Topic: NIOH -OT-

@johncalmc I'm doing all the side missions as I go, and obsessing over the Kodama (I always like those guys since Princess Mononoke), so I'm not sure I'll even finish in time for Horizon Zero Dawn (which is fine since this is probably way better than HZD )

I finally got the game. It's 9 PM now so I'd better set an alarm clock to stop me playing around 2 AM! The first night with a new game always ends with: "Hey, how can it be so late? I just started it!"

Spent about 3 hours straight fighting Umi-Bozu, but I've finally beat him.
That fight really tests your patience.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Did you light the beacons? That makes the fight so much easier.

Fun fact: I started the game for the first time and it had audio and text in Japanese! I reinstalled the disc and it was still in Japanese! I checked my PS4 storage and there were two autosaves named "Unknown". Deleted them, reinstalled and finally I got the game in Italian! Just to reassure those who'll face the same problem with the PAL version!

Question: I noticed waves and flames move innaturally fast in Action Mode; does it mean the game was thought and built with 30 FPS as standard? Could this thing effect negatively the combat system somehow?

@johncalmc What do the beacons do? I lit them all but didn't realize you can light your weapon with them till after the boss died. Is that all they do?

@Fight_Teza_Fight At first I thought he'd be tedious but then I realized his big arm things can't hit you next to his body and the fight became trivial.... run in and smack him as soon as you see arms, then get out to the middle to dodge the giant laser beam, repeat. Once I figured it out I literally didn't get hit in the first phase (except for one fail dodging the laser). Once he's in the middle he's just a normal dodge/attack/wait type mob.

@andreoni79 I think you'll find that its still mostly Japanese

@Mega-Gazz If you fight him without lighting all three beacons then he also has smaller enemies with him that you have to deal with. It doesn't sound like much, but killing the little guys off while also fighting the big one makes it pretty complicated to keep track of the attacks. I went into it and I was getting obliterated. I actually think this was the boss that gave me the most trouble. Of course, I was also reviewing it, so I didn't have Google to fall back on because nobody had played it yet. So I was pretty stuck.

It was only when I quit out of the level to level up in side missions and came back in that I noticed the difference. I lit up three beacons on my second run through and the smaller enemies were gone, allowing me to just focus on the big one. And I smashed him.

@johncalmc ya that would be huge. I lit all the beacons because I'm obsessed with the finding the kodama . I guess I'm an explorer in general.

@Mega-Gazz Yeah, and I'm fine with that. Problem is when you hit Options or New Game (those where in english) and then all you see are ideograms! I feared there was a JAP disc in my case!!!

@johncalmc @Mega-Gazz I had 2 lit when I went to fight him. Died about 3 times realized that I can interact with the beacons. Lit it and returned.
I just lit the weapon & stuck to his body cause his arms wouldn't hit me. Issue was that I kept getting impatient and would fall into the water or ran out of ki and get hyperbeamed.
Second phase i struggled a lot with until I decided to just chip away at his health slowly with low stance axe. Probably died about 20 times haha.

When I finally did beat him I finished the fight in probably less than 4mins
Really love this game. You feel like a total badass when you overcome what seems to be an impossible task.

I update the game right now for the very first time and it's 1.03 with just an 84 MB download. I read the 1.02 patch was around 400 MB... Am I missing something or that was only a PS4 PRO thing?

As reported earlier, NiOh sold through 75,477 units in its debut week in Japan. Team Ninja have now confirmed that the game is sold out NATIONWIDE.
As a result they are offering Japanese gamers a 10% discount digitally.

Original tweet:

Tweet translated:
PS4 "Nio" is out of stock nationwide. Sequential additional shipping is in progress but we are not catching up. Continue to purchase consideration of PS Store DL version (10% OFF at early purchase period) thank you!Http: // psstore.eng.mg/ff13b

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There's no way that Sony as the publisher thought NiOh would sell less than 75,000 units in Japan. No way. They clearly believe in it. Otherwise why take the publishing reigns of Koei Tecmo? They probably had to pay a pretty penny for that.
The more I think about it, the more I believe they did this knowingly. Not only to create artificial hype but also drive digital sales.

The good thing is that I don't think there will be price cut any time soon, with the shortages. Team Ninja deserve all the $$$$$ for creating such a great game.

The level design in this game really shines. I am really appreciating it - not just the variety but in particular the way they use terrain to change fights. For example in umi-bozu's level they put a fiend in a spot where you have like 5 steps worth of space to back up and no side to side room at all - and it completely changes the fight against a mob you normally stay out of range of until they attack. That's just a small example, but in general I find the levels both varied, interesting, and used well to effect gameplay.

I'm only in the second mission and I already feel overwhelmed by all the weapons and armor pieces found around... How do you manage them, guys? At the moment I just sold all the white and yellow stuff and keep the blue and purple ones!

@andreoni79 I never sell anything really, I offer them at the shrine instead for Amrita & elixirs.
I have settled on a main and secondary weapon (Spear & Axe) with nice abilities and I lock them as well as 4-5 of my highest leveled weapons. I then check all (R2!) and sacrifice them all at once.
Same goes for armor, but I do check their abilities.
If I can afford it I then soul match my gear with the high level weapons that I saved.

Rinse and repeat.

I thought I would be overleveled by now, but I actually find myself to be under the recommended level on the current mission that I'm on.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Those recommended levels don't appear to matter at all, by the way. I finished the game over thirty levels under the recommended level for the final boss. Didn't matter one jot.

@andreoni79 I also gave up every weapon at the shrine for the amrita/bonus elixers. It helped me level up and got me through boss battles when I had more elixer. For most of the game I kept only the weapons and armour I had equipped and offloaded everything else at the next shrine.

@andreoni79 I'm doing all the side missions so levels are no problem. I'm selling all white/blue/yellow gear for gold, and disassemble purple gear. I then soul match the gear I like (currently full warrior of the west set) up to level occasionally.

@johncalmc That's a relief. I've not had to grind, but I'm currently 3 levels below the recommended level.

Thanks for the replies. I think I'd better spend more time at the forge to understand how to craft something special and testing the reforge and soul match options, but it feels to me like a waste of time since combat and exploration is too much fun!

It seems I suck at boss fights... I'm LVL 22 and the vampire lady at the end of the second mission killed me a dozen time. Tried different weapons, gears and magic but I just can't hurt her! Should I just level up some more or am I missing something?