It's not just the horrible loot system. The fucking ganks. DS2 was branded the worst of the series because of some questionable enemy placement (mostly fixed in SOFTS) but somehow Nioh gets a pass. The Surge got shat on because of the damage bloat on common enemies, but Nioh gets a pass on BOTH damage and hp bloat. Am I the only one who sees how grossly overrated this game actually is?
There are a few things Nioh totally nailed - the excellent music, the setting (historically based, stylish anime is prolly the only anime I can stomach), the complex, skill-based combat mechanics, the relatively good weapon balance (apparently only tongas are utter shit).
On the whole tho it's overrated, I agree. I was on the fence for a long time whether or not to buy it but after watching many hours of YT and streams, nah. I don't like the aesthetics - everything is so overblown, loot showers, enemies exploding in a glittering splashes of colours...not for me. I've fallen in love of Dark Souls because of it's restraint and aesthetic low-key elegance and this is the polar opposite.
And ultimately while I love the complex structure of the combat I just hate how fast it is, how HP spongey even basic bitch mobs are and how long it takes to break their goddamn guard. One of the most brilliant design decisions of Dark Souls is that you can cut basic hollows in pieces in a second but you can be comboed very quickly too if you don't stay on your toes. In a game where constant respawning and backtracking is the bread and butter of the gameplay basic mobs taking dozens of seconds to kill make for a terrible drag. And yeah, that's where The Surge fucked up too (doubly weird coz in Lords of the Fallen the same devs didn't make this mistake).
And lastly, yeah, the loot system is the main reason I stayed away from the game in the end. I think I'd eventually come to like the fast, flashy combat but the constant grind for loot would spoil all fun for me. It's not an objective fault, it's a very well-done Diablo-style loot...it's just that Diablo-style loot is not my thing.
All in all the game is overrated and it's not really my thing but it's objectively a quality product.