Ni-Oh 2 – Fumihiko Yasuda Interviews

With the Complete Edition of Team Ninja’s Dark Souls-inspired action-RPG Ni-Oh 2 set to launch on Steam on February 5, 2021, we can now check out a couple of interviews with the game’s director Fumihiko Yasuda.

First, here’s a WCCFTech interview that focuses on some of the enhancements introduced by the Complete Edition and the game’s unique features like randomized loot and collectible tea utensils. Here’s a quick excerpt:

Why did Nioh go with a Diablo-style (randomly generated) gear system versus something more static like a traditional Souls game?

Utilizing the main aspects of masocore and hack and slash titles, while also building upon them, was the core of Nioh’s game design from the beginning of the development process. The enjoyment that can be had from hack and slash games has been demonstrated in many titles, and it also gives players that are not fully accustomed to action games the chance to receive good equipment drops, broadening the appeal of the game by streamlining their experience. This also allows the player to enjoy playing the game over and over again for a long period of time, easing a common issue in many masocore titles.

And then, there’s also this The Gamer interview that looks back at the original Ni-Oh’s troubled development, talks undiscovered secrets, and discusses some potential ideas for Ni-Oh 3, while acknowledging that no such game is being developed at the moment. For example:

I think a lot of players would agree with that as well. However, I have to say, I do really like the aspect of a historical protagonist. I personally had a hope that Oda Nobunaga’s African retainer Yasuke was going to be in a potential future Nioh game, does that mean that’s never going to happen now?

[FY] That’s definitely something to consider for the future, not necessarily Yasuke, but just utilising historical figures as the main characters. But I am a fan of Yasuke as a character, like William he came from a country outside of Japan, in this case, Africa, and then came to Japan and became a samurai. So that’s also a point that they share and it’s also something that’s really interesting to me, but in terms of them being a character in a new game, there is a possibility for a historical protagonist to take up the role in the future, but that’s all it is right now.