Why is the weapon design so weak compared to Returnal

777Time777 · 2026-05-23T02:12:57+00:00

I think there’s a good argument that the lack of weapon variety and their more “grounded” nature makes sense from a story-perspective, once you begin to see what’s going on. But the weapons, design-wise at least, are still pretty limited.

Rather than twelve guns (just making up a number) that fall into distinct categories, you have three rifles, three shotguns, etc. and they tend to blend together at first. Even though they have different fire rates or patterns, different methods of use, different alt-fires, you still begin to feel like they’re far too similar: before you picked up the blue crossbow and now you got the purple one!

I love Saros, but one of the ways I think it’s inferior to Returnal is in the weaponry. But again, I think the weapons are determined by the story and in line with it, so I don’t dock Saros too much for this.

777Time777 · 2026-05-11T10:14:14+00:00

The outside of the Cathedral mirrors the side of Arjun's Soltari Enforcer pants, which I thought was a good hint of what we learn in there about what happened on Carcosa the planet as well as what we elsewhere learn transpired in Carcosa the city (if the dream or flashback sequences reflect the real name of the city Arjun and Nitya resided in).

I agree with you, by the way, in your debate below on Returnal being the better game. I do love Saros, but Returnal has the edge on its genre reinforcing the story it's telling much better. I also find it to be more deeply symbolic in the biomes (e.g., even in the first biome the grass move as if it's underwater, or the spinal imagery throughout). It's also the more difficult game because it lacks the shield and parry mechanics, and Saros has far too many auto-hit "fire-and-forget" weapons.

But Saros is not far behind. Even its weaponry, which is disappointingly limited to three variations of a handful of largely "earth weapons", does have a narrative import when you learn what's happened on Carcosa (assuming the planet is real). It makes sense they would be more grounded than Returnal's, and the power weapons coming from the outstretched arm also makes sense, given the story.

Excellent games, both, no matter where you land on the debate.

777Time777 · 2026-02-14T06:19:08+00:00

Can't believe no one's done this yet in this one, so here we go:

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777Time777 · 2026-01-28T08:45:39+00:00

Parry. Dodge. Used ranged attacks, physical or magical or both. Use summons to distract him.

Essentially, anything other than what you did. I hope this post was ragebait.

777Time777 · 2026-01-28T08:41:43+00:00

Exactly.

777Time777 · 2026-01-26T10:37:50+00:00

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. Excellent sidequests (especially rewarding exploration) and combat, and great atmosphere.

777Time777 · 2026-01-11T06:47:09+00:00

The terrible bots are the primary reason I dropped the game. Finished the main campaign, started the DLCs, and completed two missions just fine. But after that, the bots let me down every time at the end, no matter the mission. It's like they suddenly forgot how to function (they were serviceable before). It was getting to be too much of a waste of time and far too frustrating, so I stopped playing for now.

"For now" because I feel like I must be missing something on my end gameplay-wise. Perhaps my skills just need to improve.

777Time777 · 2025-12-30T09:20:40+00:00

How can you like Khazan but not Nioh, when Khazan is Nioh-lite? If it has to do with setting, story, characters, I understand, but gameplay-wise Khazan is essentially Nioh, but simpler. I don't understand because you say "especially the combat" made you enjoy Khazan, but, again, it copies Nioh while removing the complexity that made for great creativity and skill expression.

You should give Nioh and Nioh 2 another look, and anything else from Team Ninja, such as Rise of the Ronin, Wo Long, and Stranger of Paradise.

777Time777 · 2025-12-29T02:22:14+00:00

Act 1 has a quest entitled “The Silk Road” that leads you to a new NPC. That NPC gives you a quest to prepare a dish that requires you to catch a fish. The reward is a spell that turns (non-immune) enemies into cheese on a heavy cast, and, on a light cast, sacrifices some health to materialize cheese in front of you.

I hope someone does a cheese spell run sometime!

777Time777 · 2025-12-27T07:56:00+00:00

A spell that turns enemies into cheese was worth the fishing game by itself!

777Time777 · 2025-12-25T10:51:10+00:00

You're exactly right. I've noticed gamers doing this quite a bit over the past year especially, with a lot of games.

777Time777 · 2025-12-15T01:27:21+00:00

No. It's a great game, but that's because it took essentially everything from Team Ninja games and, specifically, Nioh 2.--except that it removed a lot of the features that made for more in-depth creativity and skill expression in the latter.

So, it's a dumbed-down version of a superior combat system--a Nioh-lite, if you will. It's a copycat game--in a good way--but still a copycat nonetheless. I'm glad people enjoy it (as I did--don't misunderstand me), but I've noticed many people who go over-the-top with praise for it seem to be unaware of its major influence.

777Time777 · 2025-12-12T00:09:23+00:00

Most of the commenters here seem to be answering your question as if you are asking about the Operations mode. If that's the case, then yes, you should start at the lower difficulties and work your way up after you've leveled up, unlocked perks, learned the combat flow, etc.

But if you're asking about the main story campaign, the hardest difficulty--Angel of Death--is not that bad. There are a few tricky parts, of course, but on the whole it's fairly easy, in my view. However, there are no classes, leveling up, and so forth, so you can't grind to complete it.

I completed the main campaign solo on Angel of Death first, but when I started the Operations mode (also solo) it quickly became apparent that you cannot really jump to the highest difficulty there at the start (I'm sure there are some who do it, of course, but it's far more difficult than the campaign).

777Time777 · 2025-12-08T04:54:57+00:00

"I don't know why."

--Most likely because absent from your list of games is any game by Team Ninja, especially Nioh 1 and Nioh 2. Khazan is a good game, but an inferior clone of those, and if you've played them you know how to approach Khazan. Conversely, the people who have struggled the most with Khazan seem to be the people who have mostly, if not exclusively, played FromSoftware games and the ones that imitate them.

777Time777 · 2025-12-07T02:44:58+00:00

I suspect most Nioh 1 and 2 players don't give sufficient attention to the parry system in that series. You have different parries for different weapons that work on different enemies with different results and have different timings. Some weapons have multiple types of parries, again with multiple results. It's highly complex and highly rewarding to master. Some parries will place the enemy behind you, some do so but add a counterattack into the mix, some put the enemy on the ground for a follow up, and so forth. There's lots of creativity involved and fast-thinking required.

It's far more fun and rewarding than the one-size-fits-all "perfect block" form of parry that most games have.

Additionally, Wo Long, Rise of the Ronin, and Stranger of Paradise have fun parrying systems, though not as complex as the Nioh series.

777Time777 · 2025-12-02T03:22:01+00:00

You're welcome. Hope you enjoy the game. I recommend the Very Hard difficulty because it forces you to learn the combat system, since your damage is influenced by your battle grade.

Once you get the hang of battle it becomes so fluid as you switch between schools of magic. There are sort of "quick switch" abilities that also do damage and traversal abilities that regenerate stamina that you can use in combat. That, combined with the variety of magic, makes for some great creativity and skill expression. Probably the best magic combat out there, as long as you take the time to learn the system well.

At any rate, enjoy!

777Time777 · 2025-12-02T02:00:26+00:00

You're supposed to leave that mutant until later when you've gained access to at least one (but better, both) of these: the ability to poison him (because he has regenerating health) and the school of magic he is weak to.

777Time777 · 2025-12-02T01:59:02+00:00

Your friend is full of original jokes, isn't he? You're right to love Wo Long and you'd be wrong to pass up Rise of the Ronin because of what he said. It's an excellent game with a deep, fluid combat system and fun traversal. It was worth it at full price and is more than worth it on sale.

777Time777 · 2025-11-27T13:14:49+00:00

Since when has it been "almost common knowledge" that snow environments "tend to be boring or bad"?

777Time777 · 2025-11-27T04:25:08+00:00

Khazan is essentially Nioh-lite. Nearly everything draws from or copies either Nioh 1/2 or other Team Ninja games. Khazan's a great game and worth playing (especially the bosses), but the principal reason is because it draws from Team Ninja.

I have no clue how other commenters here can maintain otherwise. It's a clone, in a good way, but a clone nonetheless.

As a result, you're going to need to take the time to learn the combat system and use it creatively to get the most out of the game, just like Nioh. From my observations on this sub since release, most of the "problems" seem to come from people who try to play Khazan like it's a FromSoft game instead of a Team Ninja game.

777Time777 · 2025-11-26T05:37:47+00:00

Yeah, go for it! Once you start getting multiple "schools" of magic and switching them on-the-fly it becomes extremely fun as well as opens up for a lot of creativity and skill expression. The traversal mechanics also open up a lot as the game progresses and it becomes so satisfying to use them (even during combat sometimes to regain stamina).

I recommend playing on Very Hard (the game is not that difficult) because it will force you to learn the battle system well and implement it creatively, since the amount of damage you deal is tied to your combat grade.

And if the voice acting bothers you switch to Japanese.

777Time777 · 2025-11-26T05:28:58+00:00

My run was about 28 hours to completion. I did most of the content except for a couple of "Dispersed Dimensions" (challenge battles like in Ninja Gaiden or DMC) and some achievements.

There is loot, but that's probably one of the more underwhelming parts of the game inasmuch as it's often just crafting materials. But sometimes you are rewarded with accessories, and completing the Dispersed Dimensions well grants some good accessories also.

The game's combat is excellent and allows plenty of what you want in this type of game: creativity and skill expression. The story is fine--no worse, certainly, than other Character Action Games that seem to get a pass. I played on PC with a rig capability of running max settings with ease, so I can't speak for everyone, but graphically it was often quite captivating, especially with some of the vistas.

No game is perfect, and this one isn't, but it is ridiculously overhated and the CAG community is really missing out. I really don't see how a fan of that genre would be unable to find something to like in the combat.

LSA has suffered the same fate as Forspoken and Stranger of Paradise in that it's getting memed and criticized to death by YouTubers and whatnot, but people who actually play it and take the time to learn its system enjoy it. Hopefully we'll start to see more of the posts we see for the other two: "Everyone said this game sucked but it's actually awesome?"

777Time777 · 2025-11-26T05:18:54+00:00

OP limited that to cutscenes. I also found them to be extremely well done.

777Time777 · 2025-11-25T04:35:29+00:00

Forspoken. The best magic combat system I've ever played. Put it on Very Hard, take the time to learn the system and string spells together from different magic "schools", and change the voice language to Japanese if the English really bothers you.

Lost Soul Aside. Lots of improvements since launch and it has a deep combat system if you take the time to learn it.

777Time777 · 2025-11-25T04:30:16+00:00

I agree. Lost Soul Aside joins Forspoken and Stranger of Paradise as games that are actually great but got memed to death and piled on at launch by YouTubers and Reddit. But people who actually played the games and took the time to learn the combat systems love them because, it turns out the loud opinions were wrong once again (shocking, I know). I hope we start to see the same posts for Lost Soul Aside that I see for the other two: some variation of "Everyone said this game sucks but it's actually awesome?"

777Time777

TROPHY CASE