Ronin Two Souls, developed by the indigenous M11 Studio, tells the story of Kenji, who recently lost his master and as a result had to continue his efforts to become a samurai on his own.
Since it is a role-playing game at hand, they promise that we will see the results of the decisions we make and the friendships we make throughout the game in the future, and we will face the consequences of the choices we make. One of the most important things that distinguishes an ECT today from the rest is this election-result cycle. However, since the game that came out of Early Access at the end of May will be released in episodes and we only have the first part, there is no content in the game at the level where we can see the resulting part of the work. According to the choices we make, the dialogues that directly concern that election change, of course, but the spread of this throughout the narrative is one of the most important factors that will determine the success of a game like Ronin. I’m afraid it’s not possible to comment on that yet.
The second important factor in a role-playing game is character development and the interface associated with it, of course. Ronin’s interface was an interface that I liked quite a lot in general, the keys are simple. The designs are simple and pleasing to the eye. The word “plain” can also be used for character development, we have statistics such as armor, health, endurance, agility, damage, we can increase them with what we wear and the weapon we wear. There is a lot of signs of empowerment in our enemies, at least not within the framework of the first chapter, and without different types of enemies, you quickly become the strongest on the island. The game needs a gradual challenge curve in the first place.
Of course, games that fail to offer a diverse enemy repertoire also have a chance to break the repetition by offering the player a variety of mechanics and different tools or capabilities that use them on site. Ronin, who blocked enemy attacks at the right time and counter-attacked as much as our resilience allows, wanted to make a difference by offering the player 3 different stances. With our first stance, we swing swords from top to bottom, bottom-up with the second, and we stab with the third.
There’s no difference in function between these strokes, so I think that’s the part that needs to be replaced first. For example, there is no noticeable difference between the effect speeds and the character’s post-impact recovery times, and the difference between their range is that the stud movement reaches a click further. Naturally, the most advantageous choice in this case is to use continuous stubs and not touch other movements.
In addition, our enemies always attack us using the first posture and always avoid their blows by pressing the right button. Of course, we can assume that the enemies we encounter in the first episode are low-level fighters like Kenji who have not been trained as samurai, but such things should not affect the richness of fights, as they undermine the entertainment factor. Using a stone-paper-scissors system in which we plan enemies to use different postures and block different postures in different ways is a step towards breaking the repetition. Depending on the posture used by the enemy, the possibilities in-fight will be greatly increased, although details such as ours inflicting bonus damage on its durability or some postures being more easily avoided by some enemies are added. Let me add that I find our arenas surrounded by invisible walls a little too narrow and I think our range of action should increase.
Note: The game’s roadmap says new combo mechanics will be added, but no details have been provided. I didn’t know what was coming/not to come, so I made some humble suggestions.
The island of Toshi, where you can quickly reach our playground by running from one end to the other, is also well-stocked, appealing to the aesthetic taste of the person. The visual beauty of the island is the most striking point of the game, the variety of vegetation in the surrounding area, the oscillating of the grass in the wind, the color of the sky in the moments of sunrise and sunset, things that strengthen the atmosphere of the game. The power of visuals adds plus points from the first minute to the discovery factor. Character modeling is not bad except for the faces of the characters, anyway the majority of dialogues are not voiced, there is no need to contract gestures or anything, but I think there is a serious need to work on face models. Because there’s a serious contrast between the beauty of the island and the characters.
Ronin’s first episode, which lasted about three hours, wasn’t bad, despite its shortcomings. He manages to move himself and make him smile with his “surprise eggs” interspersed around. Of course, the RYO, which was intended at this very early stage, has not yet been reached, but some good foundations have been laid. I’m following for myself.
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