Ninja Gaiden: Official Thread

[MechDeus]

How many deity statues are there? I thought there were four.

There are. The third one is painfully obvious (and you can't beat a certain level without it) and the fourth one isn't too far after that.

[Hero]

So I rented it, and...

You guys aren't going to like me for this...

This thing is way overhyped. I was expecting flawless action - I get DMC with a shoddy(er) camera. I was expecting a tough, fair-handed challenge outside that handicap - instead, I have guys who stab at me, and when I block, they decide to slit my throat in Chapter 3. Chapter 3! There is no learning curve, because straight away the game is this...dare I say it...unfair? How do they expect me to fight three guys, when all of them will either hit me if I move, throw me if I block, and roll? Forget it. It's like you get all these yummy moves and tactics at your disposal, only to find out all of them are too frivolous to actually use. Ever.

And the camera boggles me...it's like an identity crisis. NG wants to cinematic and have an "epic" story, but most people who buy into that sort of thing (games as an experience), won't play past the first level. My older brother, who was dying to play this thing since E3 2002, did such a thing. So why have that movie-like camera, but balls to the wall gameplay? It feels so conflicted.

For what it's worth, it's a decent game. On par with Rygar, DMC, or any of it's ilk. Just not this "OMGBESTGAMEEVARBECAUSEITHASNINJAS" people have painted it up as.

PS - oh yeah, the controls are floaty as hell. How come Ryu doesn't want to run up a wall when I jump straight, and press up? How come he decides to run across the bloody thing?

PPS - Don't give me this "it's because you suck" ordeal. I can tell the difference between a well-controlled 3D game and a bad one.

[AaronChance]

So I rented it, and...

You guys aren't going to like me for this...

This thing is way overhyped. I was expecting flawless action - I get DMC with a shoddy(er) camera. I was expecting a tough, fair-handed challenge outside that handicap - instead, I have guys who stab at me, and when I block, they decide to slit my throat in Chapter 3. Chapter 3! There is no learning curve, because straight away the game is this...dare I say it...unfair? How do they expect me to fight three guys, when all of them will either hit me if I move, throw me if I block, and roll? Forget it. It's like you get all these yummy moves and tactics at your disposal, only to find out all of them are too frivolous to actually use. Ever.

You had two chapters of being able to block nearly any move without penalty. That's not enough time to learn the game's systems? The grab move has a very noticable start up animation. You see it coming... and you will since the camera isn't that bad... you roll out of the way. Easy as pie.

PPS - Don't give me this "it's because you suck" ordeal. I can tell the difference between a well-controlled 3D game and a bad one.

It's because you suck, but here's the thing. When they first play Ninja Gaiden EVERYONE SUCKS. You need to learn how to play. When to move, how to move, what to avoid... it all comes from experience.

The game can be unfair at times. The horrible camera on the second boss and the zombie archers spring to mind, but these are isolated incidents. For the most part, it all comes down to learning and proper use of the tools the game gives you. You think you know how to play this game because you've played action games before, but this only resembles them. It's a whole new beast and requires its own skillset.

PS - You were given counter attacks at the end of chapter 2 for a reason. Chapter 3 is a nice place to start putting them into practice.

[FX]

If you want essence, go back to the first room of the ducts with the bats, throw 2-3 stars to release essence and do a second level essence attack on the bats. Cool thing is bats will not attack you when you're holding that attack so you can let them come close before unleashing it.

That's my new sweet spot that I found today. Maxed out my money at 99,999 after about 40/50 minutes of work.

[MechDeus]

PS - oh yeah, the controls are floaty as hell. How come Ryu doesn't want to run up a wall when I jump straight, and press up? How come he decides to run across the bloody thing?

Don't worry too much right now, your jumping problems have only just begun.

You had two chapters of being able to block nearly any move without penalty. That's not enough time to learn the game's systems?

I didn't start coming to grips with how to abuse the game until Chapter 4.

The grab move has a very noticable start up animation. You see it coming... and you will since the camera isn't that bad... you roll out of the way. Easy as pie.

It's still quite the sudden change to go from being able to block to learning not to block.

For the most part, it all comes down to learning and proper use of the tools the game gives you.

Basically: temper the Dragon Sword to level 2 (since in you're in Chapter 3 you can now do that) and use the air-dash a lot, it makes the game way easier.

[AaronChance]

Yeah, the air dash is really abusable in Normal difficulty. Heck, you can kill the final boss by doing that over and over and not take a single hit. I know because that's what I did. That's another reason why Very Hard feels like the game the way it's supposed to be, because from chapter 5 on almost every enemy will block the air dash unless you catch them in the middle of an attack animation and the window is even smaller for the slow moving zombies, who can somehow block it even when you take off a head and an arm. I find myself using it sparringly now and going more towards straight combos, wall flips, and counter attacks.

[Despair]

What final boss you talking about? The Lava running one?
Maybe if it decides to get on the platform with you, then yes, you can constantly AD it, but if it stays in the lava field, good luck AD straight into lava.

Hero whining about action game, what new here He was the same about DMC back then. Learn how control, evade block and escape. I've been saying it for a while now, NG combat is great when you actually learn on how to be good with it. Even if you cant see some enemies around you, you can block and evade their attacks, counter their moves, do evades, etc. Yeah, Grab moves by Commandos is a bitch, but just try not to let them grab you, constantly attack them and you will be fine. NG is better when you on constant move, attacking the opposition and when you go into defensive, you have to watch out.

The only enemy that still gives me trouble is Ghost Fish. Its easy to take out first wave, but if they catch you between the combos, they will hurt you.

So no problems or complaints with actually combat on my part. Platforming is a WHOLE different story. Camera during those bits is very unhelpfull, and a big reason to be frustraited.

[Master of 7s]

So I rented it, and...

You guys aren't going to like me for this...

This thing is way overhyped. I was expecting flawless action - I get DMC with a shoddy(er) camera. I was expecting a tough, fair-handed challenge outside that handicap - instead, I have guys who stab at me, and when I block, they decide to slit my throat in Chapter 3. Chapter 3! There is no learning curve, because straight away the game is this...dare I say it...unfair? How do they expect me to fight three guys, when all of them will either hit me if I move, throw me if I block, and roll? Forget it. It's like you get all these yummy moves and tactics at your disposal, only to find out all of them are too frivolous to actually use. Ever.

And the camera boggles me...it's like an identity crisis. NG wants to cinematic and have an "epic" story, but most people who buy into that sort of thing (games as an experience), won't play past the first level. My older brother, who was dying to play this thing since E3 2002, did such a thing. So why have that movie-like camera, but balls to the wall gameplay? It feels so conflicted.

For what it's worth, it's a decent game. On par with Rygar, DMC, or any of it's ilk. Just not this "OMGBESTGAMEEVARBECAUSEITHASNINJAS" people have painted it up as.

PS - oh yeah, the controls are floaty as hell. How come Ryu doesn't want to run up a wall when I jump straight, and press up? How come he decides to run across the bloody thing?

PPS - Don't give me this "it's because you suck" ordeal. I can tell the difference between a well-controlled 3D game and a bad one.

*heaves massive sigh*

And herein is the reason that every person who lacks skill at a game has ever used. How many times in an arcade have I heard a person say "this game sucks" only to have me step up a few seconds after they are done and utterly embarrass their piss poor performance? Proving that the game doesn't suck but indeed it is the player who sucks?

As has already been stated before, casual-gamers need not apply as button-mashing will get you swiftly killed. You actually have think for a change and change your tactics on the fly in this game. It's called strategy.

Block, counter, wind-run, Air Dash, roll, block, counter, combo, throw, combo, block, roll, jump, wall-flip, combo, wind shriuken finisher. Do all that against five enemies at once in less than 10 seconds, on command and then tell me the controls in this game are anything but phoenomenal. True the camera is annoying sometimes, but if you know what you are doing then it doesn't matter.

Much like all casual gamers, you expect a gaming experience where things are simply handed to you. Ninja Gaiden will not do that. You have to actually earn you victory here by learning the system. There is a techniques list for each weapon in the game for a reason.

Improve or die is the philosiphy here and you made it clear you don't have the patience required to improve.


P.S. With regards to level 3. Yes I to got my throat slit a number of times, but I discovered that if you don't stand there like a dunce waiting for them to attack you won't get hit. Roll out of the way and attack. You have a counter-attack for a reason.

The only enemy that still gives me trouble is Ghost Fish. Its easy to take out first wave, but if they catch you between the combos, they will hurt you.

Art of the Fire Wheels.

[Despair]

I guess I havent thought about using the Fire Wheels spell. Good to see it actually being useful for once

About Nimpo gauge. How many of charges you can have? I have 5 and I think its all you can get, unless I missed few more of Red Devil Jewels.

[Zerodash]

Art of the Fire Wheels.

Vigoorian Flail works nicely as well...without using up your Ninpo energy.


I would like to just chime in with my disgust that the OG games are the SNES versions and not the NES revs. The fact that the lightning stage in NG2 was altered (darkness was removed) ruined it for me. Oh well, better than no unlockibles...