Nioh (2017)

I realized I never wrote any final thoughts for this game, so I'll go ahead and put together a little review. Nioh is an action-adventure game I never expected to get into this much -- but it's really one of those games where the more time you put into it, the more you get out of it.

"Souls-likes" had never been my thing, but I felt drawn to Nioh anyways thanks to its setting. Sometimes that's really all it takes to make a game stand out, but in this case I really dig the samurai era and its fantasy spin full of memorable yokai creatures. The story itself is nothing to write home about, but for me it was always much more about the setting than the plot or characters.

I had a hard time getting into this one at first. I died many, many, many times in the first levels. I had to set the game down for a while -- but when I finally got back to it, I was determined to defeat that boss I was stuck on, no matter how many times I had to fight it. Eventually, I did beat it... but it wasn't just from memorizing its attack patterns and making full use of my own abilities. I had to think outside the box a little, and work with the menus to adjust my armor, weapons, items, and skills. Finally, the game clicked with me. I outsmarted the impossible boss, and it felt amazing. So this is what they all mean, when they say "get gud." It's not just your reflexes in the heat of the battle; it's using your head to prepare for each confrontation accordingly.

The game of course only gets harder as it goes along, but the sheer number of options it provides you to work with is staggering. There are many ways to approach each enemy, and the fun comes from experimenting. Try out different weapons, different skills, different stances, different items, different combos, different approaches, different ninja or onmyodo abilities. I enjoyed messing with all these different things. I also had a good time playing through portions of the game with a friend -- co-op Nioh is really a blast if you're both really getting into it.

The game isn't perfect. I felt there was way too much loot to deal with -- and the menus are cumbersome at best, thoroughly intimidating at worst. (I tried my hardest, but I don't think I ever really got how to use the blacksmith to full effect.) People have remarked that there isn't enough level or enemy variety, which I think is a valid criticism too. I thought there was perhaps just barely enough (especially in regards to the bosses), but it seems this is something that's been improved upon for the sequel. I will note there are DLC campaigns for Nioh, and I did end up playing through all of those too. It gets extremely tough, but playing co-op made it manageable for me. Post-game Nioh brings its own new fun experiences by the way, in that you're more free to try out new "builds" for your character. It was crazy how I could put so many hours into a game, and then suddenly it feels fresh again just by tweaking my stats a bit.

Suffice to say, I 100% never expected to get the platinum trophy for a game as intimidating as this. But I did, and it was a blast. I look forward to playing through the sequel, which I've already picked up. I intend to wait a bit before diving in fully though, in order to avoid genre fatigue. If the setting of Nioh interests you, it's well-worth checking out (especially considering how cheap the game has become). Just remember that it does not play the exact same as other "Souls-likes" -- Nioh has its own feel to it, and needs to be approached in its own way.

There's no mistaking it - Nioh is a Souls game to the core. It may not be by the same developer, but the experience point system, the treacherous exploration, the tough as nails bosses... it's pure Souls.

Including the frustrating parts. Nioh spares no expense in ripping the player to shreds as they take part in a journey to reclaim a foreigner's guardian spirit in 17th century Japan. The character in question, William, is adept with a handful of weapons and can level up stats to get better with each one. Where the real interesting part comes in is that William can adapt to three different stances (low, mid, high) for each weapon, emphasizing evasion, blocking, and damage. Along with that, the stamina bar is now a mystical gauge called Ki, which can be pulsed with a timed button press to regain stamina at a quicker pace and dispel stamina-draining pools called yokai realms. Enemies have their own Ki as well, with the player aggressively (optionally, but aggressive is the way to go) hitting stamina out of their enemies to get grapples and finishing moves in.

A special powerup mode (think Devil Trigger or Rage of the Gods) is also available, a Guardian Spirit that charges the player for a short time. This mode is powered by how many souls (cough Amrita cough) the player obtains, and can be key to get out of tricky situations.

The story is pretty laid-out, completely unlike the Souls games. This can be a bit of a bother, as it's no longer a rich mystery and is rife with cliche. The world is also a set of missions instead of a connected set of areas, with sub-quests to pepper amongst the main quests. Herein lies Nioh's ultimate weakness - a large amount of its content amounts to repetitive fights with enemies you'll be seeing way too many times. The bosses are intense (mostly) the first time you encounter them, but the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th times lessen that magic. Playing these quests is also akin to grinding, and with the gigantic amount of weapons and armor that are dropped Diablo-style (especially from enemies born from online player deaths called Revenants), the player will feel overpowered in the endgame, making many a fight later on trivial.

However, the game is gorgeous. It doesn't quite pull off the ruined world that the Souls games do so well, but it looks rich with detail and echoes fantastic audio and visual design.

If you can stomach the lack of balance, cliched story, and content so boringly repetitive you'd poke your eyes out (or just be a BOSS and skip it), Nioh is surprisingly solid, and not only manages to prove itself as a Souls-like but even provide satisfyingly good combat that makes it better than a few of the actual Souls games. You know the ones...

Well, I think I'm going to cry. Perhaps Ni-oh won't be such a masterpiece after all, it sounds like this game has just entered into a disappointing downward spiral. At first I thought it was great that Team Ninja had released the early demo and gave players the opportunity to provide feedback on the beta. But now I'm thinking that perhaps it was an awful idea. I think the original artist vision of the game was brilliant, but it sounds like they're going to be really dumbing the game down. Here's the survey results: http://goo.gl/GfisSA

So, from what I can gather from that article, the following things will be changed before the final game is released:

• Make the game much easier overall.
• Make the enemies weaker.
• Add tutorials, hints and a lot of hand-holding.
• Add shortcuts and make levels easier.
• Remove AOE attacks/damage.
• Make it so that enemies don't pursue the player.
• Remove all of the unique/creative gameplay elements (like combat, stamina, player character movement, Ki gauge, shrine, weapon durability) or at least change them so that they're identical to Dark Souls
• Make the game extremely boring and easy and remove all unique/interesting gameplay elements.

This is a disaster. And the one single thing that I thought needed improvement (the framerate) didn't even get a mention. I'm praying that the devs will actually stand their ground on some of this, but I doubt it. It sounds like Ni-Oh has just received a serious downgrade. Disappointed, I was really looking forward to this game. :(

Very hyped for Ni-Oh. I finished the demo yesterday but my mind has been on it so I started a fresh character played some more. A very fascinating game. Once you play a bit you realise it's actually quite different to SoulsBorne. A handful of the game systems are borrowed from that series but it ends there. It's almost like Souls is a new genre, and Ni-Oh is just a completely fresh new game but in the same genre.

In particular there are so many options for attacking and stances, not to mention special moves and combos. I'm looking forward to exploring this mysterious demon-infested ancient Japan and seeing the story unfold. There are juxtapositions that I really like in the aesthetic. Your shrine is watched over my cute little forest spirits, more of whom you can find and lead back to your shrine if you explore the level (and, if you find them, they can offer you buffs or bonuses). These things are really silly and cute, a little reminiscent of the Kodama from Princess Mononoke. But then, aside from this the demo is really brutal and gory. Often you behead or dismember your foes and become completely splattered with blood.

One of the best little features in the game is how relentless the enemies are. They will chase you to the end of the earth. It's almost like a samurai idea: it is shameful to turn your back on a foe and flee the battlefield. As such if you run or even turn from an enemy they will sprint after you and punish you accordingly, it's never a good idea in this game. Even if you try and run to the other side of the map they'll all be hot on your tail. Picking up loot, opening doors or activating shrines (like bonfires from DS) becomes impossible because there's a long timer- any enemies you've fled from will cut you down (often in 1 shot) before you get a chance to unlock that shortcut. It's brilliant, thoughtful design, and it raises many questions regarding how speedrunners will tackle this game; I don't expect to see one-hour runs as most SoulsBorne speedruns depend so heavily on enemies failing to pursue you.

Demo Completed!

I finished the two levels available in the demo. It's really good. At first I thought "this game is ridiculous. this game is impossible" but once I got a handle on the mechanics it started to become easier. Still though, a totally brutal uncompromising game. Even the developers describe it as a ninja-themed masocore game.

I was worried about the framerate but perhaps I was wrong. After a while I got used to it. Considering the fact that I've been gaming on PC recently, it could just be my eyes adjusting to 30fps.

The game is gorgeous though and the setting is really fascinating. In the second stage they kick it up a notch with the weird surreal enemies. The final boss is a chimera who shoots lightning: it's half-money, half-tiger, half-serpent. If I didn't have so many hours clocked in Bloodborne then that boss would have been absolutely impossible. I can't wait to play the full version, this one looks set to be a winner.

Ni-Oh: "Samurai Souls" PS4

The much anticipated Ni-Oh is apparently available right now as a demo in the Playstation Store. The demo is playable until May 5th. Crazy, I didn't realise developers do things like this, the game isn't due for release for quite a while. I'm looking forward to trying it out. If you have a PS4 you should have a look. Apparently it's a samurai game that takes inspiration from Bloodborne and Ninja Gaiden, and it looks really interesting. I just started the download. :)

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-exclusive-nioh-lets-you-choose-to-improve-fram/1100-6439235/