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PaperclipPerfector  19hr ago (text post)   805 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 20, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Gaming subthread.

Action RPG Nioh 3 has just been released at a price of 110 dollars (including future DLC). As a result, its decade-old predecessor Nioh 1 has been discounted to literally 7.5 dollars (including DLC). Buy it!

  • The central mechanic is melee combat with careful stamina management—like Dark Souls 1 and 2, but faster-paced and with a Gears of War–style timed button press to recover stamina more quickly. There are seven melee-weapon types: sword, pair of swords, odachi, spear (actually wielded more like a polearm, with lots of swings), axe, kusarigama, and pair of tonfa. These weapons must be used in conjunction with three different stances: medium (default), high (powerful but bad at blocking and dodging), and low (good at dodging but weak).
  • Ranged weapons (bow, rifle, and hand cannon), ninja skills, and yin-yang magic also are available.
  • There are several sequential difficulty levels (samurai, strong, demon, wise, and nioh). At higher difficulty levels, enemies are stronger and get new moves, and more are included in levels.
  • Enemies include both normal humans (can be staggered with attacks, but can block) and big yokai (cannot be staggered but cannot block), plus small fodder yokai (can be staggered and cannot block).

Even after 700 hours in this game, I'm only okay at it (any boss fight with multiple big yokai always takes me a while to beat; the one with a raven tengu and a flying bolt deserves special mention), but it's great fun. I personally use the odachi most of the time, with some consideration given to the spear.

I played Nioh back in the day when it first came out, the 2nd Soulslike I've played after Bloodborne. Definitely a steal at that price, though I didn't get 700 or even 70 hours out of it. I only beat it once, probably because I hated the RNG loot system (which I hate in every game). The 3-stance combat system felt really complicated at first, especially coming from Bloodborne, but it took very little time for it to feel intuitive for me. I think it reflects Team Ninja's experience in making intuitive fluid combat in Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden games.

Also, like Assassin's Creed Shadows, it features a gaijin samurai protagonist, but it caused no controversy back then, partly because of the times, partly because Tecmo is a Japanese company, and partly because the character wasn't obviously a pawn for waging the culture war.

Isn't Sekiro the closer match? In any case, thanks for the rec, I considered getting Nioh anyway, though it's unlikely I'll find much time playing it soon.

Isn't Sekiro the closer match?

Sekiro is focused on timed parries. Nioh 1 has some parry skills (and IIRC Nioh 2 adds more such skills), but is much more focused on dodging and blocking. I don't use parry skills at all, but it's my understanding that they don't work on big yokai.

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