Its so difficult to describe my issue with Nioh in an intuitive way, but I guess I would say: if it feels more rewarding to underutilize or completely avoid components of your combat systems, youve probably designed your combat poorly. The Souls formula centers around oppressive conditions but Niohs mistake was putting all that oppressiveness in the player mechanics.
STOP DOING ARPG ELEMENTS
ITEMS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN RANDOM STATS
YEARS OF GAMES yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND FOR +3.5 Water Resistance
Wanted to do more damage in an action game? We had a method for that: It was called "GETTING GOOD"
"Yes please give me -4% Backstab Damage Taken. Please give me -8% Quick Attack Ki Usage"
-Statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged
LOOK at what gamedesigners have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the computersoftware WE built for them
"Hello I would like +3.8% Yokai Close Combat Damage"
They Have Played us for ABSOLUTE FOOLS...
ITEMS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN RANDOM STATS
YEARS OF GAMES yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND FOR +3.5 Water Resistance
Wanted to do more damage in an action game? We had a method for that: It was called "GETTING GOOD"
"Yes please give me -4% Backstab Damage Taken. Please give me -8% Quick Attack Ki Usage"
-Statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged
LOOK at what gamedesigners have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the computersoftware WE built for them
"Hello I would like +3.8% Yokai Close Combat Damage"
They Have Played us for ABSOLUTE FOOLS...
I love dark souls. I love Japan. Being a non-Japanese person who lived in Japan and learned a lot about the language in culture and worked there I loved the idea of Nioh. I absolutely hate the bonkers stamina pump mechanic and the logic for the enemies is some of the worst I've ever encountered in gaming. Stance idea has some promise but I don't have the patience to deal with this any time soon.
I really found this game pretty disappointing. The stunlocking is atrocious, many of the enemy mobs are just unfair and the bosses are simply ridiculous. I definitely despised those aspects as well as how the player can only summon with a consumable item. I did love the art style as well as the locations in the game. They were great, which did keep me playing.
Nioh is the best action RPG I've ever played. And I didn't think so itinially. I went through the entire game playing around with weapons, picking up whatever gear I found and just equipping anything based on numbers alone. And it was fun, though nothing exeptional, really.
Then I got to the DLC and tried out Way of the Demon... And Nioh became an absolutely different game. Now builds became incredibly important, and I spent hours and hours theorycrafting and assembling fun builds, looking for synergies and playing through the entire base game and all DLCs on this new difficulty. It was an incredibly addicting and fun experience, and elevated Nioh to one of my favorite games.
Then I got to the DLC and tried out Way of the Demon... And Nioh became an absolutely different game. Now builds became incredibly important, and I spent hours and hours theorycrafting and assembling fun builds, looking for synergies and playing through the entire base game and all DLCs on this new difficulty. It was an incredibly addicting and fun experience, and elevated Nioh to one of my favorite games.
Challenging and exhilarating.
The game combines intense combat, deep customization, and a richly detailed world inspired by Japanese history and mythology. Basically Dark Souls in Japan.
While it draws inspiration from the Soulsborne genre, Nioh manages to carve out its own identity with its distinct setting and mechanics, making it a standout title for fans of challenging action RPGs.
The game combines intense combat, deep customization, and a richly detailed world inspired by Japanese history and mythology. Basically Dark Souls in Japan.
While it draws inspiration from the Soulsborne genre, Nioh manages to carve out its own identity with its distinct setting and mechanics, making it a standout title for fans of challenging action RPGs.
A great gamed marred with some questionable design. This is a soulslike, but with much better combat and a random loot system similar to a looter. Level design isn't so great and none of the levels are interconnected. It's odd that you can't really make a build till around your third playthrough. The beginning is a bit too hard as well, it ends up being much easier later on because it's all about the power of your gear which you don't have much choice of early on. A bit too long as well.
Great game, it doesn't try to hold to all the tropes that come with the genre and pretty much does it's own thing, drinking deeply from japanese history to spin it's narratives and justifying all of it's mechanics in-universe.
Combat is simple to learn and hard to master, options galore both weapon and style-wise, ninjutsu, living weapon and onmyo (magic) are sewn into the main story in an interesting way that allows you to really use all the cards the game gives you.
The only bad thing that I can say about it is that the last story boss of the Omi region is quite weird and janky, some of the later stages tend to appeal to tricks and "gotchas" to keep players guessing, which can get tiring but it's somewhat understandable that it's there. Also the hardcore gearing for the NG+ is a complete madness, but that's extremely optional so get into it at your own peril.
Overall a great game that suffered from being launched into an oversaturated market of weird soulslikes at the time of it's release, but that it went above and beyond to do it's own thing and stand out as a full-fledged game. Really impressed by this one.
Combat is simple to learn and hard to master, options galore both weapon and style-wise, ninjutsu, living weapon and onmyo (magic) are sewn into the main story in an interesting way that allows you to really use all the cards the game gives you.
The only bad thing that I can say about it is that the last story boss of the Omi region is quite weird and janky, some of the later stages tend to appeal to tricks and "gotchas" to keep players guessing, which can get tiring but it's somewhat understandable that it's there. Also the hardcore gearing for the NG+ is a complete madness, but that's extremely optional so get into it at your own peril.
Overall a great game that suffered from being launched into an oversaturated market of weird soulslikes at the time of it's release, but that it went above and beyond to do it's own thing and stand out as a full-fledged game. Really impressed by this one.