This always looked like a 7 out of 10 kind of game; I didn’t even try the demo and I probably won’t. I think part of my issue is I’m not really a fan of what Team Ninja does, in a way I can’t really articulate well. Every game they have put out I’ve bounced right off of.
I was gonna respond with the video of the guy saying bullshit but I already did that to you once in this thread already. Honestly if they can keep the writing that flavor of terrible throughout I’m gonna enjoy this immensely.
Whereas I’m at over 400 hours in the Nioh series, so they’ve earned a mountain of benefit of the doubt from me.
Speaking of which, has anyone broken down whether this is designed with similar ng+ legs? I came to both Nioh games with the PC releases after all the DLC was already out, so didn’t see it added in over time. But the way each playthrough added interesting wrinkles and encouraged exploring different weapons and builds was great, so hoping something similar will happen here.
Yeah, I picked up Nioh and refunded it and then years later with the hype for Elden Ring in full tilt and it still months away, I picked up the much beloved Nioh 2 and regretted it almost immediately. Something about these guys I just don’t click with.
Can someone tell me if you lose all your items/XP in this game if you die?
I am tired of this mechanic.
Your items and xp are safe. While playing you accumulate temporary MP maximum bonuses, and those are lost on death.
Pardon the screen format. People are weird.
Man, I kind of love this.
I thought this was out the 15th but it’s actually the 18th. The preorder bonus is 24 hours of early access, but you can’t get it unless you pre-order more than 24 hours before release. But the reviews are already out, so… why not just release the game?
People are still reporting technical and graphical issues. The biggest offender on both consoles and PC seems to be aggressive resolution scaling that makes the game look blurry and ugly at times, and framerate slowdown during the graphical effect of one special move. Unfortunately, that special move is fundamental to the game. It’s actually kind of funny to hear about slowdown like this. You almost never see it these days, especially on PC.
Anyway, Team Ninja is pretty good about patching. I’ll give this more time to bake.
I’m a few hours in now — up to the boss of the third main mission. Initial thoughts:
- PC version seems perfectly cromulent. After a bit of tweaking, wound up with a mix of medium and high settings and it’s running pretty consistently around 90fps at 4K on a 3080.
- I turned off the dynamic resolution scaling setting.
- Much better visual experience than the console demos — smoother than performance mode and clearer than resolution mode.
- That said, it’s by no means a visual showpiece. Lots of other games look and run significantly better. But it’s passable and doesn’t distract from the gameplay, which is enough.
- Combat still feels great, and I’m having a blast trying out all the classes and weapons, which feel very distinct from each other so far.
- I’m playing on hard and that has felt right to me as someone who likes this genre. I die plenty, but nothing has felt insurmountable as long as I pay close attention and make good use of the tools at my disposal.
- The side missions from Nioh (reusing a location with different objectives and enemy placement) returns in much the same form and I’ve played and liked the first two.
- I’m not totally sold on the party aspect so far, as they wind up adding to the visual noise of combat.
- Loot feels inconsequential so far. Just a constant shower of gear that isn’t worth spending time in menus to optimize because it’ll be obsolete in 10 minutes. Nioh had the same issue in the early game before eventuality getting interesting, so it’s disappointing that it seems to be the same here.
- I’m on board with the main story so far, with a fun mix of FF1 nostalgia blasts and intriguing time / dimension / memory hints surfacing.
- The townsfolk dialog, on the other hand, seems inane and pointless so far.
Looking forward to more!
I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Maybe I’ll dip in sooner than expected.
I like that there’s a one-button way to optimize new gear in a simple way. It keeps it quick and leaves the details to the endgame.
Have you tried playing solo to see if you prefer not having the party?
Yes, though it would be nicer if it had an option to do it just for the companions rather than forcing it for the whole party at once.
I did try it a bit, but I don’t know how viable it is (at least at my skill level). The combat seems to be designed around the enemies focusing on your party members at least some of the time. Feels like the classes that have charge-up moves would be nearly useless if you didn’t have at least occasional respites from constant aggro.
I just rolled credits on the game. Took a little over 25 hours for me. It is kind of amazing how well the full story totally justifies a lot of the elements people are laughing at in this game. It totally earns the Sinatra track. Jack’s weird behavior and attitude all make sense once you know the full context.
There’s a lot of crazy systems in the game, but it feels great to play in practice and there is tons of stuff to experiment with. I had a great time just putting it on story difficulty, tearing through well designed enemies and hoovering up gads of loot.
Nice!
I’m closing in on the fourth crystal after 30 hours (on hard, doing all the side missions). It’s all I want to play right now every chance I get.
I agree that the story elements people were making fun of all work in context.
Still loving the combat and the variety of weapons and classes.
Looking forward to hitting this one up during the summer sale.
Same here. Even with the regional pricing it’s a bit too expensive yet around here. Any idea if this will come to Steam anytime soon?
How has hard difficulty been for you? Is it unusually punishing or can you always just run by enemies like most of these games?