Incline Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection coming to PS4/Steam/Switch/XB1

[Multidirectional]

Well, then NG 1 may have the same issue later on. When you reach the later platforming puzzles, if you don't like them or feel bored by them, you may want to skip to NG2, it has much less focus on platforming and more in combat.

Which game do you prefer yourself? Particularly when it comes to combat.

 

[Anonona]

I think NG2 has the objective best combat, but I'm particularly fond of NG1.

While similar, NG2 is much more aggressive (a lot more, cannot emphasize this enough), the de-limb system is really fun and the weapon's movesets are better than NG1 imo. But it can be exahusting, NG 2 is the embodiment of "kill your enemies faster that they can kill you". You will take damage, no two ways about it (in fact you always recover a fragment of health after each fight because you are expected to lose health), and the bullshit it throws at you is crazy at times. Some of the most intense experiences in any action games. It also has in average better bosses.

I enjoy how NG1 is more defensive, rewarding not letting openings in your defense, moving around and using the environment to keep enemies at bay, how smart and dangerous enemies are without relaying too much on bullshit like some of NG2 enemies (fucking explosive kunais, I swear to god). While the bosses are "meh" in general, one particular miniboss, the dopelganger, is fantastic, some of the best fights in action games. Feels like playing against another player, probably the best "ninja vs ninja" fights of any videogame.

So if I had to choose one, I'll go NG1 because of personal preference, but I think NG2's combat is better.

Edit: Also it depends on how many playthoughs you want and how hard you want it to be. Despite what I said about NG2, Acolyte and Warrior difficulties are easier than the NG1 equivalents. Is on Master Ninja Mode (MNM) when things go really crazy, surpassing NG1's MNM in difficulty.

 

[Multidirectional]

That does sound like I will enjoy second game more. Especially since I tend to prefer combat that rewards aggression. Switching to 2 once I get too butthurt with first one sounds like a plan then. I don't suffer from completionism so it's no big deal for me.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

I'm glad I didn't pick Hard for first run

Yeah it's not really suitable for first timers

• not only are spawn harder - thougher enemy variants from the get go - they also don't make sense from a story perspective - black spider ninjas in the first level, demonic humans in the city from the start (despite the portal to the demon world only opening in the last 1/3 of the campaign), etc
• bosses have minions helping them
• enemies have new moves, the most important of all being a counter move to Flying Swallow

This last is notable because one thing you'll quickly realise once you get Flying Swallow is that it's unapologetically busted - a move you can perform from the safety of mid-air, very fast, excellent damage and staggers almost every enemy save for a handful (also I think it can hit multiple targets, I know for certain it can do that in NG2, not sure about NG1)
Also on Normal difficulty, no enemy can counter it
It's so overpowered that the devs gave some enemies (Bosses first and foremost) invulnerability to that particular techinique - if perform that move against these enemies, you'll get the Guard Block sound instead of the usual sharp slashing sound

You'll also realise it can be a particularly tricky move to pull because it's dependant on some unclear factors like angle of your jump, distance to the enemy, etc
They greatly streamlined the controls in NG2 (just push the stick in any direction while you're in mid-air, press Y and Ryu will slash in that direction) but also gave the player the ability to perform up to 3 consecitive slashes and I belied even removed enemy counter attacks to it
Making it even more broken

IMO, this move has been one the things the series never got right - another one being Essence Charging

Reached chapter 3 ... those little annoying platforming parts again.

Platforming eases up once you reach the city
You'll still be doing it, but I found it easier and there's few sections with bottomless pits

Honestly I quite enjoyed the platforming moments in the city
In fact, I believe it's Ryu's agility above all that's the combat's secret ingredient

Combat in NG is very orientated towards groups - standing in stark contrast to DMC's 1v1 focus (which is why I don't find the lack of a manual lock-on an issue, because it's totally needless here)
And it's the player's ability to be be able to completely shift Ryu's direction between inputs/moves that make this all work
But the added parkour moves really elevate Ryu's mobility - jump on top of an enemy to jump to the nearest wall, perfrom a wall run followed by a series of wall jumps and then finnish it with a downward attack
It's also why IMO the best fights happen in the more "organic" levels - during the last stage of the game you get plenty of fight in "traditional" arenas and I found them less intense


Though obviously, this focus on group fight means indivual boss fight aren't as good
And indeed that as always been a problem in these games
In NG1 there's only 3 Bosses I would say are genuinely good - Murain in chapter 1, the Doppleganger (as seen in the video above) and the 2nd fight agaisnt Doku - the rest are either mediocre or just suck

 

[Multidirectional]

I'm a Ninja Dog now and I don't even care. I am way too shit for Normal in this game, it was more annoying than fun. After having to redo pretty large chunks of chapter 4 over and over I gave up. It was this or just stop playing altogether. Playing as Jiggly Tits now in chapter 5. Though if this difficulty proves to be devoid of fun for next few chapters I'll just skip to second game.

 

[Anonona]

Is, ok, as Hobknobling said, the game does like its bullshit. I say, enjoy it and take the chance to practice and experiment with the combat system for preparation for NG2 or even higher difficulties if you like.

if this difficulty proves to be devoid of fun for next few chapters I'll just skip to second game

or that too.

 

[Multidirectional]

I say, enjoy it and take the chance to practice and experiment with the combat system for preparation for NG2 or even higher difficulties if you like.

Does NG1 combat even prepare me for NG2 though? You made it seem like it was pretty significantly different in previous posts.

 

[sser]

Ninja Gaiden 2 has two different versions. The OG Xbox 360 one is the hyper-aggressive, absolutely balls to the walls action. The latter versions that were for the Playstation toned it down and set it more on the NG1 wavelength of more defensive-oriented combat. Fewer enemies, bigger HP bars, deadlier grabs and the like. (On Master Ninja, the grabs are instant death.) On the Xbox side of things it's mostly a 24/7 constant need to rotate right through all the survivability tricks/skills to get you as many I-frames as possible to outlast the nonstop enemy onslaught. You don't really run into that technical need until Mentor difficulty, and Master Ninja just takes all that difficulty and multiplies it by 10 to the point that some people never beat the first fight of the game.

I think the game should be perfectly manageable on normal difficulty. Ninja Gaiden 1 has a much harder "normal", IMO. Conversely, NG2 on Master Ninja is the hardest game I've ever played, at least in my experience.

 

[Multidirectional]

By the way one of the things I found to be pretty irritating was how essence super charging works. Or rather doesn't work when you are close enough to the enemy, as it just does regular heavy attack instead. Also very often when I do charge it up I still get interrupted right before I can do the attack, usually by a ranged attack from off screen. Hate shit like this.

 

[Anonona]

Does NG1 combat even prepare me for NG2 though? You made it seem like it was pretty significantly different in previous posts.

Yes. The combat system itself is very similar, but the delimb system alone just changes how the combat works enterely, without mentioning the enemy AI. NG2 you can cut enemy limbs with certain attacks, setting them up for an execution. And the more aggresive you play, the more passive the enemy is and viceversa. So optimally combat revolves around delimbing enemies for CC and fast kills, and you are expected to be on the offensive as much as possible. Plus, the movesets of weapons is greatly increased and more powerful to promote the aggresive gameplay, but the combat system is technically the same, so if you get used to NG1 combat you can pretty much transition to NG2 and only focus on experimenting and learning the new systems.

THough that was NG 2 original, I think Sigma is greatly changed so perhaps I'm wrong. Sorry in advance if that is the case.

edit: wrote "aren't" instead of "are" on the second line, my bad.

 

[Multidirectional]

Already died twice in chapter 6 to a tentacle boss that swallows Miss Tits. Looks like becoming a filthy dog was a right move for a useless noob like me. Few more chapters later I'll probably get stuck on some fight.

 

[Roguey]

Maybe I should've picked lowest difficulty then.

I played it on hero mode and have no regrets.

If you die enough times it'll ask if you want to drop down to ninja dog mode which makes it easier.

 

[Multidirectional]

Maybe I should've picked lowest difficulty then.

I played it on hero mode and have no regrets.

If you die enough times it'll ask if you want to drop down to ninja dog mode which makes it easier.

I already am a dog. Is hero mode even easier?

 

[Roguey]

Maybe I should've picked lowest difficulty then.

I played it on hero mode and have no regrets.

If you die enough times it'll ask if you want to drop down to ninja dog mode which makes it easier.

I already am a dog. Is hero mode even easier?

When your health is low enough you get auto-block/dodge for 1 minute. If you get healed enough it turns off and activates again if your health is damaged enough to that point again.

 

[Multidirectional]

When your health is low enough you get auto-block/dodge for 1 minute. If you get healed enough it turns off and activates again if your health is damaged enough to that point again.

Oh that would be a little too much for me then. Ninja Dog suits me better.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yep, already getting pissed off in chapter 7. Saved before the skeleton dragon boss with no healing items available and the fact that I have to keep doing that annoying platforming every time to get back to him is no fun at all. I keep dropping down because I'm so shit at it. I'm sure there are people who actually love this platforming stuff and maybe even wish there was more of it, but to me this is just garbage gameplay. Even if I manage to finish this game I think there's about zero chance I'll ever want to replay on higher difficulties.

 

[Yuber]

Even if I manage to finish this game I think there's about zero chance I'll ever want to replay on higher difficulties.

Sad.
Mastering this game and beating highest difficulty in NG2 was highly satisfying.

 

[Multidirectional]

Kept dying to that skeleton dragon and didn't feel like backtracking through that annoying level to buy potions so decided to try NG2 for a bit instead. Just finished chapter 3 and I am definitely having way more fun with it than first game. So I think I'll just stick to it. Combat flows way better for me and visuals are noticeably nicer. Normal in NG2 does seem to be on the easy side, but probably will get harder later. At least I'm not getting annoyed playing it like NG1. And maybe I'm just imagining shit because I like the rest of the game way better but even the camera seems to be improved. I can actually see myself replaying this on Hard, at least based on what I've seen so far.

Is NG3 much worse than this? I think I've read that it's supposed to bad somewhere. But then again, I've also seen people claim that NG2 is a lot worse than first one.

 

[Anonona]

Is NG3 much worse than this?

Can't say for sure if it is worse as I haven't played it myself, but the consensus is that vanilla NG3 is pretty bad, while Razor's Edge, an improved version, is decent but not as good as 1 and 2.

But then again, I've also seen people claim that NG2 is a lot worse than first one

I consider them equally good, though I can think of a few reasons why some may feel that way.

Putting aside tastes about combat and level design, NG 2 does has an issue that is noticeable in later levels, and is that it had a very rough development, so it was rushed. Some of the later levels, particularly from 7-8 onward (depending on who you ask) are not as good as the first half of the game, and there aren't that many new enemy types in harder difficulties, unlike NG1 which introduced new enemies with each increase. The difficulty balance in harder difficulties themselves are kind of wonky, specially on Sigma, probably due to a lack of time to refine them. It also worked pretty bad on original hardware, very low and unstable framerate, specially in certain key fights.

But overall, except by the bad performance on release, those issues really aren't so bad that they hurt the overall experience. It is really fun game.

 

[Multidirectional]

Man what a difference these boss checkpoints make. Died a bunch of times to the big fuck in chapter 4 but wasn't annoyed one bit because I'm just thrown straight back into the fight without having to redo a bunch of boring steps to get to it. When I'm free of annoyances like that and can just purely focus on the fight it doesn't matter if a boss takes many tries, I'll never even have a thought about quitting. I might take a break, but I will keep returning. Getting knocked about by Statue of Liberty at the moment. I managed to beat that Alexei faggot on first try but ended up having no heal items left and more than third of my health bar in the red for this fight. Did not expect another boss right after.

 

[sser]

Kept dying to that skeleton dragon and didn't feel like backtracking through that annoying level to buy potions so decided to try NG2 for a bit instead. Just finished chapter 3 and I am definitely having way more fun with it than first game. So I think I'll just stick to it. Combat flows way better for me and visuals are noticeably nicer. Normal in NG2 does seem to be on the easy side, but probably will get harder later. At least I'm not getting annoyed playing it like NG1. And maybe I'm just imagining shit because I like the rest of the game way better but even the camera seems to be improved. I can actually see myself replaying this on Hard, at least based on what I've seen so far.

Is NG3 much worse than this? I think I've read that it's supposed to bad somewhere. But then again, I've also seen people claim that NG2 is a lot worse than first one.

The hard part of NG2 on "normal" will be the bosses, though I think you're playing the Sigma version which tunes them slightly differently. There are some in the Xbox version that are unironically broken bullshit. Some are almost trollingly bad at how they punish the player even for winning...

But these games are hard in general. I would not lose spirit. You can bumble your way to winning on normal difficulties if you just keep at it.

Spoiler

However, I used to come home at times and find controllers in the trash, a sign my roommate had been playing NG2 .

 

[Multidirectional]

What the fuck are these blue fish in chapter 6... This is some sadistic shit.

 

[Roguey]

What the fuck are these blue fish in chapter 6... This is some sadistic shit.

The ghost fish show up near the end of the first Ninja Gaiden, absolutely aggravating.

Not far enough in 2 yet to see if they're more tolerable there but I never could figure out a way to get through them without losing loads of health even with following the in-game lore suggestion to use the flail.

 

[Multidirectional]

Got to chapter 8. Those ghost fish seemed like a less of a problem today. Chapter 6 still my least favorite so far though and that dragon boss fight sucked. Not in a hard way because beat him on first attempt, just boring. Couldn't figure it out how to hit him with melee so just stood there blasting away with cannon at it until it went down. Next chapter was way more fun and enjoyed both boss fights. The big skeleton fuck also went down on first try but nonetheless was way more fun than the dragon in water and the final chapter boss took 5 tries. Beat him with greatsword, switched from flails on fourth attempt, success on fifth. Love comboing with those flails vs regular dudes though.

 

[Roguey]

Not far enough in 2 yet to see if they're more tolerable there but I never could figure out a way to get through them without losing loads of health even with following the in-game lore suggestion to use the flail.

Yeah, these ghost fish are far easier than they were in the first game where killing a batch would automatically respawn another group of fish right on top of you ad infinitum, making you hit and run your way through them. The only problem here is that there's no lore note telling you to use the flail, they expected you to have finished the first game and already know.