Official Ninja Gaiden II Thread.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

Hahaha You expected a banner didn't you!? Well,Ninja Gaiden II doesn't need a fucking banner!



Apprerantly there should be a demo out soon. So stay up late kids. And no fucking shitty ass graphic talk either! I don't give fuck what (insert number)p NGII is running at.



Apparently it does need a banner.

[demi]

[archie4208]

img

Terrible game.

[demi]

[pilonv1]

BIG UP

[Smooth Groove]

Can't wait to play the definitive version of DMC4.



PC gaming

[Mr. Gundam]

The Stranger, of all places, posted some NGII impressions on their blog.

http://slog.thestranger.com/

Last week, MTV’s Multiplayer blog posted a game reviewer’s bill of rights. It coincided with some recent, “exclusive” game reviews that had gone up days before the competition, which were either rushed reviews or done with early, unfinished product. Movie critics don’t review partial edits, and music critics don’t tackle unmastered records, so I agree that it’s dumb for games sites to get stoked about claiming first dibs. Other than that, do readers really need to be hit over the head with the fact that some reviews aren’t up to snuff? Have these people never picked up SPIN or seen a movie review on Good Morning America?

But if I’d gotten the idea to write a game review bill of rights, it’d have one rule: Games that are frustratingly, yell-at-your-TV difficult on the “easiest” setting should go straight into the toilet. That rule is brought to you by Ninja Gaiden 2, which hits stores tomorrow; I’m only six or seven hours into the game on its easiest difficulty, so don’t call this a review. I’d be further in the game, but I got sick of playing it.

This is not the Contra-meets-throwing-stars of Ninja Gaiden from the ‘80s. The series came back years ago in 3D as a Devil May Cry-style slasher; run around and kill beasties with swords. Unlike many button-mashers, you’ll die if you don’t block, but otherwise, you’re still pretty much slapping buttons as you tear through dozens of creatures at a time. NG2 is more expansion than sequel, because it plays almost exactly the same as the last one. More weapons, that’s about it. Still, if you’re a glutton for silly violence, NG2 works harder than its bloody precursor. Since each of the eight weapons has its own huge (and impressive-looking) set of kill moves, you have to wonder what sick sonuvabitch was hired to motion-capture zillions of death shots. And there’s no question whether or not your enemies are actually dead: cut limbs off of aliens Black Knight-style, then finish them by crushing your foot on one half of their body and your sword on the other. Also, in the so-stupid-it’s-awesome category, I’ve already had to fight a dog with knives attached to its legs and a sword gripped between its teeth. Man is no longer the deadliest game.

But I can’t see what’s happening half of the time. If the game tore buildings’ roofs off and held the camera birds-eye style (like God of War), I might know what’s attacking me from all directions. As it stands, NG2 has a thing for tight corridors, which means this game’s difficulty often comes from manually adjusting the camera and wondering who’s hitting me from where. Stupid. You’re asking us to not question why we’re playing a barely updated sequel; obscuring my view with bad camera angles doesn’t help your cause.

On the easiest difficulty, most of the fights are tolerably challenging—an improvement over the last one’s punishment (now you auto-heal between fights, for example, which is welcome). But this morning, I spent nearly an hour fighting a boss over and over and over; not because figuring out how to kill the thing was hard, but because it would mow me down with instant-kill moves all of the time, which I might’ve avoided if, again, I could see what was going on. This kind of “challenge” is not worth $60. To be fair, there’s a gaming core that loves this sort of violent, difficult, done-to-death material, and I don’t think camera issues will kill it for them. Me, I still prefer God of War’s mix of shameless violence, high production values, well-scaled challenge, and decent attempts at plot. I’ll soldier on and post updated NG2 impressions next week—does the challenge eventually even out? Does the dumbass plot, complete with an androgynous Edward Scissorhands who likes to stroke the Statue of Liberty, become less dumbass? My guesses so far: No, no.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

What the fuck. Stop talking about DMC4.

gogo distantmantra.

[Grecco]

Spawn Meets Gundam confirmed. Shit Game

Cant wait for the true stylish action game.

[demi]

WOW LOOK AT THOSE 720P VISUALS

[Beezy]

The Stranger, of all places, posted some NGII impressions on their blog.

SMH at the God of War mention.

[Narag]

(Image removed from quote.)

Such a fantastic boss fight.


Oh yeah getting NG2 tomorrow.

[Phoenix Dark]

more like ninja sameden

[Mr. Gundam]

The Stranger, of all places, posted some NGII impressions on their blog.

SMH at the God of War mention.

The Stranger is not a gaming site. It's Seattle's weekly alternative newspaper.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

WOW LOOK AT THOSE 720P VISUALS

Hush you.

The Stranger, of all places, posted some NGII impressions on their blog.

SMH at the God of War mention.

I know. Horrible.

more like ninja sameden

STFU. Go look at some cheeseburger porn.

And it looks like no demo tonight/tomorrow. 

[Vizzys]

picking this up tomorrow

[muckhole]

picking this up tomorrow

Is it confirmed in stores tomorrow?

[AdmiralViscen]

Probably not.

[demi]

If it's confirmed in-store tomorrow, I'll use my free government money to buy it

woot government

[Bildi]

OP is awesome.  That's how you do an official thread.  Unfortunately I won't be getting this for a while as I have other gaming duties.

As long as there's a button to center the camera, this game will be fuck-awesome.  People need to stop saying NG needs a camera like God of War with its My Little Pony difficulty level.

[Himu]

NINJA GAYDEN

I AM GOING TO RENT

[theetrin]

I've been playing the JP demo, and I really like it. It's a shame the demo is only on Acolyte, because it is WAAAAY too easy. I'm not sure if the health recharge is as forgiving in higher difficulty settings, but I lost about half my health in a battle, and 98% of it recharged at the end of the battle.

That said, enemies are MUCH more merciless now. I was getting hit a lot more than I ever did in the old Ninja Gaiden, but I was gaining it all back at the end of the battle, provided I beat them fast enough.

The obliteration techs (where you tap Y near a wounded foe to chop their heads off) was pretty neat. I appreciated the fact that enemies still come after you even after you chop their arm or leg off. Some of them do some pretty scary suicide moves if you leave them alone, too.

The claws and the lunar staff are pretty awesome and both use X and Y equally, but I found myself using Y almost exclusively when using the dragon sword. Using X really doesn't seem that useful. Especially considering you can just mash Y to obliterate an enemy AND the flying swallow uses Y, I saw little point in using X other than to let the enemies beat the crap out of me. (Also, the claws are so fast, the camera had a hard time keeping up. I actually found myself doing a huge combo off screen once as the camera stupidly stared at the tatami floor )

Also, save spots are more frequent, and can each heal you a single time before you save. The game seems FAR more linear too. I didn't much like the backtracking in NG1, so I'm quite happy they're going with what seems like a more traditional action game structure. It only serves to improve the pacing.

[Himu]

i want to play this goddamn demo

fuck

[muckhole]

Hahaha You expected a banner didn't you!? Well,Ninja Gaiden II doesn't need a fucking banner!

This definitely needs a banner.

Here you go:

[Himu]

Managed to play the demo with the help of Mcdragon and Viz

And dude...that was one awesome demo. Maybe it's because I'm rusty, but some of those guys were capable of killing me even in the demo and it's acolyte (easy) mode. Such a breath of fresh air after the combo fodder of DMC4. And now you can do THREE FLYING SWALLOWS IN A ROW in mid air. Holy crap.

The gore was absolutely delicious. The reaction time required for blocking seemed faster than in the original, hell, the overall package seems so much faster. I'm going to enjoy this.

The worst thing about the game it seems so far, is the camera. It seems worse than in the original and Black.

[Himu]

Oh, and the WEAPONS. FUCK. THE WEAPONS ARE AWESOME. I love the traditional Dragon Sword, but Scythe is totally my style. It's a lot funner to use than the Scythe in the original NG, the claw weapon is pretty cool but I'm not used to the move list yet, the pole/staff thing is fun as hell to use. HELL YEAH. VARIETY. TAKE THAT SHITTY DMC4.

[demi]

[Darunia]

I must've played the demo like 10 times since last week, no foolin'. It was just really meaty: you could spend forever getting to know the 4 weapons you were given and try out all the combos. The claws are my favorite so far.

[theetrin]

I must've played the demo like 10 times since last week, no foolin'. It was just really meaty: you could spend forever getting to know the 4 weapons you were given and try out all the combos. The claws are my favorite so far.

Darunia, I hate to disappoint you man, but I couldn't play NGDS over the weekend. I went to the store totally ready to spend points on it, and they didn't have a single copy. I have to go searching for it one of these days.

[Darunia]

I must've played the demo like 10 times since last week, no foolin'. It was just really meaty: you could spend forever getting to know the 4 weapons you were given and try out all the combos. The claws are my favorite so far.

Darunia, I hate to disappoint you man, but I couldn't play NGDS over the weekend. I went to the store totally ready to spend points on it, and they didn't have a single copy. I have to go searching for it one of these days.

that's too bad. I can see this game getting increasingly hard to get since it bombed and they're probably not printing any more. I hope the Euro release in a few weeks gets that game to at least 100k total

[Tieno]

lol @ the douches trying to derail the thread when others just continue talking about NG2.

[Himu]

Definitely one of the best demos in a long while. You could play it over and over, continuously learning the nuances of the fighting system, all 4 weapons provided, their movelists, the two 2 projectile weapons and 2 ninpo magic available. Lots of stuff to tool with in this demo.

[demi]

lol @ the douches trying to derail the thread when others just continue talking about NG2.

[Rman]

DMC4

Enemies that just sit back while you beat their ass

[Tieno]

Here, I made an OP for the thread.



Ninja Gaiden II (2008 video game)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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   This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
The content may change substantially as more information becomes available. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.
"Ninja Gaiden II" redirects here. For the 1990 NES game, see Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos.
Ninja Gaiden II

Developer(s)    Team Ninja[1]
Publisher(s)    Microsoft Game Studios [2]
Designer(s)    Tomonobu Itagaki
Native resolution    585p
Platform(s)    Xbox 360
Release date    NA June 3, 2008
EU June 6, 2008[3]
Genre(s)    Action-adventure, Hack and Slash
Mode(s)    Single player
Rating(s)    ESRB: M
OFLC: MA15+
BBFC: 18
OFLC(NZ): R18+
Media    DVD-ROM
Input methods    Xbox 360 Controller

Ninja Gaiden II is the sequel to Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox 360, released on June 3, 2008 in North America and June 6, 2008 in Europe. It was developed by Team Ninja and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. This is the first time a Team Ninja developed game that is not published by Tecmo. While sharing the same number as the NES game Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, it is not a conversion of that older title. The game will not be released in Germany due to lack of a USK rating[4], and has been confirmed to be a Mature rated title under the ESRB.
Contents
[hide]

    * 1 Gameplay
          o 1.1 Combat System
          o 1.2 Game Demo
    * 2 Development
    * 3 Characters
    * 4 Reception
    * 5 References

[edit] Gameplay

Ninja Gaiden II keeps most of the core elements its predecessor, Ninja Gaiden, utilized. Protagonist Ryu Hayabusa (voiced by actor Josh Keaton) engages the world in a third person over-the-shoulder perspective, beginning the game with basic, low-level abilities and weapons that can be upgraded as he progresses by discovering or buying items. Ryu can interact with the game environment by running along and jumping off walls, swinging from pole to pole, or running across water. Ryu travels around the world, ranging from New York, Tokyo, the familiar Hayabusa Village, the Aqua Capital (with an environment similar to the canals of Venice), and regions of non-human origins, such as the Northern Purgatory, Lifeblood Shrine and Niflheim.

In-game cut scenes serves as the narrative to the story, and Dragon busts can be used to save player progress, permitting gameplay to be resumed at a later time. Certain busts enable the player to record films of gameplay and upload the videos onto Xbox LIVE for users to download and watch. Ninja Gaiden II uses the same scoring system, based on the player's speed in clearing encounters, the number of kills achieved, the number of unused magic spells (or ninpos) remaining at the end, and the amount of cash collected. Players can compare their scores on online ranking boards.

The Story Mode for Ninja Gaiden II consists of four difficulties: Path Of The Acolyte being the easiest, followed by Path Of The Warrior, Path Of The Mentor, and Path Of The Master Ninja being the hardest.

[edit] Combat System

Ninja Gaiden II's new combat system allows Ryu to decapitate his enemies, severing their limbs and tearing their bodies apart. Unlike Ninja Gaiden, there is more gore and graphic violence.[5] Dismemberment will handicap or immobilize an enemy, but not necessarily kill them; in fact, a handicapped enemy will be prone to use suicide tactics, forcing the player to quickly finish off his opponents before they can get the upper hand.[6]

Aside from his standard melee techniques, Ryu can absorb nearby 'essences' in combat. These colored globes of energy are released from the bodies of enemies, and absorbed into Ryu's body when he comes into proximity with them. Essences have an important role general gameplay, acting to heal Ryu, restore his magic, or increase his cash. However, in combat the player can cause Ryu to deliberately draw in essences, which can then be used to unleash powerful attacks known as Ultimate Techniques. New Obliteration Techniques can be triggered in the presence of a handicapped enemy, but only if they are missing a limb.

Ryu will utilize his signature Dragon Sword in combat, but new weapons, such as the Eclipse Scythe, Blade Tonfas, kusari-gama and the Falcon's Talons (a pair of sharp claws and bladed greaves) will allow the player more variety in enemy encounters. Ryu's new magical spells, in the form of ninpos, includes the Art of Phoenix Flames and the Art of Piercing Void. However, previous weapons and ninpo from Ninja Gaiden will return, in the form of the Lunar staff, the Vigoorian Flails and the Windmill Shuriken.

[edit] Game Demo

A demo for the game was released on Xbox Live in Japan on May 31st 2008 and other regions (Excluding India, Germany, US and Canada) on 3rd June 2008.

[edit] Development

Initial screenshots of Ninja Gaiden II surfaced on the Japanese official Xbox 360 website, but were removed within a matter of hours in October 2007. Aside from new weapons shown, new locales were revealed, though they were of a more Eastern origin than the previous game. Ninja Gaiden II was officially shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2007[7], with the first released trailer. It was previewed at Microsoft's Tokyo Game Show Press Conference and was confirmed as an Xbox 360 Exclusive. Director Tomonobu Itagaki was quoted during the event as saying "Now please enjoy the world's best action game, running on the world's best hardware".[8]

At the 2008 Game Developer's Conference, new characters and more weapons were introduced, as well as the return of previous weapons from Ninja Gaiden. On March 27, the official website announced exclusive content will be released on April 15, however it was delayed until April 22.[9] The demo was officially announced by Itagaki to be released on the same day as the game itself, on June 3.

[edit] Characters

Joe Hayabusa
    The father of Ryu Hayabusa, Joe has returned from training in distant lands to resume his duties as the leader of the Hayabusa Ninja Clan, only to be injured in one of his many battles against the forces of evil. He lays in rest at his home in the Castle of the Dragon, unaware that the evil shadow of the Black Spider Clan slowly descends upon his village.

Genshin
    Overlord of the Black Spider Ninja Clan, Genshin's lust for power is matched only by his hatred of Ryu Hayabusa and his bloodline. Hoping to gain an upper hand in the struggle for Ninja superiority, Genshin enters into an uneasy allegiance with the Fiends. He will stop at nothing to destroy Ryu and put an end to this centuries-old feud once and for all.

Sonia
    She apparently works for the CIA and is looking for Ryu to stop the Black Spider Clan from obtaining the Demon Statue, possessed by the Hayabusa Ninja Clan, in order to resurrect the Arch-Fiend.

Elizebet
    Ruler of Blood and Queen of the Greater Fiends, Elizébet is tasked with retrieving an important ancient artifact from the ancestral village of Ryu Hayabusa, setting into motion a sequence of events that will threaten the very existence of the human race.Her name and the fact that she is the Ruler of Blood is probably derived from the murderous Elizabeth Bathory also known as the Blood Queen

Volf
    Ruler of Storms and one of the Four Greater Fiends, Volf is a vicious warrior who seeks an opponent worthy of himself. His Lycanthrope underlings have taken over the canal-lined streets of the tranquil Aqua Capital as he sits in his throne in the castle above.

Muramasa
    A legendary blacksmith who first appeared in Ninja Gaiden, made a cameo in Dead or Alive 4, and then in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. In the game, it is shown that he is an accomplished swordsman as well.

Alexei
    One of the Four Greater Fiends, and Ruler of Lightning, his hatred of humankind knows no bounds. He has taken the city of New York in his evil grasp and waits perched upon the Statue of Liberty, challenging Ryu Hayabusa to come and face him.

Zedonius
    One of the four Greater Fiends and Ruler of Flame, Zedonius has nothing but contempt for human life. He has descended upon the capital of a once-great military superpower, threatening all humankind with an ultimatum: submit to the will of the Fiends or be burned by infernal flames. Ryu must ascend the city's clocktower to put an end to his fearsome reign. He claims that he bestowed fire upon the humans centuries ago. He has a habit of calling humans "apes" and "monkeys".

[edit] Reception

Initial reception of the game has been met with generally positive reviews. With common complaints being the inconsistent framerate and awkward camera that remained almost unchanged from previous Ninja Gaiden games. However Gamespot revealed that the review discs sent to them did not contain the final build of the game[10]. This caused loading issues because of the media and some complaints may have been fixed in the retail build of the game.
[hide] Reviews
Publication    Score
1UP.com    B-[11]
Eurogamer    7/10 [12]
Game Informer    8.75/10
GameTrailers    8.4/10[13]
IGN    8.7/10[14]
Compilations of multiple reviews
Compiler    Score
Metacritic    81%
Game Rankings    83%

[edit] References

   1. ^ Ninja Gaiden II Page. GamePro. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
   2. ^ Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360 Preview, Ninja Gaiden 2 Preview
   3. ^ Ninja Gaiden 2 gets Euro date News // Xbox 360 /// Eurogamer
   4. ^ Ninja Gaiden 2: Keine Veröffentlichung in Deutschland vorgesehen News // Xbox 360 /// Eurogamer.de
   5. ^ TGS07: Cutting Through Ninja Gaiden II
   6. ^ TGS: The Violence of Ninja Gaiden II : Next Generation - Interactive Entertainment Today, Video Game and Industry News - Home of Edge Online
   7. ^ This Web site coming soon
   8. ^ Gametrailers.com - Microsoft - TGS 2007 Ninja Gaiden II Developer Walkthrough
   9. ^ "Ninja Gaiden II: Downloadable Content Confirmed?" in GamePro 235 (April 2008): 24.
  10. ^ Ninja Gaiden II: No Room for Wiggle - GameSpot Review Blog - Gaming News and Videos
  11. ^ Nick Suttner (2008-05-27). 1UP: Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360). 1UP. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  12. ^ Rob Fahey (2008-03-07). Eurogamer: Ninja Gaiden II Review. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  13. ^ Gametrailers (2008-05-26). Ninja Gaiden 2 review. Gametrailers. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  14. ^ Eric Brudvig (2008-05-26). IGN: Ninja Gaiden II Review. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.

[show]
v • d • e
Ninja Gaiden video games
First series    
Ninja Gaiden  · Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos  · Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Stand-alone games    
Ninja Gaiden (arcade)  · Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)  · Ninja Gaiden Shadow  · Ninja Gaiden (Master System)
Second series    
Ninja Gaiden  · Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword  · Ninja Gaiden II
Characters    
Ryu Hayabusa  · Ayane
Related games    
Dead or Alive series
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Gaiden_II_%282008_video_game%29"
Categories: Upcoming video games | 2008 video games | Ninja Gaiden | Xbox 360 games | Xbox 360-only games

[Mupepe]

NINJA GAYDEN

I AM GOING TO RENT

rent?  you're trying to kill gaming too?

[muckhole]

Definitely one of the best demos in a long while. You could play it over and over, continuously learning the nuances of the fighting system, all 4 weapons provided, their movelists, the two 2 projectile weapons and 2 ninpo magic available. Lots of stuff to tool with in this demo.

The demo was awesome. Thanks again to McDragon. Going to spend the afternoon calling around to see if anyone around here got it in.

[Narag]

Hey, my local gamestop had this in stock. Fuck yeah.

[Beezy]

Hey, my local gamestop had this in stock. Fuck yeah.

WTF

[TVC15]

I'm kinda bummed about it being more linear.  If anything, I wanted it to be less linear.  The more open levels were the best part.

[Trent Dole]

(Image removed from quote.)

[Narag]

Achievement Unlocked
5G - Mastered Flying Swallow 

[Bildi]

I'm kinda bummed about it being more linear.  If anything, I wanted it to be less linear.  The more open levels were the best part.

I've been a bit concerned about this too since they announced it.  I really liked the level design of NG and I loved how you'd loop around and hours later arrive back where you were.

I'll live.

[demi]

I asked my GameStop, no luck, tomorrow for me

[Enl]

Just picked my copy up but won't be playing it until tonight. I really like the cover art. It's definitely one of the tops for covers this gen.

I'm kinda bummed about it being more linear.  If anything, I wanted it to be less linear.  The more open levels were the best part.

Yeah one of the things I liked about the last game was how it had some Zelda-esc aspects to it. I was kinda hoping they would go further with that on this game but oh well.

[Himu]

I'm kinda bummed about it being more linear.  If anything, I wanted it to be less linear.  The more open levels were the best part.

fuck no. i hate the backtracking in the first one.

[drew]

I'm kind of disappointed with the cover art, at least it comes with a slipcover. 



I guess it's hard to improve on perfection.

[pilonv1]

I really don't like the demo that much.

[tiesto]

Here, I made an OP for the thread.

You forgot the banners!!!!! 

*goes to DL the demo, even though camera issues kept me from enjoying NGB*

[muckhole]

Hey, my local gamestop had this in stock. Fuck yeah.

Bastard. I'm going to have to spend the evening replaying the demo over and over.

You forgot the banners!!!!! 

I made the be-all end-all banner, but nobody cared  :'( .

I EVEN USED COMIC SANS!!

[Himu]

So I'm playing some NG: Black to prepare for NINJA GAYDEN II DAY tomorrow, and holy shit, is this game so much slower compared to NG2.

Playing NG: Black again, for some reason, is a much funner, smoother experience than the past two times I've played the game (original NG once, Black once). The game is still challenging if I don't concentrate, but now I can easily handle my own against enemies that USED to rape me like no tomorrow. The Black Spider Ninjas are a good example. They used to give me a lot of trouble, because I didn't know how to defuse their bombs. After a tip someone gave me, I can get passed them easy with enough concentration.

I love how every battle is a battle of wits, survival, and reflexes. It really keeps you on your toes, and if you manage to survive and do well enough it really makes you feel good.

I'm fucking pumped for Ninja Gayden II day. Bring on the pain!

[Bildi]

This definitely needs a banner.

Here you go:
(Image removed from quote.)

Wow, Eddie Van Halen has REALLY let himself go.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I actually lolled yesterday but forgot to show my appreciation.  Sorry muckhole 

I noticed the Comic Sans yesterday too, well played.

[close]

[Draft]

I missed that banner too, but props, it's basically perfect.

[muckhole]

I actually lolled yesterday but forgot to show my appreciation.  Sorry muckhole 

I noticed the Comic Sans yesterday too, well played.

I missed that banner too, but props, it's basically perfect.

These tears of joy....*sniff* 

[Junpei the Tracer!]

I might put it up.

[Beezy]

I GOT IT

But I still have to finish NG:Black.

[demi]

Heading out to get it and Lego Indiana soon

[Beezy]

Heading out to get it and Lego Indiana soon

me > you

[demi]

Heading out to get it and Lego Indiana soon

me > you

Zombie Archers > You

Go back to your hole, clown

[Beezy]