Nioh 2

Nioh 2 DLSS Analysis: AI Upscaling's Toughest Test Yet?


I just came to report back on This video and my own DLSS experience with this game.

My previous comments hold up after scrutiny. DLSS Quality mode is quite good in this game. It effectively acts as Anti-Aliasing with good coverage on close objects, especially. Overall, the image quality is very similar. Without DLSS, the game is more crisp, but also full of aliasing. With DLSS, the anti-aliasing creates a very slight softness to the image. I do not consider this a problem or even a similar issue to some other games with DLSS, where the lack of sharpness is more like a failure to reconstruct resolution (I.E. Death Stranding, Cyberpunk).
And even under fast motion, I'm not really detecting any meaningful ghosting, blurring, pixelization, or other artifacts. There are some slight artifacts if you really go hunting. But the game also has a lot of post process fx and other visual florish on special moves, which probably distract from some artifacts which might technically be there. Under normal play, I don't notice anything major to complain about, except 1 thing:

Texture quality. DF did a great job of pointing this out and also providing a fix. Which is great, because this was bothering me but I didn't know it could be fixed. Under DLSS, some textures will be lower quality than usual. often, these are distant or medium distant textures. But not always. This sticks out, because the game already has problems with LoD distance and Anisotropic Filtering distance (force AF 16x in your driver control panel). Watch DF's video for the texture fix.
 
Another patch, two nights ago. They seem to be consistently and fairly quickly squashing the issues. The green text is what I considered to be the most major problem this game has ever had. Good to see them continuing to work on it. Hopefully they can eliminate it. Because before this patch, the previous improvements weren't enough. Lots of people getting huge framedrops during special moves. Compounded when you fight a boss, which is also doing special moves and throwing a lot of effects around.


■Additional Features

・Added support for keyboard & mouse input icons 
 This setting can be switched via “System” ⇒ “Keyboard & Mouse Settings” ⇒ “Control Icons”

■Bug Fixes

・Fixed an issue which prevented Burst Counters from being used against certain enemies’ Burst Attacks when “Frame Rate Cap” was set to 120

・Further improvements have been made to address the issue of frame rate degradation when “Effect Quality” is set to “High” in “Graphics Settings”

・Shadows are now enabled in cutscenes even when the "Shadows" setting in "Graphics Settings" is set to "OFF"

・Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the fog in stages to appear brighter than expected

・The screen resolution of 1366x768 can now be selected when the desktop resolution is 1360x768

・Changed the settings in “Keyboard & Mouse Settings” ⇒ “Key Configuration” for camera operation via mouse in “Photo mode”

・Fixed an issue where some effects would not display in the cutscene, “A Summons to War”

・Fixed an issue that occurred with facial expressions while using the “Dragon Ninja” Transformation

・The window menu is no longer included in the image data copied to the clipboard when posting character creation settings on Twitter

・Other minor bug fixes
 
latest patch seems to be causing crashes...no idea how widespread the issue is but some players are reporting “non stop crashing”, others seem to get it when summoning other players, while others experience it when completing missions...plenty of players claim they’re not getting crashes at all, but the issue is real enough that Team Ninja has finally acknowledged it more than a week after it was rolled out

pressed on Twitter, Team Ninja wrote that it’s “currently looking into what is causing this issue to some players”...

https://twitter.com/Brey762/status/1368982664175255555
 
I just picked up this game, not sure if it was the right move or not. But I'm already stuck in the tutorial. What does E+ and Space+? mean? The game wants me to press E+ and later in the tutorial Space+, but I Have no clue what that even means. Also the weapon choice how does it work? I've picked up two weapons but have no idea how to switch between them, how many weapons can I choose?
 
It turns out + means shift. Weird to assign actions to SHIFT+SG in a game, but thankfully I was able to redefine them to single keys.

This could be a good hack and slash, but it's way too complicated for it's own good. There are just too many keys and actions, and you even have to press a key to recover stamina during combat, and time it right too after each individual attack, while simultaneously countering, blocking, and dodging attacks, now that is pita. And there's more, like finishing moves on downed enemies, cleansing, stances, a lock on mechanic... And there even seems to be a combo system that I haven't unlocked yet.
 
It turns out + means shift. Weird to assign actions to SHIFT+SG in a game, but thankfully I was able to redefine them to single keys.

This could be a good hack and slash, but it's way too complicated for it's own good. There are just too many keys and actions, and you even have to press a key to recover stamina during combat, and time it right too after each individual attack, while simultaneously countering, blocking, and dodging attacks, now that is pita. And there's more, like finishing moves on downed enemies, cleansing, stances, a lock on mechanic... And there even seems to be a combo system that I haven't unlocked yet.

don't you do any research at all before buying a game or do you just blindly buy and then complain?...you love to complain so I'm guessing you blindly buy most games...all the things you mentioned are basic features of the game...that's like me saying wow I need to block and parry in Dark Souls and that uses up stamina...or I need to assign a keyboard button to heal...
 
don't you do any research at all before buying a game or do you just blindly buy and then complain?...you love to complain so I'm guessing you blindly buy most games...all the things you mentioned are basic features of the game...that's like me saying wow I need to block and parry in Dark Souls and that uses up stamina...or I need to assign a keyboard button to heal...
You can't just sit there and claim with a straight face, that the number of different combat actions this game has is perfectly normal and average, and not over the top at all.

It's a separate action to block, separate action to counter attack, separate action to lock on, then to switch to another enemy, separate action to switch stance, separate action to dodge, separate action to replenish stamina while attacking, separate action for special attack, separate action for cleanse, separate action for heavy attack, separate action for attacking staggered enemy, and the list goes on. Yeah, that's perfectly normal for every game to have more than a dozen actions for simple combat.

So by your rule nobody should complain about anything about any game if they did their research. Guess only you are allowed to complain here about cyberpunk 2077 without even playing it, but I'm not allowed to mention that this game has too many actions tied to combat.
 
It turns out + means shift. Weird to assign actions to SHIFT+SG in a game, but thankfully I was able to redefine them to single keys.

This could be a good hack and slash, but it's way too complicated for it's own good. There are just too many keys and actions, and you even have to press a key to recover stamina during combat, and time it right too after each individual attack, while simultaneously countering, blocking, and dodging attacks, now that is pita. And there's more, like finishing moves on downed enemies, cleansing, stances, a lock on mechanic... And there even seems to be a combo system that I haven't unlocked yet.
Its a similar amount of actions as Dark Souls. And...its not really designed for KBM, ether. A game like this is meant for controller.


Addtionally, like Dark Souls, some of these actions are meant to be slow or utilize button config which aren't the quickest thing to do. The speed at which you can do things is part of how they balance out the mechanics Vs. the speed of the game.
 
There are just too many keys and actions
Most people don't min max - they set their stance to the middle one and never change it. The game then effectively plays just like any other Souls game - you can pretty much ignore all the 'extra' features it has, as none of them are required to beat the game. The stamina recover you mentioned, there is an upgrade in the tree to automatically Ki Pulse when you dodge so you don't need to press an extra button to do it, it's probably the most quality of life upgrade you can get.

Tips: Blocking in this game is very useful, as you can safely block many dangerous attacks (even big boss swings) that are very difficult to dodge. The game is playable without blocking, but way way more difficult. The Odachi is probably the most versatile weapon for new players to use, due to its damage and reach. The burst counter (on xbox controller controller its right trigger+B) is useful on many bosses. Keep your equipment weight below 70%.

Sadly yes, the Souls games and the Souls clones almost all only really play well with a controller. Most are playable with keyboard but it isn't optimal or recommended, even by the developers.
 
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The game's controls are a little wonky compared to just about any other game and the tutorial isn't worth a damn. It tells you the various commands, but it offers zero context on why you'd want to do anything or what meters are in play with each action. It's sloppy.
 
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The game's controls are a little wonky compared to just about any other game and the tutorial isn't worth a damn. It tells you the various commands, but it offers zero context on why you'd want to do anything or what meters are in play with each action. It's sloppy.
The tutorial could definitely be better. As you said, it doesn't give much more than very basic ideas about what/why. For example, the different stances effect movement speed, dodge speed, stamina drain, etc. But the tutorial doesn't really tell you that.
 
The tutorial could definitely be better. As you said, it doesn't give much more than very basic ideas about what/why. For example, the different stances effect movement speed, dodge speed, stamina drain, etc. But the tutorial doesn't really tell you that.

sounds like the Dark Souls series...there are too many mechanics and things to learn, so playing the game is the best tutorial...took me a little over halfway into Dark Souls 1 for me to feel comfortable with all the gameplay mechanics
 
IMO, Nioh is less esoteric than Dark Souls and is heading toward "complicated." The Souls games are deep, but relatively simple. Nioh's the exact opposite...well, at least Nioh 2. The first one had the Ki burst and stances while this one added a whole bunch of transformation and rando activation abilities. The tutorial is doing it a disservice because they throw 40 commands at you in 2 minutes without the slightest context for any of them. I don't mind throwing people in the deep end, but this is more like throwing them into an ocean where the sharks speak Japanese.
 
latest patch seems to be causing crashes...no idea how widespread the issue is but some players are reporting “non stop crashing”, others seem to get it when summoning other players, while others experience it when completing missions...plenty of players claim they’re not getting crashes at all, but the issue is real enough that Team Ninja has finally acknowledged it more than a week after it was rolled out

pressed on Twitter, Team Ninja wrote that it’s “currently looking into what is causing this issue to some players”...

https://twitter.com/Brey762/status/1368982664175255555

Patch 1.27.1 introduces fixes for many of the crashing issues that were introduced by the 1.27 patch...the new patch also fixes the 120 FPS mode issues and some unspecified minor bugs...

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1325200/view/3020200394645511354
 
have you finished the game?...how does it compare to the first?
I haven't finished it. I played a fair bit, but then I stopped when two patches ago introduced crashing and stuff. I didn't have crashing, but I did have the game boot up a couple of times and the game world was completely un-lit, except for my character and a few feet around them. Those issues should be fixed now, so I will get back to it soon.

Its better than the first. I think the combat is opened up a lot. Level areas are overall better. There's a lot of loo though, to dig through. Its an issue I have with most looter type games. You end up wading through so much useless junk. Something I always appreciated about Dark Souls games is that they figured out a way to have some meaningful loot and variety. But not inundate you with sorting through hundreds of useless drops.
 
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This game looks so good but hate the recycled area Quests in order to level up.
Still playing the legit way but the Forge level I hate so much had to do it twice because of the quest line no new areas opened up. Summoned some help at the shrine. Think I need to ice my eyes down after playing about 6 hours or so. At least farming for Cups is alot easier once you get magic which I got from throwing fire bombs then re applied the stuff on my weapons.
 
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This game looks so good but hate the recycled area Quests in order to level up.
Still playing the legit way but the Forge level I hate so much had to do it twice because of the quest line no new areas opened up. Summoned some help at the shrine. Think I need to ice my eyes down after playing about 6 hours or so. At least farming for Cups is alot easier once you get magic which I got from throwing fire bombs then re applied the stuff on my weapons.
Absolutely loved the game but also hated the forge level...both times.
 
Nice sale price on Green Man Gaming. I don't remember the percentage but....it shows about $29 for me on GMG. I've also bought a few things so I have a Gold Tier XP level with them.
 
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