Shinobi

[Xero_Kaiser]

I got this game today and I can't believe I almost let those magazine reviews stop me from getting it.

the main thing I kept hearing was how unreasonably difficult it was but I didn't have any problems with it. played through it in one sitting and died 4 times, difficulty seems just about right to me. another thing I kept hearing was "if you die 30 minutes into a level you have to start all over again" but few of the levels ran over 10 minutes, what were they doing? walking backwards and blindfolded?

and there ARE checkpoints in the levels...kinda. If you make it to the boss you don't have to restart the entire level if you lose and since most of the levels are fairly short that's all you really need. wonder why no one seemed to notice that..

all in all, I'm with Sggg on this one, this game kicked ass and I'm more satisfied with it than I was with Rygar. Now I gotta start unlocking Moritsune and Joe

[Brisco Bold]

Originally posted by Xero_Kaiser
the main thing I kept hearing was how unreasonably difficult it was but I didn't have any problems with it. played through it in one sitting and died 4 times, difficulty seems just about right to me. another thing I kept hearing was "if you die 30 minutes into a level you have to start all over again" but few of the levels ran over 10 minutes, what were they doing? walking backwards and blindfolded?

I kept thinking this exact same thing. Esp. the timing thing. These levels are like, what, five ten minutes long? How crappy are these reviewers? Really? Hard. Whatever.

BTW, I'm on 7a.

[Xero_Kaiser]

they're pretty crappy apparently, seeing as every reviewer kept complaining about the same nonexistant problems. there's a big ass difference between a 7 minutes and 30 minutes, how the 2 got confused is beyond me but anyway

stage 7 was one of my favorite levels and it's got 2 of the best boss fights in the game

[Kidnemo]

I died a couple times last night to that fire-moth boss...

[Xero_Kaiser]

she was annoying at 1st, when she knocked me into the lava I kept thinking "oh god, I'm screwed" but the lava did crap damage, hell, the dogs in level 2 were deadlier

[Brisco Bold]

Yeah, I got this game before X-mas, and yeah I'm only on 7a now, but I've only played this game in short bursts like once every week or so. The progress is super satisfying. Far more than other games I've played. It's difficult, I'll grant you that, but super-fucking difficult? No way. And the camera. Sometimes it's an issue, but never so much that I get so angry I throw the controller across the room in disgust.

When I can't beat a stage I walk away and do something else. It's never gotten to the frustration stage, yet.

In fact, you know what? This game has turned me into pre-GG ECM.

Back in the last few issues of (the name of the magazine escapes me at the moment, but you know what I'm talking about), ECM gave a tongue lashing to every American publication for not giving Strider 2 the rating it deserved. If he wasn't doing that, he was yelling at the reader for not being "hard-core" enough. Frankly, I was afraid to open the magazine at times.

Now, I'm besides myself with rage everytime I read a Shinobi review.

"It's too hard."
"The camera makes me nauseated."
"I get lost in the very linear stages."
"The textures look horrible."
"The stages are ten years long and when you die, the controller emits a strong electrical shock."

POPPY COCK! BOLLOCKS! I'm not an elitist, but damn, this shit ain't that hard. The original one was harder.

[sggg]

People need to listen to me more often.

Anyway, yeh, the game is not that difficult. It's only difficult if you are not playing it "correctly". But once you really learn how to use the stealth dash and other techniques at your disposal the game is not that hard. In fact, once you get good enough you get the feeling that the no-hit bonus is quite possible on any level.. and when you do falter or die, you usually blame yourself and not the game.

Also, something interesting I have noticed is that Hard Mode is not really harder than the game was the first time through... because by the time you have defeated Normal Mode you should be a really good player. Also, if you unlock Moritsune and use him he makes the game a fair bit easier.

Finally, the fire-moth boss was one of the hardest in the game for me. It took me quite a while to get her. I am actually up to that level now in Hard Mode.. so I guess it will be a true test of my skills and how far I have come. I don't think she'll be nearly as hard this time for me.

...

Just wait til you guys get to the final boss. It took me about 4-5 hours to win that fight.

More thoughts: I just wanted to agree that the complaints about the levels being too long bother me too. Those complaints are absurd! If there were checkpoints that would have seriously tainted the game. The levels are not long. They take less than 10 minutes for me and I never run past enemies (you can check the time at the end of the stage). I fight every single one. This "difficulty" is what teaches you to become a skilled player. It may take 5, 10, even 20 times to get past a hard part of a level. But once you figure it out you'll probably not have the problems again.

I got stuck on the warehouse level, for example. I kept dying and dying getting further and further each time I played.. I always made steady progress. Having played it so much I got so good at that level that I can take out every enemy now in beautiful ninja-style tate.

When I finally finished the level and when I went to stage select I saw that I missed the coin. So I went back and hunted it down... (it was surprisingly hard to find?!) and I breazed through the entire level again with no difficulty at all. It was glorious. You just become such a better player for playing.

ps. You guys should check out the Shinobi Review Thread on the TNL Headlines Board.

[Xero_Kaiser]

Oh man, I remember ECM going off about Strider 2 another magazine (which one was it? PSXtreme or something...I forgot)actually responded to him, he didn't name names but you knew who he was talking to.

I agree with you on the checkpoint thing sggg, a few days ago, when I still thought the levels were really long, I would've called you crazy but now I don't see what all the fuss is about. and there ARE checkpoints in between the levels and the boss fights so once again I'm baffled by the sheer amount of misinformation in all these reviews

there are a couple of other reviews of other games I've read that seem off the mark lately as well..disturbing..oh well *heads to the shinobi review thread*

[sggg]

Originally posted by Xero_Kaiser
I agree with you on the checkpoint thing sggg, a few days ago, when I still thought the levels were really long, I would've called you crazy but now I don't see what all the fuss is about. and there ARE checkpoints in between the levels and the boss fights so once again I'm baffled by the sheer amount of misinformation in all these reviews

Yeh, having the checkpoints before the boss is really a godsend. Once you finally reach the boss you can breathe a sigh of relief that you made it - especially in the latter stages... Some of the bosses take a lot of repetition to defeat so that's surely why the checkpoint is there. If there was no checkpoint they probably would have had to make the bosses much easier and that would have been a shame because the boss fights are among the highlites of the game. You have got to love pulling off a tate on a bastard boss.

Now that I think about it... Overworks should have added an unlockable boss-battle mode, since they are so fun.

[StriderKyo]

Originally posted by Briscobold

Now, I find myself besides myself with rage everytime I read a Shinobi review.

"It's too hard."
"The camera makes me nauseated."
"I get lost in the very linear stages."
"The textures look horrible."
"The stages are ten years long and when you die, the controller emits a strong electrical shock."

After playing the demo 50 times, I finally bought this game yesterday, and I agree with everything you just said. Every time I hear somebody say those things, I just wanna say "shut up, wuss. Go play Kirby."

I'm at 4B, which seems to be the exact point where the game gets difficult, heh. I had a really good handle on the gameplay from the demo, but that boss is still killing me. I know what you have to do, I just can't seem to pull it off - one of the butterlies will shot me right before I tate it or something. I'm sure I'll get it soon.

Anyway, I kinda pity people who write this game off, because it's so awesome when you actually pull the stuff you're supposed to do off. Tateing that spider boss in half was awesome - I was raising the roof and everything. This game is just oozing with REAL ULTIMATE POWER, and may well be the best ninja game since Ninja Gaiden II. All that's missing is Hotsuma wailing on a guitar.