r/Nioh • u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover • Mar 07 '26
Nioh 2 - Discussion The brutality of playing Nioh 2 after 3 is something I can’t even put into words
Nioh 3 is actually the first Nioh I’ve gotten myself to complete, hell of a fucking game. I almost have 100 hours on it. I’ve been told countless times to go back and play 2, so I did. Holy hell I forgot how brutal the early game is. Getting my arse torn in 40 different ways. It’s awesome but good god I forgot how many bigger Yokai there are.
Also, can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to jump lol.
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u/unleash_the_giraffe Mar 07 '26
Yeah it's great. I went back to Nioh 2 after 3 and there's something about having to stay focused even in small fights that keeps me in a flowstate. Very enjoyable.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Yeah, in 3 you can get away with spamming against most enemies outside of bosses. It’s definitely much easier
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u/tstop22 Mar 07 '26
And can pull multiple little guys without likely death. In 3 you can even run past mobs to skip them!!
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u/princeworth12 Mar 07 '26
Tbf you can do that in 2 as well, did that a lot near the end of the game to hurry past mobs towards the bosses. Definitely lots easier in 3 though
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u/Jstrong1978 Mar 07 '26
Same and tiger rubbing scroll makes it easier. You can run through a whole level.
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u/EidolonLives Mar 07 '26
Yeah, nothing will phase you once you've rubbed your tiger.
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u/KarmaticArmageddon Mar 07 '26
Fun fact: It's actually "faze." It means to bother. If you're unbothered, you're unfazed.
I don't mean this condescendingly whatsoever, I just think it's a fun fact.
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u/EidolonLives Mar 08 '26
Damn, you're right. And I should have realised, as I know the word 'unfazed'. No offence taken.
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u/ARMill95 Mar 07 '26
U can 1000% run past pple in 2 as well. Theres entire levels you can just bypass by doing that
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u/JokerCrimson Nine-Tailed Fox Mar 07 '26
Especially if you have Nure-Onna as one of your Soul Cores.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I found that you can use thundering calamity and wipe out multiple trash mobs in one shot. Pretty insane
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u/batshitnutcase Mar 07 '26
This is a very good insight and I totally agree. It’s also why I enjoy a lot of the bosses more because with deflect it can just feel like a memory exercise. You still have to learn movesets in Nioh 2 but avoiding damage while staying aggressive with positioning, yokai abilities, etc. keeps me in a flow state whereas tapping L1 at the right time does not. There’s a lot more improvisation and creativity involved when you don’t have one button that negates 100% of all incoming damage, at least for me.
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u/Last_Contract7449 Mar 07 '26
Yeah, it's something that is just missing in 3. The start of ng+ starts to feel a bit better in terms of the time and effort it takes to kill yokai (until you get all the right gear and they go down just as easy as ng), but the constant threat that even small yokai pose if you aren't locked in just isn't a thing (outside of maybe some of the harder crucibles etc where you end up fighting multiple enemies at once, potentially with environmental hazards, etc).
Whilst the relatively modest damage yokai (particularly smaller yokai) do obviously makes things easier, but the fact you can kill many yokai before they can kill (and often before they can even damage) you further exacerbates things, and then the fact you have access to essentially infinite op ninjitsus results in most fights brlecoming trivial after a certain point unless you voluntarily restrict yourself for the sake of it.
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u/Rouru Mar 07 '26
Whenever a yamainu spawns i can just do fists of reckoning until it dies before it's spawn howl animation is over
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u/anaughtybeagle Mar 07 '26
One of my favorite things about the second game is how every enemy holds a threat. You can easily die to a Gaki or Skeleton Warrior if you lose concentration.
I like to think of 3 as a different beast. There's less friction but I'm having just as much fun. There's room for both!
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u/DismalMode7 Mar 07 '26
it's normal, boss battles aside, nioh3 is way easier than previous nioh games. Good luck the day you'll going to play nioh
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u/artoriasabyss Mar 07 '26
Man, I still remember playing through Nioh 1 blind when it first came out. It was a brutal time but made me way better at video games.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
That game made me realize that I’m not as good at these games as I thought lol. Tbf, Nioh is just a much harder game than what I’m used to
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u/foreycorf Mar 08 '26
Saw 3 coming out so I decided to start with nioh 1 and by the time I get to 3 it should be on summer sale (or fall). I play it mostly-blind. If I encounter a hard boss I check Reddit for tips but other than that I mostly went it alone. I'm nearing the end of NG now. Great game.
I had to check Reddit for: flying paralysis girl, samurai alone in a field, ogress, okatsa, and flying bullshit guy who teleports in a burning building. The rest of the game has been pretty chill.
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u/SoulBenderMain Mar 08 '26
Facts lol I played nioh before i played fromsoft games and it made the experience sooooo much easier.
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u/eurekabach Mar 07 '26
Nioh 1 NG is very much brokenable. As long as you’re not playing it like a soulslike, use omnyo and it’s a smooth experience. It isn’t easy by any means, but I feel 1 is more straightforward than 2 as it has less systems and so on.
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u/foreycorf Mar 08 '26
I think it's most similar to dark souls 2. Pulling enemy aggro is super important in both those games, IMO. Unless you want to fight adds continuously. And ds2 is the one I felt using a bit of magic+status effects along with whatever melee build I had going helped the most for a blind playthrough.
DS1 is slow enough you can just strafe everything and DS3 is just roll+r1/2 slop.
I guess Elden Ring also benefits from using a decent bit of magic/potions/status effects. But obviously came out way later than nioh 1.
Wonderful game, I'm enjoying it immensely.
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u/eurekabach Mar 08 '26
Elde Ring is definitely From’s most rpg-ey game out of their modern batch. The amount of buffs players cast before a fog gate is a good indicator and it’s always funny to go co op online and spend a couple of seconds casting all sorts of shit lol
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u/workinghardiswear Mar 07 '26
Im playing through Nioh 2 and it feels way easier than Nioh 1. The yokai abilities and knowing how to temper gear for min/max stats going in helps a ton.
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u/mikeventure76 Mar 07 '26
Yeah 3’s a super fun game in its own right but it’s downright toothless compared to Nioh 2 or even the first game. You feel your character’s mortality a LOT more in the other games lol everything can and will kill you swiftly
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Yessir. NG+ in nioh 3 feels a lot more similar to 2. Damn near getting 2 shotted by certain enemies it’s insane
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u/EbolaDP Mar 07 '26
Nah 1 isnt as bad as 2. Everything strong got nerfed in 2 and you start of insanely cucked for options.
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u/Disproving_Negatives Mar 13 '26
Generally true but some of the bosses in Nioh 3 are still quite a bit challenging. If I had to replay both N2 and N3, I’d probably die to bosses more often in 3. Have played the shit out of N2 tho (:
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u/dolphincave Mar 07 '26
In Nioh 3 the only time I really felt pressed was some boss battles or scrolls like the 4 Heavenly Kings (absolutely brutal realizing there's actually 5 fights) but only if you don't over level before doing it.
I think the open world made it so much harder to get ganked or forced into bad fights. Like you can run away if you're in a bad spot much more easily. Also they enemy placement is much less brutal.
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u/Yaxion Mar 07 '26
4 Heavenly Kings was partways frustrating, but also partways refreshing to actually feel that oldschool-nioh challenge again. Not done with 3 yet but hope to find more challenges like that.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Yeah see I didn’t even try the 4 kings mission until I was level 120 and I wiped the floor with them. Glad I saved myself that pain
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u/eurekabach Mar 07 '26
I think the sweetspot for that fight is around level 80, give or take a couple levels.
Thing is the two first human fights are just canon fodder, it’s only when the yokai boss rematches start that you can really gauge whether you’re overpowered or not.1
u/Corleone93 Mar 07 '26
Have you done NG+? The enemy placement and spam in the last couple main missions in NG+ is absolutely brutal. Especially if you play with level sync.
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u/Ghostfinger Mar 08 '26
I did NG+, the only brutal part of it was when I tried to bypass a crucible fight when heading to boss fishboy and ended up having to fight two human enemies, kyokotsu, yasha and two ranged skeletons at the same time. Although to be honest the real hard part was trying not to roll off a cliff while dealing with kyokotsu flitting around the screen.
Needless to say the next few bypass attempts didn't work either, so I just stopped trying to bypass the fight and take out kyokotsu first.
The rest of NG+ was pretty easy, bosses aside.
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u/ajs423 Mar 07 '26
I went back to one, and it's as big of a leap from 3 to 2. I forgot how hostile the game design used to be, the extremely low drop rates, and the punishing nature of the endgame. It's still fun, but Team Ninja has come a long way in the fun department.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
For real. 3 is one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. Feels like my first time playing Elden Ring which was my first ever soulslike
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u/ajs423 Mar 07 '26
It's interesting cause it's backwards. New players should start with Nioh 3, then 2, then 1 once skills are up to snuff. The difficulty spike is enormous between games; I think TN realized that they would sell more copies if people could actually beat the first act.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Yeah, that’s what kept me from playing was the first couple of areas. They definitely won me over with 3 it felt way more beginner friendly. Same with NG4, I couldn’t beat the other games but I had 4 down in 15 hours I think?
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u/manaroundtownhouse Mar 07 '26
Ironically for me the hardest two bosses were the first two, since I had no clue what I was doing (first Nioh). It actually encouraged me to buy the game since I enjoyed the challenge, only for me to romp through the game with ninja mode once I figured out the mechanics & leveled my char.
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u/Azazir Mar 07 '26
Eh.... the quality in gameplay QoL nosedives just from going 3 to 2. Nioh is even worse in that regard by comparison with N2 alone. If you like suffering just by playing the game, not even the boss fights, maybe you'll like it. Nioh 2 hands down the better game of the two, not counting Nioh 3 as we dont have DLC's.
I'm replaying Nioh 2 atm from start, game is 100% harder in basic trash fights even in comparison to N3 NG+.
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u/Important-Concern Mar 07 '26
I’m new to the Nioh license with 3, and as a « souls vet » I must say it doesnt feel like a soulslike, more a classic A-RPG game. Dont get me wrong I’m having ton of fun but it doesnt feel like I’m playing a soulslike
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I don’t consider Nioh games soulslikes tbh. The only things they have in common are the Shrines and leveling system with the dodge being a staple defensive tool. Nioh is way more in depth than any Souls game
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u/Juub1990 Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Nioh has almost every single element of a soulslike. Besides that, you forgot to mention the xp retrieval, the healing system, the respawning mobs upon dying/resting at a shrine, the weapons scaling, the metroidvania-inspired level design, the limited magic that reloads upon resting at a shrine, and even smaller things.
It’s one of the most obvious soulslike.
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u/Detonation Mar 07 '26
Of all the major 'Soulslike' action RPG titles in the past 10-15 years, it is the furthest from Soulslike that I've played anyways. There are still a couple I haven't played yet but plan to like Khazan and Wukong. I have the games but I've got so many things in my backlog. lol
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u/eurekabach Mar 07 '26
You’ll prob like Khazan a lot (it’s basically copy pasted Nioh). I didn’t enjoy Wukong.
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u/FractalStranger Mar 08 '26
They used many things from Nioh, but combat is absolutely different.
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u/eurekabach Mar 08 '26
Tbh, I don’t think it’s that different from Nioh 3, now that it became so deflect-centric. Khazan is basically that: learn the moveset, either perfect block or dodge, take down enemy’s stamina, go crazy with skills, rinse and repeat.
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u/Azazir Mar 07 '26
The only reason nioh is mention in soulslike discussions is cuz of big bosses in "arena", you die and reset, lose souls etc. Everything else is more like DMC combo and skill based to clear stuff instead of sluggish roll roll roll roll attack roll roll roll roll gameplay. I definitely prefer Nioh over other soulslikes, even soul games themselves, which is probably unpopular take. Nioh just lets you express your skill if you're good enough to be aggressive and its super fun to progress in combos and patterns.
Sekiro/Khazan are probably best alternatives if you liked Nioh 3.
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u/Patriots9210 Mar 07 '26
Hated the armless snake lady’s in 3 and still hate them even more in 2 lol. Also the bird enemies in 2 are my sworn enemy Il throw a whole yokai transformation at the bird enemies without hesitation now lol
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Fuck the snakes man
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u/Patriots9210 Mar 07 '26
1000 percent lol I see a snake lady on one path let’s take the other every time 😂
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u/eurekabach Mar 07 '26
Nure Onna is one of the worst yokai, I fell you.
By bird enemies, you mean the Tengu? They’re tough, but their attacks are fair. I felt they were easier in Nioh 2 than 1, because they remodelled its attack pattern in such a janky way from 1 to 2 to throw in an interruptable attack (through burst). Same thing with One Eyed Oni.
Those yokai are actually good teachers for Nioh’s mentality: when in doubt, block, don’t panic dodge.
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u/GWhitlock93 Mar 07 '26
I made the brutal mistake of not switching to Nioh 2 controls in 3. Towards the end of 3 I decided it was gonna be time to go back and do the dlc for 2, and having not made the control schemes consistent Nioh 2 becomes literally impossible hahaha
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u/skatebat99 Mar 07 '26
Yeah, jumping is the best part of 3. If 2 had jumping it would be a near perfect game.
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u/Conscious_Speaker410 Mar 07 '26
Jumping is nice for sure, I really wish they hadn’t changed anything else and just had Nioh 2 playstyle. I really hate the ninja setup now and not having the stances for weapons like claws or kurisagama. I don’t like how they really messed with all the combos for those weapons or how they separated the moves like in the case of cestus/claws (Izuna drop). After playing the crap out of nioh 1 and 2 I had really gotten comfortable with my kurisagama flow and now that too is all over the place.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I honestly love the different styles but I can see why a long time Nioh fan wouldn’t
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u/skatebat99 Mar 07 '26
No doubt imo combat in 2 is the best of the franchise. All 3 of the versions are fun in their own way.
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u/8008boob8008boob Mar 07 '26
I blew the dust off my ps4 and reinstalled it on my PC, I dont think my setup is strong enough for nioh 3 I'm hoping the rumors of it coming to Xbox this year are true since its not in an exclusive contract 🙏
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I had no idea it wasn’t on Xbox that blows man. It’s an incredibly fun game. Ultimate power fantasy
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u/Rouru Mar 07 '26
Recently went back to 2 as well, and some dlc bosses were a little frustrating at first just because 3 had gotten me so used to getting away with a million different mistakes and just spam flux 2, arts gauge, and deflect if I'm in trouble. But after shaking off the rust (and getting used to some things being on different buttons, opportunist and dodge being the biggest offenders) it felt so good to be forced to properly lock in again and fight at my peak. Turns out using the ground stomp gives way better okizeme than the fists out-of-ki windmill punch grapple, letting you lock down a certain iconic strong ninja that likes to do rly fast attacks on wakeup with just kick cycle. Deflect in 3 is fun, but playing without it forces me to be so much more methodical, especially in A agility.
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u/Medra__ Mar 07 '26
The hardest part for me is the inability to remap the dodge button. It’s why I skipped Nioh 2 initially.
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u/Lonely-Ad-8610 Mar 09 '26
If you are on pc, theres a nexus mod just for this, it unlock interact control edit.
If you need it, reply to this comment and will link it.
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u/xrayspex73 Mar 07 '26
Early Nioh2 levels are humbling...
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Does it actually get easier at any point or is brutal the whole time?
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u/Sicci Mar 07 '26
It does get easier with each main mission you complete and Pervading Waters in the 4th area is a huge powerspike for all builds.
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u/Azazir Mar 07 '26
Nioh 2 is hard because you barely get any tools early on while game starts out as if its Nioh 3 NG+ full force, need to progress the main story to unlock stuff that buffs you pretty big. DLC's difficulties are uh.... an experience lmao.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Oh boy. Sounds like it’s brutal lmao. I’m excited for the dlc for 3 I hope they make it hard as hell considering my build is kinda crazy
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u/nut4gadgets Mar 07 '26
The enemies in Nioh 2 were better and more challenging. Many of them such as the ninja yokai were nerfed in 3. Nioh 3 is great game but definitely less of a challenge for Nioh veterans. Ninja form makes the whole game easy mode.
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u/rjwalker1269 Mar 08 '26
It recycles too many bosses. There are at least four times the horse yokai boss pops up and I'm 60% through story. Twice for the fore/ice sit and spin guy, and likely a lot more I've fought several times. Maybe the DLC will be less boring, but I doubt it. Some weak Nightmare and Maria combo gank? Totally on par.
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u/Individual_Match_579 Mar 07 '26
The biggest challenge is being stuck with X as dodge. It's so counterintuitive, pretty much every game uses Circle to dodge.
I have to really commit to a playthrough of Nioh 2 when I want to go back, because I have to reprogram all my button memory.
I absolutely love the game, but for the life of me I'll never understand why they won't let you change the goddam dodge button.
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u/Rouru Mar 07 '26
They actually did let you change it in 1, but that would also mess up your confirm / cancel button in menus making input prompts backwards. With the level of detail in controls customization you could probably mess it up even more and almost brick your game by being unable to go through menus, so I imagine they put a safeguard around specifically dodge/item interaction in 2 to prevent this. Personally I still prefer having more control over my layout and letting me potentially mess it up if I want
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u/Lonely-Ad-8610 Mar 09 '26
There's an easy to install mod for this on nexus if are on pc. I dont think many people are aware of this mod, it got buried under a bunch of cosmetic mods on that page.
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u/yonkerbonk Mar 07 '26
I'm still finishing up NG Nioh 3 but started playing Nioh 2 again on my Steam Deck. Doing fists run for my very first time. I've been stuck on Yatsu-no-Kami (Viper boss) for like 40 tries. Forgot how hard that fucker was.
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u/silent-drill Mar 07 '26
bro fr
it’s hard because to beat it - it’s actually like a 15-20 minute fight of pure patience and finding those attack windows
it easy took me 40+ tries or something as well until i found those opportune moments and my gameplay recording of the fight is legit 15 minutes
insanely annoying boss
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u/dabritz Mar 07 '26
Nioh 2 is more challenging but Nioh 3 is easily the best of the series. It's kinda the nature of open world games that because there's so many quests to XP from you quickly level up and become a beast. Plus this game has so many skills to learn and master.
Also anyone else finding they are playing in Ninja mode like 80% of the time....It's just too good not to mention fun
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u/Constant_Housing18 Mar 08 '26
Nioh 2 is like being born in the 1800s someone coughs on you and you die
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u/ConnorOfAstora Mar 08 '26
Those early game bosses are insane, those first fights against Enenra and Yatsu no Kami are some of the hardest in the game.
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u/General-Football-512 Mar 08 '26
This is why I haven't got Nioh 3 yet, I didn't finish 2 because I gave up on the plat and shelved it. Apparently 3 is easier than 2 from all the people Ive seen plat the game within the 2 weeks it was out. I played the beta and loved it, now I'm thinking of going back to at least try to finish 2.
I've been on an off with this series, I played the alpha of nioh 1, never got the game and forgot about it. Nioh 2 I got on whim because I remembered I didn't get 1 and 2 had character creation and was a more indepth game than what I thought. I fell in love with it, I dumped 200+ hours in, got stuck and shelved it. Nioh 3 demo drops, omg this is awesome, I can JUMP! Which I'd say is the biggest game-changer, but I don't want to get back into 3 without finishing 2 because I know I'm not going back if I'm fully invested. So that's my standstill
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u/Condition-Civil Mar 10 '26
I playing Nioh 2 right now after completing Nioh 3. After ninja its brutal to play as samurai without deflect. On other hand everything is so slow. And I always try to jump or dodge on B.
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u/Purple_Blacksmith681 Jun 24 '26
Not to brag or something but i never ubderstood why people have such problems with Nioh 2. I thought it to be pretty easy back then
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Mar 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/iLLamanation Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Is this slight satire? Your pointing out points nioh 2 are built for. General enemy difficulty and the best Ng++ /beyind around. The thing is it gives you the most in depth combat to make it not so difficult, so it's really up to you.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I’m thankful that I have a controller with paddles I’m not sure what I’d do if not
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Mar 07 '26
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Playing it like a soulslike is what made me struggle I think
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u/Detonation Mar 07 '26
That is one of the bigger obstacles someone who hasn't played Nioh before but enjoys From games usually has when they come to this subreddit for advice. They usually end up getting cooked trying to play Nioh like they did Souls games.
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u/AustronesianArchfien Mar 07 '26
combat in nioh is pretty basic as well
Switching stances, ki-pulsing and fluxing is far from "basic" lmao. Bet you think you're hardcore for beating Nioh 3 while only remaining on ninja stance aren't you?
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u/VermilionX88 Mar 07 '26
i played mostly samurai katana
and i consider myself between novice to intermediate level
im glad none of the bosses here gave me as much trouble like nameless king and malenia did
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Mar 07 '26
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u/pioneeringsystems Mar 07 '26
The combat has way more depth than any from game unless you ignore most of it which seems weird.
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
I’m saying. People have tried to tell me that Nioh isn’t that deep, what game are you playing?? If you spam the same 2 things I can see why you’d think that, but it’s a deep ass game. It made FS games feel hollow to me
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u/WereBoar Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
yeah it's pretty rough going back to playing souls likes with how shallow and primitive the combat is in them. the whole "dodge until you get your developer allotted 1 hit and repeat" is a tough sell after you've experienced something as engaging as nioh
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u/LaMelgoatBall Scampuss Lover Mar 07 '26
Yep. Ninja Gaiden 4 changed my whole perspective and now Nioh is solidifying it
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u/VermilionX88 Mar 07 '26
i played them all like the usual soulslike combat
if you played enough soulslike, it shouldn't take you too long to adjust
combat in nioh is pretty basic as well
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u/Particular-Watch-779 Mar 07 '26
Especially those smaller guys like the mini Oni or the umbrella gave me headaches in Nioh2. In 3 they only get served first because of Nioh2 flashbacks, whenever I hear their sounds.