Ninja Gaiden Series

[gunswordfist]

Everyone... watch this video from 1:15-3:10 and tell me this isn't the worst hack 'n slash game of the past three years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mSMM_dTRyY&feature=related

NOOOOO!! NOT A QTE! NOOOOO! That also reminds me how much I hate flying enemies in NG2...but this is far far worse.

That was actually the very first time I've seen any footage of that game...I want to keep it like that.

[gunswordfist]

Just beat Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The Final Boss was somewhat anticlimactic, but still fun. I have to say that I had to chuckle at the reveal of Murai being the main Villain. I had already known that before hand, but the way it was done and with no buildup whatsoever made it come across as a parody. And did Ryu turn into a rainbow at the end when he left Rachel?

Gonna try and beat Hard Mode now, mainly to unlock the Dark Dragon Blade (which I'm dissapointed you never properly used) and the Dark Dragon Costume.

Yeah, the only buildup is when Murai was talking about power for like a second at the beginning.

[Rynnec]

This first battle with the red-robed guy actually looks really fun. Very reminiscent of the boss fights in the Yakuza series.

Literally the only thing that's appealed to me so far.

That battle is pretty much one of the only highlights of this game, but the sad thing is that EVEN THAT has been done better in previous NG games. I mean, compare that battle to THIS one from NGB, and tell me which one seems more intense and requires more skill.

Awesome. Bonus points for the Doppelgangers not having any cheap-ass grab moves.

ARK just hit Steel On Bone five times in a row. My god Hayashi... what have you done to this series...

Sigma has a quite a few grab moves that do too much damage as well, not sure if the damage output for those moves are Sigma exclusive or not, but if they are than Hayashi definitely has a hard on for them or something.

I really don't like how 3 makes you so reliant on Ninpo to clear out waves of enemies. In the 1/Black/Sigma you could go through the game without using any Ninpo at all (and I'm sure the same applies to 2) and was actually quite useless from my experience. Here it's too overpowered and easy to fill up. To make things worse, not only do you only have that one Flaming Dragon attack (which, while pretty kickass at first, gets old fast) as your sole Ninpo, it also seems to be the only way to restore health. If Hayashi was going for health regenerating system, then he should have made it so that you get health restored as you do more damage to enemies, thus rewarding the player for playing well.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sigma has a quite a few grab moves that do too much damage as well, not sure if the damage output for those moves are Sigma exclusive or not, but if they are than Hayashi definitely has a hard on for them or something.

I actually don't mind the high damage of grab moves in the first game in general, because IMO there are clear warning animations for most of them that gives you plenty of time to react to them and evade them in time. It makes for some exciting reflex-based combat. Now, in Sigma 2 Hayashi really screws up on Master Ninja mode by making grab moves that OHK you, many of them occuring WITHOUT sufficient warning animation or even sound cues. Now that's just cheap BS.

I really don't like how 3 makes you so reliant on Ninpo to clear out waves of enemies. In the 1/Black/Sigma you could go through the game without using any Ninpo at all (and I'm sure the same applies to 2) and was actually quite useless from my experience.

On the harder difficulties Ninpo can come in really useful for the temporary invincibility that they give you, but other than that they don't have much strategic purpose in the 1st game, which I'm fine with since I always preferred NG games for their superb combat rather than having to rely on little gimmicks like Ninpo. The 2nd game did actually have a bit more strategic use for Ninpo on the harder difficulty settings, but once again didn't do too much with the concept, but its still a vital resource since it comes in very handy during some of the tougher fights of the game (specifically the BS boss fight in Chapter 9 which is ridiculously cheap without it, IMO).

Here it's too overpowered and easy to fill up. To make things worse, not only do you only have that one Flaming Dragon attack (which, while pretty kickass at first, gets old fast) as your sole Ninpo, it also seems to be the only way to restore health. If Hayashi was going for health regenerating system, then he should have made it so that you get health restored as you do more damage to enemies, thus rewarding the player for playing well.

Or he shouldn't have been a dumb-ass by removing essence from the game. That way blue orbs could refill your health when it was getting low provided that you could still kill enemies. I like how in NGB the game actually increases the rate of blue essence that you find specifically when you're health is low. It creates a very balanced feel to the difficulty and overall gameplay, and its a perfect option for people to use when they want to do handicap runs (which consists of playing the game on MNM without upgrading your original sized health bar and not using any ninpo throughout the entire game). Using Ninpo to restore you're health mid-battle is probably the stupidest "strategic" use he could have come up with for it. All it does is make battles more repetitive, as you'll basically just work towards building up your ninpo meter and unleashing it every time you're health gets low, also clearing the room of a number of enemies in the process.

[Rynnec]

Removing the essence also removes the charge attacks and all the strategic uses essence provided for it (e.g: killing the weakest enemy in a group and using its left over essence to charge up your move faster and unleashing it on a stronger enemy). 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah. I mean, at first I didn't mind it since it stopped the exploitability of chaining UT attacks, so I thought the game would be more focused on free-forming when I initially realized that change. But the fact that Hayashi decided to make each battle an arena-style battle with countless enemies coming at you in each level, it made me wish that you could UT chain in NG3 just so that fights in the game would end MUCH quicker than what they take to complete. I don't mind nerfing the UTs since relying on them can make them overpowered at times, but if that's the case he should have improved the fundamentals of the regular combat. The fact that he actually regressed an already stellar combat system is proof of not only his inability as a game designer, but that he's just a flat-out bad game designer in general, at least when it comes to making a full-fledged action game from the ground up.

Really, I just hope that the current Team Ninja doesn't even touch Ninja Gaiden after the catastrophe that is NG3. They don't deserve to work on and screw up such a renowned and well-respected series, IMO. If Tecmo wants to make an NG4, or a new NG game in general, they'd better outsource it to a capable developer of action games rather than letting the hacks currently running Team Ninja take another stab at it. Of course, the most ideal thing for me as a fan of Itagaki's NG games would be for the NG IP to be outsourced to Valhalla Game Studios, but Itagaki has made it clear that he doesn't really have interest in making any more NG games and I'm pretty sure that he doesn't ever want anything to do with Tecmo anymore, either (which I can't blame him for, of course).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Since I'm a Ninja Gaiden fan, I'll still eventually end up playing NG3 just to say that I did, but I won't be buying it until around the end of Summer when it should drop to about $20 in price.

On the other hand, once my Summer starts up in May, it'll be a perfect opportunity for me to grab the DMC HD Collection to get my hack n' slash fix, though mainly with DMC3 which from what I've played of it is by far my most preferred game of the series. I felt that DMC4 toned things down way too much and that Nero was a less interesting character than Dante in terms of gameplay mechanics. The Devil Bringer arm was kind of cool at first but its novelty wore off fast, and while it is a useful mechanic in chaining together combos, it feels like a poor substitute for just giving Nero multiple weapons to switch between (like with Dante), instead. Its still a good game in its own right, IMO, but I stopped playing it half-way through DMD mode because I just wasn't feeling the same level of satisfaction with the game's combat as I was with the few hours I got to play of DMC3. As for the first game, admittedly I've only played through the first 4 missions of that game, and its definitely a great game, but I see it more as a great action/adventure game in general as opposed to a great hack n' slash game, since its combat system feels deeper than the average action game, but downright primitive in comparison to how far DMC3 took the combat system for the series.

Also, as far as hack n' slash games go I still have yet to actually pick up Bayonetta, so I'll be sure to do that as well before I work my way around to getting NG3 and trudging through its boring and repetitive campaign. Seeing as how Ninja Gaiden was my favorite action game series of all time, I just feel downright devastated by how far the series has fallen with just this 1 game. Here I was hoping for a new NG game that could compete with the likes of the highly praised Bayonetta, but instead what I got was an NG game that couldn't even compete with any average action game let alone a high-profile one made by actual talented developers who know how to make good action games.

[gunswordfist]

Nero has better combos than DMC3 and 4 Dante.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Nero has better combos than DMC3 and 4 Dante.

Go watch any of the plethora of combo videos by DMC pros for Dante in DMC3 and then compare them to combo videos for Nero in DMC4. You are flat-out wrong, and I haven't even beat a single DMC game ASIDE from 4. Having played 4 up to DMD mode and having a relatively decent grasp on the main extents of Nero's combat system, I can say that even DMC4 Dante also has far more depth to him than Nero. Nero has 1 sword, 1 gun, and a Devil Bringer to chain combos with, and has some additional abilities in Devil Trigger Mode. Dante has 3 melee weapons that can be switched on the fly (even in mid-combos), 3 ranged weapons that can be switched on the fly (once again, even mid-combat), and one of his ranged weapons can be switched into different forms within itself (Pandora's Box). In addition to that Dante has 4 different styles (5 if you count the one that allows you to use Vergil's sword), and can also switch between those on the fly and in the middle of combat. The combo possibilities with Dante are nearly endless. In comparison Nero's combo-system feels downright shallow, though to be fair it still has more depth to it than any average hack n' slash game, but the bottom line is that you are flat-out wrong.

[Foggle]

DmC Dante has better combos than DMC 1-4 Dante and Nero.

[Rynnec]

DmC? I can't recall any game with that title. You must be making things up.

[Spark Of Spirit]

dmc isn't about combos. In fact, you could say it's above simple things like gameplay. It's a tour-du-force. The future.

[Rynnec]

It's about the Underground man. It's about youth rebellion! Sticking it to the man! It's the voice of this generations youth.

[gunswordfist]

Pandora's box sucks. Dante's only good for two swords (one is a style) and whatever Ifrit's called in DMC4. All take Nero's sword attacks and much better air combos (remember, DMC is great for juggling) over that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Pandora's box sucks.

Pandora's Box has some of the best uses out of any ranged weapon in DMC4. Its hilarious how I know more about this game than you do considering its your favorite hack n' slash of this gen.

Dante's only good for two swords (one is a style) and whatever Ifrit's called in DMC4. All take Nero's sword attacks and much better air combos (remember, DMC is great for juggling) over that.

Nero's Juggling is pathetic compared to Dante's, and Dante is FAR better for air-comboing than Nero. In fact, you can actually juggle stay in the air for as long as you're attacking an enemy with Dante without ever touching the ground, which isn't even possible with Nero. That even includes bosses. Won't proof. Here. There, I just factually proved your "opinion" wrong.

But, hey, if you prefer having only one boring melee weapon and ranged weapon set and don't actually like having any other weapons to enhance combat depth, then you should play this game called Ninja Gaiden 3, as it seems right up your alley. I mean, after all its easy and we all know how much of a pussy you are when it comes to having a real challenge. So don't worry, games like that will hold your hand all the way through, just like how Nero does in DMC4.