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Nioh Review Thread

I think the people most zealous about saying its not like Dark Souls are generally trying to stave off accusations from trolls about it not having anything to make it stand out as its own identity.

Aka "lol souls clone garbage".

Even on Amazon right now, the 1 star reviews on the game are just trolling about how the game is just a copy of Dark Souls and it should not be bought on that reason alone

Ignoring the trolls it's not a bad thing for a game to be seen as part of that "subgenres" family. :) Especially since the game turned out to be great and still does its own thing.
 

Zaventem

Member
"Instead of crafting a tight 20-hour experience like Ninja Gaiden,
Team Ninja has opted to create a title that had me constantly grinding.
It’s a flawed experience that really has no respect for the player’s
time
"

Uh Oh...ok.

This is what happens when you let mobile reviewers get their hands on console games.
 

Greedings

Member
Not really sure what "respect a player's time" actually means. It's a common phrase now, which from what I can tell, means, "I don't like thing."
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
I don't get it either. I usually hear it about JRPGs, but not western RPG's.

I first heard it about WOFF and i was like...huh? Isn't that a good thing to get mileage out of games?

Its not as if you cant take it at your own pace
 
Looks like PS Store updated the Nioh game page with a trailer with some of the review scores on it.

Dat Jimquistion review score with the thundering drums in the background. *goosebumps* Very nice.

Nioh is currently out of stock on Amazon. Those stellar reviews must've definitely helped moved copies. Well deserved, Team NINJA.
 

Arials

Member
Not really sure what "respect a player's time" actually means. It's a common phrase now, which from what I can tell, means, "I don't like thing."

It means not making the player waste their time doing superfluous rubbish to make the game last longer. Lots of developers inflate the length of the game without adding meaningful content. To be fair to them part of the reason they do so is because reviewers complain about short, focused games not having value for money, but it still sucks.

Who would enjoy Portal as much if it was padded out to last 4x longer - say with fetch quests or repeating puzzles - without actually adding anything good like new puzzles or a deeper story? That's not respecting the player's time.

In my own experience of the Souls series, those games earn the large amount of time the demand of the player and don't feel padded or overlong at all to me. Bloodborne is a good example of a longer game where the enemy variety/quality, environment variety/quality, rewarding the player and well paced narrative progression keep things fresh.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Not really sure what "respect a player's time" actually means. It's a common phrase now, which from what I can tell, means, "I don't like thing."

It requires context as it can mean a variety of different things to different games, but most often it refers to how punishing failure can be, how inhibited forward progress is marred by mechanics or design.

Don't think there isn't a huge swath of gamers that whine at the mere thought of replaying sections of a game upon death or failure, even despite Souls' games popularity in recent years.

Backtracking, grinding, padded triforce-hunt like objectives also commonly co-opt the popular phrase "disrespecting players time". Essentially it's s term for people who demand that games must be short, mindless, and paced to finish easily in their -hectic schedules- so they can somehow also keep up with the hype machine and other new releases!
 

DenogginizerOS

BenjaminBirdie's Thomas Jefferson
My assessment thus far is that it is more Ninja Gaiden Black meets Diablo with an art style meant to appeal to Souls fans. It is challenging, but has a more structured and appealing (to me) world to slice and slay in than any of the Souls games.
 

MrTexor

Member
When selecting a mission, what does the torii gate icon mean? The other one looks like a shrine and I think shows whether a shrine is available.. I think...

edit: bah, wrong thread
 

RexNovis

Banned
I'd personally prefer to read thoughtful, well-written reviews, not "easy comparisons". Just wondering if I'm alone on this.

If I had to describe it in a sentence, I'd say:
"It's a combat-centric action RPG set in feudal-fantasy Japan."
But that's not really the point.

You're certainly not alone and you are absolutely right it is a cop out. It gets the reviewer out of needing to delve into many of the mechanics in the game except those that differentiate it from an already established formula. Now that said it is a very common thing to see in reviews these days. Just look at the reviews of mny open world games and see how many times Ubisoft open world design is brought up as a reference or comparison.

But, while it is a cheap and easy route for reviewers to take when detailing the game or relaying their criticisms, it also exists for a reason: there are notable similarities. So, when a new IP comes out and exhibits many of the same compelling game design choices of a very popular existing franchise I could certainly see the desire to make comparisons in an effort to elevate the new IP and hopefully garner more attention/sales just by virtue of it being associated with said established franchise.

Personally I'd prefer them to avoid making the comparison and explain and critique the game solely in relation to its own merits and not those of an entirely different franchise. Unfortunately people like you and I seem to be in the minority with that opinion though so I don't see it changing anytime soon.
 
http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/08/nioh-review-dark-samurai-6434086/

9/10

Nioh is a superb action adventure and we won’t demean it by arguing whether it’s better or worse than the various entries in the SoulsBorne series. What we will say is that it’s going to go down as one of the best action games of the year. It also stands as further proof that games do not need to constantly nanny their players, worrying about whether they’re too difficult or complicated or obscure. If the experience is rewarding enough then anyone, from the most experienced to the least, can enjoy any game. And that is certainly the case with Nioh.
 
It's not a review, but they talk about Nioh in today's Giant Bombcast and they are very positive about it.

Jeff and Jason both played it and seem really taken with it so far.
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
You're certainly not alone and you are absolutely right it is a cop out. It gets the reviewer out of needing to delve into many of the mechanics in the game except those that differentiate it from an already established formula. Now that said it is a very common thing to see in reviews these days. Just look at the reviews of mny open world games and see how many times Ubisoft open world design is brought up as a reference or comparison.

But, while it is a cheap and easy route for reviewers to take when detailing the game or relaying their criticisms, it also exists for a reason: there are notable similarities. So, when a new IP comes out and exhibits many of the same compelling game design choices of a very popular existing franchise I could certainly see the desire to make comparisons in an effort to elevate the new IP and hopefully garner more attention/sales just by virtue of it being associated with said established franchise.

Personally I'd prefer them to avoid making the comparison and explain and critique the game solely in relation to its own merits and not those of an entirely different franchise. Unfortunately people like you and I seem to be in the minority with that opinion though so I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Hehe, somehow I had a feeling we'd be in the minority.

The reasons for the comparisons are very clear, and I don't disagree with others on that.
However, it's worth questioning the integrity of the reviewer if indeed they're more concerned with making "an effort to elevate the new IP and hopefully garner more attention/sales."

If a review site is referencing another game in order to elevate a new IP/sales, then surely that's representative of bias, and suggests they aren't able to look at a game objectively on its own merits.
On the other hand, if they're referencing another game in order to garner attention (to themselves)...well, that just comes across as unprofessional.

If you absolutely must compare, I'm inclined to say it'd make more sense to have a clear "Peer Comparison" list (or use YouTube to document a video on the differences, like many people do already).
But in the review body itself, it's a blatant cop-out, and creates a vicious cycle as gamers expect comparisons to be made, because that's the only way they feel able to understand how a game plays (when in fact it only reinforces a superficial understanding).

Sorry everyone for this turning into a rant. I probably have enough to say about modern reviews to make a thread, but that's probably been done a hundred times already...
 
2 hours in, I am addicted! Mentioned before I get frustrated easily if a game is too hard or has a cheapness mechanic I have no patience for (off screen projectile or "you're not playing the right way"). Bloodborne was too difficult and I never played dark souls.

Not once have I felt this to be an unfair challenge. Took me like 20 tries but I improved along the way and learned as I went along.

No doubt bigger challenges are ahead but so far the game is friendly to new players...assuming you're not a button masher. Patience totally pays off. As someone posted before, read the kotaku article about tips for playing nioh first.

Team Ninja knows combat mechanics!
 

ACE 1991

Member
It's not a review, but they talk about Nioh in today's Giant Bombcast and they are very positive about it.

Jeff and Jason both played it and seem really taken with it so far.

Surprised Jeff likes it, he seems sort of uninterested in super punishing action games these days.
 

RexNovis

Banned
Hehe, somehow I had a feeling we'd be in the minority.

The reasons for the comparisons are very clear, and I don't disagree with others on that.
However, it's worth questioning the integrity of the reviewer if indeed they're more concerned with making "an effort to elevate the new IP and hopefully garner more attention/sales."

If a review site is referencing another game in order to elevate a new IP/sales, then surely that's representative of bias, and suggests they aren't able to look at a game objectively on its own merits.
On the other hand, if they're referencing another game in order to garner attention (to themselves)...well, that just comes across as unprofessional.

If you absolutely must compare, I'm inclined to say it'd make more sense to have a clear "Peer Comparison" list (or use YouTube to document a video on the differences, like many people do already).
But in the review body itself, it's a blatant cop-out, and creates a vicious cycle as gamers expect comparisons to be made, because that's the only way they feel able to understand how a game plays (when in fact it only reinforces a superficial understanding).

Sorry everyone for this turning into a rant. I probably have enough to say about modern reviews to make a thread, but that's probably been done a hundred times already...

Agreed on all accounts. Please don't mistake my theorizing about the motivations behind the references as endorsing/condoning them because I certainly agree it's unprofessional no matter which way you look at it. And yea there's a lot to talk about when it comes to the modern reviewing scene mainly the focus on being fastest or most controversial as opposed to most cogent or informative but that's a topic for another day.
 

Sayad

Member
Is it just me or is the opening sequence much easier than the alpha?

Regardless.... This combat is buttery smooth.
They did say they'd try to make it easier to get into the game right after the alpha, but I assume they didn't make that change in the following demos out of fear people would scream it's too easy now.
 
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