Nioh 2

[Multidirectional]

Yea buffs are kinda useless without a few good points into Onmyo.

What is a "few good points"? I cannot find any proper info on how exactly Onmyo Power affects duration.

 

[D_X]

What is a "few good points"? I cannot find any proper info on how exactly Onmyo Power affects duration.

If it helps, I currently have 371 OP and Carnage runs for 40 seconds, Purity for 60 and Barrier for 50. I use the glaive so it's worth pumping magic for me (49 right now), but otherwise it seems like a pretty big investment so might not be worth it if you don't scale your weapon off it as well.

Lol, that's probably my favorite area in the entire game. I wish more levels were structured as that one.

Finished this recently myself and I agree. Absolutely 10/10 level would recommend gonna book my next holiday over there.

 

[cruel]

Mausoleum of Evil was amazing, best level design in any Nioh game so far. Hoping to see more levels like this in Wo Long.

Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

 

[Multidirectional]

If it helps, I currently have 371 OP and Carnage runs for 40 seconds, Purity for 60 and Barrier for 50. I use the glaive so it's worth pumping magic for me (49 right now), but otherwise it seems like a pretty big investment so might not be worth it if you don't scale your weapon off it as well.

From what I understand scaling is garbage anyway and absolute majority of damage comes from weapon level. My scale stat is Stamina and I stopped leveling it at 94, once I was able to equip full Tatenashi set at B agility. Not sure when I'll return to pumping it. For now increasing my Dex further to get some more Ninjutsu power, might add 20-30 points to Magic as well.

 

[D_X]

From what I understand scaling is garbage anyway and absolute majority of damage comes from weapon level.

Idk if I'd call it straight up garbage because all those extra bits add up in the end, but otherwise yeah, I remember I went bankrupt several times in the first game trying to soul match my weapon.

 

[Silverfish]

Do I need to have a ton of Onmyo Power to have a decent buff duration?

Depends on the buff. Character buffs like carnage talisman or talisman of the fist need magic investment, weapon buffs like elements or purity can easily get by with tempering "extended elemental weapon" onto accessories.

 

[Multidirectional]

Depends on the buff. Character buffs like carnage talisman or talisman of the fist need magic investment, weapon buffs like elements or purity can easily get by with tempering "extended elemental weapon" onto accessories.

I mean shit like Barrier and Rejuvenation talisman.

 

[Silverfish]

Fair enough. I'm sorry, but you're a wizard now.

 

[Multidirectional]

So I guess no one has any clue by how much Onmyo Power affects duration. Fuck it, I'll just keep talisman usage to a minimum then, not into playstyles where I am applying buffs often. Hated that kind of shit in Souls games too.

 

[D_X]

Finished with the first run and almost done with ch.4 in ng+ as well.

Hands down, Shibata Katsuie was the worst boss in the game. Hell, he is one of the worst things I've ever fought in a game. Not only is he spongy as fuck, his entire moveset is crap especially if he goes bananas and starts chaining his charge moves. Between his massive hp bar and being forced to spend most of your time avoiding his charges, the fight goes on forever.

Bosses in general are one aspect of the game which I found to be much worse than the previous game. It might be my memory is fuzzy since it's been a long time I last played Nioh 1, but I don't remember bosses pulling crap like transitioning from one animation straight into a grab attack. That fucking owl did it 3 times in a row first time I fought him. Like, my dude, you didn't even finish your previous animation and you went straight into the grab one? That being said, I think most yokai bosses are mostly fine in general (tho' the snake, Koji and Osakabe can particularly go fuck themselves. Especially the last one. Nobody liked the dragon fight in the first game, there was no need for another one).

While still on the subject of yokai bosses, I particularly enjoyed the Otakemaru fight. Fought him twice so far, once at the end of the first difficulty and once more in one of those demon scrolls thingies. Good moveset that keeps you on your toes without cloning himself twenty times or charging for half an hour around the map.

Human bosses on the other hand, they straight up cheat and I found none of them fun to fight. Out of ki? No problem, they can do a full combo. Stunlocked? No problem, they can decide they don't want to be anymore and parry you in the middle of a combo, or pull out an attack that is potentially a one shot, especially if they're the later phases of their fight and they pulled out their discount living weapon.

Speaking of Living Weapons, I prefer it to the Yokai shift they have going on. It's not bad, but I found LW to be more fun.

Level design for the main missions varied from good to great, there wasn't a mission that I would say it sucked in terms of layout. Only wish they varied the side missions maps more since there is a lot of reuse, including bringing back at least one map from the first game.

Didn't touch the DLCs yet since I wanted to setup some divine gear first. I got lucky with a random Phoenix Wing drop for the weapon and the rest is WotE with Black Fox mask, tho' the damage bonus given by that one is nothing spectacular and I'm pushing close to 600 magic power. Probably should switch it back to the WotE helmet for the full set since I also have life drain on the weapon and life recovery(amrita absorption) on the armor.

This is pretty much the best I could get on gear so far:

Spoiler

I tried the Onmyo Austerity set as well, but the attack bonus on that was pretty crap, something like ~1% for every 100+ points of magic power. Maybe the version with the Empowered Onmyo will be better.

I used the switchglaive for 98% of the game so far. The moveset is really fun and Empty Retribution and Wildfire Flux destroy pretty much everything now in combination with Carnage and Weakness. I also use Extraction, Protection and Barrier to complete the buff set. The problem I had with it was that it feels lacking until I unlocked a bunch of skills and buffs which lead to a pretty hard time in some parts of the campaign. On a 2nd character that uses the sword and the odachi, the first few missions went a lot smoother and it's not just that I got better at the game, the weapons are much better straight out the gate without much support in terms of skills or needing magic buffs. Doesn't matter now anyway since I have what I need to make it work great.

Tl;dr: game, deducted because of crap bosses.

 

[Wunderbar]

Didn't touch the DLCs yet since I wanted to setup some divine gear first.

unlike the first Nioh, in Nioh 2 dlcs were balanced to be played immediately after the ending. So if you spend time looting better gear in NG+, you will end up being overleveled for dlc content.

 

[D_X]

unlike the first Nioh, in Nioh 2 dlcs were balanced to be played immediately after the ending. So if you spend time looting better gear in NG+, you will end up being overleveled for dlc content.

I went by the way it was in the first game where the DLCs were pretty much ng+ difficulty. Oh well, too late for that now. Guess I could wait until I finish ng+ but I want that Ho Oh spirit.

 

[Silverfish]

Hands down, Shibata Katsuie was the worst boss in the game. Hell, he is one of the worst things I've ever fought in a game.

I cheesed him with hammer spam to keep his ki whittled down and regret nothing.

 

[Multidirectional]

Didn't touch the DLCs yet since I wanted to setup some divine gear first.

Maybe my memory is failing me but I think divine gear was already dropping for me in NG DLCs. Pretty sure that's where I got a divine accessory with "-1 item needed to complete set" bonus. Must've been a really lucky drop, haven't seen this bonus on any other drop since.

 

[Suicidal]

Hands down, Shibata Katsuie was the worst boss in the game. Hell, he is one of the worst things I've ever fought in a game. Not only is he spongy as fuck, his entire moveset is crap especially if he goes bananas and starts chaining his charge moves. Between his massive hp bar and being forced to spend most of your time avoiding his charges, the fight goes on forever.

I thought he was pretty cool. The main problem is the tiny arena you fight him in. I liked that when he charges at you you can time your attack to hit his head and break his tusks to stagger and do stamina damage. It's easy to do with a long weapon like a spear but probably not as good if you use a short weapon.

 

[Wunderbar]

I don't remember if i participated in the discussion in this thread, but i died to Shibata more times than I died to all other Nioh 2 bosses combined. That fucker was tough, and I was a mere tonfa user.

 

[deuxhero]

The expectation with the story is that you are familiar with the period and the historic characters, so the events are basically a fantastic take on what really happened in addition to all the realistic-sounding events that have been passed down by historians.

The first game maybe, but Nioh 2's plot feels like it was deliberately done as a fuck you to people who wanted character creation. Nothing makes sense for a non-default character and the PC's involvement in the plot just sorta happens for the most part.

 

[Wunderbar]

The expectation with the story is that you are familiar with the period and the historic characters, so the events are basically a fantastic take on what really happened in addition to all the realistic-sounding events that have been passed down by historians.

The first game maybe, but Nioh 2's plot feels like it was deliberately done as a fuck you to people who wanted character creation. Nothing makes sense for a non-default character and the PC's involvement in the plot just sorta happens for the most part.

this problem could've been solved by introducing an actual Hideyoshi Toyotomi in place of a goofy sidekick Tokichiro. Protagonist could've been Hideyoshi's top henchman/mercenary.

 

[Multidirectional]

Fuck, turns out I could've reached NG++ couple days ago. Did all the main ones in DLCs with a bunch of side missions and was wondering why next difficulty stays locked. Turns out I needed to do a specific mission to unlock it and just so happened to skip it, oops.

 

[Multidirectional]

So I see that I can temper "Attack Bonus (Stamina) A-" onto my Odachi that already has this scaling. Does that mean that it would double the Stamina scaling of this weapon?

*edit* Ok fuck it I put that effect on and it did increase the weapon attack by over 100 points. I guess this bonus is independent from scaling.

 

[Multidirectional]

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm now usually 10-12 levels below the recommended for main missions, but NG++ feels like a noticeable step up in difficulty, I have to actually pay some attention not to die now. NG+ I was basically doing in zombie mode, just spamming "Moonlit Snow Redux" with Odachi for the most part.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

This game's genius is in how it encourages experimentation. So many options available to solve problems with virtually no barriers to player access even in this 1st NG cycle.

Re: bosses haven't had any complaints so far. If I've struggled initially a few probing deaths and/or tweaks to my approach have solved the issues. Even enjoyed Yatsu-no-Kami at the time. Don't see why people find him so difficult. The titsnakes on the way down to his boss arena are a tutorial.

Based on the games I've played I'm increasingly convinced that there are two broadly correct approaches to combat in Soulslike games:
- Slow it down, heavy commitment and limited movesets for everyone ala DS1/DS2, Hellpoint or even Ashen to an extent.
- Speed it up, varied movesets, reactivity and an emphasis on momentum like Nioh 1 and 2.

The hybrid DS3/ER approach of incrementally more dynamic enemy movesets dependent on a relatively restricted pool of potential player reactions doesn't work. Results in either dull waiting for the player's turn to attack or the combat breaking if the player gains an ability to attack or dodge that enemies cannot effectively respond to.

 

[Multidirectional]

Ok looks like game will become hard for me again before i reach NG+++. I'm doing a mission that I'm 20 levels below recommended for now and starting to die more. Almost just got killed by a fucking fake wall monster. Things are heating up.

 

[Deflowerer]

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm now usually 10-12 levels below the recommended for main missions, but NG++ feels like a noticeable step up in difficulty, I have actually pay some attention not to die now. NG+ I was basically doing in zombie mode, just spamming "Moonlit Snow Redux" with Odachi for the most part.

Yeah, NG+ is basically an easy mode after NG, and things start ramping up with NG++. Not sure about Nioh 2, but I believe NG++ also switches certain enemy placements.

 

[Deflowerer]

The expectation with the story is that you are familiar with the period and the historic characters, so the events are basically a fantastic take on what really happened in addition to all the realistic-sounding events that have been passed down by historians.

The first game maybe, but Nioh 2's plot feels like it was deliberately done as a fuck you to people who wanted character creation. Nothing makes sense for a non-default character and the PC's involvement in the plot just sorta happens for the most part.

this problem could've been solved by introducing an actual Hideyoshi Toyotomi in place of a goofy sidekick Tokichiro. Protagonist could've been Hideyoshi's top henchman/mercenary.

But Tokichiro / Toyotomi is portrayed as a goofy guy in mainstream Japanese media, at least up to the Honnoji Incident when Nobunaga dies. The VA and likeness of Tokichiro is actually based on the actor who portrayed him in 90s taiga drama centered around the life of Hideyoshi, and I believe that show tapped into the the very same idea.

I think the whole idea with Nioh 2 was to show a bit that he wasn't as self-made of a goofy man as history portrays, but in fact he had a helping hand from Hide.