Difficulty

[MaChao]

Is it just me or this this game *significantly* more difficult than any of their other soulslikes?
Stamina usage is pretty high, enemy aggressiveness is super high, especially with their unblockables.

I find the onboarding experience pretty hostile and unfun so far :/

[Kashra Fall]

If you're on twighlight difficulty? Yes, it is quite difficult, but it is supposed to be. If you're on the other two? No, it's a breeze.

[space]

this isn't a soulslike and it has difficulty settings

[MaChao]

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

If you're on twighlight difficulty? Yes, it is quite difficult, but it is supposed to be. If you're on the other two? No, it's a breeze.

Agree to disagree then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Compared tho the rest of their lineup, i'd call it anything but a breeze.

[MaChao]

Originally posted by space:

this isn't a soulslike and it has difficulty settings

Deterministic and stamina based combat system? Check
Checkpoint system with respawning, deterministic enemy placement? Check
Resource loss on death? Check
Ok, you're right, it's clearly Ninja Gaiden...

Also, if it has selectable difficulty or not is besides the point.
I specifically mentioned the games underlying system, like the much tighter stamina system or the overall much more aggressive enemy behavior compared to just about every other game they released.

[space]

Originally posted by MaChao:

Deterministic and stamina based combat system? Check
Checkpoint system with respawning, deterministic enemy placement? Check
Resource loss on death? Check
Ok, you're right, it's clearly Ninja Gaiden...

lots of games have that, is wow a soulslike cause it has those elements?

[𝔪𝔦𝔪𝔦𝔠𝔬]

[Kashra Fall]

Originally posted by MaChao:

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

If you're on twighlight difficulty? Yes, it is quite difficult, but it is supposed to be. If you're on the other two? No, it's a breeze.

Agree to disagree then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Compared tho the rest of their lineup, i'd call it anything but a breeze.

I'm pretty used to wo long's parry system, so it feels easier to me. Block what you can, parry the rest, be sure to clean your blade and don't over commit to combos. You WILL get punished in this game for over extending those combos haha.

[You're that ninja]

Nah even on twilight is a breeze if you use stealth and counter+swipe+down critical often, ninja can do chain stealth kills. Enemies under status effect stagger like always and you can block anything no critical without losing any health. You can even use "switcheroo" with the AI partner to fool the bosses. Wo Long learning curve was higher and you can use "Ki pulse" to recover "stamina" quickly you know :)

[MaChao]

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

Originally posted by MaChao:

Agree to disagree then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Compared tho the rest of their lineup, i'd call it anything but a breeze.

I'm pretty used to wo long's parry system, so it feels easier to me. Block what you can, parry the rest, be sure to clean your blade and don't over commit to combos. You WILL get punished in this game for over extending those combos haha.

I think what trips me up is that parry is an attack with significant windup and even longer recovery compared to a guard.
Personally, i think that Wo Long's parry system felt significantly better to use.
And with how high the stamina usage is in general, guarding doesn't feel too comfortable either. It's a high risk, little reward system.

As far as weapon cleaning etc. Sure, basic Nioh stuff. It's Ki Pulse has been hardcoded into my muscle memory :D

I'm sure that changes throughout the game, when more options are unlocked etc.
But like i said, i find the onboarding experience extremely hostile and unpleasant.

[MaChao]

Originally posted by You're that ninja:

Nah even on twilight is a breeze if you use stealth and counter+swipe+down critical often, ninja can do chain stealth kills. Enemies under status effect stagger like always and you can block anything no critical without losing any health. You can even use "switcheroo" with the AI partner to fool the bosses. Wo Long learning curve was higher

Agree to disagree.
I had that experience with Wo Long. I found its parry system significantly more intuitive and it's early levels much friendlier to learn the games overall quirks.

But again, i'm *specifically* talking about the onboarding process, the early game.
Not how the game plays later on.

[Zombie]

The mentality with games that require parrying to fight as the main mechanic require you to go in to the fights as an initial learning experience, keeping calm, knowing you'll get hit quite often, maybe even die a few times.

I did find once I beat Ronin, and starting finishing up the twilight missions, I had a much better feel for the combat and could beat most enemies/bosses without issue.

You also unlock a lot of sets, abilities and skills which when combined with the parrying system gives you a lot of power.

If you don't have patience and willing to learn, this game will be a struggle. I find the problem solving and getting a feel for the combat very satisfying, but I am older gamer (mid 50's) who prefers to learn mechanics, rather than just steam roll a game with one hand behind my back.

I hope you end up having a fun time, it's a really enjoyable game.

[MaChao]

Originally posted by Zombie:

The mentality with games that require parrying to fight as the main mechanic require you to go in to the fights as an initial learning experience, keeping calm, knowing you'll get hit quite often, maybe even die a few times.

I did find once I beat Ronin, and starting finishing up the twilight missions, I had a much better feel for the combat and could beat most enemies/bosses without issue.

You also unlock a lot of sets, abilities and skills which when combined with the parrying system gives you a lot of power.

If you don't have patience and willing to learn, this game will be a struggle. I find the problem solving and getting a feel for the combat very satisfying, but I am older gamer (mid 50's) who prefers to learn mechanics, rather than just steam roll a game with one hand behind my back.

I hope you end up having a fun time, it's a really enjoyable game.

I hope so too, but so far, it's my least favorite of KoeiTecmo's soulslikes. I just don't like how its parry system feels.
By no means a bad game, and i'm also not particularly struggling, but in direct comparison to their other games, i found this one to be significantly harsher, which i find a bit strange considering they decided to make it an open world game, which usually attracts more casual players.

[Prismatic Lollipop]

Originally posted by MaChao:

Originally posted by Zombie:

The mentality with games that require parrying to fight as the main mechanic require you to go in to the fights as an initial learning experience, keeping calm, knowing you'll get hit quite often, maybe even die a few times.

I did find once I beat Ronin, and starting finishing up the twilight missions, I had a much better feel for the combat and could beat most enemies/bosses without issue.

You also unlock a lot of sets, abilities and skills which when combined with the parrying system gives you a lot of power.

If you don't have patience and willing to learn, this game will be a struggle. I find the problem solving and getting a feel for the combat very satisfying, but I am older gamer (mid 50's) who prefers to learn mechanics, rather than just steam roll a game with one hand behind my back.

I hope you end up having a fun time, it's a really enjoyable game.

I hope so too, but so far, it's my least favorite of KoeiTecmo's soulslikes. I just don't like how its parry system feels.
By no means a bad game, and i'm also not particularly struggling, but in direct comparison to their other games, i found this one to be significantly harsher, which i find a bit strange considering they decided to make it an open world game, which usually attracts more casual players.

i agree with you.
After Wo Long and Sekiro, the parrying attack feels genuinely off to me in this game.
then again, i only played this on ps5 so far and performance there was abysmal.

[Atech]

I had to reduce difficulty from Twilight to beat Perry. I swear the parry hitbox does not track properly when he does his jump up from close.

[MaChao]

Originally posted by Atech:

I had to reduce difficulty from Twilight to beat Perry. I swear the parry hitbox does not track properly when he does his jump up from close.

Hitboxes feel a bit iffy in general. For instance, i simply couldn't avoid the sword smith's (The old lady) jumping unblockable, the hook throw.
That thing grabbed me no matter when i tried to dodge it. Early, late, didn't matter.