9 hours of cursing, cheering and mental exhaustion later and I have finally beat Ninja Gaiden II on Path of the Warrior (Normal?) using only the Dragon Sword for a personally long-awaited replay and two achievements for 105G. Over that time I've realized NGII is indeed one of the greatest action games of all time and perhaps the most unique due to its old school design lineage. But being unique isn't always a good thing.
I Finally Understand the Combat
Now it's not as if I was helplessly lost across my last playthrough (Path of the Acolyte/Easy?) but certain aspects clicked this time around which were a help in dealing with the harder difficulty. The first of which is positioning. It's so much more important in this game than other hack n' slash, character action, spectacle fighter or whatever you want to call this type of game. The reason being is for how many enemies the game throws at you and how aggressive all of them are. This game makes Devil May Cry enemies seem like the mindless mobs who hardly ever touch you in a Musou game. So it becomes very important to always see everyone in front of you instead of fighting them all at once in the middle like I have been able to do in other games, including Souls games! But this is easier said than done because of the next issue; the camera.
In my last RTTP I complained about this as well before being reminded that reorienting it behind Ryu was just a tap of the RT (right trigger) away. But even after I made this mental adjustment I still found myself frustrated by it. I think its largest issue is just how low it is to the ground. Throughout my time I found myself constantly adjusting it up to see if a wave of enemies was incoming. Compounding this issue is the fact that you are not always in control of the camera. When moving throughout the environment, even using the game's laughable attempt at a lock-on for boss fights the angle can change leading to a suddenly wrong input. This led to a death in a boss fight as I dodged to the side instead of forward due to a sudden camera angle change. Very frustrating.
But when you can see and you've positioned yourself well, this game's combat is unlike any other. Thanks to a video detailing the combat I found myself doing a lot better. I'd use light attacks or a light, light, heavy for an almost guaranteed dismember to set up an OT (Obliteration Technique, tap heavy attack near a dismembered enemy to play a bloody and i-frame filled animation). When against other humans I was a lot faster using shuriken during a jump after doing an OT, using the guillotine throw liberally for a dismember if they hit a wall upon landing and jumping on multiple enemies head like Mario to get out of trouble and stun them by doing so. Even Flying Swallow is handy for escaping danger.
I also found my time learning fighting games over the past few years very handy. Unlike other games you have to hit-confirm each hit of your combo in order to not be grabbed by the bigger enemies because you aren't guaranteed a stun on them or can't even get that many hits off before you need to dodge. And you can't just block for a counter because the timing is hard unless you're in the mix. You can't just block indefinitely as your guard will break easily meaning you'll be stunned or you'll be thrown for a chunk of your health (most of the throws can be read though). And you can even cancel your combo by throwing a single shuriken which is very handy for getting off an OT on an enemy you don't just want to keep comboing as you're likely to get hit by someone else if you do.
The Bullshit
Many over the years have described NGII as being a modern interpretation of an NES game and I now think they're right. How so? Well checkpoints for starters. They'll often autosave at the beginning of a boss fight but not immediately after. And when you have to fight normal enemies after the boss but before the next save point, which is frequent, dying to them means repeating the boss fight. Bullshit.
The old-school vibe is also reinforced by how hard this game can be. Some encounters I genuinely don't know how you're supposed to do without the use of magic or item spam. I'd find myself in a scenario and say "Yeah this is insane and why I saved my magic." I even said that for the third to last boss fight for an attack that I couldn't block and couldn't dodge no matter how fast I was and so I just used my magic (i-frames) to avoid damage. And for more than a few of the fights in the last quarter of the game I just ran from because I didn't want to keep fighting and was glad I did as more and more enemies would be revealed as I went past. Mostly bullshit.
Blocking in 3D games typically means if you're blocking when hit from behind, you'll still block the attack. This is not the case in Ninja Gaiden II. So I'll have just successfully dodged in a direction I'm still facing and the enemy's long attack string still hits me because despite blocking, I'm not facing him. What makes this even weirder? Most of the time this doesn't happen! Most of the time I do block despite not facing them! Weird! But also bullshit and the cause of a handful of deaths for me. A core mechanic shouldn't have any gray room.
I'm not saying the bosses are bullshit, but the range of quality is wildly all over the place. Some frustrated me before realizing I could just practically stand in place and shoot arrows. Some had me spamming Flying Swallow to great success. Another had me literally stand in place, dodge, get a couple hits and repeat. Others the fight would be over before I knew it and I'd audibly go "Wait, that was it?". And more were just as fast but far more memorable because I was fighting an enemy just like me, a glass cannon. The first four (Rasetsu, Genshin, Alexei and Volf) come to mind as the best and probably why for years I never bothered playing past them since they are arguably the peak. And even for Genshin whom you fight multiple times, his last appearance is the easiest as his attack stings were finally reasonable given how much I could block before my guard broke and how fast I could dodge in succession.
Lastly, the game's old soul is most easily identified by seeing the world's first (and only?) Master Ninja, no damage run. It's incredible to watch… for about 20 minutes. I'm not diminishing the feat, but notice just how much of it is triggering an enemy spawn, running away behind a corner and Essence charging. They also frequently avoid damage the same way I did in that frustrating boss fight, using magic not for its damage but i-frames. That was disappointing to see as the best strategies. They're not playing it wrong given the type of game NGII is, but to me it feels like they are. But I also know if they tried it the "right" way, there's probably no way in hell they'd be able to do it without getting hit. And if there's an indictment of the player or the game because of that conundrum, I think it's of the game.
In Conclusion
Ninja Gaiden II is one of the best action games ever made and made all the better and worse by the fact that it's probably as literal of a translation of the original NES games as you can make. I don't think I've ever played another game quite like it. And just like my favorite games of all time, I find myself instantly drawn back to it despite having just rolled credits. My Path of the Mentor (Hard) run is kicking my ass and yet I'm having a great time..for now.
I Finally Understand the Combat
Now it's not as if I was helplessly lost across my last playthrough (Path of the Acolyte/Easy?) but certain aspects clicked this time around which were a help in dealing with the harder difficulty. The first of which is positioning. It's so much more important in this game than other hack n' slash, character action, spectacle fighter or whatever you want to call this type of game. The reason being is for how many enemies the game throws at you and how aggressive all of them are. This game makes Devil May Cry enemies seem like the mindless mobs who hardly ever touch you in a Musou game. So it becomes very important to always see everyone in front of you instead of fighting them all at once in the middle like I have been able to do in other games, including Souls games! But this is easier said than done because of the next issue; the camera.
In my last RTTP I complained about this as well before being reminded that reorienting it behind Ryu was just a tap of the RT (right trigger) away. But even after I made this mental adjustment I still found myself frustrated by it. I think its largest issue is just how low it is to the ground. Throughout my time I found myself constantly adjusting it up to see if a wave of enemies was incoming. Compounding this issue is the fact that you are not always in control of the camera. When moving throughout the environment, even using the game's laughable attempt at a lock-on for boss fights the angle can change leading to a suddenly wrong input. This led to a death in a boss fight as I dodged to the side instead of forward due to a sudden camera angle change. Very frustrating.
But when you can see and you've positioned yourself well, this game's combat is unlike any other. Thanks to a video detailing the combat I found myself doing a lot better. I'd use light attacks or a light, light, heavy for an almost guaranteed dismember to set up an OT (Obliteration Technique, tap heavy attack near a dismembered enemy to play a bloody and i-frame filled animation). When against other humans I was a lot faster using shuriken during a jump after doing an OT, using the guillotine throw liberally for a dismember if they hit a wall upon landing and jumping on multiple enemies head like Mario to get out of trouble and stun them by doing so. Even Flying Swallow is handy for escaping danger.
I also found my time learning fighting games over the past few years very handy. Unlike other games you have to hit-confirm each hit of your combo in order to not be grabbed by the bigger enemies because you aren't guaranteed a stun on them or can't even get that many hits off before you need to dodge. And you can't just block for a counter because the timing is hard unless you're in the mix. You can't just block indefinitely as your guard will break easily meaning you'll be stunned or you'll be thrown for a chunk of your health (most of the throws can be read though). And you can even cancel your combo by throwing a single shuriken which is very handy for getting off an OT on an enemy you don't just want to keep comboing as you're likely to get hit by someone else if you do.
The Bullshit
Many over the years have described NGII as being a modern interpretation of an NES game and I now think they're right. How so? Well checkpoints for starters. They'll often autosave at the beginning of a boss fight but not immediately after. And when you have to fight normal enemies after the boss but before the next save point, which is frequent, dying to them means repeating the boss fight. Bullshit.
The old-school vibe is also reinforced by how hard this game can be. Some encounters I genuinely don't know how you're supposed to do without the use of magic or item spam. I'd find myself in a scenario and say "Yeah this is insane and why I saved my magic." I even said that for the third to last boss fight for an attack that I couldn't block and couldn't dodge no matter how fast I was and so I just used my magic (i-frames) to avoid damage. And for more than a few of the fights in the last quarter of the game I just ran from because I didn't want to keep fighting and was glad I did as more and more enemies would be revealed as I went past. Mostly bullshit.
Blocking in 3D games typically means if you're blocking when hit from behind, you'll still block the attack. This is not the case in Ninja Gaiden II. So I'll have just successfully dodged in a direction I'm still facing and the enemy's long attack string still hits me because despite blocking, I'm not facing him. What makes this even weirder? Most of the time this doesn't happen! Most of the time I do block despite not facing them! Weird! But also bullshit and the cause of a handful of deaths for me. A core mechanic shouldn't have any gray room.
I'm not saying the bosses are bullshit, but the range of quality is wildly all over the place. Some frustrated me before realizing I could just practically stand in place and shoot arrows. Some had me spamming Flying Swallow to great success. Another had me literally stand in place, dodge, get a couple hits and repeat. Others the fight would be over before I knew it and I'd audibly go "Wait, that was it?". And more were just as fast but far more memorable because I was fighting an enemy just like me, a glass cannon. The first four (Rasetsu, Genshin, Alexei and Volf) come to mind as the best and probably why for years I never bothered playing past them since they are arguably the peak. And even for Genshin whom you fight multiple times, his last appearance is the easiest as his attack stings were finally reasonable given how much I could block before my guard broke and how fast I could dodge in succession.
Lastly, the game's old soul is most easily identified by seeing the world's first (and only?) Master Ninja, no damage run. It's incredible to watch… for about 20 minutes. I'm not diminishing the feat, but notice just how much of it is triggering an enemy spawn, running away behind a corner and Essence charging. They also frequently avoid damage the same way I did in that frustrating boss fight, using magic not for its damage but i-frames. That was disappointing to see as the best strategies. They're not playing it wrong given the type of game NGII is, but to me it feels like they are. But I also know if they tried it the "right" way, there's probably no way in hell they'd be able to do it without getting hit. And if there's an indictment of the player or the game because of that conundrum, I think it's of the game.
In Conclusion
Ninja Gaiden II is one of the best action games ever made and made all the better and worse by the fact that it's probably as literal of a translation of the original NES games as you can make. I don't think I've ever played another game quite like it. And just like my favorite games of all time, I find myself instantly drawn back to it despite having just rolled credits. My Path of the Mentor (Hard) run is kicking my ass and yet I'm having a great time..for now.
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