Ninja Gaiden 2

[Conqueror Kenny]

So Ninja Gaiden 2 is finally here and in full ninjaish force. More action packed and gory than ever. I'm not really sure where i am going with this so. Have you got it yet? If so what do you think of it?
Personally I feel that the difficulty scaling down went a bit far as you can just take out most enemies/bosses with a few flying swallow attacks. But any enemies that are flying have stayed stupidly hard to kill without taking much damage. So far though i haven't even got stuck on a boss unlike in Black where every boss killed me at least 10 times before i killed him/her. But that is enough of my rambling what do you think of it?

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Hmm, that's discouraging. I haven't gotten around to buying NG2 yet, although I've been planning to.

Difficulty has always been a defining point of NG games-- beating them really felt like an accomplishment.

 

[Sennz0r]

Yeah the original NG was quite hard, especially the bosses. If you can just sail through this one then something has gone seriously wrong, because all that's left then is smash a couple buttons and away you go.

Is there an option to adjust difficulty?

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

NG2's a bit of a mixed bag for me. It looks much better than the original did but it's developed a lot of problems for some inexplicable reason. In many ways it feels like they've taken steps backwards in order to streamline the experience.

For example, the bracelets you could pick up to change your stats in some simple ways were a great addition to the original and I've no idea why they've removed them. The ability to up your defense, offense or amount of yellow essence was a nifty little strategic addition to the original which is missed in the sequel. I also dislike the way that you can't trade in crystal skulls for new kit, making their only reason for existence a hunt quest for achievement whores.

I don't like the way that it's now a purely linear experience. Playing Ninja Gaiden was also linear, but the option to backtrack through levels unlocking new routes as you go made the game more of a complete world. Now it's a bunch of separate levels that have just been lumped together rather lazily. Must be said that it's a hell of a lot better than DMC 4's approach to make you replay the game once you get to the halfway point.

Also, the camera's even worse than it was in the original! It'll often lose its lock when you try to fight bosses, often resulting in swift death for poor Ryu and frustration for the player. You're also gonna see some slowdown at certain points when the game throws hundreds of enemies at you at once. Also, the pause menu for weapons sometimes takes a second before it actually stops the action and allows you to select weapons. In a game as frantic as NG this can be really annoying.

Hmm, this turned out to be a much lengthier post than I expected. Anyway, I'm a huge NG fan so bear in mind that these are nitpicks. NG2 is still a great game and I'm gonna go and play it now, but there's lots of niggling little flaws that make it an inferior game to the original.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

I downloaded the demo when I was making my Sepia Gamer video, just to see if it was better than the awful Dead or Alive games.

It's not. I haven't been that bored playing a game in a very long time.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

Yeah the original NG was quite hard, especially the bosses. If you can just sail through this one then something has gone seriously wrong, because all that's left then is smash a couple buttons and away you go.

Is there an option to adjust difficulty?

Well there are harder difficulties once you beat medium which will hopefully be just like the old ones.

 

[Sennz0r]

Too bad you don't get a harder difficulty from the start, now you can only go back and to the story again, which doesn't seem like much of a story to me if I know a bit about NG. But now the monsters are only a bit stronger..
If they'd give you a higher difficulty from the start I could at least play a first, challenging run through the story.

 

[shadow skill]

I already made a ninja gaiden 2 impressions thread but no matter. The bosses in Ninja Gaiden have never really been that hard if you know how to play the game. The levels were always harder than the actual boss fights. The big difference in this game is that much of the attrition has been removed especially when it comes to fighting bosses now that when you die you start back at the boss fight itself, rather than having to deal with five minutes of level again. While this game is somewhat easier than the first game I have to say that this game is more fun to play. I don't see why they couldn't open up harder difficulties from the start though.

Ironically many reviewers still complain about the difficulty of the game, I wonder how many started out on Path of the Warrior rather than Acolyte?

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

Ironically many reviewers still complain about the difficulty of the game, I wonder how many started out on Path of the Warrior rather than Acolyte?

But warrior is really the same as acolyte it just has a few more enemies and slightly harder bosses.

 

[Earthbound Engineer]

I just got the game, but from what I've played it is a very fun strategical hack and slash game.

 

[shadow skill]

Beat the game on Monday on Acolyte last boss was so cheap. Bah. Other than that it's a great game.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

The big difference in this game is that much of the attrition has been removed especially when it comes to fighting bosses now that when you die you start back at the boss fight itself, rather than having to deal with five minutes of level again.

Thank God!

I really enjoyed the difficulty of the original, well maybe with the exception of the first Alma fight, and found it a refreshing change.

I also like it when after you get your ass handed to you a few times, the game condescendingly asks you if you want to drop the difficulty. It only makes me want to tough it out more when that happens.

 

[exocel]

i wanted to check out the hype and was really disappointed, its like a pale imitation of devil may cry 4 ,with the camera from sonic the hedgehog. definitely not for me.