one of the best souls-like games out there, the balancing in the early levels are kinda bad but it does get better, the combat is actually really good and i liked the weapon/build variety that you can have in this game, you can actually understand the story of this game although i wouldn't suggest buying this game for the story, the gameplay does really go hard though, would highly recommend it if you like souls-like/souls games
Stinks
I fucking hate this game. There are literally 65 miles between two save points. There is no such thing as hit feeling, it feels like youre cutting the thin fucking air. Bosses are like sponges, killing them takes hours. But on the other hand, bosses kill you in about 2 strikes. Like what the fuck is this? There are hard games and cancer games. For example Dark Souls games are hard, but mostly fair. This game, is cancer. The Big C of the video games. This game is not fun, neither fair. Don't buy it.
Let's run a bad faith comparison just for the sake of the argument :
Diminish the admittedly inferior combat of Dark Souls and you still have a hell of a world - or half of it.
On the other hand, scrap Nioh's delicious skirmishes and you end up with, well, nothing.
Diminish the admittedly inferior combat of Dark Souls and you still have a hell of a world - or half of it.
On the other hand, scrap Nioh's delicious skirmishes and you end up with, well, nothing.
What if we sucked the life out dark souls with the largest black hole in the universe
as a big fan of souls games, i figured id try this game, seeing as its always praised as one of the better souls likes. playing this game (and many other souls likes), made me come to the conclusion that i just really like fromsoft games, and dont actually care for the souls formula that much.
Dull level design and very repetitive enemies.
too hard
Nioh is like if Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden had a baby – it's super satisfying to master the combat, but it's also brutally unforgiving. The loot system is addictive, and there's a ton of builds to mess with. The Japanese folklore setting is cool, but the story gets confusing fast, and the level design is kinda uninspired. If you like that hardcore challenge with a side of awesome samurai action, check it out. If not...maybe try something a little easier.
O jogo começa sensacional, ótimas mecânicas de combate até que... por que eu to fazendo missões genéricas com recompensas desprezíveis em mapas repetidos e coletando loot inútil visto que só um set importa ?
Really enjoyed the variety of weapons and the stance changes. Chi mechanic is very interesting and it has good boss and enemy designs. Definitely, the best non-Souls souls game I've played.
Desde el lanzamiento de "Demon Souls" y su sucesor espiritual "Dark Souls" en la pasada generación, muchos juegos persiguieron ese estilo de juego exigente con un gran lore oculto y grandes toques de RPG obteniendo, como era de esperarse, diferentes resultados. Aquellos menos exitosos pasaron al olvido absoluto por simplemente no intentar nada demasiado nuevo y no entender qué es lo que hace a la franquicia Souls-Borne tan buena e influyente.
También tenemos por el otro lado que todo el mundo empezó a ver en cualquier cosa una copia de Dark Souls, ya sea por su dificultad, por su estilo de Hack And Slash o simplemente por no contarte su historia a la cara. En este marco ya podemos ver que es lo que ocurrio en 2017 cuando salio a la venta "Nioh"; Podemos decir sin problemas que este trabajo toma clara inspiracion de los Souls y Bloodborne sin problemas. Pero, sin embargo, es crucial no comparar todos estos nombres con NiOh porque, al final, no solo logra desprenderse de estas mismas influencias sino que, a su vez, logra formar su propia identidad.
La historia del juego nos traslada al mundo de los samuráis, aunque, graciosamente, el protagonista es occidental. En este caso nos pondremos en la piel de "William Adams", que para los que les suene el nombre este personaje esta inspirado en navegante/pirata historico, y cuyo aspecto recordara inevitablemente al bueno de Geralt de Rivia. El punto de partida de la trama nace en pleno conflicto de los ingleses con España y la conocida "Armada Invencible". Para derrotar a dicha tropa hispánica, los británicos se hacen con un compuesto llamado "Amrita" (Que sera uno de los elementos cruciales en la jugabilidad) para salir victoriosos de esta refriega. Este particular dato llega a William quien sera aprisionado para posteriormente perder a su propio espíritu (Lo que vendrían a ser una especies de Stands para que nos entendamos), tras su liberación William se embarcara a las costas japonesas, donde el aprendizaje de las artes samuráis tendrá una importancia vital a lo largo del desarrollo de la aventura, ya que constantemente estamos aprendiendo nuevas artes (De mano de diversos personajes) que nos sirvan para eliminar a los enemigos, ya sean humanos de un ejército antagonista o demonios (Llamados "Yokais" en este juego) de todo tipo. Apesar de su premisa inicial se nota que la historia no es el aspecto más interesante del juego, sobretodo porque su narrativa realmente es, por momentos, confusa y no ayuda mucho tampoco que las cinemáticas no digan mucho del mundo o de los Yokais; Como es tendencia en muchos juegos esto queda a lectura dentro del apartado informativo pero tampoco es que nos digan mucho, incluso se nos obligaran a completar cierta cantidad de veces algunas misiones (Las cuales ni siquiera lo dice) para descubrir algunos detalles, que en algunas ocasiones llegan a ser triviales.
Si hablamos de la estructura jugable Nioh está dividido en niveles discretos y únicos. A diferencia de los Souls-Borne aquí no hay un único mapa interconectado separado solo por otros mundos que también estén interconectados, sino que, las locaciones apesar de que algunos son de un tamaño considerable, están separadas entre si ya que están pensadas para jugarse y rejugarse al estilo "Dishonored" o "Monster Hunter", estos ejemplos son perfectos, pues, al igual que los anteriores dos juegos mencionas el rejugar esto niveles nos puede dar loots cada vez mejor o encontraremos secretos que no habíamos visto antes.
El combate es lo más refinado que podríamos encontrar en los últimos años. NiOh conecta y no te suelta ni un segundo con este baile de distancias, riesgos, poses de combate y recompensas que es su sistema de lucha. Pocas veces encontrarás en un videojuego un sistema de combate más justo y fugaz que el que aquí se despliega. Disponemos de tres posturas (alta, media y baja) para utilizar cada arma (Un total de 9, con 3 siendo de disparo y el resto cuerpo a cuerpo), lo que cambia el tipo de golpes y el tiempo que tardamos en ejecutar cada uno de ellos. Así, la postura alta hace más daño, pero tarda más en ejecutar cada movimiento y a su vez es la que gastara mas energía (O Ki como le nombran aquí). La baja nos permite esquivar con más rapidez y podemos realizar muchos más ataques, lo que puede venirnos de perlas para determinados enemigos aunque con cada ataque hagamos menos daño pero también con el beneficio de que no gasta tanta energía.
tenemos un sistema de rareza por colores que nos ayudara a determinar qué objetos son mejores, además de las ventajas y atributos que nos otorga cada pieza (Que solo podremos utilizar si tenemos el nivel adecuado). Las armas cuerpo a cuerpo están divididas en espadas, katanas, katanas dobles, lanzas, hachas y kusarigamas (una hoz con cadena que es muy típica en Japón porque en el gustado hay variedad). Pero hay mucho más, como los artilugios ninja tipo shurikens, kunais, etc... que podemos lanzar a nuestros enemigos hasta magias elementales o venenos. El abanico de armaduras también es sorprendentemente variado y el diseño de todas es tan atractivo que siempre estamos deseando encontrar nuevo equipo y coleccionarlo.
Por último, tenemos uno de los grandes detalles que elevan al juego que son "Los Espíritus Guardianes", una de las grandes aportaciones de este NiOh. Hay un gran número de familiares y su mayoría se consiguen a través de misiones secundarias. A diferencia de lo que muchos piensan en un principio, no solo despliegan el arma viva (una forma de nuestra arma que realiza más daño), sino que producen efectos positivos en nuestro estilo de lucha, por lo que deberemos elegir el que sea más afín para cada circunstancia. Los hay para todo tipo de ocasión, como "Fuse-Ushi", un toro que nos dará una buena inyección de vida; "Itokuri", por si queremos elevar la suerte en la aparición de objetos; "Yatagarsu", un halcón que nos beneficia en armas de largo alcance; o el mejor de todos "Suzaku", un fénix capaz de resucitarnos a 1 de vida si morimos.
Más allá de la pura técnica, NiOh es capaz de ofrecer bellos entornos con detalles y efectos muy llamativos para en algunos momentos pasar por lugares que gráficamente dejan muchísimo que desear. El objetivo más importante, sin embargo, está conseguido. Capta perfectamente los entornos tanto de un antiguo Japón feudal como de uno fantasmagórico y onírico. Mi principal queja es que se centra mucho en escenarios nocturnos, dejando pocas escenarios que se puedan recorrer mientras vemos la luz del sol.
El sonido recoge perfectamente muchos efectos para las armas y los choques de armaduras, siendo altamente reactivo. Se nota que está al servicio del combate en todo momento, para producir respuestas sonoras a cada una de nuestras acciones que nos ayuden a identificar si nuestro impacto ha tenido éxito o se ha bloqueado. Aunque lamentablemente, se echan de menos algunas melodías personales para los jefes, y especialmente hay algunos efectos de sonido particularmente molestos.
Team Ninja mostro con Nioh que el secreto para hacer algo más que un simple clon de Dark Souls está en animarse a ser diferente, y hacerlo con confianza, esperemos que mas gente como ellos o los creadores de God Of War de 2018 aparezcan.
También tenemos por el otro lado que todo el mundo empezó a ver en cualquier cosa una copia de Dark Souls, ya sea por su dificultad, por su estilo de Hack And Slash o simplemente por no contarte su historia a la cara. En este marco ya podemos ver que es lo que ocurrio en 2017 cuando salio a la venta "Nioh"; Podemos decir sin problemas que este trabajo toma clara inspiracion de los Souls y Bloodborne sin problemas. Pero, sin embargo, es crucial no comparar todos estos nombres con NiOh porque, al final, no solo logra desprenderse de estas mismas influencias sino que, a su vez, logra formar su propia identidad.
La historia del juego nos traslada al mundo de los samuráis, aunque, graciosamente, el protagonista es occidental. En este caso nos pondremos en la piel de "William Adams", que para los que les suene el nombre este personaje esta inspirado en navegante/pirata historico, y cuyo aspecto recordara inevitablemente al bueno de Geralt de Rivia. El punto de partida de la trama nace en pleno conflicto de los ingleses con España y la conocida "Armada Invencible". Para derrotar a dicha tropa hispánica, los británicos se hacen con un compuesto llamado "Amrita" (Que sera uno de los elementos cruciales en la jugabilidad) para salir victoriosos de esta refriega. Este particular dato llega a William quien sera aprisionado para posteriormente perder a su propio espíritu (Lo que vendrían a ser una especies de Stands para que nos entendamos), tras su liberación William se embarcara a las costas japonesas, donde el aprendizaje de las artes samuráis tendrá una importancia vital a lo largo del desarrollo de la aventura, ya que constantemente estamos aprendiendo nuevas artes (De mano de diversos personajes) que nos sirvan para eliminar a los enemigos, ya sean humanos de un ejército antagonista o demonios (Llamados "Yokais" en este juego) de todo tipo. Apesar de su premisa inicial se nota que la historia no es el aspecto más interesante del juego, sobretodo porque su narrativa realmente es, por momentos, confusa y no ayuda mucho tampoco que las cinemáticas no digan mucho del mundo o de los Yokais; Como es tendencia en muchos juegos esto queda a lectura dentro del apartado informativo pero tampoco es que nos digan mucho, incluso se nos obligaran a completar cierta cantidad de veces algunas misiones (Las cuales ni siquiera lo dice) para descubrir algunos detalles, que en algunas ocasiones llegan a ser triviales.
Si hablamos de la estructura jugable Nioh está dividido en niveles discretos y únicos. A diferencia de los Souls-Borne aquí no hay un único mapa interconectado separado solo por otros mundos que también estén interconectados, sino que, las locaciones apesar de que algunos son de un tamaño considerable, están separadas entre si ya que están pensadas para jugarse y rejugarse al estilo "Dishonored" o "Monster Hunter", estos ejemplos son perfectos, pues, al igual que los anteriores dos juegos mencionas el rejugar esto niveles nos puede dar loots cada vez mejor o encontraremos secretos que no habíamos visto antes.
El combate es lo más refinado que podríamos encontrar en los últimos años. NiOh conecta y no te suelta ni un segundo con este baile de distancias, riesgos, poses de combate y recompensas que es su sistema de lucha. Pocas veces encontrarás en un videojuego un sistema de combate más justo y fugaz que el que aquí se despliega. Disponemos de tres posturas (alta, media y baja) para utilizar cada arma (Un total de 9, con 3 siendo de disparo y el resto cuerpo a cuerpo), lo que cambia el tipo de golpes y el tiempo que tardamos en ejecutar cada uno de ellos. Así, la postura alta hace más daño, pero tarda más en ejecutar cada movimiento y a su vez es la que gastara mas energía (O Ki como le nombran aquí). La baja nos permite esquivar con más rapidez y podemos realizar muchos más ataques, lo que puede venirnos de perlas para determinados enemigos aunque con cada ataque hagamos menos daño pero también con el beneficio de que no gasta tanta energía.
tenemos un sistema de rareza por colores que nos ayudara a determinar qué objetos son mejores, además de las ventajas y atributos que nos otorga cada pieza (Que solo podremos utilizar si tenemos el nivel adecuado). Las armas cuerpo a cuerpo están divididas en espadas, katanas, katanas dobles, lanzas, hachas y kusarigamas (una hoz con cadena que es muy típica en Japón porque en el gustado hay variedad). Pero hay mucho más, como los artilugios ninja tipo shurikens, kunais, etc... que podemos lanzar a nuestros enemigos hasta magias elementales o venenos. El abanico de armaduras también es sorprendentemente variado y el diseño de todas es tan atractivo que siempre estamos deseando encontrar nuevo equipo y coleccionarlo.
Por último, tenemos uno de los grandes detalles que elevan al juego que son "Los Espíritus Guardianes", una de las grandes aportaciones de este NiOh. Hay un gran número de familiares y su mayoría se consiguen a través de misiones secundarias. A diferencia de lo que muchos piensan en un principio, no solo despliegan el arma viva (una forma de nuestra arma que realiza más daño), sino que producen efectos positivos en nuestro estilo de lucha, por lo que deberemos elegir el que sea más afín para cada circunstancia. Los hay para todo tipo de ocasión, como "Fuse-Ushi", un toro que nos dará una buena inyección de vida; "Itokuri", por si queremos elevar la suerte en la aparición de objetos; "Yatagarsu", un halcón que nos beneficia en armas de largo alcance; o el mejor de todos "Suzaku", un fénix capaz de resucitarnos a 1 de vida si morimos.
Más allá de la pura técnica, NiOh es capaz de ofrecer bellos entornos con detalles y efectos muy llamativos para en algunos momentos pasar por lugares que gráficamente dejan muchísimo que desear. El objetivo más importante, sin embargo, está conseguido. Capta perfectamente los entornos tanto de un antiguo Japón feudal como de uno fantasmagórico y onírico. Mi principal queja es que se centra mucho en escenarios nocturnos, dejando pocas escenarios que se puedan recorrer mientras vemos la luz del sol.
El sonido recoge perfectamente muchos efectos para las armas y los choques de armaduras, siendo altamente reactivo. Se nota que está al servicio del combate en todo momento, para producir respuestas sonoras a cada una de nuestras acciones que nos ayuden a identificar si nuestro impacto ha tenido éxito o se ha bloqueado. Aunque lamentablemente, se echan de menos algunas melodías personales para los jefes, y especialmente hay algunos efectos de sonido particularmente molestos.
Team Ninja mostro con Nioh que el secreto para hacer algo más que un simple clon de Dark Souls está en animarse a ser diferente, y hacerlo con confianza, esperemos que mas gente como ellos o los creadores de God Of War de 2018 aparezcan.
Love the concept of the game, kinda a repetitive because need to play the stage again and again with a higher difficulty but personally i love the challenge of the higher difficulty. Would be fun if you have some friends to play together and build your own stat/equipment.
Unpopular opinion, but this is the better Nioh game in my mind. Bring back William as MC for Nioh 3!
Um soulslike oriental top
This game never really clicked for me. Not sure exactly why. Something about the combat just felt a little floaty almost like I was attacking with a pool noodle instead of a sword. I think the gameplay just felt too arcade-ey to be a souls-like with unforgiving enemy attacks. I will give it another go at some point because plenty of people swear by this game so maybe I was missing something.
Some great bosses and spectacle. Some pretty great level design. A lot could have been executed better with the rpg and loot mechanics in my opinion. Enemy variety big thumbs down. Intangibly, I found it hard to want to play until I was like halfway in.
I should have adored this. I'm a Souls maniac, so this team ninja take on a similar formula should have ticked all my boxes. I've tried to beat it, but dropped it 4 times now. And its not because of the difficulty. Its just boring. I cant really explain why, but the levels, the enemies, the story....just did not grab me like a From Soft game.
I've played two missions and thought the game lacked "feeling" to it's combat, feels overcomplicated and at the same time very basic. I heard great things about the sequel so maybe I'll try it in the future, but this is a solid NO.
Sıkıcı ve kötü bosslar. Saçma ekipman sistemi. Sürekli tekrar eden tasarımsız bölümler. Olmayan denge. Tek olumlu yanı dövüş sistemi ama karşınızdaki düşmanlar sizi iki vuruşta indiren 5 canavar ve düz askerlerden oluştuğu için bununda anlamı kalmıyor. Hikayeyide öylesine yazmışlar sanırım.
Dark Souls if it was unfair
Why the fuck is this game so long?
Extremely deep mechanically speaking but if you don't have good gear/level you won't be able to do shit
Long form review. tl;dr will be at the bottom.
2016 was a weird year for me, I spent a lot of it hanging out at my homies place and playing my own copy of Bloodborne on HIS PS4, because I didn't have one. And it was about the only thing I used his PS4 for. Memes about the PS4 being a ' Bloodborne Machine ' and all that.
Floating around April, I'm checking my social media, to see whisperings and tidings of a new Koei Tecmo game. PS4 Exclusive. Okay. Team Ninja? Alright, we're getting somewhere. Dark Souls-- Hold on, wait a second-- ONIMUSHA. You bet I was leaping out of my goddamn chair. April 26th. Alpha demo. I was counting, and counting, and counting the days.
Until it arrived. And it was the most brutal, unforgiving, relentless thing I had ever played. Left-and-right instakills. Durability systems. Non-descript shortcuts. Huge levelling thresholds. It took me five hours to get through the first section of the first level.
Now, if you're familiar with Nioh, something might have caught your eye-- ' Durability system '. Yes, Nioh 1 initially had a weapon degradation system on armor. The details allude me now, but it was a mess. Everything was a mess. It may have been an alpha, but Nioh felt like it was held together with silly string--
And I LOVED it. I was obsessed. Completely enamored. The niche and personality Nioh had carved was completely unique. I played the alpha's mere two levels time and time again, putting at least fourty hours into it alone until its allotted end time of May 5th. This limited demo event would return in the form of a Beta from August 23rd to September 6th, and then finally as quick trial in its final stages from January 21-22 of 2017. I GORGED myself on every vertical slice of this game I was given. Until it finally released, February 7th...
The game was a critical hit. Despite all naysaying and shoulder shrugging, Nioh got good press. Very few outlets were negative, IGN themselves even giving it a big 'ol shining 9.6. And, 'uh... That was it. No mainstream following. It could barely be called a cult following, as its presence on social media was miniscule at best. No one talked about it. So, I'm going to.
Nioh tells the tale of William Adams, a real life historical figure who arrives in Japan to become the first western samurai. Along the way, he meets other various real life historical figures of Edo era Japan. In this alternate reality, the world has come across a mysterious lifeforce/substance in the form of a golden stone known as Amrita... Conveniently, found in Japan. British nations hunger for it in order to secure victory over Spain ( Anglo-Spanish War 1585-1604 ).
Due to his knowledge of Amrita, William, who harbors a guardian spirit, is detained within the Tower of London, soon breaking out to encounter Edward Kelley... A, 'uh, evildoer? Sure. An evildoer who steals William's guardian spirit and flees to Japan, prompting William's travels... Of course, there's more to it than all of this, but even spoilers and details taken into account, the plot isn't fantastic.
But the plot's not important.
Nioh is a double-edged sword of mechanic-driven combat and exploration. There are LIMITLESS options to how a player can handle even the most simple of yokai, yet the flashiest and most effective are layered beneath countless mechanics and skills that you as a player need to investigate.
Stances, onymo magic, ninjutsu, weapon skills, weapon stats, agility, armor stats, guardian spirit and more-- All of these things roll tightly yet horrifyingly into one of the most complex, rewarding combat systems ever created.
What can be gotten out of this game is dependent on what it is given. It is obtuse, secretive, overly-complex, non-sensical and difficult in all the right and wrong ways... And it's bold as all hell. Team Ninja came out swinging with Nioh and it's subsequent DLC content, garnering critical praise and not much else.
If you wanna put in the time, give the Nioh series a shot, as both its initial game and sequel have absurd amounts of content. You'll either deflect real quick, or find yourself in my oddly obsessed position.
tl;dr extremely mechanic heavy and goofy hack-and-slash with Genuinely Absurd amounts of content and playstyles that can create for limitless playtime and also it has a really good sequel that somewhat invalidates it
2016 was a weird year for me, I spent a lot of it hanging out at my homies place and playing my own copy of Bloodborne on HIS PS4, because I didn't have one. And it was about the only thing I used his PS4 for. Memes about the PS4 being a ' Bloodborne Machine ' and all that.
Floating around April, I'm checking my social media, to see whisperings and tidings of a new Koei Tecmo game. PS4 Exclusive. Okay. Team Ninja? Alright, we're getting somewhere. Dark Souls-- Hold on, wait a second-- ONIMUSHA. You bet I was leaping out of my goddamn chair. April 26th. Alpha demo. I was counting, and counting, and counting the days.
Until it arrived. And it was the most brutal, unforgiving, relentless thing I had ever played. Left-and-right instakills. Durability systems. Non-descript shortcuts. Huge levelling thresholds. It took me five hours to get through the first section of the first level.
Now, if you're familiar with Nioh, something might have caught your eye-- ' Durability system '. Yes, Nioh 1 initially had a weapon degradation system on armor. The details allude me now, but it was a mess. Everything was a mess. It may have been an alpha, but Nioh felt like it was held together with silly string--
And I LOVED it. I was obsessed. Completely enamored. The niche and personality Nioh had carved was completely unique. I played the alpha's mere two levels time and time again, putting at least fourty hours into it alone until its allotted end time of May 5th. This limited demo event would return in the form of a Beta from August 23rd to September 6th, and then finally as quick trial in its final stages from January 21-22 of 2017. I GORGED myself on every vertical slice of this game I was given. Until it finally released, February 7th...
The game was a critical hit. Despite all naysaying and shoulder shrugging, Nioh got good press. Very few outlets were negative, IGN themselves even giving it a big 'ol shining 9.6. And, 'uh... That was it. No mainstream following. It could barely be called a cult following, as its presence on social media was miniscule at best. No one talked about it. So, I'm going to.
Nioh tells the tale of William Adams, a real life historical figure who arrives in Japan to become the first western samurai. Along the way, he meets other various real life historical figures of Edo era Japan. In this alternate reality, the world has come across a mysterious lifeforce/substance in the form of a golden stone known as Amrita... Conveniently, found in Japan. British nations hunger for it in order to secure victory over Spain ( Anglo-Spanish War 1585-1604 ).
Due to his knowledge of Amrita, William, who harbors a guardian spirit, is detained within the Tower of London, soon breaking out to encounter Edward Kelley... A, 'uh, evildoer? Sure. An evildoer who steals William's guardian spirit and flees to Japan, prompting William's travels... Of course, there's more to it than all of this, but even spoilers and details taken into account, the plot isn't fantastic.
But the plot's not important.
Nioh is a double-edged sword of mechanic-driven combat and exploration. There are LIMITLESS options to how a player can handle even the most simple of yokai, yet the flashiest and most effective are layered beneath countless mechanics and skills that you as a player need to investigate.
Stances, onymo magic, ninjutsu, weapon skills, weapon stats, agility, armor stats, guardian spirit and more-- All of these things roll tightly yet horrifyingly into one of the most complex, rewarding combat systems ever created.
What can be gotten out of this game is dependent on what it is given. It is obtuse, secretive, overly-complex, non-sensical and difficult in all the right and wrong ways... And it's bold as all hell. Team Ninja came out swinging with Nioh and it's subsequent DLC content, garnering critical praise and not much else.
If you wanna put in the time, give the Nioh series a shot, as both its initial game and sequel have absurd amounts of content. You'll either deflect real quick, or find yourself in my oddly obsessed position.
tl;dr extremely mechanic heavy and goofy hack-and-slash with Genuinely Absurd amounts of content and playstyles that can create for limitless playtime and also it has a really good sequel that somewhat invalidates it
Negócio bom q com certeza me introduziu e tirou minha virgindade pra jogo difícil, bora pra mais souls likes
it's just like Dark Souls fr fr
Finally, finally, finally. I've been at this one for months. Difficult samurai game from Team Ninja. I was really hesitant to play this one because of the intimidating difficulty factor, but after doing the Fromsoft gauntlet, I had no excuse. Luckily, it was a fun, polished game. When it comes to the story, I honestly had no clue what was going on. They introduced so many characters so rapidly that it felt impossible to keep track of who was who. My character was a pretty generic Japanese-style hero. Meaning he had an iron resolve and stoicism and no personality but was a white guy named William for some reason. William McWhiteface somehow managed to get wrapped up in the Japanese civil wars of the 16th century in search of his guardian spirit with an unpronounceable Irish name, Saoirse, which is pronounced "Betty" probably. The gameplay is vicious. Absolutely fantastic variety. Ton of weapons, fighting styles and postures, techniques, magics, combat items and enhancements. Prominently featured fast-paced combat with constantly shifting tides of battle that can be decided in a heartbeat rules the day. The RPG elements are really thorough and user-friendly. I'm not usually the insatiable type to master a game and make a character with an unstoppable cyclone moveset, but if you are, then you have an infinite amount of options and customizations (including aesthetics). I wouldn't say that it's EXPERTLY balanced though. I figured out what the exploitable mechanics were pretty early on. Your current Guardian Spirit has a meter that, when filled, just wreaks devastation on everything around you. The final, epilogue boss was this recharging-health chump and once I got that meter up, it was done dinner. That's one complaint I have. The bosses felt really off-kilter. The difficulty seemed front-loaded, as if to shake off the new players without that "no-matter-what" mindset. But, towards the end, there were plenty that I beat first try. Including the three-boss run as the finale. As if they knew that, they seemed to focus the post-game content on this. A bunch of missions unlocked after the last one, but they were mostly boss gauntlets. Like, "okay, you beat this one and this one, but now fight them at the same time". And I'm not nearly masochistic enough at this point to be willing. The sheer amount of time I spent on it and the pacing of the game burnt me out. Unlike other adventure games, this one has individual, start-and-stop chapters unlike the open-world seamlessness so popular today. They padded out the game with a shit-ton of repetitive objectives and fights and it got really tiresome. Just, "oh this guy again" and "back here, huh?". It wasn't optimal, but it wasn't bad enough to deter me from ever playing again. And I definitely will, this and the sequel. Best of all, it's dirt-cheap nowadays if you eBay shop. If you're a fan of fast-paced fighters and RPGS then nosedive here. Just be patient with it because the difficulty can spike on you.
With the impact of Dark Souls, naturally, there came an influx of imitators. Some of these imitators create something fresh with Dark Souls as an obvious template, but not to the point where it seems derivative. Others unabashedly steal from the franchise without grasping what makes Dark Souls so refreshing, resulting in a mediocre experience. In the case of Team Ninja's 2017 title Nioh, it upholds the Dark Souls influence without any shame but holds enough of its own merits to avoid being labeled as a "Dark Souls clone." However, the differences this game makes from Dark Souls detracts me from seeing it in the same light.
I'm sure most Dark Souls fans wondered before 2017 what the games would've been like if the setting was Japan. Many fans even wondered why From Software would choose a western, English medieval location for their franchise instead of their homeland of Japan. Many Dark Souls fans are also weeaboos, a correlation that I was ultimately coming to. Because many Dark Souls fans are weeaboos, there was plenty to bank off of the Japanese background of Nioh. Of course, to pander to the weeaboo demographic even further, the protagonist is an Irishman named William. William isn't just some white schmuck. William is based on an English sailor who went to Japan and became a lord in 1600. The events of Nioh retell William Adams's time in Japan in 1600, minus the yokai demon slaying and the elemental powers (or at least as far as I know).
Unlike Dark Souls, this game has a concrete, non-cryptic story through cut-scenes, occurring after every primary mission. Also, unlike Dark Souls, this game could not make me care about the story or any of the characters. Isn't it ironic how sometimes doing less does so much more? Maybe I'm just opposed to the typical epic tale involving a hyper-masculine man conquering all his enemies because it's so cliche. Perhaps it was because I wasn't immersed in the story. After all, I thought William's motives didn't warrant going to Japan in the first place. Before he sets sail to Japan, there is a lengthy prologue in which William's spirit guardian named Saoirse is captured by an alchemist named Edward Kelley. William's motive to go to Japan is to rescue Saiorse from Kelley. I guess I don't understand the relationship between William and Saiorse or understand its depth. William uses several guardian spirits throughout the game, so I'm not sure why Saoirse is special. If it's a sexual relationship, then that would be like if Peter Pan was fucking Tinkerbell, which would be a total mess.
Once William sails to Japan, the game truly begins, and I am reminded why I vastly prefer Dark Souls. For one, the game is very, very linear. It's so linear that there is no hub world. Rather than a hub world, there is a mission select map per area of Japan. One of my favorite aspects of Dark Souls is the lack of boundaries for its world. It seems like an open-world game with Metroidvania-Esque obstacles that prohibit players from going to certain places that uncover through natural progression. As soon as I saw Nioh's mission select screen, I made an audible groan. I knew for sure that this game wasn't going to be as immersive as Dark Souls right then. The seamless world of Dark Souls is one of my favorites in gaming, and this just seemed comparatively lazy.
Nioh's levels follow a familiar structure to the levels in Dark Souls, and they are adequately executed. Most of the levels have a pretty unique layout. The checkpoints in the areas are placed fairly, and the gimmicks for some of the levels are pretty clever. One of my favorites is the mission "The Ocean Roars Again," where you can immediately fight the boss as soon as you start the level. However, there are three torches you can light scattered throughout that award the player's time and effort spent finding them, making the boss fight much easier. There are also plenty of shortcuts you can unlock that make traversing the level much easier once you've uncovered most of it. This design point is always convenient in Dark Souls and shows the developers' care for detail. I also really like the collectible Kodama scattered all over most of the main missions in this game. They are adorable, and there is an incentive to collect them, ranging from getting more experience per kill, finding rarer items in drops, and increasing your medicine count.
Some of the original features in Nioh are dumb. I could not for the life of me execute a goddamn Ki-pulse. It's a button combination move implemented to replenish your ki/stamina. It sounds easy and convenient, but the timing needed to execute it takes extreme precision. Either the game is broken, or I suck, and I'd instead not leave that up to debate. I could argue vociferously about how unnecessarily precise it needs to be. One also must consider how many "ki-pools" there are that keep your stamina from regenerating throughout the game. Once you run out of stamina in most situations, you won't be able to move. This handicap caused me to die more times than I could count. Something else that pissed me off was using a Himorogi branch to exit the level. Not only does it deplete all of your experience, but it just seems unnecessary. There would be an exit option in the menu in any other game. It's not like the game world is intertwined between levels.
Nioh has about 18 story missions and several sub-missions. Each story mission varies in either going straight until you fight a boss or finding keys or a gimmick to get to the boss. The story missions are varied enough never to get stale, but the sub-missions are tedious and repetitive. The submissions tend to be variants on previous story missions but with different/smaller objectives. There are also "twilight missions," more complex versions of the main story missions, but with a red aura surrounding the level. The red aura signifies intensity. All these "twilight missions" have to offer is occasionally adding a harder yokai randomly. These submissions are also reasonably short and optional, but I recommend you do every one of them because this game is very grinding intensive.
Leveling up characters, armor, and weapons are a ubiquitous trope in the action RPG genre. These tropes are what separates the action RPG from the regular action game. Nioh executes this common trope poorly as scaling and progress are measured through arbitrary leveling and arbitrary leveling only. Sure, leveling is essential in any RPG game, but I think Team Ninja had another motive. I don't believe Team Ninja was very confident when making this game. They seem to force you to play a lot of it over and over again, whether you like it or not. Every mission has a difficulty that coincides with William's level and a difficulty meter represented by five red swords. If the mission has all five swords highlighted, you're going to have a bad time. If you're under-leveled, many enemies can take out 80% of your health with one hit. I swear, the next main mission is always around 15-20 levels higher than the last one, so you'll be seeing the five red swords of difficulty constantly. You'll naturally gain two or three levels doing the main missions without dying and maybe once per sub-mission, but it never amounts to enough. Involuntary grinding is one of my video game pet peeves, and Nioh is guilty of it in spades.
Speaking of padding the game, Nioh also really hopes that you like its bosses because you'll be fighting them over and over again, whether you like it or not. The bosses are pretty well designed, and the fights are usually pretty fair. The exception is Hino Enma, a bigger difficulty spike than anything in the entire Soulsbourne franchise. Being paralyzed after one hit so you can't move for more than five seconds, guaranteeing you die is cruel and unusual. Like with each level, every boss can be fought on the player's own volition at the end of their respective level even after beating them for the first time. This aspect is fine with me, but familiar bosses will show up constantly during the missions. Many repeat bosses will appear as regular enemies, end bosses in sub-missions, and even in pairs with other bosses. Some submissions are dedicated to putting you in a familiar arena simply to fight a boss you've already fought before. It's like their way of checking up on you or something. Their favorite seems to be the first main mission boss, Onryoki. He shows up maybe ten times throughout the game during so many instances. He's a giant yokai with two balls and chains, and halfway through the fight, he breaks those chains and uses his body and his iron balls (from the chains) to try to crush you. He's an acceptable first mission boss, but putting him in the game so many times is like someone who told an amusing joke once that got a tiny bit of laughter but then tells it over and over again, hoping it will be just as funny the tenth time as it was the first. It just gets REALLY tiresome.
Nioh is a competent game and supplementary to anyone craving a Dark Souls experience. However, I don't play Dark Souls because it merely satisfies the standard of video game competency. I play it because it's a rich experience. Nioh had Dark Souls as a source of inspiration but was too insecure about their game to deliver the same as Dark Souls. The lack of quality is readily apparent by their streamlined mission selection world, grind-heavy progression, and padding the game by repeating bosses and missions. All of this amounted to a grueling game to get through, not just because the game was challenging. Team Ninja essentially did their job but didn't put a lot of passion into their project.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/
I'm sure most Dark Souls fans wondered before 2017 what the games would've been like if the setting was Japan. Many fans even wondered why From Software would choose a western, English medieval location for their franchise instead of their homeland of Japan. Many Dark Souls fans are also weeaboos, a correlation that I was ultimately coming to. Because many Dark Souls fans are weeaboos, there was plenty to bank off of the Japanese background of Nioh. Of course, to pander to the weeaboo demographic even further, the protagonist is an Irishman named William. William isn't just some white schmuck. William is based on an English sailor who went to Japan and became a lord in 1600. The events of Nioh retell William Adams's time in Japan in 1600, minus the yokai demon slaying and the elemental powers (or at least as far as I know).
Unlike Dark Souls, this game has a concrete, non-cryptic story through cut-scenes, occurring after every primary mission. Also, unlike Dark Souls, this game could not make me care about the story or any of the characters. Isn't it ironic how sometimes doing less does so much more? Maybe I'm just opposed to the typical epic tale involving a hyper-masculine man conquering all his enemies because it's so cliche. Perhaps it was because I wasn't immersed in the story. After all, I thought William's motives didn't warrant going to Japan in the first place. Before he sets sail to Japan, there is a lengthy prologue in which William's spirit guardian named Saoirse is captured by an alchemist named Edward Kelley. William's motive to go to Japan is to rescue Saiorse from Kelley. I guess I don't understand the relationship between William and Saiorse or understand its depth. William uses several guardian spirits throughout the game, so I'm not sure why Saoirse is special. If it's a sexual relationship, then that would be like if Peter Pan was fucking Tinkerbell, which would be a total mess.
Once William sails to Japan, the game truly begins, and I am reminded why I vastly prefer Dark Souls. For one, the game is very, very linear. It's so linear that there is no hub world. Rather than a hub world, there is a mission select map per area of Japan. One of my favorite aspects of Dark Souls is the lack of boundaries for its world. It seems like an open-world game with Metroidvania-Esque obstacles that prohibit players from going to certain places that uncover through natural progression. As soon as I saw Nioh's mission select screen, I made an audible groan. I knew for sure that this game wasn't going to be as immersive as Dark Souls right then. The seamless world of Dark Souls is one of my favorites in gaming, and this just seemed comparatively lazy.
Nioh's levels follow a familiar structure to the levels in Dark Souls, and they are adequately executed. Most of the levels have a pretty unique layout. The checkpoints in the areas are placed fairly, and the gimmicks for some of the levels are pretty clever. One of my favorites is the mission "The Ocean Roars Again," where you can immediately fight the boss as soon as you start the level. However, there are three torches you can light scattered throughout that award the player's time and effort spent finding them, making the boss fight much easier. There are also plenty of shortcuts you can unlock that make traversing the level much easier once you've uncovered most of it. This design point is always convenient in Dark Souls and shows the developers' care for detail. I also really like the collectible Kodama scattered all over most of the main missions in this game. They are adorable, and there is an incentive to collect them, ranging from getting more experience per kill, finding rarer items in drops, and increasing your medicine count.
Some of the original features in Nioh are dumb. I could not for the life of me execute a goddamn Ki-pulse. It's a button combination move implemented to replenish your ki/stamina. It sounds easy and convenient, but the timing needed to execute it takes extreme precision. Either the game is broken, or I suck, and I'd instead not leave that up to debate. I could argue vociferously about how unnecessarily precise it needs to be. One also must consider how many "ki-pools" there are that keep your stamina from regenerating throughout the game. Once you run out of stamina in most situations, you won't be able to move. This handicap caused me to die more times than I could count. Something else that pissed me off was using a Himorogi branch to exit the level. Not only does it deplete all of your experience, but it just seems unnecessary. There would be an exit option in the menu in any other game. It's not like the game world is intertwined between levels.
Nioh has about 18 story missions and several sub-missions. Each story mission varies in either going straight until you fight a boss or finding keys or a gimmick to get to the boss. The story missions are varied enough never to get stale, but the sub-missions are tedious and repetitive. The submissions tend to be variants on previous story missions but with different/smaller objectives. There are also "twilight missions," more complex versions of the main story missions, but with a red aura surrounding the level. The red aura signifies intensity. All these "twilight missions" have to offer is occasionally adding a harder yokai randomly. These submissions are also reasonably short and optional, but I recommend you do every one of them because this game is very grinding intensive.
Leveling up characters, armor, and weapons are a ubiquitous trope in the action RPG genre. These tropes are what separates the action RPG from the regular action game. Nioh executes this common trope poorly as scaling and progress are measured through arbitrary leveling and arbitrary leveling only. Sure, leveling is essential in any RPG game, but I think Team Ninja had another motive. I don't believe Team Ninja was very confident when making this game. They seem to force you to play a lot of it over and over again, whether you like it or not. Every mission has a difficulty that coincides with William's level and a difficulty meter represented by five red swords. If the mission has all five swords highlighted, you're going to have a bad time. If you're under-leveled, many enemies can take out 80% of your health with one hit. I swear, the next main mission is always around 15-20 levels higher than the last one, so you'll be seeing the five red swords of difficulty constantly. You'll naturally gain two or three levels doing the main missions without dying and maybe once per sub-mission, but it never amounts to enough. Involuntary grinding is one of my video game pet peeves, and Nioh is guilty of it in spades.
Speaking of padding the game, Nioh also really hopes that you like its bosses because you'll be fighting them over and over again, whether you like it or not. The bosses are pretty well designed, and the fights are usually pretty fair. The exception is Hino Enma, a bigger difficulty spike than anything in the entire Soulsbourne franchise. Being paralyzed after one hit so you can't move for more than five seconds, guaranteeing you die is cruel and unusual. Like with each level, every boss can be fought on the player's own volition at the end of their respective level even after beating them for the first time. This aspect is fine with me, but familiar bosses will show up constantly during the missions. Many repeat bosses will appear as regular enemies, end bosses in sub-missions, and even in pairs with other bosses. Some submissions are dedicated to putting you in a familiar arena simply to fight a boss you've already fought before. It's like their way of checking up on you or something. Their favorite seems to be the first main mission boss, Onryoki. He shows up maybe ten times throughout the game during so many instances. He's a giant yokai with two balls and chains, and halfway through the fight, he breaks those chains and uses his body and his iron balls (from the chains) to try to crush you. He's an acceptable first mission boss, but putting him in the game so many times is like someone who told an amusing joke once that got a tiny bit of laughter but then tells it over and over again, hoping it will be just as funny the tenth time as it was the first. It just gets REALLY tiresome.
Nioh is a competent game and supplementary to anyone craving a Dark Souls experience. However, I don't play Dark Souls because it merely satisfies the standard of video game competency. I play it because it's a rich experience. Nioh had Dark Souls as a source of inspiration but was too insecure about their game to deliver the same as Dark Souls. The lack of quality is readily apparent by their streamlined mission selection world, grind-heavy progression, and padding the game by repeating bosses and missions. All of this amounted to a grueling game to get through, not just because the game was challenging. Team Ninja essentially did their job but didn't put a lot of passion into their project.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/
On PlayStation 5 This game gets clumped into the Souls-like genre for me even though they’re somewhat different this is the best game I’ve played like that. Nioh is so much fun. Less reliant on janky platforming and more about combat. If you’re not good at the game you can summon help to the last boss. (Not the true one, but yeah)
There's no point to exploration because every drop is randomized.
Also Ninja Gaiden's stank is all over this game and I fucking hate Ninja Gaiden.
Also Ninja Gaiden's stank is all over this game and I fucking hate Ninja Gaiden.