History YMMV / RyseSonOfRome

* DesignatedVillain: You can't exactly blame the Britons for wanting to be free of their Roman oppressors, especially Boudica, since [[spoiler:Commodus killed her father]]. Boudica even brings up the fact that the Britons never asked for the Romans to invade them, and Vitallion and Marius, for their part, feel that Rome's oppressive treatment of Britannia is basically preventing their two nations from ever making peace.

'''You'd Expect:''' Marius to [[ShutUpHannibal bluntly state that the Gods are already angered by Nero's atrocities]] and KillHimAlready. Admittedly, the historical Nero ''did'' think it was BetterToDieThanBeKilled, but judging by the countless artistic licenses this game has already taken, [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade this version of Nero is clearly too cowardly to do that]], and if Marius kills him now, he'll be able to install a benevolent Senate to undo all the depravities that Nero has carried out.

** By the end of the game, Marius has killed [[RoyalBrat both Basilius and Commodus]], slain [[WarriorPrincess Boudica]] and reduced the barbarians to a DecapitatedArmy, and now he and Nero are alone together in the Emperor's bolt hole, where Marius has made it pretty clear that he wants {{Revenge}} on Nero for murdering his family, betraying his legion, and sabotaging their attempts to make peace with the Britons. Nero, [[AintTooProudToBeg not being too proud to beg]], pleads with Marius to remember the Oracle stated that [[NoManOfWomanBorn Nero can only die by his own sword]], and asks for Marius to give him his dagger so that he can [[FaceDeathWithDignity die like an emperor even if he never lived like one]], because if Marius kills Nero himself, [[GodIsDispleased he'll anger the Gods]].

'''The Result:''' Not only do the Britons instigate a murderous riot against every Roman in York (which Commodus only escapes by seizing the imperial warship and getting out of dodge like the DirtyCoward he is), but Boudica gathers her army and attacks Rome directly to avenge her father. Also, thanks to Marius realizing that Nero was behind his family's murder all along, he too swears revenge, and adopts the guise of [[RevenantZombie Damocles]] to follow Commodus back to Rome and kill him and the rest of his family one by one. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Awesome work, Commodus]]!

** After rescuing General Commodus from being burnt alive in a wicker man, Marius and Vitallion return to York where King Oswald and Boudica are being held prisoner, in an attempt to negotiate peace terms with the Britons. King Oswald is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, and asks Commodus only that his people be treated as equals by the Romans.
'''You'd Expect:''' Commodus to realize that if he does anything to anger the Britons any further, he'll ruin any chances of Rome and Britannia ever making peace, and countless innocents will suffer in the crossfire. Therefore, the wisest decision would be to agree to a peace treaty and leave the Britons be. Lest we forget, Commodus tried subjugating the Britons at the start of the game, and he ended up being captured and sent north of the wall to be a HumanSacrifice for the Picts.
-->'''Instead:''' Commodus [[BaitTheDog opens his arms to embrace Oswald]]... [[spoiler:and then [[StupidEvil stabs him to death, repeatedly, for revolting against him in the first place]], right in front of a crowd of Britons ''and Oswald's formidable warrior daughter'']].
-->'''Even Worse:''' He holds out the dagger that he [[spoiler:stabs Oswald with]], enabling Marius to recognize Nero's seal on the dagger's hilt and recognize it as the same weapon that his family was killed with. ''And then'' he has the sheer audacity to tell the Britons that [[AGodAmI he and his father Nero are gods]] and [[KneelBeforeZod the Britons must kneel before them as they would before the gods]].
-->'''Result:''' Not only do the Britons instigate a murderous riot against every Roman in York (which Commodus only escapes by seizing the imperial warship and getting out of dodge like the DirtyCoward he is), but Boudica gathers her army and attacks Rome directly to avenge her father. Also, thanks to Marius realizing that Nero was behind his family's murder all along, he too swears revenge, and adopts the guise of [[RevenantZombie Damocles]] to follow Commodus back to Rome and kill him and the rest of his family one by one. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Awesome work, Commodus]]!

'''Instead:''' Commodus [[BaitTheDog opens his arms to embrace Oswald]]... [[spoiler:and then [[StupidEvil stabs him to death, repeatedly, for revolting against him in the first place]], right in front of a crowd of Britons ''and Oswald's formidable warrior daughter'']].
'''Even Worse:''' He holds out the dagger that he [[spoiler:stabs Oswald with]], enabling Marius to recognize Nero's seal on the dagger's hilt and recognize it as the same weapon that his family was killed with. ''And then'' he has the sheer audacity to tell the Britons that [[AGodAmI he and his father Nero are gods]] and [[KneelBeforeZod the Britons must kneel before them as they would before the gods]].
'''Result:''' Not only do the Britons instigate a murderous riot against every Roman in York (which Commodus only escapes by seizing the imperial warship and getting out of dodge like the DirtyCoward he is), but Boudica gathers her army and attacks Rome directly to avenge her father. Also, thanks to Marius realizing that Nero was behind his family's murder all along, he too swears revenge, and adopts the guise of [[RevenantZombie Damocles]] to follow Commodus back to Rome and kill him and the rest of his family one by one. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Awesome work, Commodus]]!

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* DesignatedVillain: You can't exactly blame the Britons for wanting to be free of their Roman oppressors, especially Boudicca, since [[spoiler:Commodus killed her father]].

* Tearjerker:
** The murder of Marius' family at the start of the game. Really, you can't blame him for flipping his lid and swearing to KillEmAll (the barbarians who he deems responsible for it).

** The beastmen and their [[TheLostWoods lands]] "north of the Wall" certainly qualify. Depraved savages who seem to have regressed into death-worshipping monsters, their skull headdresses and penchant for ''flaming human sacrifices'' are bad enough. But ''where'' they are is a tangle of dead trees, mist, cliffs and half-glimpsed shadows that seem to be stalking Marius and his detachment. Taken together, it makes thir part of the game deeply unsettling.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Practically invoked for Marius and Boudica. They share all of five moments on-screen, [[spoiler: two of which involve their fighting against each other]], yet the end of their conflict has them both lamenting "In another life, perhaps".

* NightmareFuel: The beastmen and their [[TheLostWoods lands]] "north of the Wall" certainly qualify. Depraved savages who seem to have regressed into death-worshipping monsters, their skull headdresses and penchant for ''flaming human sacrifices'' are bad enough. But ''where'' they are is a tangle of dead trees, mist, cliffs and half-glimpsed shadows that seem to be stalking Marius and his detachment. Taken together, it makes thir part of the game deeply unsettling.

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' meets ''[[Film/ThreeHundred 300]]''.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Hands up: Who bought the game just so you could show off to your friends how pretty it is?
** The UK Official Xbox Magazine had a list of fake Xbox achievements. One of them was "Spent two hours examining the wall textures in ''Ryse''."

* PolishedPort: The PC version has support for widescreen resolutions, no framerate cap (except for an optional 30 frame cap), has all of the DLC that was in the Xbox version, and no microtransactions.

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* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Marius and Boudica. They share all of five moments on-screen, [[spoiler: two of which involve their fighting against each other]], yet the end of their conflict has them both lamenting "In another life, perhaps".

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Hands up: Who bought the game just so you could show off to your friends how pretty it is?

* BrokenBase: Whether the gratuitous ArtisticLicenseHistory and/or [[ArtisticLicenseMartialArts Martial Arts]] falls by the wayside due to RuleOfCool, or if it makes one's inner historian cry and/or rage.

** Commodus jumps across this when [[spoiler: he brutally stabs Oswald to death in front of his daughter and hundreds of his people, and then has the gall to demand that everyone kneel before him.]] Fortunately he gets [[KickTheSonOfABitch a rock to the face]] for his trouble.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: A ''major'' point of contention of the game is that it can be beaten in less than 5 hours.

* BrokenBase: Whether the gratuitous ArtisticLicenseHistory and/or [[ArtisticLicenseMartialArts Martial Arts]] falls by the wayside due to RuleOfCool, or if it makes one's inner historian cry and/or rage.