Does anyone care about the story?

[Jon.Topps]

Why is the story just SOOOO bad for these games? I hate the Yoshi character, and he's the one driving the "plot"? It's essentially "let's get crystals!" then for some reason you fight for a warlord. There's no reason for any of it. The one interesting thing was that (spoiler) your dad impregnated a demon, but then he dies at like the beginning of the game basically. There's just nothing holding the story together.

Or am I missing something?

You would think with a AAA game they could pay someone a few bucks on Fiver to make a better story than this, lol.

[D. Flame]

Only as a Mac Guffin to keep you moving forward. Also demon mommy.

I wish that they would just make an entirely fiction story based on super natural creatures, rather than trying to tie this ♥♥♥♥ into history.

[iriyap]

The thing is, it's an alternate history game and it glosses over many plot points that are common knowledge in Japan, if you don't know much about the Sengoku period a lot of things will fly over your head, like "wait, that character is dead now? how?".

Hideyoshi is a rather popular character in Japan and there are TV shows and movies about him. The actor playing him in Nioh 2 (Naoto Takenaka) has actually played him before in a TV show[en.wikipedia.org].

There is a glossary listing biographies for most characters, I recommend checking it every couple missions to see what each character was up to at what time, it's updated as you progress the story.

[John Bayes]

The story is going over your head because this game requires some background knowledge of Japanese history. There is a lot of Japanese myths and legends that are at play here, and the story is a historical fiction playing very strongly into the historical aspects.

What a lot of people dont realize is how the story is a backdrop and the gamer is a casual observer of the historical events playing out in the game. What is holding the story together is Japanese history and the real people taking part in it, and shaping it.

The story is NOT bad. It is actually quite good, but it is very Japanese and it has a focus on Japanese history and culture that doesn't translate well into English.
For instance, Yokai are not demons in our western cultural sense as creatures from hell, but are more like a evil dead spirits.
Also If you listen to the Japanese sub; they call Hide "Hidechiyo" but is translated as Hide.

If you want a character focus story, you like endless options available.

[Alvin0125]

The "story" of the game is more of a history and Japanese folklore lesson with a small dash of a ninja gaiden universe tie in. Most don't like this but i find it intriguing to learn about their culture and i like how team ninja tries to tie it together with their franchise title.

[Angel]

yeah I like it, though one part doesn't make sense to me

[Chad "The King" ThunderCuck]

japanese games arent known for their story. they tend to either be a completely generic trope, or some heavily bastardized version of romance of the 3 kingdoms, journey to the west, or any of the made up "history" of china or japan that pretended demons actually existed and their ruler was a God.

[{5LINE}Cows with Guns]

Originally posted by Chad "The King" ThunderCuck:

japanese games arent known for their story. they tend to either be a completely generic trope, or some heavily bastardized version of romance of the 3 kingdoms, journey to the west, or any of the made up "history" of china or japan that pretended demons actually existed and their ruler was a God.

I'm guessing "Historical Fiction" isn't really a thing for you...
Stories only became "generic" in the past 2-3 decades because character development and story-writing has become more or less templates of what has been done. It also doesn't help that media consumption has become very easy and new unique materials become harder to come by due to "risks".
For example, One can look at the giants of modern game studios (Microsoft, Nintendo, Square, Sony, etc.) have so much stuff that they'd rather recycle/remaster/reboot old franchises rather than taking on and trying new ventures with risks.

Demons, Devils, and Monsters are, fortunately, mostly existent in human imaginations and not to be taken literally. The difference is mostly in presentation between various cultures. One can even argue all modern western fantasy is generic because they haven't gone beyond the classes, roles, and tropes described by Wizards of the Coast's D&D / tabletops. But hey, I guess ignorance is a wonderful thing.

The shoddy story for Nioh 1/2 is mostly a Koei-Tecmo thing and not really applicable to the general "Japanese Games". But I'll at least give them credit that they introduced some notable foreigners in Japan this time around (Yasuke and WIlliam).

As for "God-King(s)" ... well if a modern example is needed, some believe and think the 45th American President is one.

[Shrinkshooter]

Because I played Nioh 1 and expected there to be standard Japanese history "holes" in the story, the very disjointed nature of "random events happening in rapid sequence with terrible pacing" doesn't surprise me, even though it's still unpleasant despite expecting it.

What really gets under my skin is the, well, idk what to even call it. Extremely over exaggerated physical and emotional acting of every character (mostly minus the main one). Three Stooges level of severely overdone gestures and reactions. Now, I don't know what to call it, but I've seen it in Japanese cinemetagraphy here and there across the decades, and it really takes me out of whatever I'm watching every time. It's obviously intentional in a number of cases but I don't get why, don't you want characters to act and behave like believable people?

Originally posted by {5LINE}Cows with Guns:

Stories only became "generic" in the past 2-3 decades because character development and story-writing has become more or less templates of what has been done.

No, "templates" and "tropes" have existed since the dawn of human storytelling and it's impossible to write any good story without tons of them in there, just like it's impossible to build a good house without using tons of conventional applications of physics and tools. The reason everything is cookie cutter these days is because 1) nobody is taking risks, as you said, but also 2) nepotism and gatekeeping. Well written films and shows in modern day are an absolute rarity, but good writers aren't; they're simply being kept out. This generic state of media is not caused by templates that have existed, and been used in, good stories for thousands of years.

You could literally write a successful, standard "hero's journey" film tomorrow that breaks no molds at all and it would still be refreshing in today's landscape because the people in charge of producing modern stories are trash at their jobs.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Shrinkshooter:

Because I played Nioh 1 and expected there to be standard Japanese history "holes" in the story, the very disjointed nature of "random events happening in rapid sequence with terrible pacing" doesn't surprise me, even though it's still unpleasant despite expecting it.

Your character is just a half-yokai, who doesn't really give a crap about what is happening. You see this in the scene where old dude almost steps on the fat cat. Your characters goes and picks up the scampus, and that is the only thing they are really interested in during that scene.

You are basically seeing history through the eyes of someone who doesn't care about it. You're only there because you saved that guy at the start and became buddies. He is the one with ambition, not you.

In the first game, William was on a mission. Someone stole his guardian spirit friend, and he was determined to get her back. That is why it had more of a traditional story, because it is a cliche, "get the girl back," story.

[Sm Izumi]

I'd rather have a completely stupid and wacky Japanese story with demons and anime made by Japanese people than AC and his Black racist ""samurai"" fanfiction being taken as an historic piece that's true.

[Crowmanhunter]

I actually like the story a lot. Even without being grounded in historical fiction, what's there is incredibly poetic at times.
I absolutely love theme of of two characters trying to make a name for themselves. And then you and Hide bond to the point of sharing two halves of a single name. And so when Hideyoshi becomes corrupt, it falls to you, his other half, to stop him.

If nothing else, it's a huge improvement from Nioh 1.

[Lavian]

Originally posted by Sm Izumi:

I'd rather have a completely stupid and wacky Japanese story with demons and anime :repoop: made by Japanese people than AC and his Black racist ""samurai"" fanfiction being taken as an historic piece that's true.

lol
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250576370
lmao, even.

I'm going to assume you didn't realize that Yasuke is, in fact, a real historical figure, and in the Nioh games, in which he is explicitly stated to be a samurai.

[emmanuelcunde]

Originally posted by Sm Izumi:

I'd rather have a completely stupid and wacky Japanese story with demons and anime :repoop: made by Japanese people than AC and his Black racist ""samurai"" fanfiction being taken as an historic piece that's true.

lol the black samurai is in nioh 2 too...

[merchantrock9]

got me to read more about the sengoku period.

[thecatcher]

i played through this game and the first game like 4 times and after about the third time i started to try make sense of it all, the problem is that they think you already have some knowledge of the characters and the history it is not a bad story just told in a weird and incohesive way