Ninja Gaiden Series

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Part 2 is up: http://youtu.be/71MPjc_62zQ

This may be the most hilarious playthrough series that I've seen for any game on YouTube.

God, this game looks bad... but in an extremely amusing way. Might be worth a playthrough if copies ever become super cheap. Video is very funny; also, I love TS17's voice.

Yeah, his accent has always had a strange appeal to me. In general I just love his commentary which balances out good explanations of strategies on how to get better at tough games with great insight into what works and doesn't work about the types of games that he covers, and with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. It also helps that TS17's opinions on gaming tend to line up a lot with my own.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So while opinions vary somewhat, all of the early reported reviews for Nioh so far have been positive. Whether people prefer the Souls games or not, the unanimous points of praise for this game seems to be for its "extremely challenging but fair" gameplay and it's "deep and intricate" combat system. While I don't put much stock in game journalism anymore, the fact that various YouTube game reviewers whos' opinions I actually have some faith in (including people like The Gaming Brit who has a taste in gaming that's very similar to my own) have spoken rather highly of all of the demos so far gives me a lot of hope and anticipation for this game next week.

Am I dreaming, or has Team Ninja finally made a return to form after nearly a decade of churning out disappointing garbage?

[VLordGTZ]

I played the "Last Chance Demo" for Nioh a few weeks ago and loved it.  I'm not a huge Souls guy, but something about the game really clicked with me.  Between my Nintendo Switch pre-order and various other purchases, I'm probably going to hold off on buying more games for a few months, but Nioh is definitely something I want to pick up at some point.

[Foggle]

I only played the Alpha demo, and while it was really rough, it was certainly far better than anything Team Ninja's released since Ninja Gaiden 2. If they tightened that up, I can definitely see it being one of the best games this year. Unfortunately, all my gaming money is about to be blown on Nier Automata, Yooka-Laylee, and Persona 5, but I hope to get Nioh sometime around my birthday in June.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I really can't stress enough how happy this game makes me. I thought that the glory days of Team Ninja were long dead. When this game was first announced to be out of development hell and showed off some new footage, it perked my interest, but I still had rather low expectations for it. After the Alpha demo came out and people had mixed but still a fairly positive reaction to it, I was a bit more curious, but still cautious about expecting much. Then the Beta came out and people were suddenly starting to give the game a lot of positive buzz. It became apparent that Team Ninja really listened to feedback and gave the game a huge overhaul in order to perfect the mechanics as best as possible. And now that I've finally had a reasonable amount of time to play through a chunk of the game, I can honestly say that it's definitely Team Ninja at their best effort once again. The mechanics are intricate, nuanced, and most importantly fun, but more importantly, you can tell that this is a game which they truly believed in as a development team and had a lot of fun making, especially with all of the in-jokes, Easter Eggs, and fun secrets literally scattered everywhere throughout the game. In general, you can tell that a ton of thought and love was put into every single aspect of this game's design, and for that reason it's on par with the best of the best, IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The NES games are getting a definitive release of the soundtracks.

- project overseen by Keiji Yamagishi, composer of the original NES Ninja Gaiden
- went through a digital restoration process
- recordings are now more crisp and sharp
- Ninja Gaiden The Definitive Soundtrack Volume 1 features 59 tracks, including every song and sound from Ninja Gaiden
- this includes composers Keiji Yamagishi, Mikio Saito, and Ryuichi Nitta
- Ninja Gaiden The Definitive Soundtrack Volume 2 features 59 tracks, covering Ninja Gaiden II and III
- this composers Ryuichi Nitta, Mayuko Okamura, Rika Shigeno, and Kaori Nakabai
- soundtracks are available through streaming, digital download, CD and vinyl
- vinyl will release on or before July 1, 2017
- this version will feature an essay on the game, and an exclusive roundtable interview with developers and composers

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

My bank account is already running thin as it is. You can't tempt me like this, damnit!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

OK, so I know that this isn't technically a Ninja Gaiden game, but The Messenger looks like the closest thing that we'll ever get to a new NES style Ninja Gaiden sequel. It's clearly one big homage to classic NG and other classic action side-scrollers. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this one.

[Spark Of Spirit]

So is this series dead now? Did 3 really kill it?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Not sure whether you're referring to the classic series or the new ones since the prospect of the third game killing the franchise is common to both iterations of it.

In all seriousness, though, we're never going to get an official classic-style NG game ever again. KoeiTecmo is just way too boring and predictable of a studio to do something cool like that, even if it would be relatively cheap and quick to make, so long as the developers actually understood how to design good mechanics and levels for a 2D side-scroller. That's why the prospect of this new game which is a clear homage to classic Ninja Gaiden (the creator even stated in an interview that Ninja Gaiden 2 on the NES was his primary influence when it came to designing this game) really excites me. It's the closest thing that we'll ever get to a sequel to that style of games for the series.

As for the 3D action/hack n' slash series, despite NG3 and Yaiba being both critical and financial bombs (and deservedly so), it's doubtful that the series is dead. Team Ninja have stated that they will eventually make an NG4, just that they were taking a break from the series to work on other projects. More than likely we'll be getting Dead or Alive 6 before we get a new Ninja Gaiden game. That said, Nioh is proof that they still have their character action game sensibilities about them, and the huge Ninja Gaiden references and tie-ins with the final DLC shows that the developer is still very interested in sticking with the Ninja Gaiden brand. Just to give off a minor spoiler, one of the side-missions has you fighting one of Ryu Hayabusa's ancestors who's wearing the classic NES Ninja Gaiden armor and wielding the Dragon Sword. Upon defeating him the main theme song to the original NES Ninja Gaiden briefly plays in the background to accompany the victory logo.

So, yeah, we'll probably be getting an NG4 in the 3D series, but not for at least another couple of years.

[Mustang]

They're definitely working on something since they finally decided to move on from DoA5. I guess my question would be what kind of style would a Ninja Gaiden 4 be like? With the success of Nioh, and the "love" for stamina bars would that be wanted? Would it even fit in a Ninja Gaiden game?

Personally, the only thing I'd want implemented from Nioh is the ability to customize Ryu. That's it. Maybe item/weapon boxes as well, but in terms of combat / gameplay I feel Ninja Gaiden 2's combat was spot on and I'd rather go back to that. Till this day I still don't think there's been a game made that can actually match NG2's combat (outside of NGB)

And, while I have nothing against demon slaying, I do want to play a Ninja Gaiden where your foes are humans. Overly powerful or something. I sort of role my eyes when it comes to giant demons as boss encounters. Nioh does a great job making figures like Masamune Date feel like an actual threat and I'd like to see more attempts like that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It's still a toss up weather their next game will be a new DOA or NG. I'd prefer NG myself, but DOA makes them good money whereas the last to NG games severely underperformed. Can't imagine why....

That said, we will still get a new NG game eventually. I doubt that it'll have a stamina bar. Team Ninja understand well enough what the difference is between an action game and a Souls game. That said, in addition to the customizable armor pieces, I would personally love to see the stance system make a transition into Ninja Gaiden's brand of combat while also still keeping UTs and OTs.

I'm in complete agreement with you about NG2 though. To this day, I have yet to play an action game of any kind with a better designed combat system. If you could somehow combine that visceral satisfaction with the ingenuity of a stance system, I feel as though it would put the rest of the genre to shame.

I also agree about more human opponents. Even in Nioh, I personally loved that there were more human bosses than Yokai, simply because it's a lot of fun to fight enemies who play by the same rule set as you. In that regard, you can guard-break, parry, launch, and knock-down human enemies and bosses, which is ridiculously fun.

[Mustang]

That said, we will still get a new NG game eventually. I doubt that it'll have a stamina bar. Team Ninja understand well enough what the difference is between an action game and a Souls game. That said, in addition to the customizable armor pieces, I would personally love to see the stance system make a transition into Ninja Gaiden's brand of combat while also still keeping UTs and OTs.

I'm in complete agreement with you about NG2 though. To this day, I have yet to play an action game of any kind with a better designed combat system. If you could somehow combine that visceral satisfaction with the ingenuity of a stance system, I feel as though it would put the rest of the genre to shame.

I also agree about more human opponents. Even in Nioh, I personally loved that there were more human bosses than Yokai, simply because it's a lot of fun to fight enemies who play by the same rule set as you. In that regard, you can guard-break, parry, launch, and knock-down human enemies and bosses, which is ridiculously fun.

Sold!!!! I didn't even think about changing stances, but it sounds too good to pass up. Each stance has its very own UT/OT.

Edit:

Ninja Gaiden 2's combat is already intuitive as it is, and not to mention, we have to imagine that a new Ninja Gaiden would have weapon changing similar to that of Nioh or perhaps Dante/Vergil in DMC4. I'd say that'd be reaching fighting game levels of depth in combat, and I'm all for it. Perhaps it's time to go open world as well? But I wouldn't know how would that turn out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

"If cocaine was playable, this is it."

                                     -The Gaming Brit Show, 2018

That may just be the most perfect summary of Ninja Gaiden II on the XBOX360 that I've ever heard.

[Foggle]

Great video! Ninja Gaiden 2 really is a game made by insane people, and that's why I love it so much. There have certainly been crazier games released since the original 360 version of NG2, but none that were so nonchalant about it. The bullshit parts don't even feel like trolling, just Itagaki screaming for the player to fuck off. Goddamn does it need a proper remaster for modern consoles, or at the very least backwards compatibility on the Xbone.