After further testing it seems the white flicker is fixed by disabling both VSync and Ambient Occlusion. Hopefully they patch it soon regardless. Also worth noting this wasn't an issue on console versions.
My screen was flickering all sorts of colors at the first boss fight. After I turned off Screen Space Reflections it stopped. Hopefully this helps someone out there.
Good to know. I tested PC version before and was getting white flickering (which wasnt there in demo). Looked on the Team Ninja website faq and it mentions that VRR is not supported, so assumed that this was VRR flicking due to Gsync being enabled. Good to know there is also another workaround re Ambient occlusion and vsync.
Just out of curiosity my son and I recently got back into DS3. I know it was about 6 or 7 years ago that you probably touched it. We were wondering what is up with the fire keeper and her eyeballs?
I think the game if great but it's missing the nioh mechanics where u can change stance and have different moveset , that's the one thing I didn't enjoy the in nioh u could have so many different play stiles with the same weapon I feel like they downgrade in tht but the game is great
Dude the ability to save different builds and change them out is exactly what I wanted in Elden Ring. It would have been so convenient to try out everything
@@TheDungeonDive I wanted to try the Sword of Night and Flame because it always sounded cool but after picking up tons of other weapons I wanted to try I realized the requirements for that sword are just ridiculous. So I thought it'd be cool to make a different build so I could do everything instead of forcing us to play 50 hours of the game again just to try other things. Respec is cool but eventually you have to pick something and stick with it.
Seriously, I've wanted that system in every souls like ever made lol. Just let us save and switch builds at sites of grace already dammit, make it cost runes or something idc just give me the option.
@@travislee4196 yea most games make you pay some kind of currency to Respec so the ability to Respec for free but switch to different builds for a price would be pretty reasonable
Same man. Dynasty warriors 3 was what got me into it and I loved em as a kid playing with my cousins or uncle. Such good times. I think I stopped around like 7 or 8? I finally got sick of how repetitive it was and then they went and changed certain peoples weapons to basic spears and swords. I was pissed. They also made my favorite character gan ning into a fruit basket by like the 5th game 😅🤣
This should be the direction the new DW is taking. Adding group block, deflect/group deflect. I also love DW5XL Destiny mode, where you can start from foot soldier into Lt. General and serve one of the General/Faction.
I love how cowboy also begun making reviews, been with the channel from 300k subs. Can't thank you enough for your 100% souls walkthrough. Loving to see your channel grow.
Just wanted to let you know that after watching your last demo walkthrough I decided to give it a try after hating the demo from a few months ago, and now I'm completely hooked. Between playing it for myself and taking some tips from your video, the game clicked for me pretty quickly. So thank you, your content made me buy the game and I'm super stoked now to dive in and try everything. 👍
Great review Cowboy. Fair and balanced, the consummate professional. Looking forward to all the Wo Long content, as well as jumping in on my own to play and make builds. Love that you can switch up builds on the fly btw, will primarily run A agility and have a beefy Earth build on deck in case I start getting whooped 😂
Shame about the PC issues, but glad you enjoyed the game! I got some dips on ps5, but mostly stable 60 with lil drops to 55. Maybe something to do with their Katana engine as WH was a mess too. Hope the dlc increases enemy variety
Speaking of how daunting builds were in Nioh 2... That final Yokai Mage build you put together has been the most fun I've had in ages, mopping up the last bits in that game became a breeze. I'm really looking forward to starting fresh with Wo Long and trying to figure out how busted things can get.
i think i was too fixated on builds in nioh 2. I hadnt even finished ng because I was confused how to optimise things, when apparently you shouldnt even bother until ng+
Yeah well all of cowboys endgame builds have all been nerfed so anything that you saw in his previous streams you're not going to get that same results now.......
@@FightinCowboy bruh I'm in the middle of replaying through nioh 2 going through all the Underground Levels and the depths and I'm using your build,Magatsuhi/Susano and there's no way in hell that I can get 90,000 damage from a izuna drop on any human enemy which I've seen you do multiple times in the underworld and I've got every stat you basically except for a couple of things which aren't going to matter too much and I'm over 1500 hours into the game so i know something has changed, literally trying to recreate the damage you did and I can't do it and there has been at least 4 to 5 patches since then yeah something's up........
Battle Sets are going to completely change the "difficulty." No more farming for respec materials or worrying about your build. Swap wherever you can Rest in the level or before a boss fight. It does mean keeping a lot more gear around, so you'll likely want to Store rather than selling a lot of 3* and 4* (5* in NG+) gear as you are building up different sets, so that you don't find yourself having to refarm levels and bosses for the right pieces.
These are the reviews that matter. Content creators that invested a lot of time in Nioh / Nioh 2, other Souls games, breaking down Wo Long is worth 10,000 IGN or GameSpot reviews because you guys actually know WTF your talking about. So thank you. I got through the demo and instantly bought this one. Really looking forward to sinking my teeth into it. I wish more devs nowadays would actually release demos like they did back in the day.
This review sold me tbh. Felt like the demo didn’t click with me as I found the spirit gauge and morale system a little confusing the way it was explained but this cleared it up. And the ability to save different builds made this a buy
I think what I’m gravitating towards most, is how streamlined everything feels between the builds, and the combat and all that. I loved the demo a ton and can’t wait for game pass launch
Well. Nioh 2 and Sekiro are among my favorite games, so I'm confident I'll love this game too. Hopefully the flickering can be dealt with by a day one patch or something. Otherwise glad to hear you enjoyed the game as I'm sure I will too. Thanks for the review, Cowboy.
Incredible game and great review. I reviewed the game for a website as well and just last night completed all the main and sub missions and began on the Rising Dragon difficulty missions. I'm excited to get to play the game online as I could not find anybody during my review period to play with aside from another editor using the co-op mode. Looking forward to checking out all the content you make covering this game!
You just sold me on a purchase dude. I was on the fence about this but the morale system and build saves are a welcome change and offer new ways to play. Thank ya for the videos and congratulations on the kiddo from one father to another 👍🏻
Can't wait. Finished all Souls games, and both Niohs. Was thinking about completing Sekiro again but still stressed from epic final boss fight lol. This should fill that need very nicely
Same! All amazing games. I think Sekiro is particularly tough for NG+ cycles because there’s no real way to level grid stats like in the other games: it’s a limited hand we’re dealt, but utterly peak combat.
I told my friend who also loved Sekiro "I had pre-ordered Wo Long before playing the demo, but if I hadn't, I would pre-order it instantly after playing the demo" :D It's the best thing to come out in a long time!
Definitely downloading this demo later. That multiple build option is really cool. I love playing with builds, so having immediate access to different ones is huge plus in my eyes
As somebody that's a HUGE souls fan, the Nioh games never really clicked for me. They didn't get me obsessed with progression the way the From games did. THIS game is different. Something about it just feels soooo right and I can't put it down. I'm playing on Series X currently and will probably mess around with it on the gaming PC, but holy crap did they get so much right here.
i just beat the game and this was the first vid i came to after. agree very much w your statements. personally i’d give it a like 8.7-10 but thats nit picky. just remember though, let lu bu come to you
Wanted to do a quick status build like you do in Nioh 2…broke the game like three main missions in. Stopped dying, stomped everything, only appeal was how incredible the bosses/cutscenes are. Solid 8/10…but I’m struggling ti want to finish
This is one of my favorite games in a while. Heck, since Elden Ring I haven't enjoyed myself this much. The quality of life alone is so intricate and player friendly that it shows a clear respect and consideration for gamers. I hope this game does really well and even though it's on Game Pass I'm going to buy a copy to support it further.
Glad to hear the review cowboy! awesome review. game seems solid. Honestly, what was a little underwhelming for me in the past Nioh games was the enemy diversity, specially when going into dream of the Nioh lol. Nonetheless, this games seems awesome, and will definitely give it a go; specially with the whole new in game build mechanics & flexibility.
Nice review. Bought it this morning after I got off work but I haven't played much. Got a 3 day weekend coming up so I'll grind then. So far, the combat is very satisfying now that I understand the mechanics.
I absolutely loved Sekiro, it was my first FromSoft game. I loved Nioh as well, but for some reason I just don’t get the same feeling when I’m playing this game. I was super excited for it, especially since it was going to be more like Sekiro, but I just think there’s some things in this game that fall flat. The environments aren’t that great, I feel like I’m just playing Nioh all over again with the ability to deflect. I’m definitely gonna keep playing Wo Long, but idk, feeling disappointed so far. As much as I love Team Ninja and their games I think this game could’ve used some better level design.
Hi All, for the white flickering issue. The solution was to Disable "Ambient Occlusion" setting in the Graphics option. Also, Volumetric Fog and Cloud seems to have the most performance impact on high settings. Setting to Low seems to fix some fps.
I've found the best way to deal with screen flicker is to turn off VSYNC, set the framerate to the closest number to your monitor's refresh rate and then use RTSS to lock your refresh rate to the same number it is in your game. you also need to make sure your graphics card has recent drivers.
The morale mechanic, avenge mechanic and level design really stand out to me. I am a huge Dynasty Warriors fan so the characters and setting are an instant win. I have no Nioh, Sekiro or Dark Souls experience so the "souls" elements don't shine for me. I just see a Ninja Gaiden game trying to be more of an RPG. I wish the stats weren't so overdesigned and the excess loot was less. Stranger of Paradise had this issue as well. The spirit mechanic just seems like a "oh hey you know how to play royal guard"
I’m finding the game more frustrating than Nioh 2 in places. It’s uneven. Nioh 2 had often over-the-top difficulty but it didn’t matter because you had so many options for your build. You could counter BS with BS and the results were ridiculously fun. In Wo Long, you’re really chained to your morale and it feels like everything else doesn’t quite hold as much weight.
@@Orinsword Wo Long is good and can be a lot of fun. It’s much more approachable than the Nioh series, though the morale system is a bit rigid. Nioh 2 is better though. It’s pure, intense, brutal fun that doesn’t hold back. It also offers far more depth than Wo Long. Be warned that it’s hard. Souls games are mostly “hard but fair” - Nioh 2 is just “F you” hard. It works because the combat is amazing and you can build some crazy powerful builds that obliterate enemies. The Soul Core system is also very powerful and fun to use. It’s really hard to say if you’ll like it but it’s probably fairly cheap and worth trying.
I’m surprised that Team Ninja has this game coming out and then it’s hopefully less than a year until we get Rise of the Ronin. Definitely not gonna complain here!
Nioh 2 had builds/sets that could be saved and switched between and it would just cost a respec book each time, which was consumed automatically and they were very easy to get. This game seems like a step back in many ways from Nioh 2, but it does bring cool, interesting stuff to the table.
Thank you. I agree. Nioh had respect build save and tons of weapons each with three different stances. This look like a two button one stance beat em up.
Wish they opened up the map design a bit more with these games they all seem a little 1 note on the exploring side. I get it it’s a team ninja game but something like that would’ve made it a bit more updated. Otherwise the combat and progression is phenomenal.
@@FightinCowboy thanks for the quick annswer! Waiting to finish work to start warching the lets play! Keep up the good work man! I feel like you are a partner when I start a new soulsgame and it makes me less lonely haha have a great one!
I might get this. I don’t like the lack of enemy and level diversity that you mentioned. I think I’m just at a point where I need to take a break from souls likes. but everything surrounding the builds is what makes this game interesting imo. Will surely check it out at some point just not sure how soon. Glad that it turned out pretty great overall though.
Yeah I’ve been buying every souls like for the past year or 2, mortal shell, steelrising, Thymesia, evil west, and others, and while they were all fun(to an extent), about halfway through each one of those games I felt Ike they peaked, they just can’t reach that Fromsoft quality.
Really excited for this game, loved Nioh and Nioh 2. The performance issues sound slightly annoying though, and more in line with Wild hearts recently (that game also has some bad load times on Xbox Series X besides its other issues).
I agree about the easy build change. I got so much hate when I said the larval tear in elden ring could have been a single infinite use tear because after you have done everything in the game it got boring having to farm them just to change your build.
Good review. For me (after 7h of Wo Long) it's a bit of a step back from Nioh 2. Nioh 2 IMO was a freakin masterpiece! It had tons of content, gorgeous artstyle, better lvl design than 1st game, build variety etc. etc. Wo Long has great combat but everything else was just... More engaging in Nioh 2.
Fantastic review, spot on👍 I'd argue this has the best, most rewarding and diverse combat system of any souls like. BUT Fromsoft still have it on level/world design, atmosphere and imagination. I'm playing it on an old ps4 Pro, no issues at all other than slow loading.
Hello. You have to turn OFF the occlusion in the setting to avoid the visual artefact in the game. Do this every time you launch the game because sometimes the ambiant occlusion turn back on. 😉
I think this was my fastest platinum, at least for a soulslike game. Really enjoyed it and got all except 3 shiteshou, kinda proud of myself 😂 I saw there's already a season pass with 3 DLC announced which makes me excited but also sad that it was more than likely content cut to sell later. But I thoroughly enjoed this game and will be spending the money for dlc, this game deserves more and/or a sequel fof thdm to improve on
We have actually seen a system in a Souls-like where you could switch builds and playstyle on the fly, and it was in Code Vein and their Blood Codes system or whatever it was called. And it was fkn amazing. Gameplay becomes so much better when you can freely experiment and try out things you wouldnt have otherwise. Code Vein was amazing and I wished more games would look at that game and take after it, and from what I hear in this review, it seems like somebody (Team Ninja) finally has. Btw, i hate parry and i beat Sekiro without using parry at all. Can you do the same for this or you have to use parry mechanic?
Just stumbled upon this game on game pass downloaded it a week ago and haven't played anything else since. My only discrepancy is that the first boss should start on that secomd stage first and when it gets under a certain health threshold it shoud trigger the cut scene. Great game will be playing the dlc as well for anyone looking to play it remember its not supposed to be easy.
As much as I enjoyed putting a sweaty build together in Nioh by optimizing all the moving pieces, it is kind of a relief that it's a bit simpler this time around. Let's see if the DLC adds massive system and loot creep like in Nioh 2 lol
To this day its my favourite souls game EVER. the close second is Lies of P imo. I've beaten Demon souls RM, ER, Nioh 1+2, LOTF(2023), Strangers of Paradise and Rememnt 2
Everything else about this game is vastly improved over the systems in Nioh and Nioh 2. It's just ugggg I'm not a parry guy at all, and I really hope I can get into it because everything else looks fanfuckingtastic. Loved your starter guides man, it really has given me an idea of how I want to proceed.
Parrying in Sekiro was so amazing I missed it in both Niohs. I think once you get a hold of it and see how you parrying things makes life easier you will love it. you dont have to roll away enemy all the time, you can stay in their face and fight.
Don't know if I agree that much with what you said. Nioh has a lot more combat depth, seems to have more build variety, more tools like Ninjutsu, buffs, debuffs etc.
@@LucasLeCompteMusic I'm glad you enjoyed it and really I'm glad there is another game that has that playstyle for you. But I suck at parrying because I don't like playing that way. I'm not sure if I don't like it because I suck at it or I suck at it because I don't like it though I'll be honest there. I'm slowly getting better at it and it's to a point I'm finding my own way in this game, but going to be honest it kind of hurts my soul a bit watching someone fight Lu Bu and there is no other way but to be on point with your parries. Now with that said it's absolutely beautiful to watch but as someone who loves to weave combos and different attacks in it just kind of hurts knowing that will never be viable against him. But really, I think Ronin is going to be the game that is a more direct descendent to Nioh. I do believe this one is its own thing completely and I can survive other people having their fun.
Not sure about this one, combat seems like a big step back from Nioh 2 and even Stranger of Paradise. What I find kinda weird is that, Stranger of Paradise already had a very similar parry system to Wo Long, you and enemies had posture bars and the parry frame encouraged the use of it, unlike in Nioh for example. I'm sure it's a good game and I'll buy it later, but right now it's hard to justify buying it while I still have some NG+ cycles and the Labyrinth in Stranger of Paradise and haven't explored a lot of weapons in Nioh 2.
I am here for some copium after experiencing Lightfall lmao. So glad I got Wo Long to fall back on. The demo was god-tier and I cannot wait for tomorrow!
@@roachies4242 i dunno, it was meant to be the beginning of the final chapter kinda deal. Story has been great since Witch Queen, but Lightfall fumbled the ball about as much as one can do so. The thing is, Lightfall was meant to be the finale, but a while ago, the devs mentioned there would be another expansion after Lightfall, The Final Shape, to help round out the saga. So, it seems that Lightfall is literally a cut up version of the FIRST HALF of the finale story, with The Final Shape probably giving us the rest, as opposed to it all being in one expansion. As such, everything is unexplained and the story ends on a really shit cliffhanger. Not even an intriguing one, just an annoying one. It is kinda like watching Return of the King for the first time and the film ends half way through, before any real plot stuff happens. Tune in next year for the rest of the movie.
So my PS5 ran this game nice and smoothly. I heard that there was a similar issue with Elden Ring: PC version was having frame dips and lags more than the PS5 version.
@@nyrva2876 Nioh and Wo Long feel rather different from one another. After spending like 10-12 hours in Wo Long demo, I actually booted up Nioh 1 Remastered for PS5 this morning and I had a blast with it. I beat that game once on PS4, but started a fresh playthrough and it's still amazing. Wo Long feels much more like Sekiro with extra stuff (tbh, I love that you can't just spam deflect or dodge) rather than like Nioh. The signature style of Team Ninja is still palpable though.
When I found out this was part of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms storyline I was sitting here thinking bro if the game jumps 20 years and time will definitely see elubu in this game I'm really hoping so because the yellow turban rebellion took place almost 10 years before dong's zhou's rebellion against the Emperor......... I don't know exactly how far the timeline will go in this game but if we're able to see a souls like Lu Bu holyshit.......
What I love about team ninjas combat is its fast but not button mashing. Devil May Cry was a bit too button mashing for my taste. I really like souls basic sword and shield combat but I think elden rings magic took the gameplay into a different direction. There is a lot more fun in beating a huge boss with a realistic sword and shield ,for me over spamming op magic.
I’ve only played the demo, but I enjoyed it. (Kind of, had no idea what to put points into). Trying to decide whether to get “Wu Long” or “Lies of P” next. (Would prefer to get both on sale, lol)
Great review! In terms of enemy variety I wonder how Rise of the Ronin will be received since it seems to be non fantasy. I wonder if the more grounded approach will lower people's expectations to not expect a whole bunch of different enemy types since it seemingly will just be human enemies and possibly some animals, similar to Ghost of Tsushima in that regard.
I would say probably, I mean, I had no problem with enemy variety in Ghost of Tsushima because there was no supernatural threats and that wouldn't have really fit into that game since it was trying to be realistic. I actually felt they did enemy variety very well in that game considering it was (mostly) ONLY humans and there's really only so much you can do with that. But, a game very similar to Wo Long, Nioh I felt did suffer from enemy variety issues. Not so much Nioh 2 as they reused a lot of the old enemies from the first PLUS about doubled that in new enemies.
@@gamemeister2905 i think the same will be applied here ... i seriously hope they will make a second game like with nioh ... because they can perfected everything like in nioh 2 ... that would be a blast to play .... but from what i can see ... Wo Long hits all the boxes regarding a perfect combat system im looking for ...
@@itsalwaysdarkestbeforethes1198 That's pretty much what I'm expecting as well. You'd be surprised how many people think ROTR will be a soulslike though.
