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I'm pretty sure I remember scribbling wildly and succeeding.
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Feb 15, 2018 02:10
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  The first of three Sigma 2 exclusive chapters. If you recall from the first Sigma, the three new chapters in that forced us to play as Rachel, which was awful. This time each Sigma 2 exclusive chapter has us play as a new character for each one. And all of them are better than what Rachel was like in the first game. Because of that, these chapters are actually the least offensive things in Sigma 2 (because it's everything else in Ryu's campaign that is hosed).   Momiji is a character that was created for Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword on the DS, and has since been a part of the mainline games and even included as a playable character in DOA5. She's the younger sister of the previous Hayabusa Shrine Maiden and Ryu's childhood friend, Kureha. In Dragon Sword she was a damsel in distress for most of it, but since that time she's become a much more capable fighter that fulfills the duties of both a ninja and shrine maiden. It's kinda for that reason that she's easily the best female character of the whole series. Even if her outfit still exists for fanservicy reason, she's not as throwaway as someone like Rachel. She has agency, and looks out for the rest of the village just as much as Ryu does. She's also the first of three new playable characters in Sigma 2, so we'll only be getting to play as her for this one chapter. Kinda nice, though I still would've appreciated if the game did not force me to stop playing as Ryu at various points. How do I like her, mechanics wise? Not too bad but easily my least favorite. Not for any particular design flaw, just that compared to the later two characters they've got other things that I find more appealing.  Heavenly Dragon Naginata A roughly two meter pole arm. Traditionally used by women, many naginata are of a "Tomoe" type, with a short grip for ease of use. But the Heavenly Dragon is a longer "Shizuka" type, allowing Momiji to utilize an integrated combination of centriugal force and physical prowess to cut down broad swaths of opponents with every swing. The blade and pole are said to have been carved from the tailbone of a dragon. The weapon boasts unparalleled strength and flexibility with a light weight, allowing delicate cuts of the sort impossible with a normal naginata. It is a sacred relic passed down from generation to generation of Dragon Shrine maidens A fitting weapon for Momiji, as the description says it was common for Japanese women to be tought how to use this weapon to defend themselves. Of course with Hayabusa style ninjutsu, Momiji can do so much more with it. The biggest hook behind this weapon is that it has airborne Ultimate Techniques. Momiji is the only character in the game that can double jump, and during that double jump you can hold down Triangle to absorb essence and go straight into a UT from a largely safe vantage point. Sadly, that is the only thing about the moveset that is particularly special. Compared to that, all the other ground and air combos are fairly normal, and the speed on the whole is on the medium/slow end of the spectrum. Note that I'm not going to be dedicating a weapon exhibition section for this weapon, or the other weapons used by the remaining two extra characters. There's not enough to them compared to Ryu's arsenal and you can't even use them in anything outside of their given missions, so eh.  Heavensong Bow A Japanese bow used by Dragon Shrine-maiden Momiji. From times of old, the Heavensong Bow has played a central role in the Heavensong rite, in which shrine maidens pluck the bowstring like an instrument to drive away evil spirits. The astounding power of arrows launched by its resilient woven-leather bowstring is like a miracle unto itself, and the bow, carved from a sacred tree, is wrapped with a cloth given by Momiji by the children of the village, in prayer of her safety. It's a bow. It's functionally the exact same as what Ryu has. Nothing else to say.  The Art of the Crimson Lotus An art that allows the user to generate and channel a whirlwind of fire at will. Gesturing the characters "rin," "byo," "to," "sha," "kai," "jin," "retsu," "zai," and "zen" in sequence activates the spell, transforming the leaves dancing within the magic circle into an inferno of fireballs that incinerate and consume all enemies in their path. The divine flames burn only the wicked, leaving those pure of heart unscathed. It's exactly like Ryu's Art of the Inferno, but perpetually at Level 3 so you get to fire three separate orbs of flame. And the enemies burning to death animation still remains pathetic.  Bosses Tengu Brothers The first of exactly two new bosses in Sigma 2 that I would classify as being good. We're done with the embarrassments that were the Giant Buddha and Statue of Liberty, now we got motherfucking Tengus. I gotta say as far as non traditional designs go for these type of demons, I really love the design of the Tengu brothers. Obviously there's the red and blue dichotomy, but also their mouth beaks and looking somewhat menacing. As for the fight itself, it's a two on one fight that behaves more fairly than the two on one boss missions in Ninja Gaiden Black were. For one, it follows DMC/Platinum Games rules of "if it's off screen, it won't get a cheap shot". This means you can focus the camera on one Tengu and deal with that, or have two on screen and have a harder time as a result.
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Feb 21, 2018 21:55
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Now that you bring it up, I remember hearing about that jiggle physics thing with the Sixaxis... I'd completely forgotten that was a thing and could've gone the rest of my life without being reminded. I thought the character animations were glitching up or something at first.
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Feb 22, 2018 14:37
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I just finished watching your lp of Ninja Gaiden Black. Never played them before. Now I wish I had. edit: never posted before mdtwiztid fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Mar 16, 2018 |
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Mar 16, 2018 20:27
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Even with the whole stupid "sexy female outfit" in mind, Momiji has some weird-rear end pants. But it is always nice to have pole arms in melee combat games. There is something satisfying about the moveset for me. OutofSight fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Mar 16, 2018 |
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Mar 16, 2018 21:51
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  Ryu has fled the states and is now in an unspecified part of Europe that is very likely somewhere in Italy. It's a very nice, scenic location in comparison to the urban environment of New York. Except we got new fiends to deal with. Lychans, all being controlled by one of the greatest villains ever conceived in all of video games. This ninja's worldwide tour of violence continues.   Kusari-Gama A Ninja weapon made from a sickle with chain and weight attached. A weapon that can be easily summarized as "unique" and not sell it short in anyway. The Kusari-Gama is a chain with a sickle on one end and a weight on the other, and its stand out characteristic is the large variance in range that its attacks are capable of. If you're pressing light attacks, you'll attack at a very short range, but when a combo moves to a heavy attack, the chain starts flying everywhere. It's tricky due to the unpredictability, but it's still hella fun to use like everything else.  Gatling Spear Gun A Gatling-type spear gun designed for underwater combat. It is practically useless on dry land. Prime example of an OOPArt (out-of-place artifact), the Gatling Spear Gun was made in 10th-century Europe. It is fired by turning the handle, which engages a high-pressure water pump to force projectile spears out of its barrel. At first glance, one would expect the spears to be subject to extreme amounts of drag, but in fact they are able to "fly" through the water due to the phenomenon of supercavitation. The spears are loaded with explosive material and burst after hitting their target, shredding it from the inside out. Itagaki one upped the spear gun from Ninja Gaiden 1 and made it a gatling weapon. What else needs to be said?  Art of the Flame Phoenix This Ninpo summons the spirits of sacred Phoenixes to fly abuot the caster and protect him with their holy flame. Phoenixes are associated with the element of fire and are well known for their ability to rise reborn from their own ashes. In Chinese Mythology, the Phoenix is one of the four creatures of good fortune and represents the concept of peace. With this Ninpo equipped, the caster can find peace even in the midst of a fierce battle. This is meant to take the spot of Art of the Flame Wheels from the previous games, but the phoenixes don't juggle enemies when run into, and so it feels like a pretty poor defensive option. The least useful Ninpo by far.  Fiends  Lychans The second big enemy type of the game, Lychans are a step up from the Vangelfs in terms of resilience. They got two color variants, but again this only denotes an even more slight difference in power and effectiveness. Regardless of which type you face, these enemies feel closer to what it was like fighting the Gallas in Ninja Gaiden 1. You can wail on them and get them to flinch, so long as they aren't during the wind up of an attack because there's no knocking them out of it save for the possibility of a delimbing. With the size of their frame and all, bigger weapons like the Lunar are ideal. Also, they can pick up the gibs from their fallen comrades and chuck them at you for damage.  Gajas A race of mermaids corrupted by evil, these are literally the only fiend enemy in the game that can be Izuna Dropped. But they're still tricky to track, as their pincers aren't the biggest threat. In fact, their tail sweeps have quite a significant range to them, and have a command grab attached to them. Other than that, many of the strategies for facing the Black Spider Clan still largely apply. You just gotta be mindful of their specific follow ups. Bosses  Water Dragon The boss that made players back in the day curse the water running. This fight is fought entirely on water. You cannot stay on the initial platform once you're knocked off. Because of this, to reiterate what I demonstrate in the video, get out those Falcon's Talons and use every move you got to strike its neck and head, the latter being more susceptible to damage. He's only got a few moves to worry about though, which makes this boss about as limited as the water combat itself.
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Mar 17, 2018 00:49
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 The Falcon's Talons are the first of the game's three short range weaponry. They're reach is not that far, and infact is rather narrow starting out. However, with some powerful mobility based attacks combined with multiple grapples & sharp cutting ability make it great for players that find the best defense is constant mobility. Limited Reach, Maximum Mobility In terms of placement in the sequence of acquiring weapons in NGII, Falcon's Talons serves as a good contrast to the strengths and weaknesses of the Lunar. The Lunar is a far reaching, multi hit weapon that is very accommodating to players that want an extra bit of safety when dishing out to attacks at all angles. By comparison, the Falcon's Talons are super precise and the expectation is now put on the player to utilize what it's best for: hit and run tactics. As mentioned with the Dragon Sword, certain attacks that use the forward X input are meant to propel Ryu forward/extend overall reach. With the talons, those commands do a lot to push Ryu forward, having his own berserker barrage by way of White Tiger Flurry as well as several moves that leave behind the usual blue after image effect to signify a brief period of invulnerability. Because of these priorities, it actually works as another useful tool in Master Ninja mode next to the Lunar, as the specific moves that send Ryu forward almost instantly are helpful for ensuring safety amid the explosive projectile bullshit that always abounds. Flying Swallow into Izuna Drop may not be as strong as other weapons' versions, but in some situations it's better to maintain a superior defense via constant momentum. Grab Enders for Combos Dragon Sword has inputs where you hold Y at points that would otherwise launch Ryu to instead keep him grounded. While there's no similar launchers for the Falcon's Talons, holding Y in certain combos changes the properties of their enders. Specifically, the talons can be embedded into an enemy before violently ripping it out. The earliest example of this in the movelist at level 1 is White Tiger Gouge and Bared Lion's Fang, with the latter being designated as a throw move. Now, admittedly it can be hard to keep track of what move is during the heat of battle, but if you want to know the immediate difference, the latter move is what you use if you're dead set on removing a limb as opposed to simply leaving a big stab wound. This of course means it only really makes a difference on a humanoid enemy as opposed to any of the big Fiends like Vangelfs or Lychans, but on tougher enemies it's a necessity in order to incapacitate them. The limb that gets taken off even changes based on the move, with Gouging Wolf Claw (YY->YY) being the best one for this. Speed on Land, Air, and Water It cannot be stated enough how much speed matters to the Falcon's Talons. So much so that this factor doesn't really diminish in any state of combat. On ground, your White Tiger Gouge sends Ryu ripping and tearing over a wide area. In the air, A flying swallow has not only far reach but the ability to send victims flying upwards and prepped for a flying swallow. On the wall or jumping off of it, pressing either attack button is enough to send Ryu darting away from the surface into a nearby foe. And even on the water, this weapon is especially ideal in avoiding the short comings most other weapons face when in this scenario. Wings of the Vermilion Bird being available via Surging Azure Dragon helps a lot in dealing with those pesky Gajas. For a player that all they care about is the need to go fast while hitting poo poo, Falcon's Talons are nearly flawless in that regard in all scenarios. Just remember you're trading raw attack power for this benefit, but thankfully that doesn't diminish the overall cutting power of the weapon. Go loving ham. Sigma Changes Other than both Izuna Drops being available at level 1, and the overall decrease in power along with the rest of the weapons, it's effectively still the same weapon. The hit and run tactics of this weapons still apply and are still best used for situations with multiple human opponents.   
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Mar 17, 2018 00:51
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The claws were definitely one of my favorite weapons for all the absurd spins and flips you could do while tearing ninjas apart.
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Mar 17, 2018 03:26
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 Back through the Aqua Capital, where the water ways are conspicuously devoid of anything threatening or interesting, and everywhere else is what you continue to expect from Sigma 2.  Chapter 5 in NGII was very focused on the fact that Ryu could water run and do combat on the water's surface, so there were plenty of encounters here where you faced off against enemies and could either fight with water specific melee attacks, or just hang back and mow everything down with the Gatling Spear gun. This chapter gives none of that. In fact, the rest of the game actively tries to avoid doing any of that. The reason is one that is understandable back when the 360 game came out, because the water running combat was panned by both new and experienced players. It was shallow, the moves you had on hand were very limited, and you had no standing block that you could rely on as you had to be constantly on the move to stay on the water's surface. And despite that, I still appreciated the attempt to add something like that in to mix up the player's progression through the levels and relieve any repetition, even though it was unsuccessful. With Itagaki and many others having left Team Ninja at this point, the Sigma 2 team pretty much did the one thing they felt was easiest to do: have the water running sequences be filled with nothing. They couldn't change up the level design to remove the areas with water entirely, so they simply opted to make it a very barren run through with no threats. This however meant getting rid of the Gatling Spear Gun, which was already an easier to use means of attacking enemies on water, and the Water Dragon fight as you've seen is just standing on a platform firing Sigma 2's only new projectile weapon at its face repeatedly. And outside of that fight, the cannon is completely worthless. I always have issues with this approach to fixing a problem with a game's design. The water combat may not have been on the same level as the regular ground combat, but its purpose for being there was very clear. No game like this can consist entirely of combat rooms with nothing in between, no matter how much people like me value combat mechanics in these action games above all else. Due to lack of time, budget, or just wanting to address fan complaints as quickly as possible, the devs basically chose to gut those parts of the game and try to pretend it doesn't exist, even though it is forever part of the original game's design. There are ways water combat could've been improved, and some parts of it better explained (like the fact that holding block while water running lets you cut sharp corners that also double as dodging an attack). But the water running sections being so barren, combined with the removal of other projectile weapons and mechanics associated with them, really serves to highlight how much this approach to "fixing" a game's problems doesn't do more than putting a tiny bandage on a massive flesh wound and thinking it'll be okay.
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Mar 26, 2018 22:37
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I carried that loving cannon throughout the game, trying to find some way to make it useful... and the one way it is useful, I neglect to use it because I would rather use my bow instead. Stupid boss moved around too much for me to think that it was worth using the cannon. So, after testing it in my original playthrough, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't knock anything down. Because that would make it something approaching a good projectile. I hate this game, in hindsight.
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Mar 28, 2018 00:01
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I'm actually kinda of shocked how much worse Sigma 2 is. Every time I think it can't be worse than the original II, it somehow finds a new way to be disappointing. And I found the criticism of Sigma 1 to be valid but perhaps a little exaggerated, that was still a good version of the game but Sigma 2 seems like it bastardizes and removes everything good from original II.
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Mar 28, 2018 06:18
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Mr. Fortitude posted:I'm actually kinda of shocked how much worse Sigma 2 is. Every time I think it can't be worse than the original II, it somehow finds a new way to be disappointing. And I found the criticism of Sigma 1 to be valid but perhaps a little exaggerated, that was still a good version of the game but Sigma 2 seems like it bastardizes and removes everything good from original II. Too right. They seem to have oversteered in general, certainly to a more noticeable degree in this video but holy poo poo, Sigma 2 looks like garbage compared to 2. Makes me glad I've still got an XBox 360 hooked up and ready to go any time I feel the need.
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Mar 28, 2018 14:22
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I feel like there are a lot of ways they could've gone about improving the water combat, whether it be an in-depth overhaul or just a simple band-aid, that would've been far better than just scrapping it entirely. As much as I hated the water dragon fight I can't deny that just running around the dragon on the water's surface felt cool and that concept is just too irresistable not to put in a ninja action game. I don't have a problem with making games more accessible but these games constantly do it in a way that makes the game as a whole more boring and less rewarding to play. I had my fair share of issues with Ninja Gaiden 2 but I'd take any of them over a game that's so dull and soulless. In trying to cement over the low points they also completely buried all of the game's high points.
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Mar 28, 2018 14:53
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KieranWalker posted:Too right. They seem to have oversteered in general, certainly to a more noticeable degree in this video but holy poo poo, Sigma 2 looks like garbage compared to 2. Makes me glad I've still got an XBox 360 hooked up and ready to go any time I feel the need. And Ninja Gaiden 3 is said to be even worse than Sigma 2. I almost want to see how much worse it could go.
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Mar 28, 2018 18:58
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I never played it but from what I remember from review videos the original version of 3 isn't even an NG game any more. Sigma 2 is only slightly different by comparison.
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Mar 29, 2018 00:45
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Yes, despite all of Sigma 2's faults and over correction, it is still a better and far preferable game to play than Ninja Gaiden 3. That also goes for Razor's Edge, a game that I'd still consider just as bad for trying to haphazardly fix a gameplay system that was fundamentally rotten to its very core. And every "positive" aspect of Razor's Edge you could point to is still hosed in some way. I have no plans to do an LP of that trash heap. Not unless I am given adequate compensation before doing so.
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Mar 29, 2018 05:58
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I can offer, uhm, one shiny nickel. Would that suffice?
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Mar 29, 2018 13:15
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 We begin the second half of Ryu's visit to the Aqua Capital, and it all culminates in quite possibly one of the most amazingly stupid things to entertain me in a video game. Is it the Drunken Skeleton? Is it the boss fight with Volf? Or is it everything else after that? Maybe all three. I loving love this chapter.  Eclipse Scythe A giant scythe handed down in the Lycanthrope tribe of Fiends. The designated heavy weapon of Ninja Gaiden II. We don't get a big Berserk style great sword like in the last game, but this is more than a worthy substitute due to the different types of moves available. The Dabilahro and War Hammer in Ninja Gaiden 1 were very clearly ground weapons, but the Eclipse Scythe makes up for this with decent air combo potential, and its primary gimmick of being able to impale and throw enemies caught on its blade serves as a good connective tissue for transitioning between multiple combos. Plus the sheer power of it all. You want this if everything in your path needs to die fast. Even the big, heavy Fiends we've faced thus far, and then some. Bosses  Drunken Skeleton I don't care if this thing has an official name. In fact, I could probably look it up and list what it is, but I'm not gonna, because Tomonobu Itagaki had such a strong vision for how he wanted this lumbering rear end hat to behave that he opted to do the motion capture for the Drunken Skeleton. It even gets its own spot in the credits at the end of the game. I loving love this guy. But for the actual boss now. It's large enemy obviously, comparable to the likes of Godomus all the way back in Chapter 4, though here the main approach to it is based around wailing on its ankles to make it fall over. A classic video game boss design trope. Though any damage you deal is still damage, your goal is to get it either lowered or launch yourself high enough with a large weapon that you can hit its exposed core to make it lose health real fast. Its attacks though? Not difficult to deal with if you're not rushing yourself to hit it every second.
 Volf Volf! Greater Fiend!! AND INVINCIBLE RULER OF STORMS!!! ... ...is a loving jobber. For real, for as much as he's talked up a big game leading up, Volf is the easiest of the Four Greater Fiends to fight. The big reason being that despite having hard hitting attacks he is slow. Slow relative to the default speed that the game operates at, but it still means you can get in full combos on his rear end more consistently than you could with Alexei, who was constantly mixing you up and keeping you on your toes.
  quote:Inokuma's Notebook  quote:The Four Greater Fiends, Part 3
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Apr 1, 2018 21:34
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 A returning weapon from Ninja Gaiden Sigma, this iteration is the way the weapon was truly meant to be. Itagaki's team took this weapon and treated it in the most logical manner by going "double the swords = double the cutting power." The Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang (DCTF for short) is a strong contender for sharpest weapon in Ryu's arsenal, as the force of swinging two large katanas all around guarantees enemies not in front will get hit and that someone will likely lose an extremity before the combo's even finished. Sure it's slightly slower and the combos themselves don't have as much versatility or precision, but this is how you properly design a dual sword weapon in a game where you want the player to feel powerful, cutting countless foes to shred. loving take notes, Hayashi. An Unwieldy, Yet Wild Pair of Blades Ryu's Dragon Sword is the baseline for which all other weapons in Ninja Gaiden are compared. It has average attack power, range, speed, and plenty of versatility that the other tools in Ryu's arsenal can specialize in more specific areas. The dual swords are almost deceptive because they're both katanas and at first glance you think you're going to get the Dragon Sword again, but with twice the attack speed or power. It actually loses out on a bit of precision and versatility that the Dragon Sword was capable of. Your swings are certainly wider, but the speed is slightly reduced, and trying to give chase to evasive enemies during combos is not that immediate. Moves that start with XX->X exemplify this. The starting hits don't move Ryu very far, even the ->XX in the Double Lightning Strike. But Lightning Pierce and Penetrating Lightning are the follow ups that actually give the weapon more range on the ground. But like the regular combos itself, it's extremely fast and far reaching to the point you are just as likely to whiff the attack. It's powerful when it connects, but it goes to show that the most reliable of moves are ones where Ryu is keeping his ground while swinging those blades wildly to catch anyone and everyone off guard. Hell, even this weapon's flying swallow adheres to the old Ninja Gaiden 1 rule where Ryu must be jumping towards an enemy the game has designated as a target for it to activate, unlike the Dragon Sword's generous version that has the ability to be chained 3 times in a row. But the extra power is worth the set backs. Wall Combos One area that the dual swords absolutely surpass the Dragon Sword in is air combo potential, particularly when the enemy is caught between Ryu and a nearby wall. You got your standard XYXXXY to do the patented Izuna Drop, but a unique trait of the dual swords is pause combos. Rather than mashing out Y to get the drop right away, watch Ryu flip backwards through the air to get in position for a follow up, then press Y to dive straight through them. Or through an enemy on the ground, if the juggled target is already dead or fell out of the combo slightly early. Honestly, it's somewhat finnicky in that regard since the option to choose your target during the pause combo would actually add a lot. But that's not the end of this feature. What's next is what happens when a wall is involved. The move list for the weapon lists what are in essence four different follow ups. First is to hold the Y button which will cause Ryu to, upon doing a Flying Swallow into the wall, will rebound off it into another Flying Swallow which is legit loving cool. The second and third are both downward wall attacks of varying types (in fact their animations are the same as if you were to press either X or Y when jumping onto a wall). For the Y attack specifically, you can follow up with another Y attack to make Ryu spin a few extra times upon hitting the ground. Lastly, the fourth follow up is done by pressing A to jump off the wall into a Flying Bird Flip. Not an attack, but can be a decent way to reposition yourself or do a different attack of your own. There's plenty of variety to be had just from this aspect of the weapon. Ryu Hayabusa, The Human Blender The dual swords are, without a doubt, the deadliest Ninja Gaiden II weapons when it comes to sheer cutting power and rate of delimbing in the game. And it's totally logical. Swinging around just one very sharp sword is deadly enough, having two equally sharp swords means twice the deadliness. The regular combos, especially ones ending or consisting of Y attacks, are so brutally satisfying in their reach and overall strength. But at Level 3, the title of "The Human Blender" is especially earned for Ryu Hayabusa, as multiple attacks, particularly air and wall combos, gain additional inputs at the end that cause Ryu to spin around with both swords out very rapidly. If you're trying to get out of a tight spot with enemies surrounding you, doing something as a simple jump and YY will get the enemies waiting below off your back real quick. Hell, just doing 360 Y does the job just as effectively. You get more spinning sharp blades per move in this weapon than you do out of most of the others. Even the Dragon Sword. This is what makes the dual swords such a popular weapon in this game. It's strong, it has wide area of effect relative to their weapon class, and it demolishes crowds in a game where you fighting a dozen enemies at once is a key focus. And it's a drat shame this weapon would never be as spectacular is it is in this game. Sigma Changes The Izuna Drop as always is available at Level 1, but the Heavenly Sparrow and its follow ups are still locked at Level 2, so the weapon still is fairly limited in move potential at the start. Though it's still pretty limited in terms of practicality, as this is the weapon I point to as a the prime example of the weapon balance being absolutely broken. The point of the DCTF is it's unwieldy-ness and build up to powerfully strong, wide range moves. That power is significantly weakened, and along with the lack of enemies and overall change to their damage model, the weapon goes from being one of the greatest to one of the most useless and least fun weapons to use.
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Apr 1, 2018 21:37
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That end cutscene was badass as all hell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daran_Norris This is the guy who voiced Volf in the English dub.
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Apr 2, 2018 12:00
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Mr. Fortitude posted:That end cutscene was badass as all hell. Also, I dug up the interview I mentioned that explained the creation of the Drunken Skeleton. Was from a series of "Cross Talks" that were basically Itagaki's versions of Iwata Asks made back when Valhalla was getting off the ground. Here's the link, and the info is up near the beginning after the introductions, but here's an excerpt anyway. quote:Harakawa: Itagaki-san makes the boss action image first in text, then shares it with the staff by the team's site. Then he asked me to draw illustrations for it.
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Apr 2, 2018 23:17
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The Volf fight was absolutely magical. I want to buy this game even more now. Edit: Venom in the 2000 Playstation Spider-Man game. I knew I recognized his voice. KeiraWalker fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Apr 4, 2018 |
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Apr 4, 2018 04:08
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KieranWalker posted:The Volf fight was absolutely magical. I want to buy this game even more now. Goddratit, it just clicked now.
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Apr 4, 2018 18:01
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KieranWalker posted:Edit: Venom in the 2000 Playstation Spider-Man game. I knew I recognized his voice. Never would have realized that, but that voice makes a great Venom.
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Apr 4, 2018 21:36
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 Back through the Lychan's castle we go, with some "new" enemies to try and spice things up along the way. Honestly, very little major changes to note outside of the usual suspects for the game. No ToV, reduced enemy counts, the usual. Oh right, there is one. The return of the imp fiends. I am extremely mixed on their inclusion in Sigma 2. Once again this is Team Ninja looking back at their past successes on a surface level and not really understanding the more minute details when they decided to include features that would make me people remember Ninja Gaiden Black. The Enma's Fang was an obvious parallel to the Dabilahro, with a bit of Unlabored Flawlessness mixed in for aerial combos, and now they pulled the Imp Fiends from the first game because A) they're humanoid enemies that have a variety of moves comparable to the Black Spider ninja and B) they were one of the more enjoyable enemies to fight in the first game. To their credit, Team Ninja did not simply dump the old animations and attack properties as they were and called it a day. These things are tweaked to have new options that can let them fight somewhat closer to Ryu's level in this game. They got a fire ball attack they fire from their chest, and they've got their own dive attack move that feels similar to what the Bast Fiends had in the first game. And of course, you can delimb them and they have the ability to do a kamikaze attack. So as far as enemies go in Sigma 2, they're fairly robust. But now you get to a much bigger problem. The most obvious being that despite the new moves added, these things still fight and behave much like they did before that it took significantly less work than it would have for Sigma 2 to just make entirely new enemies with the same amount of love and care that was given to NGII's enemies originally. Whatever was fast and cheap, Sigma 2 almost always opted to go for. Be it removing content to speed up progression, or adding old enemies into the game like so. There's also the lore reason, if you can take it serious for a moment, where the Imp Fiends were explicitly allied with the Vigoor Emperor, who is classified as an Archfiend. The Archfiend Ryu's trying to keep from getting resurrected in this game is not Vigoor but another named Vazdah. And because the Greater Fiends are all under the service of Vazdah, their underlings are unique to them and have no overlap with the Fiends in Vigoor's domain. Sigma 2 gives no honest to god explanation for why the imps even would be back, considering they get no cutscene presence (well, except in the next Sigma 2 exclusive chapter, along with a familiar boss returning), or even an implication that they might have been absorbed into Greater Fiend's collective armies. I can say for sure though, just going by Volf and his underlings, the imps sure feel super out of place when next to the Lychans. Hell, even next to the Gajas. It's loving weird.
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Apr 8, 2018 17:07
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Eh. If Ninja Gaiden 3 is as bad as you say then an LP of it would probably be boring to watch. I'm more interested in seeing a Nioh LP myself, maybe showing a fresh game and then a higher difficulty NG+ playthrough.
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Apr 8, 2018 19:11
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if you lp beating the game on master ninja mode i'll start a religion about you
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Apr 11, 2018 07:15
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 Another Sigma 2 exclusive chapter, bringing us back to New York with some familiar faces and a contender for most improved playable character in the series.  Rachel I'm sure you remember how fed up I was by the end of the Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma LP with Rachel's content. Her combat was half baked and incredibly limited, with a very small selection of moves being really viable in the three pointless filler chapters that she had. Well, here I only have to play as her once, but I don't even hate it as much because Team Ninja, in one of the few actually smart things they did at this point in time, made her sufficiently more fleshed out. Yes, I like her more than Momiji. But still not as much as the final character. Rachel's still a heavy hitter, but having a proper wall run and projectile, along with less abusable quick kill moves make this a tremendous step up from what she was before.  Inferno Hammer A fearsomely powerful two-handed warhammer. It was fashioned by treating the head of an ancient warhammer with a graphene coating and fitting it with a new steel grip. Though powerful when swung normally, with added centrifugal force it devastates anything unfortunate enough to be in its way. The head is forged from an exotic substance that rivals osmium for sheer density. Legend has it that it was formed when a molten piece of obsidian from a fiery inner circle of Hell plunged into the river Cocytus, quenching and crystallizing it into its current form. Rachel's old warhammer is replaced with something that actually looks a lot closer to an actual hammer, and is as powerful as you'd expect. You no longer get the overly abusable flip over enemies head into instant decap like in Sigma 1, so this weapon's move set gets more room to flex than before. Not to mention it is the only weapon that allows for gun combo enders, more on that in the next section.  Type 666 Heavy Machine Gun Rachel's favorite heavy machine gun. Most would consider it unwieldy, but Rachel's slender arms are more than a match for this monster. Barrel and ammunition are stamped with an anti-demon icon called an "Elder Sign," boosting its power when used against lower-level fiends. Designed for rapid fire, it utilizes a blowback system for low recoil. An elegant, uncompromising, superbly-made firearm. In a series where the main character uses ninja weaponry of all sorts, it's almost refreshing to play a character who's long range weapon of choice is a loving gun, with one of the raddest names I could think of for one. It fires in rapid fire bursts, but what sets it apart is how it works in conjunction with the Inferno Hammer. At the end of certain combos pressing Circle will make Rachel perform a contextual gun action that has her doing things like shooting while flipping through the air or keeping an enemy suspended. It's a better projectile than the grappling hook in Sigma 1 by a country mile.  The Magic of Raging Aphrodite An ancient spell for summoning a rose from the underworld. The blood-loving roses from the hereafter spawn a whip of thorns that spins at breakneck speed, tearing nearby enemies to shreds. The demonic roses that dance above the carnage are described as being the crimson tears of the Goddess Aphrodite in tales of old. A simple AoE blast, and because this is Rachel we're talking about, it's just regular magic and not ninpo. It certainly has a cooler visual effect than the Blades of Ouroboros in Sigma 1. Not much else really to say, it's the only magic she's got so it exists as her only means of getting enemies off her from all angles. Fiends  Inferno Imp Fiends These enemies obviously showed up first in Ryu's campaign, but I felt it was fine to mention them here again since this chapter more than anything feels like the biggest attempt at a throw back to Ninja Gaiden 1. The "Inferno" part of their name comes from the fact they have a flame aura around them, but their bodies' textures are much different from anything in the first game. Regardless, they still exhibit the same behaviors in the first game that I mentioned, with the addition of some new moves. Kinda tricky to keep track of with Rachel being relatively slow, but they're still decent enemies to fight. Bosses  Marbus Team Ninja couldn't think of a big enough rear end pull to bring back someone like Alma or Doku (though the latter had a brief reappearance in the DS game), so they settled with Marbus, who is now missing a horn after Ryu Hayabusa cut it off at the end of their last battle. His attacks have had their animations spruced up, but his overall tactics are not that much different from what they were in the first game that I don't feel like giving a bullet point breakdown of his familiar attacks. But there is one move that deserves special attention. The most common way of opening up Marbus for damage was to bait him into doing his torpedo dive attack, as he goes through a lengthy recovery phase when it misses. However, imp demons are around and killing them, as usual, releases essence. This is actually very dangerous as Marbus can perform a charged up version of his torpedo dive by absorbing the essence. This changes it from a simple dive into a command grab that is exceptionally hard to dodge outside of doing something like a UT or other moves with heavy iFrames. I like this concept a lot, it plays around with mechanics that are typically exclusive to the player and shows that even enemies or bosses could use those same tactics against you. It's only unfortunate that this gimmick only applies to Marbus, who is a carry over from Ninja Gaiden 1, as I would've liked to see this mechanic thrown into some of the other bosses in the game. Hell, it would've been perfect for Genshin, considering the rival angle and all that.
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Apr 13, 2018 20:58
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I was actually just thinking watching this that when Sigma 2 does it's own thing instead of remove or change what's currently existing in Ninja Gaiden II, it seems to see much more successful results. Then a minute later you two were saying pretty much the exact same thing in the video.
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Apr 14, 2018 11:08
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 Here we are now at easily my second favorite chapter of the game. Who doesn't love an honest to god airship raid? Especially when said airship has tactical ninjas with machineguns and machine-fiend hybrids that look straight out of Quake II. poo poo gets crazy here.  Tonfa A powerful martial-arts weapon originating from Okinawa A close range weapon that I would designate as being Trick Weapon #2 of the game, with #1 obviously being the Kusari-Gama. The tonfas are a weapon that's extremely deceptive as while it's a quick, short range weapon like the Falcon's Talons, its usefulness is not as immediately apparent. The secret to its power is in its ability to stance cancel combos into different follow ups, or reset the combo string to start a new one entirely. It's a very advanced weapon that gets overlooked in areas outside of its UT being godlike, but it is a very fun weapon for people that want to inject a bit of combo creativity into their play style.  Art of the Piercing Void Simply put, this Ninpo allows the caster to project a black hole. Its angle of effect is quite narrow, but this serves to concentrate its destructive power, creating a devastating projectile that can penetrate through multiple targets before dissipating. This penetrating ability is the biggest appeal of the Art of the Piercing Void. This Ninpo focuses the telekinetic energy created by the centripetal vibrations of the caster's lower dantian (Ki focal point), then directs the shape of the energy using gravitational waves propagated by the caster's conscious spirit. This creates a gravitational abnormality, forming a rotating black hole trapped inside a repulsing spiritual force field. Because this force field is somewhat permeable, extreme fluctuations of space-time occur near the surface of the Ninpo projectile that pulverize any nearby living matter. The final of the four Ninpo Ryu gets in the game, it is a very stark contrast to the Wind Blades in terms of application. This thing fills a lot of the same roles as what the Art of the Inferno did in the first game, as it's a single projectile that moves in a straight line with no homing properties. What it does have over that, however, is that the orb will plow through multiple enemies should it get the chance so it's still useful against groups. Also Ryu is a crazy powerful motherfucker that he knows a technique on how to summon a miniature black hole and shoot it at people. Not even Hadoukens in Street Fighter are this devastating. Humanoids   Tactical Ninjas No matter the era and what their uniforms will look like, ninjas in entertainment will typically be held to the traditions of combat and stealth associated with it. The Black Spider Clan decided to go "gently caress that" and gave a subset of their clan Sam Fisher night vision goggles and loving assault rifles, and they can kick rear end with them. Oh, and rocket launchers as well. These enemies are pretty much the replacement for the MSAT and Vigoorian Military enemy types from the first game, and while their designs are pretty dope, them replacing the aforementioned enemies means they carry over a lot of the bullshit people hated about them. Mainly the rockets. gently caress those rockets. And this chapter doesn't even show the worst of it. Fiends  Executor In addition to ninjas with guns, the Black Spider clan decided that they should invest in horrific human-machine hybrids. The executors are four legged bots with a pale human head attached to it that gives the whole thing a Quake II Strogg vibe to me. As you'd expect, they fire guns, and those guns are very good at stunlocking. Surprisingly though, the executors are easily dispatched with the tonfa's flying swallow along with its heavy attack follow up. Every time both attacks hit they will lose one of their guns guaranteed. Doing it again takes off the other gun and subsequently kills them. But of course, they're another good example of an enemy to use the scythe on, as a big heavy bruiser requires a big heavy weapon.  Mecha Soldier And now we go from gun ninjas, to Quake II enemies, to finally something I can only describe as vaquely resembling the Xenoborgs from AvP Classic 2000. Giant Fiends reinforced with cybernetics, and they hit like a loving truck. Probably the closest thing this game has to the Ogres and Berserkers from Ninja Gaiden Black. Really don't have anything else to say other than just hitting it with the Scythe UTs and other safe moves to deal with it as efficiently as possible. It's the enemy that weapon was made for. Bosses  Nuclear Armadillo One of the most infamous bosses in Ninja Gaiden II, mostly for one particular thing at the end, but it's also a pretty annoying fight to deal with due to the random nature of its attacks determining how quickly you can finish it. Once you get past the ridiculousness of this creature's existence, the armadillo has some attacks to look out for.
 quote:Yogenta's Notebook
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May 14, 2018 06:49
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 Ninja Gaiden II's fifth weapon is the most unorthodox of the bunch by the series' standards. Sure, you could get some really bizarre weapons in a game like Devil May Cry, but NG's arsenal always had a very firm basis in real life weaponry. The Kusari-Gama is an actual ninja weapon that gets used in extremely exaggerated ways as you would expect this game to do. With a sickle in one hand and a metal weight in the other, the chain connecting the two allows Ryu to go from short range swipes to incredibly long range sweeps depending on the attack button pressed. Along with another interesting trait that feeds back into the game's core combat, the Kusari-Gama is firmly placed as Trick Weapon #1 of Ninja Gaiden II that rewards players looking for something different from the norm and mastering it. The Ultimate Crowd Control As it's easy to figure out just from messing with the controls for a few seconds, the range that the Kusari-Gama lets you attack with is determined largely by which of the two attack buttons you press. Light attack combos will have Ryu make use of the sickle to swipe at opponents up close and in front of him, while the Heavy Attack extends the chain to through the metal weight and sometimes the sickle around at very wide arcs. As you'd expect, the primary form of balancing this ability is the speed at which these moves will activate. By comparison, the Lunar is still a very fast weapon even with its heavy combos, with very little start up time and the only thing you have to worry about there is making sure a stray hit or projectile does not touch you in the process. This downside of the Lunar is heavily emphasized with the Kusari-Gama, as the wind up on moves like the Spiral Attack, Reverse Great Spin, and Immense Tragedy (all combos building off each other in sequence) means you cannot pull this off at close range half the time. The chain does not have a hit box of its own, so anything in between Ryu and the sickle/weight is gonna be able to disrupt your combo quite easily. The upside to this though, is that once you get those particular moves going you'll be able to cover so much more ground than you ever would have with the other weapons and are effectively unstoppable when in the final couple hits of Immense Tragedy. Of course, the UT for this weapon can accomplish a lot of the same effect, but that's only practical as an alternative if you got essence ready to absorb. So in short, the longer the range, the bigger the wind up time at the start to compensate. There is another way to deal with enemies surrounding Ryu quickly by performing the 360 Y attack, but this only gives you attack range comparable to doing the same input with the Lunar. It takes some practice and experimentation to know which CC moves to pull out depending on how many enemeies there are and at which angles they come from, but the result leads to some of the more stylish moves you'll see out of Ryu in this game. 100% Delimb, On Command If you take a peak at the move list for the Kusari-Gama, you might have picked up on something that's similar to what the Falcon's Talons has. There's a bit of redundancy in inputs for moves by showing two moves, with the same input string, with the only difference being "Hold when Hitting Enemy" displayed at the end. The reason for this is because of how enemy classes are set up. There's either the large enemies, or the humanoid enemies. The latter is where holding the button comes into play, and what results is the ability to perform grab moves similar to the Falcon's Talons impalement attacks. The two throws are Shrike Drop and Demon Cutter. The Shrike Drop is only assigned to two possible inputs, and it is basically the closest the weapon has to an Izuna Drop that you can initiate from the ground. But that's not the really good move. It's the Demon Cutter. Depending on which of the five possible inputs you use to activate it, Demon Cutter will activate on any humanoid enemy where they are pulled to Ryu by whipping the chain around them, and the camera will zoom in on Ryu taking off an arm or a leg. Yes. The Kusari-Gama is the only weapon with a move that is designed to give you a 100% guarantee of delimbing a foe. Cutting off limbs in this game, while frequent, is still inherently random even when using a move where the arc of the attack is design to target a specific area of the enemy's body. With Demon Cutter, there's no ifs about it, someone gets caught in it, a limb always gets taken off. This is especially useful when dealing with certain ninjas that are very evasive as the Demon Cutter feeds back into the weapon's wide crowd control abilities. And no matter how heated the battle is, the delimbing animation is treated just like any other move with invincibility frames, so you can use it as a brief moment of reprise from all the explosions and chaos. Sigma Changes The crowd control applications of the Kusari-Gama are still intact in Sigma 2, but because of the game's damage values and hosed up randomability of delimbing, this ends up effecting the Demon Cutter move quite severely. Using it against one of the tougher ninjas or imp fiends will still give you that brief invulnerability, but the delimbing is no longer a 100% guarantee. Hell, I'd say it's even a less than 50% guarnatee at times, this move which had an explicit purpose is rendered totally useless and that is very saddening.
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May 14, 2018 06:51
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Glad to see this thread back, was worried it was abandoned there. That boss is such a hilarious dick move, I love it.
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May 14, 2018 23:57
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Mr. Fortitude posted:Glad to see this thread back, was worried it was abandoned there. They make you fight two of them on the harder difficulty, a double dick move.
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May 15, 2018 04:58
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Yeah, this LP's the first time in a while that I've been side tracked hard by real life poo poo that I've gone for long breaks in between uploads. Considering the classes I'm taking this quarter as well as an internship I'm working, I've been forgetting more and more that I have a backlog of poo poo I need to post.Bloodyshinta1 posted:They make you fight two of them on the harder difficulty, a double dick move.
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May 15, 2018 07:00
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Holy poo poo, this game just keeps getting better and better.
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May 18, 2018 03:03
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 Welcome to the first video of the LP where we deviate so hard from talking about the actual game on screen because there's barely anything different from the 360 version of this level besides the obvious. Seriously, there's barely anything different that's worth pointing out in this chapter. Don't know why I still have this section available.
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May 23, 2018 17:21
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 Ryu arrives in not Russia to take on his third Greater Fiend, as well as experience the start of some bullshit that even Itagaki acknowledges he went too far on. It ain't the worst chapter of the game, but we're getting there. Bosses  Zedonius The third Greater Fiend, and Ruler of Flame, Zedonius is a step up in challenge compared to Volf. Well, the extra challenge comes from a thing present in other fights like the Nuclear Armadillo where they can potentially extend the fight longer than necessary with certain moves. On top of that, this is a fight that could be scene as a successor to Marbus from the first Ninja Gaiden, but with the extra speed and aggression you would expect from this game.
 quote:Izo's Notebook  quote:Koshimaru's Notebook (1)  quote:The Rule of the King of Darkness
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Jun 29, 2018 05:17
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I think the worst thing about those missile enemies is that the framerate absolutely tanks when there's two or more firing at once. It's almost painful to see. I guess the next Sigma 2 video will have you talk about DMC V and Nioh 2?
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Jun 29, 2018 20:28
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That is indeed some bullshit, but I need to say that I am impressed and bewildered as to how you manage to actually get anywhere in this game. The earlier levels seemed mostly like trying to figure out which one of the seven black-clad flipping-out ninja men on the screen was the player character (I guess that's easier when you have control rather than just watching), followed by a good helping of "okay, you beat this tough enemy, here's another one jumping out from an angle the camera didn't let you see to backstab you during your recovery animation", and now it's the same as before only instead of backstabbing you from an angle you can't see, they shoot you with a loving gatling rocket launcher. During a boss fight. Anyway great LP 
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Jun 29, 2018 23:41
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NGII definitely does not show any restraint though that also is what makes it so exciting. Combat is so good overall that you just want to get better at it no matter what horse poo poo is thrown your way. Kind of a lot like Shinobi for PS2 in that regard. Though the penalty for dying is not nearly as severe as in that game. Mr. Fortitude posted:I guess the next Sigma 2 video will have you talk about DMC V and Nioh 2?
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Jun 30, 2018 00:32
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