Ninja Gaiden II - Gen. Discussion & Info - No Longer A X360 Exclusive Title

gametrailers review is up. They gave it an 8.4 (whatever that means) saying that the core combat is still awesome, but there are too many ill-advised design choices that render the game cheap and less a test of skill than luck. He even says at one point that it's almost better to watch than play. I'm reminded of their FFXII review where they said the game simply wasn't much fun to play, but then gave it an 8+ score to appease fans. I still definitely look forward to renting this game, but too many reports of the game being cheap have made me decide not to pick up my preorder.
 
[quote name='Mr Durand Pierre']gametrailers review is up. They gave it an 8.4 (whatever that means) saying that the core combat is still awesome, but there are too many ill-advised design choices that render the game cheap and less a test of skill than luck. He even says at one point that it's almost better to watch than play. I'm reminded of their FFXII review where they said the game simply wasn't much fun to play, but then gave it an 8+ score to appease fans. I still definitely look forward to renting this game, but too many reports of the game being cheap have made me decide not to pick up my preorder.[/QUOTE]


It's a shame that they don't back up their assertions with anything useful. Enemies attack from off screen, unblockables, no "flashing weak spots" (lol) on bosses-- these are all things that were in the first one and were totally fine once you learned how to deal with them.

Suddenly the "challenge" of the first one is now "cheapness." I refuse to believe that until I play through the game myself.
 
[quote name='Apossum']It's a shame that they don't back up their assertions with anything useful. Enemies attack from off screen, unblockables, no "flashing weak spots" (lol) on bosses-- these are all things that were in the first one and were totally fine once you learned how to deal with them.

Suddenly the "challenge" of the first one is now "cheapness." I refuse to believe that until I play through the game myself.[/QUOTE]

Exactly.
 
The best part was when they demonstrated the "cheapness"-- by standing still in front of an enemy without blocking or anything. :rofl: give me a fucking break.
 
[quote name='Apossum']It's a shame that they don't back up their assertions with anything useful. Enemies attack from off screen, unblockables, no "flashing weak spots" (lol) on bosses-- these are all things that were in the first one and were totally fine once you learned how to deal with them.

Suddenly the "challenge" of the first one is now "cheapness." I refuse to believe that until I play through the game myself.[/QUOTE]

The videos still look great and in most games you can learn to circumvent the cheap parts with enough skill. But a fair amount of critics who were big fans of the first have gone forward to say that this one is deffinitely cheaper (yet still an easier game on the whole).
 
Guys i'm telling you. If you enjoyed the difficulty and gameplay of #1 or sigma, pick this up. It is just as good if not better. The weapons are awesome and so are the moves. You will not be disapointed.
 
[quote name='Mr Durand Pierre']The videos still look great and in most games you can learn to circumvent the cheap parts with enough skill. But a fair amount of critics who were big fans of the first have gone forward to say that this one is deffinitely cheaper (yet still an easier game on the whole).[/QUOTE]

nothing I've read in any review so far leads me to believe the writers are skilled players who care about learning the game. They don't even consider limb chopping as part of the combat system and I had no idea whether the karma score system was in or out (until some gaffers cleared it up for me.) These people are writing shitty reviews. They whine about difficulty for 10 pages, then neglect to give actual hard info about the game play. Essentially they're saying "naw, it's too hard, you wouldn't like it" to their readers in lieu of any descriptions. I don't care whether the game's difficulty delays them from rushing their reviews out the door or not. Anyway, I could on forever about the flaws of the gaming press...

Cheap = the game saying fuck off and punishing you mercilessly without letting you do anything about it ever. Like a big rock falls on Ryu and takes away 2/3rds of his energy every time, with no recourse. Or it surprises you with something highly unintuitive. Difficult = it takes skill to get past and probably more skill to get past it gracefully.

The exploding boss would definitely be cheap the first time, since that just doesn't happen ever in the game. Other than that, I haven't heard of anything legitimately cheap. Some reviewers have cited off screen attacks/projectiles as "cheap." well, if team ninja didn't completely fuck up, there are audio cues for these things, as there were in NG/black/sigma. block, jump, or roll...not too difficult.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm not whining about bad scores--the game could still suck. :lol:
 
[quote name='Apossum']nothing I've read in any review so far leads me to believe the writers are skilled players who care about learning the game. They don't even consider limb chopping as part of the combat system and I had no idea whether the karma score system was in or out (until some gaffers cleared it up for me.) These people are writing shitty reviews. They whine about difficulty for 10 pages, then neglect to give actual hard info about the game play. Essentially they're saying "naw, it's too hard, you wouldn't like it" to their readers in lieu of any descriptions. I don't care whether the game's difficulty delays them from rushing their reviews out the door or not. Anyway, I could on forever about the flaws of the gaming press...

Cheap = the game saying fuck off and punishing you mercilessly without letting you do anything about it ever. Like a big rock falls on Ryu and takes away 2/3rds of his energy every time, with no recourse. Or it surprises you with something highly unintuitive. Difficult = it takes skill to get past and probably more skill to get past it gracefully.

The exploding boss would definitely be cheap the first time, since that just doesn't happen ever in the game. Other than that, I haven't heard of anything legitimately cheap. Some reviewers have cited off screen attacks/projectiles as "cheap." well, if team ninja didn't completely fuck up, there are audio cues for these things, as there were in NG/black/sigma. block, jump, or roll...not too difficult.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm not whining about bad scores--the game could still suck. :lol:[/quote]

I agree completely. The problem with these game journalists is that they aren't really journalists. They didn't go to college and major in journalism. These people aren't professional writers. That's why their writing is so shitty.

This is also why we see most reviews with the same format. Graphics are good, sound is good, gameplay is good, etc. There rarely are intelligent critiques of these games.

I just thought of something else as well. These reviewers aren't playing the game in the same environment as we are. They got the game and they have to beat it in a certain amount of time because they had to put up their review at a certain time. These people aren't playing the games in ideal conditions, so they probably are getting more angry then we are if they get stuck at a boss because the clock isn't stopping.
 
[quote name='Moxio']Are you guys playing the Jap demo or something?[/QUOTE]

I imagine most people are either playing the Japanese Demo or have alternate ways of getting it.
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, or asked, but I just read that the game adopts the DMC3/4 mechanic where you can go back and select chapters. I already knew about the item carry overs, but if you can go back and select chapters, getting more healing items and collecting all the cool extras, I see no reason why I shouldn't get it.

EDIT: Is it "hard" in the sense of challenging or hard in the sense of Nintendo hard?
 
[quote name='Moxio']Are you guys playing the Jap demo or something?[/QUOTE]


I'm not playing anything.

[quote name='KingBroly']I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, or asked, but I just read that the game adopts the DMC3/4 mechanic where you can go back and select chapters. I already knew about the item carry overs, but if you can go back and select chapters, getting more healing items and collecting all the cool extras, I see no reason why I shouldn't get it.

EDIT: Is it "hard" in the sense of challenging or hard in the sense of Nintendo hard?[/QUOTE]


It's challenging, but not cheap. If you play it a whole lot and make an effort to learn the game, it pays off.
 
I kinda know how Ninja Gaiden's difficulty was, but I played Sigma. That's kinda why I want the demo, so I can get used to the controller.
 
I'm having trouble getting the demo to download on my newly created Japanese account. I'm not sure if I have the correct info in the city and address boxes. Otherwise I'm fairly confident I did it right. All of the account creation guides I can find don't have the city or address information. Any suggestions or links to a better account creation guide? I'm anxious to try it out but I'm going crazy trying to get it to download.
 
The second boss is kicking my ass, within a second half my health is gone. That is playing it on the easy difficulty. Unfortunately I don't have one of those viles that brings you back to life upon dying either so this is quite a tough cookie.
 
I had no problem with the second boss. Dodge, dodge, dodge. Get behind him. Combo. Repeat.


These levels are so damn long.
 
I finally got a hold of the demo.

This game is bad ass.

I can't wait to pick this game up on Wednesday when I get on my lunch break.
 
[quote name='Razzuel']Damn you guys already have the game? How did you pull that off?[/QUOTE]


They went on to a bit torrent site, downloaded a leaked version of the game, burnt it to a DVD disc, and are now playing it on a modded Xbox 360.
 
[quote name='Apossum']They went on to a bit torrent site, downloaded a leaked version of the game, burnt it to a DVD disc, and are now playing it on a modded Xbox 360.[/quote]

:D
 
[quote name='Apossum']They went on to a bit torrent site, downloaded a leaked version of the game, burnt it to a DVD disc, and are now playing it on a modded Xbox 360.[/quote]

Yeah I realized that and if I may, I think that is completely fucked up.
 
[quote name='Razzuel']Yeah I realized that and if I may, I think that is completely fucked up.[/QUOTE]

piracy is a perverse and often baffling thing.
 
I still don't understand why they haven't given us the demo here in the US...at this point I guess it doesn't matter since I have the game pre-ordered but still...it sucks. I can't wait to play this!
 
damn you gamestop... looked and it said the game was shipping NOW, but now its gone back to Pre-order Ships 6/3/2008
 
[quote name='guyver2077']my amazon order has a delivery estimate of june 10th.. wtf!![/QUOTE]

Didn't see much of a point to preorder this one, shouldn't be too hard to track down. So the few reviews up are saying the game is cheap and the camera sucks........... which were the exact same complaints the first got back on the xbox and I had no problem with either . So nuts to them, i'm buying day one. Shame about it being the last for now, seems to be one of the few action series i've really gotten into lately.
 
I basically only pre-ordered it because it was the last day to get in on the $10 gc they are offering.. plus i had amazon certs to use
 
For those that can't wait and tried to download the Japanese demo, just FYI, its working now. I'm almost done downloading it so for sure it works.
 
[quote name='JohnLa101']For those that can't wait and tried to download the Japanese demo, just FYI, its working now. I'm almost done downloading it so for sure it works.[/QUOTE]

Cool, thanks for the heads up.
 
demo not coming out according to major nelson, everywhere BUT the US and Canada

Edit: So this is the edit where I get to feel like an ass. As many of you know, I never usually post information about a demo until it is actually available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Well, with this post I went against that little voice in my head and gave you a heads up. I just received an email that proves I should have listened to that voice. It turns out the demo will NOT be available in Canada and the U.S. (in addition to India and Germany as noted above.) I don’t know when a demo will be available for the other regions, but hopefully it will be by the end of the week (as originally stated.) My apologies. You can be sure that I am going to have a a few conversations with a some people about this.
Click to expand...


http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/06/02/ninja-gaiden-ii-demo-update.aspx



:bomb:
 
[quote name='zewone']You act as if you would play it past the first level.[/quote]
I'd put a good 4 hours in it before never touching it again.

Like the first one.
 
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