Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2: Travel The World To Kill Stuff And Check Out Some Tits

[iconoclast]

Yeah, the Flails are really weak. I'm pretty sure they're terrible for all bosses, but I don't really know since I rarely use it. XXYY is the best combo with it, and it'll decapitate regular enemies really often; otherwise it kinda blows. But yeah, for bosses I just stick with the Dragon Sword, Lunar or Enma's Fang.

ALso what weapons do you guys use?

My most used weapons are (in order) the Dragon Sword (great all around weapon), Lunar (360+Triangle UT > any fiend), Tonfas (the UT rapes every regular mob in the game basically), Enma's Fang (very strong and a ridiculously powerful UT),  and Scythe (very strong and the best UT in the game). The Falcon Talons are pretty worthless until Level 3, so I never really touch them. Still, they have a Flying Swallow into Izuna (jump+YXY), so that's pretty useful when you're still learning the ropes. Vigoorian Flails are still only marginally useful (overall they're pretty weak, but it has a few good moves and a decent UT), and while the Kusari Gama is strong, it's just not my style. The Dual Katanas are strong, but they're pretty unsafe IMO so I don't really bother with them.

If I were to rank them, it would probably  be something like:

Tonfa
Enma's Fang
Scythe
Lunar
Dragon Sword
Kusari Gama
Dual Swords
Vigoorian Flails
Falcon Talons

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Aight thanks for hte tips guys. I didn't know the FLails were weak, I was owning so much with it so :O

[Beezy]

Didn't know the tonfas were that good. I only used them on mechanical enemies in NG2.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

which ones are the tonfa's? The long stick things?

[drew]

ALso what weapons do you guys use?

i hate power weapons since im one of those free form combo guys that hate slow weapons
ngb nunchucks (i love toying with enemies with this and shurikens) > tonfas (combo possibilities ) > vigoorian flails (+ windmill shuriken(ngb > ng2's))  > dragon sword (nice juggling combos) > lunar (ngb > ng2)

the biggest problem with the weapons of ng2 is that theres no weapon that you can fully upgrade without decapping, my main beef is with the tonfas

[Beezy]

i hate power weapons since im one of those free form combo guys that hate slow weapons

I was like that when I played NGB, but NG2's scythe made you feel like such a badass. Vigoorian Flails were my fav in NGB. I tried them and the Kusari Gama in NG2. I was able to do some crazy combos with them, but they were both way too weak.

[drew]

how could i forget about the kietsu in ngb, that was my fav wep for awhile

i also changed my mind and like the lunar a bit more than the dragon sword, i blame ng2's dumbed down over powered version for clouding my memory

[iconoclast]

Didn't know the tonfas were that good. I only used them on mechanical enemies in NG2.

The Tonfas are ridiculous. A single ET with them will kill at least one enemy, two if you're lucky. Its UT can track really well and kill 2 - 4, unless it goes off and attacks nothing. Not to mention it has the Heavenly Justice cancels; it's pretty much unstoppable. They're not too great on bosses though.

While the Tonfas are awesome, they're not THAT much better than the other weapons in the top 4. I'd say the Tonfa, Lunar, Scythe and Enma's Fang are pretty equally overpowered. The Dragon Sword can easily deal with every enemy in the game, but it's where you start to see the drop-off in brokeness. Still, it's my favorite weapon.

[demi]

I played the demo and al I did was sit there shaking Ayane's tits the whole time

[Don Flamenco]

The Flails were my most used weapon on my Warrior playthrough of NGS2 and it is so far on my normal mode playthrough of NGS1.  In NGS1, they have good invincible frames, particularly with X,X>XXXXXX (er, replace "X" with Square.)  Pair it with the armlet of potency and all those kicks (like f+triangle/Y and X,YY) do serious damage, even to bosses. 

They don't have as many i-frames and they aren't great for bosses in NGS2.  Weapons like the scythe, enma's fang and lunar are great boss weapons.  but that's mostly because the bosses in NGS2 are simple as hell, aside from the second Elizabeta fight, imo.  They don't require a lot of precision. 

The flails are fun in normal fights since they de-limb easily and hit guys in a 360 circumference...this is great with NGS2's mobbing AI. And once you get it powered up, those fucking insane combos where you spin the air are amazing.  X,X, f+XXXXX,YYYYYYY is awesome.   

<3 me some vigoorian flails

[MyNameIsMethodis]

how the hell do you guys remember to hit x like 6 times in a row before moving to triangle or w/e

[Don Flamenco]

how the hell do you guys remember to hit x like 6 times in a row before moving to triangle or w/e

been playing the series since the demo for the very first xbox NG game came out and I play it like a robot.  

I don't think it's that precise though...I'm pretty sure you can quickly mash square (in ps3, sorry, I mix em up) about 10 times to buffer the hits, then start mashing triangle to buffer those hits and that it'll register it all, as long as you're within a second or two. I don't know if that makes any sense.  The point is, the timing is very loose, try it a few times and don't worry about the button count, and you'll get the feel for it.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

It kinda makes sense but the only thing I can remember is the Izuna Drop because it's hilarious.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

armadillo boss was such BS especially after genshin, who I wasted all my pots on.

[close]

[Mr. Gundam]

I haven't found any of the bosses so far (just finished Ayane's level) to be difficult. They've all gone down quite easily with some up close slashin'.

[Don Flamenco]

i played some sigma 1 last night...i think it's still the better game.  I hope they bring back the open world in NG3.  I like that much better than levels.

[iconoclast]

That's probably my biggest complaint with NG1. I hate the open world. On the other hand, I love the complete linearity and lack of puzzles and platforming (aside from the awesome clocktower) in NG2. I agree that Black is the better game, but I think NG2 is the more fun game.

[Draft]

I'm actually playing Sigma for the first time, and I don't entirely agree or disagree. The open world has its charms, but so does the ultra linear level to level progression.

Also, damn, once you get used to the silly powerful Ryu of NG2, it's hard to go back to NG1 Ryu.

[MCD]

icono, did they optimize the last levels in sigma 2?

while doing flail weapon run last night i remembered how "acolyte" doesn't change shit in chapter 12+, regular enemies are the same as master ninja.

[Don Flamenco]

I like the heavier feel of NG1.  NG2 kinda feels like dynasty warriors to me, since you just get mobbed and slash the shit out of everything   I beat warrior and I just don't feel like playing NGS2 anymore...going back to NGS1 was a lot more fun.  Part of that is because I love the karma score system in NG1 too.  Beating a battle under time is still gratifying.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

icono, did they optimize the last levels in sigma 2?

while doing flail weapon run last night i remembered how "acolyte" doesn't change shit in chapter 12+, regular enemies are the same as master ninja.

really? I'm going to be fucked then.

I just got Sigma 1 today, how many chapters in Sigma 2 cause I kinda wanna play Sigma 1 more now lols

[Mr. Gundam]

icono, did they optimize the last levels in sigma 2?

while doing flail weapon run last night i remembered how "acolyte" doesn't change shit in chapter 12+, regular enemies are the same as master ninja.

Seriously?

[MCD]

dead serious. chapter 12+13 are the same, only difference is the damage they deal (obviously!).

later chapters though are just fight 5 enemies then some recycled boss, at least in the 360 version.

[Mr. Gundam]

How many chapters are there? I'm on 13 right now.

[iconoclast]

icono, did they optimize the last levels in sigma 2?

while doing flail weapon run last night i remembered how "acolyte" doesn't change shit in chapter 12+, regular enemies are the same as master ninja.

Generally the only difference between difficulties in NGS2 is that enemies are a higher rank, and there are more IS, Rocket and Bow ninjas on the higher difficulties. Soooo, kinda? I haven't played Acolyte in Sigma 2, but I think on Warrior there were very few of the (new) highest ranked ninjas and claw ninjas, while they're pretty much all you fight on the later levels in Master Ninja. I think you wind up fighting the same red gajas regardless of difficulty, but the NG1 purple fiends rank up steadily in each mode (they have 4 different classes off the top of my head; purple, black, yellow and red - I think you fight yellows and reds exclusively in PotMN). I think they rank the van gelfs up steadily too, but toward the end of the game you're still fighting purple ones regularly so I'm not too sure...

I could be wrong though. I played PotW, PotM and PotMN back to back to back, so they kinda blur together...

The later levels have more enemy variety too; they use the NG1 purple fiends a lot and spread gajas and van gelfs more evenly with marionettes and chainsaw zombies for example, and you fight additional midbosses (Tengus, mainly). Sigma 2's lack of enemies (compared to NG2) is pretty jarring on a few levels, but it's most noticeable on the former Chapter 11 (now 14). It's like a ghost town in comparison.

They also removed the red dragons and hovering rocket bots entirely. I don't mind the hoverbots getting cut, but the red dragons were awesome. 

really? I'm going to be fucked then.

I just got Sigma 1 today, how many chapters in Sigma 2 cause I kinda wanna play Sigma 1 more now lols

17 chapters. Took about 10 hours for my first playthrough I think.

[Mr. Gundam]

The demon statue was in the old NES Ninja Gaiden games, right? It looks familiar.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Oh yeah, I missed a muramasa weapon upgrade, am I fucked? Seriously it was in the dumbest place ever.

Also thanks for all the help icono, really appreciate it. I just hope I don't have to face those god damn robot dinosaurs again. Although jumping off a crashing plane with a fucking motorcycle was pretty awesome.

[iconoclast]

You'd be fucked anyway. The only way to upgrade all of your weapons fully in a single playthrough is to never upgrade your Dragon Sword or Dual Katanas, which is impossible I think (I'm pretty sure there's an upgrade shop where those two will be the only weapons left to upgrade at that point).

Unless you meant that you won't be strong enough or something. You'll be fine. Most level 2 weapons are good enough as it is. Only the Falcon Talons really suffer until they're level 3.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Why do they hide upgrade stations anyways, that's a pretty lame thing to do.

[Don Flamenco]

Oh yeah, I missed a muramasa weapon upgrade, am I fucked? Seriously it was in the dumbest place ever.

Also thanks for all the help icono, really appreciate it. I just hope I don't have to face those god damn robot dinosaurs again. Although jumping off a crashing plane with a fucking motorcycle was pretty awesome.

nah, you can just go to any muramas---oh right.  yep, you're fucked.

good jon hayashi

[MCD]

what the hell, chapter 11 rocked with all the human ninjas, gotta love slicing them up with the wind ninpo.

they sure like recycling sigma 1 shit.

as for the dragon, he looked cool but bitch can't be obliterated which is a pain in the ass in this mission i am stuck with (fight 100 fiends), if only they were all humans...

[iconoclast]

Since they decided to give free upgrades, they should have brought back the Unlabored Flawlessness and had it require like 7 upgrades with all the essence you have sitting around. That would've been awesome.

For the robot  dinosaurs, you can try jumping away after they miss an attack and hitting them a with a single Tonfa ET/UT; it'll take them out instantly.
  Tonfa

If you can get the red dragons by themselves, an easy way to beat them is jumping off their heads and doing an on landing Y attack with the dragon sword. You can just repeat that over and over until they die.

Or if you care about karma you can spam Scythe UT's on them. The ToV with the red dragons and acid worms must have taken me an hour and a half to finish while trying to milk them for points. Which is why NG(S)2 has the worst scoring system on the planet.

[MCD]

Flying Swallow with the DS works on these bastards? or just regular jump+y?

With the Scythe jump+XYY I have completely forgotten about Flying Swallow.

do glitch, wait for opening then XYY.

repeat till shit mission is over.

[iconoclast]

Nah, what I mean is to wind-run and jump off of their heads (to stun them for a second), and then just hit Y as you land like you're going for a UT. It'll do a long slash and it's loaded with invincible frames once it starts up. You can just loop that over and over on them.

[Draft]

I like the heavier feel of NG1.  NG2 kinda feels like dynasty warriors to me, since you just get mobbed and slash the shit out of everything   I beat warrior and I just don't feel like playing NGS2 anymore...going back to NGS1 was a lot more fun.  Part of that is because I love the karma score system in NG1 too.  Beating a battle under time is still gratifying.

Yeah, the scoring system in the first one's amazing. It's so crazy how Itagaki fucked it up in 2. What's so hard about putting a damn time limit on the fight?

You're right, though, feels great when you beat that timer by a couple seconds.

[MCD]

as expected from my master ninja.

iconoclast

[Draft]

The headjump is like... the best move in NG2. Stuns enemies, has huge invincibility frames, easy as pie to pull off.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

You guys are talking about all these moves and to me it's still a mash [] Fest

[demi]

That's because you are a bad gamer.

[MCD]

I only used headjump to get away, never thought it's useful for attacking too (invincibility).

@Mud, press start and read your favorite weapon moves list, should be a good start.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

That's because you are a bad gamer.

No i'm not, I just have the attention span of a wii gamer.

[iconoclast]

On most ninjas you can headjump and charge a full  UT on landing. It's also pretty vital for getting through packs of IS ninja when there are 3 explosions per second. Guillotine throw is even better!

On a side note, according to my Ninja Records I've thrown over 9000 shurikens.

[Mr. Gundam]

I'm on the last level. Anyone else turn around and shoot the big hand cannon right at Sonia?

[MCD]

Guillotine throw saved my ass in chapter 2 (remember when you told me on gaf to use it in that closed room where you get the falcon claws?).

speaking of that, i wonder if they fixed the glitch where if you run away from archers/rocketfags and save they will vanish, just like that.

sure saved my ass too.

[bork]

I went back to this last night and played through Rachel's stage.  The water city and castle stages with Ryu were awesome.   Rachel really did get a big boost in playability over NGS1, because of her speed increase and that gattling gun.  You can play a lot of her stage Resident Evil 4/5 style if you want.   

You guys are talking about all these moves and to me it's still a mash [] Fest

Do you have the izuna drop down?  It's []/\[][][]/\ with the dragon sword and one-two other weapons (same combo).  Start with that.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Yeah I have the izuna drop down 100% but I don't think the Scythe does it?

[Himu]

Fuuuuccccckkkkkkkkkkkkk you guys for making want to play this AWESOME game again!

 

I thought the ORIGINAL NG2 was the best action game this generation so far and I'd happily play the shit out of this.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Take it from a frist time ninja, this game is sick, even though it can be cheap and hard on the easiest setting 

[iconoclast]

I haven't tried despawning any encounters, but I did run backwards pretty far a few times and the rest of the enemies were still waiting around. The explosive arrow ninjas are not nearly as troublesome in NGS2. Their arrows are a lot slower in comparison, they fire less often and if you're dash-jumping around them they'll probably never hit you. But if you do get hit, that shit's gonna hurt (like 60% on PotMN).

You can play a lot of her stage Resident Evil 4/5 style if you want.   

Except you can move while you shoot!

[MCD]

ouch

[bork]

Yeah I have the izuna drop down 100% but I don't think the Scythe does it?

Look at the movelist for it!  And if you find that you can do the izuna drop effectively and it suits you well, don't use weapons that don't have it!    I've been sticking with the dragon sword for most of the game and it's been working great for me.  The bo staff comes in handy when you're crowded by enemies, and the vigorian flail is also good for use on those fucking annoying "ghost pirhana" fish that swarm you.

[Mr. Gundam]

Game is complete. The whole "Ryu travels the world to kill stuff and check out some tits" storyline is pointless, but that's not why you play this awesome game.

[bork]

Except you can move while you shoot!

Sigma 2 >>>>>>> RE confirmed!

[Mr. Gundam]

End-game spoiler

spoiler (click to show/hide)

That was Kasumi, right?

[close]

[iconoclast]

Yes.

[Mr. Gundam]

So, anyone know what the hell it's hinting at? NG3? DOA5?

Code Chronos?

[MCD]

Itagaki creates his game characters by immersing himself in their roles and the games. This is a reason why he objects to the suggestion of Kasumi in the Ninja Gaiden universe, saying her 'soft' nature is conflicting with the 'hard-edged' nature of the game whereas Ayane perfectly fits in.

Itagaki does not approve of this bullshit.

[Joe Molotov]

Itagaki probably has a Kasumi love-pillow.

[Don Flamenco]

nice title change by EDGE™ 

[Mr. Gundam]

nice title change by EDGE™ 

I'm touched.