Is Nioh Very Souls-y?

[stroopwafel]

See that's one of my biggest issues with the Souls games. Every bit of footage I see of the any of the games, for years, basically just boils down to "Dodge like crazy and hopefully get 1-2 smacks in before the monstrosity 1-shots me...wash, rinse, repeat." It seems incredibly dull and monotonous to me. And while the basic combat of Fallen Order was similar, I at least had things like force powers to mix it up, and make some variety to approaches for a lot of enemies. Nioh seems to be more along this angle of approach to the combat, allowing you lots of tricks and powers to tackle the enemies with different strategies. So I might actually check it out.

To be honest I wouldn't really recommend Nioh as a first time experience of these games. Most likely you'll bounce off hard. I played Fallen Order as well and it's very, very casual compared to Nioh which is a step up in complexity from Souls which many already consider challenging. I wish more people played Nioh so I'd be the last one to discourage you from playing but as a first time experience Nioh's learning curve is pretty steep. Maybe watch some walkthroughs on youtube first(Fighting cowboys is pretty good) so you know what you're getting into.

There is a system where you can level up a low level weapon you found that you really like to match your current level. For example say you found a level 23 sword that has lightning damage and break damage (break is how you destroy someone's stamina) but by level 35+ it's obviously not going to have the damage. So you can go to the blacksmith and sacrifice some junk level 40 weapon to level the sword you like from 23 to 40.

However the more likely scenario is you are just going to use the newer more powerful swords that drop because they will have more and more stats on them. The game has huge levels of customization, and you'll like need to look up a guide or wiki to hunt of the gear you want and the stats you'll want it to have to do what you imagine yourself doing. Again there are a shitload of ways you can build your character up, and a shitload of ways you can kit yourself to deal with the combat. It is one of Nioh's biggest strengths because the sheer mountain of combat variety makes the grinding not get boring because you can always change they way you handle combat, effectively changing the way you play the game on the fly.

Since you have the first game it's a good place to start, but know that Nioh 2 adds a whole entire bucketlist of more things you can do. Honestly Nioh 2 is a much better game. So Play some of the first game to get a feel for how everything works, and if you like it go get Nioh 2 and play that instead because it's much much better.

Yeah, soul matching is also pretty expensive on a first run. Grinding for specific item drops and creating a specific build isn't really important until NG+. For the DLC (atleast in Nioh 1) it's almost required to grind some divine gear will you not get one shot by every enemy.

 

[CriticalGaming]

For the record....I platinumed the game on PS4 and i have almost platinumed the game on steam. I've played a shitload of Nioh 1 and 2.

 

[happyninja42]

Is there a connective story between Nioh 1 & 2? Or are they basically singular installments with their own unique tales, but under the Nioh banner?

 

[meiam]

See that's one of my biggest issues with the Souls games. Every bit of footage I see of the any of the games, for years, basically just boils down to "Dodge like crazy and hopefully get 1-2 smacks in before the monstrosity 1-shots me...wash, rinse, repeat." It seems incredibly dull and monotonous to me. And while the basic combat of Fallen Order was similar, I at least had things like force powers to mix it up, and make some variety to approaches for a lot of enemies. Nioh seems to be more along this angle of approach to the combat, allowing you lots of tricks and powers to tackle the enemies with different strategies. So I might actually check it out.

You see a lot of dodge focus video because it makes for more fancy video but it's not all there is to the game, you can use magic/shield/bow/environment and, in some of them, stamina management is far more important than dodge timing (sadly the franchise became far more focus on dodge/parry timing over time with stamina becoming so plentiful that you could ignore it).

As far as Nioh, it has more belt and whistle, but I don't think it's actually more complex, there's just more stuff to it. Like weapon have triple the number of moves, but you don't really use all them, there's just there. And most of the high level play is just like soul high level play where you just use the same move over and over and dodge at the right time. But your enjoyment of Nioh will really boil down to your tolerance for sifting trough loot diablo/borderland style and tolerance to grinding the same level over and over again. If you like those elements you'll like Nioh, if you don't, stay clear.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Is there a connective story between Nioh 1 & 2? Or are they basically singular installments with their own unique tales, but under the Nioh banner?

Nioh 2 is technically a prequel that bleeds into Nioh 1 and passes it in time line.

TBH I didn't pay attention or give a shit about either story because it's heavily routed in Japanese historical figures that hold no meaning to me. If you love Japanese history you'll get a kick out of it though.

 

[happyninja42]

Nioh 2 is technically a prequel that bleeds into Nioh 1 and passes it in time line.

TBH I didn't pay attention or give a shit about either story because it's heavily routed in Japanese historical figures that hold no meaning to me. If you love Japanese history you'll get a kick out of it though.

I won't say I love the history itself, as I'm not a huge history buff at all, but I do love the dramatic flavor and feel of the "samurai" setting in pop culture, regardless of historical accuracy.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[happyninja42]

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I'm having such a good time?

Shit what is it with me today and autocorrecting my brain to make songs out of lines people post?

I seriously read "don't drop nioh" and sang it as "don't stop me now" by queen.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

You see a lot of dodge focus video because it makes for more fancy video but it's not all there is to the game, you can use magic/shield/bow/environment and, in some of them, stamina management is far more important than dodge timing (sadly the franchise became far more focus on dodge/parry timing over time with stamina becoming so plentiful that you could ignore it).

As far as Nioh, it has more belt and whistle, but I don't think it's actually more complex, there's just more stuff to it. Like weapon have triple the number of moves, but you don't really use all them, there's just there. And most of the high level play is just like soul high level play where you just use the same move over and over and dodge at the right time. But your enjoyment of Nioh will really boil down to your tolerance for sifting trough loot diablo/borderland style and tolerance to grinding the same level over and over again. If you like those elements you'll like Nioh, if you don't, stay clear.

See, I read stuff about all the depth of tactics, precision and build thought required, and then I read stuff like this...which, kinda makes me just think why not play Diablo (loot is just carefree fun) or Souls (no nonsense/fluff)?

I’d rather the depth of tactics, precision and build thought be essential to getting through it, not just ok guy here’s a ton of options cuz moar is better! Um, in this case it would seem like unnecessary clutter.

Guessing as most things go, maybe it’s somewhere between these two schools of thought/opinions.

 

[happyninja42]

See, I read stuff about all the depth of tactics, precision and build thought required, and then I read stuff like this...which, kinda makes me just think why not play Diablo (loot is just carefree fun) or Souls (no nonsense/fluff)?

I’d rather the depth of tactics, precision and build thought be essential to getting through it, not just ok guy here’s a ton of options cuz moar is better! Um, in this case it would seem like unnecessary clutter.

Guessing as most things go, maybe it’s somewhere between these two schools of thought/opinions.

Eh, I mean given how different combat styles in a game, can vary wildly from weapon to weapon, or class to class, I can appreciate having a lot of options. Like, maybe you just really don't like the sword/board combat, as it doesn't gel with you, but holy shit the fist weapon/stun locking/grapple style is right up your alley. But then you also enjoy the heavy hammer, two handed approach as well, and like to try that out as well. I've had a lot of games, where I tried out some new weapon style, and it changed the game for me, as far as fun level, and ease with which to progress. So the fact that the game's got a buffet of options I think is a nice thing.

If the loot dropping is completely random, so you end up sometimes having a dearth of bad drops, forcing you to do a style you don't like, or working with inferior gear, that's a problem. Since the comparison to Diablo was made, if the loot drops are like Launch Day D3, where the loot was so fucking random you couldn't find anything useful, then that sucks. If there is some rhyme/reason to it, or as @CriticalGaming mentioned, you can upgrade stuff by sacrificing unwanted gear, then I don't really see the issue personally. I'd rather have a wide choice on how to play, rather than being railroaded down 2-3 options with any real viability.

 

[meiam]

See, I read stuff about all the depth of tactics, precision and build thought required, and then I read stuff like this...which, kinda makes me just think why not play Diablo (loot is just carefree fun) or Souls (no nonsense/fluff)?

I’d rather the depth of tactics, precision and build thought be essential to getting through it, not just ok guy here’s a ton of options cuz moar is better! Um, in this case it would seem like unnecessary clutter.

Guessing as most things go, maybe it’s somewhere between these two schools of thought/opinions.

Well you can take it to the extreme:

Best build, shit playing: You're going to die cause you can't avoid attack and you can't make yourself immortal with a build no matter what.

Shit build, best playing: You'll win eventually because you can avoid all attack but you'll do a bit less damage so it'll take you longer.

So playing with build will just get you to be able to go trough battle a bit faster which means you can afford to play a bit sloppier but it's not going to save you.

Eh, I mean given how different combat styles in a game, can vary wildly from weapon to weapon, or class to class, I can appreciate having a lot of options. Like, maybe you just really don't like the sword/board combat, as it doesn't gel with you, but holy shit the fist weapon/stun locking/grapple style is right up your alley. But then you also enjoy the heavy hammer, two handed approach as well, and like to try that out as well. I've had a lot of games, where I tried out some new weapon style, and it changed the game for me, as far as fun level, and ease with which to progress. So the fact that the game's got a buffet of options I think is a nice thing.

All of that is in any soul-like game, that's kinda part of the identity. Nioh just throw in lots of loot, so whereas in a soul game you have maybe 3-4 of each weapon type in nioh you have near infinity of them, except they all have the same gameplay (moveset, reach) and differ in stats whereas soul they have slight variation in gameplay but few stats.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Beyond surface similarities the Nioh games aren't really anything like Souls.

I'd say it's fundamentally like Souls except for (parts of) the combat and of course being mission-based.
You progress through maze-like levels activating checkpoints and unlocking shotcuts that loop to these checkpoints and every time you die or use one enemies respawn and if you died you get one shot at getting your unspent XP from your corpse. Enemies are placed for ambushes, mini-bosses don't respawn, you chase shiny elusive critters for rare loot and so on. For combat you lock-on, roll around, block, parry, backstab and alternate between light and heavy attacks. It's more aggressive than Souls because it encourages you to deplete the enemy's stamina while rewarding your timing with stamina, similar to Bloodborne. In theory the combat is 10x more complicated than Souls (6 weapon types to level up x 3 stances to use and upgrade x 2 magic skill sets) but in practice it rarely has to be.

 

[stroopwafel]

I'd say it's fundamentally like Souls except for (parts of) the combat and of course being mission-based.
You progress through maze-like levels activating checkpoints and unlocking shotcuts that loop to these checkpoints and every time you die or use one enemies respawn and if you died you get one shot at getting your unspent XP from your corpse. Enemies are placed for ambushes, mini-bosses don't respawn, you chase shiny elusive critters for rare loot and so on. For combat you lock-on, roll around, block, parry, backstab and alternate between light and heavy attacks. It's more aggressive than Souls because it encourages you to deplete the enemy's stamina while rewarding your timing with stamina, similar to Bloodborne. In theory the combat is 10x more complicated than Souls (6 weapon types to level up x 3 stances to use and upgrade x 2 magic skill sets) but in practice it rarely has to be.

You can play it like Souls with mid stance only, not mastering ki pulse and not really delving in the many customizations but you miss out on what makes Nioh so fun. Most likely you'll hit a wall at one point as well. Nioh plays nothing like Bloodborne imo.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You can play it like Souls with mid stance only, not mastering ki pulse and not really delving in the many customizations but you miss out on what makes Nioh so fun. Most likely you'll hit a wall at one point as well. Nioh plays nothing like Bloodborne imo.

I've been switching up through stances and doing minimal customization (bigger number axe replaces smaller number axe). Not saying it doesn't have its differences from the Souls games but they're about on par with the differences between the Souls games themselves. Nioh simply has a faster pace and a more overcomplicated build system.