I find myself getting annoyed by term "Souls Clone". I get that Dark Souls is amazing. Hell I've been advocating that series since Demon's Souls before people even gave a shit about that series. But not every game that is hard and has old video game aesthetics with a new shine is a souls game. But that doesn't stop every reviewer and developer from dubbing every game that loseable XP and a murderous difficulty a "souls game".
Now I had heard that Team Ninja were dabbling with the concept of a "souls clone" set in mythological japan. OK, that's a cool setting and I do generally like these games. So I got into the alpha and played for a few hours. I didn't like it. Then I got into the beta, and I didn't care of it either. So I felt I wasn't going to get it since the early tests didn't sell me. Then I started seeing reviews from almost every source that this game is very good. Not only that but it completely sold out of its first printing of the game. I had to be missing something, so I decided to take one more try and try to force myself though....
NIOH(PS4)
The story of Nioh starts from the voice of a man named William. William was a commissioned pirate once under the service of queen Elizabeth I. She sought after a resource of power known as Amrita to help win her conflict with Spain, but after using their services the pirates were imprisoned in order to keep Amrita a secret.
William is imprisoned in the Tower of London for his role in the raids, but with the help of a fish like guardian spirit that watches over him called Saoirse, William makes an attempt to jailbreak and fight his way to freedom. During his escape he is confronted by an occult looking man called Edward Kelley, who is using amrita to corrupt and turn people and things into monsters. After corrupting an executioner in an attempt to kill William, Kelley realizes that William's guardian spirit would be useful to find more amrita, and imprisons Saoirse in a crystal and makes his escape to Japan where amrita can be found in abundance.
Saoirse has protected William since he was a child and has been with him ever since, so William will not stand for her abduction and gives chase. Unfortunately he lands in Japan in 1600, a time where the entire country is embroiled in war and ravaged by the demonic Yokai and Oni that overrun it. With no option but to press forward, William studies the way of the samuari, picks up the first discarded weapon he can find, and heads in search of Kelley.
The story of Nioh is actually a great deal more complex than that since this actually does parody the story of the Sengoku/Edo period of Japan when the country was at war to unify the nation under a single banner. William is more or less an homage to William Adams, who is considered by history to be the first Englishman to step foot in Japan, and was the first Caucasian samurai (so this isn't a case of whitewashing).
In fact, a large majority of the characters are based and off of real life counterparts who had prominent roles during this period. Even the cartoonishly gothy Edward Kelley was actually an occultist and alchemist who claimed he could use a mirror to talk to spirits. So while this game does take many wild liberties in the name of dark fantasy, there was a significant amount of homework done in setting up the backdrop for this game.
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| There is an abundance of cutscenes of William looking lost at political meetings. It's actually pretty fitting, since you won't have a clue about the conversation either. |
Now, as I have mentioned before this game is very often billed as a Japanese Dark Souls, (which is ridiculous since the Souls games are Japanese to begin with). But while there are certainly there are some main mechanics that generally defined what the Souls series is, I would say that Nioh has a much more arcadey feel to the action the slow paced slog that is a Souls game. If I had to give it better comparison, I would say that it mixes the Bloodborne with, unsurprisingly, Team Ninja's other claim to fame Ninja Gaiden.
Instead of using the shoulder button based combat one might be used to at this point, Nioh keeps the a more traditional face button system for light & heavy attacks, dodge, and interactions. The shoulders are used for blocking, drawing your ranged weapons and firing them. The last shoulder button changes your attack stance from low, medium, and high. Your stance determines what kind of combat style you wish to engage with be it light fast swinging but lower damaging attacks, a balanced set, or a slow clubbing high damage range of attacks.
But then you also have a number of tricks to use as well such as the living weapon. In your pursuit of your guardian spirit, you get the help of others, and when fully charged you can essentially use their power to go super saiyan and deal massive amounts of damage as well as a brief spell of invulnerability. Each spirit has different attributes as well as passive effects, so with the right tweaking of stats and gods, you can create a self feeding living weapon form so long as you are constantly putting enemies down to replenish it.
And THEN you also have three different sets of skill points to go over multiple skill trees such as one of each of the various weapons you get in the game, your ninjutsu abilities, and your onmyo magics. Some of these abilities have passive that affect your character regardless of what skills you choose to purchase. Some of them have very specific uses so you really want to comb through the skill trees to kind of get an idea of what it is you want to go after. Setting on a few weapons types, and what magics you want to shoot for.
But then you also have a number of tricks to use as well such as the living weapon. In your pursuit of your guardian spirit, you get the help of others, and when fully charged you can essentially use their power to go super saiyan and deal massive amounts of damage as well as a brief spell of invulnerability. Each spirit has different attributes as well as passive effects, so with the right tweaking of stats and gods, you can create a self feeding living weapon form so long as you are constantly putting enemies down to replenish it.
And THEN you also have three different sets of skill points to go over multiple skill trees such as one of each of the various weapons you get in the game, your ninjutsu abilities, and your onmyo magics. Some of these abilities have passive that affect your character regardless of what skills you choose to purchase. Some of them have very specific uses so you really want to comb through the skill trees to kind of get an idea of what it is you want to go after. Setting on a few weapons types, and what magics you want to shoot for.
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| Everyone one of those options at the top are for a different skill tree. |
The stamina system is slightly different because you have a pulse move you can do that if timed at te end of the combo, can cause your stamina to regenerate faster. Yokai also leave waves darkness on the ground that slow your stamina regeneration so you have to pulse in those spots to dissipate them. I never remembered to do this. It felt like it was adding a stem to an already complex battle system.
I actually akin the combat more to Bloodborne than I would Dark Souls because of the high speed nature of the game. While you can be severely bogged down with heavy armors and equipment, you can still run at a generally fast pace, and combat still moves incredibly quickly. Breakneck base would certainly be a fitting term because it was this nature that had me struggle so much when I played through alpha and beta.
I actually akin the combat more to Bloodborne than I would Dark Souls because of the high speed nature of the game. While you can be severely bogged down with heavy armors and equipment, you can still run at a generally fast pace, and combat still moves incredibly quickly. Breakneck base would certainly be a fitting term because it was this nature that had me struggle so much when I played through alpha and beta.
Nioh does not use a single large open world since for the course of the story your are traveling over nearly the entirety of Japan, so instead you go to major territories of the country an it is broken up into unlocking stages. Most of the story missions will be a long sprawling map with shrines (bonfires) to level up and checkpoint at before working your way to a spectacular boss fight, some of them will have only the one and a relatively simple objective for you to complete be it find something specific, reach a certain point, or fight a series of enemies or boss.
After completing the level, you are taken back to your map screen which also functions as a shrine so you can spend your accumulated amrita (souls) to level up, buy equipment, upgrade, set your abilities and so forth. So on one hand you might find that the world loses a sense of massiveness because its not just one big interconnected map, but on the other you might find it to be less harrowing because eventually the map will come to an end and you will have a chance to catch a breather and recover. In addition to that, by switching to the stage system replaying old locations to grind, level up, and explore seems less tedious since things move faster and areas are shorter.
And you are going to need that break to sort out the amount of items the game is going to barf all over you like an all night saki bender at a hostess club. In games like these you typically find new interesting weapons or armor in areas of the game that relate to the area you are actually exploring it or sometimes get specific drops from enemies that mirror their own equipment. In Nioh there are five major weapon types (before dlc) and two variants of ranged weapons. As you play through the levels, loot corpses, and find treasures you will be washed with a wave of equipment constantly loading up your inventory.
But then the loot also has rarity levels between common to legendary. Marked in very MMO colors to signify how rare it is. The more rare the item the better familiarity you can get by using the weapon more frequently and thus increase it strength, (or you can just use a whetstone and just boost it to full strength). Once you do if you opt to use this for crafting you might be able to carry over some of the abilities to a new weapon. While armor generally gives your character a new look, you are going to find yourself mix-matching almost every 20 steps because loot is mad irrelevant almost immediately.
The defensive gear does this as well. Just getting constantly flooded with a nonstop wave of equipment. Almost every piece of equipment has a myriad of next to negligible statistic changes of minor point values and fractional percentages. Some abilities highlighted so they have increased ability if you wear the entirety of that armor set for a bonus. The numbers are excessive or confusing. I finished the game without ever knowing what number exactly determined how much defense I actually had and what modifiers were actually contributed to what it was doing. The inventory mechanic in this game is as big of a fucking mess as is was in the original Mass Effect.
I find using the blacksmith to also be equally confusing. There is nearly no purpose for using it from what I can tell. I never seemed to enough of or the right materials to make anything respectively new, you can only Soul Match and item if its of a lower lever to something you are trying to merge it with to bring it up to speed, sell values are pretty weak from what I can tell to begin with. It just doesn't make sense to waste your time using the blacksmith when you are literally going to find better weapons the moment you kill something new, and you can use your old equipment as free XP dumps if you offer them up to shrines, so unless you are strapped for cash for some reason there is little reason to be here.
Now admittedly, I am a sucker for Shinto lore and Japanese architecture and iconography so the setting of this game is right up my alley, even if its a little samey after a while. Many of the game levels will take you through Japanese fishing villages with small shacks and homes, Shrines, large wooden ninja manors and palaces with hidden doors and trap floors, and caves. Lots of caves. There actually seems like there are a significant number of levels that take you inside of caves an mountains for some reason. Admittedly those levels aren't exactly works of art. You've seen one cave you've seen them all.
Similarly, this game features some very impressive and interesting monster design and that's really what allows the setting to shine. Typically the majority of the enemies you fight are various dudes in armor or ninjas, buy scattered throughout the levels you will fight various Oni and Yokai demons and ghosts that ends with a spectacular boss fight, usually connected to the level in some way. The visual design of all of them are impressive and amazing. I would often find myself marveling at their design. The ice maiden, Yuki-Onna, and her boss fight is an excellent example of this.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention how good the cutscenes look, if not for their laughable content. While very clearly computer animated, all of the character models are well designed and attractive, every with their own distinct looks about them. So while the names can be confusing by following who is who, you won't confuse anyone by appearances in this one. The downfall is almost every one of them is William sitting with important political figures in Japan, clearly bewildered by the conversation before leaving to slash up more demons.
My biggest complaints about Nioh, however all stem from the overall difficulty of the game for various reasons. First and foremost, don't give me an recommended level for when I should try to do something, because it doesn't mean anything. As I said above the defensive item statistics are all confusing, and it seems regardless of what sets of numbers you have selected, even some of the easiest enemies in the game can still cut you to ribbons if you are careless or get ganged up on. This game has one setting, hard.
Two, Nioh doesn't seem to follow its own combat mechanics for enemies that you have to suffer, giving them a significant advantage. Chiefly its in regard to the stamina trait. When you swing your weapon, dodge, block, run, or take damage, it uses your stamina. Once it depletes you have to wait to recharge before you can attack. If you try to block with no stamina the gauge goes red and your guard is broken leaving you open to attack. Whatever, this is pretty standard in this kinda game.
The problem with it comes in on a series of these one on one character duels you do as sub missions throughout the course of the game. These missions can suck my fucking ass. First off, regardless of your level they are next to impossible to do. But what makes them more frustrating is that you can't build a strategy because things that drain your stamina don't affect enemies the same way. I've had duels where my opponent strings together this massive 6 attack combo that doesn't even so much as lower their gauge by 10%. I've unloaded even longer combos that get guarded that don't move their gauge by 10%. Yet if I'm on offense or defense, I can't keep my stamina up to save my life. One of these fights resulted with me losing my shit on stream and smashing my controller beyond repair.
Now, there is one specific saving grace in this whole game that saved my ass in the form of one of the Omnyo spells in the form of the Sloth talisman. I read this was the key to toning down the difficulty and it truly did help with a lot of the fights, because it slows the opponent down for a brief period which makes the combat a little less twitchy (but no less dangerous). The problem here is when I would research how to get it, I'd hear of a nerf. When I'd look to see if it did get nerfed I would be treated to pages upon pages of people screaming in forums about how it needs to be removed, and "fucking casuals" are ruining the game and should go back to go back to playing Animal Crossing if its too hard.
Listen assholes. You don't nerf shit from single player games if you think it makes it to easy for you. You not use to increase you challenge. You fucking nerf something if it causes the game to be unbalanced. And shit can only be unbalanced if A.) It is a multiplayer game that causes an unfair advantage. B.) breaks the games intended experience. Sloth magic is not harming people who don't want to use it even by fighting the shadows of players that died because it just makes the challenge harder for you.
Gamers, please. I bitched about this shit when the Gamergate debacle was really at the forefront of the news but seriously get this shit through you head: We are not special. Everybody games now. Nobody gives a shit that we can play through the original Dark Souls one handed blind folded on a guitar hero controller. So this unnecessary divide of hardcore gamer or filthy casual is fucking retarded and needs to stop. All you are managing to do is create a divide of a culture where one doesn't need to exist. I play Smite, but is to turns out, I don't need to venomously hate people who like League of Legends or Dota 2. Fucking knock it off. People who like games are cool, so if someone needs help maybe offer tips or ideas instead of berating someone as a casual. Fuckin' morons.
So ultimately, my big issue with Nioh is this: When I would play the game I would be asked by a friend if the game was fun. I would go on to say that how it looks great, it controls well, the characters are well designed, the combat is fluid and fast, and so on. To which he would respond by saying: "But is it fun???" and while I could come up with all the reasons in the world for how this is one of the more technically sound games of 2017 the bottom line of things is I wasn't getting that sense of satisfaction of getting past a difficult segment like when I would get past and area in Dark Souls.
So the question then becomes, does "fun factor" count as a tangible merit if the game is good or not? I certainly put in enough time to say it was a worthwhile purchase. I was able to see the game through to the end. There are few mechanical flaws that I can come up but nothing that was a deal breaker. It's setting and character design was well done and nice to look at. And all of these things are certainly marks in it favor. But if honestly sit and ask myself if I enjoyed my time with Nioh, gun to my head, yes or no answer, it's going to have to be no.
The bottom line is outside of that first push through the opening area of the game, I never had that sense of relief of accomplishment I would have when I proceed through Dark Souls. Just a continued persistent annoyance knowing something harder was waiting. That I would die to some simple enemy because of a cheap death. Have to grind and sort out about 2 billion items to power up marginally to fumble through the next boss fight. It was tedious. I didn't even have that break through like with Darkest Dungeon where I suddenly understood how things work and was able to take it for what it is.
Nioh is a well designed, very beautiful looking game. It is certain going to have its niche audience, and looking at it objectively I can see why would think that this game is very good. But the fact of the matter is that I played through it out of annoyance and stubbornness, not enjoyment. And last I checked that was the whole fuckin' point of buying video games. It's getting a release on PC so its user base will grow. But I can't in good conscious give the game a proper recommendation, because when asked if its fun I could never just say yes. There was always some qualifier. Purchase and play at own risk.
Maybe GamePro was onto something with their Fun-Factor score.
Now admittedly, I am a sucker for Shinto lore and Japanese architecture and iconography so the setting of this game is right up my alley, even if its a little samey after a while. Many of the game levels will take you through Japanese fishing villages with small shacks and homes, Shrines, large wooden ninja manors and palaces with hidden doors and trap floors, and caves. Lots of caves. There actually seems like there are a significant number of levels that take you inside of caves an mountains for some reason. Admittedly those levels aren't exactly works of art. You've seen one cave you've seen them all.
Similarly, this game features some very impressive and interesting monster design and that's really what allows the setting to shine. Typically the majority of the enemies you fight are various dudes in armor or ninjas, buy scattered throughout the levels you will fight various Oni and Yokai demons and ghosts that ends with a spectacular boss fight, usually connected to the level in some way. The visual design of all of them are impressive and amazing. I would often find myself marveling at their design. The ice maiden, Yuki-Onna, and her boss fight is an excellent example of this.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention how good the cutscenes look, if not for their laughable content. While very clearly computer animated, all of the character models are well designed and attractive, every with their own distinct looks about them. So while the names can be confusing by following who is who, you won't confuse anyone by appearances in this one. The downfall is almost every one of them is William sitting with important political figures in Japan, clearly bewildered by the conversation before leaving to slash up more demons.
My biggest complaints about Nioh, however all stem from the overall difficulty of the game for various reasons. First and foremost, don't give me an recommended level for when I should try to do something, because it doesn't mean anything. As I said above the defensive item statistics are all confusing, and it seems regardless of what sets of numbers you have selected, even some of the easiest enemies in the game can still cut you to ribbons if you are careless or get ganged up on. This game has one setting, hard.
Two, Nioh doesn't seem to follow its own combat mechanics for enemies that you have to suffer, giving them a significant advantage. Chiefly its in regard to the stamina trait. When you swing your weapon, dodge, block, run, or take damage, it uses your stamina. Once it depletes you have to wait to recharge before you can attack. If you try to block with no stamina the gauge goes red and your guard is broken leaving you open to attack. Whatever, this is pretty standard in this kinda game.
The problem with it comes in on a series of these one on one character duels you do as sub missions throughout the course of the game. These missions can suck my fucking ass. First off, regardless of your level they are next to impossible to do. But what makes them more frustrating is that you can't build a strategy because things that drain your stamina don't affect enemies the same way. I've had duels where my opponent strings together this massive 6 attack combo that doesn't even so much as lower their gauge by 10%. I've unloaded even longer combos that get guarded that don't move their gauge by 10%. Yet if I'm on offense or defense, I can't keep my stamina up to save my life. One of these fights resulted with me losing my shit on stream and smashing my controller beyond repair.
Now, there is one specific saving grace in this whole game that saved my ass in the form of one of the Omnyo spells in the form of the Sloth talisman. I read this was the key to toning down the difficulty and it truly did help with a lot of the fights, because it slows the opponent down for a brief period which makes the combat a little less twitchy (but no less dangerous). The problem here is when I would research how to get it, I'd hear of a nerf. When I'd look to see if it did get nerfed I would be treated to pages upon pages of people screaming in forums about how it needs to be removed, and "fucking casuals" are ruining the game and should go back to go back to playing Animal Crossing if its too hard.
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| A very early starting boss fight is a real struggle, the moment you get sloth it becomes laughable. |
Listen assholes. You don't nerf shit from single player games if you think it makes it to easy for you. You not use to increase you challenge. You fucking nerf something if it causes the game to be unbalanced. And shit can only be unbalanced if A.) It is a multiplayer game that causes an unfair advantage. B.) breaks the games intended experience. Sloth magic is not harming people who don't want to use it even by fighting the shadows of players that died because it just makes the challenge harder for you.
Gamers, please. I bitched about this shit when the Gamergate debacle was really at the forefront of the news but seriously get this shit through you head: We are not special. Everybody games now. Nobody gives a shit that we can play through the original Dark Souls one handed blind folded on a guitar hero controller. So this unnecessary divide of hardcore gamer or filthy casual is fucking retarded and needs to stop. All you are managing to do is create a divide of a culture where one doesn't need to exist. I play Smite, but is to turns out, I don't need to venomously hate people who like League of Legends or Dota 2. Fucking knock it off. People who like games are cool, so if someone needs help maybe offer tips or ideas instead of berating someone as a casual. Fuckin' morons.
 |
| Why does there always have to be effn spiders... |
So ultimately, my big issue with Nioh is this: When I would play the game I would be asked by a friend if the game was fun. I would go on to say that how it looks great, it controls well, the characters are well designed, the combat is fluid and fast, and so on. To which he would respond by saying: "But is it fun???" and while I could come up with all the reasons in the world for how this is one of the more technically sound games of 2017 the bottom line of things is I wasn't getting that sense of satisfaction of getting past a difficult segment like when I would get past and area in Dark Souls.
So the question then becomes, does "fun factor" count as a tangible merit if the game is good or not? I certainly put in enough time to say it was a worthwhile purchase. I was able to see the game through to the end. There are few mechanical flaws that I can come up but nothing that was a deal breaker. It's setting and character design was well done and nice to look at. And all of these things are certainly marks in it favor. But if honestly sit and ask myself if I enjoyed my time with Nioh, gun to my head, yes or no answer, it's going to have to be no.
The bottom line is outside of that first push through the opening area of the game, I never had that sense of relief of accomplishment I would have when I proceed through Dark Souls. Just a continued persistent annoyance knowing something harder was waiting. That I would die to some simple enemy because of a cheap death. Have to grind and sort out about 2 billion items to power up marginally to fumble through the next boss fight. It was tedious. I didn't even have that break through like with Darkest Dungeon where I suddenly understood how things work and was able to take it for what it is.
Nioh is a well designed, very beautiful looking game. It is certain going to have its niche audience, and looking at it objectively I can see why would think that this game is very good. But the fact of the matter is that I played through it out of annoyance and stubbornness, not enjoyment. And last I checked that was the whole fuckin' point of buying video games. It's getting a release on PC so its user base will grow. But I can't in good conscious give the game a proper recommendation, because when asked if its fun I could never just say yes. There was always some qualifier. Purchase and play at own risk.
