Nioh 1 and 2 are definitely very good games (Picture: Sony)

A reader argues that the lesser known Nioh games have better combat, AI, and more variety than any of From Software’s Soulslike titles.

I remember first playing Dark Souls back in 2011, it quickly became one of my favourite games. Naturally I played Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls 3 when they released. I thought they were all great and that it would be hard for anyone to top FromSoftware.

Nioh then released and I was instantly hooked. The gameplay was so much smoother, fluid, and complex than anything offered by FromSoftware. There was no input delay or double input problems and the combat mechanics allowed for so many ways to approach combat, not just with all the attacks and defensive options offered to you but even with the different methods of dodging. Each weapon featured three different movesets, while the stance system and every weapon actually felt unique thanks to this and all their unique skills and moves.

It was hard going back to FromSoftware’s Soulslikes after that, as they just felt very clunky in comparison. This is when a lot of their flaws became apparent to me. The poor enemy AI; the exploitable tactics to cheese most enemies, from backstabbing to stun-locking them; and how despite all the weapons, most were the same and some had some downright bad movesets (maces, hammers, spears, etc.) – with the exception of Bloodborne which made each weapon unique like Nioh and gave each weapon two movesets.

With Dark Souls, however, there’s never really a need to use anything beyond spamming R1, outside of dodging, and this became even worse in Dark Souls 3, which gained it the nickname of R1 Spammer among some people because of this. Indeed, if you type ‘DS3 R1’ into Google, the first suggestion after is ‘spam’ with the following search revealing tons of discussions across the internet about it.

Ultimately, this is what my problem with the Dark Souls series boils down to. Nearly every enemy can be defeated by mere R1 spamming and even bosses fall down to that outside of the whole dance rhythm you perform with them. You’ll dodge their moveset, get a few R1 attacks in, rinse and repeat. Ultimately it makes for quite repetitive gameplay, especially on repeated playthroughs.

In the Nioh games, this doesn’t work against most enemies. You can defeat cannon fodder enemies like this, but most others will block, dodge, counter or grab you. It creates a far more interesting gameplay experience, as the games encourage you to explore the full offering of the diverse combat system.

A diverse combat system that offers combos, weapon switch combos, regular attacks into skills, evasive attacks, etc. You can approach and defeat enemies and bosses in so many different ways which, for me, creates more replayability. There’s also far more build variety and customisation options in Nioh, that not only help the replayability but create even more ways to approach combat that Dark Souls simply cannot match.

Elden Ring didn’t do much to improve on the Dark Souls formula in my opinion. The simplistic combat system is still the same but now jump spamming and spamming overpowered Ashes of War will win against nearly everything. Also, one of the most common criticisms against the Nioh games is very prominent in Elden Ring, that being reused enemies and bosses but it’s far, far worse in Elden Ring.

You have entire areas filled with nothing but the same exact enemy at times. Examples being sections of the Liurnia lake region having nothing but the giant lobster enemies, Caelid having nothing but the giant dog enemies, and the Atlus Plateu’s forest which is filled with nothing but Wormface enemies.

In the end, I was somewhat disappointed with Elden Ring and after the Nioh games, I’m just not that interested anymore in what FromSoftware releases, unless they decide to create a far more complex combat experience in their next action role-player.

Ultimately, gameplay is what these games boil down to. Some will say Dark Souls and Elden Ring are also about exploration and story but let’s be honest, the stories and characters aren’t that well written, especially when the characters mostly boil down to a couple of sentences and extremely basic tropes and clichés which get reused from game to game.

If you played Dark Souls, you’ve already experienced the story of every character in Elden Ring, from the adventurer who possibly meets a bitter end, the wizard who goes crazy, or the knight who meets a tragic end.

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Nioh’s storytelling isn’t particularly strong either, in both games, but I think they do a better job in writing character dialogue. I’d say all the dialogue and scenes with Tokichiro and the main character are far more better written and more compelling than anything FromSoftware has written.

There’s actual character development too, that happens over time as opposed to the ‘character development’ in Dark Souls or Elden Ring, where a character goes from one extreme to another the next time you meet them.

But like I said, in the end, these games boil down to gameplay. Gameplay is king and the Nioh games offer far better gameplay than Dark Souls and Elden Ring.

By reader John

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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A reader argues that the lesser known Nioh games have better combat, AI, and more variety than any of From Software’s Soulslike titles.