Recent reviews by Docstaph

Great start, but content drip-feed is slow
2 years after EA release and we still only have 1.5 / ~5 main areas

I can tell this game is going to be great WHEN its done

Unfortunately it may well be 2027 before we see the mythical 1.0 release.

Stop putting stratagems in the battle pass, the game is getting more P2W by the day.

This game is filled to bursting with repetitive grindy content, by the end i was begging for it to be over, the story is also one of the weakest in the entire franchise with set-ups that don't pay off or illogical conclusions, the fact that Bryce spoke Engrish in the Japanese dub did make me laugh though.

Buy this game on deep discount as even though there's a new city it still reuses assets from previous yakuza games very heavily while having the protagonists make the stupidest possible decisions at nearly every turn.

The boss design in this DLC is kind of atrocious, instead of making fights that are challenging but fair, they have given every boss a waterfowl dance equivalent, the slow methodical pace of combat does not exist in this DLC's boss fights because every main boss is an F22 Raptor spiraling at 600 mph while dumping all of its ordinance.

Really its a matter of scope, fromsoft seems to have forgotten what kind of game they are making here; ornstein an smough in DS1 are a good point of comparison, they are difficult for sure, but they also have clearly defined windows for healing and punishes.

It really seems like the main bosses of this DLC have only one move in each phase that allow you to punish for only a single hit safely. Once you figure this out it is just a matter of waiting for the opportunity and poking the boss until it dies; which IMO has always broken the "fun " of a boss fight.

I don't like the scadurtree system, every other DLC from has made, had no problem using the base lvlup currency. It makes little sense that they would turn off the progression system that is core to a stat based RPG.

Fromsoft needs to stop trying to one-up the most frustrating fights in the game and focus on making something mechanically engaging beyond spamming dodge until its finally your turn to attack (once)

Nioh 2 still has the best soulsbourne combat of any game i have played and it really comes down to allowing the player multiple options for how to engage a boss/ turn combat in your favor. Nioh 2 has a smaller array of weaponry, but a vast collection of input-based skills that are always accessible instead of the simple button mashing of R1,R1,R1; R2,R2, L1 (etc)

I know we aren't going to get burst counters in ER, i'm fine with that, but a lot of these fights lack clear and well defined punish windows and the few they do have are good for one attack. This makes the process of rolling around like a loose tire on the freeway looking for a window extremely frustrating. The Ebb and Flow of combat is very out of whack and in the pursuit of maintaining the pedigree of "hardest bosses in gaming" there is too much invested into creating visual spectacle before considering its effect on gameplay.

The most enjoyable part of this DLC is the exploration , most of the main bosses feel more akin to late stage bosses of the base game. (this is where the wheels fell off the base game for me)

I have been continually disappointed by FROM's lack of innovation when in comes to their core combat system from DS1 until now, and the sheer ubiquity of action games trying to ape the souls (or sekiro) formula. Not to mention the the stagnation of action games on this one central concept for what feels like 12+ years now. (Give me more Hi-Fi Rush and Sifu ; less souls please).

So while I'm playing and sort of enjoying my first time through, like the base game i can't see myself enjoying this nearly as much upon replay once the novelty has worn off.

Unplayable framerate drops on any graphics settings when stuff starts going down
On top of that the framerate doesn't just cut; it also cuts the sound intermittently, making the whole game sound like a skrillex song.
This happens regardless of which graphics API i select

This has been fixed for me, game is great and huge despite the early access tag.

Bugs seem to have been ironed out, the game is very fun right now with a huge diversity of units/ tactics. I'm not an expert at these games, but i have a decent amount of playtime in COH 2 and this one has many qol improvements that make the multiplayer very enyoable. I waited for this game to go on sale, but YMMV.

I Wish That I could give this a sideways thumb

Unique, beautfiul huge and awesome

Severe frame drops and horrible frame times in cities and sometimes random tunnels.

Transactions that are basically the equivalent of DMC 5 red orbs that you can buy (all items can be found in the game world and the game is best played without paying extra anyway)

When this game works its so good though and its honestly one of the most unique rpg's ive ever played.

A few people i know are just outright crashing each hour; so YMMV.

To everyone complaining about not being able to save scum during a run, boo hoo this game nails its vibe and there are plenty of options to tweak the difficulty into games journalist mode where missions will take almost no time.

good

"Finally some good F**king Food"

-Gordon Newell