Nioh Devs Say They Changed Co-Op So It Wouldn't Be 'Too Easy'

The PS4's new action game Nioh gets a whole lot right, but a change to co-op between the most recent demo and the full game has some fans rankled. In a statement to Kotaku, the game’s creative director says the change was made to keep the game from being too easy.

[CP_Company]

why they don't make like scale it? 1 person it is usual difficulty and if 2 persons they double it or triple it?

[Nitrowolf2]

The reasoning is Super dumb.

If I'm honest this game didn't really have co-op built in mind, stages are too small bosses get confused on who to attack, ect.

At least the old way of Co-op both players can go in blind but now usually when you find a partner to help you their super overpowered and just runs through the whole level for you

[sullynathan]

They probably didn't want multiplayer in their game but tacked it on because the souls games had it.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

But 1 person has to be ahead of the other in order to co-op? So that other person played that part of the game already and has better equipment but that wouldn't be easier would it? lol...

[SpinalRemains138]

It's not that different from Souls Borne where you need to have defeated the boss in order to help others defeat it.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Yeah I know but a lot of people thought it would be different considering the demo. That we would be able to co-op the whole way through without being ahead.

[DogJosha]

BB and DaS3 never required this, I'm unsure of the others, but you already seem to not know what you are talking about when using the phrase "Souls Borne".

Either way, this is anticonsumerism. Maybe not as bad as NMS, but it still sucks. I bought the game cause I was sold on multiplayer, then that multiplayer turns out to be a lie. The game is easy with or without a friend, so at least let me enjoy the game without having to play it twice...

[sullynathan]

No, you can summon players for Co op even if you haven't explored an area or beat a boss

[Goldby]

@Dog...

Nioh is still MP, what are you even goign on about.

He used the souls borne phrase for bloodborne and darksouls games. and some areas of bloodborne require you to either beat certain bosses or get to new areas before you can spawn in people.

As for anticonsumerism, nope. not in any way is it anti consumerism by making the mp harder or locking it behind requirements like ds and bb do.

if you bought the game expecting it to be super easy in mp or being able to have co-op from beginning to end and are mistaken, oh well, doesn't ruin the game at all.

[NapalmSanctuary]

In Bloodborne you don't have to have already defeated the boss to help another player, you just have to be able to ring the resonant bell, which you can do pretty freely. As long as the potential host hasn't beaten the boss in an area, and have at least 1 insight, they can ring the beckoning bell, and the resonant bell ringer just has to have access to the same area.

[NapalmSanctuary]

@Goldby

To say that people just wanted it to be easy is ignorant and reductive thinking. Theres nothing wrong with making co-op harder, but putting this kind of restriction on it is a bad move. Some people buy games just for co-op, and going by the demo this was going to be a good game for it. I wouldn't buy or play Halo without co-op, just cause its not fun for me without a friend, and that game is easy to solo. I guess its a good thing I like this game in general, but its a slap in the face to those who bought just for co-op. Thats not good for business.

[sullynathan]

How the hell are people hitting the disagree button when my comment is a fact?

[DogJosha]

@Goldby
You seem to have gotten some good replies on my behalf, but I will go ahead and reply to.

"Nioh is still MP, what are you even goign on about."
It has multiplayer, but not the type of multiplayer I was sold on. I can't 100% explore the game together with a friend for the very first time.

"He used the souls borne phrase for bloodborne and darksouls games. and some areas of bloodborne require you to either beat certain bosses or get to new areas before you can spawn in people."
You NEVER have to beat an area to summon players in BB. In fact, beating a boss in BB actually stops you from being able to summon people. BB has the type of multiplayer I was expecting from Nioh.

"As for anticonsumerism, nope. not in any way is it anti consumerism by making the mp harder or locking it behind requirements like ds and bb do."
It is anti-consumerism to show off certain features, then to sell the final game without those features present, and not telling the customer before they get a chance to buy it. You are misrepresenting your product, thus making it impossible for a consumer, like me, to know if the product is right for them or not.

"if you bought the game expecting it to be super easy in mp or being able to have co-op from beginning to end and are mistaken, oh well, doesn't ruin the game at all."
This is the same apologist attitude that people had for NMS. It doesn't matter if you don't mind losing features. Some people do mind, and would have liked to have known before buying the game. As far as being super easy, that is self projecting. The game is already super easy to me. I didn't want MP to affect difficulty. In fact, the MP as is just makes the game easy as shit. It forces you to play with someone who is already leveled and experienced at beating the level. Either way, I don't want to play the game just so I can summon in some random player who already beat the game, or level. I want to play with a friend. In order to do that, either one of us has to run through the entire game real quick and be OP, or one of us takes 30 minutes to beat a level, play that level together, then have to wait on that person to beat the next level, then play it together, then wait again, then play again, then wait some more. How the hell does that seem logical to you as a "good" multiplayer feature?

[Wallstreet37]

But their reasoning was asanine at best lol

[Fishy Fingers]

Could of just upped the difficult one way or another. I know it's not exactly the point of the game, but would it if mattered if people wanted an easier co-op experience anyway?

[Gardenia]

Co op worked fine in Dark Souls and Bloodborne

[sullynathan]

They could have done like the souls game and increased enemy damage and defense for playing Co op but they're too stuck on making a game that is "teh hard"

[ChronoJoe]

Two players going in blind is easier than 1 blind and 1 having completed it before? It's too easy now, players are able to whizz through the stages with a guy that's already completed it. They should revert it back to how it was before. People should be able to play through the stages together in blind co-op.

[Goldby]

no one has an issue with that for ds or bloodborne? itsw the exact same thing i dont see why people have an issue with the set up now for nioh

[madforaday]

They are making it harder to play with friends, you still can coop the entire game with random people. Now if you want to play with a friend, one person must of completed that level in order for the two friends to coop. In my opinion, that is silly because you still can coop with random people anytime you want, it is just harder to do it with people you know.

[NapalmSanctuary]

Its not that way in Bloodborne. The parts you can co-op, you can co-op first time on both ends.

[cellfluid]

How about making smarter ai instead of these cheap tactics to increase difficulty

[madforaday]

That is what I was thinking, I have no idea how the development of a game works but wouldn't you think they would of realized that playing coop would make it super easier and they should change the AI. You could of add more enemies, more aggressive or defensive. You could have them take more hits or hit harder if you want to be really cheap with it lol. All of a sudden the last second (not even we heard about this at the time it came out) they took something out. I personally, don't care I am still super excited for this game!!

[Dragonscale]

Git gud springs to mind lol.