head to head
vs
Middle-earth: Shadow of WarvsPhantasy Star Online
Middle-earth: Shadow of War leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Phantasy Star Online leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Middle-earth: Shadow of WarPhantasy Star Online
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 4
Middle-earth: Shadow of War leans harder on execution: Same counter-heavy combat as its predecessor
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance4 vs 5
Phantasy Star Online leans harder on variance: Rare drop hunting drives the loop
Optimization7 vs 7
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.