What Are You Currently Playing? 5.05: You Are (Not) A Gamer

[Grave]

Well, technically it's a 1st playthrough in years, but I have played the original version as well, and I do still remember the strategy that I used on them (which still remains to be fairly simple). I will admit though that my Talisman kicked in when I didn't want it to, and that was when I entered the fiery house only to be taken out by Doku by 1 fricking throw (I had a half bar of health left too).

When I played NG back then I do remember having a lot of issues with Murai and the Horse dude(s), but ever since I've beaten it, I don't really have much of an issue with them. If anything, the freakin tanks and helicopter tend to piss me off, and then the flunkies that tend to catch me off guard is where I usually lose most of my health at.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I had a similar experience with NGB. On my first time playing the game, it took me over a dozen tries each to get past Murai and Maskado (the horse dude), but it's one of those things where once you know how to fight those bosses, they become total pushovers. When I started to replay the game for the first time in years, I got past both of those bosses on my first try as well.

[Foggle]

Oh right, I forgot you had played the game before. I haven't died on them since my first (or maybe second) playthrough either.

[Nel_Annette]

I started Xenoblade Chronicles on a whim tonight. It's... it's... so much more interesting than The Last Story! The plot is actually moving right off the bat, the town looks beautiful, the music's great, the battle system (though still wonky) is much more fun to use. The only reason I make the comparison is because it still really reminded me of TLS right off the bat, having similar art style and the British voice cast and all.

[Grave]

Chapters 3 and 4 are complete, and both had me nearly pulling my hair out. No game overs, but you might as well say I should've had them with the way I was burning through my items. In chapter 3, I don't ever recall having nearly as much of a problem with that boss, but at the same time I don't exactly remember the strategy that I used to beat him. In chapter 4, folks were just getting through my defense. Not much else to say. I will say that I did a lot better against that black spider ninjas than I thought I would though. Taking another break since I'm about to start playing as Rachel x_x.

[Foggle]

I think they made the Chapter 3 boss harder in Sigma. I remember never dying to him - even on my first playthrough - in Black, but when I got the PS3 version he proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Rachel's levels aren't particularly fun, but they're also short and not too difficult. Pointless additions.

[Grave]

Chapters 5-6 are done. Rachel's not so bad, but she's no Ryu. I know if I were to play this on a higher difficulty I'd probably be 1 less controller fighting them spider ninja's as her. Chapter 6 on the other hand, these soldiers on motorcycles are more of a nuisance than actually fun to fight. Had a hard time finding that pegasus door since I couldn't see it due to the camera. Speaking of the camera, not really a big deal to me, but it is the first time I've experienced the camera zooming to close to Ryu while being trapped against the wall fighting them spider ninja's. I was really forced to rely on just blocking (if I can only do this in Street Fighter 4 lol)

[Foggle]

The motorcycle ninjas are another of Hayashi's "brilliant" additions to the game. NGS completely forgoes NGB's (incredibly short and easy) fetch quest to have you fight those guys instead.

[Grave]

Tell me about it. I don't know how this guy thought that adding guys on motorcycles would actually make the game better.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I think that Dynamo blocks a bit more on Sigma, or something like that, but if you just circle around him while chaining your jumps and your rolls, then he can never hit you unless you get snagged into a corner. Once he stops to recharge his arm cannon, then you are free to quickly attack him, and you can rinse and repeat the process from there. He's really quite a simple boss, even on Sigma.

I think that my main problem with Rachel is that as a character, she just doesn't play to the strengths of the game. People loved Ryu's combat because it was fast and smooth. Rachel's combat is slow and clunky in comparison, and even a little bit unresponsive at times. You can really tell through some of his additions that Hayashi didn't really get what made a Ninja Gaiden game great, despite being part of the development team that worked on Ninja Gaiden Black. He was also Itagaki's protege, but I guess he never actually learned any of Itagaki's philosophy on game design. This shows even further in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and unfortunately comes to a culmination in Ninja Gaiden 3, which didn't have the luxury of being based off of a game that Itagaki had already designed.

Since I'm always so harsh on Hayashi, though, I'll give him credit for adding in some new things that actually did work, namely having the Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang as an addition to Ryu's main arsenal, and NGS was also the first game to allow Ryu to shoot arrows from mid-air, which was a definite gameplay improvement that the series stuck with. For that matter, I'll give him credit for the gameplay improvement in NGS2 of having Ryu be able to have one of his alternate ranged weapons equipped while simultaneously having access to his standard shurikens, without having to switch between them. And of course, he really did make NGS look gorgeous. Even as a 2007 release, the visuals in this game got a complete overhaul, rather than just having the aspect ratio of the game scaled to HD proportions (since the original release of the game already was scaled to HD, as it was). For such an early HD port, it puts most other HD ports to shame, IMO. Its not lazily done like with the DMC HD collection, which leaves all of the menu screens and many of the cut-scenes in SD, and doesn't really help touch up the in-game graphics for better HD presentation. The only other HD port that really did the visuals justice was Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. More HD ports should do the same with their visuals, IMO.

So, yeah, Hayashi has had some nice ideas, but I still feel that most of his input was too far-gone from the sensibilities of how to make a proper NG game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Tell me about it. I don't know how this guy thought that adding guys on motorcycles would actually make the game better.

It's not so much that it was a bad idea. Rather, it's that Hayashi doesn't have the talent as a developer or programmer to make most of his ideas work. But really, though, those motorcycle guys are just clones of the horse riding enemies, if you actually watch them closely enough. Their attacks are a little different, but the basic strategy to take them down is the same. Either use arrows to knock them off of their bikes, or just stand around a corner and charge and ET or UT with your Lunar Staff and release it as soon as they get within your proximity for some easy damage on them.

[Nel_Annette]

Played about two more hours into Xenoblade, though I got stuck on the Faced Mechon fight because I wasn't really getting how to initiate the party chain attack to topple the damn thing. Plot wise, they really threw me for a loop when they killed off

Spoiler

Fiora like that. Damn that was brutal. I honestly thought Dunban was going to bite it with the way the attack was playing out, not her.

[close]

So Shulk and Reyn are departing the city and already I'm theorizing that the Faced Mechon is

Spoiler

somehow that dude who betrayed Dunban and Dickson at the beginning. Thinking he was assimilated rather than killed. I mean, the thing uses his style of weapon (the claws) and was making human gestures.

[close]

Don't tell me if I'm right or wrong! Trying to avoid spoilers for this one. 

[Grave]

Tell me about it. I don't know how this guy thought that adding guys on motorcycles would actually make the game better.

It's not so much that it was a bad idea. Rather, it's that Hayashi doesn't have the talent as a developer or programmer to make most of his ideas work. But really, though, those motorcycle guys are just clones of the horse riding enemies, if you actually watch them closely enough. Their attacks are a little different, but the basic strategy to take them down is the same. Either use arrows to knock them off of their bikes, or just stand around a corner and charge and ET or UT with your Lunar Staff and release it as soon as they get within your proximity for some easy damage on them.

Yeah, I noticed they're no different, hence the complaint. As far as the strategy goes, I took a more direct approach and just used the Flying Swallow on them. I'll admit that I ran out of patience there as well so that also caused me to take that approach.

As far as Dynamo ( he has a name..) goes, I knew there was a strategy to make to it easier I just couldn't think of it at that moment.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Every enemy in Ninja Gaiden has a name.

[Foggle]

This is amazing.