Ninja Gaiden Black

[Deraldin]

You are stuck in the horse-archer thing, aren't you?

 

Ha! I was stuck there for the longest time. I actually played that so many times, the skin on my thumbs began to peel. I don't know how, but I finally got by it. However, another gentleman on horseback then assaulted me on a bridge, this time with a group of ninja-mage guys.

 

I finally acceded victory to him, and went back to playing Prince of Persia.

 

Heh. Sounds like my first playthrough. I spent nearly an hour trying to kill those two on horseback. I kept getting run over while trying to attack them. The fight on the bridge was much more annoying though. The rider always comes at you from a distance giving you plenty of time, but I can't count the number of times that I got hit in the back by those ninja mages who were off screen behind me.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Ha! I was stuck there for the longest time. I actually played that so many times, the skin on my thumbs began to peel. I don't know how, but I finally got by it. However, another gentleman on horseback then assaulted me on a bridge, this time with a group of ninja-mage guys.

Focus on the mages. Only pay as much attention to the rider as is required to avoid him. Kill the mages, rolling if they launch fireballs at you. They drop blue essence, so you can regenerate your health pretty easily as long as you don't get pounded too much. It might be tempting to absorb the essence to do ultimates, but... don't. The mages will re-spawn many times (maybe a dozen total mages), but they will eventually stop spawning. When this happens, you can focus entirely on the horseman and things are much easier. Doing a wall jump + strong (Y) works well on him when he turns around. You can also just do charge moves and thrash him as he's coming. It doesn't take too many hits to kill him.

[Blodhemn]

Focus on the mages. Only pay as much attention to the rider as is required to avoid him. Kill the mages, rolling if they launch fireballs at you. They drop blue essence, so you can regenerate your health pretty easily as long as you don't get pounded too much. It might be tempting to absorb the essence to do ultimates, but... don't. The mages will re-spawn many times (maybe a dozen total mages), but they will eventually stop spawning. When this happens, you can focus entirely on the horseman and things are much easier. Doing a wall jump + strong (Y) works well on him when he turns around. You can also just do charge moves and thrash him as he's coming. It doesn't take too many hits to kill him.

Yeah, I used the wall jump + Y technique and the Horseman was the easiest boss in the game for me. The one that really got to me was the giant red lizards followed by the tentacle guy that swallowed Rachel(if I remember right). I died so many times that at one point I ejected the disc, frisbee'd it across the room, took the case off the shelf, stomped it then walked out.

 

But of course I went back for more the next day. There's just something about getting your ass handed to you for so long and then FINALLY being able to hand it back to 'em and say to yourself, "Hey, that wasn't so bad..".

[Deraldin]

I spent most of the game doing three attacks. I used the Gullotine Throw, where you grab the enemy by the neck as you flip over him then toss him. I never got tired of that move. :D For most of the first couple areas I used the wall jump + Y, but once I upgraded the sword to level two I almost exclusively used the "jump toward enemy + Y" move where you basically jump right through the enemy. Dealt decent damage, usually placed me far enough on the other side of the big enemies that I was out of range for a counter and 99% of the time was in instant decapitation against the basic soldiers.

 

The nunchakus/bladed flail thing (can't remember the name) would have to have been my favourite weapons though. Loved the speed of them and they looked cool too. :D

[J.E. Sawyer]

The nunchakus/bladed flail thing (can't remember the name) would have to have been my favourite weapons though. Loved the speed of them and they looked cool too. :D

The Vigoorian Flail. You can run really long combos with that and generate loads of essence. In Black, I loved using Lunar (the staff) against any enemies with quick movement. It had such a huge area and was so fast that it made up for the relatively low damage.

[Deraldin]

The nunchakus/bladed flail thing (can't remember the name) would have to have been my favourite weapons though. Loved the speed of them and they looked cool too. :D

The Vigoorian Flail. You can run really long combos with that and generate loads of essence. In Black, I loved using Lunar (the staff) against any enemies with quick movement. It had such a huge area and was so fast that it made up for the relatively low damage.

 

That was the one! Nice long combos and you could hit people all around you with some of them. I'd run into the middle of the groups of ghost fish and just start swinging and about 90% of the time I wouldn't get hit by a single one of them.

[Azure79]

The nunchakus/bladed flail thing (can't remember the name) would have to have been my favourite weapons though. Loved the speed of them and they looked cool too. :D

The Vigoorian Flail. You can run really long combos with that and generate loads of essence. In Black, I loved using Lunar (the staff) against any enemies with quick movement. It had such a huge area and was so fast that it made up for the relatively low damage.

 

That was the one! Nice long combos and you could hit people all around you with some of them. I'd run into the middle of the groups of ghost fish and just start swinging and about 90% of the time I wouldn't get hit by a single one of them.

 

Also the most effective weapon against the Berserkers (Only on Very Hard and up in Ninja Gaiden Black)

[Llyranor]

Haven't received my copy of NGB yet. Jerks.

 

In any case, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword has been announced for the DS. 3d top-down action-adventure with stylus control. While it would have been awesome to have a 2d game with traditional controls similar to the old NES NG's, I have to say I'm more intrigued about for a fast-paced action game. It can definitely work (of this Trauma Center's frantic stylus gameplay convinced me of), but the devs need to know what they're doing.

 

Hold DS sideways like a book (as in Brain Training, Hotel Dusk). Click to move, double-tap to jump. I'd imagine different strokes will result in different attacks. The stylus can be very fast and accurate (to a certain extent). We'll see.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Llyranor

[Musopticon?]

The nunchakus/bladed flail thing (can't remember the name) would have to have been my favourite weapons though. Loved the speed of them and they looked cool too. :D

The Vigoorian Flail. You can run really long combos with that and generate loads of essence. In Black, I loved using Lunar (the staff) against any enemies with quick movement. It had such a huge area and was so fast that it made up for the relatively low damage.

 

That was the one! Nice long combos and you could hit people all around you with some of them. I'd run into the middle of the groups of ghost fish and just start swinging and about 90% of the time I wouldn't get hit by a single one of them.

 

Also the most effective weapon against the Berserkers (Only on Very Hard and up in Ninja Gaiden Black)

I did a couple of Vigoorian combos againts the flying fishes in Labyrinth and everyone around the tv was sold.

[Llyranor]

http://ds.ign.com/articles/777/777221p1.html

[karka]

http://www.gamebrink.com/nintendo-ds/2727-...rd-video-1.html

[Llyranor]

Finally got NGB.

 

............... Is this the greatest game of all time?

 

I'm at the airship boss. The combat so far has been incredibly satisfying and so bloody awesome. It's hard, freaking hard. But not actually as hard as I expected from hearing other people speak - so far, anyway.

 

Though, despite the updated third person camera control, this is by far the weakest part (or only weak part?) of the game. It kind of outright sucks.

 

Ninjas > all.

[Deraldin]

Finally got NGB.

 

............... Is this the greatest game of all time?

 

I'm at the airship boss. The combat so far has been incredibly satisfying and so bloody awesome. It's hard, freaking hard. But not actually as hard as I expected from hearing other people speak - so far, anyway.

 

Though, despite the updated third person camera control, this is by far the weakest part (or only weak part?) of the game. It kind of outright sucks.

 

Ninjas > all.

 

I recall a couple times in the game that the camera frustrated me because it just wouldn't point where I wanted it, no matter what I did, but for the most part I thought it worked well.

[Azure79]

It will get harder...especially a particular boss that will be sure to piss you off.

[Musopticon?]

Alma, you mean? I thought she was rather easy. Compared to mister nunchuck-man in a fair fight, I mean.

[Pidesco]

This is one game that makes me wish I had a console. How hard can it be to do a stupid PC port?

[Azure79]

Alma, you mean? I thought she was rather easy. Compared to mister nunchuck-man in a fair fight, I mean.

 

It was hard the first time, before you develop effective moves against her.

[Llyranor]

I just got to the monastery. The sense of progression as you get new weapons and upgrade your old ones is pretty neat. I can now kill more efficiently and with more style, and enemies that used to be quite tough baddies become regular fodder. I'm not sure which weapon I like the most, and I end up alternating between all 3 that I have so far.

 

The camera has become more tolerable out of habit, but that doesn't make it any less sucky. One bad mark against an awesome experience so far. The art style is also pretty horrid, but at least that doesn't directly get in the way of the gameplay.

[J.E. Sawyer]

To be honest, I always loved the plain-ol' Dragon Sword. But Lunar is a close second. I never jumped through all of the hoops to upgrade the Wooden Sword to Unlabored Flawlessness, but using it certainly is challenging.

[Musopticon?]

I've done Unlabored Flawlessness. It is nice for a time, but the whole instadeath-thing grows old fast. It is challenging though, since you have to keep a low health without dying.

 

Now, Kitetsu on the other hand is darn fun.

Edited April 25, 2007 by Musopticon?

[Azure79]

I mainly used three weapons.

 

Dragon Sword for most enemies that are launchable, red dinos and most bosses.

 

Dabilahro(Big huge Sword) for the ogres and laser crab demons

 

Vigoorian Flail against the Berserkers and Skeletons/Zombies.

 

Also loved the flying neck breaking throw. Good for those tight situations.

[Llyranor]

Hehehe, I just got the Holy Grail from the monastery underground after fighting off that horde of zombie thingies. Hard-hitters, and dying kind of happens pretty quickly if you don't pay attention. Having to be constantly on the move, jumping around and dodging the enemy is refreshing change. I already can't wait to restart the game on a harder difficulty.

[Llyranor]

Hehehehehe, still loving the game. I'm in the sewers now.

 

The devs should have just stuck with combat, though. What's up with these puzzles/platforming? And forcing me use the bow while enemies are raining rockets at me, all while I'm using a bloody gamepad to aim? That's sadistic. At least I got past that part.

[angshuman]

Hehehehehe, still loving the game. I'm in the sewers now.

 

The devs should have just stuck with combat, though. What's up with these puzzles/platforming? And forcing me use the bow while enemies are raining rockets at me, all while I'm using a bloody gamepad to aim? That's sadistic. At least I got past that part.

I didn't like the entire tairon-on-alert chapter. Too much bow action.

 

BTW have you folks checked out the latest Sigma trailer (PS3) on Gamespot?

[Azure79]

I'm getting the Izuna Drop itch again.

 

I really should go back and finish Master Ninja Mode. FF 12 is really eating up my game time though. No random battles is awesome and dragged me back into FF again.