Nioh: Feudal Era Dark Souls

[Hobo Elf]

Yeah you can reforge any stat, including elemental damage. Weapon buff talismans will override the passive one. You could always get a weapon with X element and a Spirit Guardian with Y element and as soon as you have applied X you trigger your LW and apply Y for Discord. I did that a few times and it works well.

Edit: Finished the game now. Was bretty good. My only complaints are that the game is, perhaps, too long, and that guardian spirit leveling is only unlocked after beating the game and unlocking NG+. The level design does get improved as the game goes on, but it's still quite a hefty adventure, and by the time I was in the 5th region I just wanted the boss fights instead of fighting against oni or rogue samurai for the nth time.

The penultimate boss fight of the game was quite fun, although not too hard. I did run out of healing items during its 3rd phase so I had to run around in circles with a sliver of my health left, avoiding death and browsing my inventory trying to find the healing Medicine item so I can bind it to a shortcut and heal myself.

Gud gaem.

 

[Morgoth]

God I hope this gets a PC release.

 

[Hyperion]

Got a little more time to play today. Second mission was an absolute cakewalk...

Spoiler

'till Batcunt showed up. Easily the most frustrating boss (of the 4) I've fought yet. Dual Swords weren't cutting it, so I decided to axe her a question (Sorry...) instead, and the difference was palpable. Absolutely stomped her fucking guts in by baiting out the mid-air slam, and following it with a Hi-Stance Strong Attack, which insta knocks her down and leaves her open for another huge blast. Dodging the paralyze wave was a pain in the fucking ass though. Just when I thought I had the timing down, my dodges suddenly didn't work again.

Sub-missions were a lot of fun, if a bit easy. Finally got some Earth damage on my Dual Katanas, and the difference it made was unreal. Once that debuff applies to an Oni (didn't even require a second one for Discord) their Stamina hits Red quickly, which lets me get some good High Stance God of Wind damage in. Thanks again for the tip, Hobo Elf. Tried applying Discord with Earth + Water Guardian Spirit on Nue (and Tachibana) but it didn't seem to work. Not sure if I missed the visual cue for when the status is supposed to proc, but it definitely didn't work. No big deal though, as Nue only killed me once, which was entirely my fault. Ate a few too many Lightning Bolts, then panicked as my Elixir supply went down. Definitely need to look into which items do what, because I'm not sure what heals elemental status effects, if anything. Being slowed by Lightning certainly made that fight harder than it should have been.

Second half of the level in the catacombs is my favorite area so far. Nice atmosphere, Arrow traps, constant ambushes to punish anyone who moves too quickly, rewarding turning the camera around corners, good use of lighting, backtracking to open the doors for extra loot if you want to. I may have been overleveled because Tachibana felt really easy. I fucked up quite a few dodges on that special Iai strike where he draws a circle in the air. Fortunately, it drains almost all of his stamina and leaves him open to a Grapple. I learned immediately he recovers quickly, so going for more than a grapple gets you punished pretty harshly. Again, this was without even being able to apply Discord. Missed 2 Kodamas somewhere, so now I gotta go do it again unfortunately.

First region is just about done, except for a sub-mission or two. Would like to see the Twilight Missions rotate to something I can actually do. They can be rage-inducing, but are lot more fun than the basic ones.

So far, I'm finding it more addicting than a Souls game because combat has more features, each with its own little nuances that really make a difference once you figure out how to utilize them. Even as I'm getting better, I still "forget" about some of the weapon skills I have that could probably make a difference. For example, Axes have an ability that functions similarly to Iron Flesh when you activate, but I keep forgetting to use it against enemies whose attacks are a pain in the dick to dodge, or not worth dodging.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Lots of weapon variety? Hub like Souls with NPC's randomly scattered about?

 

[Invictus]

Saw a video where the guy was comparing Dark Souls to Nioh and he pretty much nailed it with this; Souls games are action games with RPG elements added in, Nioh is an honest to goodness RPG with action elements added in.
What that means is that a game like Dark Souls you can beat with skill alone by beign good at mastering its systems and beign just gud with the twitchy aspects of the gameplay while a game like Nioh you cannot win on skill alone, you have to level up not only your char but your items and character skills too; no matter how good your mad gamer skillz are you still need to upgrade your gear and items
This is almost the same approach of Dragons Dogma where it looks arcadey with its combat system but in the end the usual japanese RPG grind still rules here so you better level up and get some upgraded gear

Speaking of that I spent yesterday's afternoon stuck on a hotel room because my flight got delayed and I spent my time grinding for some upgrade materials and doing some sidequest stuff like whacking Havel and it just stuck me how much I love the way Nioh handles the faster combat style, just like in Dark Souls I feel in control you know? Bloodbourne made me feel always so unnerved like I always have to be on the move jumping around like an idiot and never feeling in control while Nioh has that same Souls feel from the first games where the action can go from 0 to 60 in a second but I am still able to dictate my course of action by blocking, dodging, switching stances rather than just attacking like an idiot all the time
The first 3 games I enjoy a lot (yes even Dark Souls 2) for that weighty grounded combat but to be honest enjoying Nioh so much made me realize I really don't like Bloodbourne; it is a good game but it stresses me out I always feel vulnerable in that game...
If I fuck up in Nioh I can switch gear, upgrade it, level up a bit and try again so I always feel that I am moving forward in significant chunks by getting levelups and better skills and gear
It gives me that almost soothing feeling of Dark Souls of just doing a level for the pleasure of it, trying out a new weapon and switching stances to check it out or maybe trying to ninja my way in instead of heavy armors; all in all I bought my PS4 for playing Bloodbourne but after 2 years I feel vindicated by Nioh

 

[Hobo Elf]

People are saying that it's some kind of glitch to get gear that high in level, so might as well craft a bunch and enjoy it in case TN patches it out. Or they might be holding on to the high level stuff for their DLC.

Edit: Forgot to ask how much damage you do with it per hit and with skills?

 

[Invictus]

Guys about the crafting, I have been merging equipment I like (like the Nioh armor) with higher level equipment to make it better but should I wait to get like purples to merge or simply keep that cool spear and keep upgrading it?
A friend of mine told me that the overall differences are very little and that money is very important latter on and I probably should build my own stuff later anyway
Any tips on that or any cool recipes?

 

[Silva]

Just out of the first region and I'm bored to death. Mediocre levels, bosses and story makes it hard to justify investing any more time on it for me.

I think the (really nice) combat system seen here deserved a more focused 1x1 fighting game like Bushido Blade/Gendo/Budokan where you challenge different fighters and schools across Japan and improve your technique in the way. Include PvP options and it would be a blast.

 

[Hyperion]

Had the second duel with Tachibana in the grass field that I recognized from the first beta. I don't know what the fuck changed from the first time I fought him in the Catacombs, but that dude turned up the heat. Took me like 45 minutes to kill him, and I barely pulled it off. He had the same moveset as the last time, but avoiding the attacks were way harder. Nor did it feel like he moved quicker...

Also finished the second region, which I found disappointingly short. Luckily quite a number of sub-missions popped up, hopefully it'll keep me busy for awhile. God, that Ocean Roars level is aggravating. Fucking water everywhere, and you get to play as the only Seaman in the milky way who can't swim. Luckily, only died once the entire time through, and it was in the beginning. Fell off a fucking broken mast trying to cross it. Walking straight is biggest challenge so far, and it gave me an anxiety attack every time I walked over ones just like it the rest of the level.

Umi-Bozu is probably the lousiest boss I've fought yet. I think through the entire fight I got hit twice? After I learned that

Spoiler

you can light your weapon in the torch, which I learned by accident while dodging the Kamehameha

it felt like the fight was over in a minute. Each hit from the high stance strong attack from my axe did over 1,600. I even broke his Stamina bar, but fucked up my Ki Pulse, and couldn't take advantage of it. Like always, I forgot to activate Living Weapon in the fight, but didn't even need it. Really gimmicky, but I had tons of laughs watching some streamer get his shit pushed in a dozen times or so (ManVSGame, or some shit?) after feeling completely drained, avoiding insta death drops while searching for fucking kodamas.

Giant Centipede was a fucking cocksucker. Didn't die, but holy shit it's like a Zelda fight gone horribly awry. Almost as shitty as the Centipede boss from Alundra. ALMOST. I either suck, or it just seems completely impossible to take him up close, since he has no real attack animation outside of constantly moving pincers. Once I got fed up with that shit, I just decided to cheese him, which...given the layout of the boss room, is, I guess their intended method of killing it?

Decided to put the game down when I saw I unlocked the Twilight version of Umi-Bozu's stage and my asshole puckered up like a timelock in a bank vault.

P.S. - Tengus fuckin' SUCK.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Make sure to kill the idiotic revenants for gear upgrades.

It's easy to get gear that out scales everything else in the region.

WARNING: late game everyone has Red Demon Armor.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I'm actually somewhat positively surprised by the level design. I expected them to be as good on average as the Beta ones, but a good amount of them are a lot better, especially past early game. Standouts include the lake temple with Umi-Bozu, the spider castle and Iga manor. They all have the same problem in that there's simply too little visual variety, making everything look samey and difficult to navigate, especially since the art style isn't so great in general. Still, no complaints about the layouts, enemy placements, and little gimmicks that add variety, like the Iga revolving doors.

The main reason Nioh doesn't really replicate the Souls "dangerous exploration" experience is the lacking enemy variety.

Just out of the first region and I'm bored to death. Mediocre levels, bosses and story makes it hard to justify investing any more time on it for me.

What's wrong with the bosses? I feel like if you removed Gascoigne from Bloodborne, the early bosses in Nioh would be much better mechanically - and even then, the real Tachibana is a better fight than Gascoigne, and he's in the first region as well. Of course, Bloodborne has much better presentation in general, but gameplay-wise, most of the non-DLC bosses are also mediocre at best.

I'd even argue that Yuki-onna is a better boss than any non-DLC BB boss, but that may be because I got my shit pushed in by her really hard.

 

[Hyperion]

Spider Castle was a good level. Spiders dropping from ceilings and stabbing you in the fucking face was pretty good, too. Had a lot of fun exploring that level, some pretty decent challenges, lots of enemy ambushes. A one on one fight with a spider felt most like a Souls enemy of everything I've fought so far. Bait out a lunge, dodge to the side, and go to town on the amrita abdomen.

The one downside was

Spoiler

the Joro-Gumo fight was exactly the same as those large spiders. You got to practice against 6 of them, so she was an absolute cakewalk of a fight. The only added feature was her silk spit left webbing on the floor to slow your move speed a bit. Even still, dodging to the side (usually twice, or once + Mind's Eye proc) of her lunge attacks leave her wide open for a break. She may only be half woman, but her weakness is still sticking it in her ass...

I really enjoy the Bridge sub-missions as well. It's pretty much an action game staple to have that one straight area that's just a gauntlet of fights for you to test how elite you are.

Of course, Bloodborne has much better presentation in general, but gameplay-wise, most of the non-DLC bosses are also mediocre at best.

I haven't gotten around to The Old Hunters yet (bought it months ago, gonna try to actually convince myself after Nioh) but I honestly thought most of the Hunter duels were far more challenging and intense than Bloodborne bosses. Shadows of Yharnam, Gehrman, and Logarius excluded. The guys to the right of Amelia since you're likely underleveled, the Chikage wielder at the end of Eileen's quest, and the tentacle fuck waiting for you before Rom all come to mind.

 

[sullynathan]

Well more content is on the way soon as Team Ninja has announced some near future plans for the game. Two free updates are on the way for NiOh and include the following features:

• Late March – High-difficulty missions added. There are 10 types of missions, including missions with the feel of boss rushes.
• Late April – PvP implemented.

Then after that the first DLC called “Dragon of Tohoku” will also launch in late April and will add the following content:

• New weapon types
• New scenarios
• New characters
• New guardian spirits
• New yokai
• New stages

The second DLC pack will be called “Japan’s Best Soldier” and the third will be “Peaceful and Tranquil.” All of these will be sold separately or you get them with the NiOh Season Pass.

 

[Silva]

What's wrong with the bosses?

I can only speak for the first 5 or so bosses (executioner, Iron balls dude, bat-girl, thunder tiger, tachibana), but they are too shallow/unidimensional in their move sets and behavior. All it takes to defeat them is backing off while they attack the air and give you an opening then go in, take some of their life, and back off again. Rinse and repeat. Comparing this with any starting 4 or so bosses from any Souls game is... difficult, to say the least. Not only Gascoigne/Cleric/Starved/Amelia, but Asylum Demon/Taurus/Havel/Gargoyles and Gundyr/Vordt/Wood/Abyss Watchers, all present more elaborate attack patterns and variation in their behavior, besides managing to deny players of enough space for safe analysis as Nioh ones do, be it through aggressiveness or environmental dangers. And even if you happen to be some parrying god/goddess with enough skills to obviate those fights through parrying, at least admit learning how to effectively and consistently parry in SoulsBorne is much more difficult than learn how to just dodge in and out in Nioh.

The really funny thing is that the game presents you with a really complex fighting system, but it's bosses don't synergize at all with it, only requiring that you be good at dodging back and forth while pressing attack buttons. WTF?

Fake Edit: To be fair, that Tachibana guy has potential, as he actually makes you care for stances and ki management, which only corroborates my theory that this game should focus on 1x1 humanoid fights instead of big monsters. I hear he comes back later in a more difficult fashion. I also hear there are other great humanoid fights (one with your ninja master?) I'm curious to see them.

 

[DragoFireheart]

So I'm a boring sheeple min-maxer.

Tried all the weapons, various builds:

- Ninja + Kusarigama is fun... but I dislike being locked in place to attack. Kusa is great if you can stun your target, not so much if they don't get stunned.

- Axe is fucking horribly slow. I hate it.

- Dual Swords is cool and is spammy with things like Windstorm. A good alternative to Single swords.

I ended up going with Swords/Spears. Boring but it works.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I can only speak for the first 5 or so bosses (executioner, Iron balls dude, bat-girl, thunder tiger, tachibana), but they are too shallow/unidimensional in their move sets and behavior. All it takes to defeat them is backing off while they attack the air and give you an opening then go in, take some of their life, and back off again. Rinse and repeat. Comparing this with any starting 4 or so bosses from any Souls game is... difficult, to say the least. Not only Gascoigne/Cleric/Starved/Amelia, but Asylum Demon/Taurus/Havel/Gargoyles and Gundyr/Vordt/Wood/Abyss Watchers, all present more elaborate attack patterns and variation in their behavior, besides managing to deny players of enough space for safe analysis as Nioh ones do, be it through aggressiveness or environmental dangers. And even if you happen to be some parrying god/goddess with enough skills to obviate those fights through parrying, at least admit learning how to effectively and consistently parry in SoulsBorne is much more difficult than learn how to just dodge in and out in Nioh.

That is... so backwards I don't even know what to say. "Back off while the boss attacks the air, wait for opening, attack, repeat" is literally how you can beat all of these bosses, with the sole exceptions of Gargoyles (where you need to be aggressive to find an opening) and Greatwood (which is just shit). That is not only absurdly reductionist, but for example Onryoki forces you to worry about a lot more stuff (he has huge range, the room is small, and he has a ranged attack in his second phase) than Taurus Demon, whom you can easily beat just by walking backwards and forward, no need to even roll.

I'll give you Gundyr, Abyss Watchers (though that's a bit later, I guess Crystal Sage would be a better comparison?), Gascoigne and Gargoyles - these actually do what you say. But Cleric Beast? BSB? Amelia? Deny players space for safe analysis? U wot? You can literally stand on the other end of the room from BSB and he will just slowly walk in your direction; ditto for Cleric Beast, though that one at least has a jump attack in theory (takes him like 5 seconds to land for whatever reason)l; and Amelia isn't much different. Most BB bosses are really passive, and it's trivial to get away from them. In comparison, Nioh bosses have a much more aggressive baseline AI, often dangerous ranged attacks, and are just faster in general.

I mean, batlady is probably a difficulty spike similar to Gascoigne in how she wrecks new players - windows to attack her are very short, she has a really fast ranged attack that paralyzes you, a spin-to-win that is very tricky to dodge when close to her, and she can heal if you get hit by her grab. That's already more variety than any of the BB beast bosses.

The really funny thing is that the game presents you with a really complex fighting system, but it's bosses don't synergize at all with it, only requiring that you be good at dodging back and forth while pressing attack buttons. WTF?

Let me guess, are you also one of the people complaining about enemies being "too tanky"? I mean, you can play Nioh as if it were a Souls game, hitting once or twice and dodging away, but that's both tedious and inefficient. Enemies' HP pools seem balanced with the idea of depleting their Ki and abusing critical attacks. Any of the early Nioh bosses can be killed in like half the time simply by targetting their Ki and using optimized damage combos while they're vulnerable.

 

[sullynathan]

How OP do you guys think this guy is?

 

[Hyperion]

With that kinda damage dealt, he might be using the bugged out gear?

Meanwhile, here I am having more trouble killing a high level Onryoki than the Ice Bitch for whatever reason. The timing of that first cocksucker's balls slapping together is worse than any other boss yet.

 

[sullynathan]

He had no problem with Onryoki either. Ray spanks these bosses really easily.

 

[Hyperion]

Isn't this the same dude who No damaged every single Souls and Bloodborne boss on NG+7?

P.S. - His "no damage" Onryoki fight is tainted, he got hit by a ball throw when his Living Weapon was up. It's FAKE!

 

[sullynathan]

Isn't this the same dude who No damaged every single Souls and Bloodborne boss on NG+7?

P.S. - His "no damage" Onryoki fight is tainted, he got hit by a ball throw when his Living Weapon was up. It's FAKE!

Yup. He's really good even though people keep trying to call him out like saying do it with no gear or do it in SL1

 

[duanth123]

So has anyone reached Way of the Strong a.k.a. New Game?

If so, what does it change? Please tell me it's something more than a mere level bump for enemies.

 

[Hyperion]

Nioh Patches 1.04 and 1.05 were released today. Don't think 320 gear can be obtained anymore. People who patched their game said all 320 gear has been decreased to 160. +10 was the maximum they ever intended for us to obtain via forging.

http://nioh.wiki.fextralife.com/Patches

Important Notices

• To celebrate worldwide sales surpassing 1,000,000 units, The Golden Nioh Armor will be available for free for all players. To obtain it, after downloading update 1.04, access the Boons menu from a Shrine.
• An unexpected issue allowed players to obtain very high level equipment after a certain amount of forging, this will be fixed so after patch 1.04 the very high level equipment is much lower than before, as was originally intended. (This should also fix the bug for probability)
• We are extremely sorry but players who have already seen equipment drops will see the drops reduced in level to adjust for the original intention.

Adjustments

• A new menu is aded to the Hidden Teahouse. It will allow players to readjust points
• Items such as arrows and other consumables will now be sent directly to the storehouse if the player's carry max is reached.
• Added an "Other" menu to the "Play Record" window
• The following has been altered in the Game Settings menu under System Menu:
  Added a weapon type tab
  Added an armor type tab
  Added a small items tab
  Autmatic projectile replenishment at mission start
  Center the camera when guarding
• Title screen will now show application version
• Weapons and armors may now be sorted by category
• The Itokuri Guardian Spirit will now give priority to weapon attributes regarding paralysis.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where autosaves would accidentally overwrite other characters. (The autosave issue may appear, but the character override will no longer happen)
• Fixed an issue that made some enemies continuously drop Amrita
• Fixed missing assets in some stages
• Fixed an issue that caused the application to crash when fighting certain bosses.
• Fixed an issue where missions could not be completed if the objective enemy was defeated mid-air.
• Fixed an issue where missions could not be completed if the objective enemy was defeated through a wall.
• Fixed an issue where Saika Magoichi and Kelly may be on the ground while in online play.
• Fixed an issue that was matching users again after successfully completing a mission.
• Fixed an issue where correct gestures towards Mujina were not recognized while playing online.
• Fixed an issue where, during online play, players would not be able to open their equipment and would be naked if they were transported while mid-bath in a Hot Spring.
• Fixed an issue where Dual Katana's Mid Stance strong attacks would not hit if the enemy is guarding.
• Fixed an issue where it was impossible to proceed if the skill Leaf Glide was used against certain bosses.
• Fixed an issue with Suzaku's Living Weapon trigger.
• Fixed an issue where the correct amount of enemies defeated would not display in the Play Record.
• Fixed an incorrect description of gestures in the trading section of the Hidden Teahouse.
• Other Bug Fixes.

No notes for patch 1.05 but they allow you to send pretty much everything to storage now, including ammo. No more stones and salt on the ground every stage!

In-game, the set is much brighter with a lot of sheen. The cloth is also bright white. Pretty cool of them to give a nice little gift to everyone who bought it as thanks. Don't think they were expecting this level of success out of a game that was stuck in development hell for a decade.

 

[Talby]

Talk about this game more you frauds, it's better than Dark Souls 3.

The new patch came out and there's some new missions with bosses and stuff. No actual new content just remixed encounters. Also, since the game was more successful than they expected, I hope they go beyond what they had planned for patches and new missions and stuff, or make the expansions bigger.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

no invasions no talk pal