Sony Rise Of The Ronin (PS5) - update (03/26): "A Good Game Marred By Technical Challenges" (Digital Foundry technical analysis)

[Biggie]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

Boy, why is this game this ugly? This is inexcusable. Besides that I enjoyed what I played. 

No way! It’s ugly??? 

[best3444]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

No way! It’s ugly??? 

 

Well it's not even this gen visually lol. No idea wtf happened. This is a Sony exclusive haha

[Biggie]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Well it's not even this gen visually lol. No idea wtf happened. This is a Sony exclusive haha

That is so strange. Usually their exclusives are beautiful. 

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, Biggie said:

That is so strange. Usually their exclusives are beautiful. 

 

cuz it’s not like Sony is developing it, it’s a team ninja game and tech just ain’t their shining point!

[Biggie]

3 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

cuz it’s not like Sony is developing it, it’s a team ninja game and tech just ain’t their shining point!

Oh okay. That makes sense. 

[best3444]

17 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

cuz it’s not like Sony is developing it, it’s a team ninja game and tech just ain’t their shining point!

 

Yea I guess you're right. I'm fine with the visuals because the combat is cool. I'll play through this because I love this era and combat style. Thank God there is an easy mode!

[skillzdadirecta]

C'mon @best3444 this game was NEVER presented as a grahics showcase. You can go back in this thread and see several people make that point myself included. I think you even responded to to a couple of posts commenting on the graphics. While they are not cutting edge, UGLY is a very strong word. And like other Team Ninja games, I expect this will be a timed exclusive. Nioh was a Sony exclusive as well when it came out. Nioh 2 and Wo-long weren't though.

[best3444]

14 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

C'mon @best3444 this game was NEVER presented as a grahics showcase. You can go back in this thread and see several people make that point myself included. I think you even responded to to a couple of posts commenting on the graphics. While they are not cutting edge, UGLY is a very strong word. And like other Team Ninja games, I expect this will be a timed exclusive. Nioh was a Sony exclusive as well when it came out. Nioh 2 and Wo-long weren't though.

 

I don't recall comments on graphics and like I said I'm fine with them. The combat is good. Unfortunately my game apparently wasn't fully downloaded so I couldn't advance after the tutorial. 

[nublood]

I’ll probably cave and get this sooner than later. Reviews and impressions have been a bit better than I expected. But I’m currently dl’ing DD2 so I’m sure I’ll be busy with that for a while. But it’s good to have something to fall back on later. And I’m glad this game is a thing so I permanently delete Sekiro. Good riddance. 

[Brian]

6 hours ago, stepee said:

I need @Brian to play this and let me know if it’s similar at all/as good as Stranger in Paradise

 

Princess Peach, DD2, and Unicorn Overlord say

 

[Xbob42]

I've got this downloaded and ready to go, but there's a very low chance of me being able to get to it any time soon. DD2 alone is a big one, but there's so many other games I'm still working through. This is the first or maybe second time I can think of in my gaming history where I've actually been completely overwhelmed by games I actually want to play. Normally if there's a lot of games coming out, I'm only interested in a couple. Now I'm way behind, dealing with Infinite Wealth, Scarlet/Violet DLC, Princess Peach Showtime, DD2, Rise of the Ronin, Alone in the Dark, Persona 3 Reload, Remnant 2 (still haven't finished it!), Octopath Traveler 2 (same!), Lies of P, The Thaumaturge, Granblue Relink, Lunacid, Helldivers 2, Nayuta, Star Ocean 2, ughhhh. That's not even close to a complete list!

And that's WITH me getting some big titles like Rebirth, Crisis Core, the entire Yakuza series outside of IW, etc. finished up!

[stepee]

3 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I've got this downloaded and ready to go, but there's a very low chance of me being able to get to it any time soon. DD2 alone is a big one, but there's so many other games I'm still working through. This is the first or maybe second time I can think of in my gaming history where I've actually been completely overwhelmed by games I actually want to play. Normally if there's a lot of games coming out, I'm only interested in a couple. Now I'm way behind, dealing with Infinite Wealth, Scarlet/Violet DLC, Princess Peach Showtime, DD2, Rise of the Ronin, Alone in the Dark, Persona 3 Reload, Remnant 2 (still haven't finished it!), Octopath Traveler 2 (same!), Lies of P, The Thaumaturge, Granblue Relink, Lunacid, Helldivers 2, Nayuta, Star Ocean 2, ughhhh. That's not even close to a complete list!

And that's WITH me getting some big titles like Rebirth, Crisis Core, the entire Yakuza series outside of IW, etc. finished up!

 

Drop everything and give me Alone in the Dark impressions

[Xbob42]

2 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

Drop everything and give me Alone in the Dark impressions

Booted it up, played for about 30 minutes, was enjoying it. But have yet to fire a weapon. I think I'm getting to that point soon, but I was too tired to continue. Definitely not AAA quality but based on reviews I was expecting the basics to be worse. Hope to get back into it tonight. I do like the tone, setting and acting so far! Got a very L.A. Noire vibe.

[best3444]

My game STILL wasn't fully downloaded to get past the tutorial. Jfc. 

[stepee]

52 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Booted it up, played for about 30 minutes, was enjoying it. But have yet to fire a weapon. I think I'm getting to that point soon, but I was too tired to continue. Definitely not AAA quality but based on reviews I was expecting the basics to be worse. Hope to get back into it tonight. I do like the tone, setting and acting so far! Got a very L.A. Noire vibe.

 

man, L.A. Noire vibe has me thinking about not waiting for a sale 

[eventide11]

3 hours ago, nublood said:

I’ll probably cave and get this sooner than later. Reviews and impressions have been a bit better than I expected. But I’m currently dl’ing DD2 so I’m sure I’ll be busy with that for a while. But it’s good to have something to fall back on later. And I’m glad this game is a thing so I permanently delete Sekiro. Good riddance. 

Im still somewhat interested. But playing this and DD2 at the same time? That's psychotic

[best3444]

19 minutes ago, eventide11 said:

Im still somewhat interested. But playing this and DD2 at the same time? That's psychotic

 

What about Rise of the Ronin, Dragon's Dogma 2, and Horizon Forbidden West all at the same time! That's me tomorrow 🤪 

[eventide11]

23 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

What about Rise of the Ronin, Dragon's Dogma 2, and Horizon Forbidden West all at the same time! That's me tomorrow 🤪 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[skillzdadirecta]

6 hours ago, eventide11 said:

Im still somewhat interested. But playing this and DD2 at the same time? That's psychotic

[best3444]

@skillzdadirecta I got to the open world. I take back what I said about the visuals. They are great and it really feels like I'm playing Ninja Gaiden here. I really like the combat. I'm just not sure if I can squeeze this game in with DD2. 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

@skillzdadirecta I got to the open world. I take back what I said about the visuals. They are great and it really feels like I'm playing Ninja Gaiden here. I really like the combat. I'm just not sure if I can squeeze this game in with DD2. 

The open world looks good... it's the character models that look a little rough. Not ugly, but not quite current gen. Like last gen upscaled or something. The character design, gameplay and everything else make up for it though. I started watching Shogun last night on FX so it made me really want to get into this. I played a little more last night and aI just got my horse so I'm probably about where you are. I'm definitely going to be dividing my time between this in DD2. Fortunately there are no other game coming out anytime soon that I'm interested in day one.

[best3444]

18 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The open world looks good... it's the character models that look a little rough. Not ugly, but not quite current gen. Like last gen upscaled or something. The character design, gameplay and everything else make up for it though. I started watching Shogun last night on FX so it made me really want to get into this. I played a little more last night and aI just got my horse so I'm probably about where you are. I'm definitely going to be dividing my time between this in DD2. Fortunately there are no other game coming out anytime soon that I'm interested in day one.

 

Yea, I'm going to do what you're doing and play both at the same time. 

[best3444]

@skillzdadirecta This game is much better than I was anticipating. The visuals in the open world are better than Ghost of Tsushima and the combat is more fun, too. The story is my only complaint so far as it's not drawing me in yet. It probably will open up soon though. 

 

This is definitely worth playing. This took me by surprise. 

[skillzdadirecta]

52 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@skillzdadirecta This game is much better than I was anticipating. The visuals in the open world are better than Ghost of Tsushima and the combat is more fun, too. The story is my only complaint so far as it's not drawing me in yet. It probably will open up soon though. 

 

This is definitely worth playing. This took me by surprise. 

I'm not far in the story but I fully expect it to get better. Choices seem to have real consequence in this game I've heard.

[Biggie]

I don’t know how @skillzdadirecta and @best3444 are playing RotR and DD2. lol

[Xbob42]

Only put in enough time to finish up the tutorial and start on the boat infiltration, so very very early on. Seems alright. Combat does not feel very good immediately after Dragon's Dogma 2, but it is what it is. The idea of "blade twins" is so stupid and arbitrary, perfect for a Team Ninja game.

[AshsToAshs]

I think i'm about 15ish hours into the game so far. I'm lvl 20. 

 

This game feels like Assassin's Creed Odyssey + Yakuza style relationship systems + better combat. 

 

Things im liking so far:

• Gear system: I've seen some reviewers complain about the overwhelming amount of loot. I find this loot system to be very similar to AssCreed Odyssey, in that you are gonna get a TON of stuff, and then if you are someone that gets some joy out of min maxing stat upgrades on loot there is a TON to play with here.
• Taking down forts/bases: If you're someone that enjoyed taking down all the forts in AssCreed maps, this is going to feel similar.
• Relationship systems: There are a TON of characters to meet in this game, and with some of them you can increase your "bond" with them by giving them gifts and talking with them. Some of these characters can assist you as an ally on some missions, and depending on how high your bond with them is will directly impact how strong they are in that mission. This has actually been a lot of fun for me. 
• Colleting things: at the end of the day, like most open world games, this is a collectathon. There are cats to pet, chests to find, fugitives to hunt down, photos to take, etc. And the game does a good job incentivizing you to do it, by giving you clear progress bars of how much you've done in a given area, and by giving you bonuses for completing everything in a given area.
• The combat: I'm a baby when it comes to parry-based combat games. I'm not good at them. By the time I got to the first boss fight in this game, I instantly needed to turn the game to easy mode. Now, after having played a bit, and understanding the different combat styles of the different weapons, I'm feeling far more confident at the timings of things. And it is extremely satisfying to go up to a group, parry them, get the crit hit, and walk away feeling like a bad ass. (i'll note that i'm still BAD at parrying, but getting better).

Things im disliking:

• The AI is good in combat, but otherwise pretty dumb. They don't seem to react much to dead NPCs, they have pretty limited cones of vision. Taking down bases silently (which is something I loved to do in AssCreed games) feels a little too easy/dull in this game. I've opted to just go in full aggro mode now to most bases.
• The Glider: the glider is AWESOME. It feels good, controls well, and you can pop in and out of it super easily. But it doesn't feel like the world was really designed with the glider in mind. I almost NEVER use it, unless I happen to be on top of a hill and need to go downhill. But it being used as a way to save time traveling is pointless because of my next point.
• Fast Traveling: this game provides such a stupid amount of fast travel points. In most zones you are going to find 2 or 3 fast travel points, which is more than enough for how large the zones are. But in cities they give you a fast travel point like EVERY OTHER BLOCK! It's actually just annoying to find the icon I need on the map between all the fast travel icons. ITS FAR TOO MUCH!

 

Other thoughts:

• Graphics: yeah, the graphics are not up to PS5 standards and it's weird that a PS5 exclusive doesn't look better. That said, do I think it looks bad? No. The world design just looks like its from an older gen console game. But some things, like the character models, armor, and weapons, do look pretty good. 
• Co-op: You can play online co-op with 2 other real players, but only during missions (the same missions where you can bring along allies. So these players would replace the allies). I haven't tried it yet, but it feels... pointless? Those missions are usually pretty short. You are just clearing a base usually. 
• Factions: This game has two factions, and makes you feel like you need to pick a side right away. But the vibe I get is you can work with both sides and it likely does not matter until you need to make a larger choice at some point later on.

 

I'm sure I am forgetting some things. But that's it for now.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Rise of the Ronin PS5 tech review: a good game marred by technical challenges

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

---

Tom Morgan investigates Rise of the Ronin for PS5 - is the game any good and how does its graphics and performance hold…

 

Quote

 

On the plus side first: character models are often beautifully detailed. We get high quality shadows, adjusting with the changing time of day to give a convincing day-night cycle. Also, the linear missions put some beautiful effects in view, whether that's snow physics allowing you to procedurally leave a trail on the ground or volumetric smoke filling the cabin of the Black Ship and coalescing in a haze around the lanterns of Yokohama's pleasure district. Specific areas also use ray-traced reflections in the RT mode, falling back to screen-space reflections (SSR) in the other modes. Sadly, RT reflections are quite rare, with larger water bodies and varnished interior floors opting for SSR instead in all modes.

 

That brings us to a few of the negatives. Firstly, foliage, shadow maps, lighting and NPCs can all pop in close to the camera regardless of mode, especially in city areas or while riding on horseback. Textures also use a low-grade anisotropic filtering setting, blurring surfaces at the typical viewing angle. Every one of the game's modes uses it - and it resembles a 4x AF setting we'd get on PC.

 

All of this lends the game distinctly last-gen look at times, which is compounded by image quality and frame-rate issues. In the performance and RT modes, most open areas render at a native resolution at or below 10808p, creating a soft result. AMD's FSR2 is used to upscale to 4K, but this produces visible artefacts on moving elements like swaying foliage. No mode on PS5 is capable of perfectly locking to 60fps either, though some modes get much closer than others.

 

We already mentioned the three modes, which incorporate a 60fps performance mode, 30fps graphics mode and 30fps RT mode. Up front, I'd recommend the performance mode, as the graphical uplift from the other modes simply isn't worth the frame-rate penalty - and though a 30fps cap is offered for each, it produces uneven frame pacing. This cap kicks in for cutscenes even in the 60fps performance mode, so you'll have to deal with the judder regardless of your mode selection.

 

 

 

[best3444]

I pushed further in this today and faced someone who gave me a very difficult time even on easy. Took all that I had. 

[best3444]

I put the brakes on this. So much information is thrown at you at every corner I can't comprehend it. I'm not exaggerating so those that didn't get a few hours into this don't comment unless you've seen what they are doing here. It’s like they are mixing every fucking genre into this one game and it's bloated af. The core combat is fun but nothing special.

 

I'll probably come back to this when I'm in a drought. 

 

I'm focusing on DD2 and will try and beat Rebirth now. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Playstation is telling me I'm about 6 hours in and 22% with the story. Personally I don't feel like the game is bloated with systems... just loot. You get a LOT of loot and I end up selling most of it. The combat is not only fun but very deep with the various styles for each weapon. I'm sticking with the single and double swords for now but I can see trying out the spear, and scimitars. There's a LOT to do here but you can just ignore all of that stuff and focus on the main story if you want. I like the setting a lot so I don't mind. I haven't tried co-op yet but I have done two missions that give you the option to find a real co-op partner online, otherwise you get an A.I. partner that you can switch back and forth with. 

 

Going from Glider to horse is fun as hell. They really nail traversal in this game.

 

I'm really enjoying the game... so much that I have to actively force myself to stop. Last night I got home, played DD2 for 3 hours, watched an episode of Shogun, then went to play this to finish ONE mission (took a couple of tries because the game isn't easy) and then went back to the quest giver to turn in the quest. I could have fast trevled back to her, but I didn't because I like to explore and came across some other activities that got me side tracked. Sometimes you come across uniquely named Ronin in the open world that you can fight and I wonder if they are avatars of other players. I know Nioh had a similar system. When I was riding around last night I came across one of these guys and he killed me  That was when I got off. 

 

Fun fact, this game takes place 253 years AFTER the time period Shogun is set in. Makes sense... the foreigners in this game are American and in Shogun, America doesn't exist yet. This game takes place around the same time as The Last Samurai movie I believe. 

 

One last thing, one other game that this game cribs from is the Yakuza series, the game DEFINITELY doesn't take itself too seriously at all. As expected it's very "Japanese" in its sensibilty. I agree with most of the points @AshsToAshs made in his post. The A.i. outside of combat is dumb... I blew one guys head off not too far from one of his buddies and he didn't seem to care. Also they won't chase you too far outside of their area and will turn aroudn if you move too far away. This seems to vary depending on the enemy and the activity. 

[Phaseknox]

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I'm really enjoying the game... so much that I have to actively force myself to stop.

I think that I will really enjoy it as well, I’m looking forward to playing it when I get a PS5.

[skillzdadirecta]

Finally getting the hang of the combat in this and Hit level 10 tonight. Having a blast wandering the countryside killing bandits and getting into fights. I haven't advanced the story yet because I'm still trying to figure out which side I want to pick, pro or anti-shogunate. I'm finally at a point in the story where I have to pick a side.

[skillzdadirecta]

Damn somebody made their character based on Himura Kenshin... wished I thought of that!

 

 

I based my character on Miyamoto Musashi from Vagabond. Should have just said fuck it and based him on Afro Samurai or Yasuke. This guy went full on Ninja with his build

 

 

I love how deep the gameplay is and how you can play the game in a variety of different ways. Skill ceiling is high but not as high as you'd think being a Team Ninja game.