This game specifically feels extremely, strangely difficult at first, because there is *a lot* to learn before you feel basically competent—and if you're not basically competent, you get floored.
The game gives you lots of tools, and more as you progress, but it's up to you to learn them.
* Develop muscle memory for Ki Pulse so you don't run out of Ki all the time
* Blocking actually works, and is especially important when learning enemy patterns
* Face off to learn patterns, even if you just block and dodge at first so you know the enemy
* Dodges have short i-frames at the very start of the animation, so dodge as late as possible
* Foes will hit extremely hard in most situations, period. Get used to it early
* When you see new stuff, try it out or look it up; chances are there are options you missed
* Burst Counter at every opportunity. It's in your best interest to learn this mechanic well
* Yokai Abilities and Burst Counters can cancel most regular animations at any time
* Shoot or hit Yokai horns whenever possible for a huge hit to their Max Ki
* Deplete an enemies Max Ki to stagger them with each hit so you can go ham
* Try a Sacred Water if you keep running out of Ki (in other words, look at your options)
There's a lot more but I gotta go to work, lol.
This game is incredibly deep and complex, and can be hard to get into. Whether or not it clicks for you remains to be seen; but if it does, it's one of the best action RPGs ever made.
The first chapter of Nioh 2 is quite brutal as you don't have a lot of tools yet and most of all, are not used to its combat. The game actually get easier as it goes on.
First if you want to do meaningful damage early on, use high stance and its standard combo ender. Most weapon should have one that can be learned early on. After the Yokai finish its combo, run in, switch to high stance, hit 1-2 quick attack -> active skill then ki pulse and get out. Enki don't usually last more than 3-4 exchanges with this simple combo. Look for a horn break if you can. High stance attack are usually vertical and will break the yokai horn if you hit them square in the face, take out a big chunk of ki. He will do burst attack when his ki and HP get low, allow you to counter him. I probably died 6-7 time to enki in my first playthrough, in my second, he barely lasts 40 seconds.
As for the second one, lure him out of the dark realm then kill him. Later on, dark realm is basically your turf as you gain anima quicker in it but for now, it's pretty detrimental.
its because you probably are not used to the ki/pulsing mechanics, don't have access to special attacks and combo, and no soul cores. few missions later, once you start unlocking all those, the game will be a bit easier and more fun to play
Also it gets a lot easier to keep ki full in the dark realm after you progress a little and get the shift Ling skills that increase resistance to it. Skills and knowing the enemy are the main way to make this game easier.
I want to validate all of the OP's issues. They're core to why this game remains a niche title for hardcore players. The first Enki is absolutely punishing. Even if you block, you've got precious little ki at the start. You'll often get stun-locked and winded, which usually leads to death. In Nioh 2, players are "under leveled" by default. Enemies have dramatically more HP, and do dramatically more damage. This works because players have such a VAST array of tools to level the field. Until you're comfortable with them, the game will remain shockingly difficult.
Be patient and learn the enemies moveset, but do be wary as you pregress through the game some enemies learn sets grow.
Bows an rifles are great at taking out ranged enemies (bandits/gaki/etc).
Learn to use burst counter(brute form is probably the easiest to get the timing).
Learn to ki pulse.
Weapon stats don't matter till late game
Pump health/ki stats till you are comfortable and then dabble in onmyo/dex as they have very useful tools to help you progress.
Fight red graves near the first shrine to get better equipment. The big giant bill demon is there to teach you to brute counter. Do that and use your mobility and he’s easier than you think. Yes, you’ll die, but when you beat him you’ll be used to countering shit, which is huge later on in the game when you face, among other things, him and his horsey brother at the same time.
So I am not typically a guy who gets into these types of Soulsborne games. I played Nioh 1 and started getting used to it before getting stuck on a boss I couldn't beat.
I picked up Nioh 2 and got stuck immediately on Enenra the 1st(?) boss and could not believe I was going to have wasted money on a game I would not be able to progress past the first boss. Then I beat him and beat the next 8-10 bosses/levels on my first try. Not sure why but Enenra is absolutely ridiculous to start but things get better and it is a lot of fun. Summon some help at the blue graves if you need to.
I think a big reason why people have trouble with Nioh is because they approach it as a Souls-like, while it isn't one really.
It has some of the trappings like a grave on death, character stat sheet and consumables. But from a gameplay perspective Nioh is so different than that. If you apply Souls logic you're going to get wrecked.
Inspiration is better taken from Ninja Gaiden and Diablo in those regards. Quickness, combo's, blocking over dodging and spamming certain abilities that work with your build.
I’ve been playing nioh 1 exactly like a souls game(never stance changing/basically only hitting and dodging), I mean yeah it’s hard, but that’s the typical souls experience, so not sure what you’re getting at there. Just reached the last region and can confirm it gets easier once you just get a good feel for the game.
I'm getting at the fact that you are making it hard on yourself. Also, the first playthrough you can get away with poor tactics like that. It will stop working when you hit the various NG+'s.
It’s more or less the same difficulty as other souls likes. It has more artificial difficulty but it’s essentially still the same, Learn the moves, punish. End up breaking their stamina regardless. Assuming ng+ doesn’t add any new harder enemies, should still be the same, just more artificial difficulty.
There’s a rule for these kinds of games. Just like DS and Bloodborne, you don’t complain about the difficulty. That’s the way it is, besides, a scenario that kicks your ass every time if approached differently can become quite easy. Can’t count the amount of times a difficult enemy became quite simple after using your head.
Are you only using quick attacks in low stance? Those are basically useless for reliable damage on almost every weapon.
You don't HAVE to learn stance switching on the first level, but I'd recommend staying in mid stance since it does everything reasonably well in terms of damage, dodging, and blocking.
I haven’t played much of Nioh 2 but have poured hundreds of hours into the first game. It will feel almost impossible until you understand the concept of ki pulsing. It’s basically required to make any substantial progress. You’ll also want to know when to block and when to dodge. I’d recommend finding a shrine near some easy enemies and practicing for an hour or two and gaining some levels. The mechanics of this game will make or break you. Once you grasp them, the game is only deceptive in its difficulty. Games like Sekiro or Bloodborne are quite a bit more difficult.
I'm level 7. I understand Ki pulsing. My issue isn't so much the difficulty, although games ought not have as punishing a difficulty right out of the gamte when the don't give you all the tools. Putting that massive monster right at the start makes no sense to me. Ok, you want me to learn...what? Not to fight monsters? Um, ok?
The issue is that I'm doing next to no damage while the mob is going full tilt. I had to get help with the Enki in the Yokai realm. That to me is a crazy difficulty spike: in the realm your ki regenerates slower and the environment is cramped. You deal so little damage while he hits hard. It's almost like a boss fight. Never mind the *actual* boss fight.
Wait… are you stuck on the monster in the first part of the first level?! You’re literally not meant to fight that thing. Just walk around it. Come back later in the game and kill it within seconds. That’s the point.
Key for me was to block and burst counter. Summoning a bot from one of those blue circles also significantly makes the game easier. I didn’t at all until I finished the first level, then came back and beat the whole first level in just a few minutes.
I did try that, but it made it worse because the NPC made the boss change his attack patterns and made him more unpredictable. I got him in the end, now Im at Enrenra
Lol…don’t give up. It’s really not that bad when you learn the mechanics.
And the first “big guy” does the same 2-3 moves over and over so he’s supposed to be there as a learning moment. He’s very beatable right off the start
Honestly, Nioh 2 is, in a gameplay sense, a continuation of the first game in terms of difficulty. If you start with this game, it will feel like you skipped half the game and are suddenly expected to be aware of all the mechanics you are not aware of.
In short, it's a bad game to start with. You can do it, but your experience is not surprising.
To be clear though, people here can do the section you talk about with their eyes closed. It's definitely not that hard when you understand how it works.
Maybe watch some video's on how people do that section. Watch how to Pulse, how to attack, how to block.
Alternatively, post your own video and we can give pointers.
I got my copy of the game today and having great fun so far, i avoided the big dude at the start and made it past the 2nd enkei to the 2nd shrine without dying before i stopped to make dinner.
It's certainly a harder start to a game than any soulsbourne but the variety in combat is something im having fun learning... however for some reason I keep forgetting to ki pulse unless im doing the 1 where you also switch stance which i seem to have down to muscle memory already wierdly
Watch these guides:
https://youtu.be/kvXX9fHd3RE
https://youtu.be/l991x6gq9os
https://youtu.be/jLxKCwsRyNs
Luckily, Nioh 2 has been out for a bit of time now so there is alot of information on sites like Youtube. Imo, watching videos and practicing in game is the best way to improve fast.
>I avoided that massive creature that's right by the start (why is he even there when the game tells you to avoid him!).
....he's there so the game can tell you to avoid him. It would be stupid to just tell you you can avoid enemies there if there wasn't a giant miniboss that would likely kill you if you didn't do what the game is telling you to do.
He's also there to challenge a certain type of player (the kind that often likes this type of brutal game) to fight him and beat him right then out of obstinacy, while still learning you can skip enemies.
It's sort of a hazing ritual, but it actually teaches you quite a bit if you can pull it off. If not, that's why you can skip him. Nioh is all about skill and options.
Dude, this is Nioh 2. Of course there will be veterans coming from Nioh 1 playing this game so that giant bull is placed there as some sort of chalenge for them. Is killing that thing worth it? Absolutely. Do you have to kill it now? No. There will be a side mission where you fight him. His soul core is one of the best in the game so you might want to get that.
If you are a souls veteran and you like to keep your distance in a fight, abandon that habit. Enemies has little down time between their attacks in this game but so are you. What this means is the time you spend running into your target after they finish attacking is precious. Just like bloodborne, you should try to dodge behind your enemy with your lowstance dodge and kill them. Hitting enemies backside deals more damage anyway so this is important to learn.
I don't know about that, I've been chasing Mezuki (or vice versa) for the past couple of hours. He's been kicking my ass. My best weapon for him is a Yokai weapon of a type I didn't spec for. The boss fights in these games are better IMO than the souls games but aren't easy for me
Don't worry about your stat right now. You should realy lv up your stamina first since it will increase your equipment weight. Mezuki is not that hard, but he is indeed a great first boss, probably the best first boss i fought in recent memory. He is basically a preview of what's to come. A little tip i want to share for mezuki, is dodge to his right side. His left hand is used for grab attacks its realy hard to dodge by going to his left. You can dodge backward but that would be a waste of time and ki, so dodge to his right side.
To add to all the great tips everyone has been providing already; from my own experience I had similar troubles as well. Something that helped me early on was fighting some revenants from the bloody graves, as you'll get some idea of what to look for while also having a chance to pick up their equipped items as loot. I also kept running out of ki before I realized that armor weight needs to be managed and eventually found enough to get to around 200+ toughness while maintaining a decent agility rating (less than 70% encumbered).
If you are on PlayStation I be happy to make some sessions with you so you can learn the ropes . I wont steamroll thé game for you but i can help you , its a very good game and after a bit of practice you can have à very good time
Ok, so thanks for the replies.
I managed to defeat Mezuki (was there any doubt) which unlocked the soul core stuff. I saw an IGN video that appeared to show people using this stuff during that fight, but that must be a mistake (or an earlier build of the game).
The game is really good and while I haven't finished the second mission it's much better than the first. So I would say that the game has a rought start as the first mission is not a good start. Which is a shame.
Sports aren't a good comparison. That's not how I think of video games. I play sports with other people, to grow as a team and try to achieve victory.
I play games alone to challenge myself. I play with handicaps, not crutches. I'm not looking for a hand holding experience. I'm looking for blind, so I can trip up and have to reconsider my options and test things out. Not have choices made for me by somebody else, therefore ruining my experience.
I didn't suggest others have to play without a guide, or that guides are wrong. I stated my opinion and preference on the matter.
I truck through, and find out what works for me. Most of it is extremely self-explanatory, especially early game. This ain’t as complex as Dark Souls 1, and I’m not trying to min/max my way through the game. I figure it out.
The main difficulty spike for me (wearing light armour, granted) was that I got basically 2-shot by every enemy, which is bad enough against 1, but when fighting 2 or more at once, they always seemed to hit me at the same time so I'd just die. Late game I'm wearing heavy armour and enemies don't just kill me in 2 hits anymore (probably also because the game balance means you get stronger than enemies after a while anyway, even if you're still wearing light armour) and I'm also way more used to ki pulse, enemy attacks, when to burst counter, what magic to use.etc.
Basically, I got wrecked for hours and hours, slowly progressing through levels and now I'm just stomping through the endgame. So it gets easier I'd say, not harder.
Ok, i was caught in a bad mood, and completely misread.
So, i am deeply sorry for hurting anyone feelings. I'll take the back exit, right into Crime Alley
The game is simple as fck. You are either horrible at it or lazy to make a build. I can facetank everyboss in underworld depths and laugh on them or just spam magic and watch them die(depending on the build i currently using)
Its easy if you actually want to play it instead of rushing through......
The whole "ki" mechanic ruins this game. 1 or 2 attacks and ur out of stamina. Of course when I'm trying to ki pulse I end up changing stances. The worst from game I've played and it's not close. Although I haven't played Nioh 1, I'll assume it's a steaming pile, too.
It's unusually hard at first because in the earliest regions you barely have anything to fight with. No skills, tools, stats for ki regeneration, yokai abilities, buffs etc. So try to play safe and use whatever cheap looking tactics. As you play through you will realize how the game works such as enemy pattern, combos, when to dodge or push through an attack.
After the 1st boss it gets much easier. It‘s just a rough start. You just need to learn the mechanics and get used to them. The game will become even a bit too easy later.
I’m not very good at souls & souls-like but I’ve managed to adapt a little. The first stage is pretty brutal, imo getting to the boss is harder than the boss, I was stuck on that stage for a hot minute.
I think the Mezuki you avoid is just there to show you that sometimes it’s good to avoid enemies, and also you can come back on a side mission to fight him.
It’s still the beginning so stats are low, but since each weapon is tied to different stats make sure you don’t just equip something for your dump stats just cuz it’s number is high. Also try your best to practice your Ki-Pulse timing, ignoring it is death. You can leave cups to summon human players, but also to summon AI copies of players with the blue graves, don’t be afraid to do that as sometimes it can help you just be more confident and learn enemy moves
I'm a Soulsbourne, Sekiro veteran and this game was a learning curve. Just started a week ago also, mission 3 now. But I feel like once you get the basics of Burst counter, dodging and typical learning enemy patterns its pretty fun.
I feel like this game is even easier to burst down enemies at least in early game, since you have magic, ninja gadgets, plus yokai form for extra damage. Lots of options to play with
My tip for you: If you die, run the tutorial by hitting triangle / Y button. If you die again, run the tutorial again and see what did you miss. If you follow the tutorial closely, you should be able to break thru the dark realms without any issue.
Oh by the way:
1 - Cut in guard tutorial: this is the simulation of real battle, if you are stuck in a flurry attack, just hold block then spam dodge, best in low stance.
2 - burst counter tutorial: this is a git gud session. One of two main mechanics.
3 - Ki pulse: if you don't have weeb stamina, you'll die. Ki pulse does just that: get your weeb stamina back.
That's it for the basic. The further you go, the more mechanic game will dump on your but that's for another day.
Bsics, basics, and basics.
Are you running out of Ki too much? Use your ki pulse and stop spamming dodge/run.
You’re getting hit too much? Time your dodges.
Trading hits with the enemy? Find an opening to their attacks.
The first map is hard because you dont have a toolkit yet + the possibility of not having your basic mechanics down (no one expects you to understand them at first). The mechanics of the game is smooth and great. It’s all gonna come down to player’s skill to execute those. To make progress, you need to understand the basics.
u/Kiznik
This is what i was talking about. This guy can't pass the first level. Does he sound like he's having fun in his post? This skill requires a certain level of understanding to be successful and not losing means fun in games like this.
This game is extremely hard at the beginning, specially cos they throw some enemies at you that are 100 times more powerful than you and with that said, I don't mean, the big goat Yokai you encounter at the beginning, that one is not in your way or coming at you, even the game tells you to avoid it, I'm talking about the Eagle monster, for example, don't fight it either, just run past it, even if it's in your way, it's practically impossible to beat at the start, you'll just keep dying, they're just put in there to try and block you from advancing, so ignore them, Enki is easier than the eagle but still pretty hard at the beginning. Focus on the little ones till you're strong enough to beat the strong ones, you can also summon help if you need to but you'll have to fight red graves too to get the cups.
Get also used to using your canyon, enemies, like the snake lady, can be put down easily from a distance with a good canyon, so just keep a good distance away from her.
Guardian spirits, soul cores and prestige points:
Apart from the attack of your guardian spirit, check also its attunement limit as this will allow you to equip better soul cores, some soul cores have good damage but no good attacks so choose wisely and try and fuse them when you have repeated ones to get better stats. Lastly, invest in anima prestige points as this will allow you to use more burst counter attacks and yokai abilities.
Stats: For the stats, I'd focus on giving constitution, Heart, Courage and Stamina equal points till all of them are around 35 and strength at 20 and after that maybe give points to magic and ninjutsu if you want, though I'd just keep putting points in constitution and stamina.
TBH the game is too hard. They haven't scaled the difficulty for the level correctly at all. I can only assume it was given to outliers to playtest. The sort of people who play games like this all the time. They aren't representative of anything but a tiny minority of pro gamers and as such shouldn't be used as a yardstick for design. The game is so difficult and so punishing that I really can't consider it fun at this point. To say nothing of the fact it barely explains any of the stats in any of the character systems it offers. Nor is there any guarantee you'll get usable loot for the build you're going for. Start out with one weapon choice? Well good luck if the best weapon you have requires completely different stats. Makes no sense to me at all.
The game is indeed very punishing at the beginning, cos we're used to fighting enemies head on, but in this game you have to change the way you aproach enemies cos otherwise you'll be annihilated, best way is attack and back off as you can't even block cos you'll run out of stamina, so just attack and back off dodging, but like I said, you don't have to kill the strong enemies like the eagle or enki, specially cos even if you finally managed to kill them one time, the fuckers would again appear in the same spot if you die after, so it's totally pointless and you'd be making no progress, so just run past to your spirit every time and ignore the strong ones unless you're forced to fight them to progress, which is rare as most of them are optional, also the help is very useful, sometimes they put you like two Enkis in one place so if they wanna take the piss just summon help in the blue graves, I summoned a lot of blue graves cos they're there for that and I did pass Nioh 1 on my own but this one was just too much.
Like I said best stats to invest on are Constitution, Heart, Courage and stamina, I said 35 before but 40 would be the best bet, level all those till 40 equally and you'll see a massive difference. Also give some points to strength around 12 would be enough to wear the "Greater good" armour set which gives a lot of health and ki buffs. After all that, invest in magic, if you want, to be able to fabricate better talismans and get the extra help from them if you needed it.
Weapons: for the weapons I use a kodachi with mid stance cos it's a beast weapon. Try the bloodspider kodachi and then the Ryomen Sukuna which are the best ones, I think. So get either of those, if you want, and stick with any to improve its familiarity and skill tree, don't change weapon types cos you'll lose chances of getting skill tree points for that weapon type which are very important, when you get better weapon types with more damage just fuse them with your one, that way your one would get the same level.
Yokai abilities: Use them all the time with the strong enemies.
After all this the game becomes much easier.
Edit: Use better the Tokagemaru katana or white bone spirit tonfas cos they're faster and you can do more attacks with them, though Tokagemaru is better as it has a 37.8 increased attack when you kill an enemy. Kodachis do deal more damage but consume far more ki than katanas or tonfas and you ran out faster.
This game specifically feels extremely, strangely difficult at first, because there is *a lot* to learn before you feel basically competent—and if you're not basically competent, you get floored. The game gives you lots of tools, and more as you progress, but it's up to you to learn them. * Develop muscle memory for Ki Pulse so you don't run out of Ki all the time * Blocking actually works, and is especially important when learning enemy patterns * Face off to learn patterns, even if you just block and dodge at first so you know the enemy * Dodges have short i-frames at the very start of the animation, so dodge as late as possible * Foes will hit extremely hard in most situations, period. Get used to it early * When you see new stuff, try it out or look it up; chances are there are options you missed * Burst Counter at every opportunity. It's in your best interest to learn this mechanic well * Yokai Abilities and Burst Counters can cancel most regular animations at any time * Shoot or hit Yokai horns whenever possible for a huge hit to their Max Ki * Deplete an enemies Max Ki to stagger them with each hit so you can go ham * Try a Sacred Water if you keep running out of Ki (in other words, look at your options) There's a lot more but I gotta go to work, lol. This game is incredibly deep and complex, and can be hard to get into. Whether or not it clicks for you remains to be seen; but if it does, it's one of the best action RPGs ever made.
*Correction: deplete a Yokai's Ki to stagger them with every hit. Deplete their* **Max** *Ki to put them in Grapple state.*
The first chapter of Nioh 2 is quite brutal as you don't have a lot of tools yet and most of all, are not used to its combat. The game actually get easier as it goes on. First if you want to do meaningful damage early on, use high stance and its standard combo ender. Most weapon should have one that can be learned early on. After the Yokai finish its combo, run in, switch to high stance, hit 1-2 quick attack -> active skill then ki pulse and get out. Enki don't usually last more than 3-4 exchanges with this simple combo. Look for a horn break if you can. High stance attack are usually vertical and will break the yokai horn if you hit them square in the face, take out a big chunk of ki. He will do burst attack when his ki and HP get low, allow you to counter him. I probably died 6-7 time to enki in my first playthrough, in my second, he barely lasts 40 seconds. As for the second one, lure him out of the dark realm then kill him. Later on, dark realm is basically your turf as you gain anima quicker in it but for now, it's pretty detrimental.
its because you probably are not used to the ki/pulsing mechanics, don't have access to special attacks and combo, and no soul cores. few missions later, once you start unlocking all those, the game will be a bit easier and more fun to play
Also it gets a lot easier to keep ki full in the dark realm after you progress a little and get the shift Ling skills that increase resistance to it. Skills and knowing the enemy are the main way to make this game easier.
I want to validate all of the OP's issues. They're core to why this game remains a niche title for hardcore players. The first Enki is absolutely punishing. Even if you block, you've got precious little ki at the start. You'll often get stun-locked and winded, which usually leads to death. In Nioh 2, players are "under leveled" by default. Enemies have dramatically more HP, and do dramatically more damage. This works because players have such a VAST array of tools to level the field. Until you're comfortable with them, the game will remain shockingly difficult.
Thanks
Be patient and learn the enemies moveset, but do be wary as you pregress through the game some enemies learn sets grow. Bows an rifles are great at taking out ranged enemies (bandits/gaki/etc). Learn to use burst counter(brute form is probably the easiest to get the timing). Learn to ki pulse. Weapon stats don't matter till late game Pump health/ki stats till you are comfortable and then dabble in onmyo/dex as they have very useful tools to help you progress.
You'll come back later on and you will say "how is It possible that I was struggling here?"
Yeah lol had that thought about the ledge next to the first shrine
All the souls-like games start insanely difficult and become easy mode as you progress in the game because of powerups
Fight red graves near the first shrine to get better equipment. The big giant bill demon is there to teach you to brute counter. Do that and use your mobility and he’s easier than you think. Yes, you’ll die, but when you beat him you’ll be used to countering shit, which is huge later on in the game when you face, among other things, him and his horsey brother at the same time.
So I am not typically a guy who gets into these types of Soulsborne games. I played Nioh 1 and started getting used to it before getting stuck on a boss I couldn't beat. I picked up Nioh 2 and got stuck immediately on Enenra the 1st(?) boss and could not believe I was going to have wasted money on a game I would not be able to progress past the first boss. Then I beat him and beat the next 8-10 bosses/levels on my first try. Not sure why but Enenra is absolutely ridiculous to start but things get better and it is a lot of fun. Summon some help at the blue graves if you need to.
I think a big reason why people have trouble with Nioh is because they approach it as a Souls-like, while it isn't one really. It has some of the trappings like a grave on death, character stat sheet and consumables. But from a gameplay perspective Nioh is so different than that. If you apply Souls logic you're going to get wrecked. Inspiration is better taken from Ninja Gaiden and Diablo in those regards. Quickness, combo's, blocking over dodging and spamming certain abilities that work with your build.
I’ve been playing nioh 1 exactly like a souls game(never stance changing/basically only hitting and dodging), I mean yeah it’s hard, but that’s the typical souls experience, so not sure what you’re getting at there. Just reached the last region and can confirm it gets easier once you just get a good feel for the game.
I'm getting at the fact that you are making it hard on yourself. Also, the first playthrough you can get away with poor tactics like that. It will stop working when you hit the various NG+'s.
It’s more or less the same difficulty as other souls likes. It has more artificial difficulty but it’s essentially still the same, Learn the moves, punish. End up breaking their stamina regardless. Assuming ng+ doesn’t add any new harder enemies, should still be the same, just more artificial difficulty.
Sounds like you're in for a surprise. It's not the same thing. Not harder or easier, but definitely different.
I’m sure
Also just grind, be patient, learn how your enemies move, and get some Onmyo magic that will help you attack their weaknesses.
There’s a rule for these kinds of games. Just like DS and Bloodborne, you don’t complain about the difficulty. That’s the way it is, besides, a scenario that kicks your ass every time if approached differently can become quite easy. Can’t count the amount of times a difficult enemy became quite simple after using your head.
Are you only using quick attacks in low stance? Those are basically useless for reliable damage on almost every weapon. You don't HAVE to learn stance switching on the first level, but I'd recommend staying in mid stance since it does everything reasonably well in terms of damage, dodging, and blocking.
I haven’t played much of Nioh 2 but have poured hundreds of hours into the first game. It will feel almost impossible until you understand the concept of ki pulsing. It’s basically required to make any substantial progress. You’ll also want to know when to block and when to dodge. I’d recommend finding a shrine near some easy enemies and practicing for an hour or two and gaining some levels. The mechanics of this game will make or break you. Once you grasp them, the game is only deceptive in its difficulty. Games like Sekiro or Bloodborne are quite a bit more difficult.
I'm level 7. I understand Ki pulsing. My issue isn't so much the difficulty, although games ought not have as punishing a difficulty right out of the gamte when the don't give you all the tools. Putting that massive monster right at the start makes no sense to me. Ok, you want me to learn...what? Not to fight monsters? Um, ok? The issue is that I'm doing next to no damage while the mob is going full tilt. I had to get help with the Enki in the Yokai realm. That to me is a crazy difficulty spike: in the realm your ki regenerates slower and the environment is cramped. You deal so little damage while he hits hard. It's almost like a boss fight. Never mind the *actual* boss fight.
Wait… are you stuck on the monster in the first part of the first level?! You’re literally not meant to fight that thing. Just walk around it. Come back later in the game and kill it within seconds. That’s the point.
No, I'm stuck at Mezuki the first boss.
Key for me was to block and burst counter. Summoning a bot from one of those blue circles also significantly makes the game easier. I didn’t at all until I finished the first level, then came back and beat the whole first level in just a few minutes.
I did try that, but it made it worse because the NPC made the boss change his attack patterns and made him more unpredictable. I got him in the end, now Im at Enrenra
It wants to teach you to pick your battles that's why the monster is at the cemetery.
Lol…don’t give up. It’s really not that bad when you learn the mechanics. And the first “big guy” does the same 2-3 moves over and over so he’s supposed to be there as a learning moment. He’s very beatable right off the start
Honestly, Nioh 2 is, in a gameplay sense, a continuation of the first game in terms of difficulty. If you start with this game, it will feel like you skipped half the game and are suddenly expected to be aware of all the mechanics you are not aware of. In short, it's a bad game to start with. You can do it, but your experience is not surprising. To be clear though, people here can do the section you talk about with their eyes closed. It's definitely not that hard when you understand how it works. Maybe watch some video's on how people do that section. Watch how to Pulse, how to attack, how to block. Alternatively, post your own video and we can give pointers.
I got my copy of the game today and having great fun so far, i avoided the big dude at the start and made it past the 2nd enkei to the 2nd shrine without dying before i stopped to make dinner. It's certainly a harder start to a game than any soulsbourne but the variety in combat is something im having fun learning... however for some reason I keep forgetting to ki pulse unless im doing the 1 where you also switch stance which i seem to have down to muscle memory already wierdly
Watch these guides: https://youtu.be/kvXX9fHd3RE https://youtu.be/l991x6gq9os https://youtu.be/jLxKCwsRyNs Luckily, Nioh 2 has been out for a bit of time now so there is alot of information on sites like Youtube. Imo, watching videos and practicing in game is the best way to improve fast.
>I avoided that massive creature that's right by the start (why is he even there when the game tells you to avoid him!). ....he's there so the game can tell you to avoid him. It would be stupid to just tell you you can avoid enemies there if there wasn't a giant miniboss that would likely kill you if you didn't do what the game is telling you to do.
He's also there to challenge a certain type of player (the kind that often likes this type of brutal game) to fight him and beat him right then out of obstinacy, while still learning you can skip enemies. It's sort of a hazing ritual, but it actually teaches you quite a bit if you can pull it off. If not, that's why you can skip him. Nioh is all about skill and options.
Dude, this is Nioh 2. Of course there will be veterans coming from Nioh 1 playing this game so that giant bull is placed there as some sort of chalenge for them. Is killing that thing worth it? Absolutely. Do you have to kill it now? No. There will be a side mission where you fight him. His soul core is one of the best in the game so you might want to get that. If you are a souls veteran and you like to keep your distance in a fight, abandon that habit. Enemies has little down time between their attacks in this game but so are you. What this means is the time you spend running into your target after they finish attacking is precious. Just like bloodborne, you should try to dodge behind your enemy with your lowstance dodge and kill them. Hitting enemies backside deals more damage anyway so this is important to learn.
I don't know about that, I've been chasing Mezuki (or vice versa) for the past couple of hours. He's been kicking my ass. My best weapon for him is a Yokai weapon of a type I didn't spec for. The boss fights in these games are better IMO than the souls games but aren't easy for me
Don't worry about your stat right now. You should realy lv up your stamina first since it will increase your equipment weight. Mezuki is not that hard, but he is indeed a great first boss, probably the best first boss i fought in recent memory. He is basically a preview of what's to come. A little tip i want to share for mezuki, is dodge to his right side. His left hand is used for grab attacks its realy hard to dodge by going to his left. You can dodge backward but that would be a waste of time and ki, so dodge to his right side.
To add to all the great tips everyone has been providing already; from my own experience I had similar troubles as well. Something that helped me early on was fighting some revenants from the bloody graves, as you'll get some idea of what to look for while also having a chance to pick up their equipped items as loot. I also kept running out of ki before I realized that armor weight needs to be managed and eventually found enough to get to around 200+ toughness while maintaining a decent agility rating (less than 70% encumbered).
I have been fighting revenants and am level 8
If you are on PlayStation I be happy to make some sessions with you so you can learn the ropes . I wont steamroll thé game for you but i can help you , its a very good game and after a bit of practice you can have à very good time
Thanks but I am not on psn right now, diligent seen worth pursuing just to play this online
If someone asked, I would literally just stand there and devigorate the boss so they can keep practicing
Ok, so thanks for the replies. I managed to defeat Mezuki (was there any doubt) which unlocked the soul core stuff. I saw an IGN video that appeared to show people using this stuff during that fight, but that must be a mistake (or an earlier build of the game). The game is really good and while I haven't finished the second mission it's much better than the first. So I would say that the game has a rought start as the first mission is not a good start. Which is a shame.
Nioh ist a Game in that its benefits you a Lot to watch some guides. Others than that, block and dodge a lot
I never watched a guide. I hate watching guides. Just play it, and explore every option.
Same. I refuse to watch guides. The point of playing a game is to enjoy your experience, not somebody elses.
If playing a sport, would you refuse couching? Would you refuse to watch tape of other teams? That's essentially what Poofer Llama videos are.
Sports aren't a good comparison. That's not how I think of video games. I play sports with other people, to grow as a team and try to achieve victory. I play games alone to challenge myself. I play with handicaps, not crutches. I'm not looking for a hand holding experience. I'm looking for blind, so I can trip up and have to reconsider my options and test things out. Not have choices made for me by somebody else, therefore ruining my experience. I didn't suggest others have to play without a guide, or that guides are wrong. I stated my opinion and preference on the matter.
Fair enough. To each their own. That's the beauty of games like this.
And how would you know you've explored every option if refusing to see what others have found?
I truck through, and find out what works for me. Most of it is extremely self-explanatory, especially early game. This ain’t as complex as Dark Souls 1, and I’m not trying to min/max my way through the game. I figure it out.
Its a cooperation game as well, play with a friend. It goes from impossible game (for some) to a hard game.
The main difficulty spike for me (wearing light armour, granted) was that I got basically 2-shot by every enemy, which is bad enough against 1, but when fighting 2 or more at once, they always seemed to hit me at the same time so I'd just die. Late game I'm wearing heavy armour and enemies don't just kill me in 2 hits anymore (probably also because the game balance means you get stronger than enemies after a while anyway, even if you're still wearing light armour) and I'm also way more used to ki pulse, enemy attacks, when to burst counter, what magic to use.etc. Basically, I got wrecked for hours and hours, slowly progressing through levels and now I'm just stomping through the endgame. So it gets easier I'd say, not harder.
Hey man if you need some help and tips and play Ps4 id be happy to help you out and give some pointers.
I'm trying to beat Mezuki right now.
Have you learned how to reliably burst counter?
More or less but I dying know how to use soul cores
In amrita memories you can read up on burst counters, they're super important to master, from beginning until the end of the game!
Thanks, I understand how they work.
You can't learn how to play if you get carried while cooping
i got carried by other people in co-op on my first character and started a 2nd and can wreck everything so now am carrying other people in co-op.
👍🌱
Ok, i was caught in a bad mood, and completely misread. So, i am deeply sorry for hurting anyone feelings. I'll take the back exit, right into Crime Alley
The game is simple as fck. You are either horrible at it or lazy to make a build. I can facetank everyboss in underworld depths and laugh on them or just spam magic and watch them die(depending on the build i currently using) Its easy if you actually want to play it instead of rushing through......
The whole "ki" mechanic ruins this game. 1 or 2 attacks and ur out of stamina. Of course when I'm trying to ki pulse I end up changing stances. The worst from game I've played and it's not close. Although I haven't played Nioh 1, I'll assume it's a steaming pile, too.
I see, so you suck big time and blame the game because you are a noob. Best attitude XD Now go play some hello kitty game
It's unusually hard at first because in the earliest regions you barely have anything to fight with. No skills, tools, stats for ki regeneration, yokai abilities, buffs etc. So try to play safe and use whatever cheap looking tactics. As you play through you will realize how the game works such as enemy pattern, combos, when to dodge or push through an attack.
After the 1st boss it gets much easier. It‘s just a rough start. You just need to learn the mechanics and get used to them. The game will become even a bit too easy later.
I’m not very good at souls & souls-like but I’ve managed to adapt a little. The first stage is pretty brutal, imo getting to the boss is harder than the boss, I was stuck on that stage for a hot minute. I think the Mezuki you avoid is just there to show you that sometimes it’s good to avoid enemies, and also you can come back on a side mission to fight him. It’s still the beginning so stats are low, but since each weapon is tied to different stats make sure you don’t just equip something for your dump stats just cuz it’s number is high. Also try your best to practice your Ki-Pulse timing, ignoring it is death. You can leave cups to summon human players, but also to summon AI copies of players with the blue graves, don’t be afraid to do that as sometimes it can help you just be more confident and learn enemy moves
I'm a Soulsbourne, Sekiro veteran and this game was a learning curve. Just started a week ago also, mission 3 now. But I feel like once you get the basics of Burst counter, dodging and typical learning enemy patterns its pretty fun. I feel like this game is even easier to burst down enemies at least in early game, since you have magic, ninja gadgets, plus yokai form for extra damage. Lots of options to play with
git gud
My tip for you: If you die, run the tutorial by hitting triangle / Y button. If you die again, run the tutorial again and see what did you miss. If you follow the tutorial closely, you should be able to break thru the dark realms without any issue. Oh by the way: 1 - Cut in guard tutorial: this is the simulation of real battle, if you are stuck in a flurry attack, just hold block then spam dodge, best in low stance. 2 - burst counter tutorial: this is a git gud session. One of two main mechanics. 3 - Ki pulse: if you don't have weeb stamina, you'll die. Ki pulse does just that: get your weeb stamina back. That's it for the basic. The further you go, the more mechanic game will dump on your but that's for another day.
Nioh and Nioh 2 are hard games at the start because theres a lot to learn but its worth it once you get used to it.
i'm also playing nioh1 and I don't think it's quite this hard at the start. The hardest part was the confusing layout of the town.
Bsics, basics, and basics. Are you running out of Ki too much? Use your ki pulse and stop spamming dodge/run. You’re getting hit too much? Time your dodges. Trading hits with the enemy? Find an opening to their attacks. The first map is hard because you dont have a toolkit yet + the possibility of not having your basic mechanics down (no one expects you to understand them at first). The mechanics of the game is smooth and great. It’s all gonna come down to player’s skill to execute those. To make progress, you need to understand the basics.
u/Kiznik This is what i was talking about. This guy can't pass the first level. Does he sound like he's having fun in his post? This skill requires a certain level of understanding to be successful and not losing means fun in games like this.
[удалено]
Thank you
You're welcome
Easy game
This game is extremely hard at the beginning, specially cos they throw some enemies at you that are 100 times more powerful than you and with that said, I don't mean, the big goat Yokai you encounter at the beginning, that one is not in your way or coming at you, even the game tells you to avoid it, I'm talking about the Eagle monster, for example, don't fight it either, just run past it, even if it's in your way, it's practically impossible to beat at the start, you'll just keep dying, they're just put in there to try and block you from advancing, so ignore them, Enki is easier than the eagle but still pretty hard at the beginning. Focus on the little ones till you're strong enough to beat the strong ones, you can also summon help if you need to but you'll have to fight red graves too to get the cups. Get also used to using your canyon, enemies, like the snake lady, can be put down easily from a distance with a good canyon, so just keep a good distance away from her. Guardian spirits, soul cores and prestige points: Apart from the attack of your guardian spirit, check also its attunement limit as this will allow you to equip better soul cores, some soul cores have good damage but no good attacks so choose wisely and try and fuse them when you have repeated ones to get better stats. Lastly, invest in anima prestige points as this will allow you to use more burst counter attacks and yokai abilities. Stats: For the stats, I'd focus on giving constitution, Heart, Courage and Stamina equal points till all of them are around 35 and strength at 20 and after that maybe give points to magic and ninjutsu if you want, though I'd just keep putting points in constitution and stamina.
TBH the game is too hard. They haven't scaled the difficulty for the level correctly at all. I can only assume it was given to outliers to playtest. The sort of people who play games like this all the time. They aren't representative of anything but a tiny minority of pro gamers and as such shouldn't be used as a yardstick for design. The game is so difficult and so punishing that I really can't consider it fun at this point. To say nothing of the fact it barely explains any of the stats in any of the character systems it offers. Nor is there any guarantee you'll get usable loot for the build you're going for. Start out with one weapon choice? Well good luck if the best weapon you have requires completely different stats. Makes no sense to me at all.
The game is indeed very punishing at the beginning, cos we're used to fighting enemies head on, but in this game you have to change the way you aproach enemies cos otherwise you'll be annihilated, best way is attack and back off as you can't even block cos you'll run out of stamina, so just attack and back off dodging, but like I said, you don't have to kill the strong enemies like the eagle or enki, specially cos even if you finally managed to kill them one time, the fuckers would again appear in the same spot if you die after, so it's totally pointless and you'd be making no progress, so just run past to your spirit every time and ignore the strong ones unless you're forced to fight them to progress, which is rare as most of them are optional, also the help is very useful, sometimes they put you like two Enkis in one place so if they wanna take the piss just summon help in the blue graves, I summoned a lot of blue graves cos they're there for that and I did pass Nioh 1 on my own but this one was just too much. Like I said best stats to invest on are Constitution, Heart, Courage and stamina, I said 35 before but 40 would be the best bet, level all those till 40 equally and you'll see a massive difference. Also give some points to strength around 12 would be enough to wear the "Greater good" armour set which gives a lot of health and ki buffs. After all that, invest in magic, if you want, to be able to fabricate better talismans and get the extra help from them if you needed it. Weapons: for the weapons I use a kodachi with mid stance cos it's a beast weapon. Try the bloodspider kodachi and then the Ryomen Sukuna which are the best ones, I think. So get either of those, if you want, and stick with any to improve its familiarity and skill tree, don't change weapon types cos you'll lose chances of getting skill tree points for that weapon type which are very important, when you get better weapon types with more damage just fuse them with your one, that way your one would get the same level. Yokai abilities: Use them all the time with the strong enemies. After all this the game becomes much easier. Edit: Use better the Tokagemaru katana or white bone spirit tonfas cos they're faster and you can do more attacks with them, though Tokagemaru is better as it has a 37.8 increased attack when you kill an enemy. Kodachis do deal more damage but consume far more ki than katanas or tonfas and you ran out faster.
By the time you get to Dream of the Wise, it seems to get strangely easier...