[360, PS3] Ninja Gaiden 2

[DrJay24]

How's the difficulty? Is it Mega-Man-1-One-Eye-Boss difficult, or something a bit more reasonable?

NGS was really hard IMO. These games are made for hardcore crowds. After buying and giving up on NGS my hype for NG2 all but died. I just don't have it in me to master a technical game with little payoff in terms of story or character development. I guess I'm getting old

 

[AlNom]

NGS was really hard IMO. These games are made for hardcore crowds. After buying and giving up on NGS my hype for NG2 all but died. I just don't have it in me to master a technical game with little payoff in terms of story or character development. I guess I'm getting old

Surely Ninja Dog was not difficult for you? I have to say though, if you try to play it like a button masher, you won't get too far.

 

[ShadowRunner]

I have the full game and i have given up on it already. After the first chapter i was already starting to find it a bit repetative and with a bad story(obvious from the first scene) driving it forward its not a good combination.
The real killer for me was not the dificulty itself but the learning curve. You can be killing everyone in sight easily one minute and then all of a sudden be thrown into an incredibly dificult boss fight the next thats almost impossible becuase up untill that point you havnt needed to be soo incredibly good at the game!! This just leads to frustration and a general feeling of unfairness. It wouldnt be so bad if the difficulty was ramped up gradualy, or even if it just stayed very difficult at all times, but id doesnt. I think the gametrailers review prety much summed up my experience with the game, altough i would probably have been a lot more harsh on it.
This is only my personal experience with the game though im sure for those who have time and patience to get realy good at the game and those that can handle a lot of frustration, it could be brilliant! Personaly id just rather not play a game that makes me want to throw my console out of the window! :smile:

 

[obonicus]

Surely Ninja Dog was not difficult for you? I have to say though, if you try to play it like a button masher, you won't get too far.

I just hope it's a little less repetitive, choice-wise, than the very first NG was. I seem to remember relying on counters and 'flying swallow' a whole lot. And doing an izuna drop every single time I got a combo in.

*snip for brevity*

That's how the original, was, though. I remember having a hell of a time with the first two bosses, then finding almost everything up to the helicopter a cakewalk.

Mod Note: Merged consecutive posts. -AlS

 

[ShadowRunner]

Sorry, i cant edit my posts for some reason.

I should add that i was plaing on the easiest setting.
I also have never been that great at ninja gaiden previously on the xbox, although i find this one alot more frustrating than that due to the inconsistancy of the dificulty.

That's how the original, was, though. I remember having a hell of a time with the first two bosses, then finding almost everything up to the helicopter a cakewalk.

Because it was like that in the original to some extent is not a valid excuse for bad design though. A sequel should resolve issues in previous games, not amplify them. Also games have moved along a lot since the first game, things that were exeptable then are less exceptable now. The game feels stuck in the past in many respects (not necessarily a bad thing for some).

I can see people loving this game and im sure many will just like the first, but thes people will be the ones that put up with the issues mentioned. I dont think anyone, even the greatest fan, can argue that these issues are a good thing.


Mod Note: you'll get editing privileges in the long run. -AlS

 

[obonicus]

Because it was like that in the original to some extent is not a valid excuse for bad design though. A sequel should resolve issues in previous games, not amplify them. Also games have moved along a lot since the first game, things that were exeptable then are less exceptable now. The game feels stuck in the past in many respects (not necessarily a bad thing for some).

I can see people loving this game and im sure many will just like the first, but thes people will be the ones that put up with the issues mentioned. I dont think anyone, even the greatest fan, can argue that these issues are a good thing.

I agree, I just think it may be part of Itagaki's school of design. And actually, you'd be surprised: I've seen people argue that NG's (and, apparently NG2's) BROKEN camera is actually a feature. I've also seen people argue that NG's unfairness and broken learning curve is also a feature, rather than a flaw.

I liked the original NG a lot, but I think that as an action series DMC is superior, when compared at their highest level.

 

[V3]

I have the full game and i have given up on it already. After the first chapter i was already starting to find it a bit repetative and with a bad story(obvious from the first scene) driving it forward its not a good combination.
The real killer for me was not the dificulty itself but the learning curve. You can be killing everyone in sight easily one minute and then all of a sudden be thrown into an incredibly dificult boss fight the next thats almost impossible becuase up untill that point you havnt needed to be soo incredibly good at the game!! This just leads to frustration and a general feeling of unfairness. It wouldnt be so bad if the difficulty was ramped up gradualy, or even if it just stayed very difficult at all times, but id doesnt. I think the gametrailers review prety much summed up my experience with the game, altough i would probably have been a lot more harsh on it.
This is only my personal experience with the game though im sure for those who have time and patience to get realy good at the game and those that can handle a lot of frustration, it could be brilliant! Personaly id just rather not play a game that makes me want to throw my console out of the window! :smile:

I never thought the original, black or sigma were hard. The game enemies and bosses were like any other brawl or fighting games AI, they are tough but have vulnurable point by design. And Ryu was more than equip to deal with them.

Be mobile(run, jump, wallrun, etc), pick your enemies one at a time, know your attack and able to pull it off at will, look for vulnurable point in enemy and exploit it. Fast relfex help but I think people will go along way without it. This pretty much go for any brawlers or fighters really.

 

[ShadowRunner]

I agree, I just think it may be part of Itagaki's school of design. And actually, you'd be surprised: I've seen people argue that NG's (and, apparently NG2's) BROKEN camera is actually a feature. I've also seen people argue that NG's unfairness and broken learning curve is also a feature, rather than a flaw.

I liked the original NG a lot, but I think that as an action series DMC is superior, when compared at their highest level.

Well being able to argue something and being right are two different things then!!

Despite how i may have made it sound i am a big fan of NG too and was realy looking forward to NG2, i just think im not as willing to accept the issues as willingly this time around it feels like a lazy effort to me.

Thinking about Itagaki's personality i can see him being in total denial with any of the issues, and so i guess NG2 was always destined to be the way it is. I shouldnt have expected anything else!

I never thought the original, black or sigma were hard. The game enemies and bosses were like any other brawl or fighting games AI, they are tough but have vulnurable point by design. And Ryu was more than equip to deal with them.

Be mobile(run, jump, wallrun, etc), pick your enemies one at a time, know your attack and able to pull it off at will, look for vulnurable point in enemy and exploit it. Fast relfex help but I think people will go along way without it. This pretty much go for any brawlers or fighters really.

As i said its not the difficulty thats the problem, its the incosistancy that really grinds my gears. And im just not willing to put up with it this time round.

Im sure you, like many, will love the game. The reason i left the impressions i did was not because i needed tips on how to play the game or any others like it (i love DMC) but because a lot of people are going to feel like they have wasted 40 quid on a game they will never get the most out of. Much the same as any review of a game really, others impressions can help to make a better judgement on wether to purchase a game or not.

Mod Note: Merged consecutive posts. -AlS

 

[zarbaj]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11406016&postcount=1349

http://i30.tinypic.com/vwub9v.jpg

interesting.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What's interesting? If you have a point, please express it rather than leaving readers guessing! The whole idea of a discussion board is you discuss your ideas

 

[deepbrown]

What's interesting? If you have a point, please express it rather than leaving readers guessing! The whole idea of a discussion board is you discuss your ideas

Interesting...

 

[zarbaj]

What's interesting? If you have a point, please express it rather than leaving readers guessing! The whole idea of a discussion board is you discuss your ideas

hahaha sorry.

if i am not mistaken, Team Ninja used Sega's Magical V Engine for cutscenes animations.

in the past, they relied heavily on FMVs but now with NG2, it's all real time. could explain why they went with this engine, just a guess.

 

[deepbrown]

hahaha sorry.

if i am not mistaken, Team Ninja used Sega's Magical V Engine for cutscenes animations.

in the past, they relied heavily on FMVs but now with NG2, it's all real time. could explain why they went with this engine, just a guess.

DVD space calls for realtime cutscenes...surely. Not that I'm complaining...is a great use of the consoles!

 

[zarbaj]

you are right but the strange thing is...

ahem, the game was leaked in the torrent sites and it's only using about 4gigs, surely they could have used one or two fmvs?

but then again, it could be compressed, don't know about this stuff much.

 

[hey69]

its less then 4gb. But thats compression for you. unrar it and it will be 7.36GB like every other 1 to 1 xbox360 ISO.

 

[zarbaj]

its less then 4gb. But thats compression for you. unrar it and it will be 7.36GB like every other 1 to 1 xbox360 ISO.

does that mean that there is a lot of empty/unused space?

 

[AlNom]

does that mean that there is a lot of empty/unused space?

Not necessarily. It would not be unusual to pad the remaining space on the DVD with redundant data to reduce random seek times. The other thing to consider is whether or not they're using single layer or dual layer. Single-layer mode goes up 12x speed while dual-layer mode goes up to 8x for the 360. Also keep in mind that for dual layer 360 discs, only 6.8GiB is available for developers to utilize* (unknown if that will change). Approximately 1GiB is used for security and start-up videos I presume.**



*Gamefest 2007
** 8,500,000,000 = ~7.91 giga-binary bytes (1GiB = 1024*1024*1024 bytes)

 

[zarbaj]

lovely.

thanks AlStrong.

 

[PARANOiA]

Mods - can I link to an image file containing a copy of the demo? It's playable on non-modded consoles.

Cheers

 

[Malibu]

Ninja Gaiden II Demo update

Great news for Ninja Gaiden fans. I have just left a meeting where I was told that the Ninja Gaiden II demo released last week in Japan will be released tomorrow at 0200 PT for the remaining Xbox LIVE regions (except India and Germany.) As usual, I’ll post a reminder when it is available, but since so many folks have nicely asked for an update…here ya go.

Couple more reviews:

TeamXbox - 9

The issue that has been pretty much completely eradicated in the boxed copy of Ninja Gaiden II has to do with the access times from the DVD drive. Let’s just say that your boxed copy of Ninja Gaiden II will greet you with more than acceptable load times, and will be as smooth as silk when transitioning between the action, cut scenes and general gameplay interludes. We might as well mention at this point that, due to the additional items to render (read: severed appendages and the resultant red stuff) and high enemy counts, Ninja Gaiden II will drop its framerate every now and then. While this is reserved for the later, high-frenzy events, it’s still worth mentioning as we discuss the technical bits of Team Ninja’s latest slice-and-dice.

GameSpy - 4 1/2 out of 5

Pros: Unrivalled action gameplay; exciting new weapons; online leaderboards; gorgeous backdrops, slick animation; impressively intelligent enemy AI.

Cons: Unforgiving difficulty for novice players; occasional frame-rate dips; infrequent mid-combat loading; troublesome camera at times.