Shinobi

[sggg]

Originally posted by Briscobold
The more I play this game, the more I want to read review less. I can't really desribe it, but I love this game. Sure I hate losing, but the progess I'm making in this game is steady and enjoyable. However, I have been playing frsutrating/difficult games like this for how long? My dexterity might not be simliar to potential GameSpot/EGM readers. Their reviews might be valid, just not for me...

I have been thinking about the subject myself as I have been playing the game exclusively over the past week or so.

First of all, I agree the reviews have been generally poor. I read a several before I bought the game... and I wish I had not. The game is not perfect and there are a few minor things I would change. But the game does not have any significant flaws. The reviews had me looking for problems that I simply have not found. The levels are not too long. The falling deaths are not cheap. The camera is fine. The levels are not too boring nor bland. Adding mid-level checkpoints would have been cheap.....

Most significantly, the game is not too difficult. It's hard but not unfair. Brisco, you speculate about possibly being better or more seasoned than the average player - That may be true but I can honestly say that I am not better! I have not played many modern 3D action games. I have made fairly steady progress in Shinobi though. I was hopeless at first. But every time I have felt overwhelmed by the game I have improved by repetition and practice. Improving my skills has been immensely rewarding. I have had many frustrating deaths but I have not blamed the game. I have just continued to try and improve... and I have. That's what I am loving about the game. That's what makes it so great. It forces you to become skilled and it has a perfect learning curve. It forces you to learn how to use more weapons and techniques as you go along... You should not be able to make it through the levels the first time though.

If people are complaining about the difficulty then I don't know what they expect out of a videogame. I don't want to play games that are not challenging or that do not require any skill to get though. I don't want to play 8 levels which I can blow through in 2 days without giving it much thought.

Another thing that annoys me is the mid-level checkpoint complaint. That would have taken away a lot of the enjoyment. They would have made the game too easy. Their exclusion gives the opportunity you need to refine your skills from repetition. An overabundance of checkpoints and saves is something I find annoying about modern games. In the pre-save days you had to build up your skills so that you could consistently make it past difficult areas in games. Surplus save points and checkpoints have made it so that in some cases difficult tasks need only be accomplished once. Shinobi's set-up is a refreshing change of pace in this regard. This is especially true when the scoring/grading system comes in to play.

Anyway, I love the game. Not only is the gameplay deep and interesting but it is challenging, stylish, and loaded with atmosphere. I don't think I have ever played an action game that has sucked me into the experience so completely. It's brilliant and wonderful.

I can totally understand simply not liking the game. I can understand not liking the game enough to want to put the time in to learn the game.... but I do think a lot of the complaints reviewers have made have been unfair. I am really thankful that I read this thread because the comments of posters like MechDeus are what convinced me to go ahead and get the game.... and now having played through more than half of it I must say I agree completely with what they have been saying. I forget who said it many pages ago... but it is worth repeating... "there is genius here".. It's so true.


Aaaaaanyway, let's wrap this post up with a question.... How many coins has everyone collected so far?

I only have 17 or 18 but I am just on Level 6. According to the Stage Select I have all possible coins so far. I am really looking forward to unlocking the other characters and seeing what they play like.

[xS]

5 or so .
Im on the last level.

[sggg]

Shinobi... defeated!

Wow, that was exhilarating.. I can't even guess how long it took me to defeat the final boss. I played until 5am the other day.. and just now I played for about 2-3 hours just on that last level, mainly on the boss battle. It took forever but damn, it was rewarding! It was really hard at the end... but not that hard if I could beat it. I am not that good at beating action games and I don't play them often. If I can do it anyone can. The thing I truly love about the game is that it's never cheap and it's never hard for the sake of it. I always felt like I had the ability to blow threw a level and get the no-hit bonus if I just didn't screw up.. and I knew that every boss could be defeated if I just played it smart... It's amazing how skilled you get at the game by the time you defeat it. It's funny to think about how pathetic my skills were when I started.

I even got an A on 8-B... wow. That's crazy. My final grade for the game was just a C and I got mainly C's for the levels.. with one S and a few B's mixed in. I also collected all but 3 of the coins from the "normal" mode... so I am pretty close to unlocking Moritsune. I am dying to see how the other characters play.

Hey Mech -or anyone else who has finished the game- how much harder is "hard mode"? I need to boot it up soon and find some coins.

Anyway, overall I truly loved this game. I think it's flawless and one of the best games I have played. It's at least in my top 15-20 games. There are a few tweaks here and there that may have made the game even better... but nothing too important and not to the gameplay and that's the most important thing. I think I am going to write a full review in the near future.. but I think overall I'd give the game a 9.5 when I get down to it...

[Xero_Kaiser]

yesterday I had to decide between R.A.D and shinobi, I figured I'd just get R.A.D then and shinobi this weekend. sadly RAD didn't work (what is it with my PS2 and CD-ROM games? ) so I'm gonna go out and get Shinobi today

I played a demo of it a while back and it kicked ass. I don't understand a lot of video game magazines though.....they loved contra because it was hard but they hated the fact that shinobi was hard

[Brisco Bold]

Good to hear, SGGG. Right now I'm on 6b. I can't get enough of this game.

Good luck with hard mode.

[MechDeus]

Hey Mech -or anyone else who has finished the game- how much harder is "hard mode"? I need to boot it up soon and find some coins.

Well, the first level enemies start off with the ability to block, and it only ramps up from there. The extra coin in some levels can be a real pain in the ass to get, and God only knows what super difficulty is going to be like.

I went back to get some more coins the other day since I never actually beat Hard Mode, and ended up getting an S Rank in 4-B by accident. I wasn't trying to Tate the boss, I just wanted to kill her to keep my coins but ending up with a one-hit kill.

Also, I read a FAQ and am going to go with their suggestion: Collect coins until I unlock the next guy and beat Hard Mode with him, and then use him to collect coins until I get Joe, and get the rest with him.

[sggg]

Originally posted by Xero_Kaiser
yesterday I had to decide between R.A.D and shinobi, I figured I'd just get R.A.D then and shinobi this weekend. sadly RAD didn't work (what is it with my PS2 and CD-ROM games? ) so I'm gonna go out and get Shinobi today

It's pretty interesting to me that of all the games you had to decide between it was those two. I bought my PS2 in December with those same two games ironically enough (2 games = $50 off!).. Funny thing is, I was 10x more interested in RAD. I was really excited about that game. Shinobi was more of an afterthought which I got because I wanted something full-price. I was just hoping it would be decent...

Turns out that RAD was one of the biggest disappointments I have ever had in a game. The battles were fun but overall I truly hated the game. It's the first game I returned to the store I bought in from in yeeears. Shinobi, on the other hand, turned out to be sooooo much more than I hoped or expected. Like I said, it's one of my favourite games ever.

FYI: My detailed impressions of RAD can be found HERE on the TNL Reader Review board.

Originally posted by MechDeus
Also, I read a FAQ and am going to go with their suggestion: Collect coins until I unlock the next guy and beat Hard Mode with him, and then use him to collect coins until I get Joe, and get the rest with him.

Yeh, I read up a bit on it last night and they say that Hard Mode becomes easier with Moritsune because he is stronger and faster. It may be harder to get coins with him though because the sword drains him faster....

I never ever had any problems with Akujiki draining Hotsuma in the Normal Mode though. I rarely if ever skipped past enemies.... and even then I managed to get all but 2 coins.

Anyway, I think I only need 8 coins to get Moritsune. That should not take too long.... I am going to miss Hotsuma's scarf though!

[sggg]

Originally posted by sggg
Anyway, I think I only need 8 coins to get Moritsune. That should not take too long.... I am going to miss Hotsuma's scarf though!

Moritsune is unlocked! He's really fun too he's faster and stronger, but he does not look nearly as cool as Hotsuma. I worry about using him to collect more "Hard coins" though because Akujiki drains his life faster.... and it seemed to me like Akujiki had already been draining Hotsuma much faster in Hard mode to begin with.

I have to restart Hard mode with Moritsune now though.. If you collect every possible coin you'll unlock him at the end of Level 3B of hard mode.

Has anyone gotten Joe Musashi yet? I just realised I am only 10 coins away... I may as well go for it. I am intrugued how the game will play using the shuriken as the primary weapon (Joe's shurikens do damage and they are unlimited)....

[Kidnemo]

Just picked this up tonite...

Loving it so far.

Made it to stage four in about two hours. The only part that I had a trouble with was the tiger/spider boss thing.

Thing I love about this game is the old schooliness. It's like after you figure out how to do something, it sticks with you. Like the first couple of times I had trouble with those sword weilding dogs, but after you learn the "secret" it's smooth sailing.

Classy stuff...I'll read the rest of this thread after I finish it, don't wannt spoil anything quite yet.

[Despair]

I need to get back to it, and start working on picking up coins to get extra chars, epecially Joe.

Now, off to convince DJ that we need to finish this game before DMC2