Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 demo out on JPN PSN site...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I was browsing on the Japanese PSN site and saw that they have the cool Temco produced Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 demo for d/l. Upon going through it once with the Ryu character, you will unlock another character with an all new stage to play with. I like the fan service of jiggling breasts with this 2nd character (borrowed from the Dead or Alive series). ^_~

Take notice that when the blond busty gal gets trapped in a chain wrap around her torso, the developers were careful not to wrap the chain around her bust (but to accentuate a bit of bondage perhaps?). Must be an inside joke/nod going on at Tecmo with this subtle thing going on here. Her rack must be, at the very least, a D or DD size easily. Can easily see the infatuation with the Japanese game developers and their big boobs theme going on. It's all in good fun with the old advertising adage rings true: Sex sells. This demo is presented in 1080p format. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ZOM]

Yup, already made my 336 hit combo on "way of the master ninja" (ok I *think* it's cool, actually I don't have a clue if it's even that high a number)

However, I can't point my finger on it but there's something that bugs me combat-wise, could be minimal input lag, it's just that NG Sigma 1 felt a bit better while comboing. All in all, liking it so far and playing with Ayane is great fun...

...uhm, I wasn't referring to boob-jiggling, really!

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Does it actually do anything like give the enemies a stiffy?

[Acid King]

So Ayane is the extra character, not the big titted blonde chick? Color me disappointed.

[Strider77]

thanks for letting us (me) know this was up PC Engine Fan X

3 extra characters...... purple bitch, blond bitch, and black haired bitch.

co-op is super fun. can only play with the computer controlling the other character. but it's a blast. can not wait.

i loved 2 and this looks better and has a crap load of extra content. my ONLY gripe is the lack of blood.

the bow works differently now also. the "O" button is used for ninja stars and the right trigger works for firing the bow. you basically have 2 projectiles equipped now at all times and the bow has unlimited arrows. when you hold the right trigger you can manually aim the bow, that's nothing new but you can walk and aim at the same time.... essentially controlling like gears or any other dual stick game. as far as i can tell it's a trade of for the bow's charged obliteration bow attacks. i could find no way to charge the bow.

very excited to play the full version co-op.

[GaijinPunch]

Never played the first one, so maybe I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up PCE-FX!^_-

[Elixir]

How does the slowdown compare to NG2? Are there long loading times if you die?

Basically what I'm trying to say is that, how much is not NOT like NG2?

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Talking about load times, does it still pause the game to load mid-action?

[Ed Oscuro]

According to the ever-wise 4chan /v/ enemies are now noticably shinier and bump-mapped (or at least bump maps look more raised)...no idea if true or not.

[Strider77]

I haven't noticed any loading issues really or slowdown issues. I have seen a bit of screen tearing but not anything to get upset over or nit pick about. The visuals deffinately look better.

I played the demo alot tonight to the point where I was ready to play the game all over. So I popped in the 360 version, the PS3 version looks better for sure. My only real gripe is the lack of blood.

It seems to have less enemies on screen at one time, but the co-op missions had a lot of enemies on screen. It does not seem easier.... the 360 version was far easier to slice limbs of and get a 1 hit kill with the obliteration techniques.

They are different but it's hard to say how different until the final game is played all the way through. I like a lot of the changes except for the blood. the camera seems to be improved also.

Like I said a lot of my observations are based on a very short section of the 1st chapter, so it's hard to know about the difficulty overall. But it does not seem easier really so far, I have not beaten the final difficulty on the demo yet... master ninja.

I would say if you are a fan you'll want to play this for sure.... if you were not then you probably won't like this either unless you're problem was something minor. If you haven't played it at all. In my opinion.... you should. it's one of my favorite next gen games period. I love 3rd person action/adventure games though.

Never played the first one, so maybe I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up PCE-FX!^_-

give the demo a good try... it should at least be given a shot. the game really shines once you start to master the game... it expects you to know how to use your character fairly competently... it does not hand itself on a silver platter. also if you let the demo sit on the title screen you will get to see areas and characters you can't play.... it's good for seeing more eye candy that the game offers later on.

[Thunder Force]

It will be interesting to see if the regional differences are like in the first Sigma was, where the US demo (and ultimately the US full game) was the only version allowing full ninja decapitations, unlike the JP & EU versions without that feature. The US demo of Sigma 2 is due out next week.

I like the fan service of jiggling breasts

It's always heartening to see advanced technology utilized in positive ways that benefit mankind. Even with Itagaki gone, Tecmo seem to be fighting the good fight.

[ZOM]

It seems to have less enemies on screen at one time, but the co-op missions had a lot of enemies on screen. It does not seem easier.... the 360 version was far easier to slice limbs of and get a 1 hit kill with the obliteration techniques.

Izuna Drop was nerfed and some enemies have slightly more HP. If you want them dead while landing from Izuna Drop, be sure to weaken them a bit beforehand.

I might be in the minority here but I like the purple mist and less gore.

How does the slowdown compare to NG2? Are there long loading times if you die?
Basically what I'm trying to say is that, how much is not NOT like NG2?

No slowdowns experienced so far and I had a good 10 playthroughs but, like Strider77 already mentioned, there are only a few small sections to play in the demo. However seeing that in the teammatches are a crapload of enemies + a partner(decent AI) fighting alongside, the framerate is still like butter.
So... big improvement there.

If you continue you have what? a 2 second long black screen maybe? Really, nothing to interrupt the action for too long.

[CRI]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czFwddhsb-4

[Acid King]

The best part of that commercial is the old dude playing with a glass of wine. Classy.

[Ed Oscuro]

The best part of that commercial is the old dude playing with a glass of wine. Classy.

Wow, I just realized his room is made up like Charlton Heston's in The Omega Man. Just needs a chessboard.

After all that the CGI boobs were a letdown

[Damocles]

So am I the only one who thinks they look like bitch tits? Err...I mean to say it looks like a dude in a push-up bra. With rolls underneath.

[Elixir]

No slowdowns experienced so far and I had a good 10 playthroughs but, like Strider77 already mentioned, there are only a few small sections to play in the demo. However seeing that in the teammatches are a crapload of enemies + a partner(decent AI) fighting alongside, the framerate is still like butter.
So... big improvement there.

If you continue you have what? a 2 second long black screen maybe? Really, nothing to interrupt the action for too long.

I think you somehow forgot to mention the 30 second loading times.

[ZOM]

I think you somehow forgot to mention the 30 second loading times.

To be fair, you didn't ask anything about "one-time per stage loadings"
Personally I couldn't care less if the game needs to load 30 seconds every stage, as long as that loading has a meaning; not being interrupted mid-level or after a continue.

[Ed Oscuro]

So am I the only one who thinks they look like bitch tits? Err...I mean to say it looks like a dude in a push-up bra. With rolls underneath.

Sir I have studied this problem in depth and I wish to add your observation to my body of evidence

Yeah, nasty.

[Elixir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYQsxRu4esk

well it's no longer about killing enemies that's for sure

itagaki could never make games save his moon-like face, ng2 sucked and so will this.

[Ed Oscuro]

There's hamsters in her bra!

[evil_ash_xero]

Has the camera been improved. That camera in NG2 was my only real problem with it. It was really confusing a lot of the time.

[Skykid]

ng2 sucked.

No it didn't, silly.

Couple of things:

wheyaz all the blood?

Camera improved, but gushing, bloody dismemberment, exorcised? Thanks.

Also, I really dislike Ayane's Soul Calibur stylings, I hope the final release has a bit of costume swapping. And agreed, her titties aren't as well moulded as they could be - she looks ungainly (especially in that purple get up) and more top heavy than ever.

Put Kasumi in it for gods sake, in her original blue costume. And some blood...that gets splashed all over her thighs as she hacks those ninja up.

[Taylor]

The only good things in Ninja Gaiden 2 were cut and paste from the original Sigma. It was truly an appalling game. It seems it only needs Itagaki to say how "hardcore" the game is for everyone to chalk up all its horrible design decisions and bugs as carefully crafted features only hardcore players can appreciate.

Don’t like ambiguous blocking? Don’t like being instantly killed by enemies off camera? Don’t like being hit by projectiles off camera? Don’t like slowly swimming in a pool of fish for 20 minutes? Don’t like bosses that can instantly kill you regardless to what you do at the start of the fight? Don’t like bosses that explode and kill you? Don’t like bosses that reposition you because their attack patterns require you to be somewhere else? Don’t like getting stuck inside large enemies? Don’t like boss fights where you are in a seizure enducing ball? Don’t like watching enemies run into walls? Don’t like cameras that focus on nothing but Ryu’s shiny buttocks? Don’t like square boxes for geometry? Don’t like level design that has no regard for pacing, direction or difficulty? Don’t like tutorial scrolls you can only reach by doing what it asks you to do?

You’re not hardcore enough.

It seems like Sigma 2 actually addresses these and more, adds in new characters, new weapons, and multiplayer. Yet all people care about is the amount of red particles produced when you hit someone.

[Skykid]

It seems like Sigma 2 actually addresses these and more, adds in new characters, new weapons, and multiplayer. Yet all people care about is the amount of red particles produced when you hit someone.

I don't think it's all people care about, I'm just wondering what the need was to remove the staple bloodletting.

Despite its flaws and bugs, NG2 was a blast first time around. I for one wasn't immune to the issues, but definitely managed to get past them (as, unfortunately, I need to with a growing number of current gen releases.)
I thought it was a damn fine game though, and this revision looks really nice too.

Edit: Rather than bother to list details, the input from many shmups forum members was all recorded here first time around:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... n&start=90

They all seemed capable of getting past the rough edges. Besides, if you hated the original so much, I'm not sure even the fixes in Sigma 2 will be enough to have you enjoy it.

[Taylor]

What else to people care about? The only comments I've seen against Sigma is the lack of blood and mixed opinions on Izuna Drop. Everything else seems like positives and if even a quarter of that list is fixed I would be able to forgive it. The core combat that made up most of the game (and is mostly as it was in Sigma), especially against standard ninjas, was great. Swimming around a giant room filled with flying buggy fish for a long time and then triggering a boss that spawned inside of me... not quite so good.

Edit: I’ve played the demo through now (Warrior, Ayane and 2 missions) and it’s clearly a vast improvement. Crossing off stuff off the list above: Camera is generally a lot better, I suspect off-screen projectiles are more inaccurate but not going to load them up and compare, the new boss fight was well designed, AI wasn’t doing anything silly, new button shows you were to go is a good solution to some of their level design problems, tutorial scrolls were swapped.

Also, some enemy triggers moved back so you’re facing the right way and some Ninjas that catch you going around corners and after jumps seem removed. Not sure if that last one was completely necessary, though. Two-handed sword is a bit strong; boss managed 2 punches before I killed it on Warrior. Not too bothered about that. Missions were fun, I expected the other player would get in the way but the bot, at least, is quite good at just following you and attacking other things. You also get to do more essence charges without needing orbs because they keep things occupied. Ayane seems like she can probably do some custom combo's using her delayed projectiles. Something to plug into nicovideo in a few months.

And yeah, don't get me wrong I do miss the blood too, but I’d rather these changes. Maybe they’ll combine the two in Black and we can all buy it again!

[Skykid]

And yeah, don't get me wrong I do miss the blood too, but I’d rather these changes.

Yeah, agreed of course. But I'd rather these changes and the blood. Insignificant as it may be in the grand scheme of things, it was more fun to watch.
I'm hoping it's an option when it gets released.

Edit: Found this post by someone on the playstation.blog site:

Man i totally understand about the blood thing, Team Ninja really want this game to rise above its blood and gore assosiation. I wouldnt mind if all the games had the amonut of blood Sigma offers cause to be honest, it takes away from the other exellent features of the game like the story and the combat system.

Now if that isn't a PS3 owner desperate to make sure even the lack of blood is recognised as a marked improvement, I don't know what is.
He's talking shit anyhow.

[Strider77]

itagaki could never make games save his moon-like face, ng2 sucked and so will this.

I think you sucked at IT.... so it sucked for you.

[Elixir]

I beat NG2 on Mentor and I'm still saying it sucked. So no, I didn't suck at it, despite having to memorize pretty much every single enemy else I'd get blindsided by some rocket bullshit. The loading times every time you died, the random slowdown which would make things VERY difficult (3+ enemies on the screen), the whole crap about having to delete your 360's cache which shouldn't have existed in the first place, etc, made it a frustrating experience.

But hey let's just release a patch, SNK style~!

Of course this was before you could install things to your 360 so I'm not surprised. The game doesn't even feel like it's resource heavy, just unnecessarily slow for no reason. Somewhere Itagaki is jacking off to his characters in one hand and making sloppy code in another. If gameplay is going to suffer due to fancy models and textures the game might as well not even exist.

30 second load times, end of.

[Strider77]

it didn't suck hard enough for you NOT to play all the way through it on mentor....