Ninja Gaiden General thread.

Anything without that perverted Xbox bigot is better stuff

I have a little problem with Sigma 2… not the game itself but the saves I had of it. My old PS 3 YLODed and is now resting in peace. I bought a slim and I have all my PS 3 saves on a USB key now. Problem is, in Sigma 2 I can't load them since they say the data is "from a different user"… I didn't try on Sigma 1 yet but I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing…

So here's my question: is there a way to get back my saves without having to play through the whole damn game again? Cause I was in the middle of a Self-Imposed Challenge in Chapter Challenge when the old consoled died; re-unlocking and re-beating Master Ninja mode and all the tough missions (for the costumes) is gonna be annoying…

Thank you.

I miss my memory cards…

edited 19th Apr '12 8:49:28 AM by Lyendith

Decided to get Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Is it just me, or is it that I really don't like the game as much as I thought I would.

Sure, the combat is cool, but the camera is just horrible, and the patterns of several boss fights are far too unpredictable to really dodge.

Unfortunately, the Dodge control feels very awkward to me, and it really should of had a fixed camera like Devil May Cry or God of War does, It would probably of been better.

Also, the exploration gets really annoying. I'm on chapter 16, and I have no Idea where to go for The Fiendish Awakening.

Other than that, the combat is cool, even if it takes a while to get to the cool part, since the combat felt very boring in the beginning levels.

I actually think the camera in DMC and Go W is worse. Ninja Gaiden's camera got annoying, but at least it never really got in my way the way it did in DMC 1, where the camera would deliberately put me at a disadvantage during really intense fights, leading me to take damage from attacks I would have otherwise dodged because I couldn't see where they were coming from.

I disagree on the boss patterns as well, NGS bosses actually have rather clear patterns and warnings once you get them down, and it makes for some intense reflex based combat. However, I will agree that dodging can be spotty at times, especially during the worm boss fights, roll dodging is excellent though.

I can also agree on the exploration to. I had to refer to an FAQ to figure out where I was supposed to be going and where to look for certain items like the Golden Scarabs, I definitely would have preferred a level select.

And yes, the combat in this game is excellent. Probably the deepest of any hack'n slash game I've ever played.

Eh, I find Bayonetta's combat to be much more intense, but I don't mind a simple combat system every now and then.

If the game had weapon switching in mid combat, it probably would be even better.

Unfortunately, I have yet to play Bayonetta (I still live with my parents, and something tells me they wouldn't approve of me playing a rather...Fanservice-y game) but I would like to.

On-the-fly weapon switching would have been neat. Though, I do kinda get what Itagaki was trying to do by limiting yourself to only one weapon at a time.

Finally completed it.

.....That ending was the stupidest ending to a game I've ever played. Murai randomly turning traitor was bullshit, and the fight with him was probably the easiest boss fight in the whole game, despite being the last one.

For a game that tries to show how hard it is, Murai was a really bad example of easy difficulty in a hard game.

People considering Murai easy is slightly hilarious. He's actually a really tough boss that requires pinpoint timing and can kill you really quickly if you let down your guard. The thing is, he's basically what the entire game has been training you to beat. By the time you face Murai, you've gone through so much shit and overcome so much cheapness that someone that more or less plays with the same rules you do becomes second-nature to overcome.

And really, you expected good plot twists from Ninja Gaiden?

No, but it shouldn't of been so random.

Meh, Might do Sigma 2 and 3 later.

Who knows, I might end up liking 3 the most.

edited 12th May '12 3:41:40 PM by Demongodofchaos2

A demo of 3 is on the PSN store. ;)

Yeah, Murai being revealed as the Big Bad without any proper buildup is really WTF, but the way it was down was so over-the-top that it was hilarious, like it was a parody or something. It didn't bother me that much since I don't give a shit about the plot of NG anyway. He was rather dissapointingly easy though.

And in regards to 3, you're going to get a laugh out of the story, that's for certain.

A lot of the first Ninja Gaiden's plot is nonsensical randomness. Ryu's unexplained I Got Better moment, the black spider ninjas being there just because, Rachel getting kidnapped like five times, Ryu's Not Quite Flight via floating boulder and transformation into a falcon... You know if he can do that you'd think he'd do it more often.

I also disagree on boss paterns, some bosses have attacks that are tricky to dodge, but with enough observation you can anticipate them. All is in knowing how the bosses react to specific behaviours. For example, against Dynamo (the fat cyber-boss) you know that when you get close to him he will try to smash you with his hand-cannon so you'd better pause a bit and dodge before attacking. Awakened Alma is about the only boss that I still have trouble with. NG2 is far worse on that domain (though Sigma 2 corrects it to some extent), most of its bosses are Goddamned Bosses to me. Yes, I'm talking about you, Armadillo.

I can agree on the camera though, and again the sequel is even worse. It gets a bit better in NG3 (for the little that I played at least). I don't think a fixated camera would do any good. It's just not adapted to this game…

As for the combat, the first NG has a very peculiar pace I think. It's kind of slow, but in a good way, you constantly know what you are doing. When I first played Sigma 2 and NGII, which have a much faster pace, I felt that it had lost something…

Eh, personally I've got a feeling that I can actually like 3 better than 2! The very first boss is piss easy but I enjoy it for some reason. More than the Buddha statue or Rasetsu.

edited 12th May '12 5:05:19 PM by Lyendith

Burn in the hellgate of mount fuji!

Seriously though, 3 is an incredible disappointment. It's not a terrible game, but it is a somewhat mediocre one. Consider Ninja Gaiden 2 is quite possibly my favorite game of all time ranking up there with Doom and Dungeon Fighter Online that... Hurts.

Sounds like an opinion, to me.

Yeah that's...kinda what most posts on a forum are. You're free to like NG 3 of course, but just keep in mind that people have legitimate gripes with it.

The trick is precisely, not expecting too much of it, so that you can't be disapointed. Expect the worst to appreciate the best. Sort of.

Err… yeah, I suupose.

edited 14th May '12 9:28:15 AM by Lyendith

Isn't that life in general, though?

Tried to do hard mode.

The true colors of this game have finally shown themselves.

The higher diffculties are the worst parts of the game by far. Period.

And no, not in a way that makes it feel challenging like harder difficulties from Devil May Cry or God Hand, more like they are the epitome of Unfun diffculty.

I can understand why Yosuke Hayashi did what he did by making the diffculty level lower in the third game to attract more newcomers (Which I am one).

edited 14th May '12 12:02:11 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Gotta disagree with you completely there. Though I've only played the first two level's of hard mode, the difficulty felt very fair from what I've played of it. You just have to get used to not having your weapons, health, and movelist and start from the basic's again. By stripping you of all the stuff you gained in the previous playthrough, the game encourages you to rely on your combat experience and overcome the strengthened enemies with your wits. You'll be 20 level's weaker, but you'll also be 20 level's wiser, just keep your wits about you, be weary of which treasure chests to open, and try not to get too cocky in combat, and you'll be able to overcome Hard mode.

Curious, I consider Black/Sigma's hard mode a great example of how to make a Hard mode without relying on Numerical Hard (which Ninja Gaiden Vanilla originally did, surprisingly) and without being too cheap. But for sure having all bosses turn into Flunky Bosses is a bit shocking the first time. You get used to it though. I tried Hard mode again long after I beat it the first time, and I surprised myself beating it without breaking a sweat.

Now keep doing your best: after hard mode, you still have two difficulties to beat. But those are admittedly for really masochistic players.

edited 14th May '12 5:40:03 PM by Lyendith

TBH, I think Demongod just isn't tough enough for NG. Not to sound like an elitist dick, but it seems like a lot of your complaints are the result of your own lack of skill rather than the game being cheap or unfun.

...No, not really.

I can get through fricken God Hand just fine.

It's the damn camera angles and the really horrible to use dodge system (who in there right minds makes blocking and dodging the same button?) that just doesn't work well with me.

And those Damn Black Spider clan ninja and their fucking explosive kunai.

This isn't God Hand, it's Ninja Gaiden. Two very different games.

You need to play smart in Ninja Gaiden, not just well. You also have to really be aware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing, recognize every attack cue they give and make sure you can react to with precision. It's quite technical in that regard(well Black at least, the original's flying swallow was pretty OP). Thing about ninja gaiden is that it always forces you to stay on your toes, you can't afford to get the slightest.

The problem might be is that you keep trying to play it like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta or Godhand when NG is truly its own beast with its own rhythm you need to dance to. Once you truly get the game's flow down and stop blaming everything on the camera, you'll see why fans hold it in such high regard.

Also, dodging/blocking being attached to the same button is more standard in action games then there being two different ones, at least back when NG was made. Seems weird that'd bug you :/

edited 15th May '12 11:23:47 AM by VertigoHigh

I know.

What I'm saying is that a bad camera means that I really can't see anything that happens, no matter how much I try to pay attention, the bad camera just get's in the way of that.

Like I'm saying, It just isn't acceptable to me. But that's my opinion.

It's no where near my favorite action game, but it's still good, just not as good as most other action games I've played.

Trying to rely on Fake Difficulty via a bad camera isn't excusable, either.

Considering what I've seen of Ninja Gaiden II and Sigma 2, I might like it better, probably because it seems more flashier, and has a bigger health bar at the start.

edited 15th May '12 11:27:12 AM by Demongodofchaos2

I prefer NG Black over NG 2, haven't played any of the Sigmas. NG 2's camera seemed worse IMO, especially during the bosses.

Personally, I prefer having manual control of the camera rather than relying on it from the CPU or having it fixed(which I hate).

TBH I think you'll hate NG 2, since it's more frustrating than its predecessor. Play Sigma 2 if you want to try it, since I heard that one eased on the more broken stuff.