Difficulty of Nioh 1 vs Nioh 2

[Dwarven Runesmith]

In less than 35 hours I managed to beat the game and get into Way of the Demon quiet easily (Some might not, I get it) but for some odd reason I find Nioh 2 to be very hard in comparison.

I find beating most enemies good enough, It's mostly the bosses. When I started Nioh 1 I had many problems with a lot of bosses. Now I find them good enough for what they do even if I still hate some of them for different reasons.
But no matter how many times I try to fight bosses from Nioh 2, I just find it quite unfun and sometimes very annoying.

I just don't understand why I am suffering more there than here, what is the difference that could be the cause?

[Safarel]

First reason: you deal MUCH more damage in Nioh 1 when Nioh 2

Like, deal 1 million damage per hit in Nioh 1 is no big deal and happens quite often with right setup, but dealing 100.000 damage per single hit in Nioh 2 is very rare occasions

Second reason: chaos (applying two elements in same time) also stronger in Nioh 1, last much longer and every enemy with no exception are defenseless against chaos (in Nioh 2 bosses just enter dark realm completely removed any debuffs from themselves)

Third reason: living weapon is endlessly, fundamentally broken in Nioh 1 (too strong, grands you immunity, could last full mission with right gear and spirit setup)

[deeper]

It's been a while since I've played the second one, though I did play it a fair bit, but from what I remember, the bosses have a bigger move set.

[deeper]

I agree, in as much as what I played of the second was harder and largely less fun. As stated above, you mostly do less damage and even though I don't usually use my Living Weapon unless I have to, it's pretty great. I found that transformation into that creature in the second game to be unsatisfying.

I suspect that there's a number of builds in 2, that if you find them, make short work of most bosses, though I can't say I played them. The interplay of so much RNG sent me a bit crazy and I really hate the part of the game which makes me scroll through menus and items and not be killing monsters like a badass.

[Dwarven Runesmith]

Originally posted by Safarel:

First reason: Snip

Yeah, I did notice that really quick on bosses, it feels like I am wielding a paper noddle instead of a weapon.

Originally posted by Safarel:

Second reason: Snip

Chaos? I though it was "Confusion"? I get what they tried to do with Dark realm, I just never personally liked it, but removing debuffs on it is insane.

Originally posted by Safarel:

Third reason: Snip

I only ever used it as "Oh ♥♥♥♥" button or when boss only has little HP. But my uses of Living weapon and Yokai shift is pretty much same.

[CyndiLove]

Originally posted by Safarel:

Second reason: chaos (applying two elements in same time) also stronger in Nioh 1, last much longer and every enemy with no exception are defenseless against chaos (in Nioh 2 bosses just enter dark realm completely removed any debuffs from themselves)

Actually, most of the time bosses in Nioh 2 cannot enter dark realm if confused (chaos). Still weaker than Nioh 1, but if you know how to use it, it is much stronger than you think. The strategy is, deplete its ki first, then apply confusion, then just before it ends, add another elemental debuff to extend the duration..

Nioh 2 seems to be a very similar game as 1, but the strategy is actually quite different.

[level3]

Nioh 2 is much harder imo. In the first instalment there's much more op cheese. In Nioh 2 you can't cheese as much and bosses have bigger movesets. I did the abyss and basically never needed more than 1-4 tries to clear a level. This is not possible in nioh 2 depths without much training and/or a cheese setup. Add the stone of penance at +9, leave the kodamas and you have a very hard game.