When comparing The King of Fighters XIV vs Nioh, the Slant community recommends Nioh for most people. In the question“What are the best single player games on PS4?” Nioh is ranked 53rd while The King of Fighters XIV is ranked 94th. The most important reason people chose Nioh is:
Nioh is a very fast-paced game, which also rewards awareness and patience. The combat in it is all about dodging, countering enemy attacks, and looking for openings. You will quickly regret any hasty decisions (like fighting three demon Samurai out in the open) since they'll most likely lead to your death. It also features some very intense boss fights that further expand upon this core concept. The fights are much longer and requires you to focus the entire time. Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment when you finally beat a giant mythical demon.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro You're sure to find a character that fits your playstyle
KOF XIV has 50 playable characters, giving you many options to choose from. All of the characters have their own unique fighting styles, distinct looks, strengths, and weaknesses.
Pro Deep gameplay
KOF XIV is simple on the surface: pick a character, learn some special moves, a few combos, and go to town on your opponents. However, if you want true mastery of the game, it's going to take a lot of time and effort.
You'll have to learn things like cancels, where you stop a combo with a specific input on your controller, in order to continue in a different way than the game intends. Fighting games are often about who can break the game's engine the best, and KOF XIV is no exception.
On top of things like engine breaking, you'll also have to dedicate a large amount of time to learning your chosen character(s) in order to be truly great with them. Every character has complex combos that require precision timing and great reaction speed, and you'll have to get all of them down.
The fact that you can play this casually with a friend and just mess around for while, or practice as hard as you can and truly try to master the game really makes it fun.
Pro Fast-paced, intense combat
Nioh is a very fast-paced game, which also rewards awareness and patience. The combat in it is all about dodging, countering enemy attacks, and looking for openings. You will quickly regret any hasty decisions (like fighting three demon Samurai out in the open) since they'll most likely lead to your death.
It also features some very intense boss fights that further expand upon this core concept. The fights are much longer and requires you to focus the entire time. Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment when you finally beat a giant mythical demon.
Pro Rewarding exploration
Exploring in Nioh feels worthwhile since it helps you find new equipment and rare materials. This will help progress your character, allowing you to defeat enemies in fewer hits and giving you a smoother playthrough overall. It's also very exciting to accidentally stumble upon secret areas.
Cons
Con Incomplete story
KOF games are grouped in trilogies and KOF XIV is no exception. It's the first game of a new trilogy, so the endings leave most of the plot points unresolved. You'll have to play the 2 next games to get the full story.
Con Balance issues
In games like this, it's inevitable that some characters just have better skill sets, easier combos, or are just plain stronger than the others. The developers have put in great effort in balancing the game, but this problem does persist.
Con The story isn't particularly good or meaningful
Nioh has kind of a throwaway story. You won't fall in love with any characters, and nothing that happens will shock or awe you.
Con Punishing difficulty for beginners of the genre
Nioh, like any other Souls-like title, has a very brutal entry difficulty. If you're new to the Souls-like genre, you'll have to get used to a lot of the mechanics, dodging, and, most importantly, dying. This can be the source of extreme frustration for the first ten hours or so, which causes a lot of players to quit during that time. If you can get over this initial hurdle, you'll finally start enjoying the game. The acquired skills will also carry over to other games in the same genre.