Ninja gaiden general discussion

I think I missed a scarab in the Military Supply Base so no DDB. I'll try with the Lunar later. There's another challenge in the Stadium (MN mode) against 120 berserkers. I've found only one video without UTs from the stairs.

That challenge is very time consuming. If you have the Unlaboured you can really go nuts, but otherwise it really is Lunar time. I'd really go in with all your items if possible. You can farm for max-essence at this point anyway from all the ghost-fish. Takes a lot of patience though. I remember doing it with the Warhammer, took a long ass time in Black.

Yesterday I finally finished my No Healing items run. Like I suspected after Alma everything went smoothly till Awakened Alma, that bitch took pretty much an entire afternoon. I wanted to not use Ninpo items items either, but I had to with Awakened Alma and the Marbus Gauntlet. At the end of the day I'm pretty happy with the run, I kept some saves before Marbus so I can try again without using Ninpo stuff.

It's a really fun run and I learned a lot by doing, especially with Alma I think I've became a lot more consistent.

I've done the Great Bridge challenge at VH. It was definitely a tough fight but I counter-attacked every move of them.

I've finished my VH run. Nicchae was a less powerful Alma and you can bring her down more easily. The arena is small but she doesn't have allies. Ishtaros went down on the third try, my strategy was to punish her melee combo after a guard break. Being evasive against Nicchae and being stationary against Ishtaros, maybe they represent the double nature of this game. Marbus was easy to defeat with Dabilahro. The last two bosses went down on my first try.

Great stuff from the both of you, damn, so much NG love. I almost bought the Japanese edition today just so I could have it in my bookcase but it was too expensive (nearly 30 euros). That's too much for a piece of plastic that gathers dust imo. Apparently the game is really rare in Asia the seller noted. He had been looking for years for a copy to sell. Took me by surprise considering the game is barely 5 bucks used in Europe. Did they print it less? Or do people just don't want to sell it here?

Yesterday I started Master Ninja. Now I'm at chapter 5, the game is at its best on this difficulty. I really like DMC1-DMC3 and some other action titles, but NG is what I truly love. In the future I will have to buy an Xbox to play Black and NG2.

Yeah Master Ninja is fantastic, it really feels like the game was just a tutorial until you reached that point if that makes sense. It is a bit better in Black I feel due to it being balanced in a unique way.

What happens in Black is that you don't get the counter and any other skill-scrolls until you beat Chapter 2, but to compensate you start off with the Lunar, Nunchuck and Dragon Sword - a little detail missing in Sigma for some reason. I really loved that little added touch. Fun detail honestly.

If you want to get serious about NG2 the X1X is the way to go honestly. Cannot imagine going back to the 360 days for that game. Really cool to see you enjoy the series so much man!

From what I've read, in Sigma you have to upgrade the DS to level 2 and buy the techniques on chapter 3. Flying swallow is available on chapter 1. Well, I'm glad I didn't upgrade dual katanas at that time.
Black is the game to play and buy a console for if you really love Sigma and you want the best version. Sigma is fantastic but its differences matter to me.
NG2, on the other hand, is a unique title. I'll probably play Sigma 2 first because I only have a PS3 but I know from your articles that it's a whole other experience.

By the way, I destroyed the first doppelganger on my second attempt. Guillotine throw is more useful than I thought. I did some practice against three cat fiends outside the monastery. I used all of my weapons and even the wooden sword. If I cancel XY with a windmill shuriken it seems they can still punish me in the recovery. Do you know if there are better combos with the wooden sword? I could use standard shuriken to cancel XY but I'd prefer a method to stun them. I should try other consumables. GT works well to keep crowd control, but they'll punish me if I spam it.

XY into a shuriken into jump XY is a solid combo iirc, you can also do XY > Shuriken > wallattack if you want to be stylish. Hits them on the way down. You can also try using IS in your combos but that's a limited supply. Wooden Sword's best move is its kick and slide though.

Sigma2 is a fun game too, it is what got me started on the series. It's a little too polished but it's a lot of fun, and the multiplayer really was a first for me and really built a strong community at the time.

Damn, I finally beat Alma on Master Ninja. I stopped the game for a bit after chapter 8, but yesterday I continued my run. It's my favourite game, no doubt.

Awesome to hear man! She's quite annoying on Master Ninja for sure. If you can, you can cheese her a bit. Once you kill the enemies in the room prior, make sure to not absorb their essence. The cutscene that spawns Alma is pretty unique in that it doesn't despawn essence-orbs.

Once you start the fight, immediately do a windpath towards her into an 360OLUT with the Dragon Sword. Takes away around 30ish% of her HP right away. She can't dodge when she is still starting out, so it's a guaranteed hit iirc.

How's Master Ninja treating you so far?

Nice to know, I'll try that tactic in the future.
Master Ninja is no joke, the first level was harsh but Alma was the essential hurdle to overcome in the first ten chapters, at least for me. In general it's difficult, Very Hard taught me how to play but MN demands even more from the player.

Alma is, and will always be, the most bonkers skill-check. Not just in terms of item-preperation, but also in just camera fuckery, knowing when to attack and defend etc. Fantastic boss imo. If you want another tip, if you focus on killing her ads first, you can nail her pretty hard with a flame-wheel combo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxY0YoSU5rM

I show it on Normal Mode here, but it gets the idea across.

I used Inferno level 2 against her and it was good. Not always reliable but it did a great job. That combo is fantastic, I wonder how much health she loses on MN, but it's definitely useful. One of my errors was to waste important resources before Alma, I won't repeat the same mistake haha. Yes, the boss is fantastic and her AI can be very tricky. She's not a simple pattern-based boss.

Inferno is great to make moves that are unsafe, safe. Also works great against her Awakened version which I find harder imo. Note that on Master Ninja she loses about 30-40% HP to the Flamewheel combo if you manage to connect it fully.

I'm almost done with chapter 17. Awakened Alma was easier than I expected but it must be very difficult under some restrictions.

Inazuma makes it a lot easier, can't imagine doing it without it honestly. Her Mission Mode is even worse as she gets very brutal helpers. I think on Master Ninja she gets those buffed crabs as helpers.

Great job regardless man, doing great, almost there!

I did it! Master Ninja is done. It was a fantastic experience and I'll definitely try some harder runs in the future. I want to get an Xbox and play the best version... but I must be patient  
Some days ago I bought Sigma 2 on PS Store, so that will be my next step.

P.S. I tried to use the plasma saber against the Vigoorian Emperor but I did 0 damage. It's considered a different weapon by the game, so no bonus applied. I discovered that this error is absent in Black:

I didn't know about that, I rarely play the Sigma version these days. I screwed up with my purchase and got the UK version of it, so my Dutch DLC doesn't work with it which sucks. If not I'd have still played it since its DLC is really good iirc.

What's up next man?

The Xbox versions are very well worth it imo, really the superior takes. NGS2 is the first game that got me started, while I cannot go back now.

I'm already playing Sigma 2 (chapter 4 on Warrior difficulty) haha. Fighting as Ryu Hayabusa is one of the best things this medium can offer. It's too easy on Warrior, so I decided to not use a single healing item. When I unlock higher difficulties, I'll post in the other topic.

Cool man, let us know! The game is quite easy until you hit Mentor, but Master Ninja in that game is pretty freak'n brutal. Have fun!

https://www.gamesradar.com/team-ninja-hopes-to-have-good-news-on-ninja-gaiden-in-the-future/

NG remasters and then NG4?

Read that one too, mostly shows that they still love the series and wouldn't mind to go back to it. But with the success of Nioh, and them probably working on DOA6LR currently, I doubt it. We already had remasters last few years on X1X, don't think they'll pump more out, but who knows!

I would love all versions packed into one(NG04, Black, Sigmas, etc) just to have everything on one console. Won’t happen, but we can dream. It’s just a shame games like this hardly get a chance from publishers anymore.

We'll have to wait and see. I can imagine Yasuda being quite willing to dive into NG4 to prove himself after the trauma NG3 caused him, but I can imagine Tecmo just wants more Nioh.

I'd say... Give it around 3-4 years.

In the meantime, maybe we'll get news from Itagaki. Although it's safe to assume that ain't happening this year with Corona.

It's been months since I last played this game. We're talking like, since September.

So I booted it up, and decided to start on hard again, because I knew I'd have no chance on VH and above.

And goddamn, I am INSANELY out of practice.

Looks like I'll be relearning this game. Hell, might as well start on normal. Again. What also doesn't help is that my habit of constantly restarting the game when something wasn't perfect still remained for some reason, even though I wasn't going for a karma run. This has gotta be one of the worst combinations I can think of: Being a perfectionist in gameplay, while not being very good at the game.

UPDATE: Okay, now the other problem is that normal is far, far, FAR too easy for me.

This is an awkward position.

You know what, I'm gonna restart on hard. Out of practice? Yes. To the extent that I'm gonna replay normal again? No.

So, hard mode re-run log:

Got to chapter 4. Once I got to chapter 3, I mostly managed to break out of my habit of constantly reloading when something wasn't perfect. But I still might redo the Dynamo fight, thanks to the talisman of rebirth kicking in (The ultimate shame). Other than that, I've kind of been getting back into the groove of things, but I'm still certain I wouldn't stand a chance on Very Hard, let alone Master Ninja.

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering about how far I was into Master Ninja before I just stopped, the last save I had for there was at chapter 6.

But y'know, relearning this game is honestly really, really fun. Some people talk about how they wish they could erase their memories of a game, and experience it for the first time again, and I think this is the closest I'll ever get to that feeling.

Chapter 1 is a great training ground, just have to get your feet wet. I remember quitting for a year in NGB's Master Ninja mode (I had done that mode 8 times already that year in Sigma, and 3 VH runs in NG2004 haha), and when I came back I really just had to restart haha.

One thing (the glorious) NGII did well imo was allowing us to un-equip the Talisman, very handy to save it.

You planning on going for Master Ninja?

Definitely gonna go for Master Ninja. Probably won't do any super-challenge runs, like PAIN+ or whatever. Doesn't really seem like my thing, but who knows, my opinion might change!

Don't think PAIN+ or something similar has been done yet in any of the NG games. I know there is a NUR run in Sigma 1, but that's it. Maybe a NUR in Sigma 2 as well but that game is piss easy by comparison (still really hard).

>sigma 2 piss easy

Of course that’s the one I was going to play again haha. My 360 is bricked so playing the “true” versions is out right now. I could go get another 360 but I’m just so sick of these 7th gen consoles dying on me.

>PAIN+

Crazy to think that these games have been out this long and there’s still potential challenges out there.

The big problem with challenge runs is Hydracubus. Even on a regular PAIN run in NG2004 he's next to impossible without either Flying Swallow, Windmill or healing items - not to mention you have to redo a very hard fight against numerous Gala beforehand. He's a real run killer. I think a regular NUR is really hard already, as you only have a single ninpo orb and certain fights like Awakened Alma are really going to test your patience since your damage output is ass. This is why only OLB runs have really been done, and a few OLB No Ninpo runs, where item usage, upgrades and other weapons are allowed.

There's also the matter of the Dragon Sword and whether you allow it or not. If you allow it or the Plasma Sabre, the game gets a lot easier near the end game I'd say.

> xbox 360
Honestly, if you have the disposable income, get an X1. It really is the definitive way to play Ninja Gaiden as a series. Both NGB, NGII and NG3:RE are vastly better on that system.

>Hydracubus

Is it more difficult in 04 than in NGB?

>item usage

So a no item run hasn’t been done?

>get an x1

Would I need to get an X1X? Does that make a difference with performance?

> Hydracubus
That's the scary part, NG2004 has the easiest version of him. And he's a run-stopper there, let alone in the other versions. Note when I say PAIN+ for NG I mean you're stuck with just the basic dragon sword and shurikens, nothing else. No Flying Swallow, no throw, no Izuna, no weapon upgrades, no healing items (blue orbs are fine I'd say). You're basically gimped.

> item usage
A no item run has been done, but not in combination with other modifiers iirc. I think a No Damage No Ninpo No Item run has been done by GodfatherDictator, but he still allows all skill upgrades, weapon upgrades and other weapons i.e. smoke bombs, windmill etc.

> X1
A regular X1 isn't going to cut it. X1S is pretty sweet and outside of one or two fights you're looking at a solid frame-rate across the series. X1X will also give you NGB and NGII in 4k which, honestly, makes them super beautiful. If you have the disposable income, get the X1X I'd say, or wait for the Series X (which will support them Day 1 iirc).

Decided to just do 2 chapters, 4, and 5. I don't wanna burn myself out on this game. Might finish a couple more levels later today, though.

Anyway, is it just me, or are the cat demons generally easier than the Black Spider Ninjas? The time limits are generally more forgiving there. But I get why they replaced the BS Ninjas (lmao), because they ARE pretty fast, and hit really hard when you're in mid-air.

I'm remembering to use essence more effectively; Try and just get what you need, like a blue essence for some health, and save one for the next encounter. Makes things go by a lot faster. I also forgot how unbelievably good the Lunar's UT is for general encounters by comparison to the DS.

Turns out I'm not out of the habit of reloading a lot when things aren't going well for me. But I've been doing it a lot less now, thanks to a combination of getting back into the swing of things, and being generally more forgiving towards myself.

Also, maybe it's just me, but have you ever just thought "I don't deserve this" after you got a Master Ninja rank on a level? Just got one for chapter 5, after 2 Heads, and 2 Greaters.

TheFirmament1 wrote:Also, maybe it's just me, but have you ever just thought "I don't deserve this" after you got a Master Ninja rank on a level? Just got one for chapter 5, after 2 Heads, and 2 Greaters.

I don't remember the specifics off the top of my head, but the ranking system in this game is rather simplistic and nowhere near as representative of the overall quality of your gameplay as, say, the similar systems found in DMC or Bayonetta.

It seems rather inconsistent and I mostly ignore it, personally.

The ranking system in the entire series is absolutely ass, so don't worry too much about it. It is basically tied to how much Karma you earned that chapter. That's it. Generally speaking if you don't take forever and kill everything you'll nearly always see Master Ninja appear.

The ranking system is pretty ass too. The "Essence" category is bugged or really weirdly designed, as it doesn't rank the essence earned, but ranks based on the difference between what you started the chapter with and ended it with. So if you ended Chapter 3 with 99.999 essence, and end Chapter 4 with 99.998 essence, you get 0 points. If you end Chapter 3 with 10.000 essence, and Chapter 4 is ended with 20.000 essence you get maximum points. It's super dumb imo haha.

> Cats
They are pretty tame on lower settings, but on Master Ninja can be quite the bother when combined with other foes. Alone they aren't that scary, but they have a guardbreaking pounce and an flyingswallow-like grab. Paired with ninjas that lock you down with projectiles, it can get quite hairy.

> reloading
Note that there's a hotkey for that if you want it. I think its XYRL at the same time or something.

When you say NG2004, which game are you talking about?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Gaiden_(2004_video_game)

Basically the original release on the Xbox. Ninja Gaiden Black is a vastly changed version of that title, having incorporated its later DLC and added a ton of features like a revised Ultimate Technique system, added the feature that difficulties remixed enemies/items etc, and also added Master Ninja Difficulty and the Mission Mode.

I think he's referring to the original Xbox release of the game, i.e. neither the later Black re-release nor the Sigma port/remaster on PS3.

This one:

EDIT: Oh wow, talk about taking too much time trying to figure out the image hosting system! :D

Yeah, while most options on the site are pretty well done, I agree the image hosting/sharing is really dumb. I'd still love a more professional forum, but transfering this one to a BB or other Wordpress is a lot of work sadly.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to get a X1X. On one hand, there isn’t anything coming out on the horizon, so the summer would be a perfect time to get into the series with the best available option, but if the series X is coming out at the end of the year with the same kind of BC then it would be a bit of a waste.

It is coming out with the same BC, that's confirmed already. It will also be supported further, while BC-support for the X1 (i.e. new titles becoming BC) stops for the X1X. If you have the cash I'd say go nuts and sell the machine when the Series X comes out or gets the re-release in a few years (because we all know there's going to be an Series X-S).

Maybe I’ll try to get an X1X on sale and trade it in when there’s a series X game I care about releasing.

I'm still a bit hazy on it, but what exactly has your experience with the series been so far? Which game will you dive into first if you were to get an X1X?

Here’s my long, weirdly inconsistent experience with the series:

-Got Sigma 1 as my first PS3 game back when it released. Got halfway or so through hard
-Played Sigma 2 at release, only beat normal
-Played Vanilla 3 at launch, only beat normal
-Played RE at some point, got maybe halfway through
-Re-bought a 360 around 2013-2014 and got NG2, somehow beat Mentor
-Bought yet another 360 in early 2018, got NGB, NG2 and RE. Played nothing but NGB for about 2-3 months and beat MN. Haven’t played it since but would like to revisit it.
-Played NG2 at some point last year but my console died after my first playthrough.

So here’s where I am now haha. Not really sure what to do. Was going to play Sigma 2 for the time being, but maybe that’s not the best idea. What do you think?

Infinity_Divide wrote:Played nothing but NGB for about 2-3 months and beat MN.

Quality living right there.

Sigma 2 is a fine game, really fun and challenging too, but most do prefer NGII for combat reasons. Razor's Edge is also a gold mine of quality combat. I mean just look at this:
https://youtu.be/sT8m3UEBhok

Ninja Gaiden is a weird series to rank what is good and bad though. If I were to rank the best games to the worst, it would probably be the opposite of my opinion on their combat quality.