First-Run Review of Nioh 2

Brute

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I just finished Nioh 2 on the default difficulty, including all side quests and dojo missions. Being that this was one of my most anticipated games ever, I though I'd document my thoughts on the game at this time. Below is a spoiler-free review of Nioh 2.

Presentation
The game really does feel like a top notch product. The graphics are great, the art direction is excellent and imaginative, the sound design is delightful and the music is one of the best soundtracks you can find in a video game, living up the high standard set by its predecessor. Another aspect oft overlooked is the animation quality, which showcases the near peerless talent of Team Ninja's animators when given a proper budget and time.

Structure
This is a fully-featured, content-rich game with immense replay value for both single-player content, and multiplayer. The disjointed co-op system from the first Nioh has been revised to offer an excellent co-op experience with your friends from the get-go, and still allows you to easily assist other, random players if you should feel so inclined. There are tons of unlocks, missions, side missions, challenges, complex gear, items, stats and expansive skill trees that allow every player to tailor their experience to their liking, while keeping them yearning for more to push their character and/or build even further. Level design, however, is a bit less distinct. While most main missions in Nioh 1 followed clear, distinct motifs (cave level, docks level, snow level, sewer level, mountain level, ninja level, etc.), Nioh 2's levels are far more visually interchangeable. They aren't bad, as in poorly mapped, but many simply lack the memorable flair that nearly all stages had in the first to make each feel fresh and exciting to jump in to.

Story
Nioh 2 features your custom character as a mute protagonist, with the narrative's dramatic beats primarily following your relationship with a man called "Tokichiro" that you encounter in the first level. While this is done fairly well considering the limitations of the set-up, I found the other story beats largely un-engaging. I'm aware such criticisms were levied towards the first Nioh, but I actually found the first game's story quite powerful, and I wound up caring for the passions and struggles of all the different characters caught in the war without expecting to, much like William does. In Nioh 2, I can't quite say the same. The narrative covers a long period of time, hopping between different historical events without offering much reason to be invested in any particular skirmish before leaping to the next one. The "big bad," so to speak, is not imposing, intimidating or charismatic, and your drawn-out campaign against the villain ends with an incredibly underwhelming climax (one that I've heard many others praise). There were moments in Nioh 2's story that I loved, but it is a bit disappointing after how impressed I was with the original game's story. Perhaps it's simply a matter of expectations and I hyped myself up too much.

Gameplay
Okay, so here there have a lot of notable improvements over the first, but also a number of prominent set-backs.

The game has done very well expanding on the freedom and variation between weapons, with expanded weapon skills and customization and the introduction of two new weapon types. The new switchglaive is perhaps a bit too versatile, but I can't deny that it's great fun to use. I don't have as much experience with the Dual Hatchets, but their charged projectiles seem to offer an interesting new approach that sets them apart from the other existing weapons. Most of the new enemy types are fun and interesting, and there are numerous QoL changes and additions to menus, stats, affixes, etc. that make the game's complex systems more accessible and exciting to engage.

Living weapon has been replaced with Yokai Shift, and while I don't miss the Living Weapon at all, I can't say that I like Yokai Shift any better. I basically neglected it the entire game, only using the shift as a last-resort measure for some free i-frames when I was backed into a corner. Along with this is a new meter resource called "anima" which allows you to use Yokai abilities taken from felled monsters. I never used these, as my interest was in playing a hack'n'slash moreso than a Pokemon game. I suppose they're a fine addition for those who wish to go that route, but it's important to note that your Guardian Spirit's stats are affected by which monster abilities you have attuned to them. I'm not sure if this only affects the Guardian Spirit's skill, your Yokai Shift, your passive stats with the Guardian Spirit, or all three. I found it tedious managing all the soul cores however, and simply gave up halfway through the game and never bothered to update them.

The anima system also allows you to "burst counter," a type of reversal move that beats certain enemy attacks when they glow red. Your burst counter type is determined by your guardian spirit, as is your Yokai Shift, with Brute form giving you an attack, Feral giving you a dodge, and Phantom giving you a sort of shield. I simply used the type that corresponded to the Guardian Spirit I wished to have, which meant I used Feral for the first half of the game and Phantom for the second half. I recall from the demo that the Brute counter was by far the most reliable to land against most enemies' burst attacks, with Feral coming in second and Phantom being rather tricky. This system is fine in theory, but I don't like how much it streamlined certain strategies. Some enemies were given attacks that are totally overpowered, but then "balanced" by making them vulnerable to burst counter. So if they do that attack, you are often forced into using your burst counter rather than employing other, unique strategies respective to your weapon and/or build.

Finally, there's the new "Dark Realm," a mode that turns your screen black-and-white, often making it terribly hard to see. In these instances, you have decreased ki regeneration, increased anima regeneration and empowered yokai shift, but yokai enemies become much tougher. This mechanic was clearly implemented to try to force players to explore their Yokai Shift, Yokai abilities and burst counters, none of which I really wanted to do. Bosses will initiate this mode when their stamina meter is depleted, punishing you for damaging them with counter-hits and aggressive play. Thus, a new, bizarre mini-game began where I developed strategies to inflict the most damage I could while simultaneously inflicting as little stamina depletion to each boss as possible. While I don't enjoy having my pressure and mobility gimped by the Dark Realm's ki debuff, what really made me seek to avoid it was how obfuscated my view became. I genuinely do not like playing the game when it's in "Dark Realm" mode because I can't see clearly, even jacking up the brightness on my monitor to the point that non-Dark Realm is so bright it causes eyestrain. The "mist" visuals and removal of color simply make it a chore to discern what I'm even looking at, let alone manage to play competently when the game is at its most challenging. I cannot stress how much I detest the Dark Realm mechanic, and I hope that Team Ninja does away with it if they decide to make another Nioh game.

Lastly, the game is simply too easy. I beat literally every boss within three attempts with only two exceptions (more on that below), and I'm not an exceptionally talented gamer, nor did I use summons or a build that was over-leveled or relied on "cheese" strategies. I used light armor (I died in about two hits from basically every enemy in the game, boss or regular), tonfas, switchglaive and single katana, and limited omnyo/ninjutsu. I avoided Sloth Talisman and electric weapons (the latter being at least as cheesy as the former in this one), and again, neglected Yokai Shift and Yokai Abilities almost entirely. There is no reason I should have skated through the game this effortlessly (the only consistent challenge came from trying to make the single katana a viable choice), especially given how regularly I died on my first run in Nioh 1. If you're good with burst counters, most enemies basically kill themselves. The exception is enemies that have a multi-strike burst attack, such as those with AoE elemental attacks. These can still be hard countered with Brute counters as the warm-ups can be interrupted with the preemptive attack, whereas Feral and Phantom, being reactive counters, will still cause you to take damage since many of these multi-hit attacks will last through your i-frames even if the enemy is staggered with a counter after the active frames have been triggered. Burst attacks and burst counters were just integrated in a very sloppy, hap-hazard fashion that does a disservice to the game's otherwise fantastic, intricate combat system.

Finally, let's discuss the problem child, as it showcases much of what is wrong with Nioh 2's new mechanics. This is a boss somewhere around the mid-game, so if you wish to avoid all spoilers, skip over this section in the spoiler tags:

Katsuie Shibata is a fucking asshole. In his basic form, he's a hulking bastard with damaging, sweeping attacks that deplete tons of ki on guard and is confined in a tiny little room. Despite this, it's actually a rather fun challenge. You need to be nearly-frame perfect in a drawn-out war of attrition as dodging his assault with keeping enough ki to retaliate is actually pretty tricky, especially considering that he's a massive damage sponge but basically one hit from any of his attacks will kill you instantly. But then he activates Dark Realm. You now can't see anything and the floor is literally lava, sucking away at your health and forcing you to use elixirs against a boss that has zero interest in giving you any down time. His attacks are even more bullshitty than before, managing your ki with dodging, attacking and now having to create windows to use elixirs, you are juggling so much for so long only to be nicked once by some bullshit from anywhere in this tiny deathbox and then you have to restart the whole damn process.

My stats say that he killed me 8 times, with one of those being thanks to a side-quest where they force you to battle this son of a bitch again. Dying 7 times to a boss may not seem too bad, but it is when each attempt takes forever and is utterly devoid of fun. The other boss I died to multiple times was Azai Nagamasa, and not because he was incredibly challenging, but because I loved the fight so much I wanted to beat it using the single sword without taking any damage (I eventually settled for "not using any elixirs" because this one wind-sweep kept clipping me). But I didn't mind repeating that because it was fun as hell. I actually like a good challenge. I do not like Katusie Shibata. He epitomizes Nioh 2's approach to "difficulty" in such a horribly ostentatious way. Huge health pool, everything one-shots you, nearly-unavoidable damage sprinkling the floor with fire pools, discouraging fast-paced, hack'n'slash gameplay in favor of meter-gimmicks and obscuring your ability to see what the fuck is going on with the new "Dark Realm" vision.

Fuck. This. Guy.
I've heard a lot of people found the final boos cool and hard. I found him boring and easy, aside from Phantom form, which is obnoxious, and his AoE lightning attack for reasons addressed above. Doesn't help that it's a battle "in your mind" and I never give a shit about that stuff. Best bosses were Azai Nagamasa and Shuten Doji, with honorable mentions to the Kamataichi and Saika Magoichi.

Overall, Nioh 2 is a fantastic game and I really do love it. I intend to delve into the post-game content, higher difficulties and DLC, and fully intend to get the game again when it's released on PC and do it all over again. That said, I don't feel that it is universally superior to its predecessor, despite making many improvements and offering a great, content-rich experience.
 
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Brute

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So, I figured I may as well throw in my thoughts on the first DLC expansion, The Tengu's Disciple.

Presentation
Great, as always is the case with this franchise. The new areas look great and feel distinct from previous areas, and a lot of the new character/monster designs are pretty impressive (Benkei in particular has an excellent design). The new weapon is fine, I guess. I'm honestly not crazy about the whole "break apart with lots of spinny balls" thing going on. I wanted a sanjiegun, given the impressive and plausible visual flare. But the way this weapon works, visually, is just silly-looking to me. You won't get those motions, let alone with the inertia to be functionally threatening in the way they supposedly are, by making the motions that the character performs. A lof of the non-hold/charge attacks look much better, however, and I'm a huge fan of the idle mid stance.

Structure
Well not exactly content-deprived, it is certainly smaller than the DLC packs from Nioh 1. I can imagine that the whole lockdown business may have influenced that, but honestly, I think the primary reason is that this DLC features new music, which the DLC in the first game did not (and was widely criticized for). I believe a chunk of the budget went to the composer for crafting new music, and honestly, I can't be upset about that, because the music is excellent.

The new scroll items/missions mechanic is... fine? It feels a little superfluous, honestly, but it can be ignored if you don't care for it.

You can now continue expeditions even when the assist bar depletes, and honestly, I think that's great. Technically it makes things easier, but the hardcore players weren't really going to co-op expeditions for their challenge anyway, and I think this method will help substantially for casual players.

There are new customization options, or so I was told. I was hoping for more good hairstyles, and found literally nothing I would ever use, so I'm a bit disappointed there, but it's w/e.

Story
So... it's fine. I understand why they went in this direction, all things considered, but I can't help but feel a little cheated.
I was really excited at the end of Nioh 2, despite being generally underwhelmed with its story compared to the first game's, because we had caught up to normal time, which set up the DLC for some really interesting things. But now we immediately go back in time, again, and are once again denied seeing our favorite characters (well, mine, anyway). I get that, for whatever reason, TN seems unable to bring back the actors for Tokugawa and Okatsu, but I'd still love to see more done with William and OG Hanzo, not to mention plenty of other awesome characters that are still alive at that time (like Sakon or Date). The conclusion of the Maria story was really weak and unsatisfying, and I don't like the idea that "Otakemaru was beaten in a mindgame for some reason, Hideyoshi was rezzed as a ncie guy then died for no reason, and Maria got caught in an army lock" might be the chronological finale of Nioh's story. It's just so fucking lame.

That said, I get that we were entering a period where wars were subsiding, meaning that Yokai would subside, and thus, there isn't much cause for conflict/combat gameplay in that period. So going back in time, to a period of war once again, and exploring more interesting, historical/mythological figures is not a bad idea, and I do like the versions Yoshitsune and Benkei presented here. Taira is disappointing, as seems to be a thing (ah, WO3 Taira...). I think I would have been more excited about this if Nioh 2's base story didn't end on such a laughable whimper.

Gameplay
I can't really pretend that there isn't a clear weapon power creep anymore. With the exception of the dual swords and kusari-gama, all the base Nioh 1 weapons are now widely inferior to the DLC weapons, with the Tonfa/Odachi being very strong and the Switchglaive/Splitstaff being laughably versatile. It's fun to use and all, but it sure would be nice to see some of the OG weapons buffed up to compete with the shiny new toys.

The new standard enemies are... kind of obnoxious, if I'm being honest.

You have the Kiryoki, who are basically reskinned Enki, except the bullshit burst attack is no longer burst counterable, and they also shit out elemental spam for funsies. They're perfectly manageable enemies and not the worst thing to face, but they feel like a lazily design version of an enemy that we already have a more considered and balanced version of.

You then have the Bakegani. And like... fuck these crabs. They're weak to lightning, so you either have to carry around lightning like a simp or play this stupid mini game of hopping behind them to get any real damage in. This would honestly be fine if they let you being creative with how you do it, but all the potentially fun strategies I would attempt just backfired (such as light stance forward+dodge skills on the katana, spear/etc. rarely working due to light stance strikes being reflected against the giant-ass crab hitbox, canceling the string), and the best strategy is to just play really passive and hope they eventually do one of the attacks that provides a clear opening, either by turning their back to you or just letting you walk behind them. It got old fast and these assholes have so much health. If I'm missing some clever trick/mechanic that makes battling these guys with non-lightning melee attacks fun, please inform me.

Then you have the fat blob things. Not really sure what to make of these yet. They seem to have a lot of strings with long delay windows that are surprisingly punishing, but unlike the Namahage, I haven't found a way to take them out quickly. They seem to be mad damage sponges and have some kind of status effect gimmick, at least of Way of the Strong. I don't have a great sense for these yet, as they aren't too common, so I won't give a final verdict. Visually, these are the most interesting of the three new types added.

Then you have the bosses, which in a complete 180 from the new standard enemies, are all awesome, IMHO.

Benkei is awesome. The tracking on his grab is a little goofy, and I'd rather not have to switch into heavy stance to avoid it, but otherwise, he has a great pace to him, and you can get into some really fun dodge/strike rhythms, with some being safer and others keeping you on the edge with risky, aggressive options. Solid all-around.

I was really disappointed when I realized that the Tiara boss with just a reskinned Umi-Bozu, only to then be relieved when he quickly switched to the land phase and proved unique and far superior to the Umi-Bozu we knew and hated from Nioh 1. The only thing I disliked about this fight was the crabs that spwaned in the second phase. But that's the crabs' fault, not the boss'. Anyway, I thought it was neat. Not amazing, but fun.

Yoshitsune is obviously the highlight, and while narratively the whole "I'm a good guy but really mad so you have to fight me to the death" thing is pretty whack, I won't deny that this fight is top quality. The setting and music set the atmosphere brilliantly, and the boss' attacks are varied, lethal and visually stunning. As usual, I did find the Dark Realm sections to be tedious, as I really wanted to play the boss thoroughly as a raw hack'n'slash and the Dark Realm mode, as it always does, tried very hard to dissuade me. But I remained vigilant, refrained from cheesing with ninpo, magic or yokai shit, and in the end, was rewarded with an amazing boss fight. Perhaps even the best in Nioh 2.
TL;DR: Fuck yeah, Yoshitsune!

Then there's Nue. I didn't like Nue in Nioh 1 (he was either an absurdly protracted war of attrition in the first fight and then a complete wash in every subsequent encounter/NG+). I also don't like lightning in Nioh 2. I'll let you do the math. He has some new attacks, at least, which make fighting him at least marginally more interesting this time, I guess.

Anyway, I think those are the main points. looking forward to the next one, of course.
 

Onryoki

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The DLC was great, but it felt a little but short to me considering I’ve walked through it in merely 2 hours. I’m definitely not a hardcore player, but I’m glad they’ve added another difficulty, like the previous Nioh game had.
I’m not fond of the new weapon, it was fun to use for a moment but I didn’t get that much enjoyment out of it as I do with the Tonfa’s.
Also, personally I’m quite annoyed I haven’t seen Okatsu yet since she’s by far my most favourite character in the Nioh universe.
 
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