Pretty good follow up to Nioh with fast, tense combat and a dreadful loot system.
So far so good - coming from experienced "soulsborne" and souls-likes player.
The game has smooth and fast-paced combat system
Enemies are challenging and diverse
Bosses are very unique visually & mechanically
Good addition of bows, rifles and many different categories for melee weapons
Demonic powers - this is how the game outshines from the others
For now an solid 8.5/10 or 9/10 game
The game has smooth and fast-paced combat system
Enemies are challenging and diverse
Bosses are very unique visually & mechanically
Good addition of bows, rifles and many different categories for melee weapons
Demonic powers - this is how the game outshines from the others
For now an solid 8.5/10 or 9/10 game
hmm
Having finished Nioh 1 and wanting something different before going into Nioh 2, I quikly realized that wasn't the case at all, so Nioh 2 it was.
And finally getting comfortable with the combat system from the first game towards the end of that game, it was a somewhat jarring exeperience having to relearn the fundamentals because of some major changes to the combat in Nioh 2, which added even more complexity to something that was already challenging. And implementing the three different types of Yokai burst into the combat and the Yokai abilities took some time, but wether you find the game manageable or not depends of being able to implement these aspect into your fighthing.
There are alot of weapons in this game, and they are very varied in my experience and you really feel the difference in how you play regarding what weapons you use. Which is a good thing if you are like me: becoming a jack of all trades and master of none. Becase the weapons are meant to be used in three different stances (high, mid and low) depending on what you're doing in the fight and require fast motor skills in your finger and memorization, to get the moveset to become fluent. Where I mostly spend most of my time in one stance for longer periods of time. This can make the combat a bit samey, but hey then you can switch weapon and plebs like me get a different feel in the combat!
Nioh 2 is also mission based, which makes it a very focused game, and the hub world is like a advanced menu where you can do all types of upgrades and forging equipment. Still there's too much loot for my taste and the game lacks certain QoL improvements regarding upgrading and improving equipment and weapons, which make the process quite tedious late in the game.
And finally getting comfortable with the combat system from the first game towards the end of that game, it was a somewhat jarring exeperience having to relearn the fundamentals because of some major changes to the combat in Nioh 2, which added even more complexity to something that was already challenging. And implementing the three different types of Yokai burst into the combat and the Yokai abilities took some time, but wether you find the game manageable or not depends of being able to implement these aspect into your fighthing.
There are alot of weapons in this game, and they are very varied in my experience and you really feel the difference in how you play regarding what weapons you use. Which is a good thing if you are like me: becoming a jack of all trades and master of none. Becase the weapons are meant to be used in three different stances (high, mid and low) depending on what you're doing in the fight and require fast motor skills in your finger and memorization, to get the moveset to become fluent. Where I mostly spend most of my time in one stance for longer periods of time. This can make the combat a bit samey, but hey then you can switch weapon and plebs like me get a different feel in the combat!
Nioh 2 is also mission based, which makes it a very focused game, and the hub world is like a advanced menu where you can do all types of upgrades and forging equipment. Still there's too much loot for my taste and the game lacks certain QoL improvements regarding upgrading and improving equipment and weapons, which make the process quite tedious late in the game.
Mesma coisa do primeiro, ou tu explode tudo ou você é explodido
I'm addicted. fun builds, grueling gameplay, intense fights.
very unique and insane combat system
these game is not for me, I've tried and restarted these games 3 times and I just didn't like it
Another Team Ninja game I just have to drop. I felt like I just didn't vibe with the combat as much as I did in the first game (that could just be me changing as a person more so than actual differences in the games). To me, I don't feel like any weight behind the combat. I'm kind of just swinging my weapon, and then i get knocked on my ass. I know its all skill issue, but I genuinely just don't understand how I'm supposed to play this game, cause it just requires way more awareness(?) than I'm going to give it. The Red Counter system is just way too fucking much to ask of me when all the red counter attacks are fast and the input for it is fucking Right Trigger + B. I am never in a position where I can do that quickly enough.
I am dissappointed by the fist weapons, not nearly as cool as I would have hoped. Odachi's kick ass though, glad Elden Ring is finally gonna have them. And as always, the character creator is great.
I am dissappointed by the fist weapons, not nearly as cool as I would have hoped. Odachi's kick ass though, glad Elden Ring is finally gonna have them. And as always, the character creator is great.
Played it for a while with a friend, fully knowing that if he gave it up I would too. He did, of course. I tried giving it a chance, but this combat doesn't really mesh with me. Splitting up my attention too much.
This game is currently in the Humble Choice for March 2024, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before April 2nd, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
Dark Souls if it was made even harder.
Nioh is the Dark Souls Franchise if it was made by even crueler devs. Team Ninja was well known for Dead Or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, the latter being an extremely punishing remake. They’re dedicated to excellent fighting systems that will push for excellence in precision. Nioh 2 is no different, with a solid fighting system but it also feels more punishing than most souls-like, which I think is what people are looking for.
But… I’m not. This isn’t necessarily a negative but I found both Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 to have huge cliffs of difficulty, and you will struggle against it at least early. There are interesting enemies, but they all can be brutal in the wrong situation, and I know some people will love that, but for me, I probably won’t tackle this one.
Before I end I will say there’s also a good variety of weapons and each weapon style feels different, along with having four stances per weapon, and skills designed for each stance.
Pick this up if you like Souls-like but want harder challenges or just want more in-depth combat. If there’s one thing Team Ninja knows it’s how to add systems to their combat without making it feel bloated, and Nioh 2 succeeds at that.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/PX2c6Gm5Jbg
Dark Souls if it was made even harder.
Nioh is the Dark Souls Franchise if it was made by even crueler devs. Team Ninja was well known for Dead Or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, the latter being an extremely punishing remake. They’re dedicated to excellent fighting systems that will push for excellence in precision. Nioh 2 is no different, with a solid fighting system but it also feels more punishing than most souls-like, which I think is what people are looking for.
But… I’m not. This isn’t necessarily a negative but I found both Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 to have huge cliffs of difficulty, and you will struggle against it at least early. There are interesting enemies, but they all can be brutal in the wrong situation, and I know some people will love that, but for me, I probably won’t tackle this one.
Before I end I will say there’s also a good variety of weapons and each weapon style feels different, along with having four stances per weapon, and skills designed for each stance.
Pick this up if you like Souls-like but want harder challenges or just want more in-depth combat. If there’s one thing Team Ninja knows it’s how to add systems to their combat without making it feel bloated, and Nioh 2 succeeds at that.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/PX2c6Gm5Jbg
do you remember when parents bought you those 1 dollar toys made from china with the cheapest plastic you could find
yeah that's how i feel about this franchise
yeah that's how i feel about this franchise
Didn't care much for the original Nioh but had a blast with Nioh 2. Some systems still don't really work for me like the Loot System and Missions (mainly the side content being so repetitive) but refinements to the skill system and new mechanics like the Yokai skills/forms make this a much tighter experience all around. Also ran pretty damn flawlessy on the PS5 remaster, with load times especially being non-existent and a silky smooth 60fps throughout. A worthwhile competitor to the Souls games and a phenomenal action game in its own right.
9/10
9/10
Pretty solid action game, wish there was less focus on loot
There's a few ways to look at this game. It's a good Souslike, but it's not really "Souls" combat. It's better than the first by improving on the basic structure, but it also suffers from repeating the same mistakes. And neither of those sentences mean anything to someone who hasn't played either.
Nioh 2 is really good, but it's also really boring. I found the first game really boring and tedious, and never got around to finishing it, but this one was a lot more interesting and had a load of changes to the gameplay that made learning and improving feel fun.
That said, it's still just okay. The story is whatever (does anyone care?), but the locations and setpieces are a lot better. However, there's still way too many Sub Missions and since I wound up doing most of them, that meant redoing stages over and over and over... which got boring fast.
The improvements to the core gameplay with stances and combos made it feel way nicer to play, even if I personally forgot Yokai Abilities and Yokai Shift existed until the final area when I google searched a boss's moveset and realized I had played the whole game without using its core gameplay feature. That said, it feels like some weapons are ridiculously more OP than others.
This game's greatest weakness is its repetitiveness and the fact that it simply doesn't really do enough to really set itself apart. It's a well-done Soulslike, but when it messes up, it messes up big time. Some of the bosses are horribly designed, a good chunk is reused concepts from the first game, and those are the worst parts of it.
Either way, I enjoyed it a lot once I got the hang of it, despite forgetting half the features and not knowing how to dodge until DLC3, which I think says a lot about its accessibility and difficulty.
Gauntlets ftw.
Nioh 2 is really good, but it's also really boring. I found the first game really boring and tedious, and never got around to finishing it, but this one was a lot more interesting and had a load of changes to the gameplay that made learning and improving feel fun.
That said, it's still just okay. The story is whatever (does anyone care?), but the locations and setpieces are a lot better. However, there's still way too many Sub Missions and since I wound up doing most of them, that meant redoing stages over and over and over... which got boring fast.
The improvements to the core gameplay with stances and combos made it feel way nicer to play, even if I personally forgot Yokai Abilities and Yokai Shift existed until the final area when I google searched a boss's moveset and realized I had played the whole game without using its core gameplay feature. That said, it feels like some weapons are ridiculously more OP than others.
This game's greatest weakness is its repetitiveness and the fact that it simply doesn't really do enough to really set itself apart. It's a well-done Soulslike, but when it messes up, it messes up big time. Some of the bosses are horribly designed, a good chunk is reused concepts from the first game, and those are the worst parts of it.
Either way, I enjoyed it a lot once I got the hang of it, despite forgetting half the features and not knowing how to dodge until DLC3, which I think says a lot about its accessibility and difficulty.
Gauntlets ftw.
Got a little frustrated/burn out with the sequence of bosses in the final stretch and ended giving up on Kashin Koji.
I think Nioh 2's influences are too closely replicated, and it takes a little of its merits. Team Ninja is so good with pure action games, and the dissonance that RPG elements bring to the genre will never be worth it in my opinion.
In terms of combat, even though the grabs are well warned, I wish there was a way to counter them. Sometimes the time to react is just too small. There seems to be a lot of input reading/state reading to trigger some grabs that feel unfair. Sometimes it feels that when your stamina is empty, a grab will be instantly prioritized by the enemy, even though a combo animation is happening.
Anyway, the game is very good, but o lot of its qualities come from a formula perfected by other developers. I think if Team Ninja embraces its action game roots, they could achieve something truly remarkable. If they keep in this path, they would just be chasing whatever the most accomplished developer right now is doing, and it seems unlikely that they could actually reach them.
I think Nioh 2's influences are too closely replicated, and it takes a little of its merits. Team Ninja is so good with pure action games, and the dissonance that RPG elements bring to the genre will never be worth it in my opinion.
In terms of combat, even though the grabs are well warned, I wish there was a way to counter them. Sometimes the time to react is just too small. There seems to be a lot of input reading/state reading to trigger some grabs that feel unfair. Sometimes it feels that when your stamina is empty, a grab will be instantly prioritized by the enemy, even though a combo animation is happening.
Anyway, the game is very good, but o lot of its qualities come from a formula perfected by other developers. I think if Team Ninja embraces its action game roots, they could achieve something truly remarkable. If they keep in this path, they would just be chasing whatever the most accomplished developer right now is doing, and it seems unlikely that they could actually reach them.
Improved upon Nioh’s gameplay massively in every way but the story doesn’t make me laugh as much so it gets the same score
Nioh 2 [Abandonado]
Introdução:
É bom salientar que comecei com um pé atrás nesse jogo. Me tornei um fã dos soulslikes da From Software e jogos que seguiram a mesma base, sempre buscando jogar os soulslike que mais me chamavam atenção seja por temática ou diferencial em gameplay porém joguei Wo long (dos mesmos criadores de Nioh) e de forma resumida achei repetitivo e chato, além de uma história simples que não te chama para ir além. Então cheguei em Nioh 2 sem muitas esperanças e com diversos pré-conceitos formados. Porém estou disposto a quebrar esses preconceitos e admitir coisas que antes não estava pronto para admitir.
1. História (2/5) :
Por enquanto a história segue simples, como em WO LONG. No fim ou inicio de cada fase há uma cutscene que dá mais contexto para a situação, porém o desenvolvimento de personagens e história principal é lento (não em um bom sentido) e não parece se aprofundar [Quando terminar o jogo pretendo voltar para adicionar mais a essa parte da analise].
2. Gráficos (3.5/5) :
Gráficos simples, para 2024 que é o ano que estou jogado poderia ser considerado fraco porém a arte do jogo e ambientação é muito bem feita, logo é difícil ligar para "gráficos" quando a ambientação é bem feita e passa oque tem para passar.
3. Jogabilidade (4.5/5) :
Um jogo com muitas mecanicas de combate, onde é encontrado seu foco. Uma árvore de skill para cada arma e "yokai", posições de combate variadas que mudam completamente a forma de jogar e mecanica "ritmica" que adiciona uma complexidade no combate que faz com que o jogador tenha que tomar certas escolhas em momentos tensos durante o combate. Definitivamente o ponto alto do jogo.
4. Som (3/5) :
O som no geral é bom, faz o que tem que fazer, nada de muito especial também. As músicas de batalhas contra chefes são épicas, mas de fato nenhuma me marcou como acho que poderia marcar até agora.
5. Longevidade/Replay Value (5/5):
O jogo é partido em "fases" da forma mais clássica possível, dando um fator replay interessante e dando possibilidade de conteúdo adicional de forma muito fácil e simples. Mas é necessário jogar sabendo desse sistema de fases que vai bem contra a formula Soulslike ditada pela FromSoftware em seus jogos. Caso você vá esperando um sistema de mapa como Dark Souls você definitivamente vai se decepcionar. É um sistema de replay onde você desliga o cérebro e completa a fase, mas bom no que se propõe. Adendo: O sistema de fases me agradou muito, mas MUITO, com algumas horas a mais, a ideia de revisitar, poder rushar uma vez e voltar para jogar com calma em outro momento, entre outros detalhes, da uma riqueza ótima para o jogo
6. Conclusão:
Por enquanto o jogo tem me agradado, é um Soulslike com um nível de dificuldade alta onde você é extremamente punido caso não possua habilidade suficiente para desviar nas horas certas e atacar da melhor forma em horas mais certas ainda. Me frustrei bastante em algumas fases com quantidade de inimigos meio exageradas porém entendi que faz parte da experiência do jogo, mas isso de fato me incomodou, pois quantidade nem sempre é qualidade.
Pontuação:
3.7 (arredondando para 4)
Prós e Contras:
Prós: Combate.
Contras: História genérica, clichê e simples.
Nota Final:
Um ótimo Soulslike se você joga sabendo que a estrutura de narrativa e design de "fases" é totalmente diferente do que se tem na tão conhecida saga souls (essa comparação é inevitável.)
Introdução:
É bom salientar que comecei com um pé atrás nesse jogo. Me tornei um fã dos soulslikes da From Software e jogos que seguiram a mesma base, sempre buscando jogar os soulslike que mais me chamavam atenção seja por temática ou diferencial em gameplay porém joguei Wo long (dos mesmos criadores de Nioh) e de forma resumida achei repetitivo e chato, além de uma história simples que não te chama para ir além. Então cheguei em Nioh 2 sem muitas esperanças e com diversos pré-conceitos formados. Porém estou disposto a quebrar esses preconceitos e admitir coisas que antes não estava pronto para admitir.
1. História (2/5) :
Por enquanto a história segue simples, como em WO LONG. No fim ou inicio de cada fase há uma cutscene que dá mais contexto para a situação, porém o desenvolvimento de personagens e história principal é lento (não em um bom sentido) e não parece se aprofundar [Quando terminar o jogo pretendo voltar para adicionar mais a essa parte da analise].
2. Gráficos (3.5/5) :
Gráficos simples, para 2024 que é o ano que estou jogado poderia ser considerado fraco porém a arte do jogo e ambientação é muito bem feita, logo é difícil ligar para "gráficos" quando a ambientação é bem feita e passa oque tem para passar.
3. Jogabilidade (4.5/5) :
Um jogo com muitas mecanicas de combate, onde é encontrado seu foco. Uma árvore de skill para cada arma e "yokai", posições de combate variadas que mudam completamente a forma de jogar e mecanica "ritmica" que adiciona uma complexidade no combate que faz com que o jogador tenha que tomar certas escolhas em momentos tensos durante o combate. Definitivamente o ponto alto do jogo.
4. Som (3/5) :
O som no geral é bom, faz o que tem que fazer, nada de muito especial também. As músicas de batalhas contra chefes são épicas, mas de fato nenhuma me marcou como acho que poderia marcar até agora.
5. Longevidade/Replay Value (5/5):
O jogo é partido em "fases" da forma mais clássica possível, dando um fator replay interessante e dando possibilidade de conteúdo adicional de forma muito fácil e simples. Mas é necessário jogar sabendo desse sistema de fases que vai bem contra a formula Soulslike ditada pela FromSoftware em seus jogos. Caso você vá esperando um sistema de mapa como Dark Souls você definitivamente vai se decepcionar. É um sistema de replay onde você desliga o cérebro e completa a fase, mas bom no que se propõe. Adendo: O sistema de fases me agradou muito, mas MUITO, com algumas horas a mais, a ideia de revisitar, poder rushar uma vez e voltar para jogar com calma em outro momento, entre outros detalhes, da uma riqueza ótima para o jogo
6. Conclusão:
Por enquanto o jogo tem me agradado, é um Soulslike com um nível de dificuldade alta onde você é extremamente punido caso não possua habilidade suficiente para desviar nas horas certas e atacar da melhor forma em horas mais certas ainda. Me frustrei bastante em algumas fases com quantidade de inimigos meio exageradas porém entendi que faz parte da experiência do jogo, mas isso de fato me incomodou, pois quantidade nem sempre é qualidade.
Pontuação:
3.7 (arredondando para 4)
Prós e Contras:
Prós: Combate.
Contras: História genérica, clichê e simples.
Nota Final:
Um ótimo Soulslike se você joga sabendo que a estrutura de narrativa e design de "fases" é totalmente diferente do que se tem na tão conhecida saga souls (essa comparação é inevitável.)
Aun mejor que nioh 1, este juego supera las expectativas con mas personalización y aun mas desafiante
Nice One Swarlow. ( The origins of Swarlow)
Melhora o primeiro em basicamente todos os aspectos e é o mais próximo de um novo Ninja Gaiden até hoje. A história é bem simples e interessante apesar da linha do tempo meio confusa e consegue te guiar o jogo todo, tem até alguns twists aqui e ali, a gameplay é disparada a melhor parte do jogo e conseguiram fazer algo que só Sekiro fez na minha visão onde o moveset da arma não enjoa do começo ao fim, só joguei de foice-borboleta e foi uma baita adição, divertida demais de se usar, a variedade de talismãs, espiritos guardiões e almessências acrescenta bastante no gameplay. No geral é uma experiência bem sólida, os únicos problemas são o level design fraco, que apesar de ter melhorado ainda não é o ideal e as missões secundárias um tanto quanto repetitivas, principalmente mais pro final do jogo, mas de jeito nenhum que isso apaga o brilho do game.
One of the greatest 'souls-like' games to come out, although I'd argue Nioh 2 has more of its own identity and has more in common with ARPGs like Diablo.
The games combat is fast, highly skill expressive and gives you so many options to handle enemies. Anybody who doesn't like it is a filtered Souls baby who can't fathom when combat systems are more than just rolling and hitting
The games combat is fast, highly skill expressive and gives you so many options to handle enemies. Anybody who doesn't like it is a filtered Souls baby who can't fathom when combat systems are more than just rolling and hitting
Excellent weeb gaming but hella hard sometimes
Not even The Sims makes you micromanage that many things. I mean, seriously. Just going through the tutorial with transformations, stances, and combos already left me traumatized.
terrible bosses but awesome eveything else
One of the best soulslikes for sure. It isn't on the same level as From Software games but it still very well made. Combat is spetacular and feels smooth to play.
better than original
Drags on a bit towards the end, especially if you’re doing all the side content, but asides from that it’s one of the best soulslikes out there.
Nioh 2 isn't another dark souls cheap copy, this game does a lot on its own that makes the game unique and more interesting to play.
Story and Setting:
Nioh 2 is actually a prequel to the first Nioh but it takes place in similar times as its predecessor. The end of Sengoku period and the beggining of the Edo period, what I love is that this game is constantly reffering to the actual Japanesse history and its even kinda based on it with our main character Hideyoshi not being 1:1 historic one, but based on real Hideyoshi. Story follows the fate of a half yokai half human who travels with a merchant seeking to become someone "big", well in short. Story telling is mostly based on consequent cutscenes, we learn the backstory of every major character by "seeing through" their guardian spirit. Like in most of the soulslike genre productions this game also isnt really story focused so the plot might not stick out. But I assure you its not boring and if you like japanesse culture you will most certainly like it.
Worldbuilding is okay, nothing too crazy but still very solid. Basically we can learn the story of the place by solely looking at it or overhearing a dialogue between a couple of enemies. For example we come to destroyed, raided by bandits town and we know it because we see the bandits, we hear what they talk about and we walk through the ruins of the demolished town.
Characters:
Well like i said earlier its a soulslike game so the authors didnt pay too much attention to the characters, and we can already see it beacuse our main characters is literally mute...I personally didnt like that idea. The deuteragonist or main villain is a one person and its our first friend Tokichiro he is seduced by power and becomes evil in short, but later after we killed him twice he yet comes back to life again for this time to redeem his guilt.
Another important character is Mumyo, well she was supposed to be important but really is she? I didnt really find her interesting, she was a yokai hunter but after coming in contact with a good yokai (that being us) she grew to like us and became more emotionally stable.
Oh and lets give a shout to the phenomenal character creation system. Im gonna be honest I havent seen such detailed character creator in a long time, it is truly great.
Gameplay:
Concept of gameplay in this game is really simple, it's based on a soulslike system where enemies respawn after you die, there are checkpoints to be unlocked, killing enemies grant you exp to level up and after finishing every "location" there is a boss. Gameplay is pretty linear, I mean every mission's core is the same: go forward --> unlock shortcut --> go forward.. and repeat till the boss comes, you kill the boss and move to the next location. It would seem boring right? But its really not, combat system is what makes this game so much better. They give you the choice to pick two weapons out of like 10 or something. Every weapon has its own different moveset on every different position (there are 3 positions to every weapon). You can combo it however you want, every weapon has its own skill tree. There is also magic abilities and ninjutsu which would seem useless like in most of games but not this time, even if you play sword centered build magic will be usefull i can guarantee you. The variety of builds and skills and their usage is abstract. Whats more you have your yokai powers that come from your guardian spirit which you can choose on your own and you also have your yokai skills that you drop from the enemies and can also rotate them however you please. I havent even got to the armour yet.. There are tons of different armours with its own stats and sub-stats, when you dont like them you can forge or find new and etc. you can make literally your perfect build. What I dont like about this is the amount of it..I mean the loot drops from every mob in the game and after one "mission" your equipment is stacked with items, yes of course you can just quick sell them but the level scalling exists in this game so you should double check them since they are probably higher level than yours and who knows if they wont be better? (they will). I should also mention that this game has its own stamina mechanic - in this game called "Ki". Ki allows you to restore some part of it after doing attacks. Its not only helpfull to improve your stamina managment skills but also to fight mobs (puryfing created by yokais areas where you are weaker). Ki is also important in leveling your character cause you can increase the amount of it or make it restore faster etc.
Mobs / Enemies:
For the game as long as Nioh 2 (I have spent 100 hours, but I did a lot of side quests) its natural that the enemies will be repetitive and I didnt really mind that because even the weakest mob in the game "Gaki" has like 5 different attacks. Mini bosses are either really hard or super easy, for example foes like: "Karasu Tengu" or "Magatsu Warrior" can be really tricky and killed me a lot of times but at the other hand we have the monkey that only requires you to hold your block button.
The other thing I didnt like was mob/boss recycling. This game tends to use many times same bosses without even giving them any new attacks. In the end game you fight like 5 bosses that u previously killed or in almost every side quest you fight same bosses but with higher level.
Talking about bosses, I want to categorize them as: yokai bosses and human bosses. Most of human bosses were easy and died first attempt, had a lot of weaknesses and could be easily abused. At the other hand most of yokai bosses were really tough and I spent like and hour average on most of them. Couple of them had really great move-set like Ryomen Sukuna or final boss- Otakemaru but some were horribly designed like Gyuki. Not many gimick bosses and all of them looked visually crazy, designes were great.
Locations:
Even though story progression in Nioh 2 is completely linear, the locations itself are pretty well designed. Tons of verticality and shortcuts, rewarding player for looting with hiding some lootbox, hidden special loot or kodama (something like a perk upgrade). Some places were corrupted with the dark realm. Dark realm is like a domain for yokaias where they are a lot stronger and you are weaker, they are pretty big and can be purified by deafiting responsible for it enemy, most of times you can avoid it but you can take the risk and win some lootboxes when you defeat all of the foes. There is also a lot of tombstones of fallen warriors, you can summon and fight them to win some extra loot. Sumarizing lociatons are pretty, well designed and worth to explore, I'd say there are great.
Visual & Audio:
There are 3 modes in the game, I played with the middle one where you have what i believe was 60fps and decent looking graphic, you can also choose 120fps but low quality graphic and great looking graphic but 30fps. Cutscenes are well made, faces look realistic and they are fluid. I havent had any lag issues, crushes or any significant glitches, game was really taken care of. Moving to soundtrack, I found couple of tracks I liked but most of them are really boring, just playing same sequence for the entire mission, often not matching with current mood. I think it sometimes would be better off silent tbh. Boss soundtracks were also kinda average, nothing crazy. In my opionon soundtrack in this game is the aspect that could have been definitely done better (especially that this game is taking place in feudal Japan).
Final thoughts:
Nioh 2 is something more than a stepping stone from Dark Souls. An ambitious game with its own idea, very interesting and complex combat system and a nice historical underlie. Its a prequel but story from Nioh 2 crosses paths with the story of Nioh 1 so I would recommend to play Nioh 1 first but its not required. Locations and mobs are well designed, story is quite good even tho its not story focused game. Audio-visualy this game is decent, soundtracks are mostly boring but graphics are pretty good. Has some weaknesses like spamming loot or being really repetetive, linear and too long, still this game is great and its worth playing it if you like soulslikes and feudal japan.
Strenghts: locations, mobs/bosses, combat system, atmosphere, setting, mechanics
Weaknesses: length, repetitiveness (bosses, locations, etc.), soundtrack, characters (keep in mind its a soulslike!), side quests
Story and Setting:
Nioh 2 is actually a prequel to the first Nioh but it takes place in similar times as its predecessor. The end of Sengoku period and the beggining of the Edo period, what I love is that this game is constantly reffering to the actual Japanesse history and its even kinda based on it with our main character Hideyoshi not being 1:1 historic one, but based on real Hideyoshi. Story follows the fate of a half yokai half human who travels with a merchant seeking to become someone "big", well in short. Story telling is mostly based on consequent cutscenes, we learn the backstory of every major character by "seeing through" their guardian spirit. Like in most of the soulslike genre productions this game also isnt really story focused so the plot might not stick out. But I assure you its not boring and if you like japanesse culture you will most certainly like it.
Worldbuilding is okay, nothing too crazy but still very solid. Basically we can learn the story of the place by solely looking at it or overhearing a dialogue between a couple of enemies. For example we come to destroyed, raided by bandits town and we know it because we see the bandits, we hear what they talk about and we walk through the ruins of the demolished town.
Characters:
Well like i said earlier its a soulslike game so the authors didnt pay too much attention to the characters, and we can already see it beacuse our main characters is literally mute...I personally didnt like that idea. The deuteragonist or main villain is a one person and its our first friend Tokichiro he is seduced by power and becomes evil in short, but later after we killed him twice he yet comes back to life again for this time to redeem his guilt.
Another important character is Mumyo, well she was supposed to be important but really is she? I didnt really find her interesting, she was a yokai hunter but after coming in contact with a good yokai (that being us) she grew to like us and became more emotionally stable.
Oh and lets give a shout to the phenomenal character creation system. Im gonna be honest I havent seen such detailed character creator in a long time, it is truly great.
Gameplay:
Concept of gameplay in this game is really simple, it's based on a soulslike system where enemies respawn after you die, there are checkpoints to be unlocked, killing enemies grant you exp to level up and after finishing every "location" there is a boss. Gameplay is pretty linear, I mean every mission's core is the same: go forward --> unlock shortcut --> go forward.. and repeat till the boss comes, you kill the boss and move to the next location. It would seem boring right? But its really not, combat system is what makes this game so much better. They give you the choice to pick two weapons out of like 10 or something. Every weapon has its own different moveset on every different position (there are 3 positions to every weapon). You can combo it however you want, every weapon has its own skill tree. There is also magic abilities and ninjutsu which would seem useless like in most of games but not this time, even if you play sword centered build magic will be usefull i can guarantee you. The variety of builds and skills and their usage is abstract. Whats more you have your yokai powers that come from your guardian spirit which you can choose on your own and you also have your yokai skills that you drop from the enemies and can also rotate them however you please. I havent even got to the armour yet.. There are tons of different armours with its own stats and sub-stats, when you dont like them you can forge or find new and etc. you can make literally your perfect build. What I dont like about this is the amount of it..I mean the loot drops from every mob in the game and after one "mission" your equipment is stacked with items, yes of course you can just quick sell them but the level scalling exists in this game so you should double check them since they are probably higher level than yours and who knows if they wont be better? (they will). I should also mention that this game has its own stamina mechanic - in this game called "Ki". Ki allows you to restore some part of it after doing attacks. Its not only helpfull to improve your stamina managment skills but also to fight mobs (puryfing created by yokais areas where you are weaker). Ki is also important in leveling your character cause you can increase the amount of it or make it restore faster etc.
Mobs / Enemies:
For the game as long as Nioh 2 (I have spent 100 hours, but I did a lot of side quests) its natural that the enemies will be repetitive and I didnt really mind that because even the weakest mob in the game "Gaki" has like 5 different attacks. Mini bosses are either really hard or super easy, for example foes like: "Karasu Tengu" or "Magatsu Warrior" can be really tricky and killed me a lot of times but at the other hand we have the monkey that only requires you to hold your block button.
The other thing I didnt like was mob/boss recycling. This game tends to use many times same bosses without even giving them any new attacks. In the end game you fight like 5 bosses that u previously killed or in almost every side quest you fight same bosses but with higher level.
Talking about bosses, I want to categorize them as: yokai bosses and human bosses. Most of human bosses were easy and died first attempt, had a lot of weaknesses and could be easily abused. At the other hand most of yokai bosses were really tough and I spent like and hour average on most of them. Couple of them had really great move-set like Ryomen Sukuna or final boss- Otakemaru but some were horribly designed like Gyuki. Not many gimick bosses and all of them looked visually crazy, designes were great.
Locations:
Even though story progression in Nioh 2 is completely linear, the locations itself are pretty well designed. Tons of verticality and shortcuts, rewarding player for looting with hiding some lootbox, hidden special loot or kodama (something like a perk upgrade). Some places were corrupted with the dark realm. Dark realm is like a domain for yokaias where they are a lot stronger and you are weaker, they are pretty big and can be purified by deafiting responsible for it enemy, most of times you can avoid it but you can take the risk and win some lootboxes when you defeat all of the foes. There is also a lot of tombstones of fallen warriors, you can summon and fight them to win some extra loot. Sumarizing lociatons are pretty, well designed and worth to explore, I'd say there are great.
Visual & Audio:
There are 3 modes in the game, I played with the middle one where you have what i believe was 60fps and decent looking graphic, you can also choose 120fps but low quality graphic and great looking graphic but 30fps. Cutscenes are well made, faces look realistic and they are fluid. I havent had any lag issues, crushes or any significant glitches, game was really taken care of. Moving to soundtrack, I found couple of tracks I liked but most of them are really boring, just playing same sequence for the entire mission, often not matching with current mood. I think it sometimes would be better off silent tbh. Boss soundtracks were also kinda average, nothing crazy. In my opionon soundtrack in this game is the aspect that could have been definitely done better (especially that this game is taking place in feudal Japan).
Final thoughts:
Nioh 2 is something more than a stepping stone from Dark Souls. An ambitious game with its own idea, very interesting and complex combat system and a nice historical underlie. Its a prequel but story from Nioh 2 crosses paths with the story of Nioh 1 so I would recommend to play Nioh 1 first but its not required. Locations and mobs are well designed, story is quite good even tho its not story focused game. Audio-visualy this game is decent, soundtracks are mostly boring but graphics are pretty good. Has some weaknesses like spamming loot or being really repetetive, linear and too long, still this game is great and its worth playing it if you like soulslikes and feudal japan.
Strenghts: locations, mobs/bosses, combat system, atmosphere, setting, mechanics
Weaknesses: length, repetitiveness (bosses, locations, etc.), soundtrack, characters (keep in mind its a soulslike!), side quests
Funner game with that gooder jank