NiOh

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Sep 11, 2013
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NiOh - Team Ninja's Take on a Dark Souls game?

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When Koei Tecmo’s NiOh was re-revealed, many felt some strong Souls vibes coming from it, but since we didn’t have that much information, and given Team Ninja’s pedigree, it was easy to expect it to be closer to Ninja Gaiden in terms of gameplay.

Today the alpha demo for the game released, and we discovered that the crushing but rewarding difficulty certainly isn’t the only homage to From Software’s popular series.

While NiOh certainly has twists of its own, and the sword fighting pace and mechanics are sensibly different, its underlying gameplay structure is certainly that of a Souls game.

You use bonfir… ahem… Shrines as checkpoints to replenish healing items and hit points. If you die, you lose all your sou… ahem…. Amrita, and you need to run all the way to the spot where you perished to recover them, losing them permanently if you die again.

If shrines are too far from each other, worry not, you can unlock shortcuts to avoid having to kill the same enemies over and over. If an enemy is too challenging, you can use a special item to summon another player. If there are too many bunched together, you can “pull” one by throwing a stone at his face.

Character progression is basically identical, letting you putting points into stats that will in turn determine your level. Incidentally, the distribution of the stats is also close to identical to what we have seen in Dark Souls games.

You can even find graves where other players died, even if NiOh actually lets you summon them and fight them for loot (and boy, they’re hard as nails).

These are just a few of the many elements that basically make NiOh feel a lot like a Souls game without Souls in the title (and From Software’s branding). As a matter of fact, if it was called something like Sengoku Souls it wouldn’t have felt inappropriate, at least outside of the obvious legal implications.

It does sound a lot like a Dark Souls game, but with a few of its own ideas and a more typical action style combat system.


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Ninja Gaiden 3 was awful. The talent is gone. I'll pass on this one.
 
You can go play the Alpha Demo now and see how you feel about this game.

There is a demo on PSN? My membership ran out a while back and I haven't renewed it yet. Do I need that to download the demo?
 
There is a demo on PSN? My membership ran out a while back and I haven't renewed it yet. Do I need that to download the demo?

There is a demo. I am pretty sure you don't need a PSN subscription to download a demo....but I could be wrong.
 
Was watching someone stream it last night and looked pretty good. Makes me want a new Onimusha though.
 
Was watching someone stream it last night and looked pretty good. Makes me want a new Onimusha though.
I've never studied the Japanese language/culture, but I have ordered their food before, so I'm pretty sure that makes me an authority on all things JP, so with conviction, I can confirm that 'Nioh' translates directly to "We're ripping off Onimusha, but with the dude from Vikings as the playable character. No not that dude, the one that was in Sons of Anarchy.'

It's a very efficient language.
 
Played for for half an hour this morning. I think it could shape up to be a good game. It's certainly has the Team Ninja difficulty level. It does have a few dark souls type mechanics. To bad the combat isn't one of them. There is no weight to the combat at all. Attacks feel very like ninja gaiden. There is also only sword spear and axe weapon abilities in the demo. Controls aren't as smooth as dark souls either. The button placement just didn't feel natural. I'll give it another whirl later.
 
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Looks like it could be good to me. Hack and slash games are lacking overall as a genre, i think. The PS2 and Xbox days were great with Devil May Cry, God of War, Ninja Gaiden, and others. If Nioh is decent i'll give it a go. If it has a Souls vibe that could be cool.
 
Basic enemies one-shotting me is a bit annoying. Sometimes I stun them with attacks, sometimes my attacks are just gently pecking them like a lovers kiss.

I mean it's interesting, it's got depth.
 
10 min's of footage. It's dark, and a Twitch stream. I think the game is coming this year, not sure.

 
Gamecom trailer:



Beta demo available Aug 23.
 
Game is out in four weeks. Never did get a chance to get out the demos/betas but really looking forward to it.
 
Looks great, very Ninja Gaiden-y. Looking forward to impressions.
 
Spent some time with it. As a reminder I never played the earlier alpha/beta stuff. Anyways I am HYPED. Game is an absolute blast so far. There's definitely some Souls/Bloodborne influences but it still has a bit of that Ninja Gaiden feel minus the really insane stuff. As someone who played a bit of both Demon Souls and Bloodborne and never really got pulled in, I'm really loving this so far. Still on the first mission (I think there are two) but guessing, and hoping, that I'm on the boss because wtf. You will get destroyed in a hurry.
 
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I played a tone of Ni-Oh. It's 40% Bloodborne, 20% Ninja Gaiden and 40% it's own flavor with qualities not found in Dark Souls or Ninja Gaiden. They gameplay is alot more in depth than any Souls Borne game something I expected from Team Ninja considering they created Ninja Gaiden.

The gameplay feels really good like Ps2 era quality. Changing weapons during mid combo is really satyingfying especially considering every weapon has 3 styles, wich can also be chained in and out of. People that see Ni-Oh as it's own game will benifit greatly considering it has tone feature to explore. Other featutres not in Souls Borne are nimpo, grabs, finishers 360 motions, etc.

Team Ninja is known for their brutal challanging difficulty but Ni-Oh brings it to a whole new level and willl satisfy any hardcore Team Ninja fan who were disappointed in NG 2 and 3. You'll be happy just to make any progress in the game to be honest. LOL Any who played the alpha demo knows how brutal the game actuallly is.

Ni-Oh has a tone features that set apart from Souls Borne so it's definitly worth a pick up for those intersted.
 
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"They gameplay is alot more in depth than any Souls Borne game something I expected from Team Ninja considering they created Ninja Gaiden."

Not even close to the Souls games.

I am pleasantly surprised of how much improved the game is over the Alpha I played and coop was a blast.

Might have to buy this game now.
 
"They gameplay is alot more in depth than any Souls Borne game something I expected from Team Ninja considering they created Ninja Gaiden."

Not even close to the Souls games.

I am pleasantly surprised of how much improved the game is over the Alpha I played and coop was a blast.

Might have to buy this game now.

Lol No. Ni-Oh is a lot more depth...
 
Lol No. Ni-Oh is a lot more depth...
Its more arcadey you literately walk fight collect powerups/items walk and fight collect powerups/items.
Its like a 3rd person slower paced diablo 3.

You must not of played much of the Souls games as that's the only way I could see somehow saying something so off.
 
Its more arcadey you literately walk fight collect powerups/items walk and fight collect powerups/items.
Its like a 3rd person slower paced diablo 3.

You must not of played much of the Souls games as that's the only way I could see somehow saying something so off.

1 weapon is NiOh is like 3 in Souls Borne adding to the fact you can combo in out of other weapons.

Ni-Oh is faster paced but it's definitly not arcadey. You seem to be under impression that slow is more strategic. It isn't.

I get it Souls Borne is an established franchisee so you'll defend it with your life but when you actually sit down and explore the combat system Ni-Oh has a lot more depth.

Sorry it is what it is man...
 
You PS4 owners can eat my balls because I don't have a PS3 and I'm angry and bitter.