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Ninja Gaiden II Impressions + Itagaki Insanity

Mr Jared

Member
The embargo for Ninja Gaiden II information just lifted and so here are Scooter's impressions from the latest build of the game and a massive interview with Itagaki

http://www.gametap.com/home/read/article/3369

It's almost like the difference between the first Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive 4; the key gameplay remains the same, and you can really enjoy fighting and winning, but we're also throwing out a bunch of visual stimulation so that you can look cool and enjoy doing it while playing. So if I were to think about it that way, I would call this game "Ninja Gaiden 4," in terms of how far advanced it is over the first one.

I say that we now have four levels of difficulty. The lowest we have is the path of the acolyte, it's really something I have designed for people who have not played a lot of action games or aren't necessarily very good at action games; they would be able to get going and play well and get really far. In that sense, it's even easier, or more approachable than Ninja Dog difficulty in Ninja Gaiden Black; it's very important to give different difficulties for different skill levels.

GameTap: Halo 3 has a full suite of community features, like video and screenshot functionality. Team Ninja and Bungie are friends, so are any of Halo 3's community features going to make their way to Ninja Gaiden II?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think the saved films feature of Halo 3 is pretty cool, where you can save replays of your games. You need to remember that we come from the area of fighting games, so we've worked on replay technology for over 10 years. We've heard from fans who've played Halo 3 that they would like to see a similar thing in Ninja Gaiden II, so I'm considering how we might be able to implement that.

Also, this sounds new to me-

Finally, while Ryu is fighting these ninjas, I notice the new health system, where part of Ryu's health bar actually regenerates when he's out of combat à la Halo (though like Halo, excessive damage will go past the "regenerative" portion and affect the more finite part of his health bar).

You say you want MOAR?

- Shacknews Impressions
- IGN Preview
 

Skilletor

Member
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!


Ninja Gaiden 4?

....HAHAHAHAHA!

That being said, sounds awesome. First day.

Whew. Man.
 

WrikaWrek

Banned
emag_ninjagaiden2_xbox360_012508_1_e3bf2.jpg



Heaven
 

Kuroyume

Banned
GameTap: Halo 3 has a full suite of community features, like video and screenshot functionality. Team Ninja and Bungie are friends, so are any of Halo 3's community features going to make their way to Ninja Gaiden II?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think the saved films feature of Halo 3 is pretty cool, where you can save replays of your games. You need to remember that we come from the area of fighting games, so we've worked on replay technology for over 10 years. We've heard from fans who've played Halo 3 that they would like to see a similar thing in Ninja Gaiden II, so I'm considering how we might be able to implement that.

:O
 

pswii60

Member
All of this is pointing to how Ninja Gaiden II is being made with a wider audience in mind. Ninja Gaiden is considered one of the best action games ever made, but it has a brutal learning curve; most people who didn't know what they were getting into got completely stomped on by the very first boss in the game. Itagaki wants more people to experience Ninja Gaiden II, and has taken a more serious look at the varying difficulty levels and their balancing to make it so.

Suddenly I'm interested in the game again. NG was way too hard for pansy-assed gamers like me. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was too hard. I even bough NGS on PS3 to give it another go, but still got my ass handed to me.

So glad they're making this game more accessible.
 

Skilletor

Member
Tomonobu Itagaki: If this were an entirely combo-based game, and that was the only point to it, then you might have a system like that. But the point is that Ryu is going up against his opponent, and he wants to fight fairly and in a way that befits his character. You can imagine that if we implemented such a system, then Ryu can always make the first hit with his quickest weapon, which would stop the enemy's attack or put him in a defensive posture. Then you switch to a more powerful weapon to finish him off--that kind of takes the fun out of the combat. It'd be like a fighting game where you do a quick ninja dash to stop the guy and then do a pile driver to finish him off. That kind of breaks the balance of the game.

I agree with this.
 

JavaMava

Member
aww man that screen shot looks awesome. The severed limbs are so delicious.... also I bet Ninja Gaiden doesn't cry.
 

QVT

Fair-weather, with pride!
After playing the DMC4 demo and seeing that it's still not my kind of game, I count the days until Ninja Gaiden 4.
 

Skilotonn

xbot xbot xbot xbot xbot
I have been jonesing for new NG2 info for so long - and I had no idea that there was an embargo even, so hopefully there will be a steady stream of info coming...

Off to read about my king of action...
 

MCD

Junior Member
Kyoufu said:
Wow so even after Ninja Gaiden 4 they STILL don't have real-time weapon switching?

For Shane.
as much as I'd like to have real time weapon switching, NG will turn into a combo centric game and this isn't the point of the game.
 

Prine

Banned
Tried so hard to like DMC4 demo, but it felt so slow and clumsy. Its all on Ninja Gaiden 4 now,.

Halo inspiration is awesome, the film recording is a big, big step forward for any games that require skill and timing.
 

Mr Jared

Member
I didn't want to put the screenshots in the OP since they're so huge, but I think these are the first shots to actually get me excited about the game. They're just totally insane.

Edit: Wait. Don't want this to turn into another DMC vs NG clusterfuck :X
 

Zophar

Member
So when is this expected to come out? DMC4 will last me for months I'm sure but I'll need a fix after that, no doubt. Then, it'll probably hold me until God of War III, which will hold me until Heavenly Sword 2, which will in turn likely hold me until Devil May Cry 5.


I may not need to play another genre again.
 

slade

Member
Tomonobu Itagaki: If this were an entirely combo-based game, and that was the only point to it, then you might have a system like that. But the point is that Ryu is going up against his opponent, and he wants to fight fairly and in a way that befits his character. You can imagine that if we implemented such a system, then Ryu can always make the first hit with his quickest weapon, which would stop the enemy's attack or put him in a defensive posture. Then you switch to a more powerful weapon to finish him off--that kind of takes the fun out of the combat. It'd be like a fighting game where you do a quick ninja dash to stop the guy and then do a pile driver to finish him off. That kind of breaks the balance of the game.

That's the lamest justification for non weapon switching I've ever heard. It even trumps his old excuse of Xbox not having enough RAM so they couldn't put active weapon switching in.
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Y2Kev said:
You bloodnuts are wacko.
dantetar.jpg


That's the lamest justification for non weapon switching I've ever heard. It even trumps his old excuse of Xbox not having enough RAM so they couldn't put active weapon switching in.
maybe just maybe, he doesnt want that shit in his game?
 

MCD

Junior Member
Prine said:
Tried so hard to like DMC4 demo, but it felt so slow and clumsy. Its all on Ninja Gaiden 4 now,.

Halo inspiration is awesome, the film recording is a big, big step forward for any games that require skill and timing.
wait what? NG2 will have that? :OOO
 

Zophar

Member
slade said:
That's the lamest justification for non weapon switching I've ever heard. It even trumps his old excuse of Xbox not having enough RAM so they couldn't put active weapon switching in.
It sort of makes sense though. If Devil May Cry is analagous to Marvel VS Capcom 2, then Ninja Gaiden is Street Fighter 3. NG is more about finesse than anything.
 
McDragon said:
as much as I'd like to have real time weapon switching, NG will turn into a combo centric game and this isn't the point of the game.
I dunno, Ninja Gaiden actually has a combo counter.
 

BuddyC

Member
I think regeneration is just for The Path of the Acolyte, which is the easiest difficulty level.

In case anyone cares (and doesn't mind my posting), I also got to see the game and chat with Itagaki. I even came away with some exclusive gameplay footage!

One of the dudes who had lost an arm rushed Ryu and tackled him to the ground. Then, with his gaping wound still squirting blood, he attempted to drive a sword through Ryu's neck with his one remaining hand.

In response, Itagaki did what any good ninja would do. He threw a giant fireball that blew the one-armed bandit across the stage and left his corpse in flames.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50981
 

Darkpen

Banned
Finally, while Ryu is fighting these ninjas, I notice the new health system, where part of Ryu's health bar actually regenerates when he's out of combat à la Halo (though like Halo, excessive damage will go past the "regenerative" portion and affect the more finite part of his health bar).
Hmmm... that sounds more a long the lines of a fighting game than Halo, I'd say (I think it was MvC that did that, wasn't it?), or I'd even go so far as to make reference to Resistance.

but lol @ NG 4. No, seriously, we must call it that now.
 

Mr Jared

Member
RiZ III said:
I still think Sigma looks better visually than NG2 >_> but still day fucking 1.

Eh, graphically speaking I'm not really impressed with either one. Everything Team Ninja has done this generation has looked like Xbox HD. For Dead or Alive the excuse was the style of the characters and I can understand that ... I expect Ninja Gaiden to at least push more for realism. It's definitely a much more serious game.

I'm with you though, day one confirmed. It could look like a PSOne game but if it still played like Ninja Gaiden, I'm in.
 

kbear

Member
i might have to cop a 360 for this... the limb removing looks so satisfying

One of the dudes who had lost an arm rushed Ryu and tackled him to the ground. Then, with his gaping wound still squirting blood, he attempted to drive a sword through Ryu's neck with his one remaining hand.

In response, Itagaki did what any good ninja would do. He threw a giant fireball that blew the one-armed bandit across the stage and left his corpse in flames.

................................................ :lol
 

beerbelly

Banned
RiZ III said:
I still think Sigma looks better visually than NG2 >_>

Same. Sigma looks to have higher poly models and better lighting, judging from its screenshots. But I guess NGII's characters may or may not have slighly lower polygons because of its interactive limbs. Can anyone confirm whether you can slice off limbs to any degree or is it pre-determined cuts?
 
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