Wo Long: Nioh But Worse

Lets take a look at Team Ninja's latest game that, sadly, insn't Nioh 3. It's instead something closer to Nioh .75. It's fine but Pliny had been hoping for better than fine. He'd been hping for Nioh 3.
Pliny The Welder writes quite a bit on a range of topics. His game centric blog featureing his articles before they become videos can found at:
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[@KingBean904]

He said everything that I’ve been feeling in his video. Thank you so much for this video. I actually just went back to start playing Nioh 2 again.

[@YungMeech313]

Also to touch on Nioh 2's character design one of my favorite/worst is the Oboroguruma (Yokai in the form of the moving Ox cart) there usually very fast and very deadly plus to add to it's features, the giant face it has changes from joy to anger when you attack it I've never seen an enemy design in any game like this.

[@FinnelAT]

Oh yea I hate that guy!!! I dunno how many times he pops out of nowhere and gave me a fright cause he has such a long petrol route yet he moves so fast. Luckily his detection isn't that great either.

[@someblackguy100]

Nioh 2 came out doring the pandemic. It was really a Rememberable gaming experience and moment seeing that we was all locked down. Those players now are vets.

[@Boom_OH]

It's crazy. Time flys.

[@hundkebab2433]

sheesh, my sense of time is really skewed

[@kkllaauussss1983]

don't sleep on stranger of paradise. its surprisingly good once it clicks . even the story . find a weapon you like and mostly stick with it. nothing comes close to nioh 2. but wo long was fun to. for what it is

[@hundkebab2433]

most generic franchise ever

[@baidajel]

nioh 2 is peak gaming, nioh2 is literally better than darksouls

[@CosmicVoid_119]

Nioh 2 is dog shit

[@cykablyat3680]

agree and its even harder (in the first playtrough if you dont min max) and ive playied the whole series

[@squirtbrainz1219]

@@cykablyat3680I personally found the first playthrough pretty easy other than the areas up to the snake god which were pretty rough (later NG+s tho hoo boy)

[@hundkebab2433]

and Nioh 1 is the worst thing they ever produced

[@projyeet]

Nioh 2 is one of the best games I have ever played and I would honestly be happy if they just made Nioh 3 with the same engine and new missions/bosses

[@mickeycee8559]

I played Nioh 2 for the first time after wo long. 300 hours later I don’t think I can play wo long again, Nioh 2 is just too good

[@mac1bc]

Did you beat Wo Long? Is it harder?

[@Ladiesman-wi2tm]

@@mac1bc Wo long is by far the easier game

[@mac1bc]

@@Ladiesman-wi2tm yep I agree. I'm playing it now 👍

[@Massproduce201]

Wo long is fun none the less, easily feel like a bad ass. My main gripe is enemy diversity.

[@stanislavkimov2779]

Yes, it's difficult enough, comparing it with other modern games. It must not be crushing difficult. If you learned it's systems, you deserve to win. Is still fun.

[@agentxhollow7798]

I know I'm late but after playing wo long I noticed none of you youtubers actually understand the game that's why you guys keep saying the same thing

[@PlinyTheWelder]

I'm not a KZbinr dude. I'm a manual laborer. But I'll bite. What, exactly, don't i understand about the game? There's not too much to understand. It's an action game that's shallower and easier then the Nioh games. Obviously team ninja ALSO didn't think it was as good because they put this one right on game pass instead of selling it. If a big third party studio puts something directly on game pass that's a pretty good sign they don't consider it one of their best games. Also just to let you know. I literally never watch any other video or read any review about a game if i plan on doing a video.

[@agentxhollow7798]

​@@PlinyTheWelder all I'm saying is is you missed stuff in the game simple so did many others and I played the other games I think they are better by a little and person opinion nome of the souls like games are hard just have a learning curve that is easy if you just take the time to learn

[@RedWolfenstein]

@@agentxhollow7798 The game is too easy and parts that are hard are hard for bad reasons. It is objectively worse than Nioh 1 and 2 feelings are not a factor in it.

[@andrewabrams1535]

Thank you someone had to say it!

[@cletokings4302]

Seeing this after beating the worst gang fight ever in any Souls (if you played wo long you’ll know what I mean). Nioh 2 was my favorite game of 2020 and Wo long is not a bad souls game, just overrated and way inferior than Nioh 2.

[@Jermstuckonpercs]

Yes I do

[@SIC-zh3bl]

Overrated? All I've seen is hate for it

[@someblackguy100]

This king came out right

[@DaRoachDoggJrr]

Nah nioh 1 has the worst gank fights by far. Ninetails and hideyoshi, the two yokai dudes, so many more

[@Ch35h1r3C47]

I disagree about the first boss being bad design. I actually think he's good design. 1st phase - tougher human enemy, basic rules apply. It's testing if you have learned that aggression is best against human opponents, while respecting their "red" attacks. Teaches that some bosses can do two "red" attacks in a row. 2nd phase - tougher demon enemy. Big demons cannot be staggered, you must play by their rhythm. Tests that you have learned the deflect mechanic. Teaches that deflects can break parts of demons when countering "red" attacks, preventing them from using certain abilities. The problem is that the level leading up to him doesn't do enough to teach all of this and emphasize the deflect mechanic before the boss tests you on it. The demon tiger does, but he's off of the main path and many players might not fight it.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

That's what I'm saying. Actually it's a GREAT designed boss. The issue is it's terrible design after that level. The level needed several enemies that demand parrying. I actually think he's one of the best bosses in the game but he's just at the end of a very bad tutorial level. Nioh and Nioh 2 have first levels that do a much better job. But yeah he's a great boss but the tutorial is awful. I might have misspoke if that's what i said

[@jonmoree116]

I love soulslike games and i just could not beat that first boss. It was a terrible idea to have a boss that hard that early into the game.

[@Alpine_Nightly]

Fancy thumbnail my dude. I also like how you managed to squeeze a twofer of Wo Long and Nioh 2 reviews into one video. Crafty.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

I broke down and got Photoshop. It took like two fucking hours to do that. It's not very good but it's better. Hopefully I'll get better at it as i do it more.

[@goldman77700]

@Pliny The Welder Don't feel bad. I'm a cheapass who still uses MS paint all the time. 😂

[@sellahuncho5595]

Th me point of wo long is that its not supposed to be like nioh 2. But its own thing

[@goldman77700]

@Sella Huncho Same tbh. Even with all its similarities, it does differentiate itself enough that it doesn't feel like an on-the-nose spiritual successor to previous games like many of Fromsoft games, including Dark Souls 1.

[@sellahuncho5595]

@@goldman77700 this!!

[@mytwinflameband]

Everything you said makes me wanna buy wo long and not nioh 2. I like jumping I dont like crafting and complex item stuff . I like to unlock weapons , and use , play, slay . Finish the game once with everything maxed out . I dpnt like grinding . The only thing I like complex is gameplay and combat - platforming

[@Rob_and_Other_Names]

Here is an opinion; Wo Long Fallen Dynasty is a different game from Nioh 2 . It feels disingenuous and frankly smacks of an obnoxious entitlement to whinge about a fact as obvious as this. Wo Long is more approachable for casual gamers, maybe, just maybe this was the fucking point.

[@michaeltorresii5248]

Relax

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

@@michaeltorresii5248 tell the video maker to relax, he whines and cries for 20 some minutes.

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

not just casual player eastern players which prefer speed, reflexes and fluidity on combat instead of slow movements with bases on weight and rolling.

[@Romb772]

​@@dontbothertoreply9755 Nioh's combat is tons smoother, fluider and deeper than wo long.

[@goldenglowmaster8510]

I personally prefer wo longs combat, weapons, and story. But nioh 2 has better levels and progression.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

Really. I find it just way too easy. Maybe if they had kept a stance switching system but it just feels so much less substantial to me

[@goldenglowmaster8510]

​@@PlinyTheWelder I just prefer having special moves mixed over stance switching also you have to think of this game like it's team ninjas sekiro like and nioh is a souls like. Sekiro is radically different than the souls series and I think wo long is better then sekiro just like nioh is better than dark souls

[@goldenglowmaster8510]

Also people were praising the story because most of us loved dynasty warriors and they made a fantasy fiction version of the story if you are not familiar with romance of the three kingdoms which dynasty warriors is based off you don't realize how good the story actually is.

[@Ladiesman-wi2tm]

@@goldenglowmaster8510 Still found the story mid asf

[@MrMucera]

Currently playing through Nioh2 again. One thing i will say about the gear, while it has become better, i still think the randomness is Niohs weak point. In NG you can equip whatever you want and you'll be fine. Way of the strong is basically a trap, as the best you can do is just get past into the next NG+ as quickly as you can while wasting the least amount of time / ressources. As in the Way of the Demon, your gear from Way of the Strong becomes largely worthless as the now available sets are often just better. Way of the Wise brings new stuff again. Which is phenomenal, if not for the fact you have to grind dozens of hours to get one (1) set of equipment to where you want it. Let alone the hundreds of possible builds possible. Less rng or more targetted crafting options would have enabled a lot more build diversity to actually be enjoeyed instead of becoming a distant dream for most players. There is a reason so many people use cheat engine to "craft" gear. The asian approach to grind gaming is strong with this one and it is so weird to me that they would make a game that has tons of possibilities but then bar you from accessing it unless you quit your job and become a fulltime player.

[@sno4538]

Wo long is a lot easier than Nioh. The parry system is tweaked Soul shield system from SOP. Which I disagree with you saying it's the worst game of last year. The combat is excellent it just needed more mobs and bosses so it didn't get repetitive. Also Wo long can only be judge till after all dlc is released

[@ClassXero]

I got sucked into nioh 2 for almost 4 years without stopping. Was so bs but fun

[@anaveragegamer359]

im pretty sure it feels cheap cause nioh 2 was able to reuse a lot of assets form nioh 1 pretty sure if we get wo long 2 itll look and play better

[@ruairidhkoch7875]

I do agree, mostly. But the picking your perks freely at the BS just feels nice. I remenber how angry I got when Nioh 2 gave me crappy stats😡

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

1) Nioh 1 was unbalanced, I've got myself an unkillable build using living weapon and can kill most abyss 900+ bosses in just 1-2 attacks. 2) In Nioh 1, you can only have attack +55 -ish (familiarity 0) on the arms, and if you want +attack on the 4 other armors, you must inherit it from a +30, it can also be on 2 accessories, so 7 pieces in total. In Nioh 2, you can have that on 5 armor pieces + 2 accessories + picture scroll + 3 soul cores, so a total of 11 pieces. Because of that, the stats must be decreased of course, otherwise the game would be even more unbalanced. 3) If you reach Dream of the Demon (or Wise, forgot) in Nioh 2, you can actually temper the accessories. In Nioh 1, good luck finding the ideal accessories! 4) In Dream of the Nioh, you also get extra set effects when you have the full armor set. 5) In Nioh 1, it's impossible to have +luck and +attack on all armor pieces. In Nioh 2, it's actually possible to inherit all that using the red inherit symbol. 6) In Nioh 2, star effects are actually quite high stats, like throw weapon damage, and ... yes it's possible to inherit star effects too! Impossible in Nioh 1. 7) In Nioh 1, you can only have 1 mystical skill activated, for a weapon or onmyo/ninjitsu. In Nioh 2, it's possible to have both activated at the same time! So yes when you first start the game, you think the stats in Nioh 2 are crap, but once you reach way/dream of the Nioh, you understand that it's actually not the case at all.

[@KitsuneYojimbo]

​@@youuuuuuuuuuutube I feel like the first mission for Nioh 2 didn't exactly help with the whole stat issue. Kinda made Hide feel less like feudal Japanese Dante and more like feudal Japanese Lester the Unlikely. I've always held that Nioh 2 feels like its difficulty goes in reverse. With the exception of a few bosses, I was just about curb stomping most endgame bosses, yet Mezuki, Yatsu-no-Kami... Those bastards had me ready to put my fist through my monitor.

[@acgon]

Since I don't like that loot aspect very much, it seems I maybe like Wo Long when I try it

[@patrickrattigan4980]

The game could be so much better if they had a bigger budget. I read the financial report on the game and it basically boiled down that team ninja spent had almost 60 percent (compared to nioh 2) less cash to spend and if thats not bad enough they had 14 months less time to make the game when compared to nioh 2. The re used battle music towards the end was nauseating...lol. another great vid bud!!!!

[@basara_1175]

what financial report?

[@MichaelMonteleone-n2d]

Most of these points are also in nioh 2 but without the grind. Nioh 1 and 2 level design was just awful. I like them both for different reasons.

[@SwiFTDBL]

Nioh 2 had some good levels but unfortunately they are later on in the story like mid- end game. So a new player won’t see it if they decide to quit early. But yes I agree compared to from soft the level design is just worse. But that’s like my only complaint- if your looking at the combat system nioh 2 is just flat out better than any souls game period.

[@musicandaffection6363]

This is the review I needed and now I hope to find one for Wildhearts/Toukiden 2

[@FaheemKhan-bw8nu]

wo long is beeter than elden ring

[@zippo7422]

Wu Long= what happens if you listen the casuals crying in a game which ment for sweatis.

[@TheReayning]

Wo Long has improved greatly with the DLC1 & 2 releases - as an avid Nioh/Nioh 2 fan, they are two different games. Parry mechanics change it completely. Truth is Nioh 2 is a Masterpiece. Wo Long is a different beast. Team Ninja is doing Wo Long justice though and once the final DLC comes out in Dec, it will be a very satisfying and lengthy journey in combat. All in all, someone who hasn't finished the Abyss/Underworld/Depths cannot fully appreciate Nioh 2 (my opinion of course). The content is there but too few reviewers don't spend enough time on it - they shouldn't be reviewing these types of games. I'm glad though we have these amazing gaming experiences.

[@EvolvedCaveman]

how? the dlcs are just recycled bosses (skins)

[@MartinFranchini-u2w]

​@@EvolvedCaveman they are not lol. Every main boss is unique except for just 1 Why spreading bullshit just to spread bullshit? Just say you don't like the game, but only 1 boss is recycled in the 3 dlcs. If you count the monkey and guan yu, they are a part of secondary missions, which were never unique in this game.

[@LikeaBoss570]

calling stranger of paradise combat boring is an absolutely insane take and simply proves you didn't play it for more than an hour

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

Some things are better done, defense, parry, dodging, control response, jumps, co-op, also, does someone else need to tell you how to fight an enemy? if you can parry parry there is no need to avoid but you can do both, if you can do both what suits you, this is no nursing game that will let you just parry everything or dodge, you can make decisions and adapt based on your playstyle and your enemies, oh but the game did not tell me, is because you came in destroying everything and did not pay attention, most reviewers are like that, they come to play thinking in their review without understanding the game, just another task, the camera is just normal, you can move it or you can as you said check out how to fight aerial attacks, final boss is done in that way so you can make mistakes when parrying, this people. difficulties may improve the game indeed, a harder mode for example or letting you play as the team would be great, being Guan Yu sounds awesome. Bosses are better in a few places, designs, their pace, how you interact with them etc. We need more weapon variety and combos indeed. Maybe its me, I could not stand Elden Ring, you are supposed to be able to go everywhere then you go and die against every enemy so you need to farm or play in the most slow possible way, or spam spells, I think this game is not a 9 it can be a lot better, but not sure about the extremely aggresive attack on it, the plot is also better, parry is not done with Y but B, do you really know what you are talking about? for example Cao Cao is multiple times with you and mentioned, so yeah, not sure I guess its taste after all, I feel strangers of paradise more like Nioh than Wo Long and there are some things I enjoy more in SoP like the plot, the speed, the parry system the perfect defense, Wo Long has better magic also, they are different but not mediocre, people worked hard and you can see it, it definitely could have been better. Team Ninja can do it better, a better story will help, less approach to the from software terrible designs, but players need to stop thinking if a game is good because you die a lot or not, oh but how many times did you die on animal crossing, you could get a real challenge in life, a game is not good if the enemy is infinitely stronger than you, take for example the Monk in Sekiro good pace, good moveset, good timing, that's a good boss, but you can say that Demon of Hatred is a better boss because you cannot see shit and you are hacking at his crouch for minutes, oh what a masterpiece well, no, that's the thing, that's why Owl and Ishin are better bosses.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

Isshin is the best boss in games history. I liked Wo Long but you have to admit the combat isn't up to the standards of Nioh 2. I liked Elden Ring well enough but i found many bosses annoying and i don't like the open world map. Wo Long feels like a game I'll probably play a couple more times because the combat feels really good and fluid but i play Nioh 2 like twice a year every year. The stance switching, skills and Yokai abilities makes that combat system second to none. DMC 5 had a great system too but Nioh 2 is basically perfect.

[@makkura9245]

I think it's kinda unfair to compare Wo Long to nioh 2, it is however fair to compare it to Nioh 1. Which between these 2 is better isn't as straight forward an answer and I'm sure if Wo Long would ever get a sequel, just like Nioh 2, it would build and deepen all of it's system and be a solid title, but Wo Long has seen such a negative reception that I highly doubt a sequel will ever see the light of day. It was fun for what it was, and now with 2 of it's DLC out, it gave us new enemies, new mechanics and so on' But even then it still falls a bit short, those extra enemies should have been in the base game and it still lacks in many areas that makes the game quite hard to enjoy a NG+ run, the power up from 4 to 5* just isn't good enough and I do not feel like getting to NG+++ to start having fun with custom builds and unique effects. Wo Long looks like a PS2 game with PS4 graphics. And parts of me loves it, but it could have been so much more.

[@damianlegion8455]

Asmongold TV rage quit because the difficulty. Maybe the game isn't easy, maybe you are that good. Also remember that, as many other games, the first playthrough is the Easy Mode. Finish it again, fulfill all the content, then claim it was easy.

[@CouchCoop128]

i like the jumping, its my Elden Ring to Darksouls 3

[@waynejulian277]

also you forgot divine/ethereal with unique effects upgraded set bonuses the stone of penance the underworld scrolls of the dammed soul matching i can keep going all day

[@sol5916]

Nioh 2 doesn't have a lot of reviews because most people can't beat it, including me. Ego aside, it's just beyond me.

[@zippo7422]

It's not that hard though. If you utilise everything at your disposal Niho 2 is a pretty easy game.all the elites are cheese able if you feel like you didn't approach them properly (except that stupid tengu , KFC chicken has no weaknesses.) I died like 20 times from the first boss and 50 from the stupid snake . But both taught me 2 different play styles which is enough to beat the game.

[@jonmoree116]

I didn't beat Nioh 2, but i at least was able to beat the first boss. Wo Long's first boss is ridiculous

[@sokool657]

Wo Long is better in my opinion. Nioh is unnecessarily difficult.

[@rosalina2938]

The difficulty is just poorly done. Stupid effects that make it a pain... Making a good build takes to much rng, time and knowledge too.

[@IDKbruh420]

Skill issue

[@HossBullys]

Wait did you say you did reviews of nioh 1 and 2 and are comparing them to so long and never played either nioh?

[@michaelbush1374]

I appreciate this review. Just saved me time and money.

[@Alpheus_09C]

Ive only ever heard good things about nioh 2, and im enjoying wo long soooo much, cant wait to see what it has to offer when i finally play it

[@memesarekey5366]

Finally, a video that actually goes over what Nioh 2 did way better than Wo long if you look at the combo vids of Nioh 2 vs Wo long the combat is night and day difference. Nioh 2 strongest feature is the fact that comboing felt like you were doing a Tekken combo meanwhile wo long is... just mainly light atks...

[@spleeneater9481]

my main issue with wo long is that it gets 20 fps and feels awful on mouse ;-;

[@nikcue2542]

Duh, theyre two different games.

[@darshanlimbu2904]

This game does things differently for different purposes. It has extremely satsfying combat. I am not saying its better than nioh 2 but its certainly also not worse. Wo Long's game feel is insanely great

[@shadysorkin9214]

They took all the complexity of Nioh out and just made it a generic soulslike, same as the 100 other clones.

[@darshanlimbu2904]

@@shadysorkin9214 You don't know what you're talking about. Show me any other soulslike or even any other game that comes close to this level of satisfying parries.

[@shadysorkin9214]

@@darshanlimbu2904 Feels far more satisfying to parry in Sekiro.

[@darshanlimbu2904]

@@shadysorkin9214 Sekiro is a Goat but the game isn't designed specifically with satisfaction and game feel as a priority. Wollong Fallen Dynasty is

[@shadysorkin9214]

@@darshanlimbu2904 Literally no clue what you mean by 'satisfaction and game feel'. You asked me to name any game has more satisfying parries and Sekiro does. The core combat mechanic is just a worse Sekiro and build variety is simplified from the Nioh franchise. Not sure why you are defending the title so hard when it's shadowed by better games.

[@hazzar7784]

Lol, these games are HARDLY comparable. Wolong is massively underated.

[@Celadil]

This rant was very entertaining, thanks^^

[@Genethagenius]

I actually really liked “Strangers of Paradise”! I thought it was a great mix-up of the Souls formula with Final Fantasy.

[@yoariku1]

Yoyoyo hold on. strangers of paradise was pretty fucking good gampöay wise. And the story was suprisingly deep at the end

[@elvenking9922]

For me personally, Wo Long is better than Nioh games. It suits my playstyle better. Personal preference is important people.

[@unrhu]

Wo Long is better this guy is just making click bait

[@Ladiesman-wi2tm]

@@unrhu Wo Long is so shit compared to Nioh 2 it's not even funny 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@RedWolfenstein]

Wo long is top tier crap, I should've been paid for playing it.

[@DavoInMelbourne]

I played the Wu Long demo and thought it was garbage compared to Nioh 2. I'll stick to Nioh 2 thanks (over 1000 hours easily). I look forward to Nioh 3 🙏

[@mrjoshuamsd]

Wo Long feels like levels are just to get your power level up enough to fight a ridiculous boss. Then start the next level back at zero and do it again. Basically a boss battle game with a little filler in between. For reference, God of War is my absolute favorite type of game. Sure there are bosses but you're also leveling up and building more skills. I just ordered Nioh 2 on Amazon. Hopefully I enjoy it more

[@zubroskadamien5883]

You can let your moral at zero it’s better to farm rare items.

[@Faytleigngod]

Already achieved platinum for both games. Story and Gameplay is way better in Nioh 2 compared to Wo Long. I still hope that Wo Long would improve with the DLC's.

[@nbaprince9330]

Played every dark souls just beat so long my second time playing nioh 2 rn that’s why I’m watching this and I hate this game combat

[@bambammcpout4890]

Boss fights are slot machines designed as encounters. Thats literally all you need to know

[@bmdshred77]

Wo Long is amazing. I just 100/100 it on Xbox

[@aimhigher7805]

Wolong missed out on gear drops and ability building/hero building

[@raisklose6785]

This is the most accurate Wo Long review well done

[@FirstPlace97]

I love your descriptions of what makes Nioh 2 so amazing. Truly one of the best and most in-depth action games ever made, if not the. I do think Wo was a good game but the issue really is a lack of variety and continuity among the systems. Nioh just has more creativity on offer and you can tell that Wo was trying to be more of a Jack of all trades rather than a master.

[@crimsondemonx]

They should of just made nioh 3 lol

[@tristanward9937]

Seriously.

[@baidajel]

I have never seen anything so relatable than this, I do not think we'll ever get a game like nioh 2 . let's just appreciate what we had and move on.

[@tb1235]

Rise of the Ronin is their next game coming out in probably 2024 for PS5.

[@reginaldd.paperstacks194]

Combat was just the best it's got the depth of a full on fighting game

[@stephenmclemore7614]

​@iiisixstringiii8285 calling from the future.. nope Rise continues the dumbing down of everything nioh did..

[@edge1710]

I liked Wo Long, but it has some serious baffling issues. Agro range My god enemies follow you over the entire map. The camera is too low and not of centre so if you have a big weapon on your back you can't see the enemies in front of you. enemies and NPC running in place because the path finding system is buggy. The Story is basically nioh 1 and 2 combined but in China.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

Dude. WHY is the camera so low? It's really odd isn't it? As i was playing i was thinking "Was the nioh camera this low and i just didn't realize?". But no. The camera is much lower. It's not a problem when you're fighting the big monsters which is probably why that's when the game feels great. But any normal human sized boss is a mess. That final boss is insane. Surely they realized you literally can't see him because the camera is behind the player?

[@MaLAaY1San]

Wo Long is more akin to Sekiro than Nioh to me

[@Annoh89]

Thinking about trying Wo Long. I played Nioh 2 for about 20 hours and I just can’t get the stamina down. I also dislike the stance system, and I hate the key burst mechanic. I do however really enjoy the combat, so I’m thinking Wo Long might be just what I’m looking for, similar combat without all the extra stuff like stances and stamina and ki bursts to think about.

[@Democrapicrepublic]

That is the combat? How can you hate all of that, but like the combat?

[@Annoh89]

I just told you. What? @@Democrapicrepublic

[@Smokeyourselfstraighttohell]

How about take some time to actually learn it. You just described basically the entire game, don't be a fucking quitter

[@junetunes2541]

I love Nioh 1/2 but I had way more fun with this game, probably cause it’s a lot easier lol

[@20starcombomaker]

All we needed was a nioh 2 witb RNG and ninjutsu that doesnt feel exactly like onmyo and more like what danzo and ren hayabusa can do

[@aimhigher7805]

I mean nioh series...

[@Light_Vizible]

I finished Wo Long and not Nioh 2.

[@Light_Vizible]

Maybe now I’ll go back

[@1995Milky1995]

@@Light_Vizible finishing Nioh 2 will take you quite a bit longer to complete. Dream of the Samurai > Dream of the Strong > Dream of the Demon > Dream of the Wise > Dream of the Nioh and then 108 floors of the underworld and then a further 30 floors in depths of the underworld. These games are not comparable when talking about the length of the game.

[@TheRealAD45]

def not better than nioh 2 but a great game, better than elden bore and I'm a huge fromsoft fan....

[@DoomyRei]

I still can't beat the first boss and its been patched twice

[@hundkebab2433]

try Ubisoft games, they're for casuals

[@duckyduckington9736]

to be fair it was literally made by the same people. And Nioh 1 took 13 years to make, so I think it'd be hard to top that system.

[@SwiFTDBL]

“Wo long is NOT nioh 3, it’s like a de-evolution of nioh- it’s like nioh .75” 😂😂😂 all jokes aside nioh 2 will go down as one of my favorite games ever. I think it ranks even higher than bloodborne for me and that’s saying something

[@thishandleistacken]

Aw man this is the first review I saw of this game (didn't even know it existed) and wow is your take on it making me lament the fact that just because trophy stats show like 50% or more of people never get past Nioh or Nioh 2's first one or two bosses Team Ninja decided to make their game more mainstream for the sake of appealing to reviewers rather than those who've been singing Nioh's praises for years now. I'm not one of those "all game journalists are toxic" types but in this case I think they really are the cause for the issues here (likewise with why Elden Ring makes Sekiro 2 less likely to happen or at least be deprioritized... hell Sekiro didn't even get DLC and there was so much hinted at in the story that could have been built upon)

[@JohnDoeWasntTaken]

Nah man, this game wasn't made by the same team that worked on Nioh. Still the same company obviously but comparing the credits between this game and Nioh, you will see why this game is worse than Nioh. This is the director's first game. I'm not sure what they have the Nioh team working on, hopefully Nioh 3, but it's probably that Ronin game they have coming out on PS5 next year.

[@Xenozillex]

@@JohnDoeWasntTaken Which is good news because it means nioh wasnt a one hit wonder.

[@Purunfii]

Didn’t Nioh 1 take like 10 years to be made?

[@Lastyearsjacket]

Completely agree. This game is so boring and repetitive. There is just way too much importance placed on the parry for the game to be enjoyable. My love for Nioh 2 has no bearing on this, either. I feel like this game is just a poor man's sekiro. This is one of the first souls like games I've ever played that made me feel absolutely nothing. When I got stomped out and finally overcame a wall, didnt really care. When I interacted perfectly with the combat and handled a boss, no satisfaction. I felt like I kept playing because I spent money on it, that's it. It waa purely out of obligation to get my money's worth and I've never had doubts about removing it from my machine. The tools they give you to interact with the enemies are pointless if you learn the parry timing. Much like a lot of criticism of Sekiro, I feel like I have to play the game the way it wants me too. Nioh 2 has a lot more skill expression and variation if you're willing to take the plunge and become proficient with all of its systems. Some people think it's bloated or over complicated, but I think it has an awesome sense of progression. I was able to set goals in Nioh, crush them and then set new goals. Each weapon feels truly unique and different. They all have different animation lengths and Ki pulse windows. Learning a new weapon mid-late game is damn near like starting over. I appreciate Team Ninja for trying something different, but this game kinda sucks. It's a mash up of Nioh and other souls likes that doesnt make for a very interesting product. I felt like I had played it before. I enjoyed some of my time with it, it's not all bad, but I kinda regret spending money on it, even on sale.

[@KindmanWasRobbed]

Dude, finally someone said it! I also played Wo Long after Nioh and deleted it after 2 hours. Pathetic, one-cell combat, level design straight from the 2000s, 20 fps... No stances, no active skills, soul cores, no fucking thing! Of course, I agree that in Nioh they overcomplicated some mechanics. For example, ki pulse... I would remove it. It's a mechanic that complicates things just to complicate them. But what they did in Wo Long is not a simplification, it's castration. And I didn't understand how people could praise this stub, this obviously unfinished game, until I read the comments under this video. After that, absolutely everything became clear to me. But by making a game "for everyone", you are actually making it for no one.

[@souit957]

I think wo long is better because how streamlined it is. I really hate that diablo loot system. I just want to focus on the action and it's what wo long is more leaning into

[@jaybud400]

Facts not to mention the parry system is way better than Nioh 2. Nioh is over the top complicated while wo long is simple but did right

[@KitsuneYojimbo]

​@@jaybud400And your character didn't feel like a sniveling whimp whom the lore hyped up as this big demon hunting badass.

[@GameChangerDOC]

Hadn't watched this before, because I only just started playing Wo Long last week. I agree that it's way easier, and I got that from the demo when it was first released. But something I think needs to be addressed is how the public responded to Nioh and Nioh 2. I am in the super small minority of people that has always felt like Nioh is easier than Dark Souls. I can count all the bosses I've beaten across 5 FromSoftware soulslikes (not counting Sekiro) without summoning in help. In both Nioh 1 + 2, I beat the base games and DLC solo from start to finish. Even more interesting is that I never took the stance system seriously. I'm too lazy for all that. I managed to beat both games in just mid stance. I always Nioh is easier, but everyone disagrees with me. I've heard Nioh described as "trying to pilot as yacht." But it never felt that way to me. Wo Long is incredibly easy by comparison to Nioh, and I think that happened because so many people who were/are serious FromSoftware fans found it so hard. So they dumbed it down to make it feel more accessible. And, as you showed, the reviews for Wo Long were very good. Meaning that Team Ninja understood what the people wanted compared to Nioh. It's absolutely not Nioh 3, and I was/am sad about that. But I think too many people struggled too much with Nioh for them to try to continue that system.

[@sartavin]

Wo Long was designed to be simple, as many gamers (even non-casuals) bounce off the super complex/complicated systems of Nioh 2. For me, playing the demo of Wo Long felt like a b-level Sekiro clone, and frankly I'd just rather play that game again, as it looks better, has better movement/gameplay, better level designs, etc. etc.

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

it does not have better movement, jumps are worst, the game does not switch good between attack and defense, control response is better and is faster, Sekiro is not as good as people think it is, specially the plot and also you are stuck with one weapon.

[@Ladiesman-wi2tm]

@@dontbothertoreply9755 drunk

[@ClaxStayVibing]

Dude i just got the whole game and its DLC for like $30. Made it to when you can actually travel and was thinking to myself "wtf is this shit?" Now that you explained that it doesnt matter what shit i pick up so long as its 4 stars the game instantly became even more of a drag to play. I kept hoping for some sort of unique weapon to pull me into the game but now that i have 4 stars on everything literally after completing part 1 im just selling everything but now i see money is useless as well 😂

[@TRM520]

I agree with your points. After doing all the Wo Long main and side missions, I can safely say it was a fun game.... but not even close to the enjoyment I got out of the Nioh games. I guess some people like the more watered down mechanics, but I certainly hope Rise of the Ronin brings back the complexity and spectacular combat variety of Nioh 2.

[@chasegaetze4507]

I certainly hope Rise of Ronin is not a flop like Wo Long and strangers of paradise. Right now they don't have a good track record going

[@Ih8theleft-q8x]

Save me the git gud fairy shit. Team Ninja only has one way of difficulty, through bullshit. Nioh 2 was my favorite game thry made, and its full of bullshit. Stun lock death, gank fights, bullshit surprise attacks. They dont have the talent to make a difficult, yet fun and fair fight. Always have to add some gimmik or gank to handicapp the player.

[@luluna5228]

waaa, no way it got good reviews as nioh2 wu long is at 82 nioh 2 at 89

[@SagidHossain]

I agree with everything you said in this video.

[@fa_peacock]

It’s better than Nioh and Nioh 2 in every single way possible, do not confuse convoluted with complex when the combat simply revolves around stun locking the enemy which doesn’t take any skill whatsoever while parrying+posture is a far more rewarding than going into youkai mode and trivializing everything with the janky combo system lmao The fanboyism is so clear in this video

[@LimitedEye]

I don’t understand how anyone can say the first boss is hard at all I literally ran through that man no problem dodging his attacks at all I blitz this man I just can’t believe anyone struggled

[@regtsby]

Some counter-opinions, in case anyone is curious; Firstly, let me say that your video pretty much single-handedly made me buy Nioh2. I would say that as far as the persuasive powers of a game-recommendation video go, it's hard to beat this one. I now have poured roughly 600 hours into both Wo Long and Nioh2, so I think I have a reasonable base to comment from. All in all, I would say that while I can see the arguments for the contrary, I had more fun playing Wo Long, and I think many (not sure if the majority, but many) will have a similar experience. *Starting with the combat*; yes, Wo Long can be seen as one-dimensional and limiting compared to Nioh2. Nioh2 has the Ki pulsing mechanic to manage stamina, Wo Long doesn't. Nioh2 have burst counters and Yokai form, Wo Long doesn't. However, here is what Wo Long does have, and what Nioh2 is lacking in really badly; Clarity and consistency. Yes, the game gives you more limited tools, but you know that those tools will work, and how they work. In Nioh2, the defensive moves you have available are messy and ambiguous. It doesn't make it obvious how what tools you should be building your defensive strategies around. (apart from the burst counter). For example, in Sekiro, it's obvious that parries are your no.1 tools, with jumping and mikiri counters being used for perilous attacks, while dodging is almost completely obsolete. In Ghost of Tsushima, you can use parries and dodges equally, and this is made obvious by having perfect dodges and parries, indicated with a slow animation. In Nioh2, this isn't the case. You can chalk this up to being one of the beauties of the game's diversity, but in my opinion this is just annoying. The most frustrating thing is the ambiguity and haziness of the parry system, or lack thereof. The game makes you think that parries are a fully viable tool in your toolkit in the game, but then you find out the hard way that it's not the case. You caaan parry in theory, but in practice, half of the enemies cannot be parried, and it's not made clear which attacks can be parried and which cannot. Combine this with the fact that the timing for parrying is quite tricky in Nioh2, many times you won't even be sure if you didn't parry an attack because you messed up the timing, or because this is a non-parryable attack from a non-parryable enemy. All things considered, parrying is a mechanic in Nioh2 that is simply better left alone, if you don’t want to drive yourself insane. It just isn’t justifiable to pour time and energy in mastering a mechanic that half the time won’t even be usable and the game doesn’t make it clear and obvious when those times will be. Despite this, they have a weapon type, like the sword, which has half of its skill tree consisting of various parry abilities. Let's think about this for a minute: they give you a weapon and a full skill-tree, which for half of the game will be at like 30% functionality. And again, this is something you will only find out for yourself through many hours of seemingly unfairly lost enemy encounters, unless you save yourself the trouble and read up on this ahead of time. There are timely guards, which are a bit more liberal, but that isn’t useful against a series of strikes, as you need to actually hold the guard-position after each strike. This leaves us with what, as a defensive option? Mostly with dodges and rolls. Just go ahead and search for videos of people doing no-damage runs against bosses; most of what you’ll see will be the following: running around, rolling, dodging to the side numerous times, and then hitting back. If it’s a human enemy, you might see some blocks and parries, but it’s rare. But actually, I’m not even being fully truthful here, as even dodging and rolling is not exactly a super reliable defensive option, as it gives you lousy I-frames only. I'm not a fan of Elden Ring's combat system, to say the least, but at least dodge rolling is a reliable asset there. When it really comes down to it, this game is just really messy with the defensive part of its combat. (Yes, there is the burst counter, but that’s a resource intensive and unique tool for specialized purposes, it’s not something you can rely on at any point). As such, many people will see it more convenient to simply bypass the whole "technical gameplay" aspect, and solve the problem in a different way: By making powerful enough builds that basically lessen the need to actually avoid damage. All this basically brings us to the same problems that a game like Elden Ring is struggling with: the game is too difficult, and too easy to cheese. Put another way, approaching combat in a technical way is not rewarding enough, while the alternative solution of brainlessly powering through the game by grinding yourself to a more powerful build is too convenient. Wo Long might seem more limiting at first, and yes, the parry-ability is powerful as it inceases your stamina while lowering the enemies, while also negating damage, of course. However, pulling off successful parries is not easy in succession. Fight Guan Yu and then tell me that it's easy to just parry-spam yourself to victory. Yes, if you're a parry-god, you can trivialize enemies, but that will first require you to get really good at the technical side of the game. In Nioh2, you can trivialize the game in much less rewarding ways. Weakness talisman, sloth talisman, clay bell or beckoning, and a billion other debuffs that don't even require you to have a great build, it just requires you to farm enough of these tools (or unlocking enough skill-tree nods, which also don't require any skill, just time) to have them ready at all times in your quick-menu. We can list a bunch of cool shit that you can do in Nioh2, but what they end up being is more like points on a resume that you can list, rather than mechanics that truly transform your playing-experience. "Flux!" "Double flux!" Daaaamn, that sounds reeeed. Yeah, what those things are is just pressing a button after you finished an attack, and you gain stamina back more quickly. There is a bit of timing behind it, and it's satisfying when you nail it. More satisfying than perfect-parrying 6 deadly attacks from a boss in Wo Long? Absolutely not. Then, let’s talk for a second about the progression system that you praised Nioh2 so highly for. The skill-tree for weapons in Noh2 is nice, I will agree with that. It’s a bit unfortunate that there is a selection of skills that is obviously way superior to the other ones, so sooner or later most players will end up using the same 4-5 skills for each weapon, with minor deviations. So I would argue that the end result won’t be that crazy different. Still, if I had to pick, I would go with Nioh's skill-tree any day. Difficulty? There was one point where the game became too easy in Wo Long, and that was around 3/4th of my first plathrough. Then, I did feel like my character- and weapon level was outpacing the scaling in difficulty the game was providing. You know where I also had the same feeling? You guessed it, in Nioh2. The last third of the game, I basically just button-mashed and hit-traded my way to success. When I was in trouble, I spammed yokai abilities, and only died on boss-fights a handful of times. If I was truly in trouble, an hour more of farming for better gear, consumables or magic-skill points always solved the issue. From the second-playthrough onwards, Wo Long was anything but easy. I would say that similarly to Nioh2, the game went about spiking the difficulty in the least satisfying way (by turning enemies into damage sponges and tripling the damage they were dealing), but still, the game was HARD. Regarding the progression system; I would say that your commentary about Wo Long's overly simplistic system is true in the first playthrough, but by the time you're in the DLC's and the 2nd playthrough, the game pretty much hits the sweetspot. The perks you can temper onto your equipment is under your control for the most part, but there is juuust enough RNG sprinkled into it to where it's still engaging. For example, 80% of the special perks you can just pick and put onto your armor. The remaining 20% ar RNG dependent, so it's exciting when you come across them. I get how even more RNG can be nice to make getting loot more exciting, but what Nioh2 does is far, faaar at the other extreme. In Nioh2, build crafting is 50% down to luck at all times. You spin the wheel, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get good shit. If not, you get shitty shit. Of course, each spin of the wheel costs resources. When you’re out of them, you shrug your shoulder, or you can go back to, as you said it, "boring f***in farming. What this does, is artificially inflating the number of gameplay hours required to accomplish simple things. I could also say that the game simply slows you the hack down. It does this at every chance it gets. "You want this whetstone? Cool, you can craft it. Ooooh, but to craft it, you need this Ippon fang, which you need to buy. ohohohoo, but to buy it, you need glory points. You don't have glory points? Cool, go out there, and farm for the next hour to get some." Compared to this, in Wo Long, it's indeed just a matter of toggling a couple of widgets to make an "ok" build, and it takes a decent, but not overwhelming amount of time (and required luck) to create an amazing build. In Nioh2, even an "ok" build's creation can easily be a number of day's gaming hours spent on nothing else but farming, because you just have no control over anything. You have no choice but to grind through the same mission, again, brainlessly, because if your weapon or armor didn't roll the non-temperable effect you're looking for, there is just nothing else you can do. * continued below... *

[@regtsby]

Continued... Staying on the theme of the progression system, here needs to be some talk about the little, quality-of-life features of each game. Inventory management is an issue in both games, to the point of being seriously annoying. You need to spend time regularly sorthing things through, deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. When something is this fundamental to the gameflow, you need to take steps to make it more convenient. I would say that Wo Long's way of dealing with it is a 7/10. Nioh2's is a 2/10. The difference really comes down to the small things; In Nioh2 the ungodly amount of loot will have to be managed manually, on a regular basis, and there is zero ways to automate any of the dozens of mindnumbingly boring steps of the process. Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to manually get rid of low-rarity items for the 1 billionth time? Would be nice indeed, but you're ain't getting it here. You will regularly be staring down lists of 200 items of some kind, where you will need to find the one item you need. These lists are not organized in ANY-FREAKIN-WAY. Not alphabetically, not by category, not by nothing. You will be looking for needles in haystacks. Honestly, in terms of simple logistical quality-of-life features, this game has made some of the most bafflingly lazy choices I have ever seen. So, is there a game that fixes about 95% of these annoying issues? You guessed it, it's Wo Long. Again, it's the little things, that end up making a huge difference. Menus are easy to oversee and items are easy to sort through. Loot management is made MASSIVELY more convenient by having an auto-salvage function, which automatically dissasembles your loot according to the specific criteria you set. For example, if you only want weapons that are above a certain rarity and upgrade level, it will automatically dissasemble anything that's below that threshold. Hallelujah. Simply put, you end up wasting massively less time in Wo Long. Case in point, my game record with both games; Nioh2: Gameplay: 568 hours. Enemies defeated: 18094 Deaths: 863 Wo Long: Gameplay: 639 hours Enemies defeated: 31941 Deaths: 766 That's a total of ~19K enemies vs ~33K I fought. So, I played with Wo Long more by 12%, but came across 1,7 times more enemies. Normalized for time, it’s still 1,5 more enemies. Why is that? Because I actually spent my goddamn time PLAYING and not trying to sort through a billion menu points that are not sorted in any way, and is there for nothing else but to suck time. Keep in mind that this is with having to do the battle-flags again in the missions when you revisit them (which you can pretty easily speed-run, it's just really not a huge deal.) All in all, I would say that Nioh2 inflates your playtime, but it does so by making you waste tons of time. I'm still scretching my head how Nioh2 could be discussed in this video while also hearing "no game will force me into boring f***ing farming". You end up spending a lot of time with this game if you commit to it, but you also get burnt out in the process. Nioh2 does an amazing job at creating a sense of urgency by getting you one-shot by all kinds of enemies that make you want to level up and upgrade your gear as fast as possible, and by the time you go through all the grinding to actually accomplish that, whoops, 4 hours went by (if not 14). People play with Nioh2 for 1500 hours, because there is simply no way to accomplish the things you want to do in less time. At the end of my 578 Nioh2 hours, I just finally managed to piece together a reasonably good, "corrupted Susano" build, ala FightinCowboy. If I wanted to do the same thing with say, 2 more builds that would be up to standard, sure, it would probably take me another 200-300 hours at least. Oh, nevermind the fact that at least 150 of those would be spent scrolling through the special effects menu list, or farming the same enemy for the 80th time to get a good roll on the item I want. To say that "if you like RPG games, it's pretty much perfect" is bizzare. In fact, I would say it's just wrong. It's very far from perfect, and it IS heavily flawed, even if we narrow things down to just the RPG elements. You might personally not mind its flaws that much, and that's totally cool. But please, let's try to stay truthful here. Some cloing remarks: This post ended up being more of a Nioh2 critique, or even bashing, rather than an actual 1:1 comparison. This was done because that was the only way to bring balance into this discussion, after absolutely bashing in Wo Long and praising Nioh2 up to the skies. (again, very persuasively, I bought the game because of this, it was that convincing.) The point I'm trying to make is that this video is just incredibly biased at best. It's extremely harsh and unforgiving with any of the flaws of Wo Long, and not even attempting to see the positives, even where they are clearly there to be seen. At the same time, it extremely generously glosses over some of the most blatant flaws of Nioh2. To say that "if Wo Long is a 9 then Nioh2 is 110" is just riduculous, I'm sorry. It would also be ridiculous to claim the opposite, by the way. The reality is, both games are good, and if one of them is a 9, the other one might be a 7. For me, for all the above reasons, I would give the 9 to Wo Long and 7 to Nioh2, but I'm totally cool with anyone seeing it the other way around. I would never say they are "wrong" for it, they just appreciate slightly different elements of a game compared to me. As a final concluding word, I would say this: I'm happy to call both games not only good, but great. I enjoyed my time with both of them, and I think which one you'll end up liking more will come down to your personal taste in how you like to play. I don't think there is a wrong choice here, it's just important to communicate honestly about the pros and cons of each game. Either way, happy playing, and enjoy, whatever you end up playing.

[@qgvinh8614]

@@regtsby First, I would like to thank you for your in depth opinions, I don't believe many people will read all that, bc of the massive wall of texts, but I see this as a great oppotunity for a healthy discussion, and since I haven't play wolong yet, this will focus solely on Nioh 2, here I go: The combat of Nioh 2 is not ki pulsing, nor stamina, nor burst counters and yokai form, but for me, and a lot, are the active skills and soul cores, ki pulsing and its subsequence cousins flux and flux 2 are enablers, to keep ki/stamina bar high enough for players to chain their active skills, into combos, burst counters are also enablers to speed up the process of depleting yokais' ki bar to 0, which puts them in a hit stun-able state for combos. You seems to focus a lot on the parry system, and I get it, the parry system here is wack, but to clarify, parrying here works by letting the enemies attack connect with the character's blade in the parry animation, which is why it each parries feels different, inconsitent in timing, cause their animations are different, further more, only human enemies are abled to be parried (minus some very specific yokai attacks), and only their normal attacks can be parried (except Iai quick draw, no idea why), so if you see them use their active skills, you can't parry it, they also have quite the same moveset as you, so it is actually not as complicated as you think, it works by a specific set of rules. Timely guard works the same way as parry, except Odachi's timely guard which also works on yokai's attacks, you don't actually need to hold guard the entire series of strike, normally people use timely guard for a telegraphed specific attacks in a chain of attacks, usually high stance one, it works kinda the same way like DMC's parry, you bait for one specific easy to time attack, then you counter it. You mentioned that dodging has lousy i-frames, I only other hand, see that it has precise i-frames, let me explain: low stance dodge, is a fast and short dodge that has the least i-frames, but the i-frames kick in immediately without start up frames, so in reactive gameplay, low stance is the best dodge for quick successive attacks. Mid stance is a dash then roll, which has longer i-frames than low stance dodge, but it has some start up frames before the i-frames actually kick in, so you have to time it slightly before an attack land, it has a medium amount of i-frames, I dont't know if there are any gap between the dash and the roll, but in my experience, no. High stance dodge, is a roll with the longest amount of i-frames and animation, it also has quite the start up frames, works almost identical to souls roll. The different is the ki consumption for the dodge and the recover animation as well, low>mid>high stance dodge, with low stance dodge taking the least ki and having the least recovery animation, which you can spam for repositioning or quick retaliation, While high stance roll should be used for large sweeping, large hit box attacks that low stance could not reliably dodge. They all have their uses and consistence in what they do. You also did not mention block, block in Nioh is like an insurance, you hold block while dodging to kill any recovery frames between each dodges, it can take one or 2 hits of the enemies, or extremely tanky thanks to Acala's grace build which lets you block pretty much everything. You might say that grinding for more powerful builds are convenient and learning technical aspects are hard, but I see that as personal preference, I actually see making OP builds extremely tedious, and just by 30' of learning in the Dojo I can grasp a lot of tech, which will improve my gameplay in such a short amount of time compare to just farming for builds, in the end, all is intrinsic motivation, highly subjective. Like I said above, I see chaining multiple active skills together and ending with a soul core or a grapple is the cool thing of Nioh 2, and flux/flux 2 are just enablers, it feels mechanical and require skills, like how you do combos in DMC, blocking 6 consecutive attacks from a boss is also cool, but it lacks mechanical requirements and much easier to just learn the timing, which is why a lot of people like Sekiro, while I prefer something more DMC, personal preferences. Difficulty spiking in further NG+ cycles are not just hp and attack boosts, they also have new moves, have faster attack animations, and much more aggressive, and in a way, they have to, bc your gears also getting more and more powerful, it is also fun to combos on a tanky enemies, which is why a lot of people play DMC in DMD difficulty, because when every mob is a sponge, you can combo on them for longer. I would say yeah, RNG sucks, but not as impactful as you make it sounds like, I rush from NG to NG+4 (dream of the Nioh) in the span of 200h, with a different build every cycle, only when you min max it does it become RNG hell. You said the game does not organize in any way, which is blatantly false, it literally has the option of filter drops by weapons, each weapon types, armors, with each category allows for sort by level, +level, type, rarity,... I would love if they add a sort by graces too, but this is actually a lot of organization options. You can also turn on an option in the menu to only let you pick up items with specific rarities like divine or ethereal, the reason you need to sort a lot of item by hand is to find which one might drop with an important stat like orange inheritable or transferable star stats, even if they gave Nioh the option to auto disassemble them, I would choose not to cause it might destroy something valuable. The reroll in the blacksmith also use divine umbracite as the all encompass material to reroll, which can be crafted with umbracite frags (which you'll be swimming in) and divine frags (which you can get dismantling divine weapons/gears, which you'll also be swimming in by the endgame). furthermore, the blacksmiths also has the lower version of each substats like damage taken-3%, so you don't have to reroll drops for star stats like damage taken -7% which is just an upgrade version, I've seen people clearing the depths 30 floor with insanely unoptimized substats, you literally don't need to grind RNG that much, I can make a good enough build in just 2-3 days, even faster, not 200-300 hours like you said it would. Each build also relies on status effects via magic or ninjutsu, so you don't even need optimize stats to take advantage of something like confusion debuffs which could make a yokai fight much, much easier. the soul cores also helps a ton. All in all, I would rate Nioh 2 objectively, 8-8,5 maybe 9/10, but personally it is 10/10 to me,it is an rpg with a combat depths of a character action game, what more can I ask for? I also see a lot of people dissing on Wo long, which I find to be quite unfair, so to does the latest Ronin game, I will play both of them myself, and came up with my own answers. Thanks for reading all this, great day to you.

[@Grimpachi]

I love strangers of paradise 😂

[@SenseiHadouken]

Wo Long is great

[@Alex-jh4by]

I don't know man. Wo Long is to Nioh what Sekiro is to Dark souls. The combat systems are vastly different, it makes comparing the 2 games pointless. Wo long is just different. I love Nioh 2, but I wouldn't compare it to Wo long. Wo long is parrying and attacking which I love. This is simply ridiculous.

[@FreedomUSA22]

My theory is that they wanted to make a game easy for beginners of souls like games that could allow for a broader audience to enjoy. I love Nioh & Nioh 2, but got damn i sucked ass at it for a while. Its very hard at first to understand all the mechanics.

[@slingshotmcoy]

yeh most of these complaints kind of come off as it just being easier/more accessible and less complex. Which is a sin to allot of gamers lol.

[@thatonefoofrumlongbe]

You put a lot of what i didn't like into words. I thought i was feeling pessimistic, but yeah. It didn't look like a 60$ game based on the demo. My thoughts about the last demo was wether that was the worst part of the game. Which already was a red flag. I did enjoy the demo, but I'll wait for a sale. I think it did better then Nioh, because it's easy. That's all it is. Reviews on Nioh 2 were harsh, because the game picked up right after nioh 1, and cut you no slack. That difficulty was cranked for new players. Total turn off.

[@_Bya__]

To the enemy variaty comparison to souls games. Yes, Nioh 2 has prolly far less, but they have a lot more depth. Most Souls enemies have like 2-3 different moves/attack strings and that's it. Nothing wrong with it and they make the area feel unique, but it's still an unfair comparison. Great video! You pretty much mentioned everything that is an issue for me with Wo Long. Especially the performance on PC. Loading times being like 10-15 seconds between maps??? Nioh 2 has a loading time of maybe 1-3 seconds. This year seems to be the year, where japanese companies realize how much money they make with PC games in the west, but don't have the budget to optimize their games for PC, but instead deliver a poor PC port without ever fixing it. Wo Long, Wild Hearts, ... I'd much rather have games release on consoles first like Nioh 2 did and then there's a PC version 9 months later.

[@korytoombs886]

Currently playing Wo Long. I really like the game for being a bit easier than Elden Ring. The biggest issue for me is the performance issue you mentioned. If Nioh or Nioh 2 come to PC game pass I'll give them a shot. Note: I really liked Lies of P, so they would have to compete with something like that.

[@user-zl8cp7sb6d]

Nioh 2 is awesome, the fast paced combat, the bosses and the ridiculous smithing, became an addict wanting to keep going to get the best stats on every piece. Team Ninja probably got burned out and said HELL NO TO A NIOH 3. I haven't tried Wo Long but it's going be very difficult for Team Ninja to come out with something better, they set the bar so high with Nioh 2, anyone that actually hasn't played Dark Souls or Nioh series, start off with Dark Souls cause once you play Nioh 2 then DS1/2/3 are going to be boring AF Great video, i am glad i found it before purchasing Wo Long, i think i will skip it. Wo Long seems like it was made by an entirely different company that tried to merge both Nioh and Sekiro, TN took a step back instead of making something better.

[@SilverNightbane]

Thank you for voicing my inner thoughts in regards to Wo Long. I platinumed both Nioh 1 and 2 because the gameplay loop in both games was just so much fun but Wo Long's gameplay loop honestly sucks. Doesn't help the lack of combat options compared to Nioh 2 is quite a giant issue. I was planning on reserving my full judgement for it though until all the DLC (just like with Nioh 1 and 2's additional DLC stories) might add more stuff to it, hopefully it's GOOD stuff...

[@nexgenvenom]

Nioh 2 was Awful i can't disagree more Wo Long is based off Dynasty Warriors which is the real OG💯 name one boss from nioh better then Lu Bu i'll wait....

[@micah9988]

I think Nioh 2 is better but tbh I agree with you, Lu bu is an amazing boss. I hate most of the bosses in Nioh 2

[@aimhigher7805]

Nioh is king of all games in my humble yet truthful opinion

[@stephenmclemore7614]

This is 100% correct.

[@kennethriddle433]

Nioh 2 should have been SO much better reviewed. Even though the story isn't great and some of the sound is a bit wonky, the world is absolutely beautiful and...THAT COMBAT! It's so much evolved from regular Soulslike's that it's not really even fair to call it one anymore. No other game in the genre is so rewarding to ultra-aggressive play. Most Fromsoft games are best played defensively, but if you try those tactic's with Nioh you're really gonna have a bad time lol. Every enemy will PUNISH defensive play. It's so much fun to absolutely wreck an entire level! I really can't praise this game enough.

[@TheSandkastenverbot]

It is tragic that Team Ninja would never pull itself out of this place of mediocrity. They never cared for anything that isn't combat, never even tried until Rise of the Ronin. Their games demand perfection from their players yet the company itself is a posterchild of a, well, child that does what it wants. Strangers of Paradise is so bad on so many levels that it felt like an april fool's joke. Even Rise of the Ronin, without a doubt a big endeavour, fun to play and very pretty visually, feels stale after 20h. On top of that, it has a combat system that imo still needs work. I say that because I like what the company does. If only they weren't so lazy...

[@bulbhead3333]

I think a lot of people that think wo long is better than nioh 2 probably haven't spent enough time on nioh 2 to understand it or see what it has to offer.

[@PlinyTheWelder]

Agreed. If you've spent any time with Nioh 2 you realize how much depth there really is. You can beat that game without using any of the weapon skills but once you really dig in that whole system takes the combat to another level

[@KitsuneYojimbo]

Honestly, I played through and beat both Wo Long and Nioh, but here's the thing. I mainly prefer Wo Long for one simple thing: The early game in Wo Long didn't make me wish the game had an easy mode. And not to mention that it's just kinda ridiculous and illogical that a bandit who's hardly equipped with much in the way of armor and something just sharp enough to cut and be called a sword can make mincemeat of a decked out half demon with protective armor and works as a demon hunter by trade in just a few swings.

[@emdeejay7432]

This game is better than nioh 100%. Theres an actual block mechanic for starters. I havent played nioh 2 but im playing nioh r.n. and wo long is way better in every way.

[@gagecollins9711]

The way I look at it, nioh 2 fans are upset that wo long isn't as complicated or bloated.nioh 2 feels like it has an identity crisis. Good game once you get a handle of what it wants you to do. It has the same issue most jrpgs. Wo long and nioh 2 are both 3/5 star games