Old interview with NGB player

https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_166/5231-Beat-Your-Game-to-Death

Pretty fun interview that I found. It's with NG:B player "Sneh" about how the duality of a game being so good that they technically lose a buyer, as he's too busy playing that one good game to buy and play others. Fun article.

Neat, I’ve considered this before as well. There is a fine balance that needs to be struck for sure. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in some games...got plenty out of them. But I buy other games even when I don’t get to them ><

I never get so good that I’m chasing the karma records and such, though. I still remember watching my first NGB MN no death run. I assumed some kind of cheating because...no way right? So much time sunk into it.

Was a good read, thanks for sharing!

This is certainly an interesting phenomenon. I've actually suspected that this may be one of the reasons why a developer (or an executive barking orders at a developer) would make decisions that would remove a game's depth.

Exactly. I think that's why some games like NGB and DMC are also so loved since they are build as "you can replay this game for life, buy this and you're set" which I think is a commendable goal, and would also explain why NG tried to re-invent the wheel every entry.

> NGB no death run
Yours? I didn't know you were that heavy into NG:B running man, I'd love to see it, still have the footage?

> remove game depth to promote sales
It's definitely something I've suspected as well. You can imagine it at least impacting release-dates. Like they'll release God of War, calculate the average time people are 'busy' with it including Social Media hype, and then release the next big thing to keep the consumer, well, consuming.

No sorry, I meant I watched someone else’s no death run. I thought I had put a lot into one game, but watching the video made me really realize how long people could put into the game. It was awesome. And I agree, Ninja Gaiden does provide that much depth to keep players around...so yah re-inventing each release a bit is a decent strategy. Although I’d be just as excited about NGB2 using the same engine haha.

The Ninja Gaidens you own end up owning you.