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 Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja's latest character action RPG. Set in the early Bakumatsu period of Japan, you control a ronin who is thrust in the middle of a power struggle between anti and pro-Shogun forces. Okay, that's the back of the box summary. If you want to know what any of that means I've got you covered. So what is this game? Have you played Nioh 1 or 2? Wo Long? Strangers of Paradise: A Tale of Chaos? Then you have a basic idea of what a Team Ninja game is. It has very slick and mechanically deep combat with lots of loot and lots of build potential. Here, it isn't much different. You still get loot drops, though not as severe in previous titles, a wide array of weaopns to choose from and combat that requires you to dodge, block, parry and dodge. The main difference in this game is that it's an open world game - Team Ninja's first. But fear not, it does occasionally have classic style missions for you to undertake. It also has a story that you can directly influence, characters you can meet and become fast friends, best buds and/or steamy with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JydfazusHfI An Open World? So, like, Ubisoft icon vomit? Not quite. If you put Ghosts of Tsushima on one end of the spectrum - a game with minimum icons - then you put an Ubisoft game on the other, this game would be in the middle, leaning towards Tsushima. The overall map is broken up into regions - think of them as levels - each having things for you to do. Collect treasures, take a scenic photos, liberate a town, hunt a fugitive, find a cat. Once you do those things the icons usually disappear. So think of them are pacing icons that point you to where the big stuff is but you won't be finding icons for every small treasure chests that is littered throughout the country side. It's not like an Ubisoft game where you just collect things for a reward at the end or for the sake of collection. Each thing has a gameplay function that is either immediately apparent or unlocks it later on. It's the kind of game where the more you put into it the more you'll get out of it. There are three major hub areas: Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto. You get around them on foot, horse or a gilder you unlock in your very first story mission after the tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=int3aDF_M2A What's this about cats? You find cats and collect them by petting them. Can you pet dogs too? Yes.  So how does this game differ from previous Nioh titles? I'm glad you asked, me talking to myself. If you've played Wo Long you'd remember that instead of stance switching like in the Nioh games you could do martial arts that add spice to the combat. This game combines all those elements. Instead of stance switching you do style switching and each style has its own martial arts associated with it. So you can have three styles, each with completely different movesets and up to 12 different martial arts per weapon - 4 per style. For you super duper Nioh fans who lust after that fine stance switching, the pre-order bonus style Nioh-Ryu, does have stance switching mapped to the martial art buttons (press to change stance, hold to do them move while changing stance). It's the only one that does this. On top of all that here's a small breakdown of combat elements: Stance Types are like a rock, paper, scissors mechanic. Some stances are strong against certain weapons while weak towards others. When you're in a stance that's stronger you'll take less physical and ki damage while dealing more physical and ki damage. If you have one that's weaker it's the opposite. Counterspark is this game's version of parry. However it also has unique functions depending on the stance. Some have powerful follow-up attacks after parrying, others deal a ton of damage to targets that are blocking. Be sure to read the description of them to know when to use them in and in what situation. Blade Flash is this game's version of Ki Pulse. You press the button after attacking and then your character flicks the blood off their blade and you get some Ki back. For those who don't know Ki is this game's version of stamina, which goes down for every action you take. Unlike Ki Pulse, you do not get all the Ki you've used up back. The more your blade is bloodied the more you get back. The game wants you to back off and be less aggressive than in previous titles, though it is entirely possible to be ultra good at the combat and not need to do this. More than any of the previous games, finding openings then exploiting them for big damage is what gets you the bread. Grappling Hook: you get a grappling hook that you can use inside and outside of combat. It feels really good to use. To use another game comparison: it feels as good as Sekiro's to use. Like that game it does require you to find grapple points, but they are well telegraphed; each with a light source, often a candle, next to it. In combat, it's another tool in your arsenal. It can be upgraded to use for stealth kills - pulling enemies up to you or down from their perches, in combat it can be used to pull enemies towards you to close the distance, pull enemies towards you to then throw at their friends, picking up certain objects in the area to throw at them - such as exploding barrels, stealing their healing items they are about to use, ect. Stealth. You saw right. This game has a really good, though sometimes finicky, stealth system. It wants you to stealth. More than fair shaire of missions are structured like stealth missions, requiring you to make your way from one point to another. It's very much an immersion sim because you can crawl through holes in the wall to your target instead of taking the front door. There's no fail state for not doing the stealth perfect. It's a stealth until you can't sort of game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCW4HkZHP6Y Story and companions You know that anime Demon Slayer? Yeah, it's a pretty cool show. But it has nothing to do with this game or time period. Anyway, the game takes place during a massive social upheaval in Japanese history. Being a filthy gaijin I've only absored this history through cultural osmosis but it nonetheless makes for a compelling setting if you looked into it even a small amount. Youu play as someone with no political affiliation. Over the course of the game you can do missions for the Pro and Anti-Shogun factions. The former being people who want to keep the old, repressive power structures in place while opening the borders to foreign powers. The later are people who want the Shogun gone and give all the power to the Emperor while closing their borders once again and expelling the foreigners from the country. So it's not as cut and dry and you'll see how one side is a really repressive entity while the others are xenophobic. The companions you meets, I think, are all historical figures. These are the folks you'll be forging bonds with. You ever want to see how Matthew Perry beats up bad guys alongside you? You can invite him on a mission with you. How about doing a double stealth-kill with Ryoma Sakamoto? Sure! Unfortunately, at least where I am in the game, they do not follow you around in the open world. I don't think this will ever be the case but I'll update this part if someone who has beaten the game tells me. Each companion can be showered with gifts, invited to missions or be agreeable in conversations to raise their bond level. Their bond level unlocks stat points, new stances and stance levels, outfits, accessories and unique weapons. At certain points and certain companions you also get Favor. This is where the "fast friends, best buds and/or steamy with" part comes in. You can romance anyone if you choose to. I don't think any of this is gender locked, but I've not gotten that far yet. They're all pretty compelling characters and well written. Some are more jovial than others and you can't help but like them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T2CnAN77-4 Character creation This game has you create a character of your own - two in fact. You are creating Blade Twins - two characters bound to each other and act as one in clandestine operations. You can choose their gender (feminine or masculine) and alter every aspect of their being. Every part of the face and body can be changed to your liking. The only downside is that the voice is body-type locked. Outside character modification, all clothing is gender-neutral so you can dress up in all the pretty kimonos, western clothes, armor as you see fit. Most clothing starts out as a set but when you redesign them (change their appearance) they become modular so you can use the top of one set and the bottom of the other. Here, let me breakdown just the sheer amount of dress up you can do: Main categories: Head, body, arm, foot, accessory, armor set, weapon. Each category is broken down into types (in order from top to bottom): kasa, headband, mask, cap; torso, tops, undergarments, bottoms, belts, outerwear; gauntlets, gloves; sandals, shoes, boots; face: glasses; neck: neckties, scarves; torso: cloak, large Japanese belt.  Online Play You can play with your friends or strangers in the segemented missions you occasionally get to do. These are like your traditional Nioh and Wo Long missions albeit in a much smaller scale and uses parts of the open world that they close off. Outside of that you do not run around with your coop buddy or anyone else. However, you occasionally see their characters wandering around that you can fight to get some of their equipment, tied up in bandit camps that you can free and will help you clear them out (and reward you with some of their equipment). Is this game for me? Rise of the Ronin is like a Team Ninja greatest hits. It takes elements from each game they've made and put it all into one game that works really well. If you've had issues with any of their games, especially the loot system, then this game won't do anything to change your mind. If you've been Team Ninja-curious then this one is probably the one to go with. Got any examples of the combat in this game? Here you go: https://twitter.com/GameBreakerGod/status/1775082281687744987 The game is out now on the Playstation 5 Rated M for Mature. Not grandma safe. Playstation Store Page Jimbot fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Apr 2, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 15:58
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Reserving this spot for DLC and other stuff. Also, this was my first OP. Please let me know if I should add anything or what have you. Enjoy!
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Mar 26, 2024 15:59
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Only real complaint about the combat is that it has the tightest parry window I've ever seen. Sekiro may as well let you parry attacks the moment they start, regardless of where the weapon is. Fighting Genzui in the dojo is like having teeth pulled. He attacks at least ten thousand times a minute and never uses ki. So good luck parrying his thousand attack combo. You can't attack in that because immediately after parrying his attacks, if you get that lucky, he recovers immediately then launches into his attacks again. Also attacking drain 1/5th of your ki bar and you need that for blocking or parrying. I think the dojo sucks in general. Wish Team Ninja would realize that these +1% skills you can unlock are the worst kind in the history of video games. Ones that'd increase the parry window and things that have actual, tangible effects on the game would be far better and useful. Jimbot fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Mar 27, 2024 |
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Mar 27, 2024 03:23
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 Made the same character I make in all these games. Came out looking good.
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Mar 28, 2024 18:19
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Folks should explore around the Shiba area. You'll know where that is when you get there.
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Mar 28, 2024 23:04
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I don't think I care much for counterspark. The timing on bosses, especially these mid-game bosses, is just too much for my reflexes. They attack so often and have flashy attacks that I can't keep up when to do it. This also have so many variations that looks similar that when I think I have the timing down they do something else. It's far too punishing when you miss it. It's a free hit and you can't course correct like in Sekiro. Also this isn't me being a silly person and trying to parry during one of their thousand-hit combos either, it's me missing on the last hit or unable to tell which combo they're doing because of how flashy and hard to read it is. Works fine against mooks but bosses still wreck me and I only seem to win because I smash that healing button rather than any kind of skill I had during the fight. It feels awful. This is for mid-game bosses (it's probably only going to get more difficult from here) and every fight against your sword twin. I just can't keep up with those combos. Jimbot fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 18:54
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I'm on Dusk. I'll probably turn it down to Dawn as I think the game is outpacing my ability. I hope it doesn't affect loot quality. Also, all this might it be old man yells at clouds for passing by sort of thing on my part. I just feel like it's way too tight and punishing for the amount of relentless combos you have to deal with. Like I said, they can get up to Sekiro-levels of bananas. It's like they made burst counters a necessary part of a fight instead of an added bonus for doing it correctly. Trying to beat bosses through attrition makes them a lot harder and protracted. After working through my thoughts on the system, more than anything else, it makes me feel like a baffoon who only won due to heal spam. I beat the boss that spurred that post but I could not tell you its pattern, when the best time to parry due to attack signifiers nor could I get any timing down. Let me tell you, that feeling is awful. Never have I once felt this way in any previous Team Ninja game. Did I get frustrated at some bosses? Sure. Probably even made me angry post about them. But never did I once feel like I was dying because I didn't know what their pattern was or when to use a burst counter. It was mostly me not tuning my reflexes to those patterns. It felt like a problem I would eventually solve by practice and nailing the patterns and timing and, when I did, it'd feel great like I just overcame a hurdle through practice and grit. That boss fight I just beat? Nothing. I won by accident, failed backwards into victory. I hate that I beat something hard but don't feel anything but that I lucked into it. I don't even have that feeling of "well, I never have to do that one again" some people get when beating a tough boss. I just feel frustrated and that's an awful feeling to have.
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Mar 29, 2024 19:53
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Oh yeah, that's not me either. It's just that fight, and a couple others like it, just made me feel frustrated after defeating them. Even the ones that whooped my rear end harder than these from previous Team Ninja games I could at least tell you their patterns and force my old man reflexes to adjust and get the windows of attack opportunities down. I can't even do that with some of these fights. Nothing was learned for a later encounter nor any kind of genuine achievement regardless if I used up healing or not. But yeah, I agree, I learned early on that counterspark anything mid-combo was a fool's errand - it's not for me. But some fights just end with me "when was I ever supposed to counterspark?" Edit: I just want to be clear that this just in case it got lost in my rambling nonsense: this is mostly for some bosses. Mooks have patterns I can see, understand and react to. Anytime I miss a counterspark I can go "oh, mucked the timing on that one" because those fights gave me time to understand what just happened. Some bosses here immediately start attacking again before I can get an idea of what the heck. Of course, maybe this fight and a couple of others are the hardest fights in the game. It's not the first time this game has some ridiculous and weird difficulty spikes. The two bosses that made me feel like this were (mid-game spoilers) that lady with the Ivy sword whip who puts poison on everything. The one before this one was the guy with the sword and gun style that shot a grappling hook and fire and all that poo poo. Another one, I just remembered, was a fugitive with a heavy sword in the first chapter that was harder than anything in that entire chapter, including every boss you fight. That piece of garbage just kept doing unblockable after unblockable with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes he'd do one that chased you around the entire arena, others he'd leap, others he'd zip across the arena to stab you. It was awful. Jimbot fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 20:19
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I was days old when I discovered if you hold R1+R3 to shealth your weapon, they'll swing the blood off of it in unique animations.
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Mar 30, 2024 15:52
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The Oxtail Blade and the Saber are tons of fun. Really great movesets. Old faithful, the katana, gets a lot of use too.
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Mar 31, 2024 04:37
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I switch the difficulty down to Dawn due to those aforementioned difficulty spikes and it's like the parry window doubled - it's kinda bananas. I wish that were the case in Dusk because Dawn may be a bit too easy but then again I haven't fought any new bosses yet so maybe I will and be like "oh, okay, lowering the difficulty was the right move." One thing I wish this game's character customization did that Saint's Row did was have a sock slot so you could fine-tune your character's look. In this setting it makes absolute sense. When I found the shinobi socks I got excited because it was different from dirty white or dirty black. The green and flowered up white ones are fine and dandy but they just don't go with some outfits. Not a fan of those black ones with the white vines on them because they have this sheen to them that look weird. If I'm going to decide the fate of Japan I want to look good while doing it, dammit. That slot has always been a problem to match with some outfits. I'm really impressed with the Edo map. It's really dense and has a lot of detail put into it. I didn't expect to explore so much of it - it feels like a city. I thought I'd be in another map with open fields and only explore a small portion of it. Nope! I don't quite understand the faction mechanic, though. Its explanation was pretty poor and there's no real indicator which area belongs to who after I do some stuff in it.
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Mar 31, 2024 14:23
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The "graphics bad" is an over-exaggeration. It's the kind of graphics from a team known for smaller, denser areas making an open world game with a reasonable budget and not working their employees into dust. It's the kind of graphics you'd find in the kind of "B" games people pine for. They're good, not great, not phenomenal and certainly not bad or terrible. Though I'd put the character models in the "very good" category. But that's a Team Ninja staple at this point. Speaking of which, here's a screenshot dump of my character posing over the landscape in the various outfits I made:   "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good."    First cryptid sighting.  
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Apr 1, 2024 02:33
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It's there at all times. You can also just switch your world state on the fly. It's actually pretty rad. It's not Way of the Samurai timeline tree but it works really well. Changing your decisions mid-playthrough really caught me off guard.
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Apr 1, 2024 14:35
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I agree. They do have different teams so chances are there'll be another release next year, though. I just hope Rise of the Ronin sold well enough to warrant a sequel. A ton of assets are already built they can move over (outfits and such) so they'd only really need to focus on making some new outfits and building an open world. For a first crack at an open world the game is excellent but I feel like if there were a Rise of the Ronin 2 there'd be a really great refinement of everything and it'd be a Nioh to Nioh 2 situation.
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Apr 1, 2024 14:52
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What sort of stuff about the combat caught your attention?
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Apr 1, 2024 20:12
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I've seen a couple but this one cuts between different combat encounters that show you what some high-level play looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIwmkGyTBk I'm not sure they switch styles but each style tends to have different combos and ethos when it comes to tackling a situation.
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Apr 1, 2024 20:35
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It's starting to happen. The wizards are mastering the game: https://twitter.com/GameBreakerGod/status/1775082281687744987
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Apr 2, 2024 16:50
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I'm dreading going into Act 3 so I'm taking my sweet time in 2. I know all these pals I've been making will end up getting killed because that's what history dictates. And chances are I'll be the one murderizing them.
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Apr 5, 2024 14:53
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Ah jeez. Act 3 stuff: All my allies are dropping like flies here. The pro-shogunate folks are all "gee wiz, friend, why you leave us?  ", my blade sibling wants to burn everything to the ground and won't listen to reason and everything we do ends in failure! We gotta Return of the Jedi this situation!
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Apr 6, 2024 23:14
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Photo mode is so drat good. On top of all the options the frame-by-frame thing is awesome. It lets you get some really good action shots:  
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Apr 8, 2024 14:10
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I think a few of those issues come down to the historical setting and itemization, the later in which I've complained about before. If there's a second game, and boy do I hope there's one, they should really go with wholesale fictional characters representing each faction (like Way of the Samurai) and start the faction stuff earlier. Being a ronin that bounces between them is good but it does feel weird that one moment you're fighting someone over ideological differences then you're pals with them immediately after. The most pushback you get that I saw is that if you go talk to either faction after you make a choice they get moody with you for a few lines of dialogue then act as if nothing happened. It's a gameplay conceit that takes priority over story, which I understand appreciate, but it does feel weird. I think going the fully fictional route means they can have them react in different ways, kill them off earlier, have the character convince them to switch sides, and all that good stuff. Nothing about the game really has to fundamentally change, it's just they can get to control how many companions there are and focus on quality than quantity. The writing that's there is really good, the best in any Team Ninja game I've played (I have not played Chaos), but it's spread out between 32 different characters. If they even just halved that they'd strike solid gold. I've grown to dislike Team Ninja's itemization. I used to defend it but this game just really shows you how boring and spreadsheet-like it is. Nioh and Wo Long had good set bonuses but even that I can't even defend. The "oh, it doesn't really matter until NG+(+++++)" isn't an excuse to me and the set bonus one isn't one I can get behind even if those bonuses do make a tangible different. Rise's itemization doesn't even have a good set bonus excuse - it's all poop. I love the game to bits and I even came around on counterspark (though the window is a bit too tight in my opinion) but it does have some issues that they can easily fix that'd make it super good. They could also afford to get silly with encounters. I don't need oni and stuff but having a wider variety of mooks to fight and big guys would be cool too. Jimbot fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Apr 9, 2024 |
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Apr 9, 2024 14:31
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It helps to compartmentalize the open world in the way the game does. Just think of it like "Ah, I feel like doing the [region name] level tonight" and just clear out that area. That's how I've done it and haven't felt any kind of fatigue. I also think regions 2 and 3 are much more interesting mainly because they're huge, sprawling cities and feel more alive and have more fun details in them. Feels a lot like Tenchu just running across the rooftops.
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Apr 12, 2024 14:42
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I'm sure the team that worked on Wo Long are cooking something. I'm looking forward to the DLC because I think Team Ninja is one of the few developers who does it really well. As I said before, I'd love a sequel to this. I really like how they did the open world and this was their first attempt at it. Further refinements and changes would produce something extremely awesome.
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Apr 12, 2024 16:20
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I'd double dip on the PC too. Game's super good and would love to see it get more of an audience.   
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Apr 13, 2024 20:10
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Lots of changes to combat this patch I redid most of my outfits and decided I wanted to take screenshots of them in action poses. The frame-by-frame photo mode is just too good. Very dangerous for those who want to be good with time management.          
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Apr 20, 2024 22:03
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Have any of you tried Midnight mode? I keep reading it's like an unreasonably massive difficulty spike from the previous difficulty options. A shame this game doesn't have the kind of NG+ Nioh 2 had, which was awesome because it just felt like another step up in difficulty without being too extreme and you got a whole new level of loot where the stats began to really matter (and you could start building things up). Hopefully that'll be something that's patched in along with better armor stat bonuses from armor. If you're going to have a ton of drops they really need to have good stuff on them!
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Apr 27, 2024 14:41
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A little late but the character does play a part of things but it's also kinda under utilized, in my opinion. One of the weaker parts of the game but the idea is solid, just wish they did more with it. However, it does sort of act as a tutorial on character swapping - something you can do in missions. The combat does take a little getting used to, it's not quite Nioh combat (nothing is, since it's best combat in any of these games) but I enjoyed it immensely with it really opening up as you get more weapons and styles. The thing to know with counterspark is that you can't spam it. It's a parry that isn't like any kind of parry. You shoot your shot and if you miss you get hit. So yeah, it's best to save it for deadly attacks or the last hit of a combo to throw them off balance. I finally beat the game last night. I enjoyed it a ton and I'm glad to find out that it's selling well for Team Ninja. So I'm looking forward to the DLC, if there is any, and a sequel, which I hope there is. I truly believe that a Rise of the Ronin 2 will be this franchise's Nioh 2. The complaints about Midnight are well-founded. The jump in difficulty is ludicrous. Everything is far too overtuned and while getting some levels on the recommended for each encounter helps, you still lose your Ki and health bananas fast and enemies are relentless with massive combos. Still, game's great if you want a comfy open world with fun combat, fun characters and the best character customizer in the industry at the moment. I am kinda baffled they didn't have a sock slot, given the setting. Saints Row had one and it added another layer to the customization which was fun, here it'd be more apparent. Anyway, they continue to tweak everything in each patch so imagine Midnight difficulty and maybe the loot stuff will get better.
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May 6, 2024 03:49
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Nah, I tried more of Midnight beyond the tutorial mission you can do for an easy trophy and it's not worth it in the least. I took down a couple of bosses but then they decide to put Izo in the level 50 areas of Yokohama and even on lower difficulties he's a piece of garbage bastard. It'd be one thing if the loot in this game was more like Nioh 2's. That game has boring-rear end +2.737234% crap too but it eventually lead to something and the set bonuses were very, very worthwhile. Midnight can't even give you the courtesy of having all drops be Masterwork, especially in missions. On some they are but on most they aren't. Even then all that gives you are extra slots to put more of the worthless +2.9723463% skills in. Supremely disappointing coming from the people that gave us NG+ on Nioh 2. It was genuinely exciting to go into that mode and find a whole new level of gear that gave you meaningful stat gains (arguably should have been there from the start but whatever) and you could get them from spectres of people who put in the work to make them just right then jumped to their deaths to share them with other people. Can't believe Team Ninja thought this stuff was acceptable. And this is coming from me, the local Rise of the Ronin cheerleader around here. I'm just dumbstruck at how much I fell off the game after trying this difficulty out. What in the flying heck. I guess I was hoping for a fun victory lap of sorts but you know, thinking on it, I don't even know the point since the itemization is junk to begin with. I guess number goes up is inciting but it's not really that much either. Sounds like Nioh 2 NG++ would have given me the same issues too from all the response from the reddit, between the worthless "skill issue" and "git gud" posts. Folks who make those don't realize how little anyone cares about them. A game having a definitive end is a good thing. It's just an expectations from previous games that lead me to believe otherwise. Don't let this post deter any of you from playing, though. This one is mostly on me and me not being that great at parrying (something required at this difficulty) to begin with. If you had a friend to do those missions with then you'd have a good time testing your skills, though. Jimbot fucked around with this message at 17:14 on May 7, 2024 |
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May 7, 2024 14:06
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Schubalts posted:Oh, and it's a good idea to go straight for the skill that makes it harder for animals to notice you. It upgrades into letting you pet enemy animals and make them your friends. I always loved this. Instead of assassinating it, you just sneak up to it and give them scritches - amazing. WaltherFeng posted:Here's a tip the game never tells you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdn6wZ6f7Hc
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May 8, 2024 14:43
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