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Post by dfunked on Jun 30, 2024 14:47:14 GMT
Cyberpunk 2077 - 9.5/10 (SX) 116 fucking hours spread over two months, with hardly anything else getting a look-in... Jesus wept! I'd played through it at launch on PC, but think that was closer to half of the playtime as I clearly wasn't all that bothered by GOG achievements back then. Well, it's still absolutely fantastic on a second run through. By far one of the greatest cities created for an open world game, and the game itself is in the best place it's ever going to be. Gunplay is surprisingly solid and punchy for a studio's first attempt, and coupled with some ridiculously OP quickhacks you find yourself always looking forward to the next encounter. Lovely gwaffix aside from some NPCs looking a bit ropey, fantastic score and some ridiculously catchy licensed tracks. The core story is obviously great, but I also went back and finished off the Phantom Liberty endings to cross off a few cheevos and holy shit that's some good writing! Never mind there being a totally different Alien Isolation style section depending on your choices that I missed first time around.
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Post by harrypalmer on Jul 1, 2024 14:33:27 GMT
Rise of The Ronin - 3/5
Completion time: ~30 hours
I've got very mixed feelings about this. On one hand it's generic tosh, on the other it's absolutely badass ninja cosplay, and somewhere in between it's a very chilled stripped down assassins creed type thing.
The combat is very fun, punchy, reflex based and tons of weapon variety. It's super easy to switch between styles and weapons with no need to commit to anything. That meant that the first 10 hours were a blast, trying out all the weapons and gradually getting to grips with the controls.
The fashion is great and the transmog lets you use any item regardless of whether you still own it, top stuff.
But the open world is pretty shit. The main/side missions are all the same - go here and kill people. Which is great for 15 hours, but honestly even that starts to drag. And the filler is the most generic tosh imaginable: glider training, bow training, take photos, collect herbs. I didn't engage with it. Graphically it's not awful, but airing on the side of eurojank. It does a great job of recreating period Japan though, and is certainly capable of looking pretty good.
Traversal is dreadful. The horse sucks, the glider sucks, the grapple hook sucks, and your character (a ninja) can't get over knee high fences. Not good. This results in bouncing off some pretty poor level design, where they just throw a load of unconvincing obstacles at you whilst not making the actual path in any way obvious. I also encountered some pretty insane invisible walls.
I tried to keep it fresh with new weapons, I even spent a good proportion of the game unarmed, but I don't think the combat actually has that much depth. It's all reflexes and stamina management, and I'm not blowing my own trumpet but I found it all incredibly easy! I probably died fewer than 10 times throughout the entire game, which is nuts. You usually have companions with you which you can use as extra lives. Sekiro always kept you on the back foot and forced you to improve right up to the end, I think I plateaued here after 10 hours. It really is like a Team Ninja Ass Creed, which I can see being a real selling point for some, but I eventually found it just as dull.
The story could be epic, but it's told in a very wordy cutscene heavy manner which completely turned me off to the whole thing. Although I did appreciate the silliness of it all. Again, it's not bad, but any time I wasn't killing someone, I was pretty bored. There is a lot of content here if you want it, it's throwing new information at you right up to and beyond the end credits, to be honest I just wanted it done with.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jul 1, 2024 15:21:38 GMT
harrypalmer Have you played Ghost of Tsushima? If so, how would you say Ronin compares thereto?
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Post by harrypalmer on Jul 1, 2024 15:33:18 GMT
Ulythium yeah I have. I was thinking about that after I posted. I'd rate Ghost higher. Combat wise, from what I remember they're pretty similar. Ghost is still the better looking game, the story is more compelling, and the open world is better realised as an actual space you want to be in.
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Post by harrypalmer on Jul 1, 2024 15:34:48 GMT
But I will say there is some special Team Ninja sauce in/on Ronin. When you're fighting, it feels great, and it has a lovely tactile feel.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jul 1, 2024 15:38:30 GMT
Thanks, harrypalmer! I haven't played any of the Assassin's Creed games - although I'm familiar with their Ubisoft open-world tropes, via Watch Dogs and Ghost Recon - so Ghost of Tsushima is probably my closest reference point for this type of thing. I'm hoping Ronin will drop to £40 or below for Prime Day later in July, at which point I think I'd be happy to jump in. Team Ninja's melee combat is always fun.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jul 1, 2024 17:24:54 GMT
The only comparison between the two combat wise I say is that certain weapon stances do better against certain enemy types so you have to switch it up. Both are excellent but I feel Rise is tighter, feels better, more engaging to play, different weapon types, special moves and stances make it more varied. To me that makes it better than Ghost, but then Ghost has better graphics, presentation story etc.
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Post by starchildhypocrethes on Jul 1, 2024 17:45:11 GMT
The combat in Rise is miles better than Ghost. It’s not even close.
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Post by harrypalmer on Jul 1, 2024 17:51:21 GMT
I haven’t played Ghost since launch, I remember the combat being quite like Arkham etc, enjoyable but not that deep. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was much worse than Ronin if I went back to it now, but I definitely ended up getting a bit bored of the combat in Ronin too. Every encounter was the same. Moment to moment it is great though, feels so crunchy and responsive, I just wish there was more variety in the encounters themselves.
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Post by harrypalmer on Jul 1, 2024 17:52:51 GMT
For me story and engagement goes a long way, and I remember enjoying Ghost more for those reasons.
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Duffmangb
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Post by Duffmangb on Jul 2, 2024 9:42:13 GMT
Thanks, harrypalmer ! I haven't played any of the Assassin's Creed games - although I'm familiar with their Ubisoft open-world tropes, via Watch Dogs and Ghost Recon - so Ghost of Tsushima is probably my closest reference point for this type of thing. I'm hoping Ronin will drop to £40 or below for Prime Day later in July, at which point I think I'd be happy to jump in. Team Ninja's melee combat is always fun. Hi mate I'm playing and loving RotR at the moment, if you are after actual disc copy I will sell you it for £30 when I am done, which will likely be in a couple of weeks. I will pm you.
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