I can't properly describe the mixture of surprise, fear, and intrigue I felt when basically all the ridiculous and OP Nioh 1 DLC enemies kept showing up in vanilla Nioh 2.
Nioh 2 is just so incredible. My friend and I did a run of the game where we randomized our weapon for each individual level and it was a blast. Learning to use each weapon proficiently to be able to beat some of the harder bosses was alot of fun.
God; I love Nioh 2 so damn much. I think I've sung this game enough praises to write a 12hr opera at this point. Edit: Nioh 2 is one of the best coop games ever; don't deny yourself that experience.
it's weird to think nioh 1 came out in 2017. After putting in over 1000 hours in nioh 1 and 2 it feels like the franchise has been around for way longer, something about the games makes them an instant classic. I think nioh 2 is the best arpg ever made.
As a long time watcher i can't possibly express how much i enjoy the way you've developed as a reviewer. Starting out with so many rough edges that were honestly a large part of why i started watching you've now found a way to keep in the parts of your style that i find so appealing while also smoothing out the rougher parts. This video in particular you've found a way to be both objective in viewing the games from all sides but also inject your own feelings without any of it feeling unbalanced or muddled.
I'm replaying through Nioh 2 for the DLCs, and while playing that I decided to replay Nioh 1 as well. The impression I had going back to Nioh 1 is that it's still a very good game, but what makes it feel rougher and arguably harder than Nioh 2 is that William is just a lot weaker than the Nioh 2 protagonist, aside from the Living Weapon system. The Yokai abilities alone give you a lot more options that are relatively intuitive to learn and powerful against both bosses and regular enemies, while in Nioh 1 you just have to be really solid and spam Living Weapon until you've got enough skills and stats to create your gameplan. This might be what makes Nioh 2 more approachable. The design is still very similar, it's hard and punishing, but in Nioh 2 you start off with more options and it's less in-your-face brutalizing. Also, Nioh 2 is just Nioh 1 with improvements after learning from 1, so it's easy to see why it would be the superior game. As for the white saviour thing with William, I don't think there was ever a risk for the story taking that meaning because... Nioh is made by a Japanese team. If they're fine with their main character to be a European in Japan it's probably fine. It's unlikely they're trying to belittle their own people and history.
I loved Nioh when it came out. I jumped into the beta with no expectations and ended up buying the game. The cheap deaths and traps really made it a little tedious, but as you said, it's lost with experience. By the time I finished my trophy hunting, I was MORE than pleased with my time with the game. What never stops being tedious to me, though, is the loot grind. During the main game, loot matters VERY little, but once you've hit NG+ and beyond, the builds become incredibly convoluted to obtain items for. Every build just about needs the Masakani Magatama, you need to farm the individual pieces from bosses or tough enemies, you need good rolls on these individual pieces of gear (which the game lets you reroll thankfully) that matches the specs your build needs, and every time you move to a newly leveled area, you need to either farm stuff again or grind out cash to reforge your current stuff, which gets exponentially more expensive over time. That said, it's only a problem for people seeking to hit up the game's hardest challenges, so like... probably no one? The game itself is a very fun romp through a ton of cool areas and enemies, the loot just starts detracting from it the deeper you go. I so wish the next Nioh removes gear leveling somehow, at least for single player.
i think one of the biggest dubs you can give to nioh is that kbash has come to like it a lot even though he _very clearly isn't very good at it and doesn't understand a lot of it's mechanics_ lmao. that ain't a dig btw(well, at least not a huge one), there's a lot to get, but i will say that a lot of the perceived difficulty of nioh 1/2 is curbed by figuring it out and putting more effort into learning it(which he admitted). for example: if you don't want to deal with ambushes ever--then don't! the game gives you a gear skill that you can roll for as many times as you like that literally just gives you an enemy radar to tell you where all enemies are; yes even hidden ones. hell in nioh 1 you can get "enemy sense" straight from the jump by choosing the shark guardian spirit isonade. bosses that are tough like hinoenma are completely gimped by just exploiting their elemental weaknesses. in her case, lighting element and using the paralytic needles whoop her. instead of shredding items for amrita, turn them into materials and make new, stronger versions of the gear you already have in the blacksmith and then put custom skills on the gear. the game gives you so many tools to overcome challenges, that i actually find it much easier than dark souls. you just gotta use em!
The reason the main character of Nioh 2 doesn't speak (in universe) is that during that opening cutscene the big bad actually stabs them in the throat. Rendering them actually physically mute.
Not true at all. Your sibling doesn't speak also and wasn't stabbed in the throat ever. In a Team Ninja interview it was said that the protagonist didn't need to speak, so they gave them no voice.
@@michaelgoudis344 Wait what sibling? I might be misremembering, but I could swear the main character is an only child. And you're looking at it from the Doylist perspective, or the writer's perspective. Yes, the MC didn't need to speak so they decided to not give them a voice. But the Watsonian, or in-unverse explanation for that is your character being stabbed in the throat as a child by the main villain.
I got recommended this video by yt and i saw the date and thought "in depth nioh discussion in 2023? Gimme more!" Ive been replaying the duology from a new save to reacquaint myself with what the game is like to new players (at least numerically, nothing will take away the third eye i got from 2500hrs experience lol), but you have an excellent manner of expressing what feels unsaid. On the matter of emerging narrative with gameplay, i feel the need to say that while Dark Realm hampers your ki regen severely, it also immensely increases anima gain. And yokai abilities let you recover ki while attacking and lower max ki, helping you seal dark realms faster. Additionally, yokai shift doesnt use your ki, and immensely benefits from anima gain. TN urging you to draw on your yokai blood when its influence is strengthened unnaturally, gameplay meets narrative. 2 has such a unique relationship with rewarding (or even just ALLOWING) aggression as a soulslike, the reliability with which you can stagger enemies via weakpoint targeting, yokai abilities, and just knowing your moveset is what allows all these fancy skills to work. You can tell in nioh 1 they were less sure of how to fit skills into combat for some weapons, they might have clunky hitboxes or recovery and in 2 you start to see theres clearly defined use cases for each. Using these abilities to ki break yokai so you can go HAM is the best feeling in the game Another thing im grateful for is how they made bosses more unique in 2 rather than going through a checklist of like "does it have a spin attack, 3 hit combo, and maybe a long range/jumping attack?" As well as how the dark realm emphasize boss concepts by exaggerating body traits for example When i finished elden ring, my mind wandered back to nioh 2. I couldnt explain it at first and boggled my mind. I loved the game and was so excited for it ("what lessons did they learn from the souls series, bloodborne, and sekiro to deliver the best of each?") but felt like i was continually prodded by numerous tiny grievances. People wanted flashier and more useful spells and skills, but enemies evolved in ways the player hasnt. Theyre big, fast, complex while youre stuck with the same old dingy roll (unless you want to give up your skill slot for a barely better quickstep), very rarely susceptible to stagger when you need a skill. To say nothing of them insisting on fp being as finite as it is These fancy skills worked in sekiro because enemies had to respect your attacks too, by guarding. But when you transplant them into ER, even a human enemy will just guard counter or shield bash with infinite poise and make your pressure moot. I could go on about how ER enemies attacks seem spitefully designed even more than nioh, but i digress. The point is i couldnt help but compare the way these games evolved and how the studios reacted to it based on the instincts of what they know. Nioh had more ninja gaiden injected into its veins, but fromsofts evolutions are at odds with itself because their specialty is giving you basics that work and fancy abilities have no room in that framework, these skills would work if you were given the space to allow aggression but thats just not what their games are about, they havent gone forward with any systems from bloodborne that cultivated that playstyle (its not just rally, btw) Overall, nioh 2 especially, is lightning in a bottle that captures a perfect blend of stylish character action and soulslike trapping. Character action with a (visually) customizable character might seem paradoxical, but im so glad this is that game. Btw, ive played coop to get friends into this game (expedition mode is SUCH a good feature for coopers), and i can confirm its a blast, ive had a few moments where my newer friends get ki broken and i run in and intercept the enemy with a parry, it makes really good memories
Nioh 1 added the Odachi and Tonfas. Nioh 2 added the weird staff and the gauntlets plus Nioh 2 had the Hatchet and the Scythe as the new weapons plus everything added from nioh 1 so NIOH 2 in total has Katana, Dual Katanas, Odachi, Kusarigama, Tonfas, Hatches, Scythe, Hammer/Axe, Spear, Staff, Gloves....11 playstyles plus 3 stances holy shit.
Nioh was good, but nioh 2 will forever remain in my memory because 3 of my friends were playing at the same time as me, and we kept on comparing notes. Ok, I'm not gonna lie, something clicked for me with the game and I was doing REALLY well, so that did elevate the experience further, the fact that my friends were coming to me for advice did stroke my ego, I can't lie... Anyway, another great video kbash Edit: apologies for the run on sentences, but I lack the mental fortitude to reword them properly now
Nioh 1 was a pretty good riff on the Souls-like genre and a welcome change of pace from DS plodding pace. Nioh 2 is straight up one of my favourite action games of all time and I cannot sing its praises enough. It's not perfect but it's got heart, it's got an amazing combat system that I'm still learning about to this day (didn't know about the Yokai stance weapon thing until this video lmao) and it's got an absurd amount of content to hack and slash your way through. Great video that put into words all the things I feel about the franchise.
I haven't gotten to the nioh 2 portion of the video yet, but the bit about ki pulsing after attacks is very useful to regaining stamina quickly, especially with the in-both games skill Ki Flux and Ki Flux II, wherein ki pulsing and then swapping to a different stance, or doing so twice with II, will regain sequentially more stamina. I played both games before learning about it, it's okay, it doesn't harm the review, because Nioh games have lots of deeper dystems that are really easy to miss, but once you learn about Ki Flux, the stamina you get is insane, and it makes the games so much easier. It should be pushed to players more, the game kinda just has it there and you don't look twice, again, this review reflects average experience, so it is reasonable and even good that you didn't include it for summation of the experience. I just wanna let everyone including op know, about it.
the window is shirt, the stamina bar is in a corner of the screen and it's just really hard to keep track of, especially in 2 where there's a million particle effects on the screen and you can just do a yokai move to regen Ki anyway
I'm playing the game for the first time right now and the ki pulse is extremely fun imo. It's one of the best "small" mechanic I've seen in a game. I'm using the splitstaff and I think doing a few hits on medium stance before going to low stance to continue the combo is amazing. I don't see the point of the high stance currently since it allows for very few hits and doesn't combo well but just medium into low and repeat is really strong right now.
@@mrocto329 I don't remember anything about high stance splitstaff in specific aside that the heavy is a good high reaching overhead longish range poke for hitting the heads of Enki and other similar monsters, but failing that there's plentiful enough good block and light/block and heavy moves on the splitstaff that having some on your heavy stance for when you want to use them specifically is always an idea.
Absolutely in love with this video, some of the best Nioh content I've seen on TH-cam. Demon's Souls can be pretty hard if you play on pure black world tendency. Love how you went deep into the ideas behind some of the mechanics of the game and why the developers might have decided to go one way over the other. And I agree SOOO MUCH with Nioh being intuitive, Nioh is the only game I know where e.g. you use flaming swords to inflict fire debuff, and then the debuff bar gets fuller if you continue hitting the enemy with the flaming swords, the debuff doesn't end after an arbitrary amount of time, if that makes sense. Nioh has my favorite elements in weapons in gaming.
It's nice to see people are still making content on Nioh. I love both of the games to death. The music, combat, skill systems, weapons, all of it. Thanks for this.
Brilliant video. The first I've seen that truly GETS it, appreciates every facet of these amazing games to the point that it made me appreciate things even I had not noticed after over 300 hours of combined playtime. I do remember feeling let down by your first crack at the series so this was a really cathartic redemption arc.
49:00 yokai realm increases anima gain (purple bar) that you use for yokai abilities. this is also a hint/nudge narratively to use more yokai abilities and use yokai mode yourself to fight them, as while it nerfs your normal ki gain your own yokai stuff is also improved. only learnt this in like ng+++ or wtv though xD another small but huge missed mechanic for me ty for playing through and enjoying the game i so love
that's cool my character use little yokai abilities duo to feeling self hate duo to how yokai are looked on, so I will make yokai abilities her last leap at the end of the game and I am glad there are tons of ways to make it even more good then I am used to
There are more excellent jokes in here than I can count, but special mention has to go to the end of the ninja gaiden segment at 47:00 where the guy explodes, and then you zoom out to show the explosion on the map screen. I wasn't expecting that at all and it completely took me out.
7:42 Quick correction there: Odachi was added to Nioh 1 with the first DLC pack. Tonfa is also a DLC weapon. All the DLC were included in the remastered edition by default.
I loved Nioh, even if it was rough around the edges and took some time to fully come online. I absolutely ADORE Nioh 2. It improves on the first game in effectively every conceivable way, and is my definition of The Perfect Sequel. Nioh 2 is fun, it's challenging, it's frantic, it's methodical, it's nerdy, it's... well, it's not really casual, but it almost somehow feels like it is, so that's still what I love about it. I'd feel tense for roughly 4 hours at a time playing a new level, scouring every pathway and nook I could find because it was just that much fun. Spend all the adrenaline I could muster hyper focusing for as long as I could, put it down for the day, and do it all over again the next day for several months. The game just kept going and going, way past the amount of content I expected, but I never really got bored or burnt out since I was taking it slow and the game was always doing something new or rehashing in interesting ways. What an incredible achievement in refining a tride-and-true gem. Love Nioh 2. Will gladly play again someday.
47:31-47:56 Can confirm Nioh 2 with a friend is the funnest shit out there if you're going to play Nioh 2 play with one or two pals it'll make the game so much more fun since if you die you can get revived if your friends are fast enough but you don't have to wait either if you need to get back into the action right away you can revive yourself but not gain any of your blue bar back (you use this blue bar for multiplayer only by the way expeditions in particular) speaking of reviving other players you revive others with a single button press no animation or anything you can block while reviving to in case you need to protect yourself. But if you die during a boss and you have no more blue bar left so anyone dead cannot be revived whoever is still alive can continue until they die or they win if they win everyone who is dead gets revived to get the loot. If you're making a video game or have an idea that you want to make into a video game and you want it to have a multiplayer option (like I do) then consider doing what Nioh 2 did trust me people will love it! And praise you for it! And if I remember correctly, you can play together from stage one too! And you can do almost everything together except some side quest bosses and one main mission boss near the end of the game. And trust me when playing with pals you'll save each-other a lot just like Kbash here described feels so fucking good to come in clutch and revive one of your pals last second and then win if possible or cheering your friend on from the grave as they beat the boss after what feels like an eternity I am lucky enough to play with a friend who beat the game solo (thank god for Kasha) and knew all the cheap bullshit the game would never tell you about like with the Mujina or Nurikabe so he showed me how to deal with this shit (except for my first Mujina experience where I panicked thinking it was about to oneshot him for no fucking reason and started attacking it... We still have a good laugh about it to this day!) In summery Nioh 2 had probably the best multiplayer system out there and other multiplayer games should take notes and in my opinion is the best way to play the game. (Also can we all just agree that Tokichiro is the best character in the game?)
I had a similar experience with 1, I just didn't enjoy my time with it. 2 is one of my favorite games in the genre. Absolutely worth a playthrough, though very difficult (especially early on, where you lack a lot of the tech and knowledge).
I struggled a lot in the first hours, and my problem was that I played it like a souls game. Hino-Enma (the bat lady in the cave) was harder than any souls boss I had encountered before. When I realized that you could dodge ten times in a row with low stance I understood that this is not a souls game, and the combat clicked for me and I started to really enjoy it.
this is such an expertly crafted video essay slash review that it got me excited goosebumps and all to try nioh 2, I come from the exhaustion and frustration that is nioh 1 after having to understand everything by myself and sorting loot again and again, but the combat is just masterful and irreplicable and so I kept it in the back of my mind as a maybe, that now you made into a certain second chance with the sequel. thanks dude, I love the way you connected to the games and talked about them, it sure is contagious
The "picked up guardian spirit" sound plays when you die and fail to make it back to your corpse before dying again. Pay attention to the circle in the corner of the screen. Your guardian spirit stays at the site of death until you retrieve it, and the meter to use your summon will not fill if your spirit is not with you. If you die again before you reach it, the spirit will return to your character, but you lose everything you dropped on both the first death and the failed corpse run.
The get gud mindset isn't a church that I attend, but the joy that I get from Souls games specifically are from 1v1ing the game. Personally, overcoming challenges is where I get the satisfaction from which is I think where it originates. After that, it's fun to get a friend in there. I can't speak for Nioh, but having a friend or non-npc summons trivializes a lot of fights which takes a lot of the satisfaction from them. So, don't hate us, K-Bash.
I picked up nioh 1 early 2023 and struggled like crazy for the first 3 regions, wanted to quit several times. Stuck through it, and started to master some of mechanics like ki pulsing and stance switching. The game started to click for me, and by the first dlc it was my favorite souls-like game ever. Nioh 2 is where I absolutely fell in love. I've put 400 hours into nioh 2 this year and I'm currently running through the depths of the underworld (unlocked in NG+4 after beating 108 challenge levels that is the underworld). The combat is by far the most in depth system I've ever played, comparable to the devil may cry series in that you can beat them without mastering every mechanic but the skill ceiling is infinitely high. I've really only mastered half of the weapon classes so there is still so much combat I've yet to experience. The enemies and bosses are extremely well designed and varied, every enemy needs a different strategy and have different strengths and weaknesses. There are a few human bosses that really suck like Saito Toshimitsu and the half yokai with the turtle shell, but most bosses are extremely fun to fight. What I really love about this game is the immense re-playability. Every NG+ cycle introduces new loot, new build options, new mechanics, etc. that keep the game fresh. My favorite mechanic is that the more NG+ cycles you go through the faster the enemies and bosses become. They change the literal frame data to make the fights more intense and windows tighter. Because of how different each weapon plays, the game feels brand new every time you switch weapons. For each NG+ cycle, I'd pick a new weapon to master, and usually change my build around so it focuses on different aspects. I also love the loot grind which I know isn't a popular opinion but min maxing my builds is a huge part of the game for me. When comparing Nioh to the dark souls series, there really is no comparison. Nioh makes dark souls look like a joke. After putting so much time into the nioh series, the souls games are full of glaring flaws and boring combat to me now. Still love the artsyle and story of those games but I'm here for the combat. I'm here for the adrenaline. I'm here for the insane rush of beating a massive challenge. Nioh 2 is my favorite game of all time now and I'm so glad I decided to experience it.
Wait what, what do the NG+ cycles do to the bosses' speed exactly, I never noticed them being faster on the subsequent cycles Or at least I don't remember noticing anything like that, granted, it's been like 2 years since i last played Nioh 2 but still
@@GodlessDrunkenWreck it’s not extremely noticeable but some attacks and the bosses movement speeds are sped up in ng+3 and ng+4. There’s also new burst attacks added into their move sets. Take a look at Shuten Doji from the base game and then find Shuten Doji in the underworld, the difference is night and day.
@@GodlessDrunkenWrecksuper late reply but the game does alter the ai and some moves frame data and properties on ng+. It straight adds moves to most enemies and bosses. In nioh 1 every enemy got a slight full moveset wide speed boost on each ng+. On the final ng+ on nioh 1 the enemies were at least 50% faster.
Nioh is less of a souls-like and a Ninja-Gaiden-like, which was made by Team Ninja who are still around and recently made...Nioh. Also the best FF game in years, Strangers in Paradise.
Excellent review and analysis Top notch work, really Though we may never see another Ninja Gaiden, the punishing yet rewarding gamefeel lives on in our hearts Please do a Wo Long review too!
I know you sang praises of the mechanics but I can't help but feel there's a side of the game you haven't quite seen since you glossed over Ki Pulse. I'd highly encourage you just to check out some combo MADs if you didn't see that side of the game when working on this review. The depth and freedom of the game to both be able to create builds that basically play the game for you VS only building to increase your ability to play faster and more intricately is something I don't think any action game has achieved like Nioh 2 has. Glad you were finally able to enjoy the games. Now to finish up my Dream of the Nioh difficulty playthrough and all of the Underworld!
I've played Nioh over the last week because of this review. Shame it's not getting the views it should, because damn it's a good video and I've seen it 4 times by this point.
This game took me and my friend at least a month just to get to the first boss let alone beat him it was our first souls like game we ever played but when it clicked it clicked and we made out way through the game with haste and loved it
You have to engage with all the systems. Im not usually a magic build guy in Souls games. But Nioh gives you free points to spend on spells that are game changing. Healing spells, fire and lightning spells that literally one hit kill some enemies (like the slimes) theres a spell that gives you an auto respawn on death like Sekiro, and the game breaking slow spell that even works on bosses! Even in their newest game Wo long theres a spell that negates losing your acclaim level when you miss a parry or get hit with a red attack. You always need to buy atleast 3 or 4 of the best spells in team Ninja games. Are you nuts!? Maso-core indeed!
The one thing I wish other soul's games would add from Nioh is being able to see enemy stamina bars. It keeps human fights honest (they have stamina limits just like you do) and gives secondary objectives to the yokai fights (break bar to make enemies react to hit stun and break again for a critical hit.) You can actually let the human bosses over extend so you can jump in to break their stamina for a big punish and it feels so good when it happens.
I always forget the Seiken Densetsu/Final Fantasy Adventure music in your credits. My grandma gifted me the gameboy original as a random christmas present and it seriously resonated with me. I don't recall you sharing a personal story related to the games when you did videos on them, but I'd love to see you mine some more content from them. Sword of Mana is criminally abandoned by history!
love nioh so much. the 1st game is my 2nd fav game. you said that the ki pulse doesn’t do much but it does. it allows you to switch stances in a flow that gives you a buff for a couple seconds
*As someone who adores Nioh2 moreso than other Souls games, I will say this:* 1: Skip Nioh1! Trust me. Nioh2 is better across the board and what little story there is, its a prequal anyway so, you're not missing anything. 2: The game is VERY complex with systems on systems and the game doesn't really tell you how they work or how to get the most out of them. Find someone who knows the game super well to advise you. There's some great Discords. That said, its not as scary as it looks and it will 'click' eventually. 3: The NG+ cycles add whole new systems and mechanics. The game isn't done introducing stuff till the last NG+ cycle lol Plan your build/journey long term if you want to get nerdy about it. 4: Take it slow and don't waste your money in-game on buying weapons and don't craft stuff either!!! Its not worth it till NG++++ lol 5: Co-op is so fun. Like, play the whole game with someone. And even if you don't have someone to play with, there's a kind of AI co-op system so, you shouldn't be alone! :D 6: It is NOT a "soulslike;" it is quite different so try to take it on its own terms.
Great video man. This one was especially fun to watch because of my personal investment in the series. It would be great to see a SOP, Wolong and Rise of the Ronin video as a sequel. I love team ninja games.
Hope there's a video on Strangers of Paradise video. That game is literally Nioh 1 with a Final Fantasy coat of paint. Right down to the near impossible DLC and fragmented story.
love the video man ! also best way to use stances is to dodge always using low stance then switch to other stance to attack however u want , when u stick to using one stance on a boss ur losing out on tons of damage by not using other skills
The real William Adams did alot in Japan after his time in prison. So them making him important for their history isn't that strange and just calling it a "white savior" is weak.
Funny enough, I found low-stance completely useless for how I play, and I literally NEVER used it other than for switch combos. But that's why I personally prefer Nioh to From Soft games. Nioh TRULY allows you to play rhe game how you want. I find From Soft games far more rigid with their demands and required approach. There's way less nuance and space for exploration within its base gameplay. FOR ME, the From Soft games are infinitely harder than Nioh/2 ever was for me. A good example is that I used high-stance for about 95% of the game. I really didnt struggle. Whereas it seems like you preferred low-stance, and I can't even grasp how you got through the game using low-srance at all... But thats because of how I play. And that's something you don't really see in many other games of this type, as typically, everyone has to play mostly the same... for the most part (beyond if youre magic/mage focused or weapon focused). In Nioh, we could both be using the same weapon, but play it SO DIFFERENTLY that the experience itself is unique and unfamiliar.
A triumph of a video. So glad you ended up loving these awesome games. You've become such a good reviewer, I think it's time I checked out your reviews of games i have no interest in.
I couldn't really get into Nioh as a game. I love Dark Souls and the play style but I think this game was just a bit too much for me all in all. Still I enjoyed the video, I think you did well. Also I agree, anyone that says "Oh, you didn't beat 'Souls Like Game Here' if you used multiplayer/summons" is a fool, because not only is it a mechanic that's included and intended to be used but one of the mascots of Dark Souls is literally known for Jolly Cooperation
Great video, with great writing about such great games (including Knights in the nIghtmare) I hated Nioh at first , too. then, i saw the light... I hope i can coop Nioh 2 with my friend, someday, and have fun as we did on the first game
You really don't get the full nioh 2 experience until the late game because you actually get some real synergy with your build. Hitting lv 750 and deciding on 1 or 2 graces to commit to really allows you stand out. I made an onmyo centric build by maximizing the chance of not using a spell slot and it carried me almost to the endgame. Especially in the early game grinding the immovable mission to level up quickly will probably save you more time than just chugging along on a mission your struggling with.
Aside from the gameplay fun, I love Nioh for the kind of art it is: in every single aspect of it, the game never caters to you and wants you to engage with it and go deeper than it lets on, both in gameplay and story. It says, "Bro either make the effort to engage with me properly or fuck off," and it's a breath of fresh air in the modern state of the industry.
As a perfect example of how good Low stance is against most if the game, the Basic katana low stance attack Infinitely chains into a single combo, meaning you can regain a full ki bar after you run it dry by either regular ki pulsing. Or with the Dash Ki pulse that also has the added affect with the sword teleporting you. directly behind tbe enemy. Thus letting you basically chain attacks infinitely
Nioh 1 was one of my favorite games of the last decade, but even then I understood its limitations. I knew it was cruel and unfair and it wasnt for everyone, but it had a certain potential that I adored. Nioh 2 fucking delivers on all of that potential.
![กี่หมื่นฟ้า | Your Sky Series EP.1 [1/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLGjxFL6U_I/mqdefault.jpg)
Your decision to label the chapters "nioh" and "NIOH 2" is not lost on us.
I can't properly describe the mixture of surprise, fear, and intrigue I felt when basically all the ridiculous and OP Nioh 1 DLC enemies kept showing up in vanilla Nioh 2.
Most of them are harder in Nioh 1.
@@yaqubebased1961 the raven/karasu tengu and wheelmonks are definitely harder in Nioh 1
Nioh 2 is just so incredible. My friend and I did a run of the game where we randomized our weapon for each individual level and it was a blast. Learning to use each weapon proficiently to be able to beat some of the harder bosses was alot of fun.
Not gonna lie that does sound like fun
God; I love Nioh 2 so damn much. I think I've sung this game enough praises to write a 12hr opera at this point.
Edit: Nioh 2 is one of the best coop games ever; don't deny yourself that experience.
this so myuch time me and my best friend grinding our builds out together and tackling endgame
Sing it brother
It's telling that this series doesn't get a descriptive, slightly inflammatory title. It doesn't need one. It's ALL of them. Good stuff.
it's weird to think nioh 1 came out in 2017. After putting in over 1000 hours in nioh 1 and 2 it feels like the franchise has been around for way longer, something about the games makes them an instant classic. I think nioh 2 is the best arpg ever made.
As a long time watcher i can't possibly express how much i enjoy the way you've developed as a reviewer. Starting out with so many rough edges that were honestly a large part of why i started watching you've now found a way to keep in the parts of your style that i find so appealing while also smoothing out the rougher parts. This video in particular you've found a way to be both objective in viewing the games from all sides but also inject your own feelings without any of it feeling unbalanced or muddled.
Can we expect a CHAOS experience some time in the future?
You mean Nioh 3? 😉
Now we are closer to The Stranger of Paradise Experience
I'm replaying through Nioh 2 for the DLCs, and while playing that I decided to replay Nioh 1 as well.
The impression I had going back to Nioh 1 is that it's still a very good game, but what makes it feel rougher and arguably harder than Nioh 2 is that William is just a lot weaker than the Nioh 2 protagonist, aside from the Living Weapon system. The Yokai abilities alone give you a lot more options that are relatively intuitive to learn and powerful against both bosses and regular enemies, while in Nioh 1 you just have to be really solid and spam Living Weapon until you've got enough skills and stats to create your gameplan.
This might be what makes Nioh 2 more approachable. The design is still very similar, it's hard and punishing, but in Nioh 2 you start off with more options and it's less in-your-face brutalizing. Also, Nioh 2 is just Nioh 1 with improvements after learning from 1, so it's easy to see why it would be the superior game.
As for the white saviour thing with William, I don't think there was ever a risk for the story taking that meaning because... Nioh is made by a Japanese team. If they're fine with their main character to be a European in Japan it's probably fine. It's unlikely they're trying to belittle their own people and history.
yup a genuine proper sequel still love nioh 1 and do some runs from time to time but yeah nioh 2 is the superior game as it should be
babe wakeup, kbash dropped another video
😂😂😂
these 2 games are some of my absolute favorite modern action game experiences period.
I loved Nioh when it came out. I jumped into the beta with no expectations and ended up buying the game. The cheap deaths and traps really made it a little tedious, but as you said, it's lost with experience. By the time I finished my trophy hunting, I was MORE than pleased with my time with the game.
What never stops being tedious to me, though, is the loot grind. During the main game, loot matters VERY little, but once you've hit NG+ and beyond, the builds become incredibly convoluted to obtain items for. Every build just about needs the Masakani Magatama, you need to farm the individual pieces from bosses or tough enemies, you need good rolls on these individual pieces of gear (which the game lets you reroll thankfully) that matches the specs your build needs, and every time you move to a newly leveled area, you need to either farm stuff again or grind out cash to reforge your current stuff, which gets exponentially more expensive over time.
That said, it's only a problem for people seeking to hit up the game's hardest challenges, so like... probably no one? The game itself is a very fun romp through a ton of cool areas and enemies, the loot just starts detracting from it the deeper you go. I so wish the next Nioh removes gear leveling somehow, at least for single player.
i think one of the biggest dubs you can give to nioh is that kbash has come to like it a lot even though he _very clearly isn't very good at it and doesn't understand a lot of it's mechanics_ lmao. that ain't a dig btw(well, at least not a huge one), there's a lot to get, but i will say that a lot of the perceived difficulty of nioh 1/2 is curbed by figuring it out and putting more effort into learning it(which he admitted). for example: if you don't want to deal with ambushes ever--then don't! the game gives you a gear skill that you can roll for as many times as you like that literally just gives you an enemy radar to tell you where all enemies are; yes even hidden ones. hell in nioh 1 you can get "enemy sense" straight from the jump by choosing the shark guardian spirit isonade.
bosses that are tough like hinoenma are completely gimped by just exploiting their elemental weaknesses. in her case, lighting element and using the paralytic needles whoop her.
instead of shredding items for amrita, turn them into materials and make new, stronger versions of the gear you already have in the blacksmith and then put custom skills on the gear.
the game gives you so many tools to overcome challenges, that i actually find it much easier than dark souls. you just gotta use em!
The reason the main character of Nioh 2 doesn't speak (in universe) is that during that opening cutscene the big bad actually stabs them in the throat. Rendering them actually physically mute.
I thought that was why but I never got confirmation
Not true at all. Your sibling doesn't speak also and wasn't stabbed in the throat ever. In a Team Ninja interview it was said that the protagonist didn't need to speak, so they gave them no voice.
@@michaelgoudis344 Wait what sibling? I might be misremembering, but I could swear the main character is an only child. And you're looking at it from the Doylist perspective, or the writer's perspective. Yes, the MC didn't need to speak so they decided to not give them a voice. But the Watsonian, or in-unverse explanation for that is your character being stabbed in the throat as a child by the main villain.
@@Animus_AltiaYoshitatsu is your twin. Only one npc ever (optionally) elaborates on it, and they're a temporary one.
I got recommended this video by yt and i saw the date and thought "in depth nioh discussion in 2023? Gimme more!" Ive been replaying the duology from a new save to reacquaint myself with what the game is like to new players (at least numerically, nothing will take away the third eye i got from 2500hrs experience lol), but you have an excellent manner of expressing what feels unsaid.
On the matter of emerging narrative with gameplay, i feel the need to say that while Dark Realm hampers your ki regen severely, it also immensely increases anima gain. And yokai abilities let you recover ki while attacking and lower max ki, helping you seal dark realms faster. Additionally, yokai shift doesnt use your ki, and immensely benefits from anima gain. TN urging you to draw on your yokai blood when its influence is strengthened unnaturally, gameplay meets narrative.
2 has such a unique relationship with rewarding (or even just ALLOWING) aggression as a soulslike, the reliability with which you can stagger enemies via weakpoint targeting, yokai abilities, and just knowing your moveset is what allows all these fancy skills to work. You can tell in nioh 1 they were less sure of how to fit skills into combat for some weapons, they might have clunky hitboxes or recovery and in 2 you start to see theres clearly defined use cases for each. Using these abilities to ki break yokai so you can go HAM is the best feeling in the game
Another thing im grateful for is how they made bosses more unique in 2 rather than going through a checklist of like "does it have a spin attack, 3 hit combo, and maybe a long range/jumping attack?" As well as how the dark realm emphasize boss concepts by exaggerating body traits for example
When i finished elden ring, my mind wandered back to nioh 2. I couldnt explain it at first and boggled my mind. I loved the game and was so excited for it ("what lessons did they learn from the souls series, bloodborne, and sekiro to deliver the best of each?") but felt like i was continually prodded by numerous tiny grievances. People wanted flashier and more useful spells and skills, but enemies evolved in ways the player hasnt. Theyre big, fast, complex while youre stuck with the same old dingy roll (unless you want to give up your skill slot for a barely better quickstep), very rarely susceptible to stagger when you need a skill. To say nothing of them insisting on fp being as finite as it is
These fancy skills worked in sekiro because enemies had to respect your attacks too, by guarding. But when you transplant them into ER, even a human enemy will just guard counter or shield bash with infinite poise and make your pressure moot. I could go on about how ER enemies attacks seem spitefully designed even more than nioh, but i digress.
The point is i couldnt help but compare the way these games evolved and how the studios reacted to it based on the instincts of what they know. Nioh had more ninja gaiden injected into its veins, but fromsofts evolutions are at odds with itself because their specialty is giving you basics that work and fancy abilities have no room in that framework, these skills would work if you were given the space to allow aggression but thats just not what their games are about, they havent gone forward with any systems from bloodborne that cultivated that playstyle (its not just rally, btw)
Overall, nioh 2 especially, is lightning in a bottle that captures a perfect blend of stylish character action and soulslike trapping. Character action with a (visually) customizable character might seem paradoxical, but im so glad this is that game.
Btw, ive played coop to get friends into this game (expedition mode is SUCH a good feature for coopers), and i can confirm its a blast, ive had a few moments where my newer friends get ki broken and i run in and intercept the enemy with a parry, it makes really good memories
Nice impressions, thanks for sharing!
Lightning in a bottle feels like the perfect summary for this game.
Love the video!
*Each game's dlc added two weapon types.
Odachi was in Nioh 1 because the remaster is bundled with it's DLC.
Nioh 1 added the Odachi and Tonfas.
Nioh 2 added the weird staff and the gauntlets plus Nioh 2 had the Hatchet and the Scythe as the new weapons plus everything added from nioh 1 so NIOH 2 in total has
Katana, Dual Katanas, Odachi, Kusarigama, Tonfas, Hatches, Scythe, Hammer/Axe, Spear, Staff, Gloves....11 playstyles plus 3 stances holy shit.
@@raulrojas9253 and even then depending on the build u might play every single one of those differently its justunbeaten in terms of depth
Nioh was good, but nioh 2 will forever remain in my memory because 3 of my friends were playing at the same time as me, and we kept on comparing notes.
Ok, I'm not gonna lie, something clicked for me with the game and I was doing REALLY well, so that did elevate the experience further, the fact that my friends were coming to me for advice did stroke my ego, I can't lie...
Anyway, another great video kbash
Edit: apologies for the run on sentences, but I lack the mental fortitude to reword them properly now
Just FYI The odachi was added in nioh 1 due to the dlc, not as a carry back.
And the Maria Boss is insane. One of my toughest walls lol
Nioh 1 was a pretty good riff on the Souls-like genre and a welcome change of pace from DS plodding pace. Nioh 2 is straight up one of my favourite action games of all time and I cannot sing its praises enough. It's not perfect but it's got heart, it's got an amazing combat system that I'm still learning about to this day (didn't know about the Yokai stance weapon thing until this video lmao) and it's got an absurd amount of content to hack and slash your way through. Great video that put into words all the things I feel about the franchise.
I haven't gotten to the nioh 2 portion of the video yet, but the bit about ki pulsing after attacks is very useful to regaining stamina quickly, especially with the in-both games skill Ki Flux and Ki Flux II, wherein ki pulsing and then swapping to a different stance, or doing so twice with II, will regain sequentially more stamina. I played both games before learning about it, it's okay, it doesn't harm the review, because Nioh games have lots of deeper dystems that are really easy to miss, but once you learn about Ki Flux, the stamina you get is insane, and it makes the games so much easier. It should be pushed to players more, the game kinda just has it there and you don't look twice, again, this review reflects average experience, so it is reasonable and even good that you didn't include it for summation of the experience. I just wanna let everyone including op know, about it.
the window is shirt, the stamina bar is in a corner of the screen and it's just really hard to keep track of, especially in 2 where there's a million particle effects on the screen and you can just do a yokai move to regen Ki anyway
I'm playing the game for the first time right now and the ki pulse is extremely fun imo. It's one of the best "small" mechanic I've seen in a game. I'm using the splitstaff and I think doing a few hits on medium stance before going to low stance to continue the combo is amazing. I don't see the point of the high stance currently since it allows for very few hits and doesn't combo well but just medium into low and repeat is really strong right now.
@@mrocto329 I don't remember anything about high stance splitstaff in specific aside that the heavy is a good high reaching overhead longish range poke for hitting the heads of Enki and other similar monsters, but failing that there's plentiful enough good block and light/block and heavy moves on the splitstaff that having some on your heavy stance for when you want to use them specifically is always an idea.
Absolutely in love with this video, some of the best Nioh content I've seen on TH-cam.
Demon's Souls can be pretty hard if you play on pure black world tendency.
Love how you went deep into the ideas behind some of the mechanics of the game and why the developers might have decided to go one way over the other.
And I agree SOOO MUCH with Nioh being intuitive, Nioh is the only game I know where e.g. you use flaming swords to inflict fire debuff, and then the debuff bar gets fuller if you continue hitting the enemy with the flaming swords, the debuff doesn't end after an arbitrary amount of time, if that makes sense. Nioh has my favorite elements in weapons in gaming.
It's nice to see people are still making content on Nioh. I love both of the games to death. The music, combat, skill systems, weapons, all of it. Thanks for this.
Brilliant video. The first I've seen that truly GETS it, appreciates every facet of these amazing games to the point that it made me appreciate things even I had not noticed after over 300 hours of combined playtime. I do remember feeling let down by your first crack at the series so this was a really cathartic redemption arc.
49:00
yokai realm increases anima gain (purple bar) that you use for yokai abilities.
this is also a hint/nudge narratively to use more yokai abilities and use yokai mode yourself to fight them, as while it nerfs your normal ki gain your own yokai stuff is also improved.
only learnt this in like ng+++ or wtv though xD another small but huge missed mechanic for me
ty for playing through and enjoying the game i so love
that's cool
my character use little yokai abilities duo to feeling self hate duo to how yokai are looked on, so I will make yokai abilities her last leap at the end of the game and I am glad there are tons of ways to make it even more good then I am used to
There are more excellent jokes in here than I can count, but special mention has to go to the end of the ninja gaiden segment at 47:00 where the guy explodes, and then you zoom out to show the explosion on the map screen.
I wasn't expecting that at all and it completely took me out.
7:42 Quick correction there: Odachi was added to Nioh 1 with the first DLC pack. Tonfa is also a DLC weapon. All the DLC were included in the remastered edition by default.
I loved Nioh, even if it was rough around the edges and took some time to fully come online.
I absolutely ADORE Nioh 2. It improves on the first game in effectively every conceivable way, and is my definition of The Perfect Sequel.
Nioh 2 is fun, it's challenging, it's frantic, it's methodical, it's nerdy, it's... well, it's not really casual, but it almost somehow feels like it is, so that's still what I love about it. I'd feel tense for roughly 4 hours at a time playing a new level, scouring every pathway and nook I could find because it was just that much fun. Spend all the adrenaline I could muster hyper focusing for as long as I could, put it down for the day, and do it all over again the next day for several months. The game just kept going and going, way past the amount of content I expected, but I never really got bored or burnt out since I was taking it slow and the game was always doing something new or rehashing in interesting ways.
What an incredible achievement in refining a tride-and-true gem. Love Nioh 2. Will gladly play again someday.
47:31-47:56 Can confirm Nioh 2 with a friend is the funnest shit out there if you're going to play Nioh 2 play with one or two pals it'll make the game so much more fun since if you die you can get revived if your friends are fast enough but you don't have to wait either if you need to get back into the action right away you can revive yourself but not gain any of your blue bar back (you use this blue bar for multiplayer only by the way expeditions in particular) speaking of reviving other players you revive others with a single button press no animation or anything you can block while reviving to in case you need to protect yourself. But if you die during a boss and you have no more blue bar left so anyone dead cannot be revived whoever is still alive can continue until they die or they win if they win everyone who is dead gets revived to get the loot. If you're making a video game or have an idea that you want to make into a video game and you want it to have a multiplayer option (like I do) then consider doing what Nioh 2 did trust me people will love it! And praise you for it!
And if I remember correctly, you can play together from stage one too! And you can do almost everything together except some side quest bosses and one main mission boss near the end of the game. And trust me when playing with pals you'll save each-other a lot just like Kbash here described feels so fucking good to come in clutch and revive one of your pals last second and then win if possible or cheering your friend on from the grave as they beat the boss after what feels like an eternity I am lucky enough to play with a friend who beat the game solo (thank god for Kasha) and knew all the cheap bullshit the game would never tell you about like with the Mujina or Nurikabe so he showed me how to deal with this shit (except for my first Mujina experience where I panicked thinking it was about to oneshot him for no fucking reason and started attacking it... We still have a good laugh about it to this day!)
In summery Nioh 2 had probably the best multiplayer system out there and other multiplayer games should take notes and in my opinion is the best way to play the game.
(Also can we all just agree that Tokichiro is the best character in the game?)
Never have I ever bounced off a game I wanted to love more than Nioh. After seeing this though I might have give 2 a try though.
I had a similar experience with 1, I just didn't enjoy my time with it. 2 is one of my favorite games in the genre. Absolutely worth a playthrough, though very difficult (especially early on, where you lack a lot of the tech and knowledge).
I struggled a lot in the first hours, and my problem was that I played it like a souls game. Hino-Enma (the bat lady in the cave) was harder than any souls boss I had encountered before. When I realized that you could dodge ten times in a row with low stance I understood that this is not a souls game, and the combat clicked for me and I started to really enjoy it.
Just wanted to say i apreciate your content you are the best youtuber in this platform and i am very proud of how far youve come
this is such an expertly crafted video essay slash review that it got me excited goosebumps and all to try nioh 2, I come from the exhaustion and frustration that is nioh 1 after having to understand everything by myself and sorting loot again and again, but the combat is just masterful and irreplicable and so I kept it in the back of my mind as a maybe, that now you made into a certain second chance with the sequel. thanks dude, I love the way you connected to the games and talked about them, it sure is contagious
The "picked up guardian spirit" sound plays when you die and fail to make it back to your corpse before dying again. Pay attention to the circle in the corner of the screen. Your guardian spirit stays at the site of death until you retrieve it, and the meter to use your summon will not fill if your spirit is not with you. If you die again before you reach it, the spirit will return to your character, but you lose everything you dropped on both the first death and the failed corpse run.
Thank you for covering these games. There are on sale often but wasn't sure whether to get them or not.
Nioh 2 yes. Nioh 1 was absurd
The get gud mindset isn't a church that I attend, but the joy that I get from Souls games specifically are from 1v1ing the game. Personally, overcoming challenges is where I get the satisfaction from which is I think where it originates. After that, it's fun to get a friend in there. I can't speak for Nioh, but having a friend or non-npc summons trivializes a lot of fights which takes a lot of the satisfaction from them. So, don't hate us, K-Bash.
I picked up nioh 1 early 2023 and struggled like crazy for the first 3 regions, wanted to quit several times. Stuck through it, and started to master some of mechanics like ki pulsing and stance switching. The game started to click for me, and by the first dlc it was my favorite souls-like game ever. Nioh 2 is where I absolutely fell in love. I've put 400 hours into nioh 2 this year and I'm currently running through the depths of the underworld (unlocked in NG+4 after beating 108 challenge levels that is the underworld). The combat is by far the most in depth system I've ever played, comparable to the devil may cry series in that you can beat them without mastering every mechanic but the skill ceiling is infinitely high. I've really only mastered half of the weapon classes so there is still so much combat I've yet to experience. The enemies and bosses are extremely well designed and varied, every enemy needs a different strategy and have different strengths and weaknesses. There are a few human bosses that really suck like Saito Toshimitsu and the half yokai with the turtle shell, but most bosses are extremely fun to fight. What I really love about this game is the immense re-playability. Every NG+ cycle introduces new loot, new build options, new mechanics, etc. that keep the game fresh. My favorite mechanic is that the more NG+ cycles you go through the faster the enemies and bosses become. They change the literal frame data to make the fights more intense and windows tighter. Because of how different each weapon plays, the game feels brand new every time you switch weapons. For each NG+ cycle, I'd pick a new weapon to master, and usually change my build around so it focuses on different aspects. I also love the loot grind which I know isn't a popular opinion but min maxing my builds is a huge part of the game for me. When comparing Nioh to the dark souls series, there really is no comparison. Nioh makes dark souls look like a joke. After putting so much time into the nioh series, the souls games are full of glaring flaws and boring combat to me now. Still love the artsyle and story of those games but I'm here for the combat. I'm here for the adrenaline. I'm here for the insane rush of beating a massive challenge. Nioh 2 is my favorite game of all time now and I'm so glad I decided to experience it.
Wait what, what do the NG+ cycles do to the bosses' speed exactly, I never noticed them being faster on the subsequent cycles
Or at least I don't remember noticing anything like that, granted, it's been like 2 years since i last played Nioh 2 but still
@@GodlessDrunkenWreck it’s not extremely noticeable but some attacks and the bosses movement speeds are sped up in ng+3 and ng+4. There’s also new burst attacks added into their move sets. Take a look at Shuten Doji from the base game and then find Shuten Doji in the underworld, the difference is night and day.
@@GodlessDrunkenWrecksuper late reply but the game does alter the ai and some moves frame data and properties on ng+. It straight adds moves to most enemies and bosses. In nioh 1 every enemy got a slight full moveset wide speed boost on each ng+. On the final ng+ on nioh 1 the enemies were at least 50% faster.
@@porkwhisperer3050 Yeah I did notice them having new attacks but not the speed increase. Cool, thanks for the explanation.
Nioh2 was fucking wild, it was free on psn+ so I was like okay I'll try and then it floors me with addiction for like 80 hours.
Nioh 2 is a must experience soulslike game for sure.
Nioh is less of a souls-like and a Ninja-Gaiden-like, which was made by Team Ninja who are still around and recently made...Nioh. Also the best FF game in years, Strangers in Paradise.
Excellent review and analysis
Top notch work, really
Though we may never see another Ninja Gaiden, the punishing yet rewarding gamefeel lives on in our hearts
Please do a Wo Long review too!
I know you sang praises of the mechanics but I can't help but feel there's a side of the game you haven't quite seen since you glossed over Ki Pulse. I'd highly encourage you just to check out some combo MADs if you didn't see that side of the game when working on this review. The depth and freedom of the game to both be able to create builds that basically play the game for you VS only building to increase your ability to play faster and more intricately is something I don't think any action game has achieved like Nioh 2 has. Glad you were finally able to enjoy the games. Now to finish up my Dream of the Nioh difficulty playthrough and all of the Underworld!
I've played Nioh over the last week because of this review.
Shame it's not getting the views it should, because damn it's a good video and I've seen it 4 times by this point.
This game took me and my friend at least a month just to get to the first boss let alone beat him it was our first souls like game we ever played but when it clicked it clicked and we made out way through the game with haste and loved it
A Nioh video on 2023! LETS GOOOOOOO!
Crazy how my favorite game this year was Sekiro 2 aka Nioh 3 aka Wo Long!
You have to engage with all the systems. Im not usually a magic build guy in Souls games. But Nioh gives you free points to spend on spells that are game changing. Healing spells, fire and lightning spells that literally one hit kill some enemies (like the slimes) theres a spell that gives you an auto respawn on death like Sekiro, and the game breaking slow spell that even works on bosses! Even in their newest game Wo long theres a spell that negates losing your acclaim level when you miss a parry or get hit with a red attack. You always need to buy atleast 3 or 4 of the best spells in team Ninja games. Are you nuts!? Maso-core indeed!
HELL! YES! have been waiting for this for a pretty long time
KBash thank you so much for covering one of my favourite game series
Nioh makes my nuts itch (in a good way) and Nioh 2 has some of the best combat I have literally ever played
Great video about great games. Always love how you delve more deeply into the stories of games and their philisophical aspects
The one thing I wish other soul's games would add from Nioh is being able to see enemy stamina bars. It keeps human fights honest (they have stamina limits just like you do) and gives secondary objectives to the yokai fights (break bar to make enemies react to hit stun and break again for a critical hit.) You can actually let the human bosses over extend so you can jump in to break their stamina for a big punish and it feels so good when it happens.
I always forget the Seiken Densetsu/Final Fantasy Adventure music in your credits. My grandma gifted me the gameboy original as a random christmas present and it seriously resonated with me. I don't recall you sharing a personal story related to the games when you did videos on them, but I'd love to see you mine some more content from them. Sword of Mana is criminally abandoned by history!
love nioh so much. the 1st game is my 2nd fav game. you said that the ki pulse doesn’t do much but it does. it allows you to switch stances in a flow that gives you a buff for a couple seconds
*As someone who adores Nioh2 moreso than other Souls games, I will say this:*
1: Skip Nioh1! Trust me. Nioh2 is better across the board and what little story there is, its a prequal anyway so, you're not missing anything.
2: The game is VERY complex with systems on systems and the game doesn't really tell you how they work or how to get the most out of them. Find someone who knows the game super well to advise you. There's some great Discords. That said, its not as scary as it looks and it will 'click' eventually.
3: The NG+ cycles add whole new systems and mechanics. The game isn't done introducing stuff till the last NG+ cycle lol Plan your build/journey long term if you want to get nerdy about it.
4: Take it slow and don't waste your money in-game on buying weapons and don't craft stuff either!!! Its not worth it till NG++++ lol
5: Co-op is so fun. Like, play the whole game with someone. And even if you don't have someone to play with, there's a kind of AI co-op system so, you shouldn't be alone! :D
6: It is NOT a "soulslike;" it is quite different so try to take it on its own terms.
thats the main philosophy of team ninjas games tho : filtering scrubs out
I forgot more things than most people will know about the game mechanics wise. Good times.
Great video man. This one was especially fun to watch because of my personal investment in the series.
It would be great to see a SOP, Wolong and Rise of the Ronin video as a sequel. I love team ninja games.
after completing nioh 2..I find from souls combat very lacking..they are both great games in their own tbh
Hope there's a video on Strangers of Paradise video. That game is literally Nioh 1 with a Final Fantasy coat of paint. Right down to the near impossible DLC and fragmented story.
Nioh 2 is one of the best action games I’ve played
"Profoundly Mechanical, beautiful like the inside of a clock" -Such a well written line. It matches how I feel about it too!
Now I'm waiting for stranger of paradise final fantasy origin video xD
It is unfortunate that most players tap out after a first play through, the NG+ modes is where the meat of the game is.
Too many games to play to do that
@@ericleavitt9281and most of them won’t be as good as Nioh 2 ng+ cycles.
1:02:15 Of all the daggers, I was NOT expecting you to be holding a keris...
Okay but Nue legit did filter me, gonna have to go back to it after this vid. 😭
love the video man ! also best way to use stances is to dodge always using low stance then switch to other stance to attack however u want , when u stick to using one stance on a boss ur losing out on tons of damage by not using other skills
At 31 I finally went off on a whim and bought a ps 4. Now I'm here trying to figure out what games to actually play. Might have to try Nioh 2!
The real William Adams did alot in Japan after his time in prison. So them making him important for their history isn't that strange and just calling it a "white savior" is weak.
I laughted so hard with the maso-core and fack you section.
Now to cover the weirdo Nioh-likes Stranger of Paradise and Wo Long
A K Bash Video and an Aris FullPlaythrough both hold the Quality of Legends. Good shit man
Oh hell yeah, can't wait for this one today.
The Switchglaive is one of my favorite weapons I've ever used. The stance switching was addictive to get into the pattern
Nioh 2 holds a special place in my heart
Great vid. Makes me wonder how the eff I managed to not die of frustration with Nioh back when I played it.
Funny enough, I found low-stance completely useless for how I play, and I literally NEVER used it other than for switch combos.
But that's why I personally prefer Nioh to From Soft games. Nioh TRULY allows you to play rhe game how you want. I find From Soft games far more rigid with their demands and required approach.
There's way less nuance and space for exploration within its base gameplay. FOR ME, the From Soft games are infinitely harder than Nioh/2 ever was for me.
A good example is that I used high-stance for about 95% of the game. I really didnt struggle. Whereas it seems like you preferred low-stance, and I can't even grasp how you got through the game using low-srance at all... But thats because of how I play.
And that's something you don't really see in many other games of this type, as typically, everyone has to play mostly the same... for the most part (beyond if youre magic/mage focused or weapon focused).
In Nioh, we could both be using the same weapon, but play it SO DIFFERENTLY that the experience itself is unique and unfamiliar.
This is amazing! I subscribed right away!
Heck I only learned that brute form has a second parry while transformed in post game. These little things really pile up.
A triumph of a video. So glad you ended up loving these awesome games. You've become such a good reviewer, I think it's time I checked out your reviews of games i have no interest in.
here for that simpGOD line read as usual.
keep it up homie
Ah yes, the BFK (Big Faking Katana) the weapon of choice to stay at a distance and hit like a truck.
nioh was Ninja Gaiden, while NIOH 2 was Dark Souls with a buddy.
I remember asking abt Nioh in the QnA lol. We've gone from kringebash to kbased
I couldn't really get into Nioh as a game. I love Dark Souls and the play style but I think this game was just a bit too much for me all in all. Still I enjoyed the video, I think you did well.
Also I agree, anyone that says "Oh, you didn't beat 'Souls Like Game Here' if you used multiplayer/summons" is a fool, because not only is it a mechanic that's included and intended to be used but one of the mascots of Dark Souls is literally known for Jolly Cooperation
Great video, with great writing about such great games (including Knights in the nIghtmare)
I hated Nioh at first , too. then, i saw the light...
I hope i can coop Nioh 2 with my friend, someday, and have fun as we did on the first game
Watched this again because I love how much you like Nioh2 :D It's so underrated!!! Better than Dark Souls, fight me.
You really don't get the full nioh 2 experience until the late game because you actually get some real synergy with your build. Hitting lv 750 and deciding on 1 or 2 graces to commit to really allows you stand out. I made an onmyo centric build by maximizing the chance of not using a spell slot and it carried me almost to the endgame. Especially in the early game grinding the immovable mission to level up quickly will probably save you more time than just chugging along on a mission your struggling with.
Two of my favorite games from last gen, especially Nioh 2. Fun as hell.
fucking love nioh 2 (and nioh, to a lesser extent). best gameplay of any souls-like game by miles and miles.
When KBas stabbed himself, is that--is that a Keris?
46:28 okay that part was sad. Thank you for the video.
The odachi was not a carry back added in the remaster. It was added in a dlc.
Japanese souls is not a game type I expected to like so much but with the release of sekiro I was turned into a weeb, awesome.
Your self insert is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen thank you
Aside from the gameplay fun, I love Nioh for the kind of art it is: in every single aspect of it, the game never caters to you and wants you to engage with it and go deeper than it lets on, both in gameplay and story. It says, "Bro either make the effort to engage with me properly or fuck off," and it's a breath of fresh air in the modern state of the industry.
I can't believe he brought up the Fextralife video for the boss that made me quit Nioh 2...
Thanks for reminding me, I should finish Wo Long.
As a perfect example of how good Low stance is against most if the game, the Basic katana low stance attack Infinitely chains into a single combo, meaning you can regain a full ki bar after you run it dry by either regular ki pulsing.
Or with the Dash Ki pulse that also has the added affect with the sword teleporting you. directly behind tbe enemy.
Thus letting you basically chain attacks infinitely
Also nioh 2 fucks soo hard. Sooo many options, so much QOL updates. The weapons have cooler move sets etc.
I have 1200 hours in Nioh 2. I like it.
Nioh 1 was one of my favorite games of the last decade, but even then I understood its limitations. I knew it was cruel and unfair and it wasnt for everyone, but it had a certain potential that I adored.
Nioh 2 fucking delivers on all of that potential.