Nioh: Feudal Era Dark Souls

[PorkyThePaladin]

Took down my first boss yesterday, that Yokel on the ship with the chain balls. Took me a lot of tries, since that boss is really cheesy. He has unlimited ki apparently, so he just sweeps the room with his bs aoe attack every few seconds. Also, massive armor, so hard to do damage.

Finally figured him out: Went in with high stance, roll past his initial charge, strong attack in the back, then hold up guard. His sweep eats up all the ki, but then he pauses to reset, so you can get the ki back and repeat the process (especially with pulsing). 8-10 hits like that, and he goes into phase 2.

I then switch to low stance for phase 2, and just dodge everything. Thrown balls are easy to dodge, but he has this flying spinning attack which takes up much of the room, that one got me a few times. But eventually learned to dodge that one too. Next.

 

[Suicidal]

Took down my first boss yesterday, that Yokel on the ship with the chain balls. Took me a lot of tries, since that boss is really cheesy. He has unlimited ki apparently, so he just sweeps the room with his bs aoe attack every few seconds. Also, massive armor, so hard to do damage.

Stamina works differently for demon enemies. It does not deplete when they attack, only when you attack them. When their stamina is at 0, they will always be staggered by any attack, but if they stand in those pools of demonic cum it will regen. Once a demon enemy runs out of stamina, it will usually spawn a pool under itself after a few seconds.

You can tell if the enemy is a demon by the color of their stamina bars - white for humans, purple for demons.

 

[Damned Registrations]

You can trivialize pretty much all the demons if you can get 2 elemental status inflicted on them at once. At that point they basically get stunlocked while you spam attacks and they'll be dead before it wears off.

 

[sullynathan]

I stopped playing this game a few months ago because witcher 3, dragon's dogma and others distracted me from it.

It's a hell of a lot easier than I remembered to the point that I'm just running through enemies and bosses. The game feels even snappier than nioh 2.

I think the big difference between now and months ago is that I regularly fight the red phantoms which tend to have good loot drops, barely die and constantly level.

Thre single sword/ dual sword charge attack + low stance is far too useful in the game. Any enemy type gets done in very quickly, even bosses.

Nue and the vampire were the most annoying bosses. Her attacks still have very little windup while Nue is an easy boss with very hard hitting AOE lightning that repeatedly caught me whenever I tried using my magic or hung too close when he recharges after running out of ki.


Two questions: what's the best way to break out of an enemy's guard? Are specific techniques the primary way to go?

What's the best way to reduce ki on enemies?

 

[Hyperion]

It's a hell of a lot easier than I remembered to the point that I'm just running through enemies and bosses. The game feels even snappier than nioh 2.

Ki Regen nerfed in Nioh 2, and a fully decked out Wirriamu will do that. Enemies move slower and have far more obvious telegraphs on their attacks. Compare the Yoki from the Nioh 2 beta to here and you'll notice the attacks are less dangerous, especially the two that were made into Burst Attacks. He steps forward with every swing of his sword in the wombo combo in the sequel, with far better tracking, so avoiding it got a lot harder. Horn breaking is no longer a guaranteed Ki Break either.

repeatedly caught me whenever I tried using my magic or hung too close when he recharges after running out of ki.

Yep. With little to no visual windup either. Have to back off early when you Ki break him.

Two questions: what's the best way to break out of an enemy's guard? Are specific techniques the primary way to go?

If you're talking an enemy blocking you, your attack isn't interrupted by their block if you're in High Stance. Can just keep up your offensive and wreck their Ki that way. Other weapons have techniques like 'Moon Shadow' for 2kat (think it's low stance only) that is available after your weapon bounces off their guard. Will typically do close to 75% of a Ki Bar if it's blocked, and a hefty chunk of damage + getting behind them if it connects. Odachi has the pommel strike, and the one where if you deplete their Ki it launches them into the air. Spear has the handle charge thing. Kusarigama is the one that is lacking something to destroy Ki I think.

What's the best way to reduce ki on enemies?

On Yokai? Salt bags, getting the Earth elemental debuff on them so they deplete their own Ki with an attack.
Humanoids? Aforementioned techniques and never let up your offensive / don't let them take their guard down (they regen Ki just like you do), and bait them into attacking you when they switch to High Stance, since it uses much more Ki per attack. Or just ignore Ki altogether and Parry them with one of the Swords. The Shrike for the Dual Katana is probably the closest to Small Shield / Monastery Scimitar parry frames from the Souls games. Requires mid-stance while blocking - if you're too slow, you block the attack anyway, so remember that for your timing.

 

[cruel]

Nue and the vampire were the most annoying bosses.

Were you playing complete version with DLCs? Asking because I'm surprised seeing vampire boss listed here, but not Masamune for example. This guy was just destroying me.

 

[sullynathan]

So I've beat the Centipede and ....it's already getting a bit repetitive for me.

For one,I'm not sure I like the levels or how they're reused. The very first and second area of the game are reused 3 - 4 times each if you count the main missions, sub missions and twilight mission. It's annoying when you have to finish main mission, go back to menu, then pick sub mission to do the same objective within the exact same area. The only saving grace being that the game has very quick loading times. I was really surprised that when going to an old mission, everything is completely reset apart from the kodama collected. You even have to unlock shortcuts again. This was a big turn off when I just wanted to collect kodama.

This isn't to say they are all the same or bad. There's a side mission that's just Tachibana's real boss fight, which was the best boss so far but was really easy because, now that I think about it, he's very much like a revenant with a lot of health and a living weapon. Still got smashed by quickdraw and grapple/execution. The second area sub mission where you fought wave of demons in an arena was also quite different sense of space.

Loot has already gotten boring and there's so much of it. I've been using the exact same weapons and armor for the past ~10 hours, it isn't because I didn't get any new ones, it's because there's no need to exchange weapons when you can just soul match to increase the weapons level because newer weapons usually have worse benefits but higher levels in tougher missions.

Posting some of my gameplay. The game can be pretty, but it's low res on PS4. There's also people still playing it online.




What's the max amount of healing I can have? I noticed that the game reset my amount when I moved to the new area but also somehow kept the total amount for certain other missions.

If you're talking an enemy blocking you, your attack isn't interrupted by their block if you're in High Stance. Can just keep up your offensive and wreck their Ki that way. Other weapons have techniques like 'Moon Shadow' for 2kat (think it's low stance only) that is available after your weapon bounces off their guard. Will typically do close to 75% of a Ki Bar if it's blocked, and a hefty chunk of damage + getting behind them if it connects. Odachi has the pommel strike, and the one where if you deplete their Ki it launches them into the air. Spear has the handle charge thing. Kusarigama is the one that is lacking something to destroy Ki I think.

A move called tempest is supposed to knock down enemies when I break their block but it doesn't happen like it shows in the video.

On Yokai? Salt bags, getting the Earth elemental debuff on them so they deplete their own Ki with an attack.
Humanoids? Aforementioned techniques and never let up your offensive / don't let them take their guard down (they regen Ki just like you do), and bait them into attacking you when they switch to High Stance, since it uses much more Ki per attack. Or just ignore Ki altogether and Parry them with one of the Swords. The Shrike for the Dual Katana is probably the closest to Small Shield / Monastery Scimitar parry frames from the Souls games. Requires mid-stance while blocking - if you're too slow, you block the attack anyway, so remember that for your timing.

I'll ignore parry for now. I was goofing off with it on purpose to catch Tachibana's sword and stab him with it, but low stand katana still killed him pretty quickly.

Nue and the vampire were the most annoying bosses.

Were you playing complete version with DLCs? Asking because I'm surprised seeing vampire boss listed here, but not Masamune for example. This guy was just destroying me.

I haven't played the DLC at all. I don't think I'm even half way yet.

 

[Strange Fellow]

For one,I'm not sure I like the levels or how they're reused. The very first and second area of the game are reused 3 - 4 times each if you count the main missions, sub missions and twilight mission. It's annoying when you have to finish main mission, go back to menu, then pick sub mission to do the same objective within the exact same area.

I'm gonna tell you a secret: you don't actually have to do this if you don't like it. I know, wild stuff.

 

[Hyperion]

Loot has already gotten boring and there's so much of it. I've been using the exact same weapons and armor for the past ~10 hours, it isn't because I didn't get any new ones, it's because there's no need to exchange weapons when you can just soul match to increase the weapons level

This is actually a really cool feature of the game that lets you put forth the effort into Reforging yourself a perfect weapon for your playstyle without being punished by the game's RNG system. It's actually kinda sad that nobody else thought of this first, and nobody has aped it yet in future ARPG's. Probably because it's anti-autism and doesn't feed into your average clicker ARPG fan's addictive personality....but that's neither here nor there. I'm just surprised you're viewing this as a negative. Be careful though, if you decide to play onto the further difficulties Soul Matching becomes prohibitively expensive, and your main form of progression. For example, item level is capped at 150 in Way of the Strong, but you can build your gear up to 150 +10. Way of the Demon then caps the gear at 200 +20. You'l likely find yourself stuck at 160 for the first 3 chapters of WotD, then eventually gear will bump to 200, and then very rarely you'll see items in the 201-210 range just before going into Way of the Wise.

A move called tempest is supposed to knock down enemies when I break their block but it doesn't happen like it shows in the video.

It's hard to explain in words, but it functions sorta like a parry. You need to tap L1 and pull off a 'Timely Guard,' which is an actual thing in the game, and has some armor stats based around it. After the Timely Guard is successful, their weapon bounces off yours, and you need to hit L1 a second time to trigger Backwave, the move you're expecting where he smashes them down and deals damage + leaves them open for a Final Blow.

Spoiler

What's the max amount of healing I can have? I noticed that the game reset my amount when I moved to the new area but also somehow kept the total amount for certain other missions.

Base cap is 8. You can get +3 Elixirs from the Ninjutsu tree to carry 11 on you at once. Collecting all of the Kodama in an area will increase your minimum number of Elixirs if you have none in your Storehouse. On the other hand you can just farm a bunch of them so the game will automatically refill them on death or entry into a new level. Most big Yokai will drop 1 Elixir each, with a decent chance to drop 2 if you have the appropriate Kodama blessing on. If you don't want to spend time doing that, go to a shrine and choose Make Offering to get rid of your spare gear instead of selling or breaking it all down. You can build Elixirs pretty quickly doing that.

This isn't to say they are all the same or bad. There's a side mission that's just Tachibana's real boss fight

All of the typical Team Ninja-style 'Fuck You' side missions come in the post-game for the first difficulty. For subsequent difficulties you need to complete a certain number of missions before unlocking the next area (there's a progress bar) which may involve completing some of those challenge missions before you've reached the end of the difficulty. Some of them are pretty damn frustrating, and usually involve 2 bosses at the same time.

 

[sullynathan]

It's hard to explain in words, but it functions sorta like a parry. You need to tap L1 and pull off a 'Timely Guard,' which is an actual thing in the game, and has some armor stats based around it. After the Timely Guard is successful, their weapon bounces off yours, and you need to hit L1 a second time to trigger Backwave, the move you're expecting where he smashes them down and deals damage + leaves them open for a Final Blow.

Badly explained move then. It doesn't even tell nor show you how to do the move.

This is actually a really cool feature of the game that lets you put forth the effort into Reforging yourself a perfect weapon for your playstyle without being punished by the game's RNG system. It's actually kinda sad that nobody else thought of this first, and nobody has aped it yet in future ARPG's. Probably because it's anti-autism and doesn't feed into your average clicker ARPG fan's addictive personality....but that's neither here nor there. I'm just surprised you're viewing this as a negative. Be careful though, if you decide to play onto the further difficulties Soul Matching becomes prohibitively expensive, and your main form of progression. For example, item level is capped at 150 in Way of the Strong, but you can build your gear up to 150 +10. Way of the Demon then caps the gear at 200 +20. You'l likely find yourself stuck at 160 for the first 3 chapters of WotD, then eventually gear will bump to 200, and then very rarely you'll see items in the 201-210 range just before going into Way of the Wise.

I'm guessing all the extra difficulties come after completing the game/NG+?

Soul matching has become expensive for some weapons. I thought it was just because of the difference of levels when matching weapons but it didn't matter when I reduced the difference.

But really, the negativity comes from getting the exact same weapons multiple times with only a level difference which means I gather a bunch of useless weapons until I return back to the mission screen to soul match them while they clutter my inventory. Since the same weapons share the exact same moveset, there really is no need to change.

I wish there was a trash menu where I could put items without destroying them.

Are the dlc extra missions or are they part of the main game?

 

[Hyperion]

Badly explained move then. It doesn't even tell nor show you how to do the move.

Yep, 100% on TN there.

Yeah, difficulties unlock one by one. If memory serves, you only need to fully complete the first difficulty, not including the challenge missions. After that, you have a progress bar per Chapter, and you just need to complete enough missions to fill that bar then the next Chapter / difficulty will unlock.

Soul Matching cost will increase based on level gap, weapon rarity (higher rarity = cheaper i believe), and weapon type. It costs more to match a Katana with a Spear, then using a Katana on another Katana.

But really, the negativity comes from getting the exact same weapons multiple times with only a level difference which means I gather a bunch of useless weapons until I return back to the mission screen to soul match them while they clutter my inventory. Since the same weapons share the exact same moveset, there really is no need to change.

I wish there was a trash menu where I could put items without destroying them.

You can bulk sell all items of a particular rarity to make it go faster. You can also 'lock' an item into your inventory so that the bulk sale will ignore it. You also have a store room for gear that you can use. Should be a single button press to transfer an item into your stash from the inventory menu.

All of the challenge missions from the main game were added for free. The DLC has its own set of challenge missions.

 

[sullynathan]

So I expanded on using all the other weapons. Ball and chain is really really strong against Yokai. It very quickly knocks out their ki gauge and I'm not sure why, but the weapon feels great. The axe is really the worst weapon with how little I've played with it. Far too slow, and I haven't used the Tonfa yet.

I'd rank the weapons as sword > twin swords = ball & chain > spear > axe

Hyperion I got my answer for reducing ki on Yokai. The triange attacks that end combos do large ki damage, I just have to remember to actually do them. I've taken notice of the forging feature, but, will forging weapons & armor consistently give better gear than loot? i'm no longer soul matching much but disassembling the weapons instead because my trash weapons still have blue & purple weapon parts.

 

[cvv]

Afaik tonfas are the worst wep from mid-game. I watched a streamer play a tonfa build and he was shitting on it later on.

 

[Haplo]

Very likely. But the gun tonfas sure are flashy AF

 

[Hyperion]

I've taken notice of the forging feature, but, will forging weapons & armor consistently give better gear than loot?

Later in the game and subsequent difficulties you'll come across Smithing Texts for the top quality items and sets. At the highest difficulties, these are the easiest (only?) way to get the highest ilvl pieces until Abyss farming.

For Way of the Samurai, ignore Forging, just huild up money and materials.

Also, Axe is fucking beast but requires the Mystic Art that increases your damage when you fully deplete your Ki to really shine. Make sure you can Ki pulse well enough that you don't end up in the exhausted state. Before then it's prpbably the most 'Soulslike' of the weapons.

Sword is probably the strongest overall, because the Draw strikes are utterly bonkers, but the additional speed, defense, and style of the duals makes it a better option. Especially when you make a build that has the potential to reduce all enemy damage to single digits with them equipped. :]

 

[Haplo]

Axe all the way, baby!

It just murders enemies.

 

[Alphard]

If you want a slow but powerful weapon instead of axe try Odachi.
Moonlit snow is fantastic

 

[sullynathan]

If you want a slow but powerful weapon instead of axe try Odachi.
Moonlit snow is fantastic

They were actually pretty great in nioh 2 beta but I forgot they're even in this game. I don't think I've even found one yet.

 

[Alphard]

If you want a slow but powerful weapon instead of axe try Odachi.
Moonlit snow is fantastic

They were actually pretty great in nioh 2 beta but I forgot they're even in this game. I don't think I've even found one yet.

I think they were added in DLC. DO you have it?

 

[sullynathan]

I think they were added in DLC. DO you have it?

nope, no DLC.

 

[Alphard]

I think they were added in DLC. DO you have it?

nope, no DLC.

That's why, no odachi and tonfa for you.
On the bright side you avoid some of the most bs bosses and enemies of the game. Looking at you Maria

 

[Haplo]

Oh well, the axe is better anyway :-P

 

[sullynathan]

Umi-bozu is pretty lame. Fell twice through the ground fighting him. That's the main way I died throughout that level. I also beat him before I found out that I could use all that fire that I lit throughout the level. What a waste.

 

[sullynathan]

I wonder, what they were thinking with the oversized uber troll on the bridge. The best thing I learned from him is that you can stop your self from falling off an edge by evading. Thanks.

The ninja level with all the hidden doors and traps is certainly the most interesting level so far. It caught me off guard when I looped around and my ninja buddy stealthed to an area I was previously in to give me a hint.

It's a bit too bad that the weakness, sloth, devigorate, lifeseal combo is far too effective against every boss. I end up playing very lazily because I don't have to try much.

Spoiler

https://streamable.com/awv57

They've repeated Onryoki twice now, and I don't like him. Nue has been repeated once. I'm guessing more bosses will be repeated.

 

[Seigneur Voland]

It's a bit too bad that the weakness, sloth, devigorate, lifeseal combo is far too effective against every boss. I end up playing very lazily because I don't have to try much.

Sloth is rotten Cheddar mode and should not even be in the game. Using Lightning weapons make things easier too, but at least it needs to be applied by hitting the boss more than once.

They've repeated Onryoki twice now, and I don't like him. Nue has been repeated once. I'm guessing more bosses will be repeated.

He reappears something like 10 times, and nearly all the other bosses are also reused at least once, yes. I really hope than Team Ninja will stop to be silly with this in Nioh 2.