Ninja Gaiden Black

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:03 pm

This game was released awhile ago, but sinc eI havent' seen any discussion on it and have been goin through the game on hard thought I'd bring it up.

-The changes they made to the normal game make it a bit easier, most notably, the ability to charge an ultimate technique without any essence. The dragon boss at the end of the fire/ice cavern is a snap if you managed to get enough scarabs to get the Dabilahro from Muramasa. You can just charge the ultimate technique and hit him with the laser from a distance.

-Hard appears to be the same set up as the first Hurricane pack (rearranged the item placement, less health, new enemies, more expensive items in the shop, and additional small enemies during boss fights) but they took out the Third strike style counter technique added in the Hurricane pack. If I remember correctly, unlike the Hurricane pack, in which you had to buy the normal counters in the shop, you get them from scarab collecting.

I haven't delved in to very hard yet because I'm only half way through Hard on my copy, but I wound up playing a substantial portion of it while helping a friend through his hard spots in the latter half of the game which means I had to kill a bunch of bosses for him. Other than that, I'm disappointed that the mission mode is just new missions and the actual first and second hurricane packs are not unlockable, despite content from both being used liberally in the game.

Talk amongst yourselves....

jp · Post by jp » Sun Jan 22, 2006 2:49 am

All I know about NGB, is that I hate it that its one of the few Xbox games that has problems running on a 360. The slowdown makes it unplayable.

Hopefully they fix this issue soon.

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 3:47 am

Has anyone here beat this on hardest setting? Just curious.

As for me, this game whoops my ass. Pretty much to the point I simply don't enjoy playing it most of the time. My friend on the other hand is obsessed with playing it and he's terrible at video games. Weirdest thing. I guess if you play any one game enough...

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:56 pm

i am terrible as well, but i 1cc TMNT arcade back in the day... somehow.

now. fuck it, i get real bored dying.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:14 pm

subcons wrote:Has anyone here beat this on hardest setting? Just curious.

Supposedly the creator commented that there are maybe 10 people in the world that can beat it on the hardest setting. Heard it from OXM, so think what you will.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:19 pm

Damocles wrote:
subcons wrote:Has anyone here beat this on hardest setting? Just curious.
Supposedly the creator commented that there are maybe 10 people in the world that can beat it on the hardest setting. Heard it from OXM, so think what you will.

I heard that too. He also said the second Hurricane pack was designed to be beaten in a half hour. I'm no slouch at the game, I have a hundred + hours on teh original and 30 or so on Black and I have 3 hours on my second Hurricane pack save file... and I'm only half way through.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:14 am

Do people here find Gaiden to be hard or cheap?

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:25 am

i've only completed the original xbox gaiden on hard mode (i no longer have an xbox but i'm very tempted to get one again for this) and i found it completely fair. occasionally a little unbalanced due to the fact that some bosses are clearly more difficult than other later ones, but never cheap. i always knew why i'd died.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:32 am

One wonders if any of the beta testers are in the 10 people that can beat the game. Because as far as I am concerned if the beta testers cannot beat the game on hard, the game is flawed. I have never played any Xbox game for the record.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:13 pm

judesalmon wrote:Do people here find Gaiden to be hard or cheap?

Neither. The initial couple of bosses are perhaps too much of a challenge too early on (and are out of whack with the difficulty of the sections leading up to them), but after that I found the game to be pretty much plain sailing. It actually becomes fairly *easy* towards the end, when you can just keep on returning to the hedgerow maze bit in order to abuse those infinitely respawning ghost fish things and rack up the cash.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:01 pm

judesalmon wrote:Do people here find Gaiden to be hard or cheap?

cheap. i got bored real early. i think i made it into the 5th or 6th stage.

if a game doesn't grab me, i can't pay it any attention... it's a flaw.

i have been thinking of picking up black and giving it another go though. are the nes games included in this version too, or is just the arcade version of the first game?

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:02 pm

judesalmon wrote:Do people here find Gaiden to be hard or cheap?

It's hard, but fair. No matter what the odds are in the game, it always comes down to skill. You're never ill equipped for a fight, you just need to know how to fight. After the game beats on you for awhile, and you get used to the fighting system and it gets easier.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:10 pm

^ but DOJ just isn't the same when its 3d and an action game.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:35 pm

captain ahar wrote:^ but DOJ just isn't the same when its 3d and an action game.

You're right, it's even better.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:48 pm

Acid King wrote:
captain ahar wrote:^ but DOJ just isn't the same when its 3d and an action game.
You're right, it's even better.

dude, put your hot sister on the phone, i don't think you're hearing me correctly.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:53 pm

captain ahar wrote:
Acid King wrote:
captain ahar wrote:^ but DOJ just isn't the same when its 3d and an action game.
You're right, it's even better.
dude, put your hot sister on the phone, i don't think you're hearing me correctly.

She says she doesn't talk to pirates.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:13 pm

Acid King wrote:
captain ahar wrote:
Acid King wrote: You're right, it's even better.
dude, put your hot sister on the phone, i don't think you're hearing me correctly.
She says she doesn't talk to pirates.

that's just cold...

i've been smacked down off of my crow's nest pedestal.

this is my impression of me laying broken at your hot sister's feet

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:45 pm

captain ahar wrote: that's just cold...

i've been smacked down off of my crow's nest pedestal.

this is my impression of me laying broken at your hot sister's feet

Well, she drinks a lot.... anywho... to answer your earlier question, yeah, Black has the 3 originals on it, though you still have to collect the scarabs to get them, and the arcade game, which you have to beat it on hard to unlock. Also, if the origianl was too tough for you they have a Ninja Dog difficulty setting to make the game playable for people who complained it was too hard.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:45 pm

captain ahar wrote:this is my impression of me laying broken at your hot sister's feet

Arr...quite touching, that be. Thar be nothing more capable of lowering the Jolly Roger to half mast than a wench's failure to see the lovable fuzzy kitten underneath the scruffy, blood-stained, gunpowder-tainted exterior which simply comes with the territory of a career in buccaneering. If I had a heart, I be sure that it'd be breaking right now.

*reaches for some Kleenex*

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:50 pm

Yeah, if you lost interest in the first one due to difficulty and/or cheapness, stay clear of Black. It's definitely more so than the original.

dok_industrial · Post by **dok_industrial** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:19 am

judesalmon wrote:Do people here find Gaiden to be hard or cheap?

i never found it to be cheap, and initially it did start off pretty hard. however, my biggest complaint with ninja gaiden is that it's just kind of, well, plain.

the character, weapons, enemies, and boss design...it may all be well-balanced, technically impressive, and nicely lit and shiny, but aesthetically i found it be generic almost to the point of anonymity. if it had shown a little more panache, it probably wouldn't have taken me as long as it did to finish it.

dollar for dollar and minute for minute, i'll take devil may cry 3 instead. all of the gameplay, with scads more style and grace.

...plus dante would totally kick ryu's ass.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:03 am

I dunno... though I have DMC3, I haven't got around to playing it yet. I have played DMC and GoW, though, and NG:B seems to me to be superior to them in practically every way. Even if DMC3 proves to be superior to NG:B, I don't see how I could call NG:B anything other than a very well done, quality title.

I'm playing through Castlevania: Curse of Darkness right now. If anything, it has increased my respect for the comparatively varied and flavorful environments of NG.

EDIT: Corrected spelling of Castlevania

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:08 pm

A friend of mine and I unlocked the Master Ninja difficulty and it's pretty ridiculous. I don't know about the whole "only 10 people in the world can finish it" bit, because Very Hard was pretty hard but still manageable, so we'll see. I'll have to give it the old college try atleast.