Rise of the Ronin is Closer to Ghost of Tsushima Than You Would Think
May. 23, 2024Rise of the Ronin is Closer to Ghost of Tsushima Than You Would Think
The main reason for comparison between Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin is because of the historical Japanese setting, with Samurais and Ronin. However, I think that another large reason for the comparison stems from how they are both the same genre, open-world action RPGs, yet each have a different focus.
Ghost of Tsushima was a graphically unique game with an amazing art style paired with great graphical fidelity. It looks like a movie, and even plays like a movie with a minimalistic hud and Sucker Punch’s choice to exclude a lock on feature in combat. Everything is made to look like an Akira Kurosawa film, and immserse you into the world of 13th century Japan.
In Rise of the Ronins case, instead of aiming for a cinematic style that immerses you into the world, the combat is meant to feel flashy and at a much faster, twitchy pace that Team Ninja are known for. The moves are less methodical than Ghost of Tsushima and more unrealistic with attacks not humanly possible, providing some elements in the combat which blur the line between fantasy and reality.
So whereas Ghost of Tsushima attempts to make the game look like a cutscene and push the limits of graphics and immersion in gaming, Rise of the Ronin focuses more on gameplay and feeling like a badass ninja. The main problem and reason why Rise of the Ronin is the subject of mixed criticism is of course, it’s presentation.
To give an analogy, if a master tier chef creates a dish with terrible presentation and posts it up on the menu, people are likely to never try it, assuming it tastes as garbage as it looks. Conversely, if the dish appears as an exquisite delicacy, unparalleled to any cuisine on Earth, people will want to try it out, led by the assumption that its great presentation correlates with an amazing flavor.
The same thing applies to Rise of the Ronin. When people see the lack of graphical fidelity and washed out artstyle, they immediately assume the gameplay has had as much effort put into it as the presentation. While it’s definitely true that the graphics are completing disappointing, especially considering its an open-world game, Rise of the Ronin itself is actually an extremely enjoyable experience despite of itself.
Ghost of Tsushima is still leagues beyond Rise of the Ronin when it comes to graphical fidelity and animations, even on its original PS4 release, while still being able to deliver good gameplay. However, I am of the opinion that there is much more depth to Rise of the Ronin’s gameplay than would first appear.
Though the combat of Rise of the Ronin definitely isn’t Team Ninja’s best work, it can still create incredibly satisfying sequences with a lot of experience. Ghost of Tsushima opts for asimple combat systemwith a single weapon choice, a Katana, as well as a stance system which makes Jin’s attacks more effective against certain enemies. He gets a few upgrades from the skill tree to diversify his moveset, with extra moves for each of the 4 stances, but it was all in all linear combat which was extremely fluid thanks to the animations.
Thecombat of Rise of the Roninis some kind of middle ground betweenWo Long: Fallen Dynastyand theNiohseries, opting for something more complex. The basics include normal attacks, heavy attacks, guarding and a Ki meter representing your stamina. Your moveset is diversified by the various Combat Stances for each of the9 different weaponsin the game. Each stance has up to 4 Martial Skills which are special abilities which do significant Ki damage, meaning you can have up to 12 unique hot-swappable skills in combat, as well as ranged weapons, your grapple hook and of course character swapping.
The entire system is based on the Counterspark, a parry system to deflect attacks and cause enemies to Panic, providing an opportunity to do some damage and reducing their Ki meter. Once that meter is depleted, you can do a critical hit dealing massive damage, with a couple unique animations for all 9 weapons as well as Critical Hits with ranged weapons.
Like Ghost of Tsushima, equipped stances are effective and ineffective against some enemies, forcing you to switch up stances and your weapon often in order to deal the most damage in large group fights. However, one thing I think Rise of the Ronin does better here is the character swapping mechanic in missions; it always makes you feel like you have the upper hand and can help you bounce back from bad Countersparks or Martial Skills easily. It’s always frustrating when you pull out a cool combo, only to whiff it and ruin the entire sequence, so this system provides a good solution to those scenarios.
Rise of the Ronin has all of the stale Open World aspects and sidequests, but still manages to addmore. In the open world, you get cat collecting, defeating fugitives to unlock new stances, photography, gambling, gliding races, horseback archery and a Dojo where you can hone your craft against around 20 acquainted bonds in boss battles.
While you could say these aren’t necessarily better than haikus and bamboo splitting, the fact is that the content doesn’t end there. The Bonds system is a massive example of this, easily accounting for around 30% of a playthrough. You can actually form relationships with over 50 characters in the game, and progress your relationships with them by giving them booze or going on their bond missions. Some of the bond missions are the best content in the game, providing interesting scenarios and backstories for various characters, like Izo Okada developing as a character in Ryoma Sakamoto’s bond quest. Upgrading your bonds yields you rewards like extra stances in combat, and a bunch of RPG stuff that felt like a genuine progression in the game, unlike rewards from collectibles on the map.
That leads us to the next big part of Rise of the Ronin; the heavy lean into RPG aspects. Ghost of Tsushima is relatively simple in this regard, whereas Team Ninja had the amazing template of Nioh 2 to go off of. There are a variety of skills which completely change how you approach combat, a bunch of customization from the 4 secondary stats for each equipped item, weapon proficiencies for all 9 different weapons and the scaling from your stats on each individual stance in the game. Its overwhelming, but in exchange it makes the game more complex and thus longer-lasting.
It does a better job than Rise of the Ronin in many areas. The music is incredible, the story is deeper and more grounded thanks to the preset character, and of course the graphics were considered incredible back when it launched. However, Rise of the Ronin does put up a fight, with more content and replayability in the endgame making it a better value for it’s price while boasting a more customizable combat system. Rise of the Ronin is simply held back by its graphics, and had the potential to be much more than just another solid open world ARPG.
Regardless of which you prefer, I hope this article convinced you that Rise of the Ronin is not the mediocre game that it’s art style and animations presents itself to be; it’s a game that one can thoroughly enjoy once you can look past the issues of presentation, and genuinely find yourself becoming engaged in.
However, just a reminder again that Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut launched on May 16th for PC, so if you have not played it yet because you don’t own a Playstation or live under a rock, make sure you have this on your list of games to pick up this spring!
Tyr
て んじよ うてんげ ゆいが とくそん
