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Tag Archives: Nioh 3

A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part four

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I’m back to talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo because I can. And because I went into the area I mentioned in yesterday’s post–the one I was sure was a boss arena. I’ll get to that in a bit.

I was hesitant to jump back into the demo. I talked about it a bit in the last post, but I’m already overwhelmed by everything combat-wise. Let me briefly mention those things. On the samurai style side, it’s the fucking ki pulse. This has been a staple of the Niohs since the first game, and I have fucked it up every time. After you attack (X for light and Y for heavy), you hit RB to regain your ki (energy/stamina/blue bar). I can’t do it; I just cannot. I get it right maybe one out of every five tries–which is my usual rate when it comes to parrying as well. Anything rhythm/reflex based is just not good for me.

One thing that I like about the series is that you level up a weapon by using it through familiarity. Right now, I’m trying out different samurai weapons to see which class I like. I don’t like the hammer class because it’s waaaaaay too slow and heavy, but I do like spinning around in circles. I have not found an axe yet, which is usually my main. I like the odachi class quite a bit.

However. I much prefer the ninja style. Like vastly prefer. Like, I have to force myself to use the samurai style because I just don’t like it. It feels clumsy and artificially difficult to me.

I like the ninja style, especially because it comes with an array of ninjutsu. Those are the magicks in the game, which is my jam. I could never really make the magicks work for me, though. I mean, it was useful to have healing tickets, purifying tickets, defensive tickets, and more, but the offensive magicks just never felt that good. I’m fully aware that it might be a me problem, but I played a third of the first game; I should have had gotten some powerful maigcks.

Although, it’s quite possible I could have unlocked something powerful and just missed it. See, that’s another thing about the Niohs; the trees are just too massive. And there are so many of them. Each weapon class has its own skills, for example. Plus the basic skills you can get. I have exclamation points for all the weapon classes because I get tired at the thought of clicking through each one.

Side note: One of my evergreen complaints about the Niohs is just how much junk there is in the games. The loot drop is ridiculous and honestly, quite demotivating. At least I figured out you could flip on the option of automatically picking up the loot.


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A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part three

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Let’s talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo. Why the hell not? I’ve explored more, and I have to say a few things. Here is my post from yesterday in which I talked a lot about the demo. Good and bad things, but mostly, what annoyed the fuck out of me. I’m going to continue with that today because it’s still annoying me.

I can’t get over that the default for the item pickup is not automatic. Why are you like this, Team NINJA?! Why the fuck would someone want to have to manually pick up each item from the ground,, especially when there are so many of them, arther than just walk over them to pick them up?

Also, you can’t put two important functions on the same button. You just canot. I mean, if you’re using them in different situations like one in combat and one out of it, then it’s ok. But if they are both used in combat, then you simply cannot put them both on the same button! I don’t know how that isn’t dev design 101.

In this case, it’s RT. It’s the button you hit to switch from samuari style to ninja style (sword fighting to stealth). However, it’s also the button you press to hdo a burst-counter/counter-burst.  The burst is when an enemy/boss does a bright red flash, and if you counter the attack, you do massive damage.

Except, it’s way tooo easy to switch fighting styles as you’re trying to do the counter-burst. I did it so many times, and it was aggravating. The internet informed me that there was an option that allowed you to make it so that you only had to tap the RT to do the counter-Thburst. Which, fine, great. That differentiates between the two, but it means that you have to press the RT for longer in order to switch styles. Itas so fucking exasperating. Just put it on a different button, damn it. They use so many of the buttons that maybe they don’t have one to spare, but still. It’s really annoying.

Today, I was in a new area. I was wandering around and really loving my bow. But, I was running out of ammo, which I hate. Usually you can pick up plenty as you go, but you have to have guys who are using bows in order to get arrow drops.

I neared what I thought was probably a boss arena, and I said, “Nope.” I just was not up for doing it. I have only faced the tutorial boss, and he whipped my ass over and over again. And over again. I knew he wasn’t supposed to be that hard. I knew he was supposed to be teaching me how to play the game, but I certainly wasn’t getting it. Even though I could see what I was supposed to be doing, I could not do it in time.


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A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part two

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Let’s talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo, which I hear is very generous. Before we get into it, here was my first post about the demo. Now, let’s go with part two, and I want to start out with a shoutout to Team NINJA. One thing I  have always appreciated in their games is that they have fantastic ranged weapons. Bows, Rifles, and hand canons. They are powerful, accurate, and not *too* hard to aim. Sometimes the arrows are sparse, but you can usually pick them up around the battlegrounds. Today, I had to clear a camp, and I headshot several of the enemies in it. It felt good; it felt powerful; and it felt…not like cheating because I firmly believe if it’s in the game, it’s not cheating. It felt like easy mode, though. It definitely felt like that. I didn’t feel bad about it, however, as the game is rough enough for me as it is.

I have to say, this is one area in which FromSoft is stubbornly bad. I am not a game dev, obviously, but how the fuck can their bows still be this horrible a decade and a half after they first released Demon’s Souls?! If anything, it’s gotten worse given that the bows in the first game (or at least the holy arrows) were supposedly decent. The only thing that I use the bows for in the From games is to draw one enemy awayf from the others. I do not know why they are so terrible and remain so terrible. I can only conclude that it’s because they simply don’t care about bows. I mean, they’ve had plenty of time to improve them and just haven’t.

I feel like a badass when I’m using a bow, rifle, or canon in a Nioh game. It’s a viable option in those games rather than a hindrance or a joke.

Also, now that I was reminded how the burst-counter actually worked, I managed to pull it off once. The timing is a bit more generous than in the last game, but it’s still fiddly for me. I tended to slide around the enemy more often than actually counter it. that’s because I have the habit of dodging around in a circle as I’m fighting. The best way to beat a Dark Souls boss is to circle around it and hit dat ass. So now, when I play one of these kinds of games, I tend to circle around the enemy.

Avoiding being hit is fine, but I wish I could get more burst-counters in. The trouble is that it’s two buttons–RT + B. You have to hit the RT first and then B. And, in my mind, B is only the dodge/roll button. I think there was another game that put a certain kind of block on B–it was FromSoft! In Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, if I remember correctly. THey had two block buttons, and B was one of them.


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A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA)

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Let’s talk about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo. I installed it and gave it a try. I didn’t actually spend that much time in the custom creator because it wasn’t as vast as the ones in the past. And, to be honest, I went  into it thinking that I would never buy it, so why bother? I chose Body B with long hair and a big chest, and that was good enough for me. But before I get into it, here was the post I wrote yesterday about the Niohs and my complicated feelings about them.

The tutorial was much like the other games. Choose a weapon and practice with it. Then, go through a light tutorial that covers about one-hundredth of what you’ll need to know by the end of the game. I chose my old favorite, the odachi, and kept it moving.

Still in the tutorial area, I came across a scene in which I met Hattori Hanzo–by the way, why the fuck is he so insanely hot in this game? Anyway, he tells you of another way–the way of the ninja. So now I had to choose a second weapon that was more tricksy than strength. I tried them out and finally chose the double hatchets. They’re new to this game (I think?), and I’m an axe person since I first started as a pyromancer in the original Dark Souls.

There was ninja stuff in the other games, but this is the first time they had it in a completely separate style (if I’m not mistaken). You have to hit RT while you’re in combat to switch to that style.

In the samurai style (first style), they still have the ki pulse which I just cannot get the hang of. After you attack (light hit X, heavy hit Y), you press RB to get a huge chunk of your ki (stamina) back. This has been in all of their Niohs, and I still cannot do it consistently.

Another important part of combat is the burst that the enemiy/boss does. It’s a big burst of red and very visible. Except, I just don’t have the ability to react to it in time. Well, what I seemed to have forgotten about in this demo is that you have to do RT and then B in order to counter it. After doing it properly the first time (and getting the counter), I promptly forgot that you had to hit B with the RT. Which, as you can probably guess, makes a ton of difference.

I did not realize this until I was talking to Ian (he’s playing Nioh 2 right now), and he mentioned it was RT+B, and I was like, “Wait, what? B? Huh?” Well, that would make a huge difference. Since this was after I finished playing the game for the day, I don’t know if it’ll make a big difference or not. Meaning, if I can get the timing or not. I did hit the first one with ease, and it seemed like it had a more generous timing. Will I play more of the  demo to find out if it’s true?

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Steam demos: do I dare?

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I’m back to talk about the Steam Next Fest, but not really. It’s the last day, and while I just took a quick look, the pictures aren’t loading. This happens once in a long while, and I’ve taken it as a sign just to give up on this Steam Next Fest. Instead.

Let’s talk about Nioh (Team NINJA) instead. Why? For a few reasons. One, Ian is playing the second game and having a blast. He’s way into it and saying it’s so much better than the first game. I only played the first area and a bit of the second game before life and my medical crisis got in the way.

Let me dial it back a bit.

I have had Nioh envy for so long ever since the first game. It has been touted as the best (for its time) soulslike. We can debate whether it’s a soulslike or not, and I see both sides to that argument. Personally, I think they are soulslikes because of things like difficulty; combat that is heavy, deliberate, and elaborate; hard bosses; level design that is trying to be like Souls; and just the general atmosphere. On the not-soulslike side is: shit-ton of loot drop. In fact, I would say that this is one of the biggest strikes against every Team Ninja game is the ridiculous amonunt of loot that drops in the game. I’ve played several of them, and at some point, I just resign myself to not picking up anything that isn’t….I want to say purple is their highest color. Then there are so many different drops that have micro changes, such as ‘this polearm gives you +1% increase on freeze, but -2% on heat. Shit like that.

When I say they drop a ridiculous amount of loot, I mean a truly ridiculous amount. We’re talking dozens of items every three steps (or so it felt like). I honestly stopped even looking at loot some of the time because it was overwhelming. And then, annoying. And then, it made me actively angry. I’m sure they’ve heard the complaints a million times, and they are apparently never going to change that.

I have played several of Team Ninja’s games, but none to completion. I played about a third of the first Nioh; the first area (plus sub-missions) of the sequel; almost half? (or so I’m told) of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and about an hour of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

The reason I stopped playing each of this game was because I just could not with the bullshit any longer. I could give a longer, more eloquent answer (and I will), but it boiled down to me just being tired of the bullshit.

First of all, I have said this several times. I don’t like From games because of the difficulty. I suffer through that in order to experience the worlds that Miyazaki creates. I would love to play a game of his that has no combat, but is just exploring the world around you. Seriously. WhenI played Shadow of the Erdtree, the DLC for Elden Ring, I pretty much ignored the main story (which I often did with From games) and just wandered around the world.

Side note: Never trust Miyazaki when he estimates how long a From game will take. Or rather, when he gives a number for how long a game will take. Him or his representative. For the base game, they said it would take roughly thirty hours to get through the story. Sure, if you ignored everything else AND knew what you were doing, you MIGHT be able to get through the main story in thirty hours. In fact, when I was platting the game, I did my third run in twelve hours, and someone in the Discord I’m in did it in roughly two. But, again, both of us knew what we were doing. There’s no way I could have done that on e my first or second run.


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