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[tommib]

So, something that took me out of Nioh was the enemies(besides the humans), is this game more grounded and does it stay that way? Idk why I don't particularly like the demons in Nioh. I'm absorbed by DD2 but I am interested in this. Are most enemies human?

Completely grounded. Most of the characters you meet (dozens and dozens and dozens) are historical figures. Pretty faithful to the period. There’s a couple of ghost stories but that’s it. All enemies are humans, apart from a couple of forest animals.

 

[tommib]

.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Work has gotten pretty busy so I've haven't gotten to play much lately.

Just barely making my way into the second act, and they ramped up the difficulty HARD with a dual boss fight. Probably the first time I actually had to really use the character switching mechanic just to keep the relentless pressure manageable and take turns aggro'ing the enemy.

Damn, was not expecting that difficulty spike. I actually had a bunch of fun just throwing myself into the fight over and over - probably took 15 or more tries lol

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Finally getting to explore Edo. Man, I don't know how you can't be immediately impressed by the scale of city and what Team Ninja was able to accomplish here. Fuck the graphics snobs, this takes my breath away:

 

[SJRB]

Finally getting to explore Edo. Man, I don't know how you can't be immediately impressed by the scale of city and what Team Ninja was able to accomplish here. Fuck the graphics snobs, this takes my breath away:

Yeah Edo's size is pretty amazing, with a lot of nice landmarks. Graphics are rough, especially in the city, but the atmosphere is really, really well done.

And I love the combat in this game, it's very challenging but not to the extreme that you have to be on edge for every random encounter.

Edo has a dojo where you can practice combat, which is so bizarre after 40 hours. Should've been one of the first things you find when you play the game, not something you unlock after 40 hours.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Yeah Edo's size is pretty amazing, with a lot of nice landmarks. Graphics are rough, especially in the city, but the atmosphere is really, really well done.

Yeah, I notice the blemishes in graphical presentation. I've always been a proponent of art direction > graphics, so this game is delivering in all the ways that count for me. The eventual PC port is gonna be glorious; there will be so many ways to clean up the image via mods

And I love the combat in this game, it's very challenging but not to the extreme that you have to be on edge for every random encounter.

I've been sleeping on using the character switching mechanic because I just enjoy my protagonist so much. I finally realize how handy it is since you can take turns aggro'ing enemies. Otherwise you get ganged up on pretty fast.

I'm also having to pay attention to stance weaknesses/advantages with the dual boss fights, too. It was naive of me to think I could just use the Shinobi stance all the way through the game

Edo has a dojo where you can practice combat, which is so bizarre after 40 hours. Should've been one of the first things you find when you play the game, not something you unlock after 40 hours.

There's a dojo in Yokohama, too. It's one of the first encounters with Genzui.

 

[tommib]

Getting close to the end. And I already miss it:

 

[benzy]

 

[Elios83]

I've finished FF7 Rebirth and I've been playing this for a week, I'm in chapter 2.

Game is fantastic.
The combat system is not only fun but simply addictive. The parry system is as satisfying as in Sekiro but without the frustration of an overly difficult game. Played at normal it's really the perfect balance of difficulty, you will die but you'll never frustrate over it.
The combat is so good that you basically can't wait to find new enemies on the map to practice your skills.

Graphics wise the game is very From Software-ish, technically the engine has its limits but the fantastic art direction and the fantastic lighting system of the day/night cycle can create super impressive landscapes and scenarios.
Compared to what their engine could do in Nioh games this is a major step up.

The story and the characters are all really interesting, everything is well explained and detailed and I'm enjoying the story more than the plot in Ghost of Tsushima.
Open world is pretty traditional in terms of activities proposed, but it doesn't feel boring because every activity is made fun by the combat system.

So if you like Nioh games and Ghost of Tsushima and even Sekiro you should definetly play this game, it's great and reviews definetly undersold it because the hype was not there.

 

[Skifi28]

The only reason I didn't buy this yet is I'm juggling like 5 50+ hour games at the same time (and also lacking the space to even install it), but every time I see any comment about Ronin is how good the combat is and I get hyped, especially with some of the videos. Really goes to show that reviewers often live in a parallel universe where they played a different game.

 

[Elios83]

Some pics I've taken (performance mode):

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Nicely done. I really need to invest more time playing with Gikei-ryu. Personally, I've been playing with Aisu Kage-ryu as my main style with a bit of Hayabusa-ryu mixed in for when I need to be more conservative with stamina.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Got the platinum today. Overall a good game, 7 or 7.5 for me. Love the atmosphere and combat. I never had a single issue with the graphics or performance.

Some things that could have made the game mo betta:

Better, more concise story
Better loot system. You get literally thousands of junk items
Less repetitive side content
Some of those bad ass cinematic or stun locking moves NPC's can do, why can the player character not do any?

 

[tommib]

I take it back. I thought the game was ending but there’s like another 1/3 left! This ride never ends and I’m so here for it. One of the most pleasant games I’ve played in the last few years. Adorable stuff:

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Got the platinum today. Overall a good game, 7 or 7.5 for me. Love the atmosphere and combat. I never had a single issue with the graphics or performance.

Some things that could have made the game mo betta:

Better, more concise story
Better loot system. You get literally thousands of junk items
Less repetitive side content
Some of those bad ass cinematic or stun locking moves NPC's can do, why can the player character not do any?

I have 1-2 missions left. I would personally rate it much higher but I don't disagree with much of the criticisms. The story does get overcomplicated with too many characters to keep track of. Even though everybody is written in a very tongue in cheek enjoyable way.

The "cats" and the "camera missions" are the only pieces of side content that I thought were "busy work". Clearing the outposts never got old. And the "bond missions", especially later in the game, are some of the best quests in the game

When it comes to combat, it is one of the best open world combat systems to date. Is it Nioh 1/2 good, no. But Team Ninja had to be more creative with enemy variety, dealing with only humans. Which sometimes meant giving them bullshit movesets. My bigger annoyance was the hyper-armor that all enemies had. It can be really difficult to pull off a string of combos, especially on the higher difficulty levels. Having said that, ROTR has great enemy variety, which was one of my biggest concerns going in. They constantly throw new shit at the player to keep things from ever feeling stale. And the parry system is my favorite use of it in any game. Feels so damn good

Also, I thought the level design of the maps were incredible. Most open world games with historical backdrops or in a "fantasy" setting are like 90% rural vs 10% urban. ROTR is about 50/50, with an incredible amount of detail poured into the geography of each city. Even the NPC animations are really impressive, making it really seem like they are going about their daily lives. Sucks that performance and egregious pop-in can derail this otherwise fantastic and unique part of the game

 

[GymWolf]

2 questions:

Does the combat feels precisely like nioh? (Weight, speed, feeling etc.)

Does the game has an actual challenge on max difficulty? Or it is yet another open world where you smash everything after 20 hours out of 50-100?

 

[rhodesianshepard]

2 questions:

Does the combat feels precisely like nioh? (Weight, speed, feeling etc.)

Does the game has an actual challenge on max difficulty? Or it is yet another open world where you smash everything after 20 hours out of 50-100?

The characters movement and movesets are similar to the Nioh games but it plays quite differently. ROTR emphasizes the parry mechanic much more, especially on its hardest difficulty levels. So you are constantly trying to stagger enemies by parrying them, which then opens up a 2-3 second window to retaliate

When it comes to difficulty, I found that if you do everything on the map you can be quite overleveled about midway through. This can make the more common enemies easier, but the difficulty spikes are still there with a handful of bosses that make you want to punch through a wall. The game gives you "allies" to fight with(if you choose), but in my experience, it is a mixed bag whether that makes the game easier or harder. The health pool, damage dealt, and aggressiveness of enemies is massively increased when you have allies fighting alongside you, and I found some fights easier and some fights harder depending on the boss. I tried to just solo everything for the most part, except for duel boss fights. Overall, it is tough game, but not as tough as the Nioh Games, especially if you do all of the side content

FYI, played on the hardest difficulty(twilight)

 

[Toots]

Anyone looking for his Way of the Samurai fix should try this game.
There's a lot of flaws and jank, but all in all it is a love letter to Japanese culture, history, and "over the topness" (as in the Way of the Samurai series).

 

[kurisu_1974]

Was on the fence because of my huge backlog and not really loving Nioh but then I saw there were cats to pick up and pet so my copy is coming in tomorrow.

 

[Hypereides]

Anyone looking for his Way of the Samurai fix should try this game.
There's a lot of flaws and jank, but all in all it is a love letter to Japanese culture, history, and "over the topness" (as in the Way of the Samurai series).

Great to read someone making this comparison.

A bit off-topic; vice versa, people ought to give the Way of the samurai series a chance.

 

[Toots]

Damn that was brutal. If there is more shit like that in the game I'm definitely on board. I've been playing Nioh 2 for a week or so and having a lot of fun, hopefully Ronin comes to PC sooner than later.

Wait till you see the Iai style stance critical hits
This game is every chambara aficionado wet dream

Great to read someone making this comparison.

A bit off-topic; vice versa, people ought to give the Way of the samurai series a chance.

I don't know why my 16 year old self decided to get way of the samurai in the bargain bin of the vg store , but it was one of the most sound decision i ever took in my life

 

[SJRB]

So what's the deal with the Shinobi stance? It's negative against all other stances, but the parry is more powerful or something?

The description is a bit cryptic.

 

[Toots]

So what's the deal with the Shinobi stance? It's negative against all other stances, but the parry is more powerful or something?

The description is a bit cryptic.

I might be wrong but i think negative or positive stance gives you an edge for parrying. If you're positive you'll have a larger time window for parrying than if you're negative.
Shinobi stance being always negative makes it harder to parry. It might be a way to balance stances so one isn't too overpowered (except Iai of cours, which is matchless under both Heavens and Earth)

 

[GymWolf]

The characters movement and movesets are similar to the Nioh games but it plays quite differently. ROTR emphasizes the parry mechanic much more, especially on its hardest difficulty levels. So you are constantly trying to stagger enemies by parrying them, which then opens up a 2-3 second window to retaliate

When it comes to difficulty, I found that if you do everything on the map you can be quite overleveled about midway through. This can make the more common enemies easier, but the difficulty spikes are still there with a handful of bosses that make you want to punch through a wall. The game gives you "allies" to fight with(if you choose), but in my experience, it is a mixed bag whether that makes the game easier or harder. The health pool, damage dealt, and aggressiveness of enemies is massively increased when you have allies fighting alongside you, and I found some fights easier and some fights harder depending on the boss. I tried to just solo everything for the most part, except for duel boss fights. Overall, it is tough game, but not as tough as the Nioh Games, especially if you do all of the side content

FYI, played on the hardest difficulty(twilight)

Can i still play with an evade everything style or i'm forced to parry a lot to have success? (Like i can evade but i need to parry to break the guard or some shit because if don't i can't deal damage type of deal)
Does the evade feels worthless\off like in stellar blade demo?
I don't particularly like parry based games.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Can i still play with an evade everything style or i'm forced to parry a lot to have success? (Like i can evade but i need to parry to break the guard or some shit because if don't i can't deal damage type of deal)
Does the evade feels worthless\off like in stellar blade demo?
I don't particularly like parry based games.

On the hardest difficulty, it's pretty worthless. You don't deal a lot of damage otherwise. The game wants you to parry. You are going to have a bad time imo if you don't use it as your main strategy. It's not like Nioh where there are all kinds of different builds

Haven't played Stellar Blade demo yet, so idk

 

[GymWolf]

On the hardest difficulty, it's pretty worthless. You don't deal a lot of damage otherwise. The game wants you to parry. You are going to have a bad time imo if you don't use it as your main strategy. It's not like Nioh where there are all kinds of different builds

Haven't played Stellar Blade demo yet, so idk

Thanks, well the game doesn't seems for me, maybe i'm gonna try it when it comes out on pc at a way lower price.

Too bad there isn't a demo.

 

[Arsic]

Can i still play with an evade everything style or i'm forced to parry a lot to have success? (Like i can evade but i need to parry to break the guard or some shit because if don't i can't deal damage type of deal)
Does the evade feels worthless\off like in stellar blade demo?
I don't particularly like parry based games.

Put it on easy mode, over level with gear, and evade away.

 

[GymWolf]

Put it on easy mode, over level with gear, and evade away.

I didn't say that i hate hard games, just parry based games, not having a challenge is not an answer to my problem.

 

[Arsic]

I didn't say that i hate hard games, just parry based games, not having a challenge is not an answer to my problem.

*shrug* I find the parry timing here super easy to hit unlike Souls. I have used a combination of parry and dodge plus spacing to fight on the hardest difficulty.

It feels similar to ninja gaiden games on the hardest difficulty but you can plow through that once you have good gear. The game isn’t very challenge the higher you get.

Which is why I mentioned you can dodge a lot to succeed because the game allows you to overcome it by over gearing.

 

[GymWolf]

*shrug* I find the parry timing here super easy to hit unlike Souls. I have used a combination of parry and dodge plus spacing to fight on the hardest difficulty.

It feels similar to ninja gaiden games on the hardest difficulty but you can plow through that once you have good gear. The game isn’t very challenge the higher you get.

Which is why I mentioned you can dodge a lot to succeed because the game allows you to overcome it by over gearing.

Is the parry window larger than lies of p?

 

[Elios83]

I'm having a blast taking pictures, I remember during the Onimusha 2 days dreaming about reaching these landscapes in real time and here we are:

 

[Arsic]

Is the parry window larger than lies of p?

Absolutely

 

[tommib]

 

[Kamina]

That game man
I finished the main story the other day, after 80+ hours, and it offers a replay mode, with harder difficulty similar to NioH.
My new passion is character creation.
I‘ve made a good Princess Zelda and Cloud Strife.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Man I do love methodically sneaking through an enemy stronghold, so satisfying:



I'm about 30 hours in, completed every sidequest and 100% each region in Yokohama. Did the first handful of missions in Edo and God damn at some of the story beats...here is the truth about this game: it's low-key one of the PS5's best exclusives. If Ronin had the same level of technical/visual polish of GoT it would have been heralded as an instant classic, seems lots of reviewers got caught up on the bullshit.

I will reiterate what I said in a previous post that the jank is absolutely present and accounted for. I'll even take it step further and say that at times it *does* look like a PS3 game, I'm always going to keep it real no matter what, you can passionately love a game and still openly discuss it's flaws. None of this really matters to me though because when I'm gliding from a watchtower onto the roof of a prison in a rainstorm, sneaking through darkness, a silent knife under the cover of night until I'm inevitably forced to face the opposition head-on, the clang and spark of steel meeting steel, blood spraying, limbs cut clean off bodies, a full moon shining over a mountain in the distance. When all *this* is happening all that other stuff melts away.

I saw someone wrote that Nioh 2 has more combat depth, that is categorically false. Source: I have the Nioh 2 platinum trophy. N2 has a bunch of weapons with three stances for each. Ronin has a bunch of different weapons with a *minimum* of three stances each with all weapon types having multiple, unique special moves that ultimately equal more than N2's boss skills. Then you've got more options with firearms/throwables, the same Ki pulse mechanic, a refined version of Wo Long's parry system, waaaay more possibilities with stealth etc, it isn't even close. The amount of unique combat animations in Ronin is actually kind of bananas, I'm beyond impressed.

Beyond the god-tier combat the narrative is supremely engaging, I'm fully invested into these characters and intrigued by where the story is ultimately going. Player agency is most definitely a thing, your choices could alter the course of history and I find myself genuinely struggling in deciding where exactly I stand. Fantastic writing all around featuring a bunch of real, historical figures. This is the first time a videogame explored this time period (afaik) and I'm absolutely in love with it. The social bonds system isn't a new idea but it's the first time I've seen it employed in an open-world like this (I guess GTA4 had a greatly simplified version of it), I've got all types of hot chick on chick relationships cooking lol.

The AI can be idiotic, the loot flood is still here (less is more!), there are performance issues and I wish it had more polish overall but God damn if I'm not enamored with this game, hope it sells well, Team Ninja deserve the success.

 

[SJRB]

It's so wild how during some cutscenes the game's graphics just suddenly skip ahead a whole generation.

Just now I had a cutscene where suddenly the visual fidelity was insane, character details were much better, great lighting, texture quality, everything looked legit like an actual PS5 game. And then the cutscene is over and it cuts to gameplay and it instantly looks early PS4 again.

The cutscenes aren't pre-rendered either because you see your own character, so it's running in realtime.

 

[kikii]

I'm only lvl29 and game been fun so far even graphics arent top-notch, also made love with teh catlady and i have female char so ..

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I'm having a blast taking pictures, I remember during the Onimusha 2 days dreaming about reaching these landscapes in real time and here we are:

What mode are you playing in? My only gripe is that performance mode seems to be the only way to get a smooth experience but it doesn't look good. Graphics mode actually looks good but it runs horribly whether locked at 30 or unlocked. RT mode unlocked fps runs better than Graphics but isn't smooth like Performance mode and also RT doesn't do anything to really improve the image (I think it's just reflections).

So we're left with 2 out of the 3 modes being pretty much useless and the Performance mode looking like 1080p with worse lighting and lods.

Team Ninja and Sony did a shit job optomizing this game. Game like this on PS5 should be 60 fps in that Graphics mode (the best looking mode). PS5 should be more than capable.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Completely grounded. Most of the characters you meet (dozens and dozens and dozens) are historical figures. Pretty faithful to the period...

Damn that was a perfect opportunity for you to segue into talking about a giant enemy crab

 

[Elios83]

What mode are you playing in? My only gripe is that performance mode seems to be the only way to get a smooth experience but it doesn't look good. Graphics mode actually looks good but it runs horribly whether locked at 30 or unlocked. RT mode unlocked fps runs better than Graphics but isn't smooth like Performance mode and also RT doesn't do anything to really improve the image (I think it's just reflections).

So we're left with 2 out of the 3 modes being pretty much useless and the Performance mode looking like 1080p with worse lighting and lods.

Team Ninja and Sony did a shit job optomizing this game. Game like this on PS5 should be 60 fps in that Graphics mode (the best looking mode). PS5 should be more than capable.

All the screenshots are taken from performance mode which is the mode I'm playing with.
It looks pretty good as you can see from the screenshots and not blurred at all.
I've tried other modes but the gain in quality is minimal while the impact on fluidity and gameplay is relevant. I've also tried quality with unlocked frame rate but even with VRR it felt stuttery.
So just play it in performance, it looks good, it runs well.

And I'm not a frame rate fanatic, I choose on a case by case basis.
I played FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth comfortably at 30fps in quality mode.
I'm going to play Stellar Blade in balanced mode based on the demo.

 

[tommib]

What mode are you playing in? My only gripe is that performance mode seems to be the only way to get a smooth experience but it doesn't look good. Graphics mode actually looks good but it runs horribly whether locked at 30 or unlocked. RT mode unlocked fps runs better than Graphics but isn't smooth like Performance mode and also RT doesn't do anything to really improve the image (I think it's just reflections).

So we're left with 2 out of the 3 modes being pretty much useless and the Performance mode looking like 1080p with worse lighting and lods.

Team Ninja and Sony did a shit job optomizing this game. Game like this on PS5 should be 60 fps in that Graphics mode (the best looking mode). PS5 should be more than capable.

I’m playing on graphics mode with unlocked frame rate and I think it looks really, really good. Switching to performance downgrades the image significantly and you lose major details.

I don’t mind unstable frame rates so I’m fine with it but the unlocked quality mode will make the game a showcase for the PS5 pro. If it keeps a stable 60 fps on quality, the game will be a sight to behold.

 

[Toots]

The blades of grass moving with the wind effect is really well done imo. The way light interact with it remind me of the way it interacted with the sand in Journey. There's a dreamlike quality to it.

 

[tommib]

And finished. Low-key best PlayStation Studios game since Returnal.

 

[SJRB]

Some of these missions are crazy.

This lady I met literally 5 minutes ago and rescued from a huge mob of enemies asks me to go see some guy and give him a message but turns out he's in prison so we casually let ourselves get imprisoned by beating up guards right in front of the prison doors, then we escape by beating up some more people and now we kill literally every guard in this huge place just to reach this guy so I can give him a message from that lady.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

I rarely replay games, but really enjoying midnight difficulty. The outpost missions are awesome. You got bosses with completely different weapons and movesets. I got 80 hours in this game and still really enjoying it. Team Ninja never light on content

 

[Clear]

I rarely replay games, but really enjoying midnight difficulty. The outpost missions are awesome. You got bosses with completely different weapons and movesets. I got 80 hours in this game and still really enjoying it. Team Ninja never light on content

Really looking forwards to digging in on this game. Still having a good time with DD2 so it'll have to wait a week or two.

Glad to hear TN are maintaining their usual generosity of content, cos one of the reasons I put playing this was that I expected to be spending a stupid number of hours on it once I started.

 

[tommib]

Anyone got the platinum? I’m 2 trophies away but the allies one kind of puts me off. I’m assuming you have to replay all missions that have choices so that you have access to them through the subsequent narratives? Is there a way to track who’s missing?

 

[Red-Dead-Ocelot]

Nearing the end. I have to praise Team Ninja for letting me experience an awesome game on easy. I've always loved their games but found them inaccesible as i hate Souls/Nioh difficulty.

It really is an incredible game. Combat first and foremost is sublime. Story is decent. Glad to experince this.

 

[tommib]

Platinum done. Much easier than what I thought. You’ll probably end the game with all allies if you do all bond missions and collectibles. Then you repeat whatever mission and change allies going through your list until you use them all.

 

[SJRB]

Is it me or is poison crazy OP? I'm fighting this "foreign woman" who has a poisoned whip and she just bodies me in 10 seconds every time.

The moment I get poisoned my HP goes down the drain. There's antidote but the HP reduction just seems brutal.