There is going to be a new Nioh trial this weekend! I can't wait for this game and like the other alpha/beta you will get items for beating the demo in the final game. If you did not like the alpha check this game out again they changed a lot of things for the better like item durability.

Oooh neat. I wonder if they made it easier again? It's so hard to tell now when I know the mechanics well enough to skip the initial learning curve but I wouldn't be too surprised if they softened it up a bit more. That game is real mean in some odd ways that don't feel entirely consistent.

For as silly and shitty as durability systems are, I kinda miss chucking out new swords as they broke. You got so many in the first alpha it felt like tossing away a gun instead of reloading it because you are carrying an arsenal of disposable weapons. Fun in it's own little stupid way. Breaking your armor was terrible though, glad that's gone. That basically just made the trial and error super punishing on bosses, I did trial runs naked to learn their moveset before trying with actual equipment and that's a real ???? thing to come up with to work around game mechanics.

@tobbrobb: I like the system that replaced the durability better. I like leveling up a cool weapon and forging higher level weapons into it making it stronger. In the beta I had a sweet beefed up lightning Katana.

@memonk: Yeah the change was probably for the better. I was just thinking of it as an amusing novelty that I miss a little bit. :P

I really like how much they are showing off this game, and how seriously they want to make the game as good as it can be. It shows a confidence on the developers part to show off the game this much, but it also shows that they aren't over confident, as they are willing to change things for the better. I can't think of a better way to build up hype and anticipation.

By the way, to anyone wanting to play through this new demo, keep your save file if you beat the main mission. Apparently that's how you unlock the third new bonus helmet for the main game. Also, if you beat the main mission in twilight mode, you get another opportunity to download the dlc for two helmets from the previous two demos. So if you missed out last time, you're in luck.

But when is the new Ne-Yo track droppin'?

Sweet, didn't have a PS4 for the previous betas/demos so I'm glad to try this thing out finally.

I really need to get around to this one. The gameplay looks a lot like Onimusha which gets me excited.

Then I always hear it plays like Dark Souls so it's time I find out.

@jtb123: It has a deeper combat system than Dark Souls with each weapon having 3 stances High medium and low. Also as you use a weapon u level up that weapon and will unlock new combos. There is also magic and ninja skills that I did not touch at all in the betas.

I'm so excited to finally see what this game's about. I only recently got a PS4 so this is my first exposure to it.

I liked the first alpha. Feels like the first Dark Souls-ish game that isn't afraid to change up things and go for a different style. Getting through an area felt rewarding.

The gameplay looks like it has come a long way and I'm loving the weapon variety but man the environments continue to look extremely dull in Nioh.

Super keen, gotta get all 3 of my marks for silly helmet rewards!

This game is difficult as fuck, yo. I like a bunch of it, but standard enemies killing you in like three hits is a bit too punishing for my liking when their attacks are that fast/sudden. I am all for games keeping you on your toes, and I loved Dark Souls and thought Lords Of The Fallen was decent too, but this just seems like too much for me.

I wonder if this is the same demo as the Beta, or if they've made more changes since then. I mean, I'm sure they did to the actual game, but I wonder if those made their way into this.

Either way, I hope the final game is good! The beta sure was.

Alright, made it to the Ogress boss. Anyone have any tips? The jumping attack seems quite dumb. I can avoid it just fine, but sometimes she changes direction mid air and hits me even though it clearly looks like I avoided. Limited area + her reach is also quite dumb. Also, seems like two attacks kill me and she can stun lock me quite easily.

EDIT: Alright, took me a while but I defeated the Ogress that felt really satisfying. Game seems good although flawed, but I think I'll just get Dark Souls 3 when it's super cheap instead to scratch my itch. Maybe when this is 15 bucks or so I could jump on.

I'll try to sink some actual time into it. When's it on til?

The setting is cool but the player character is awful. He looks like a californian surfer dude ..his name is William!

It's the California Man sequel we've all been waiting for. Stone age man learns to adapt to to modern life and then goes back in time to feudal Japan ... WHICH IS STILL THE FUTURE TO HIM!

Brendan Fraser's on board.

@jacdg: last time I played it the enemies were able to attack directly through your attacks strings, but whenever you got hit it put you into a complete stun lock which I found incredibly lame.

Well he is supposed to be a Westerner.

@creepingdeath0: I know, just boring is all. Looks like Patrick Swayze in Point Break.

As I mentioned above I actually have quite the opposite reaction. I have no problem with the character since you dress him up in all sort sof cool samurai armor, but the levels that I've seen so far seem very dark and drab, and not in a good way. Part of the Dark Souls charm, or rather Demon's Souls mostly and then some Dark Souls 3 (Dark Souls 1 had horrendous level design) were the really fantastic looking areas. Nioh from what I've seen so far has been - ehh here is this forest-ish area.. here are some huts.. everything is kinda dark.. go for it?

Finished the trial, not sure whether it's due to previous experience with the game or whether they made the game significantly easier but I had very little trouble with this trial. They threw shrines at you for days and I feel like enemies do less damage? Might be a placebo I don't know but the Ogress only took me 2 tries, she had much larger windows to get attacks in and covered a lot less space with her attacks. Tachibana is still exploitable too but he's probably still a nightmare for people who haven't vs'd him before.

That being said I'm still super excited for the game and I love the changes made between the beta and this trial.

Nioh's got a historical period it's trying to place itself into which kinda limits where you can go with level design. Anybody else finding fighting on higher ground feels like a disadvantage? I whiff a few attacks being slightly above enemies that are right in front of me.

You get items for beating it? I thought you just got an extra mission? I beat the alpha and the beta said i'd already unlocked the reward. Oh well, i'm already sold on Team Ninja's attempt at a soulsborne even if I am a little bitter that we'll probably never see a Ninja Gaiden 4. (3 was terrible but they at least fixed it partially with Razor's Edge) Still it's better this than being stuck down in the mosou mines with Omega Force.

@shindig: hopefully they're not emulating that time period for the whole game, seeing as there are demons and all that.

@shindig:Yea you do whiff from higher ground for certain weapons. The same goes for enemies though use it to your advantage.

@boozak: You get 3 helmets 1 per Alpha/Beta/Trial. However it seems like you can get all 3 just by defeating the Ogress in the Trial. If you've already got the first 2 marks the third reward comes via keeping your save file from the Trial. That's how the full game will detect you beat the trial and reward you.

So basically:

1. Mark of the Conqueror (Beat first boss in the Alpha)
2. Mark of the Strong (Beat second boss in the Beta)
3. Save file from the Trial (Beat the first boss in the Trial)

For people that hadn't got the Mark of the Conqueror or Strong from the Alpha and Beta, once you beat the Ogress head to the main menu and there should be a button prompt that takes you to PSN to get the both Marks from there.

Yeah, this higher ground stuff is actually broken. So much of this level is a descent so you're going to unfairly whiff a lot. It also has that problem of not differentiating tougher enemies very well.

EDIT: Well, my elixir's glitched out of existence so this character's fucked. I can select it but it won't appear on my bar.

Does anyone know if you can juggle multiple saves in this demo? Like if I start a new game, will it keep my other one or erase it?

I don't think you can. I think I got a message about overwriting characters when I restarted. The more I see of this, the more it leans towards knowing the combat rather than character development. Everything can kill you quickly and nothing's a quick victory. That's fine but it really sucks the wind out of your sails when it comes to feeling like you're getting stronger or progressing.

They just start you at a lower level and you don't have the cushion of the first level for exploration/skill development/grinding; not really an issue for people that remember the controls but otherwise a tad problematic. Definitely the worst of the three betas if only for lack of content (how dare you not have 5+ hours of content in a free demo pre-release!), but it was still mildly engaging. Worth noting the first level from the alpha/beta is by far the best one even if the boss is underwhelming.

Well, I'm at the boss now and can't break the habit of dodging towards them. You don't get any i-frames during dodges or rolls in this, by the sounds of it. It's got something about it. It's real loot driven.

Boss down. That was fun. Turns out I had the right idea but lacked the timing. I'm picking this up next month. Huraah for demos!

This game does not mess around

I made it to the demon lady, chipped at her health for a bit and then got killed with one large stomp attack at 75% health. Part of it is a lot of fun, especially the different stances and the fun ki purifying aspect. Others parts of it seem kind of dated and tame compared to games in this genre. I like loot driven experiences and the samurai aesthetic of the armors really speaks to me, but the world is just grungy and boring and some of the attacks feel wonky at best. The boss battle did drain the wind out of my sails quite a bit though. It wasn't that challenging, just tiring. I'm sure I would have been able to beat her if not on my second try then probably a solid third, but seeing how slowly I was chipping away at her lifebar in contrast to how much damage each one of her attacks was causing made me just not want to bother. I think thats a boring boss system to be honest. I'd much rather the battle revolve around cleverly maneuvering around the boss in order to get the 10 or so important hits you needed to bring them down, rather than this death of a thousand papercuts.

I'm curious to see how the full game will look like.

The boss obeys the same Ki system as you and the other enemies. Once her Ki is drained, you can string together the big hits.

Finally got the chance to try it and damn it's really impressive. While I am dying a bit in it, I understand and appreciate its design to having a very fast and active approach to the Souls-like gameplay. The Ki system is something to get used to but since it's an important yet somewhat subtle mechanic, I like it especially on how it's implemented in the universe.

I really like the coop in this game, since it is a loot game and you keep all the loot you get during the coop it incentives you to do it unlike Dark Souls.

The kusaigama seems to be a very defensive weapon. Its attacks have consider start up time, but also range. A good "poking" weapon. Using it takes awhile to get used to, it has a different pace and flow compared to the other weapons.

This demo also seems to reveal most if not all the item crafting to be in this game.

You can disassemble items or find weapon and armor components from random drops. When forging items, the quality of crafting items affects the chance of the finished item. So there is no blueprints per quality per item, a blueprint can craft items of any quality.

Soul matching and reforging were in the previous beta. Soul matching increases an item's level by sacrificing a higher level item (not necessarily higher quality). Also weapons can pass on certain traits in some cases. Reforging is rerolling a particular effect, rerolling +Life to +Ki and such.

Refashioning is just "transmog" a la world of warcraft.

I'm digging how the item game is shaping up, looks like a lot of ways to customize your loadout.

The red lilies act as a breadcrumb trail showing the critical path.

I finally beat Muneshige, he is a pain in the ass but a fun fight when you are leveled enough to fight him.

Yeah turns out it's pretty good. I'm level 43, beat twilight mode twice and played a ton of coop!

I beat the lady boss, (Ogrette?) and it took a few more tries than I thought it would but I got there. Tried the next guy and boy that wasn't working out too well. It's a neat game, might pick it up on sale after it's out.

@humanity: you should try him after beating the twilight mission, it makes it a lot easier.

@memonk: I never even knew there was a Twilight mission I only saw him as the next possible location?

@humanity: if you look to the left at the map there is a red swirl that will give you the twilght mission it is hard but you get better loot and more xp.

also people are good

Well, I played for a couple of hours and then uninstalled it. Despite being a Dark Souls stalwart, I just don't think this is for me. Something just felt a little . . . off? Unengaging? I dunno, it just didn't click for me. Too much going on with the controls for my tastes and the combat felt really floaty in bad way. Enemies react to your hits, but in almost a generic Dynasty Warriors sort of way rather than it feeling like there's any weight behind your strikes.

Also, the environment design just seemed sort of blah. Dark, but dark as in muddy rather than dark as in this is a cool aesthetic. I know they can't go nuts because it's quasi-historical Japan, but this game really needs some crazy Dark Souls-style environments. I was very tired of the area I was in by the time I was finished playing.

Will only get a small chance later today to try it after downloading, but I loved the alpha and beta of this game. A lot of hours of content in those and I'm super looking forward to the real game. In general, this spring is just loaded for me..

This demo was much easier than the previous two. Fewer enemies, more environmental traps, and building my guardian spirit's meter quicker went a long way towards me finishing this trial with only a handful of deaths.

The Ogress was also a nice change from the kick in the teeth that the previous bosses were. Her attacks seemed pretty straightforward, so the only thing I needed to worry about was timing my dodges correctly.

I hope the final game has a decent spread of breezy and arduous boss fights.