3 reviews liked by Donnie


The perfect balance of puzzle like world design ( as in the Metroid Games ) while still incorporating mysterious lore and atmospheric sceneries ( as in the Ori Games ) are proof for an ideal setting of a challenging but highly motivating metroidvania experience.

I got to admit that I've never been as addicted in finding new ways and skills as in the dark soils of the insect infested Hallownest. Speaking of parasites, the presentation and behaviour of every single enemy is unique, creepy and often surprising.

Throwing you into the game without any reliable maps and targets, topped by the souls-like gameplay make this a new benchmark of all future games of the subgenre.

And even though the game doesn't deliver an exceptional enganging story and lacks a lot of action adventure elements like the marvellous "Will of the Wisps", it focuses just enough on the main mv-core elements to get you exhausted and hooked in an intoxicating rush from start to finish.

Hilarious writing, immersive battle mechanics, enchanting presentation, diverse world design. All important aspects for a great role play adventure are turned to 11 in one of the very best NGC gems.

Don’t get fooled by the cute and simple looking gameplay, the fights deliver exceptional tactical depth with mechanics and possibilities that get never explained by the game, but are just for the player to be revelated (for example that the fog that makes the attacks of all fighters go into the blue can be blown away by Madame Flurrie with a perfect timing that the enemies take all the disadvantages that come with this event.)

The exceptional turn-based gameplay is perfectly met by the level’s riddles, reaction required events and metroidvania-like exploring elements. The world and their characters are as much alive as they are made out of paper, which is a triumph in itself.

The timeless art style does not age and the catchy score supports the magical and often mysterious atmosphere which is just the icing of the top of a great main story and the diverse and exciting sub-plots of all regions that you will visit on your journey through this delicious adventure.

10 out of 10: In my opinion the best JRPG and turn-based game of all time!

Nioh

2017

Challenging but fantastic Soulsbourne action RPG.

You play the role of William, an Irish pirate imprisoned by the English after his usefulness was up on their quest to gain hold of Amrita, a spirit stone granting great power they wish to use against the Spanish in their current war. On his attempted escape William has his personal spirit stolen by am English agent called Edward Kelley who then heads to Japan to fuel a civil war and gain more Amrita, William obviously then gives chase to find a country of spirits and demons.

The story is....not good. It's ham fisted with a pretty ridiculous almost anime villain though I found it interesting they are based on real historical figures who did indeed travel to Japan in the 1600s (William Adams was actually declared a Samurai by the Shogun of Japan Ieyasu Tokugawa for his help). The story is mostly there just to push William from mission to mission which frankly is fine because it's the gameplay where Nioh shines.

Nioh has a mission screen that allows the player to choose which areas to go, either main missions or side quests depending on William's strength and equipment at the time. Each level is full of various enemies from normal samurai to oni (demons) including horned creatures, sentient parasols among others. The battles are excellent though tough, a lot of the enemies will hit hard and if you just hack and slash in, you will die. Nioh, like it's influence Dark Souls, requires a little bit of strategy to make the most of it such as learning enemy attack patterns, knowing when to block, dodge or attack as well as taking advantage of the huge amount of items and skills available to win.

What really separates it from Dark Souls though are...well several things. Firstly there is a large amount of weapons such as swords, spears, axes and some more unusual like the ninja's Kurasigama (Like a hook and chain). Each weapon has upgradable abilities like extra moves which you can customize to suit your playstyle I rather like. Regardless of weapon though, each has three stances you can swap between on the fly. High stance deals more damage but is slower, low is faster for dodging but deals less damage and of course the middle is the best of both worlds. The fact that every weapon can swap between these stances depending on what you are fighting is a fantastic addition.

Secondly is that when players die they leave a bloody grave in other players games in the same location. If you so choose, you can then summon an AI version of the player to fight in the chance to get some of their gear which is a great take on the Dark Souls death messages. (There is a really clever enemy tied to this as well) Speaking of gear, the amount of flexibility with it is great. It seems to be mostly random loot but each gear set has bonuses as well as abilities that boost William. Most of which can be changed or even moved from piece to piece when fused together allowing players to really efficiently optimize their equipment for a certain style. Want to go full ninja throwing shuriken everywhere? Or use full magic powers? A little of everything? No problem.

Lastly is Ki. This is your stamina, everything you do from blocking to attacking takes away Ki, in Nioh though after you finish an attack you can Ki pulse to get a lot of it back after you attack. The timing takes some getting used to but in certain fights it can really help to keep you alive if you can master it.

Aside from combat, visuals and audio to Nioh are also great. It's quite a dark game with Japan in a war with demons roaming around but it gives a fantastic atmosphere with period Japanese buildings, shrines and themes everywhere. The graphics wont blow you away but they do look great and the game even has options on prioritizing framerate or resolution which is pretty neat and rare for a console. On the audio side the voice acting is mostly in Japanese but its very good and the music is excellent fitting with the period and the action....except for the end credits theme which is one of the worst songs ever and so out of place with everything else it's crazy. Seriously look it up on youtube, it's awful.

So with all this praise why only four stars? Well it does have a few issues. There are some really cool enemies in Nioh that are fun to fight for sure. There simply aren't enough. The variety is sorely lacking and I found myself fighting the same enemies in the final mission as I was fighting in the very first I would have thought would be phased out by that point which can be a bit boring. My biggest gripe with Nioh though is the bosses. They are hard, now I'm fine with that, I love challenging games but I didn't think they were balanced. A lot of them can just one shot kill you regardless of heavy, medium or light armor and they generally have pretty huge range and are incredibly aggressive sometimes barely giving a chance to heal. There is no back and forth learning their attacks even if they hit hard and fighting them solo without a co-op companion to by you a few breathing seconds can be pretty frustrating.

These complaints however don't ruin the game, I would highly recommend it to both action fans and some RPG fans, especially Dark Souls players. The game took me about 90 hours to beat overall going for the platinum trophy. It has a ton of content with a lot of missions, co-op multiplayer, bosses and different weapons and styles to try out so it's certainly good value for money and well worth your time. Looking forward to trying announced Nioh 2.

Recommended.

+ Characters based on historical figures is a nice little touch.
+ Combat system is brilliant.
+ Different stances and Ki pulsing are a great implementation.
+ Great value for money.
+ Great art, graphics and audio....

-.....except the end credits theme song which is strangely abysmal.
- Story is pretty bad.
- Needs greater enemy variety.
- Bosses aren't greatly balanced.