Ryse: son of rome is actually enjoyable

[SeanMN]

The forum discussion and critical response to the game at launch caused me to hold off on purchasing it; instead I picked up AC4 at launch.

Eventually I did pick it up, and had a great time! I really enjoyed the story and the flow of combat. I even spent some time in the MP arena which was pretty fun. On top of all that, this was the technical showpiece game to show people what "next gen" at the time looked like.

I'd definitely be there for a sequel!

 

[zoodoo]

I really enjoyed it. Will replay it if it ever gets an X patch.

I know people have a conniption fit when it's said but the new GoW's combat really reminds me of Ryse which is no bad thing as the combat was the best thing about it.

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hmm thinking about it. the new GoW combat looks an awful lot like Ryse's combat

 

[DarthWalden]

Borrowed this from a Freind at launch and had a great time with it, maybe for a 60$ game it was a bit lacking but for me the simple combat worked well and was enjoyable throughout the campaign because the campaign was so short

 

[The Archon]

I'd agree if you could just go on the highest difficulty right away, but since you need to beat the game once to unlock it, the game actually requires two playthroughs to be properly appreciated.

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I know what you mean. But I don't agree it's combat and gameplay weren't it's strong suits. So I wouldn't replay it to play it in a more challenging way.

 

[supernormal]

The hate that game got was totally unwarranted IMO. By the time I got around to it, like 2 months after launch, I was actually blown away by how much better it was than I expected it to be.

It was one of the better launch titles this gen, at least for me. I was really let down by Shadow Fall, Forza 5, Black Flag and basically everything except Resogun, so having this game surprise me was a big turn around.

 

[Buddy]

It is a fun game. I got it on a steam sale for 5 bucks and really was surprised by it.

And my god does it look gorgeous. Easily one of the best looking games I have ever played.

 

[Ebtesam]

The inhibitions at the beginning of the generation hurt the game and were the reason for the bad sales For the game.

The game was So amazing and I really enjoy playing it but I do not think we will see sequel For the game

And i wish I wrong

 

[John Konstantin]

I bought it dirty cheap in Steam and I think it's pretty bad as a game. Although as a technical demo is gorgeous, very good visuals.

 

[Molto]

Very underrated IMO. The gameplay isn't super deep, but I found it solid and damn fun. Amazing graphics too. Would absolutely love a sequel

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Nah, it's terrible. And I usually like mindless Hack'n'Slay (big Dynasty Warriors fan). But the battle-system was just shit.

 

[Remo Williams]

I thought it was a competent launch game with great visuals and hype-moments (especially when you are in formation) and gorgeous environments, but outside of that the story was a wash for me and the colour QTE-ing was just nonsensical.

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The bolded is not right, the color coding actually makes so much sense that I'm even wary of calling Ryse's executions QTE sequences. To me QTEs are sequences of arbitrary button prompts that don't really have much to do with your character's actions. The challenge is strictly in timing your button presses to the on-screen prompts, especially when you're going through a seqence for the first time.

In Ryse you have two possible execution inputs: the blue outline corresponds to the X button, and the yellow outline corresponds to the Y button. The sequences are closely tied to what Marius is doing at any given time. When he's using his sword hand, you're going to get the blue prompt, and for everything else (using his shield hand or pulling off contextual environmental kills) you're getting the yellow prompt. So you don't even need the outlines (I believe there's even an option to turn them off), you just have to pay close attention to what's happening.

It's a rather clever system, BUT - you don't really have to use it, except on the highest difficulty which is locked on your first playthrough.

 

[Deleted member 8408]

What? Did you actually played the game?

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Yes.

For 2.3 hours too long.

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

 

[Arkhanor]

I liked it. It's a fun action/hack n slash game.

 

[Monorojo]

I personally loved this game. The setting and the graphics really made it for me. The combat didn't become too dull for me, at least not enough to give up before I finished it.

Biggest beef is the repetitive combat but you master it pretty quick. The story was completely forgettable as well.

 

[Al3x1s]

Hellblade reminded me of Ryse a lot in some ways for some reason, I don't know as they're different, the overall vibe in play style perhaps. Ryse plays better (and is presented so much better obviously) but not better enough given the budget.

 

[Snake Eater]

graphically it's still amazing, but I stopped playing halfway through out of sheer boredom

 

[Spades]

It was the perfect launch game; absolutely beautiful to look at, whilst being focused and short enough that you can enjoy the half dozen other launch games you had.

 

[Remo Williams]

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

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I hate to break it to you, but it seems that most people in this thread - and from my experience, not just in this thread - enjoyed its gameplay far more than you did. But please, do go on telling us how wrong we are.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Thread got me to reinstall and I will play some tonight.

 

[Deleted member 268]

Got it day one with XB1. Played it twice. Put lots of hours into the multiplayer. It's a super fun game.

Shame we didn't get a sequel.

 

[nekkid]

It's a fun game. A perfect foundation for a more fleshed-out sequel.

 

[LQX]

Yeah, enjoyed my time with it on PC.

 

[Qassim]

I enjoyed it for what it was, but it didn't leave a huge impression on me. I really liked the setting and mythology, but overall - it suffered in the same way most launch titles do. I think they had a pretty good foundation to work from to fix the combat, provide more of it and more variety and give us more of that cool roman setting had they attempted a sequel.

 

[DanteLinkX]

I believe that as long as a game boots up and its playable it can be enjoyable.

 

[zoodoo]

I believe that as long as a game boots up and its playable it can be enjoyable.

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You have to define "playable" first.

 

[Lukas Taves]

Yes.

For 2.3 hours too long.

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

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You are the wrong, and I beat the game twice. On the two highest difficult levels.

The game doesn't play itself nor it's mindless QTEs. Specially in higher difficulties as they are tied to damage and health regen.

 

[Phil's Empty Chair]

Its better than Hellblade.

 

[Mr Eric]

Bought it at launch and really enjoyed it during my first playthrough in soldier difficulty : decent game with fun mechanics and easy to play, amazing graphics (for that time but still today) and i enjoyed the scenario/characters and ancient Rome background. I wanted to do a second run just to find all collectibles, this time with centurion difficulty, and this was clearly a very different game were you need to make the best timing for your qte in order to have a good balance between health and fury, or you would get killed quite fast by the AI. Second run was even more enjoyable than the first one for me. Never went for he legendary difficulty and a third run (apparently, this one doesn't show you the buttons, you need to time it by reading the ennemies move and context of attacks...) because of the repetitiveness mostly of the cut/paste ennemies, the execution that i was already too familiar with after 2 runs, without the discovery of the scenario to motivate me and the very borring crossbow/turtle charge moments (i didn't enjoy those from the first run, even less during the second one).

If they can do a sequel with more executions and more different ennemies, i would gladly pay for it even if anything else is just as good as Ryse.

Tl;dr : Play it at least in centurion difficulty and enjoy this simple but solid game.

 

[Journey]

Yes.

For 2.3 hours too long.

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

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For some people, things have to be black or white, there's never any shades of grey, why is that? I don't think anyone in here is saying that the mechanics were innovative or clever, simply that the game was enjoyable. And for the record, QTE was optional, you don't have to follow it, unless you want to see the cool executions or gain extra bonus.

This looks fun and not mindless at all, it takes skill to pull this off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHhULki_3I

 

[DanteLinkX]

You have to define "playable" first.

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Playable means you can play it.

 

[zoodoo]

Playable means you can play it.

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so by your definition Big rigs is enjoyable. I can "play" it

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

so by your definition Big rigs is enjoyable. I can "play" it

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"can be enjoyable", not "will be" or "is" ;)

 

[TheDave545]

Some negativity in here blows my mind, if you didn't like it that's fine, but to start going on that anyone who liked it is deluded is just stupid.

Personally I loved it, I actually like QTE's and I felt the combat was very satisfying, graphically the game is stunning, I liked the story and the bad guys, if ya didnt like it though then fine move on.

 

[Z-Brownie]

It is! I love the game, quite fun

 

[hwalker84]

I agree. I paid $10 for it about a year ago, and had a good time. Too bad we aren't going to get more.

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MS tried to buy the IP. Doesn't make sense that Crytek didn't sell.

 

[zerocalories]

I'm sad we never got a sequel. I enjoyed it.

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ryze 2: ryzer

 

[TheOldestGamer]

Any comparisons to "The Order" were unwarranted. This was a decent beat-em up game with top notch graphics.

 

[ghostcrew]

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

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These types of posts are pure trash man. Seems like from this thread that a lot of people enjoyed it. Sorry if that's difficult to accept or whatever but it's pretty shitty to try and paint people as 'wrong' for liking a game or shaming them or whatever you're trying to do.

 

[Flagship]

The bolded is not right, the color coding actually makes so much sense that I'm even wary of calling Ryse's executions QTE sequences. To me QTEs are sequences of arbitrary button prompts that don't really have much to do with your character's actions. The challenge is strictly in timing your button presses to the on-screen prompts, especially when you're going through a seqence for the first time.

In Ryse you have two possible execution inputs: the blue outline corresponds to the X button, and the yellow outline corresponds to the Y button. The sequences are closely tied to what Marius is doing at any given time. When he's using his sword hand, you're going to get the blue prompt, and for everything else (using his shield hand or pulling off contextual environmental kills) you're getting the yellow prompt. So you don't even need the outlines (I believe there's even an option to turn them off), you just have to pay close attention to what's happening.

It's a rather clever system, BUT - you don't really have to use it, except on the highest difficulty which is locked on your first playthrough.

Click to shrink...

This is the thing though, the animations were getting EXTREMELY repetitive and just placing more emphasis on the enemies (which hardly ever changed, it felt like the same 3-4 enemies for most of the game) didn't help. The presentation of it never came out well and while the idea of getting EXP for these cool QTE kills was neat: the fact that the animation continued and there was no real risk from an incorrect prompt just made the whole thing feel like a janky button-mash fest. Sorry if that was much, it's nice to see those who are passionate about it, and I did feel like I made some positive pointers about the game but ultimately the whole experience felt shallow and I didn't feel I got much from it past some beautiful visuals and some great setpieces, I'd value the game being more memorable in other ways tbf.

And while I'm at it: I do like QTE's in certain games, especially when they feel natural, clear and that there's enough of a threat/circumstance to getting it wrong. Personally Shenmue and Yakuza are good examples of this, or even God of War.

In general, I don't think colour-coding QTE's w/o icons the way Ryse does it is a good game-design-y thing to do because it always causes accessibility issues (the xbox one button colours are easier to read for the non-colour blind sure, but the other platforms would suffer greatly from this because DS4 doesn't have as distinct of a colour and I don't think nintendo has since the EU/JPN snes?)

[spoilers]I think my favourite launch window game on the XB1 remains to be Killer Instinct, and PDZ for the 360.[/spoilers]

 

[Deleted member 3897]

I really enjoyed the MP/Colosseum. Steam says I got 17 hours in the game, many of them are from playing the Colosseum with a friend.

 

[Morrigan]

Please keep it cool, everyone.

 

[Brown Intruder]

Yes.

For 2.3 hours too long.

Some people are trying to make this game something it isn't in this thread. It's ok to say it's a pretty game (it is) or that you liked the story/setting (subjective) but to try and say the gameplay systems were clever or anything other than mindless QTE's is just wrong. It plays like something you'd expect to see in a moblie game given the limitations of the input methods available on that platform.

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I enjoyed it. It was a solid brawler.

Would've enjoyed a co-op campaign even more.

 

[ghostcrew]

I enjoyed it. It was a solid brawler.

Would've enjoyed a co-op campaign even more.

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Did you play the co-op arena at all? I ended up with about 25hrs just in that mode. Was surprisingly fun!

 

[Piggus]

Played for an hour and got intensely bored. It's a very pretty game, but the gameplay just isn't for me.

 

[Remo Williams]

This is the thing though, the animations were getting EXTREMELY repetitive and just placing more emphasis on the enemies (which hardly ever changed, it felt like the same 3-4 enemies for most of the game) didn't help. The presentation of it never came out well and while the idea of getting EXP for these cool QTE kills was neat: the fact that the animation continued and there was no real risk from an incorrect prompt just made the whole thing feel like a janky button-mash fest.

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Again, when playing on the hardest difficulty (because the game is quite easy otherwise) you can't really afford to mess a lot of executions up, and you'll be genuinely challenged throughout. The arena battles, either solo or in co-op, also get quite messy after a while. But I understand that many people didn't get to experience the game at its best because Crytek locked the good stuff behind the requirement to beat the whole game on less satisfying difficulties. A terrible decision, I'd say, and the whole game just needed to be balanced differently.

 

[erlim]

Have it on steam, really enjoy it. Between this and Quantum Break, and indies like Cuphead, I find it quite ridiculous that Microsoft doesn't get more respect for its exclusive lineup. Honestly I've enjoyed Quantum Break and Ryse more than any Sony exclusive I've played this gen.

 

[Flagship]

Again, when playing on the hardest difficulty (because the game is quite easy otherwise) you can't really afford to mess a lot of executions up, and you'll be genuinely challenged throughout. The arena battles, either solo or in co-op, also get quite messy after a while. But I understand that many people didn't get to experience the game at its best because Crytek locked the good stuff behind the requirement to beat the whole game on less satisfying difficulties. A terrible decision, I'd say, and the whole game just needed to be balanced differently.

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Fair enough, i can imagine the role of that being much better for a harder difficulty, I felt like I had a similar issue with the Uncharted series (playing it on hard just made the game feel super generic with no room for experimentation) and the last of us by playing it on easy and the stakes just weren't there for me.

However I dunno if I'd enough of Ryse's combat aspects as much at a higher difficulty. It doesn't need to be platinum style or anything, but I'd say something like For Honour is the ideal modern standard for something like this now (feels great, intricate, versatile and weighty).

Buuuut I do have this fond memory of briefly playing the co-op mode once with someone online, I just remember we were both taunting like crazy haha and again all the things going on in the Colosseum looked amazing!

 

[TheOldestGamer]

I think the sequel would have been named Ryzen

 

[TinTuba47]

It's totally fun to play. Not the best game ever, but has its own feel to it

 

[TheBaldwin]

Hate for the game just came because of controversy surrounding the xbox one as a whole

Its a fun game. Decent story and set pieces, fun and simple combat, stunning visuals, and a fun co op mode with a campaign that doesnt outstay its welcome

Its not exactly a hidden gem, but i got it on steam for like £3 and got a good experience from it

Honestly just makes me desperate for a game set in rome. Could be amazing

And yeah when i first saw the god of war trailer i was like 'wow this looks alot like ryse '