I know that the title of the review might seem like a pretty solid statement or opinion, but this is a review that the reader must hear out, because there is both a point to this angle, as well as another side to it. This is a review of the hack-n-slash Adventure game- Nioh, from Tecmo's Team Ninja. These are the same folks who brought us the original Ninja Gaiden all the way to the last one, as well as the Dead of Alive fighting game series, which I still contest is one of the most underrated fighting franchises of all time.
This game is in the same genre as the Genji series that I love so much. I never really played much of these games over the years until after 2005. There were a couple of series in this genre on the PSP, one of them being Warriors of the Lost Kingdom that really drew me in. The stories in these games tends to be quietly deep and amazing compared with most games. I'm not sure why that is, as they tend to cover historical events. Warriors of the Lost Kingdom dealt with the deep backstory of Marcus Aurelius, Ceasar, and the events going on in the government during those times of war. It actually is contiguous with the story of Gladiator Begins, which was an awesome Arena fighter RPG for the PSP as well. I strongly urge you to play both games in sequence, as you will be treated to a great story, great gameplay, and a storyline that flows like one large epic.
Nioh focuses on the life of real English samurai- William Adams. It covers a fictional backstory that weaves in fantasy elements with real historical events that took place in a wartorn Japan during the fall of the Edo period. Much history is covered in the game, and the cinematics were plentiful and filled with pivotal events.
Graphically, the game's textures were awesome to behold. The characters and environments were smooth, shiny and well animated. However, the game had flaws that this delusional generation turns a blind eye to. Everyone talks about current gen, as if it has left all limitations behind. The same glitches that occured since the dawn of polygonal gaming are here. Your character will tend to glitch through walls on occasion, and items will bleed into one another. Also, there was even a time later in the game that the glitching really became a problem. I was accompanied by 2 NPC's on a mission where we fought monsters that required all hands on deck. There happened to be a big fight at the top of a ladder. No matter how many times I tried, when I ran up the ladder and to the fight, one of the NPC characters would remain at the top of the ladder, walking into the ground in front of the ladder in place, while shaking. This left me with only one helper to take on the extremely difficult enemies. I had to find a way to make due. That was the only near game breaking glitch I encountered, but the fact that it was unavoidable was a huge issue.
I still enjoyed the lush environments, and navigating the catacombs of caves and seashore towns. I would have appreciated a bit more daylight in the game. The music was also very well done, as it always met the mood. There weren't melodies that stick in your head, but they were well composed. As you can see, I did enjoy aspects of this game. There are a plethora of weapons and armor sets that can be forged and found in this game's vast open landscapes. They can also be refashioned to look like armor that you fancy, so you can have a pretty unique character, aside from the blonde protagonist being set.
The combat system was very deep. It's difficult to break it down. You have 2 weapons that you can carry with you on hand. You also have an inventory where you can have more. There are different types, such as dual swords, katana, axes, kurasagami, and spears. Of course, as always, I went with dual swords. There are different types and elements that will be attributed to these weapons, as well as affinity for them, which is your skill level with that particular sword that grows with use. I never found a way to manipulate element attributes when forging weapons. I just augmented weapons I liked that had good attributes to them. You have several pieces of armor you can wear, from your helmet to chest plate, leg armor, gauntlets, and boots. All of these can be taken to the blacksmith between missions, and augmented by doing what is called a soul match. This takes a piece of armor and melds the defensive stats of stronger armor with it. You also have accessories that can help with elemental defense. The list in the inventory tended to get very lengthy, as you are constantly picking up items, loot, and weaponry from fallen enemies. This could have been better organized, and the way the elements are arranged in the game, it got very confusing at times knowing what my offensive elements should be. You also may have to switch those offensive traits on the fly between hard enemies in a level, with no real solid way of having all of the needed armor sets on hand.
Your character has 3 stances. He has a low stance, good for movement, with low attack, a mid stance, which is balanced, and a high stance with low evasion and heavy attacks. In the early goings, it takes a bit to learn the deep mechanics, but you will be mixing it up. Later in the game, with the ridiculous enemies, you will be staying in low stance quite a bit. You also have ninjutsu at your disposal, as well as onymi spells. This is added to by guardian spirits that accompany you, each having its own element. Ninjitsu skills can be anything from bombs, to invisibility, to special kunai, and even poison broths for your weapons. It is a huge list of skills you can learn, and depending on your level of ninjitsu limit and the required level for the ability, you can bring quite a few into you loadout. Onmyi magic skills also require their own skill points and player capacity. They can be attribute boosters to elemental attacks. There is also a huge list of learnable abilities that expand as you increase in level. Then you have samurai skill points, which are points earned as you master weaponry. They can be used to learn special skills with a weapon such as super slashing techniques or ki blast strikes. This also is a huge list. You have a healthy pool of skills to learn and to have on hand at any given time, as well as an item inventory that can be expanded from 4 items to over 16 by the end of the game if you unlock them via the blacksmith.
Combat was fast paced, and consisted of blocking, which drained your stamina meter, light and heavy attacks, and evasion. Stamina is consumed when attacking and replenishes with moving or standing still. However, if blocking, it will replenish much slower, which added to the challenge of facing rush down opponents. There are some augmentations that can be learned in the game to mitigate your stamina usage, recovery, etc, but they are very limited, and in the end, you have to be very selective with not only how you attack, but for how long, as dodging away will deplete stamina, and if that should deplete during or after that dodge, you will be rendered winded, which incapacitates your character for a long time, leaving you open for death. But also, you have to be mindful of how you turtle, as blocking combo streams will deplete your stamina and get you winded as well. You also take more damage in that state.
The game had a number of sub missions on each part of the map, that each felt meaningful, and necessary for gaining experience and leveling up. The level of your equipment is as important as your player's level if not more, as the level menu will indicate. If not adequate, you will quickly be wiped out by the first enemies you see. What I don't like, is that when you start a level, there is no way of quitting unless you have a certain item that can be used for that. I never had issues having the item, but it felt wrong to be in a mission that literally could be unbeatable, and being stuck there, in a game ending situation. There are many items that you can collect in the field, such as bombs, elixirs, ammo for range weapons etc. Before I forget, there are also ranged weapons. These consist of hand cannons, rifles, bows, and even muskets at a point. These can be leveled up as well as given attributes. They are useful in this game, and you will need them at various times.
When you reach shrines within levels, you heal and replenish ninjutsu skills and spells. However, enemies regenerate when you do this. As you defeat enemies with a guardian spirit equipped, and meter builds, until you can unleash an attack mode with the guardian, and whatever elemental affinity they have, for variable periods of time. Your attack is boosted, you gain the elemental bonus, and your life meter is replaced by the attack mode's meter. Taking damage depletes it faster, and taking out enemies replenishes it slightly. It's best to save it for the right time, as there is a recharge period for it. There are also hot springs at open or hidden locations in the game. They both heal you, and give you a healing ability for a brief time. Use them.
There were a large number of enemies in the game, and it felt very cheap often. It's already established that this is meant to be a hard as nails game. But it felt different than the rest. With Monster Hunter, there was a sense of fulfillment and victory when you overcame a boss. In this game, that is robbed from you extremely often, by the way they program the enemy AI. Technology still hasn't found a way to replicate authentic intelligent human intelligence. Rather than just give you a tall task like other tough games, this game attempts to simulate outplaying you, and fails in doing so. In the beginning of the game, I soldiered through it, realizing that I needed to be careful, or get overwhelmed. However, as I got better, the AI seemed to hit a wall near the end, and rely on breaking the game's very rules in order to beat me. It is beyond frustrating to outplay a boss, and be killed anyway at the last second by and hit that you dodge. Many times, when a boss had a sliver of life, I would dodge in for the kill and unload a combo, to watch in horror as they survive it, wait for my stamina to be low enough, and unleash a combo that depletes my stamina bar, winds me out, and then kills me instantly. This happened countless times, and you lose vital items that you may happen to use in the process. One of the life saving spells I learned was a spell that gradually heals you over time. Since spells recharge, I had a fresh set of 2 of those spells, going into battle after healing at a shrine. But that still wasn't always enough. You can lose your whole life in an instant.
I wanted that feeling of triumph, but it seemed that whenever I was poised to achieve it, I would be robbed. It felt like the only time I beat a boss, was when I got overpowered as much as I could, and overwhelmed the boss early. The fights were still hard, but it felt impossible to win close fights with skill. That's what I wanted. It just feels cheap, the way you have to beat the bosses. It's not that you don't want to put in effort or expend items. I'm just used to even the hardest games, having bosses that you can beat with skill if it comes down to it. Not this game. I recall games like Astro Warrior for the Sega Master system. The last boss was insane, but there was a way to beat him with the standard bullets. With this game, expect to abuse every powerful ability and spell at your disposal completely, when you beat these bosses. It felt like I stormed and blitzed the bosses to beat them. However, it was a game so well put together, that you are drawn in by the deep and moving story, as well as the gorgeous visuals. I wish that you could customize your character's look more. They even have a barber shop at the blacksmith's, but the styles are very limited. There is a dojo as well, where you train at times to learn techniques from some of the masters you meet in the game. Those fights were with minimal items, and on neutral ground, where it was more skill oriented. I enjoyed those matches a lot.
It was definitely a control tosser of a game. After the beautiful ending and credits, there is an epilogue to play through. Once again, I felt disgusted, but also intrigued and eventually completed it. A boss fight that I was hoping would be fair, is yet again, a showcase of the CPU instant killling you, to be a challenge. That is the game's biggest flaw in my opinion. After completing the epilogue, the storyline completes in a beautiful scene of the epilogue, and the game unlocks harder modes as well as expansion quests. I don't know who is that masochistic. Aside from that, I like the game a great deal. I would love it if it weren't so imbalanced. Still a must play, and near perfect adventure 9/10!
No comments:
Post a Comment