BALANCE/WISHLIST
- Brute Burst Counter is way easier to land than the others imo
This is something I noticed, too. I was messing around with Yokai shift and summons the other night, and having Brute form makes the game about ten times easier because of that one trick alone. Normally I wouldn't mind if i could just neglect Yokai stuff altogther (as I'd like to), but they've really tried to force using them in a way that I don't like.
Let's take the Enki for example (I think that's their name; the staff monkey yokai). IIRC, they have a few "red" attacks that can be burst countered. Most can be dodged or blocked, even in tight quarters, provided you have good timing. This offers more freedom in how you wish to punish, or even gives you the option to retreat if you wish to pull them, use items or debuffs, etc. And that freedom is a core feature of what makes Nioh so damn engaging and addictive. But then they have this apeshit attack (no pun intended) where they strike a gazillion times in a huge arc all around. In open space you can dodge this fine, but if there's any obstacle nearby, you really have to burst counter, since you won't have the stamina to guard the full attack barrage and can't reliably dodge the entire sequence up close, even with light equipment and perfect dodge timing. They really force you into using the burst counter, which is not only boring and limiting, but also makes the consistency of landing burst counters the single most important aspect of your build, since all of the most dangerous enemy attacks can be burst countered.
The first boss is an excellent example, as well. On a first run, this guy can be an absolute nightmare. When he shifts into Dark Realm mode, it's pretty much the game's way of saying "Stop doing that dodge>attack>dodge dance every action game enthusiast loves so much in boss battles, because you're gonna run out of stamina. Use burst counter or bust." And that's it. If you burst counter him in black & white mode, he's actually pretty whimpy. But it's not fun, and the first time through I didn't pick Brute mode so the burst counter didn't seem like a reliable means of tackling its attacks anyway.
So basically, Brute mode is easy mode. Everything else is hard mode. Burst counters are boring. Yokai shift is a mess.
I like everything else, but I'm not liking this forced banality.