Ninja Gaiden Series

[Foggle]

Beautiful.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Damnit, Foggle! Stop reminding me about the worst thing to happen to all of gaming! (IMO, of course)

[Foggle]

Platinum's Atsushi Inaba had this to say:

There are comparisons being made between Metal Gear Rising and Ninja Gaiden. I really don't want this to be compared with that shitty game Ninja Gaiden 3.

https://twitter.com/PG_inaba/status/208878552341430272

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, if I was making an action game, I wouldn't want it compared to the worst action game in recent memory, either.

Seriously, I hope Hayashi is really being exposed to all of this verbal criticism that his game is getting. He really deserves the back-lash. So does all of Tecmo. What ignorant people to pretty much ignore everything that fans wanted and make a sequel that NOBODY wanted. This game almost makes me feel ashamed to be an NG fan. Now, until some other NG game miraculously comes out to clear this shit-stain's name by actually being good, I have a feeling that I'll get a lot of funny looks from people when I claim to be an NG fan, because in their mind this piece of garbage is the first thing that'll come to their mind. None of you have any idea how hard it is to be an NG fan in this day and age, when even the series itself finally gave its fans the middle finger (or at least Tecmo did).

[Rynnec]

I don't know if anyone cares at this point, but in the Wii U third party montage there's footage of Ryu using a Wind Ninpo that doesn't look too overpowered, insteado of the fire dragon one. However, Steel-on-bone still seems to be present. If this were a better game, I'd be dissapointed that the Wind Ninpo didn't manifest itself as some kind of animal too (i.e, something like a Wind Bird).

What do you guys think? Last ditch effort for TN to save the dignity of NG3?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The only way to possibly salvage NG3 would be to just redo the entire game from scratch. At this point, even if they brought back all of the weapons from the previous games, which would be more than 3 times the weapon offering that this game has (and that's INCLUDING the DLC), it still wouldn't make this a better game, because its core mechanics are totally screwed up, its enemies are pathetically brain-dead, and its level design is some of the most bland and uninspired that I've seen in any action game this generation. I'll tell you this much for sure, after that travesty, its going to take A LOT to win back the NG crowd, and even then that wouldn't be enough to make up for the clear losses that Tecmo made on this game (selling much less than a million copies is a huge step down from the previous games).

That's what pisses me off the most. I could handle a bad Ninja Gaiden game, but I can't deal with the likelihood that it'll also be the last Ninja Gaiden game. Its just so sad to end such a great series on such a sour note.

Oh, BTW, that wind ninpo is ripped straight from NG2, so its also nothing new. Hayashi can't even come up with his own stuff anymore.

[Rynnec]

What makes NG3 all the more infuriating, is that the multiplayer mode looks like it plays exactly like the previous games. So there's virtually no reason Tecmo couldn't have made the single-player campaign have the same mechanics.

Needless to say, it looks like Nintendo is going to try to make the best out of a bad game. Ideally, this can lead to Nintendo making NG4 themselves, but that's probably just me being too optimistic.

[Foggle]

If they remove Steel On Bone, add in more weapons, tone down the QTEs, get rid of the cowardly enemies, throw out the "I'M JUST TRYING TO FEED MY KIDS" sequence, improve the AI to add actual challenge, and redo nearly every single boss fight, then it might be worth playing. Might.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If they remove Steel On Bone, add in more weapons, tone down the QTEs, get rid of the cowardly enemies, throw out the "I'M JUST TRYING TO FEED MY KIDS" sequence, improve the AI to add actual challenge, and redo nearly every single boss fight, then it might be worth playing. Might.

So, in other words, they'd need to make an entirely new (and better) game from scratch in order to make this game any good. Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

I honestly wouldn't mind Ninja Gaiden going back to its old home on Nintendo, though. Sure, the series was never a Nintendo exclusive, but Nintendo is where it gained its recognition and became popular back in the day. Actually, what would be fitting would be for Nintendo to publish a rebooted classic-style NG series in the vein of the NES games (they could call it New Ninja Gaiden, like how they have the NSMB series and such). The modern Ninja Gaiden series could continue as a multiplatform release across all HD consoles, whereas Nintendo could have exclusivity to the classic style NG series. I'd totally be up for that, myself, as long as Nintendo got anyone other than Team Ninja to make the classic style games, and Tecmo outsourced the next modern NG game to Valhalla Game Studios so that Itagaki and co. could work on it. That is of course impossible given the luck of my favorite series in the video game industry, but a guy can dream.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

MOTHER FUCKERS!

Features:

Unique Wii U controls ? During single-player mode, players can enjoy faster and more fluid action by using the touch screen of the Wii U GamePad controller to select weapons, execute Ninpo, see in-game information and much more.

New Weapons and Ninpo Types ? Exclusive to the Wii U version, the game includes six weapon types and three Ninpo types, allowing for greater game-play variation and deeper strategy.

Character/Weapon Progression System ? Using the Karma points earned during game play, a player can upgrade his weapons and Ninpo and increase the character HP level.

Faster, More Intense Battles ? Improved enemy AI, the return of dismemberment, as well as new enemy types and battle areas have been added for greater variety in battles and increased replay value.

Multiple new weapons, multiple ninpo, CHARACTER PROGRESSION/WEAPON UPGRADES (which I assume means that shops are returning), IMPROVED ENEMY AI, new enemy types, and RETURN OF THE DISMEMBERMENT SYSTEM!

In other words, everything that already SHOULD HAVE been in the original version of the game to begin with (and hilariously, even with 6 weapons this game STILL falls short of the first 2 games in weapon variety).

So, in other words, Tecmo/Team Ninja are trolling every poor sap who bought this game on the XBOX360 and PS3. Thankfully I didn't buy it, and now I'm not going to. The game will still probably suck, but at least with those additions I might actually be able to stomach playing through it. But, yeah, yet another third party game that will be better on the WiiU, even though its still a piece of shit either way you look at it. Still, that information enrages me more than anything. Why not make a proper NG4 and let each system have those additions, Why should Team Ninja troll long-time fans who have supported their games on the XBOX360 and even the PS3 (with the Sigma games), by not even giving them a complete fucking game. I seriously want to punch Yosuke Hayashi in the face right now.

[Foggle]

Wow. Now all they have to do is remove Steel On Bone and tighten up the boss fights and it might actually be worth playing. Though they should also consider cutting out the cowardly enemies and I'M JUST TRYIN TO FEED MY KIDS shit.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

They should remove all of the cut-scenes, while their at it. In past NG games the stories sucked, but at least you could ignore them and they weren't a primary focus of the game. In NG3, however, the forced the shitty story on you, and it was absolutely cringe-worthy. This game would actively be better without any story at all. Either that, or overhaul the whole damn thing and add in new cut-scenes and pretend its a completely different story, and that the story of the HD games never happened; in my mind they never did....and yes, as terrible as NG games are at story-telling, I have worked out my own "canon" for them in my head....when I had way too much time on my hands.

No, but seriously, everything here is the MINIMUM of what fans were expecting in the NG3 that we got. I feel sorry for long-time fans who bought this game and were left so utterly disappointed. They deserve much better treatment than that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh, and here, would you look at that. Dismemberment is back (though it looks way too over-the-top here, even by NG2's standards). Still, I'm really pissed. This should have been there to begin with.

[Rynnec]

You can actually skip the cutscenes in NG3 by pressing start, and selecting "skip movie" during the cutscene. You have to wait 10 seconds after the cutscene starts before the option becomes highlighted though.

Oh, and here, would you look at that. Dismemberment is back (though it looks way too over-the-top here, even by NG2's standards). Still, I'm really pissed. This should have been there to begin with.

The game looks like a has a semblance of fun now. It probably won't bring back the challenge of the previous games, but it should be good for blowing off steam, and being flashy.

Metal Gear Rising is still better.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, yeah, that game is being made by actual talented developers and actually has good groundwork gameplay to build off of. Ninja Gaiden 3 was made by a faux-Team Ninja that didn't really consist of the same team that made the first 2 NG games, since most of the team members resigned from Tecmo after NG2 was completed, and Itagaki took a bunch of them with him when he collaborated with Kanematsu to create VGS.

Still, maybe this team can actually gain some experience and work from the ground up to get the NG series back to its former glory, but unfortunately that's just wishful thinking on my part. We'd need Itagaki and the rest of Team Ninja back if we ever wanted a true NG sequel that could potentially put all of its competitors to shame.