sser
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2011
- Messages
- 1,866,713
I really like the DS games, but I'd have to agree to disagree with you. I actually think NG gives a better feeling of progress and skill. It's just that skill isn't shown in a neat stat table. It's literally your skill at the game. Add in life, weapon, and magic upgrades, even on MN when you go back to the earlier areas late game you can rape face with relative impunity. That's not to say you can't also get your ass handed to you if you slip up a couple times in a row, however. Of course, if you're talking about NG2, your view is more understandable, as I don't think you can even go back to earlier areas in that game. Ninja Gaiden: Black is the best, imo. Emphasis on reflexes goes down as you get better and study the enemies and learn their "tells." Combat in general is faster and more fluid. And there's also no cheesing.
Absolutely I agree that DS is greater than the sum of its parts, but in terms of combat, I feel NG is untouched. Anyway, it's really academic, I like both games a lot.
Me and a friend had this exact conversation. We both realized, as we played through the first Ninja Gaiden game, that there is a subtle rise in player skill as you play.
I know that sounds like an obvious thing to occur in any game, but it's just different with the NG's. The games are like those sensai tropes where you're just a grasshopper with some chopsticks hopelessly swatting at flies, but you're destined to be plucking them out of the air, wings still beating. The level of difference between starting and ending those games is a player-skill chasm. As you said, when you first play those games it just shits down your throat. 20 hours later nothing game-wise has really changed -- enemies still hurt, you still have all the same moves, maybe a few added weapons here and there -- but now you're kicking ass. The game is still hellaciously fast, but everything has... slowed down. It's odd to describe, but it feels fucking great. I love games that give a genuine sense of accomplishment and for action games Ninja Gaiden is the best for it.