Nioh 2 - Turn demons into loot again

I know what you mean and that is what makes it difficult. I know it feels different, but I can’t put my finger on why exactly so it makes it harder to adjust. I do keep my eye on the ki pulse and try to do them when I can. Sometimes I get caught because I ki pulse and then the enemy hits me because I’m occupied - I need to get better at knowing when it’s safe to do it instead of blocking or backing off.

So I’ve been losing to this enemy, I guess a demon?, who just appears when I get to a certain location. I’ve been trying out different stances against it. With low, I can avoid hit shots easier, but if I get hit it seems to wreck me. I came close to winning. I went back to medium and I felt much safer with a block-heavy approach, but eventually I’d make some mistakes and lose. I accidentally hit B+Y, which put me in the Yokai Shift, and I was able to just wreck it with a flurry of attacks. I’m not sure when I’m allowed to do this, but it seems like easy mode / game changer.

I wish there was a way to turn off the red and blue graves other than starting steam in offline mode. Is there any reason to keep them if I’m never going to activate them?

It took a bunch of tries, but after I made it to what looked like the end of that level, before facing that battle I went back and took on the big minotaur creature. It took a bunch of tries, but I beat the bastard by going high stance and attacking and then doing the ki charge. After doing that a bunch, my attacks looked like they started to stagger his attacks, so I could get off more before needing to defend. Felt good to beat him :-)

Edit: OK time to go to bed. I met the level boss and don’t think I’ll beat him quickly. Time for sleep.

I forgot I was just going to dip my toe in to see what this was like, because I just played Wo Long and Sekiro to completion. I kinda needed a break from this type of game, but now I got hooked and I don’t want to lose what progress I made learning the game. Maybe I’ll try not to devote quite so much time to this.

You want the red graves, at least. Killing the shades is the quickest way to get decent starter gear.

My intuition is to say stick with it. Eventually, the controls will become second nature. Starting simple: dodging, blocking, hitting. You can get by for a long long time in a single stance. Pick one to learn for your weapon, get a couple combos.

Once you get going, the elegance of everything will begin to emerge. Take it slowly and be gentle with your failures. :)

Oh, so the red graves is just fighting an AI controlled enemy, not a human multiplayer?

You are like a marathon runner of Soulslike games, I’m impressed! I love these games but I always need time to decompress after I finish with one. And switching muscle memory around between games seems to get harder and harder the older I get. :)

Yep! It summons their shade. If you kill them, you can get a piece of equipment they were wearing from what I can recall.

EDIT: And for that matter, the blue ones summon their shade to help you, like an NPC ally.

Tell that to a million games journalists and Redditors!

Yes, and I think that and the blue mechanic Kevin mentioned is actually cool as hell and something From could do a hell of a lot worse than copy.

I thought I had the main boss dead, but I just staggered him and I just stood there looking at him when I realized he had a sliver of health left. By the time I realized he was still alive he was getting up and smashed me dead.

Phew, got him in a couple more tries.

What’s the point of submissions versus missions? So Long had the same thing. Is it just that some people wanna get through the game faster so they break it up so you could just do the main missions? Or if you start falling behind level wise, you could do a submission?

Same as the point of optional bosses in From games, I guess. Things you can do if you’re a completionist.

Pretty much. Do the sub missions for the rewards (items and XP). Main Missions are what is required to progress the campaign.

You’ll run into sub missions that might reward Set gear (or blueprints for them, I don’t recall) or will be required to unlock various abilities or skill tree nodes.

I went into a sub mission because I didn’t rememeber what level I was. When I got to the shrine I leveled up and notice that I’m level 12. The submission recommended level is 9 and the main mission is 10. So, I’m already slightly over leveled for the next main mission. Are levels a big deal in this game, so I should try and stick to the recommended level the best I can? Is so I can abort this submission and go to the next mission.

I didn’t sweat the levels. If I remember right, if you’re under-leveled for a mission you get a lot of “XP” and catch up quickly. The only time I worried about it is if I was struggling and was underleveled, then I’d make an effort to get a handful and help me out.

Sub missions are typically pretty short either way, so certainly no harm in doing them. The rewards can be nice.

If you do the NG+ modes (which I’d recommend unless you 're totally burned out, as its done so well and its where builds can really change the way you can approach the game), it’s much faster to clear the campaign since you don’t have to knock out all the main missions any more, just X missions per area. So sub missions there might be more appealing. Again, assuming I’m remembering correctly. I think it’s been a couple years!

Regular enemies can kill me in 2 shots if I get careless - specially axes or polearm type weapons.

Sometimes it is so hilarious and goes the exact opposite of what I plan. I was about to encounter a new mini boss and so I use the item that gives me better ki recovery. I think I’m just going to block the first attacks to see what’s what. A minitour / cyclops thing just comes and flattens me with a big hammer - and I’m dead.

Man, the guy in the forge sucks big ones. It seems like too small a space for the kind of attacks he has.

Only if you need xp or, as Kevin said, you’re getting crushed. Game is tough enough; sometimes it’s nice to take a break being overleveled.

Tldr; don’t worry about it.

Common roadblock. Make sure you hit your parries.