Nioh and Nioh 2

[Chopper]

Have you come to the bit yet where you're Benny Hill-ing around the place with the Yokai in hot pursuit? Not so elegant then...

I'm away for the week but can't wait to get back to it. So far I've maybe beaten one boss out of four fairly. Cheesed one and semi-cheesed (spear) another. Quite happy about that!

[Todinho]

Man another aspect of the game that is outstanding are the 1-1 duels man that's something that sits perfectly between the Hunters of BloodBorne and say The Winds of destruction of Metal Gear Rising, those fights are so good just you and another human(well AI but you know what I mean) I highly recommend seeking them out like the duel with muneshige and the second tutorials of Ninjutsu and Fighting they are really worth it, today I just fought Li Naomasa and man that felt good, he totally destroyed me at first but I kept improving and finnaly took him down,not only that but I loved the fight so much I just rematched him straight away XD also thanks to that Im rocking the Coolest looking armor in the game,So worth it!

[Todinho]

Nice video I found if you are hurting for money in the game: [youtube]qP6BOwoALNg&t=277s[/youtube]

[Todinho]

Nice video I found if you are hurting for money in the game:

[Chopper]

As a matter of interest, what are you spending the money on? I don't see anything in the blacksmith shop that isn't inferior to what I picked up in the previous level, for example.

I'm still very early in the game though.

[Todinho]

Mainly Spirit fusion,also reforging. Spirit fusion allows you to sacrfice a higher level weapon to up the level(and stats) of another weapon that you have and is pretty usefull if you have a really good purple weapon that you like but that the damage is going down as you play,with this you can sacrifice any higher level white weapon you got to get that purple up to date. Reforging is also usefull because it allows you to re-rolls the buffs the weapon or armor gives you so you can re-roll a buff that you dont find very usefull. The things the blacksmith forges does improves over time though and while most of what she will be able to make are weapons you've already seen,if you have the right materials,she can make better versions of them.

[Chopper]

Thanks Todinho, just getting back to the game tonight.

I'm only getting half the benefit out of it really, because I'm not bothering with all the extras such as combos, switching stance mid-attack etc, I just don't have the energy for that kind of thing. I have something like 30 unspent samurai points at this stage

I read your final thoughts with interest, it's pretty great that the combat can be so nuanced. I'll probably not bother with it though

[Todinho]

Thanks Todinho, just getting back to the game tonight.

I'm only getting half the benefit out of it really, because I'm not bothering with all the extras such as combos, switching stance mid-attack etc, I just don't have the energy for that kind of thing. I have something like 30 unspent samurai points at this stage

I read your final thoughts with interest, it's pretty great that the combat can be so nuanced. I'll probably not bother with it though

The games systems can be a bit overwhelming at first but I do recommend you to spend those samurai points and trying to get a little bit in those combos,they sound alot more complicated then they actually are none of the combos are super hard to pull off if anything I recommed spending points on the samurai trees because they can also give you passives like increase your Ki,etc. Also I cant stress how good the kick combo is,it's a simple SQUARE SQUARE TRIANGLE but the kick really helps drain the Ki of your enemies which is perfect to create openings so you can swing away at them with abandon. If you're commited to not engage with that side of the game at all the Axe seems to be the best weapon for that because it's super high damage per strike and also unlike dark souls weapons dont add to your equip load so you can wield a huge battle axe and wear light armor and still be dodgy with your Ki reloading faster.

[Styrman]

Nioh went under my radar until recently.
The similarities to Soulsborne sparked my interest, and I bought it on Playstation Store the day before release.

Oh boy, Im glad I did.
Haven't had this much fun since Bloodborne. The combat is just so damn good, and the customization options with skills and different stances just adds to the fun.

I recommended it to a friend who also fell in love with it, and we've played through it helping each other back and fourth whenever neccessery, and just having a blast.
Co-op kinda broke the difficulty though, so while I enjoy it, I do like that you have to complete a level before being able to help others on it.

Can't wait for the dlc now!

[James]

Polished this off a few days ago now. I was all set to roll into NG+ and try for the Platinum, but then the Switch arrived and I was distracted by the shiny, shiny!

Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Nioh. It became less and less like a Souls game the further I went, and the more I opened up combat options. I settled on the Kusarigama early on and was quickly demolishing pretty much everything with it. The combat was the draw for me - fast and fun!

[Chopper]

I'm in the third area now, and am happy to report that I'm both forging items and using Todinho's gold run video

Still not blocking or using combos, except inadvertantly when William does an unexpected backflip or glorious move as a result of my button mashing.

There have been periods where I've started it up reluctantly - I prefer to play one game to completion rather than have multiple games on the go - in order to power through, but I'm enjoying it a lot.

[Sean]

Still not blocking or using combos, except inadvertantly when William does an unexpected backflip or glorious move as a result of my button mashing.

Haha, I use some combos, but, it rules when William randomly does some crazy flips.

Kinda digging how long this game is. I keep thinking I'm getting close to the end, but, nope.

[Chopper]

It's long! I'm just entering the fifth area now.

I'm really enjoying the level design - taking an essentially linear game and having some fun with it. Particularly liked

Spoiler: show

Edo castle: sewers (oh no, sewers!) progressing to an open area with an optional bit of scaffolding which seems to have only been put there so you can drop attack a Yokai, to a series of box type rooms some of which you can see into through slats in the wall ahead of entry, some of which you have to go in blind. They did a lot with little there, not to mention the non-respawning enemies which was a nice touch

[Chopper]

Well, they've ruined it.

A huge boss with glowing weak spots that you have to destroy in order to temporarily expose another weak spot.....whyyyy?

This ranks up there with the Mass Effect 2 boss, possibly worse from an unexpectedness/ruining the game perspective

[Stanshall]

I got a lot out of this for about a week, twenty or thirty hours and then...nothing...no desire to carry on.

I think it was the realisation/sense that raw numbers mean much more than skill. I also started to find it very repetitive. I'll go back one day but it's slipped right out of rotation.

[Todinho]

As a counter to your "numbers matter more then skill" I'll just leave Epicnamebro's Level one run :

[KSubzero1000]

After endlessly waiting for a complete physical release that is seemingly never going to happen (what a time to be alive!), I've picked this up in the recent sale and gave it a go.

This... is a good game. Potentially a great one. ...Team Ninja making a good game? What is this, 2004?

Anyway, I'm having a blast. Combat is delightfully weighty. Level design is superb (thank GOD it's not open world). The overall aesthetics are simply wonderful. The only issue I'm having so far is with the weapon system. I would much prefer a streamlined Ninja Gaiden-style system with only a few customizable weapons per type instead of all the dead weight and crafting present here. But the positives outweigh the negative(s) by far.

I'll never forgive them for NG3, but this might very well end up as one of my favorite games of the generation if the beginning is anything to go by.

Looking forward to spending a lot of time with this over the course of the following weeks.

[Alex79]

First impressions? Does it stand up to the inevitable Souls comparisons? I'm tempted to give it a try.

[KSubzero1000]

Basically, I would say it's halfway between a character action game and Dark Souls. The combat is a lot more technical and nuanced. The game is structured in the form of individually selected missions with their own unique levels, instead of an interconnected world like in Dark Souls. But the levels themselves are well designed. The story is told in a much more straightforward fashion, without the subtle environmental storytelling of the Souls games.

If you like character action games and find the setting appealing, it might be worth looking into.

Also, you might want to read through the older posts in this thread to see what others had to say when it came out last year.


Hope this helps!

[KSubzero1000]

Played a lot more of this over the past few days. Some cracks are starting to appear.

I think this game is plagued by a core identity crisis. It tries to be Ninja Gaiden, Dark Souls & Diablo at the same time, and that unfortunately means that the contradictory systems often end up devaluing each other. The combat is really good, but the importance given to raw stats over skill-based techniques means it doesn't always feel as rewarding as it could. The game is a bit too forgiving and it encourages grinding to the point where the Souls-esque type of tension it goes for often falls flat.

As a huge fan of both Ninja Gaiden and Dark Souls, it feels to me like this game tries to tick all the superficial boxes without understanding the specific structures that make those games tick.

I think the overcomplicated weapons / loot system is by far the biggest issue. NG2 has 8 different melee weapons, each with their own unique movesets, abilities, pros and cons. Every one of those is memorable and easily available. Nioh has 7 different melee weapon types, including DLC, each with dozens of minor variations who only differ in terms of stats and random modifiers. I don't feel connected to any specific piece of equipment when I regularly have to sell hundreds of useless junk after very mission. It means absolutely nothing to be gifted a sword said to be a valuable treasure as reward for completing a mission when you end up finding 5 more of the exact same type as random enemy drops in the next mission. The entire system is tedious and lack any meaningful choices.

The cutscenes are usually really nice, but the game tends to throw way too many poorly developed characters at you and it's very easy to lose track of who's who.

I like this game, I really do. If only for the solid core combat and level design. But it tries to do way too much for its own good.


I'm slowly but surely starting to become very anxious about the future of the action genre if most of its titles in recent years are either shallow and/or overly scripted affairs (Uncharted, NG3, RE7, hopefully not the new GoW), or spreading themselves way too thin with filler RPG-style content (Monster Hunter, Nier: Automata, Nioh, even Yakuza to an extent). Where are the deep and curated experiences with fantastic replay value from past generations? Where are this generation's NGB, or God Hand, or Metroid Prime?

At least Bayonetta is still hanging in there.