Platinumed both on PS4 and I think Nioh 2 is a vastly superior game.
The new player on-boarding is even rougher than it was the first time around (unless, of course, you played Nioh 1, in which, you'll have a much easier time picking up where you left off and learning the new stuff), and the story is just as poorly told as ever. The difficulty tuning is also pretty whack. Trash mobs hit harder than any of the bosses in this game, making the journey to getting to the bosses generally more difficult than that of Nioh 1, but Nioh 2's bosses are generally way easier than Nioh 1's. But those are the only real knocks I have against the game.
In every other possible sense, the game is anything from a modest to a tremendous improvement over the original. Especially combat, enemy variety, encounter design, and level design. In Nioh 1, you felt the Dark Souls inspirations for the overall stage design for roughly the first half of the game, and then it just falls away in favor for simpler and more linear, less interesting stages. Nioh 2's stages largely get better, or at the very least, a few of the very best are saved for the end.
Nioh 2 also leans more heavily into the fantastical elements, which also lets them do more interesting things with stage design. Combat systems are familiar but with just enough new mechanics and quality of life improvements layered on top to make going back to Nioh 1 more difficult. You have such a lovely expanded toolset in this game. Leveling and point distribution are also handled better. Difficulty curve is perhaps a bit smoother. Platinum is easier and more reasonable.
It's just a more fun game, top to bottom. And I loved both a lot.
