head to head
vs
Metal Gear: Ghost BabelvsShadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Metal Gear: Ghost BabelShadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 6
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun leans harder on execution: Precise timing windows on simultaneous multi-character abilities matter
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 3
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun leans harder on variance: Guard cone randomness is minimal once patterns are learned
Optimization9 vs 8
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel leans harder on optimization: Rank system pushes fully optimized, no-alert perfect runs.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.