Shocked there is no buzz about this on here. I'll admit it was under my radar until last week. Once I saw it the game jumped right to the top of my must have list. Developed by Team Ninja, difficulty of the Souls games with combat similar to Bloodborne.

This looks really good. Some of the early reviews say it's an excellent game that focuses heavy on gameplay. Instant cop for me.

In this game, they modified his name
while still paying homage for those
in the know.

His actual historical name
was Sasuke and he accompanied a British-European to Japan as a servant. Once they arrived, per some political arrangement, Sasuke was appointed as a bodyguard for a notable Japanese Daimyo(Fuedal lord).

Its dope that they honor him in this game. Just wish they woulda used his real name for the sake of layman.

Dope shit, I'm gonna play dis off GP.

I loved it. It's like Bloodbourne (or Dark Souls) meets Ninja Gaiden. The combat system is deep but really rewarding once you figure out stances/combos/stamina.

Think there is a bonus item if you completed the beta. I'm ready for this game to take over my life.

looking forward to playing this. didn't participate in the betas because of laziness and team ninja's shoddy track record since NG2. very pleased to hear that this is a return to form for them. i really hope this game delivers on the hype it has generated

made it past the opening level and played the tutorial. dipped my toe in the first area

i have tremendous reservations about the diablo-esque loot in this game. it seems like it would be nigh impossible to adequately balance a reflex and memory-requiring action game like this when you introduce dozens of slight variations, mostly of the stat variety, to every weapon and armor piece. theoretically you should be able to stat your way to victory instead of learning attack patterns and timings. i wonder how the numbers side of the game affected the enemy design, animations, weapon attributes, boss encounters, PvP, etc. i'm very skeptical of this game being able to balance traditional twitch style action gaming with ARPG item drops. it's team ninja, not blizzard

it doesn't look or sound great, at least in action mode (60 fps mode). flat lighting, bland world design, and bad textures. gross. however it plays very well and that's what really matters. it's very responsive and quick in action mode. plays more like /ninja gaiden/ than /dark souls/ or /bloodborne/. the /gears of war/ active reload-style stamina bar recharge microgame is pretty smart. i can see myself getting a lot of close wins and losses due to this mechanic. the different stances seem like they may add a lot to the game but it's too early to call. i imagine there will be enemies that can't be damaged in low stance mode and attacks that can't be dodged in high stance mode. i wonder if you can just stick to one stance for the whole game

i really do like how it plays and feels. going to try to put some actual time in over the next few days and come back with a more considered opinion

It's extremely pretty, I think this game has been in development for so long from what I understand which may be why it has this somewhat dated look.

I love what they did with the stances, I got about as far as you did due to being busy as hell but I can't wait to see just how much this plays into combat. If it's just a preference in style or do you really need to switch stances to be way more effective depending on what you're fighting.

All in all I'm really enjoying it so far. The loot system in this game adds a nice touch and I love being able to see if its an upgrade before I even pick it up. Can't wait to start with the skills, I do hear there is one that lets you do your active reload stamina instantly when you dodge.

I'll put more hours into this today but so far I'm pleased.

successfully. i'm sure there are some that have done it and failed

borderlands did it well but you didn't need to memorize animation timings and attack patterns. just hover your reticle over the enemy and shoot. maybe move laterally every now and again. bloodborne had a little of it but it was mostly +damage and damage types

i think those styles of game design are incompatible. that's why you don't see stat items or loot in devil may cry, ninja gaiden, bayonetta, etc. it interferes with the twitch side of the game

maybe i'm being too pessimistic. it's entirely possible team ninja cracked the code and made it work in this game

You mentioned Borderlands but as a shooter I don't think that counts, same with Destiny.

Other than that you have Diablo style games and MMO's which I don't really count as twitch games either. This game is the first and it does it so damn well. The blacksmith system is deep, reforging, soul mending, creating your own weapons. You can feed your weapons to other weapons to make even better weapons!

The combat in this shit is DEEP! I feel like I still haven't discovered half of my potential. The skill tree's for each weapon great, I can change up the combo of my weapon by specing a certain way, not to mention I can change up what the combo does. If I spec multiple ways but I want to end my attacks certain ways I can go into the menu and edit for example what my parry will do in certain situations.

My main focus this go around is sword and spear, and I've found something in the skill tree that does a KI Pulse for me when I successfully dodge an attack. Its a game changer! Best part is, some weapon passives carry over to ANY weapon. I put something in the axe tree that would give me 100 life and it carried over to every weapon because its counted as a passive for you, its just under the weapon tree. It forces you to look at everything.

Digging the hell out of it so far. Just need to know if bosses have a chance to drop specific armor or weapons and farm them like crazy for the best.

meaning the way the loot works seems like it would make the game easier. it looks like you don't have to engage with any of the deeper mechanics unless you want to and the actual depth of the game comes from speccing your character and getting good loots. i was watching the giant bomb quick look and jason's build was making the game look very easy. he was taking a lot of damage from being hit but he was also killing enemies by simply walking up and stun locking

my impression of the game as i see and play more of it is that it's less of a dark souls game and more ninja gaiden lite meets diablo. i think that's ok? i was expecting dark souls meets ninja gaiden

If you're used to other games of this type then you wont have that hard of a time. I'm familiar with the the combat, still got it handed to me a few times in a few sections. Honestly about the same as the Souls/Bloodborne games. Learning how to do the stances at the right time and how to time the ki pulse perfectly while in combat can take awhile to get used to, even longer to master. Trust me later on you'll have to ki pulse on a debuff while standing in it to get it off the ground or you'll be extremely limited in your space making already difficult fights harder.

This will be punishing to someone new while still providing a challenge to others.

Wanna pick up this but also Yakuza...and then Horizon and Zelda come out in a few weeks. I have neither the time nor the money for all of these.

It's like they set you up to be very confident in your abilities, then BAM! She comes in and humbles you. It took a LOT of attempts. Makes you think everything you learned in other games like this may not apply. It feels and looks like a Team Ninja boss. So rewarding to push through it.

Really digging this so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHecGxFgsc

you'll have to take my word for it. for some reason the PS4 captured only 8.5 minutes instead of 10 and didn't catch the opening cinematic and first minute or so of the first fight. take my inability to dodge anything at all as proof that it was my first encounter with that boss

i get what you're saying though. i could only reliably spot one tell. almost no windup at all for anything, especially her wing disc thing which had way more range and forward motion than i expected (every time!) i could only dodge the paralyze shout because it had an audible cue. the rest i just back-dashed

it should be noted i was ~25 amrita level, which may have been high for that area. not a result of excessive grinding, just going back to area 1 to collect all of the kodama and complete the sub-mission

most battles seem to come down to who connects an attack first and can keep the other guy stunlocked for the duration of the combo. the bigger enemies and yokai seem to have an advantage since they are mostly or entirely immune to stunlock. i've died a number of times to yokai and the large humans while i was at full or mostly full health because i took one hit and was stunlocked for the followup attack(s), which is kind of like being one-shotted. that may be an armor thing. i haven't experimented with a heavy armor build. trying to play a stick and move style with the spear is not very effective since the range is kind of bad and there are only a few thrust attacks. nioh seems to want the player get in and pull off a quick combo before a ki-replenshing dash or stance change. i may respec to a build favoring the faster weapons

i'm vacillating between liking and not liking this game. the combo system is fairly deep but the enemy attack patterns are pretty shallow. i'm not sold on the loot aspect. it feels tacked on and almost like an excuse to pad the length of the experience by incentivizing players to grind away on the sub-missions. but it does play really well and it's very unique

Break down a lot of the useless stuff and the rare material I'll use to craft. Works way better that way and I have a nice 6 piece set that's paying off.

You're right about the stun locking. I learned last night after dying for almost 2 hours to a boss that sometimes it's better to dodge and instantly block for the almost unavoidable follow up. I normally do this in mid stance. I'm using the sword and spear. Spear really helped me with that fight last night. Some of these enemies really force you to switch up what you're used to. Sometimes I have to remind myself this is a really different game.

Are you using medium or light armor? I noticed with light every time I went for a block it took away a lot of my Ki. Medium feels perfect for me as long as my equipped weight was in green. Once I got into 70% or more I felt sluggish. That's the one thing stopping me from trying heavy.

in the caves, after carefully and methodically getting the yokai down to a sliver of life. i can't even take one fucking hit before it's game over? that shit is so frustrating. i think i'm not reacting correctly when i get hit the first time. maybe i should block or dodge in a different direction. i tend to hold back or neutral when i press X. there may be no i-frames in the dodge

i get the "highs and lows" and high stakes angle of this type of game design but i need a margin of error of more than one wrong move, nioh. jesus. when i die, make me want to go back and correct my mistake, not snap the disc in half

>Are you using medium or light armor? I noticed with light
>every time I went for a block it took away a lot of my Ki.
>Medium feels perfect for me as long as my equipped weight was
>in green. Once I got into 70% or more I felt sluggish. That's
>the one thing stopping me from trying heavy.

i'm at ~35% equip load so i guess light armor. i chose the wind spirit thing because it said i would be faster. not sure how much difference it's making. also i never block

>Some of these enemies really force you to switch up
>what you're used to. Sometimes I have to remind myself this is
>a really different game.

i agree. i'm slowly moving from playing a soulsborne style to a nioh style. either get in and get out or use a ki charge stance change to keep the combo going. stringing together long stance change combos feels really good

While I do love the game I admin the SoulsBournes have done the bosses better. The mistake margin is even smaller here and I feel like some of their attacks no matter how much you know it's coming you have a 1% margin of error.

Last night I was getting pissed because in any other game a bosses running swipe I could get used to. This dude made me feel like I couldn't get it right even tho I felt my timing was perfect. They're that unpredictable.

This system is complex and I get where they are going. Souls had a simplistic system that could be as complex as you wanted it to be.

Love it, but I agree it has some "bullshit" moments that make you want to break something.

Got through one, gotta admit it was extremely tough.

Can't go through these like you normally would. Was a lot of baiting people back to me to an empty spot, much more than you would just playing the game normally. The enemies are TOUGH. Like boss mechanics tough.

Felt good though, so far they're dropping a ton of purples. Crafted some great rare gear as well. I'm really digging this game more and more.

this game is great. it plays wonderfully. i wish there was better level and enemy design

i read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Nioh/comments/5u9meg/tips_build_nioh_starter_guide_for_first_build_to/

and it helped a little. realized i was wasting ~35% of equip load and remedied that. currently ~29 amrita level and trying to hit 10 magic/dex

It's definitely a quantity over quality kind of game with regards to its level design. Some levels really hit that sweet spot of alternate paths, cool set piece, secrets, etc...; but then you have the PS2-era cave missions and the goddamn Ninja Mansion (you'll know what I mean).

it makes the grinding so much more interesting and enjoyable.

all terrible qualities which this game has in spades. they're not offset by the sublime controls and combo system. i think i'm off this game again. i may just need a respec

it's frustrating to complete all the missions in an area, to the point where you can kill enemies in a few hits or a single combo, then go to a new area and have those EXACT SAME enemies (same model, same attack patterns) take 2-3 times as many hits to kill despite your character leveling up and swtiching to a stronger weapon before going into the first level of the new area. it makes me feel like i'm running in place and somehow ending up several feet behind my starting position

The criticisms regarding enemy variety are totally valid but I was having enough fun/agony with the combat that I didn't mind. The developers seem really receptive to feedback so I'm hoping they address it in DLC/sequels.



It's my favorite game of '17 so far but I have yet to really sit down with Horizon yet.

Takes place after the end of the first. New weapon is essentially a giant samurai sword.

The moveset is like a hybrid of the Axe and Spear, that can be set up to either fluidly move between stances or just go full retard and smash fools into the ground.

Still hoping they add a dedicated bare-handed/fist weapon moveset at some point.

only game he's played since it dropped

I wound up over leveling and hit level 27 on the second mission isle of the demons. Now I'm grinding levels to prepare for the third board. That mountain level looks tough as fuck so prep time is a must.