How difficult is Nioh II?

[Vaultboy]

I played all souls games and Elden Ring plus Nioh 1. DS1/DS2 and Elden Ring
were doable for me, but I had especially problems with the difficulty of the bosses in Nioh 1. How does Nioh 2 fit in difficulty perspective?

[Angel]

I'd say nioh 2 is easier than nioh 1 just because of how many more options you have

[Tikus Tycoon]

Harder

[D-Black Catto]

I have 100% achievements in nioh, and haven't even reached ng+ or dlc content while having almost 100 hours here.
So I'd say it's longer and harder.

However, bosses aren't that hard. I initially struggled with bosses in the beginning, and some bosses are significantly harder than others(depending on your build and skillset too, I guess?) but most so far I have defeated in ~10 attempts.

Some in more than that, some in 1-3 attempts(usually the humans).

I think the greater difficulty of nioh 2 is in stages; more enemy types, and the ones you know got some additional moves.

[Witcher]

Originally posted by Angel:

I'd say nioh 2 is easier than nioh 1 just because of how many more options you have

I concur except it's harder than Elden Ring which is the only DS series game I have played. If you like a comprehensive combat system and incentives to play NG pluses, then you will enjoy Nioh 2.

[GladiatorA19]

Nioh 2 IMO is the hardest of the games but only for maybe the first 3 or 4 main missions, mainly because that early on you'll lack things like flux and better dark / yokai realm resistance. Also, bosses in Nioh 2 give you a very powerful counterattack opportunity in "burst" attacks which is a new mechanic in Nioh 2.

Bosses for the most part are not that bad except for some rare difficulty spikes and some humans.

[FIRE]

Combat is more complex and harder to learn but once you get used to it it's pretty much the same difficulty as the others you mentioned.

After the first few missions I started beating everything, including bosses pretty easily. It gets harder in NG+ if you're interested in that. But as a first playthrough it's not that bad.

[Pedaules]

Nioh 2 is easier imo than 1. In nioh 2 are maybe 2-3 problematic bosses. N2 dosnt have double bossess fight, remember that

[JorgeJunior]

Originally posted by Angel:

I'd say nioh 2 is easier than nioh 1 just because of how many more options you have

That's my opinion too.

[Rin]

Originally posted by Pedaules:

Nioh 2 is easier imo than 1. In nioh 2 are maybe 2-3 problematic bosses. N2 dosnt have double bossess fight, remember that

There aren't any main story double bosses, there is at least one dbl side boss iirc. But it's not that hard tbh and it's completely optional.

[kripcision]

Originally posted by Pedaules:

N2 dosnt have double bossess fight, remember that

not correct. there are DLC missions with more than 1 boss per mission, at least 1 main mission and 1 sub mission.

and then there is the depths, towards the end you have to beat 3 bosses back to back to pass the stage.

[Caesar]

More enemy variety, more skills/techniques which you've to master & so on.

Therefore I'd say Nioh 2 is harder, BUT keep in mind if you're stuck on a mission then you can make it much easier for yourself if you keep on grinding/replaying old missions for a bit (& level up a few times).
If a mission tells you "recommended level 50" then just try again once you're lvl 60 for example, then it'll become much easier.

Plus if you're stuck on a boss (& you're annoyed after trying a few times), you can just summon a visitor to help you out.

[Garble]

It varies.
Sometimes it's way harder, and others it's quite a bit easier.
It's more polished than 1 in a lot of ways but there's still the occasional frustrating jank. Though early on some things may seem like jank but they're more like a counter to certain playstyles: gonna point at Enenra's tornado burst counter as my example.
Recommendation would just be to choose the spirit guardian that gives you Brute (the red yokai form) during character creation cause that burst counter would be a lot easier in the beginning, you'll get spirit guardians with the others pretty quick if you decide to switch and you'll get each of those character creation guardian spirits eventually.

[kabanzai]

Originally posted by Vaultboy:

I played all souls games and Elden Ring plus Nioh 1. DS1/DS2 and Elden Ring
were doable for me, but I had especially problems with the difficulty of the bosses in Nioh 1. How does Nioh 2 fit in difficulty perspective?

I'm going to put it on par, tho it is balanced for multiplayer.

[Oninomiru]

Pretty difficult. Nioh 2 enemies don't oneshot you anymore, but amount of moves is much bigger and only grows with later difficulties, along with other ingame systems you have to keep in mind too.

[level3]

Originally posted by Oninomiru:

Nioh 2 enemies don't oneshot you anymore,

I get constantly oneshot in depths. Not to mention stone+9, then even onmyo doesnt help. im playing a crit build tho. Is it much different with a different build?

@OP: IMO Nioh2 is way more difficult until you get quick-change scrolls. After that its easier than nioh1... UNTIL Depths 21+, maybe even 11+. Then Nioh2 is again much more difficult.

Most dual bosses in nioh1 are a joke if you stack enough projectile dmg reduction and some attack attributes. No need for living weapon either. However, some may have a different experience depending on the weapon used.