A clear recommendation to buy!

[Remilia Scarlet]

Are we really at the point where people are putting off buying a game because it scored a fucking 7 out of 10?

[Bunkerbudy]

6 hours ago, Remilia Scarlet said:

Are we really at the point where people are putting off buying a game because it scored a fucking 7 out of 10?

I don't see anything wrong with that...

 

Not everybody buys/plays 10+ games a year, so if you are somebody wo does not buy a lot of games or has a big backlog, i'ts not that weird to prefer playing a well know and praised '9/10' game. At least it makes more sense than not playing a game because you dont like the trophy list 😛