I finished Nioh 3

Today I finally finished Nioh 3. This was one of my most anticipated games this year and I'm extremely happy to say it delivered. I went in acknowledging the fact that it's a tall order to ask it to be better than my top 6 game of all time with Nioh 2 (top games might be a topic for the future) but I did have the desire for more Nioh. Thankfully I got that. 

 I am a massive fan of the Team Ninja RPGs. They're not the most cohesion games in terms of stories and such but I cannot get enough of their combat style. Nioh, Wo Long, Rise of the Ronin, all fantastic. Nioh 2 is such a strong refinement of Nioh's combat. The level design is so much better and the variety of things you can do is such a solid step up. When I played 2, I mained primarily Tonfas. The play style they encourage with that weapon type is "It's always my turn" and I love that. The stance switching and abilities that come with it are unlike any action game. It's such a fun game.

Nioh 3 mixes it up in ways that I really like. Tonfas are relegated to the brand new Ninja style. The primary difference between Samurai and Ninja is instead of ki pulse (effectively an active reload for stamina), you have mist which is an invincible dodge. With my weapon type of choice, you still get all the moves that were present in 2 which was a godsend. 


Since Tonfas were set to Ninja, this forced me to learn a new weapon with Samurai. I settled on fists, or cestuses as they're called. These have massively improved from Nioh 2, particularly by having an active parry that's system wide. Samurai having a party changes how you approach fights in such fun ways. A stylish defense move available at all times. I absolutely love it. It makes the game feel like Sekiro at times. 

As far as narrative goes, it's the weakest element, as it always is in these games. By the time I got to the end, I was skipping cutscenes. I felt bad but I just didn't care. It didn't stop me from loving this game though.

Overall I still need to think whether it's better than 2 or not. I think it has more aspects of action games that I enjoy to push it over the edge. It's not a perfect game but to me, it's an all timer. 

Not set in stone but as of right now, this is bare minimum 9.5/10. 

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