Nioh (2017)

Oh dear, Nioh: Dragon of the North DLC has been released, and I still haven't finished the base game!

Gosh, that came out quick. I like Nioh, it's an awesome game, the gameplay is great, but I don't find myself hooked on it, I'm not totally thrilled and drawn into it as I thought I would be. I think it's mainly just the story, the lore and the game world. It just doesn't tickle my fancy, and to be honest I don't understand the story. There are so many characters and sub plots that I'm always completely lost and I'm not invested in the plot. It's hard to be invested when there's 15 main characters and none of them are very memorable. Also, there aren't enough enemy types; each level is populated with the standard 3 or 4 enemy mobs with no variation. Granted the bosses are all unique and amazing and provide lots of variety (along with the level design) but there should be more mobs.

This status update has accidentally turned into a bit of a review. :P Though I want to beat it before I cast my final judgement. The game is absolutely enormous and jam-packed with content so that's one thing in its favour. It's like a gigantic endless novel, thick as a phonebook.

Nioh has a really cute kitty in it. In fact there are multiple cute kitties. It's a funny juxtaposition, given the extremely brutal gameplay. Still though, the very fact that it has cats in it means an automatic 5-star score when I do my review (still haven't beaten it yet).

In fact at first I was quite angry about the final release of Nioh, given the overwhelming abundance of tutorial levels and tutorial messages and other tutorial crap hurled at the player during the first chunk of the game. But I decided to forgive them, since the little irritating hint/tutorial fairy (think: "LISTEN!" from Ocarina of Time) is actually a cute little flying cat. So I'll let it slide I suppose.

Nioh Beta - Final Thoughts

I've played around with the Nioh Beta a little bit more and I'm fairly certain that this will be an excellent game; likely to surpass Dark Souls 3.

There is one unexpected and exciting addition to the game: hard mode. For a game which is already very difficult, it's a brazen move for Team Ninja to ignore the scores of players wanting these games to be "more accessible" and instead they've taken the opposite direction, offering increased challenge for players who master the base game. I'm not usually the kind of person who plays games on hard difficulty, but for this genre it's a welcome addition.

The hard mode (or "twilight mode" as it's called) isn't just a simple handicap or enemy damage/hp buff: it actually offers an entirely new experience. Completely different enemies and placement, new objectives and new items/weapons/armour. It's a risk-reward challenge because the best gear is found only in these twilight levels.

I was also thrilled to see Nioh's version of the dreaded "Bonewheel Skeletons" from the souls series. The poor bonewheels were nerfed in Dark Souls 3 and it was sad to see these once-feared enemies as pitiful weaklings. But the ones in Nioh were powerful and terrifying. Looking forward to the full release.

Nioh Beta Final Thoughts:

The beta was excellent and this game is shaping up to be a masterpiece. I can definitely say it's more difficult than Dark Souls 3. It's very different to Souls/Bloodborne.. the fighting is more complex, more options and combos and stuff, very technical. It also has a "twilight mode" which is like nightmare more, brutally difficult. I wish 'souls had something like this. I finished the beta, and I've switched it over to hard mode, but haven't made any progress; it's extreme. Requires true mastery of the game systems.

I'm so relieved that they've kept the challenging nature of the game, in fact it's even more difficult than the last demo, but mostly very fair, very fast-paced. Enemies, level design, atmosphere are all creative and excellent. It feels like Bloodborne: the souls formula but in a totally original, gorgeous setting with very different gameplay. My final wish is for the game to be huge, like on the scale of Dark Souls 3 or bigger. At least it has "twilight mode", which will keep me going indefinitely. I doubt I'd be able to beat the hard mode sections within the next week. Another positive change; the framerate, which is silky smooth now, no framedrops so they must have done some heavy optimisation.

Demo is available for free download on PS4 til September 6th, highly recommended. Players who complete the demo will be awarded special DLC items when the full game is launched.,

The new Nioh Beta is awesome.

It contains three levels: one from the original beta and two entirely new ones. It also contains a tutorial dojo area thing. It is really awesome for two main reasons:

1) Thankfully they've retained the brutal difficulty from the original test. In fact, I would say that they've possibly even increased the difficulty. This game is hardcore. I'm enjoying it thoroughly, currently I'm on the final level, a bit stuck, it's tough.

2) It has a cat!! There's this amazing in-game cinematic where a samurai has a little pet kitty, keeps the kitty in his coat. So sweet. Click here to watch the short video of the kitty. When I saw this I was automatically sold on the game.

Lots of changes. Weapon degradation is gone. Blacksmithy crafting thingy has been added. Muskets added too. Interesting changes to combat. Overall I'm really pleased with it and it looks set to be superior to Dark Souls 3 in my eyes, depending on how the DS3 DLCs go. Only complaint is some slight camera control issues but it's not a big deal.

This is a Souls game with a kitty in it, therefore it's the greatest game ever made.