I'm already not a fan of the Nioh series and Team Ninja's take on Souls games, so this review is biased. If you're into Nioh 2, you'll probably be into this.
Right off the bat, my first and maybe biggest complaint is the parry timing is counter-intuitive. It has a long windup compared to Sekiro's which is effectively instant and can be cancelled into from most attacks and movements. The timing between a standard neutral parry and a directional parry is also different, and depending on if you move forward or away from the attack can vary the time of when you need to parry. I can see for some this might add an extra layer of depth to the difficulty, but to me it just felt inconsistent and frustrating. When you combine that with the PC version's many performance issues, namely stutters and frame drops, it makes the game feel actively bad to play at times.
I don't know if Nioh fans like the aggressive overstuffed inventory loot/armor/weapon system, but this game cemented that I despise it. What a fucking drag combing through 90% useless bullshit to try to look for a weapon or armor you like. I'm sure some people like this, but its just not for me. Team Ninja can definitely make some great gameplay, but their attempts at Souls games just have this lack of refinement that I don't have the patience to tolerate.
I guess who this review is for, the people I would advise to pass this game over, are fans of Fromsoft Games who couldn't get into the Nioh games but think this might be the one to grab them: it won't. All the shit you hate about Nioh is here, just as bad or worse.
Finally, I just want to clarify to fans of this game: I don't think its bad. There are a lot of design choices I don't gel with, and I don't like the timing/feel on parries, which is at the core of the gameplay. I just feel all the parts are here to make a much better game, and it's bogged down by a lot of (imo) bad design choices.
Right off the bat, my first and maybe biggest complaint is the parry timing is counter-intuitive. It has a long windup compared to Sekiro's which is effectively instant and can be cancelled into from most attacks and movements. The timing between a standard neutral parry and a directional parry is also different, and depending on if you move forward or away from the attack can vary the time of when you need to parry. I can see for some this might add an extra layer of depth to the difficulty, but to me it just felt inconsistent and frustrating. When you combine that with the PC version's many performance issues, namely stutters and frame drops, it makes the game feel actively bad to play at times.
I don't know if Nioh fans like the aggressive overstuffed inventory loot/armor/weapon system, but this game cemented that I despise it. What a fucking drag combing through 90% useless bullshit to try to look for a weapon or armor you like. I'm sure some people like this, but its just not for me. Team Ninja can definitely make some great gameplay, but their attempts at Souls games just have this lack of refinement that I don't have the patience to tolerate.
I guess who this review is for, the people I would advise to pass this game over, are fans of Fromsoft Games who couldn't get into the Nioh games but think this might be the one to grab them: it won't. All the shit you hate about Nioh is here, just as bad or worse.
Finally, I just want to clarify to fans of this game: I don't think its bad. There are a lot of design choices I don't gel with, and I don't like the timing/feel on parries, which is at the core of the gameplay. I just feel all the parts are here to make a much better game, and it's bogged down by a lot of (imo) bad design choices.