Like three Billy goats, I spent the first few minutes on Nioh 2, crossing a bridge guarded by trolls, and crossing the "trap trap." The troll did not shout "Who tripped on my bridge?" Like the one in the fairy tale, but its sudden and angry appearance had the same effect. A troll is actually a monster in Japanese mythology, in fact, a monster that I was killed many times in the first Nio massacre. Believing my attack on muscle memory, I was about to cut shapes with my katana, and soon died. Then say it again. Then again. Why is it causing me so much trouble?
It wasn't until I swallowed my pride and played the tutorial provided at the time of death that I discovered. It taught me how to use my "monster" powers that didn't appear in the first game at all. It turns out that this is essential for any kind of success in the sequel. Most importantly, I learned that when an enemy flashes red (you can't miss it), they will start to suffer a devastating blow, which is difficult to get rid of unscathed. These attacks usually cover a lot of ground, with multiple slices or grapples, so you can't stop or dodge them in a flash. This gave me a choice. When the screen turns red, I need to press the R2 + O key for a quick "monster" attack that interrupts and staggers any annoying whirlwind.
I returned to the bridge with my new knowledge, and soon … KAPOW! Sit down and you're definitely the troll's anus. The attack felt as powerful as hell, like a gorilla punching the ball. Once locked, I will soon cross the bridge to the grassy trot on the other side … well, build a wooden fortress that was recently renovated with smelly corpses and burning wooden boards. I wasn't intimidated by the hellish sight, but I went in and soon realized that adding the monster's attack made me play Nioh 2 more aggressively than the first time.
This is the missing piece needed for the game to be one with me in 2017. I found the first Nioh a bit messy. Between all items, equipment, ninja skills, stance, magic and guardian spirit, menus and items shortcuts are too fiddly. This often prevents me from taking such action, and when I am in trouble, I find myself confused because I try to remember the button I assigned to the antidote or bitter wine. It might be great if you are a minimalist, but for me it is a tedious exercise. This did not disappear in the sequel (adding "Soul Core" and "Monster Skills" to the list of beginners), but it went backwards, because the importance of rhythm in combat is more obvious.
The first Nioh introduced ki reduction into the masocore RPG, which is probably its best idea. Ki is the endurance assigned to the meter and is consumed as you run, block, dodge and attack. Since Dark Souls came out in 2011, this is pretty standard for most RPGs. However, after being attacked, kilometers can be recovered by pressing the R1 button at the appropriate point in time. This means you can do a combo, immediately restore your anger, and then a few more combos to overwhelm the target. In Nioh 2, you can supplement the Blade Barrage with a new yokai attack. In fact, I found that I was forced when the enemy saw red and flooded one of those destructive blows.
When I hit the right rhythm (restoring my breath and resisting the red attacks), I feel like a dancer of tango, and my demon-like enemy is an incompetent partner. This is a forward-looking battle for Doom 2016, which applies to swords rather than guns. The best way to fight is to stay on charge, interrupting all counterattacks and staggered enemies until the enemy is forgotten. At this point, Nioh 2 has completed a niche market for the masocore RPG type. "Dark Soul" teaches us patience and obstruction. "Blood Source" is avoiding and parrying. "Sekiro" is timing and bias. Now, Nioh 2 wants us to find the perfect process to fight indomitably.
But this is just one way to play Nioh 2. Yokai Shift comes in three forms: Brute Force, Feral, and Illusion. I can only play savage, so I am aggressive. But you can choose wild priority evasion and fast attack. If you want to stay away from yourself and far away, it is a phantom. Most importantly, Nioh 2 has a variety of different weapons and capabilities, and a variety of fighting methods, so you should be able to find a fight ing method that suits you. But the important point for me is that you can flick the other Yokai Shift forms and immediately and completely change the way you fight. Doing so will allow you to gain new moves and skills while removing others from the track. Your movement speed, the severity of the attack, and even the range available are all different. You can make any fine-tuning from there, but this is not as necessary as in the first game. Restoring ki at the right time and using yokai attacks feels like a major factor in survival.
This makes me very intimate, and it gives me the confidence to meet surprises. Nioh 2 has many features. The ninja jumped out from behind the barrel, and the trap door made me fall into the fire pit. At least in the multi-tiered fortress where I have a heavy load, no one feels too punished. This is due to the more rigorous level design, which maximizes the shadow of Dark Souls' verticality-the central hub I regenerated in, and a large number of ladders to kick down, opening shortcuts to the future region.
However, the biggest surprise came from the vastly different monsters. Yes, thankfully, this time is a different bastard jumping out of the devil world. There is really a joy in the design of the Nioh 2 monster. A particularly memorable guy giggled in footsteps, sometimes lifting the back of his robe, emitting toxic fumes, and sometimes throwing a small bottle of green gas on the floor. When another person was hovering on the floor, his face was hidden under the cape, and a ritual of casting a fireball was recited. I had a chance to ask Nisuke President Lin Yousuke, who likes Nioh 2 yokai the most. He told me: "Maybe Ippon-Datara, that's someone with a leg and a sledgehammer." "I spent a lot of time trying to fight this foreign style to make it fit the player perfectly. It took a lot of trying and Wrong. I'm somehow hooked on it. "
As Hayashi suggests, it's not just these dresses that look different. I remember it very much like venom, with a long tongue, waving it to catch fire, but what I loved was it jumping around like a muscular frog. The enemy has a new sense of agility that keeps me alert. The ninja best reflects this. They kept turning over and over to me, but when their health was poor, they suddenly tried to jump at me with tight feet. If successful, the ninja will blow up my face, kill myself, and take a bite from my health bar.
Most of the rest of Nioh 2 is familiar. Each level has scattered cute little jade that can be found and returned to the shrine. The boxes tease me from behind obstacles and encourage exploration of the fragile walls of the nearby area. Of course, there are also powerful bosses who want to step down. This is where the Yokai Shift feature really comes into play. The third meter is below health and kilometers in the upper left corner. This measure is formidable. Using monster moves will drain it, but if I let it fill up, I can transform into a patron saint form in a short time. This replaces the "survival weapon" in the first game and is more lively and interesting. I encountered a fast and heavy attack, a nasty grip, and didn't get any proper damage in this state. When I find myself competing with the spirit of my guardian, triggering the boss is crucial. I failed the first few times, but eventually defeated him by summoning NPC partners, so we could mark him as a teammate. If I needed more help, I could have dunked in a nearby hot spring, which would restore my health in the short term.
In the months leading up to the launch of the game on March 13, 2020, the Ninja team has been free to provide this help, which should make most of the testing moments for Nioh 2 more manageable. Here's what I discovered when asking Hayashi, what his team has learned since the game was made public in 2019. "Most of the feedback we received in the beta was very positive," he said. "Some negative factors are centered around the unjust fight and its difficulties, so we adjusted it to better balance it so that death feels good."
If you find the Beta version very annoying, please do not cancel Nioh 2 features, as the release version should not be painful. But obviously don't expect it to have easy difficulty options. I would also like to address those who are struggling to find a breakthrough in the first game like me and say that Nioh 2 is worth a try. I quickly found a gameplay that suits me, and the first game has not been fully clicked. What followed was everything eager to solve the environment of the Warring States period that Nioh 2 had troubled. Even if it was a man's thing in a bottle.
Check out our Ninja Team Interview for more information.