Ninja Gaiden: Official Thread

[mrt]

Technically, sure, it's pretty and polished, but this is one of those games where my deaths almost never feel like I caused them and I'm fighting as much with the game itself as I am with the enemies in the game.

excuses excuses.

i do agree with you about not being able to jump dash when too close to an enemy though.

that neck grab/throw move was fun in the demo, but completely useless during the actually game (by the time you find it, it'd be better to pass it up entirely. i plan on skipping it on every play through from here on out).

i didnt have the same problems you did with the normal enemies though. i thought they were a lot of fun for the most part. those devil fish could be a real bitch at times though.

(uh oh i didnt capitalize at the beginning of my sentences. here comes the grammar police!!!)

[AaronChance]

It has all the bad aspects of 3D fighting game animation lag/recovery, including but not limited to: not allowing Ryu to turn on a dime,

Because he moves more like a real human being than a robot like most 3D games. I never had a problem going where I want to go.

not allowing pausing during movement,

Why would you want this? You'd bound to be confused when you come out of pause and be disoriented, probably take a hit or two. You can pause while blocking, which is much more useful.

getting stuck in unintentional combos,

Do you mean enemy combos or your own? Because you press the buttons, you've got to expect Ryu to do that combo.

not allowing jumping after moves,

Wha? You can jump after any move.

refuses to cancel animations because it wants to look pretty more then it wants to control well, and so on.

Because allowing the player to do high damaging moves with no consequences and not having to risk getting punished for them is a good thing... right? I know VF4 would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to worry about those pesky vulnerablity frames.

I agree about the problem with the camera during the platforming sections, but the rest sound like you're trying to play the game in a way it wasn't meant to be played. It's not Shinobi or whatever, but it works fine as it is if you play it as it is.

[Korly]

Still having problems with the tanks? Try this:

Start out by equipping the moon armlet and the exploding arrows. IMMEDIATELY tap b to auto aim an exploding arrow. That'll make the guy on top of the tank go into the tank for awhile. Equip APFDS cores. Lightly tap B, jump to your right, lightly tap B, jump to your left, lightly tap B, jump to your right. By now, the guy on the top is back. Blast him with another exploding arrow. If you start to run outta arrows, do the roll jump toward the replenishment box you need (hold L, press the direction you wanna go, jump at the end of the roll). Rinse, repeat.

Easy as pie.


And for fucks sake, you people need to learn how to save on two files. That way if you foolishly waste all of your healing potions 'cause you haven't figured out how to kill the mini-helicopters or something, you aren't stuck complaining about how you can't get to a shop. There are 10 spaces to save on, make use of them.

[Rocca]

Ditto, a good tactic I used with the tanks was to equip the moon armlet [ like Korly said] and just fire away with the ADSDS Cores [or whatever theyre called]. I figured I'm going to get hit a hefty bit of times by the tanks, so why not just go all out and shoot them while they keep shooting me. Of course, move out of the way when a cannon shot is heading your way. I saved on 3 files and alternated which one to update my save game with. It's a good idea to leave really important files in states 8, 9 and 10 and your current in game stuff in 1,2,3.

[Captain Vegetable]

I don't have the moon armlet, nor do I have APFDS cores (what ever the Hell they are).

I do make multiple saves, but I know I can beat these assholes with what I've got. I'm just going to keep trying until I get it. If I need to fall back on my other save file, I will, but not yet.

[Victrix]

Um. The two chests on either side of the area load you up on AP and EX arrows.

[Prince Planet]

A few thoughts as I go back through the game:

1. Difficulty. Obviously, some folks will have more trouble than others at various parts, but generally (and echoing Ammadeau), the game becomes a breeze (on Normal) after you finally slog your way through the first run. Spider clan ninjas? Dead freaking meat. Zombie skeletons? You will be PRAYING for more to respawn just so you can practice all the techniques you ignored before and to rack up points. Alma and most other bosses? Fodder, at worst requiring an elixir or two. Much of the purported camera difficulty is ameliorted by simply knowing the maps and where you're supposed to be going. You won't miss jumps; you'll rarely get hit by unseen enemies; mostly, you'll be running through the game at breakneck speed wreaking ninja havoc, which is what Tecmo must have envisioned. Learn the maps; learn the moves; and then go play for real on the harder difficulties.

2. Camera. I had a few (extremely) frustrating moments on the first run-through, although the camera was not always to blame (Captain Vegetable: I yelled "FUCK!" so loudly that my daughters ran downstairs crying, and they stayed away until I finally beat the game. Bad daddy.). But I don't see what the real problem is -- you tap R quickly if you need to recenter, and it works well about 95% of the time. If that doesn't work, use the auto-target moves to get yourself back in the action. I think a lot of the difficulty comes from the learned habit of immediately thumbing the Right analog to adjust the camera (a la just about every other game out there), which REALLY messes you up in this game. I still stand by my statement from many pages back that the game simply would not play properly if you had to take your thumb off of the face buttons to dick around with a dedicated "look" function mapped to the right analog. Again, the beauty of the streamlined control system become more clear when you know where you're supposed to be going and you can really concentrate on the spectacular fighting.

3. Bow. A LOT more useful than I initially realized. The trick, as mentioned a few times in this thread, is to simply tap "B" and let it fire via line-of-sight auto-target. First-person mode is only rarely needed for the bow. Generally, I didn't make nearly enough use of the secondary weapons on my first run --they really break up the enemies' attempts at rushing you, while keeping your combo alive.

4. Combos/Essence Moves. Critical to the game, and an aspect that I largely ignored when I was simply fighting for Ryu's life. Many fights are set up for nothing but Essence Moves -- stagger/stall the enemies with shurikens, suck up the essence, unleash ninja hell, and watch your cash skyrocket (I initially failed to notice that kills achieved with Essence Moves ONLY release yellow orbs. Cha-ching!)

5. When all else fails -- X +Y and/or some Ninpo. Most bosses in the game will die quickly (on Normal) from some combination of these two.

A couple of scarabs to collect, and then on to Very Hard which I assume will be just that.

[FuryFox]

That'll make the guy on top of the tank go into the tank for awhile. Equip APFDS cores. Lightly tap B, jump to your right, lightly tap B, jump to your left, lightly tap B, jump to your right. By now, the guy on the top is back. Blast him with another exploding arrow.

I don't like switching back and forth, so when it's time for another gunner to pop out, I just zoom in and take him out with a APFDS core. Although on Hard difficulty (and I assume Very Hard) your timing has to be tight.

I also thought I could just keep killing gunners until there was no one left in the tanks, but they just keep coming, strangley. After killing like 5 one time, it did seem like it took a long time for another gunner to come out, and the tank just sat there for a while.

[MechDeus]

Because he moves more like a real human being than a robot like most 3D games.

I prefer fast gameplay in my action games over pretty animation. He can look like something out of Cubivore for all I care if it controls to my liking.

Why would you want this? You'd bound to be confused when you come out of pause and be disoriented, probably take a hit or two.

Doesn't happen to me in any other game so I don't see why it would here.

Wha? You can jump after any move.

After the animation is done cycling, you mean.

Because allowing the player to do high damaging moves with no consequences and not having to risk getting punished for them is a good thing... right? I know VF4 would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to worry about those pesky vulnerablity frames.

1.) Guard in VF4 allows you to cancel moves and shortens animation downtime after moves so as to not leave yourself so open. If you've ever played SC or SC2 you might notice the same thing, only with the ability to cancel even more moves.
2.) A lot of fighting and action games cut animation cycles all the time to speed up attacks and create combos. One of the things I love about MGS is how Snake always immediately looks in any direction you tap, they don't care about skipping frames of animation to make it control smoothly.
3.) Most action games allow you to cancel combos and end animations quicker, so it's not like NG is typical in that regard. Most often games use jump as a cancel so that even if you're in a combo you can still stop yourself partway through.

I agree about the problem with the camera during the platforming sections, but the rest sound like you're trying to play the game in a way it wasn't meant to be played. It's not Shinobi or whatever, but it works fine as it is if you play it as it is.

You're probably right. I was expecting a fast action game and instead I got an enhanced Tekken Force with fetch quests, and I'm still wishing it was a fast action game.

Again, don't get me wrong, I think NG is just fine. I just think that this is one of the cases in which the many small drawbacks form Devestator and pound the hell out of the Autobot City of positives.

[Captain Vegetable]

Um. The two chests on either side of the area load you up on AP and EX arrows.

Yeah. I figured that out after I posted. I was so focused on "finding the blue," that I emmediately figured the crate at the other end of the field was just background matterial. Heh.

Well, I beat the Tanks after reloading a previous save and killing lots and lots of guards to increase my wealth. After gaining somewhere around 20,000 Essence, I went back to the old fart's shop and bought the Moon Armlet, a full complement of healing items, and a few other odds and ends.

The tanks were much easier after I found the depleated uranium arrows.

The heli gave me some problems, but after the third try I had it licked. Now I'm in the Aquaducts. Thank God for respawning enemies. If it weren't for them, I'd have zero cash and zero healing items.

Oh, also, I agree with everything Prince Planet has said.