I still can't master one of Nioh's simplest mechanics even after 10 years with the games, and 20 hours playing Nioh 3
Last week: Played through Cairn and loved it, but is now after something less existentially troubling.
Nioh 3 is an astonishing action game, probably an all timer for me. I've poured nearly 20 hours into Team Ninja's latest—which we just awarded a 90% in our review—and I'm relieved that the relative calm of Wo Long Fallen Dynasty and Rise of the Ronin hasn't influenced the batshit frenetic pace of the Nioh games. Nioh 3 is more frenetic than Nioh 2, which was more frenetic than Nioh. Team Ninja's project feels akin to id Software's approach with Doom Eternal: no finger can be permitted to rest. It's a project in pushing against the limits of player exhaustion.
After 20 hours I still don't understand all the systems in Nioh 3, but there's one I'm already super familiar with from past Nioh games: pressing RB to perform a "ki pulse" after every attack. This replenishes a bit of "ki" (which is basically stamina) and also cleans up all the black murky mess enemies leave around which can severely handicap your damage output. It's kinda like Gears of War's active reload system, except in a game that also has you switching between two different combat modes on the fly. Every finger needs to absorb two sets of muscle memory, in other words.
In Nioh 3, ki pulse is something only the slightly-slower samurai class can do: the ninja has something new called Mist, which is a fast and evasive manoeuvre. I'm too old to have learned the ninja equivalent to the ki pulse already (ask me in 50 more hours), so I've mostly stuck to the samurai class out of habit, and for the love of a two-handed hoe I found in the opening area.
There's another, more pathetic reason I stick to samurai most of the time: I simply cannot learn to press RB quickly after an attack to enact a ki pulse. I remember to do it only about 20 percent of the time. It's an absolutely fundamental part of Nioh's combat ballet, and the game is constantly reminding me to do it, and yet… I usually don't. If I can't do a ki pulse reliably, what chance do I have to master an entirely different combat system?
Team Ninja approaches combat like a master luthier does their instrument: you can play it poorly, you can play it flawlessly, but either way you're playing it and it feels brilliant in the hands
Imagine then, a game that not only asks me to remember something as simple as pressing RB after every attack (quite easy on paper!) but also layers an extra combat class on top of an already famously complex action game system. It's tough, but also: I fucking love it. If most action games deliver the gratification of a well-timed button press every minute or so, if you're skilled enough, Nioh delivers it every second.
Nioh 3's equivalent to parrying is the burst counter, which involves switching classes as an enemy winds up its heavy attack. In other words, this crucial system—which can make the difference between a tough boss and a pushover—usually involves switching from my samurai comfort zone into the unknown ninja class, whose function is entirely different. Sure, the light and heavy attack buttons are the same, the jump and dodge buttons are the same, but ninjas and samurais have vastly different abilities and skill trees, the finer points of which need to be absorbed and memorised. Samurais use combat stances similar to earlier Nioh games, whereas ninjas are more focused on projectiles, magical elemental attacks, and advanced movement skills.
This is about as maximalist as an action RPG can get before becoming completely untenable. But despite all the demands it places on my ailing dexterity and muscle memory, Nioh 3 is so much more approachable than just about any other soulslike I've ever played. Imagine, that even a sucker like me who can't remember to do ki pulses, can eventually, through sheer force of will, smite Jakotsu-Baba and several tougher bosses that follow, while only being capable of performing a fraction of the game's offensive tactics.
The reason I continue to play isn't because the game is fun to explore either: I'm finding Nioh 3's open world pretty drab and boring overall. The over-abundance of loot has never been a problem for me, but if it's a problem for you, Team Ninja hasn't really changed much in that department. The secret sauce in Nioh 3 and its predecessors is that Team Ninja approaches combat like a master luthier does their instrument: you can play it poorly, you can play it flawlessly, but either way you're playing it and it feels brilliant in the hands. When I do remember to do a ki pulse, it's like I've struck the most beautiful chord.