I am very much the kind of gamer who gets discouraged when games are long as hell, especially modern AAA games where the length is mostly grind and not new gameplay mechanics. The fact that Nioh 2 made me want to keep coming back to it over and over despite how many hours I had dumped into it (and the fact I'm considering a second playthrough with a new weapon) is definitely a testament to its quality.
Nioh 2 is a game that doesn't really serve much on a platter to you, keeping it true to the Soulslike root of its gameplay and the Ninja Gaiden roots of its developer. There are like a million mechanics which are not really explained and you just kind have to figure them out, which makes this game seem incredibly daunting at first. After watching some Youtube videos and good ol fashioned trial and error, however, it clicked. The stances, the burst counters, the grapple, the Yokai abilities, its all absolutely nuts when you figure out how to use them properly. If you showed me how I would be playing this game for the final boss to me when I beat the first level, I would have been convinced I somehow became a god gamer in that time.
However, the game does have flaws that can't be made up over time. One, this game is too fucking long and drags like crazy before the last few missions. 80 hours just to beat the game when the gameplay isn't that diverse is a tough pill to swallow, and I recommend to skip the side missions even if they feel like the only way to get to the "recommended level" for the main missions. Secondly, I found that the navigation got a little annoying sometimes where there were like 900 paths and finding the correct one never felt as satisfying as other games with this design.
Otherwise, I loved this. I called this "Monster Hunter for Soulslikes" to a friend and I can see the way I come back to this as similar to how I come back to MH.
Nioh 2 is a game that doesn't really serve much on a platter to you, keeping it true to the Soulslike root of its gameplay and the Ninja Gaiden roots of its developer. There are like a million mechanics which are not really explained and you just kind have to figure them out, which makes this game seem incredibly daunting at first. After watching some Youtube videos and good ol fashioned trial and error, however, it clicked. The stances, the burst counters, the grapple, the Yokai abilities, its all absolutely nuts when you figure out how to use them properly. If you showed me how I would be playing this game for the final boss to me when I beat the first level, I would have been convinced I somehow became a god gamer in that time.
However, the game does have flaws that can't be made up over time. One, this game is too fucking long and drags like crazy before the last few missions. 80 hours just to beat the game when the gameplay isn't that diverse is a tough pill to swallow, and I recommend to skip the side missions even if they feel like the only way to get to the "recommended level" for the main missions. Secondly, I found that the navigation got a little annoying sometimes where there were like 900 paths and finding the correct one never felt as satisfying as other games with this design.
Otherwise, I loved this. I called this "Monster Hunter for Soulslikes" to a friend and I can see the way I come back to this as similar to how I come back to MH.
I really think this is the pinnacle of soulslikes next to lies of P for me.
Went into it with really not liking nioh 1. However after pushing through and understanding more of the systems this game took me for a ride.
Happily beat this game many times, and with many more times to come.
Went into it with really not liking nioh 1. However after pushing through and understanding more of the systems this game took me for a ride.
Happily beat this game many times, and with many more times to come.
Great gameplay with skill trees that push is well past souls-likes, fun bosses, and overall just a nice comfort game weirdly for me.
The game feels to drag a little more than the first Nioh and also has worse level design, but also burst counter and yokai abilities are fun asf tbh.
The game feels to drag a little more than the first Nioh and also has worse level design, but also burst counter and yokai abilities are fun asf tbh.
It was the best quarantine game I played... If only I hadn't played Sekiro during that time too
decent 7 to Light 8
decent 7 to Light 8
This game fixed my biggest issue with the first Nioh which was the power creep. Really solid Soulslike.
Not really my thing. Nice game for what it is, just not my thing.
another stinker from team ninja
Slightly better Nioh
Copied Review from regular game
You like Nioh 1 well let's take it to the extreme! More of everything. New weapons, magic, monsters, moves and a character creator. This is the definitive gameplay experiance in this type of game. Put hundrends of hours into it and there was still more stuff for me to do. Amazing game and a definitly GOAT contender.
Platinum #129
You like Nioh 1 well let's take it to the extreme! More of everything. New weapons, magic, monsters, moves and a character creator. This is the definitive gameplay experiance in this type of game. Put hundrends of hours into it and there was still more stuff for me to do. Amazing game and a definitly GOAT contender.
Platinum #129
This is league better then the previous game, the yokai shift was just the missing mechanic the game needed. The combat flows so much better with my dexterity build. The levels are larger with some really cool shortcuts, the bosses are larger and more varied, and the story is even a bit more interesting. Worth your time.
Nioh 2 is the best "soulslike" not made by FromSoftware. It even surpasses From's titles in some aspects -- especially in regards to its multiplayer and deep combat.
I say it's a soulslike because that's the closest genre I can put it under that isn't something generic like "action." I feel like comparing Nioh 2 to only From's games isn't giving the full idea of what Nioh 2 really is. So many studios have been chasing From's formula and making games with a very large variety in quality, but nobody are making Team Ninja games other than Team Ninja. They have a formula here that is excellent. When comparing this to FromSoftware titles the only real similarity is the high level of difficulty. Everything else --mission structure, how bosses are created, storytelling, RPG systems, etc. -- is very different.
Nioh 2 has many things going for it. The combat and flexibility you have to make your character unique is unparalleled. You can make practically anything work here. Do you like magic? Do you want to be a badass ninja? Do you want to use a giant scythe? How about no weapon at all? All builds are valid here -- even unconventional ones. I think this is Nioh 2's biggest strength. The fact that each weapon class has a skill tree is daunting at first, but I got used to it around the halfway point. There are so many ways you can spec out your character. The stance system from Nioh also returns along with Ki Pulses. All of these things put together make one of the most satisfying combat systems in any game.
The gear collecting is something I actually really like. Grinding for gear can get tedious quickly, but I really enjoyed killing bosses and enemies and seeing what new loot I got. The final boss drops a lot of loot and I was just mesmerized at how colorful it was.
Another thing that is incredible about Nioh 2 is its approach to multiplayer. Multiplayer progression is seamless, and it scales nicely when there are multiple players. I played Nioh 2 almost exclusively in multiplayer, and it was the most fun I have had in a soulslike. There are also these bonfire things while in levels that you can interact with. The red ones summon an NPC invader, and, upon killing it, you'll receive some of their equipment. If you see a blue one, you can interact with it to summon an NPC helper.
Nioh 2's main drawback is level design. The missions in Nioh 2 aren't part of this larger interconnected world, but instead it is mission-based and you select which ones you want to do in a menu. The menu is perfectly fine, but some levels are laid out terribly. It's very easy to get lost or have no idea where you're going because of some parts of the level looking nearly identical to other parts. Level design has never been Team Ninja's strong point -- at least from the games I have played from them. Out of their "soulslike" outings (Nioh 1&2, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin), Nioh 2 has the best level design, but that isn't really saying much when all of the other ones are so poor. I really hope they are able to improve upon it in Rise of the Ronin.
Overall, Nioh 2 is an exceptional "soulslike," and it has one of the best combat systems of any game full stop.
I say it's a soulslike because that's the closest genre I can put it under that isn't something generic like "action." I feel like comparing Nioh 2 to only From's games isn't giving the full idea of what Nioh 2 really is. So many studios have been chasing From's formula and making games with a very large variety in quality, but nobody are making Team Ninja games other than Team Ninja. They have a formula here that is excellent. When comparing this to FromSoftware titles the only real similarity is the high level of difficulty. Everything else --mission structure, how bosses are created, storytelling, RPG systems, etc. -- is very different.
Nioh 2 has many things going for it. The combat and flexibility you have to make your character unique is unparalleled. You can make practically anything work here. Do you like magic? Do you want to be a badass ninja? Do you want to use a giant scythe? How about no weapon at all? All builds are valid here -- even unconventional ones. I think this is Nioh 2's biggest strength. The fact that each weapon class has a skill tree is daunting at first, but I got used to it around the halfway point. There are so many ways you can spec out your character. The stance system from Nioh also returns along with Ki Pulses. All of these things put together make one of the most satisfying combat systems in any game.
The gear collecting is something I actually really like. Grinding for gear can get tedious quickly, but I really enjoyed killing bosses and enemies and seeing what new loot I got. The final boss drops a lot of loot and I was just mesmerized at how colorful it was.
Another thing that is incredible about Nioh 2 is its approach to multiplayer. Multiplayer progression is seamless, and it scales nicely when there are multiple players. I played Nioh 2 almost exclusively in multiplayer, and it was the most fun I have had in a soulslike. There are also these bonfire things while in levels that you can interact with. The red ones summon an NPC invader, and, upon killing it, you'll receive some of their equipment. If you see a blue one, you can interact with it to summon an NPC helper.
Nioh 2's main drawback is level design. The missions in Nioh 2 aren't part of this larger interconnected world, but instead it is mission-based and you select which ones you want to do in a menu. The menu is perfectly fine, but some levels are laid out terribly. It's very easy to get lost or have no idea where you're going because of some parts of the level looking nearly identical to other parts. Level design has never been Team Ninja's strong point -- at least from the games I have played from them. Out of their "soulslike" outings (Nioh 1&2, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin), Nioh 2 has the best level design, but that isn't really saying much when all of the other ones are so poor. I really hope they are able to improve upon it in Rise of the Ronin.
Overall, Nioh 2 is an exceptional "soulslike," and it has one of the best combat systems of any game full stop.
I played for fifty hours and enjoyed it. I have one criticism, but it is this; Despite all the progress and the quality equipment I collected, I could not feel myself getting stronger.
Well, I guess Souls-like games are not for me.
Maybe I'm just an old-ass dude with terrible reflexes and no patience for learning a complex battle system, but after an hour or so of creating a character, doing the tutorial, and getting to the first big monster, I am tired of dying.
This game looks interesting with wonderful graphics, pretty music, and a mystical and mythical story to enjoy. (Shout out to the sword from the NES game Demon Sword [or probably Japanese mythology, I assume...]). However, the gameplay takes all the parts I hate about fighting games, like having to press two buttons at once to do a thing, and combines it with unforgiving enemies right off the bat. Or, at least unforgiving enemies for me. I guess "git gud" right? But is that fun? I don' t have anything to prove about being good a pressing buttons at the right time, so without access to something compelling, I'm gonna give up on this one, friends.
Oh, the internet is telling me I'm supposed to just avoid the first big monster. Somehow, that makes me even more mad at this game. You kids have fun.
Review from thedonproject.com
Maybe I'm just an old-ass dude with terrible reflexes and no patience for learning a complex battle system, but after an hour or so of creating a character, doing the tutorial, and getting to the first big monster, I am tired of dying.
This game looks interesting with wonderful graphics, pretty music, and a mystical and mythical story to enjoy. (Shout out to the sword from the NES game Demon Sword [or probably Japanese mythology, I assume...]). However, the gameplay takes all the parts I hate about fighting games, like having to press two buttons at once to do a thing, and combines it with unforgiving enemies right off the bat. Or, at least unforgiving enemies for me. I guess "git gud" right? But is that fun? I don' t have anything to prove about being good a pressing buttons at the right time, so without access to something compelling, I'm gonna give up on this one, friends.
Oh, the internet is telling me I'm supposed to just avoid the first big monster. Somehow, that makes me even more mad at this game. You kids have fun.
Review from thedonproject.com
Em questão de desempenho, foi o padrão do PS5, em momento algum faltou. Mas, o melhor de tudo foi jogar multiplayer durante toda a história, tornou tudo muito mais divertido, anulou literalmente todos os defeitos
Nioh 2 is a fine game, but it's held back by various issues. Some of those issues are absurd difficultly spikes, suddenly forcing you to play single player to progress when the rest can be played multiplayer, and some broken enemy attacks. I can't count the number of times I died when the enemy suddenly unleashed an attack that had no wind up and would either pin me to the ground and do massive damage or explode on me. Monsters also are not held back by ki like you are. They have ki meters, but they don't matter for the most part because as hard as you may work at depleting the ki to get a critical hit in, they can just decide not be staggered, attack you, and then recover all ki. And if that's not enough, numerous monsters have input reading and will dodge out of the way of your attack the moment you press the button. That's not challenging, that's flat-out cheating. The level design is downright confusing at times as well. I'm glad I played this with a friend, otherwise, I would have just given up.
More Nioh. Good stuff. Some of the additions like Yokai Shift kind of pushed me away when I first tried to play this on PS4. Coming back the second time around I don’t mind it as much now.
A franchise I always neglect when talking about my favorite games, but they always feel worthy of GOAT status when I'm playing them. Absolutely LOVE these games.
If you liked the first Nioh, you'll definitely like this one too and if you haven't played the first Nioh...What are you waiting for?
It's mostly more of the same with a bit of a revamped combat system giving you some new yokai powers to use, new weapon skills, a couple new weapons and a massive skill tree, there's tons of variety and you can really experiment and play around with tons of different builds. You're also playing as a custom created character in this game instead of a set protagonist like William in the first game and I have to say the character creator is pretty damn great and detailed.
The boss design is absolutely killer, all the main game bosses look really cool and have some great move-sets, especially the late game bosses really wowed me. Level design is a step up from the first game, but still kinda weak in some areas. The story is pretty basic and it is very slow in the beginning, but does pick up in the later chapters and gets more interesting and I did actually start to care about the characters, there's some fan service-y moments since it's a prequel and you do visit some areas you went to or worked with some people you fought in the first game, but I think it's pulled off very well. However if you decide to read all the lore entries for the different yokai and the character backgrounds, that stuff is arguably more interesting than the main story itself.
My biggest problem with the game is the side missions being very bland (much like the first game) and a lot of them you just fight waves of enemies or collect a specific item and to make it worse almost all the side mission level design is not original and just re-uses previous levels in the main game and previous bosses, so you might go through the same area like 5 different times or fight the same boss repeatedly and it gets boring quick. My biggest advice to anyone who picks up the game is just play through the main missions first and if you enjoy it enough go through the side missions afterwards, because I did most of the side missions as they appeared and it broke up the pacing for the main story pretty bad.
Anyways, if you liked the first Nioh or just want a great and challenging Soulslike I'd recommend grabbing it, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on the game.
It's mostly more of the same with a bit of a revamped combat system giving you some new yokai powers to use, new weapon skills, a couple new weapons and a massive skill tree, there's tons of variety and you can really experiment and play around with tons of different builds. You're also playing as a custom created character in this game instead of a set protagonist like William in the first game and I have to say the character creator is pretty damn great and detailed.
The boss design is absolutely killer, all the main game bosses look really cool and have some great move-sets, especially the late game bosses really wowed me. Level design is a step up from the first game, but still kinda weak in some areas. The story is pretty basic and it is very slow in the beginning, but does pick up in the later chapters and gets more interesting and I did actually start to care about the characters, there's some fan service-y moments since it's a prequel and you do visit some areas you went to or worked with some people you fought in the first game, but I think it's pulled off very well. However if you decide to read all the lore entries for the different yokai and the character backgrounds, that stuff is arguably more interesting than the main story itself.
My biggest problem with the game is the side missions being very bland (much like the first game) and a lot of them you just fight waves of enemies or collect a specific item and to make it worse almost all the side mission level design is not original and just re-uses previous levels in the main game and previous bosses, so you might go through the same area like 5 different times or fight the same boss repeatedly and it gets boring quick. My biggest advice to anyone who picks up the game is just play through the main missions first and if you enjoy it enough go through the side missions afterwards, because I did most of the side missions as they appeared and it broke up the pacing for the main story pretty bad.
Anyways, if you liked the first Nioh or just want a great and challenging Soulslike I'd recommend grabbing it, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on the game.
Nioh 2 ended up being a perfect refinement of Team Ninja's take on Soulslike game design. There is an absolute plethora of content to experience in Nioh 2 and the combat is everything I had hoped for. Finally, some FIST weapons.