Ninja Gaiden 2 first run (Series S)

I just got the Lunar Staff. Going to mainly use this because I used the Dragon Sword mostly on NG and always wanted the staff from NGB.

It's so different from the DS. Mainly because no Flying Swallow. Got it to level 2. Had to write down all the moves because I can't remember them all and going in and out of the menu is a pain.

The movelists are pretty big in this game but usually you can get away with memorizing like 3 or 4 combos per weapon. With the Lunar you have XXY which has a good decapitation (or head explosion in this case) chance on the last hit and the ->X combo has decent delimb chance, but pretty much everything can be useful in this game.

>no FS
It has it but only as a wall attack.

Yeah that's why I made a list to glance at.

Last night I just stopped progressing through the stage and practiced moves in an empty room. Won't know all the hit properties until I try them.

>Wall attack
Saw that. Nothing like having unlimited access to it though.

This throw where you do the blue shadow jump to their shoulders is insane. Smashing them into walls or just sending them flying miles away. Wall hit often destroys their heads.

These on landing UTs as so strong especially Lunar 360. I almost don't want to use them.

>Guillotine Throw is insane
And pretty much your saviour on Master Ninja. Guaranteed delimbs and lots of iframes. Wind Path and Wind Run are also very useful (the X+A jump and the followup shoulder jump respectively).

>OLUTs
Once you get to Master Ninja you won't feel sorry for using them.

Got destroyed by ninja dogs in stage 2.

Had some luck with on landing light attacks with Lunar where Ryu does a full spin. Consistently caught the ones that were running in, usually from behind as they were chasing after I jumped away. Really feels like most moves are too risky. Eventually they caught me.

The ninja dogs are the worst because basically every move they do is a grab, and grabs are devastating in this game (scale with difficulty and do % based damage, so health upgrades aren't worth shit against them). Just spam the 360 UT with the Lunar, even uncharged since you can't be grabbed during the animation.

One thing I don't like about these UTs is they let you avoid actually dealing with the problem.

I want to beat things without having to resort to UTs. It's like deleting the mechanics.
Really disappointed when looking up good players. It's just UT spam.

Even the guy who did that world first no damage run. He's worse. He got them all glitched in a corner and dropped down somewhere and they couldn't follow. He could freely hit them. That's a total joke. I quit watching after that.

I've been testing on landing light with Lunar and 360Y.
Running Y is good for them but it's too dangerous to run around because these dogs are all over the place and also throw bombs.

I definitely need to get better at movement and using walls. With Lunar the dash from the wall hang seems really good. The dogs follow me to the wall and then I dash through them, land with a spin attack.

>avoid actually dealing with the problem
Yeah if you spam it it definitely feels like this, but on MN I still do it against certain enemies because I can't be bothered (like the dogs).

>It's just UT spam
It's unfortunately both the most safe and most efficient way to play most of the time. Still, either ignore them or use them sparingly, especially on Warrior/Mentor since you won't be prepared for MN. Same goes for Ninpo.

>walls
They are great for getting iframes but if you get hit near one you'll get a wallsplat and take a significant amount of damage.

I saw some videos where the essence stays in the air and doesn't fly to Ryu. How?

Lunar izuna from jump is really good.

Got to another of those big spider ninjas but this time he had friends. Got destroyed yet again.

>How?
By holding block. In this game (as well as NGB) you halways want to have the block button held unless you're attacking or jumping. But if you jump and the hold again you still won't absorb the essence. It also helps because the block gets buffered sometimes if you get attacked during the recovery animations.

>Lunar izuna
You'll get an even more broken ID shortly.

>blocking stops essence absorption
What.

I NEVER would've figured that out alone.

>more broken ID
Talons? Saw a video of that.

I forgot the names, but you know that jump with the blue shadows that lets you throw? I saw someone jumping off the enemy and landing behind them but facing them. How is this done?

>lets you throw
You can also throw from a normal jump, it's just a bit trickier. The blue jump (Wind Path iirc) just makes you jump on the nearest enemy. It also has iframes while the normal jump doesn't.

>but facing them
Hold the stick in the other direction while jumping and you'll face the enemy. You can also go straight into a running attack from this, comes in handy.

I highly recommend giving the guide on the site a look (how to enjoy ninja gaiden), it has a lot of answers to these starting questions and was written for beginners mostly, so should give you a lot of insights.

Can't seem to find a topic with that title.

Here you go!

https://stinger-magazine.com/side-stories/how-to-enjoy-playing-ninja-gaiden/

Oh it's an article. I was looking in the message boards.

I've read this before but forgot most of it. Just read it again. Very useful.

Beat Genshin.

Took a few tries. Can't figure out his moves. Sometimes he recovers instantly and attacks.

Most bosses in NG are sort of random, you can learn the patterns but sometimes they'll immediately cancel out of punishes or block or whatever, kind of to simulate the 'ninjaness' if you get me (so a back and forth battle). Most of these patterns are pretty shallow though, Genshin is esp. exploitable.

Mission mode looks like a dream come true.

Do upgrades carry over or can you use the missions to upgrade? I'd rather play these than the main game.

>Genshin exploits
Got a link?
I've seen JTB use Talon slide kick. Anything for Lunar?

Now I'm fighting purple alien looking things in the city. These guys seem easier than anything I've fought so far. Not sure why. I want to say I got better but I doubt that's true.

I guess I'm fighting that pretty boy lightning demon next?

> missions
You have pre-decided upgrades in these. Survival is max-level.

> Genshin
You can counter all of his moves so with good timing you can completely lock him down. You can also just punish him once per two moves generally.

> slide kick
It's one of the highest delimb% moves in the game, so it's often abused by starting players to circumvent hard encounters.

> Lunar
360UT is the best newbie move there is, and it also has a pretty good Izuna (jumpin XXY) and on landing Y. It's off the wall moves are good too. Lunar is one of the few weapons that changes quite drastically when turned into level-3 as it gains flails attached to the outer ends.

> Van Gelfs
You will rue them in the future. They're extremely agressive and lethal.

>Survival is max-level.
Excellent.

>so it's often abused by starting players to circumvent hard encounters.
Won't be touching this then.

>360 UT
I've been largely avoiding ultimates.

>and it also has a pretty good Izuna (jumpin XXY)
Is izuna still dangerous in this?

>Lunar level 3
Just got it. Saw the chain thing but haven't checked the new moves yet.

Am I supposed to be using the bow on some of these archers? I've come across a few out of immediate reach like when you need to cross to the other building on a wire, but can't because they shoot you off.

Roy
>They're extremely agressive and lethal
Only the flying ones (and the fucking mechs). The purple ones are a joke even on MN in my experience.

Birdman
>Won't be touching this then
Lots of weapons have some quick delimb moves (DS XXY and on landing X, Flails ->Y, the Kusarigama grab, double katanas 360Y and ->Y etc.). While they're pretty strong you can still use them strategically to corrupt spawn pools (crippling various enemies so that when the new ones spawn you only have to deal with them at full power while the others just slumber around). This strategy is a must in a couple of fights, like the staircase fight and the church fight on MN. I'd say instead of not using them all together just use them a couple of times per fight, but that's your call.

>Is izuna still dangerous
Kinda but it can still be spammed if you're decent at countering and use shurikens to cancel the recovery and stun nearby enemies.

>the new moves yet
The XYYY combo has good delimb% and stuns enemies pretty well, along with having a big hitbox. Great move.

>they shoot you off
What I do is block, wait for them to shoot, tank the chip damage, advance a bit and repeat.

>What I do is block, wait for them to shoot, tank the chip damage, advance a bit and repeat.
You can block while hanging from wires?

Ah no lol, I misread. You can only do it on the ground. Yes you're supposed to shoot them with the bow. With one bow UT you can kill them. I took the more boring path and made them despawn because I can't be bothered. The game's pretty broken and if you know it you can skip a lot of fights simply by backtracking a bit, making enemies despawn.

Was wondering why a few fights vanished even though I never beat them.

Hate using the bow.

Gigafag is a piece of shit.

Bought mission mode. I got a feeling I won't replay the story. But survival mode is insane fun.

> van gelfs
That's my Sigma side showing, I started with that game and whenever I hear their screetch I get PTSD flashbacks to the hallway in Chapter 3 with a dozen of these OHKO van gelfs. Purples can still mess you up, but they're indeed not super scary once you get them down you're right.

> izuna lunar
It's mostly a fast one since it's only three inputs and can be done from a jump, which not a lot of weapons can do.

> bow
Generally speaking I avoid the bow, you're better off going in close and chopping a limb off of them to make them drop their bow.

> zipline
As Mal noted, despawn their ass. NGII is often a case of making the game bearable for yourself, and this is one of them. I think I know what part you're talking about in chp3, right after the first save statue right? I always run up, spawn the enemies, run back down, save and restart. They'll all be dead. Fuck that fight.

> lunar level3
XYYYY is a beast of a move yeah, high delimb and also hits pretty wide so good chance you'll hit multiple enemies. Great screen clearer.

>bow
I just mean for those times when you have to. Like when they were on the other side of a wire or these flying demons that hover beyond reach. Otherwise I won't touch it.

Though I did for that water dragon bullshit. Got destroyed when I tried to fight it in the water.

Alexei was surprisingly easy. Died twice then got him on the third try.

In wolfman city now. Think I'm almost up to the boss.

> bow
Yeah just despawn or rush them, that's generally my advice. You can use BowUTs if you have essence lying around.

> water dragon
I tend to use the bow there too. I know a lot of players prefer rushing him on the water but I hate the controls for that.

> Alexei
He's arguably the hardest depending on who you ask. He's very inconsistent for me. I've killed him in as fast as 11 seconds, but he can also just fucking wall me for an hour it feels like.

> wolf city
After beating the Wolf boss (Volf) you'll enter what is imo the best stage in the game(and gaming haha). Absolutely fantastic. Enjoy man!

>fighting dragon on water
Saw some vids and looks like it's far easier with certain weapons. Talons seem to do extremely well.

>Alexei difficulty
I'm only on normal. His grab was a problem in the first two attempts. Managed to avoid it in the third. I did notice he killed me fast in the first two attempts then somehow I just totally reversed it.

>fun after wolf boss
I look forward to it.

Wolf City. More like Guardbreak City.

Being anywhere near this boss is nasty.

What's catching me is this combo where he does two swipes which guardbreak then a third that launches. He then juggles for a few more ending with a big slam. It's that third one that keeps catching me. I'm trying to use that guard trick where you let go of block then press again for the next hit but I keep messing it up.

So I stay away from him and try bait him into attacking. If he runs in I can get him. Other than that I wait for his strings to finish then depending on my range do XXY or jumping attacks with Lunar.

The wolfman fight after the boss keeps killing me. Mostly because they keep throwing body parts.
Why does the game equip you with the Scythe here? Are they weak to it? I just switch back to Lunar because it's upgraded and what I know.

>I keep messing it up
Keep trying, that's the way to go. You just need to do it fast, it doesn't have to be precise.

>I wait for his strings to finish then depending on my range do XXY or jumping attacks with Lunar
That's why I don't like these bosses too much, too restrictive. Wait for the combo to end and then punish, but sometimes they block/evade, isn't it great?
The worst attack he has is the one two and then charge. Can instantly kill you on MN. Still don't know how to beat him properly since I just loop him with the Claws.

>Are they weak to it?
No, the game just does it since you get it in the cutscene. If you're having trouble jump on their head and then hit them with your favourite delimb move, OT and repeat. It's not pretty but gets the job done.

Volf is pretty weak to guard-resetting (read the guide for details), it locks down most of his moves. You can infinite him with a lot of weapons since he's a bit rushed, but I'd say learn him first before you go down that road.

The one move I never got down either was the bullcharge he can randomly do. As Malcar noted it's a near OHKO on Master Ninja and seems to just happen randomly without much startup.

>That's why I don't like these bosses too much, too restrictive. Wait for the combo to end and then punish, but sometimes they block/evade, isn't it great?
Seems that way. Though I think there's still a bit of stuff you can do within this box. I'll need to create save files before each boss next time for testing.

>infinites
Got any links. I keep finding only Sigma stuff. One showed that you can just hit him infinitely for free with the dual swords. I don't know which move it was.

>save files
You can do that on Xbox? Sweet.

>links
JayTB has a lot of this stuff covered.
https://youtu.be/VyWfppM7xIA?list=PLLkZiKEkqWjLmJiX0dm8aAVy3kcLeiMp0&t=3395
Otherwise Farnham TheDrunk's speedruns have some cool strats against bosses. I'm pretty sure I've seen a lot of these exploits on these two channels.

Beat Genshin 2.

Fuck his little bomb ninja children.

Had to either izuna or throw. Genshin himself was the same.

Armadillo giant boss sucked but wasn't too hard. Who else got caught by the blast when it died?
I thought it was going to get back up for phase 2.

Those big mech demons are annoying when there's like 3 on you at once. Their attacks cover so much space.
They seemed unable to do anything about Lunar's air string though.

> xbox saves
Yeah you can make manual saves, helps a ton. I have one for every stage, it's so fun, and also one for the staircase.

> Genshin 2
Really hard fight. What you CAN do is quickly delimb all the ninjas, but leave them alive. You can then lure Genshin far away from them and basically do a 1v1 that way.

> armadillo
Everyone dies the first time haha. It's a gotcha moment. Players bitched so much about it but honestly, once you fall for it, that's it. Then you can jsut block/dodge.

>armadillo

it's been quite some time since i've played NG2 (it was when it first came out) but i definitely recall the armadillo. i remember finally beating this brutal boss and just being in absolute disbelief when that happened haha. it is bullshit but it's funny bullshit.

>Players bitched so much about it

i can only imagine i was pissed at the time but if that happened to me now i would have laughed my ass off

Yeah it's one of those "Itagaki and co just jump out the monitor to give you a ..|.." moments. It sucks when it happens, but it's hilarious in retrospect.

I actually did laugh at it.

Looks like some gargoyle is up next.

Had a few fights with bomb ninjas. Not moving for even a second and you will become an exploding pin cushion. Throw and izuna seemed to be the best bet.

Using wind path is also very useful for crowd control, as are shurikens, although admittedly I never used shurikens enough so it's definitely something I'll practice the next time I play Ninja Gaiden as I know it will open up the gameplay even more.

Note, what did you think about the airplane stage? It's my absolute favourite in the series.

> crowd controle
Best bet as GN noted is windpath. Jump on foes heads, use shurikens on offscreen enemies (a b ig mistake you see players do is use shurikens on the enemy they are engaging with, don't, use it to deter of screen pressure). Also don't underestimate delimbs.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjhN2jaKWV8

You can use delimbs to cut a few enemies up, and then bait them around, only having to fight the one non-delimbed one. Once you kill him, the next one will spawn.

> throw
Be careful of overrelying on it. You often see gameplay where Ryu jumps around aimlessly doing aerial slashes since the player is trying to do a throw. Use it when you know there's an opening and you know it'll connect with a wall. Otherwise a Flying Swallow is often better.

>airplane stage
Only thing I didn't like was dealing with the turrets.
It was bad at the start where the door doesn't open until you've destroyed them all. Then I died a few times learning the robots inside and if you die there you have to do the turrets again.

The cutscene where the core is falling and explodes cracked me up. The Ryu just casually watches it then starts to turn away as it explodes like it doesn't even matter. Nothing phases this guy at all.

>delimbs
Lunar XXY seems to only target heads on human types. I'm finding anything longer too risky to use. I'm not changing weapons per run. I want to try the kusarigama next.

XXYY with the flails is a great move too, has high decapitation% and is fast and area-of-effect. Note that enemies when in the air, or on the ground, die instantly when hit by a Flying Swallow (or kusa-grabs when on the floor).

In general this is the most complex game in terms of weapon depth imo, you could legit play with a single weapon for 100 hours and still not reach the ceiling of what's possible.

That's why I'm sticking to one at a time.

So I finally got Ninja Gaiden 2 working in Xenia Canary. For someone as tech savvy as me (and the wisdom of Zehuti), I’m embarrassed it took so long.

2 settings needed changing:

d3d12_clear_memory_page_state = true (to fix video)

max_queued_frames from = 3 (to fix audio [mostly])

To think, my 1st console in 15 years could’ve been, not a PlayStation or Switch, but an Xbox. Xenia also does a much better job of NG2 than Xemu does with NGB. Shame there’s no back-compat. Although, I guess the real shame is there’s no native PC version of either.

First impressions: reminds me of my first time with Bayonetta. Simply replaying the opening battle gave me exponential skill growth.  When Bayo gives you a stone for losing to enemies or a cheap QTE death, it makes you go back and replay the level, and the same is true here. It helps not having to go retrieve anything after dying. I think I may grow to like this.

At the start of the level, I was mashing buttons, dodging, blocking, and relying on counters. Also throwing shurikens at torsos crawling towards me because I didn’t want to get suicide bombed. I thought I’d never get master the combos, especially when moves change whether you’re moving or stationary, and there’s an instinctive reaction to always be moving. Some combos even mixed up standing still and moving.

Then, halfway through, I could see the skill ceiling. Y is not for spamming, Y is for finishing enemies. The “dodge offset” of NG2 is to delimb, then obliterate, and charged UT risk/reward. I thought you had to pick between essence and UT. The fact that you get MORE essence for killing with UT than what you put in makes it an essence Ponzi scheme, and I’m all for it. You could cheese a few fights by manually saving and playing till perfect, but I heard you get plenty of essence on the first 2 difficulty levels.

I’ve found it very fair so far. Plenty of save points, plenty of ki. Boss was a joke, but I read he’s a miniboss later. Maybe I’m getting cocky, it is just the 1st level, but given the Egoraptor, I wasn’t expecting to beat the 1st level without dying, and kill the boss without a hit. It’s very doable, and so long as you keep your eye on the enemy, you can see their attacks telegraphed very well. If you’re not blocking, it’s your fault. Shurikens seem to be more like mosquitoes biting you, and explosive arrows didn’t take much off my health bar.

The tutorial is the real MVP of the game. Core gameplay revealed through hidden lore AND tutorial messages? Platinum would do one or the other. If Platinum made NG, they’d probably give you button prompts, like Y for obliteration techniques, but not tell you what it’s used for, like killing delimbed mobs. Then I’d have to learn how to play from Youtube. I mean, I probably still will. I’ll get stonewalled by some boss, but it wouldn’t be basic shit like half of MGR players not knowing how to parry properly because of their crappy tutorial. The lore’s funny as well, which is great.

I think Bayo fans over any other (non-NG) game would like NG2 the most. Especially if they enjoy fighting Gracious & Glorious, win or lose. A competent Bayo player would adapt quickly. Might even put shurikens on X, but I’m a square who sticks to default controls in 99% of games. Also, maybe I’m just burnt out, but I love that the secrets aren’t well hidden. I found a hidden door that looked like the one from NG1. Everything else was out in the open. Certainly beats an illusory wall that leads to another illusory wall, or running to the start of a level after every fight to open an Alfheim.

I see where the “bad camera” criticism comes from. No alpha transparencies, so things like trees and pillars in front of the camera block your view rather than going transparent. I like the speed of the camera on the X axis. I have Bayo at a similar speed, although that camera’s not perfect either. But I don’t like the rigidity of the Y axis.

RT centers on what Ryu’s looking at. I know Charlie got memed for asking for a lockon, but I think RT as a togglable lockon (for the camera, not Ryu) would help. So you keep your soft lock for attacks, but the camera keeps tabs on your enemies and doesn’t go haywire. Or if it’s always in front of you, then it’s the exact same as repeatedly tapping RT.

Or at least that’s what I originally thought. Looking at “high-level” gameplay (without rehashing the whole punching bag/walking hitbox debate), no one seems to move the camera, let alone recenter it. I assume everything there is to mine has been done in the last 15 years, so I’m not gonna discover something new. I like to play how the pros play.

My idea was: mobs show up, you toggle RT. That group that spawned is now in focus. Guys came from behind as well? You jump behind them, or lockoff, or so everyone’s in front of you. But everyone comes from the front on the 1st level. It’s deceptively simple, while later levels have 3-way ganks and explosion spam. Anyway, I’m learning to deal with it. That’s all you can do, really.

Overall, the gore and animations feel great, like the headshots in Cultic. The only thing that would top it would be MGR blade mode, but on humans and with more reactions, like MGS Rising’s original concept. I love how when you backtrack, enemies chase and catch up to you. Can’t remember the last action game where you couldn’t outrun an enemy. And how you can keep comboing a long-dead body for a little while.

Finally, I love that when an emulator works, it just works. No tinkering with the settings. It’s like running an old Flash game in a window.

TLDR:
Tutorial – good
Difficulty – balanced
Gore – good
Mechanics – when it clicks (UT/OT spam), as good as dodge offset
Camera – bad to subpar, depending on room
Collectables – few (good)
Recommended – yes, especially for Bayo fans
Training mode – not present, but save scumming could act as one

PS

So I reread the thread, gaining new context on things: Lunar pole, 360UT, etc. It does sound like I’m in for a humbling later. I wanted to enjoy relying on reaction speed and pattern recognition, since the “1st playthrough’s just a tutorial”, but it sounds like I’ll need to whack out a guide even sooner. Like I’m hearing this staircase fight is nigh-impossible without clogging up spawns with delimbed enemies, and I wanted to get to a level where I could, maybe not no-damage, but at least toy with them like XLHGladiator (picked him specifically because he styles on multiple enemies, and some non-humans, which is telling of where the real danger lies).

I’m not saying it should be easy, but I was hoping that high level players could play with the food without having to worry about cheese, and I’m reading that cheese is very much necessary for some of the bosses and levels on Master Ninja. My instincts tell me to throw shurikens to extend a combo or juggle an enemy, but I’m reading to only shuriken enemies off-screen so they get pacified. I just learned to UT spam, and it doesn’t look like there’s much time or space to do so on higher difficulties (EDIT: this is what the on-landing UT is for). I don’t want to enjoy myself too much, and lack discipline for later fights, like a boxer slugging it out and forgetting his training.

Also, I have the utmost respect for Ninja Gaiden. “Bayo this, Bayo that”, I know I mentioned it a lot, but I’m just going off of what I know. I know it’s its own thing. I swear I’m not turning into the “Bayo player plays NG” guy. From now on, it’s on its own pedestal, where it only gets compared to other NG games.

Beat the gargoyle.

Nothing really of note to mention. Died once when he summoned those snakey things but on the second attempt I killed him before he could summon somehow.

Next stage is a shitty forest/swamp with water running and dicks with rockets. And then getting attacked on water by some kind of hovering robots with rockets. Hate this shit.

Had an interesting glitch happen though. In the area with a lake and two spotlights, I got onto the platforms and a guy knocked me over near the wall of one of those huts. Somehow this created two Ryus. One was still inside the hut and the other on the walkway on the other side. The one outside was transparent and flickering. I was controlling that one I think but the real version would do the same action. Jumped at the wall a bit and they came back together.

@Black Adam

Since you're coming from Bayonetta, I think you should understand when I say: UTs are the PKP of NGII. It's a great tool that will carry you far, maybe even until the end of the game on harder settings, but there'll be a time when you want *more*, and it is at that time that players either ditch the game or decide to really dive into it. Be it using the extremely deep movesets or Ryu's mobility, or both.

Few other notes regarding your post:

> egoraptor
Mostly aimed at NG1, which is infamous for having Stage 1 and 2 being absolutely crazy, especially for beginners. This was further compounded by the genre still being relatively fresh. A lot of knowledge we take for granted today, to something as basic as i.frames, just wasn't known then. NGII was made to be more accesible from the outset, which shows (and then commits to murder you for on harder difficulties).

> essence
Such a great mechanic, the unsung hero of the series imo. It adds such complexity on the fly, do you use essence to fuel your UT? Or do you want it for money to upgrade weapons? Do you use a healing item? Or do you not, to save essence, for that weapon upgrade. Do you not use an UT in hopes of getting a healing orb? It's a constant set of decisions going on in the background.

> explosive arrows didn't deal much damage
Should note ahead of time, NG2 isn't high on the damage, but high on the volume. You'll die by a thousand cuts instead of a strong single blow (which was inversed in Sigma 2, where nearly everything is an OHKO, but attacks far less frequent). Damage is also (stangely) mostly % based. So upgrading your lifebar isn't as handy as most think.

> delimbs
Already noted it in this thread I think, and also in the guide (definitely give that a look), but a delimb doesn't neat to lead to an OT (the animation) Sometimes leaving an enemy alive is more benfitial i.e. culling spawns, kiting, seperating foes etc. Toy around with the grab more too I'd say, it's an instant-delimb when throwing enemies against a wall.

> put shurikens on X
Don't. The controls are pretty smartly designed, as A+X is an auto-aim jump, and also the grab input. By it being A+X, you can quickly decide between a regular jump (A) or slide your thumb on both buttons (A+X).

> camera
Most expert players (like myself, shameless plug for my godly presence, bask in my light), tend to have such an almost subconcious understanding of where enemies are and what they'll do due to sheer gametime, we can generally expect where of screen enemies are at and what they are doing.

I still want to do a play-by-play one day of this little clip: https://youtu.be/RjE5CEC35sQ?t=139 (minor spoilers of a later chapter location). There's a few moments there like completely expecting an attack (instead of a grab) into a counter, as well as some minor nuanced movements and placings (as well as a few dumb moments where I fuck up to make me seem human).

What some players also do is build it into their muscle memory that they press RT while dodging and jumping as a combined input, so that they are always facing forwards.

(jokes aside, if you need tips or have question, hit me up. This is the game (and ZoE2 and Vanquish) are the ones I put the most work into over the years, I love talking about it).

> charlie got memed
I hate how that vid and NG4 "trailer reveal" got so many views while I made them in like 5 mins each.

> enemies chase you
You can abuse this for fun btw, you can pull all enemies and just keep going forward until the game starts to catch fire haha. Going forward and pulling 30+ enemies to then do a fully charged Lunar UT to melt your Xbox 360 is a great way to send it to heaven in a blaze of glory.

> staircase
NGII, on Master Ninja, is a crucible. Your first run will generally end with you being disgusted by yourself at your abuse of Ninpo, cheap moves and UTs. It is why it (imo) is good that it doesn't have a ranking system, you're your own judge. You wanna get better and suck less? Fucking go for it. You're on your own. Love that shit. The staircase is still on my list to one day do 'legit'. Closest I got was beating it on Master Ninja using only 2 healing items and 1 UT. It is more about surviving.
Note that high level players tend to refer to NGII as "dying slower than your enemies". The game becomes so much more fun when you play with that mentality (so, taking damage, taking risks).

> bayo and NG
They tend to go pretty hand in hand, though NGII is imo really on overdrive. It's no joke that on the higher settings you're basically fighting 10+ Grace&Glorious that aren't going to wait around and taunt every once in a while. This game wants blood.

@Birdman

> shitty swamp
Easily the WORST stage. It is thankfully really short.

> gargoyle
Zedonius. You will need to know that name as he's generally the most hated boss in the game. You can stop him from summoning by doing a Flying Swallow with the Scythe.

>Xenia
Keep also in mind that the game needs a patch to get over CH 12. It’s not that hard to implement but it’s good to know.

>play with the food
“Stylish” play in NG is a lot different from DMC and Bayo. There you can manipulate the enemy position (as well as yours) a lot better and you have insane air mobility, along with less aggressive enemies that won’t attack offscreen. This makes it so that you can easily isolate one enemy at the time and style on them as you like.
Playing with enemies in NG for me is simply using cool moves I like, since in this games combos and animations are naturally stylish. Simply use what you like without spamming the most OP shit and you’ll be fine.

>throw shurikens to extend a combo or juggle an enemy
You can do that to use FS for and instakill. Juggles in this game are hard to mantain but useful since enemies can’t retaliate (which is also true for DMC but there enemies aren’t crack addicts normally.

>UT = PKP

I see. I thought Flying Swallow/Inazuma Drop were those. Is it PKP in the sense that it's cheese, or weak? Because the wicked weave off PKP is weaker than that of a longer combo. Either way, it's a bad habit I'm glad I caught early.

>Essence

If I do a UT and miss, sometimes I think it best to just restart if my save is close enough.

>% based damage making health upgrades useless

All the more reason to avoid collectibles. Although, being the completionist that I am, and the fact they carry over to new difficulties, I'll probably just end up doing them anyway.

>Remapping controls

I see how they would get in the way of throws, which I've been dabbling with. I tend to keep the default control scheme, and avoid macros or pro controllers with things like paddles, as you're never guaranteed access to them.

>clip

So did you know the guys from 3:11 onwards would just stop attacking? You should do a pbp, or rerelease your old videos with commentary.

>5 min videos get all the views

That's Youtube for ya. On the bright side, the long-form videos help inform new players like me, who then go on to make their own content, and the cycle continues. It's like a plastic plant vs real one. Sure you don't have to feed or water it, and it lasts longer, but no tree is going to grow from a plastic plant.

>melt 360

We'll see. I've seen slowdowns on OG hardware that led to the game freezing, like they opened the quick select menu. I've only had a few hitches on Xenia when changing locales, although now I'm focused on gunking up spawn points, we'll see if I get to 30 enemies onscreen.

Can you remove both an enemy's arms, or are they always dangerous? I was trying to see what the telegraph for a delimbed enemy is.

>crucible

Well, I came to be forged in fire. I thought mastering the best would lead to mastering the rest, but the skills don't seem that transferable when you wade into the meta.

>Chapter 12 patch

Noted. That's the one you have to remove before getting in any water? Seems this L-Jey guy on Reddit has quite a few answers. Fixed the icon issue too. Hope he doesn't delete them.

>meaning of style

I'm more of a parrier than a juggler. I thought I could go in and stand my ground, rather than run about, if my reaction speed was fast enough. Something like this (which is ironic, given my last discussion here about Sekiro). To me, stylish is no-selling attacks. Blocking, dodging, interrupting, any way to frustrate the enemy as they desperately try to level attacks that won't land. Then I've truly mastered the AI.

Panicking, whiffing, damage outside of chip damage, that causes a flinch or knocckdown, are things I try to avoid. I understand the goal is to die slower than enemies, but I want to get strong enough to dick around, rather than rush to kill everything out of fear that the longer they're alive, the more danger I'm in. Before settling on XLHGladiator, there were other videos, even from guys I respect like Miduki, where they'd juggle and wail on one human enemy, and I knew that wasn't right. When do you see one guy by himself? XLH at least had ninja dogs and purple/gold demons. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's not to play X like Y.

>You can stop him from summoning by doing a Flying Swallow with the Scythe.
What did I do with the Lunar? I remember XXY and some jumping attacks.

>Most expert players (like myself, shameless plug for my godly presence, bask in my light)
For now.

>almost subconcious understanding of where enemies are and what they'll do due to sheer gametime
That's how I'm doing it. Trying to get the camera facing forward all the time is near impossible with the amount of attacks coming in.