mcz117chief
Member
Nioh is a third person action game for PS4 with emphasis on melee combat and punishing difficulty.
Ranged combat is provided as an option as well as spells, ninja gadgets and a plethora of other items.
The story takes place in a fictional world of 16-17th century Japan where legendary and mythical monsters are commonplace. It is based on an unfinished script from a famous filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
The player assumes the role of an Englishman named William Adams, who shares similarities with a historical person of the same name.
Apart from standard bandits, rogues and other low-life of Japan you get to fight mythical monsters of all shapes and sizes. There is a huge variety of Yokai in Japanese mythology and a number of them is brought to life in Nioh. If you wish to learn more about individual Yokai, I suggest visiting http://yokai.com/.
The game controls are very simple but allow players to develop their finesse and skill leaving a colossal gap between beginners and masters. Since the game is designed to be challenging the player needs to control not only his opponents and environment but also needs to master the controls to achieve victory. This game just won't hold your hand if you struggle. Either you get good or you go home (and if you already are home then congrats).
The gameplay itself is very straightforward: fight enemies, gain experience and equipment, improve yourself through leveling and getting familiar with the mechanics of the game and progress through the level until you reach the end, which is generally a boss or a gauntlet of enemies.
Weapon classes available in the game are: swords (one in two hands or one in each), axes, spears and a sickle with chain, ranged weapons are bows, rifles and hand cannons.
When wielding melee weapons you can switch between three stances:
The game primarily requires patience. Enemies deal massive damage and are relentless in their attacks. Thus the player needs to assess the situation, strike with precision and, if needed, disengage quickly. And if you die it's usually because you're too slow to react. So remember:
One interesting feature that makes Nioh stand apart from other third person action games is called "Ki Pulse". In Nioh, stamina is ki (which is used for attacks, evading and other activities) and this technique allows replenishment of said ki during combat with a precise press of the block button at the right time. If the Ki Pulse is performed properly then the player can restore a portion of its stamina without significantly slowing his offensive actions.
Enemies can be put into a stunned state by depleting their ki. Heavy attacks and some special attacks excel at depleting the enemy's ki. Once the opponent's ki is depleted any attack will stagger the opponent. At this point, summoning a guardian spirit or engaging with maximum ferocity is advisable.
Another unique feature of Nioh is the ability to summon guardian spirits. Each guardian spirit provides different stat boosts when summoned and also provide unique effects simply by having them on stand-by. These guardian spirits can be changed any time the player visits a shrine. Also, the moment they are summoned William's HP/ki bar are replaced with a special power bar that depletes slowly by itself or when William takes damage.
Shrines are placed around the level that serve as checkpoints, if William falls in battle he is restored at the last visited shrine. At the shrine a player can sort his equipment, spend points to level up, change his guardian spirit and do other activities. Also, players can summon other players to help them out on missions from shrines.
After leaving a mission the player is returned to a hub menu where a significantly larger amount of services are available than at the shrine. Here the player can pick a new mission or re-play an old one while retaining his equipment and level.
Lastly, the player is able to use onmyo and ninjutsu. Basically onmyo are spells in form of talismans and ninjutsu are special items like smoke pellets or throwing stars. These skill sets can be changed while visiting the shrines.
Amrita serves as the game's xp system. Every time an enemy is defeated the player is rewarded with amrita that can be exchanged at the shrine to permanently increase William's attributes or, as they are commonly known, stats.
When improving your stats William gains skill points that can be spent on unlocking new skills, onmyo talismans and ninjutsu items. Each weapon group has it's own skill tree and each skill can drastically change the way you play. Some are more defensive in nature, while others allow players to attack with new, devastating combinations.
A COMPREHENSIVE AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SKILL SYSTEM CAN BE FOUND HERE
Coop is available quite early in the game. You can only participate with someone in a coop if you yourself have already finished the mission you are trying to help with. That means that two people can't play the same mission without at least one of them having it done already.
Basically the system works like this:
"I need help": go to a shrine, select "summon" (which costs 1 ochoko cup which can be gathered from revenants/player graves) and the game will start searching for another player to join you.
"I want to help": in the mission select screen, highlight the mission you want to help with, press X to select it and then square to "become a visitor". Or you can go to the "starting point" menu and use the option called "torii gate". Here you can either pick "yokai realm with a companion" (in this mode players can revive each other) or "random encounter" (the same as "become a visitor").
"I want to play with a friend": this mode requires players to set the same password so that the matchmaking pairs them together.
A COMPLETE GUIDE AND EXPLANATION CAN BE FOUND HERE
Clan battles is an online component of Nioh which is available once the player unlocks the "hidden teahouse". Here, players can swear allegiance to one of the clans. Each clan provides different benefits to the players and allows them to purchase special equipment, gestures and skins for "honour".
Honour can be gained by defeating revenants/player graves around the game.
By participating in these clan battles, players rank up, thus improving the benefits the clan provides.
A list of all available clans as well as their benefits can be found HERE
A complete comparison can be found in this Eurogamer article. A quick overview, however, is in order.
The game comes with two options: action and movie.
Action settings emphasises performance, while on the other hand movie settings puts emphasis on visual quality.
PS4 CLASSIC:
Action - 60 fps at 720p (resolution increases in less busy scenes up to about 1728x972)
Movie - 30 fps at 1080p (almost never drops)
PS4 PRO:
Action - 60 fps at 1080p (rarely drops as low as 720p)
Movie - 30 fps at 2160p (occasionally drops as low as 1440p)
In general, adaptive resolution is much more significant on the PS4 pro.
One thing that both systems have in common is the fact that loading screens after failure/death are almost non existent, they usually take lees than 5 seconds (so now you can die in record times).
Last Chance trailer
PSX 2016 trailer
Season Pass includes multiple post launch DLC missions/content, so far we know about:
- Dragon of the North (will include new weapon types [plural], missions, guardian spirits, characters and enemies)
- Japan's Best Soldier
- Peaceful and Tranquil
- Defiant Honor
- Bloodshed's End
- PS4
- Third person, Fast Action Play
- like dem Souls games
- so it's kind of hard
- digital download size is 39.3GB
- No character creation (limited character customisation is available)
- Medieval Japan with mythical monsters
- choice between 30 fps (high iq) or 60 fps (lower iq)
- no pvp (yet) but coop is available from shrines
- has unique features like Ki Pulse and guardian spirits
- it's legit good
-
waifu smith included (I can't believe they didn't give us Muramasa :/)
- review thread is here if you care about what other people say
(I don't, I play Yaiba)
This OT2 is dedicated to Akira Kurosawa and Iustus Takayama Ukon
