Hey all.
I'm very interested in Japanese mythology and I really enjoyed Ninja Gaiden back in the day, especially Black, so I figure this is right up my alley.
Just a quick question. Does this game have a good single player story where the mythology is on display?
Thanks!
Honestly, the story isn't anything special. Not actively bad or misogynistic like ninja gaiden but mediocre. Despite this, I still enjoyed it. The story can feel disjointed due to how it is presented and how quickly they introduce historical characters and set up events. It left many people confused and struggling to keep up with the story which is actually understandable. I could follow, largely, due to knowing a bit about the sengoku jidai period. I would imagine most people who played the samurai warriors or the onimusha games can also follow.
The main character is based on William Adams - an English sailor - who travelled to Japan for trade and became one of the first western samurai (Was
the first foreign samurai?) I don't remember. It does have this 'white saviour' trope going on which I don't really like in the sense that William goes around solving everyone's problems and essentially winning the war for Tokugawa (the real William Adams was just a samurai in title alone). The story does go a bit batshit insane like you would expect from a team ninja game.
In terms of the Japanese mythology, the historical yokai are rendered front and centre and most are portrayed faithfully and beautifully. Some people say that the enemy designs are generic but most are actually faithful to old, real life yokai drawings and descriptions.
Here is a good video showing the real life and historical influences in Nioh from kendo stances to yokai depictions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p30O1Y5wQTM
He also has a good yokai series if you want to learn more about them outside of the game.
Having said all this, again the story isn't anything special. The main draw is the gameplay. I wouldn't fully expect ninja gaiden, but you can see the team ninja roots in it, right down to how the mid stance katana light attack string is straight up copy pasted from ryu's moveset. The gameplay is a mix of souls/ninja gaiden/diablo. However Nioh differentiates itself so much from all its influences with the stance system, ki pulse and ki flux mechanics that it really is its own beast in terms of gameplay.
If you're into you're Japanese mythology I will recommend it. Hope you enjoy the game.