Played a few rounds and really enjoyed the presentation, the gameplay was a little obtuse, but the one thing that really stood out is the tutorial. Instead of an in-game cutscene it boots up...a YouTube video?
Ninjala |OT| No squids, only kids
- Thread starter Jawmuncher
- Start date
- OT
I kind of agree with this as a likely reason the game turned out the way it did. My overall sense for the concept right now is that there are devs at GungHo that came up with a really fun concept with a lot of potential, but a lack of technical prowess and overly ambitious business management decisions risk derailing its potential success very quickly. Like the skeleton of "gum-using Ninjas fighting each other, dashing around, crafting weapons, etc" is all there and then in hammering out the details it just kind of got decided "meh ultimately this is just gonna be a game where kids milk their parents' money for cool-looking cosmetics" and nothing really tied together after that point. That's why we get the lazy and barebones browser-embed Youtube tutorial, why the only defensive option and main Ippon-grabbing mechanic is RPS ("kids are just gonna be mashing random attacks the whole time anyway without knowing any better"), and why nearly all of the pay-for mechanics are just absurdly, prohibitively expensive. I saw an outfit in the shop last night that I really liked the look of...but it's sixteen fucking dollars to purchase so absolutely hell no to that. I could ultimately spend sixteen dollars on cosmetics in the game if I enjoyed the gameplay and prices for things felt fair (I might have actually bought that outfit, for instance, if it was in the $2-4 range, and could do so cumulatively to have several outfits to pick from) but those prices and the whole gumball-gacha for consumable skins are real big turn-offs. Then again I'm pretty much always naturally suspicious of any game with premium currency that offers for you to pay up $100 or more for it, it shows you where their head is at when they invite you to pay more for cosmetics than to buy one or two other polished and fully-featured games.
It feels right now like a product that has a heart buried in there somewhere but is covered by a really thick veneer of cynicism that you'd expect from the worst of whale-seeking mobile developers. I think what might sadden me most is that a lot of these problems could be easily fixable (reduce specialty shop prices, reduce the amount of time you can't act in stunlock so you can jump or dash to recover more quickly, fix and improve the audiovisual feedback the game gives you, improve the way targets are prioritized, hell if you want to keep the gumball mechanic then let each pull give you 10 uses of the gum instead of just one) but given the track record of what has or hasn't changed over time from so far from the dev team, I don't feel like I can count on that improvement happening. The kind of changes they make between season 1 and season 2 are going to be very telling in how well they listen to feedback and whether their ambition is in truly building up a good product or simply looking to cash in as much as possible.
It's currently on sale, but the normal price is $10. Definitely do not pay $10 for it, and maybe really think about spending $5.
I played this game two years ago at the Tokyo game show and the burst mechanic was not there at the time. I remember all the adults thrashing the kids during gameplay demos. Didn't think they would add in mechanics to make the action more luck based.
In Battle Royale, the drones spawn all over the map so there are usually engagements happening all across the map. It works well there, but in Team Battle it's a little uninteresting. I wish they changed where the drones spawned like they do in Battle Royale.
That's super funny. I don't dislike the burst system now that I know all the ways you can play around it or make the odds go in your favor, but hopefully the devs take in player feedback and make adjustments. They seem receptive to feedback so hopefully they'll be able to make some changes.
Wide attack is what you get by holding Down on the control stick while hitting the attack button. For most weapons so far it tends to play out as some sort of a spin or sweeping attack that hits all around you.
I'm not sure if the mission you're talking about specifically is asking you to use a wide attack during a parry but just to be clear you can do them at any time and not just during the clash, just like the other attacks.
Press down+attack to perform the wide attack.
Left or right+attack to perform the back attack.
Hmm after playing a few matches I don't really feel much while playing it. I was hoping the movement and combat would feel great but it kind of doesn't and feels almost shallow. It's almost like playing a 2D fighter and the main way to fight was just an auto combo. In the matches I played I always came in the top 3. It's remarkably "okay."
The single player DLC is pretty shit but the last boss was a welcome surprise. A fleshed our SP with actual levels would have a lot of potential.
Enjoying the MO the more I understand the mechanics. The biggest issue I have is stun lock lasts too long and if you are out of S-Energy you have zero options except sit and wait to die.
I like the way the drones play into the match and how important they are which makes it not all about KOs. In fact, since most people just charge straight in at the start, focusing on drones until you get your big weapon is a sure fire way to win.
Interested in seeing where this goes.
Enjoying the MO the more I understand the mechanics. The biggest issue I have is stun lock lasts too long and if you are out of S-Energy you have zero options except sit and wait to die.
I like the way the drones play into the match and how important they are which makes it not all about KOs. In fact, since most people just charge straight in at the start, focusing on drones until you get your big weapon is a sure fire way to win.
Interested in seeing where this goes.
The game has a huge learning curve for beginners and a lot of immediately off-putting stuff that needs to be changed (like the gumball machine, just get rid of the gacha).
But after putting in the few hours to learn it, I'm having a blast. The entire battle system is thrown on its head with learning that shield break exists. Stealth attacking, baiting a defense, and then breaking their weapon for a swift kill is really enjoyable. On the flip side, getting into a rock paper scissors means you got baited into attacking their defense, and it isn't a constant occurrence anymore when you stop spamming R2.
Being a Switch exclusive, the inevitable laggy battles are super frustrating though.
But after putting in the few hours to learn it, I'm having a blast. The entire battle system is thrown on its head with learning that shield break exists. Stealth attacking, baiting a defense, and then breaking their weapon for a swift kill is really enjoyable. On the flip side, getting into a rock paper scissors means you got baited into attacking their defense, and it isn't a constant occurrence anymore when you stop spamming R2.
Being a Switch exclusive, the inevitable laggy battles are super frustrating though.
I looked up some TGS 2018 footage to see what you meant and was shocked to discover that the prototype can barely even be considered the same game!
Instead of the clashing and three types of attacks and whatnot it was a way simpler approach where you basically just tried to gum up opponents before whacking them with a charged melee hit to get an Ippon. The longer you charged up the gum, the bigger the bubble would be making it harder to avoid, but it also made you a target since you'd get gummed up yourself if anyone hit you while you're blowing the bubble. There was no burst mechanic because you couldn't do lengthy midair combos in the first place.
Meanwhile, the crafting angle made more sense because your weapon had durability and you'd have to continually replace it throughout the match, and it incentivized movement a lot more because there were little collectibles scattered everywhere worth 5 points each and drones actively moved around instead of being stationary damage sponges.
It looks like they had a lot of good ideas that got outright replaced at some point in 2019 by the current Dragon Ball Z-esque gameplay of teleporting to opponents to do lengthy fighting game combos and getting into flashy RPS battles. I have no idea why they strayed so far because it seemed like the original concept would have been far friendlier to players of all ages and skill levels than what we ended up getting.
I'm amazed how not fun this was online. The offline tutorial part was pretty cool. I liked what it gave a preview of.
But the online is just....yikes
But the online is just....yikes
Honestly, I was surprised. The game was so good in it's original form and I enjoyed every second of it. There was a learning curve but I ended up walking away with a win with a large margin during TGS2018.
Just finished Story Mode so I thought I'd give my impressions: it's four incredibly boring and tedious levels against generic AI enemies who require no strategy whatsoever beyond whacking at them until they're about to attack and dashing/jumping away to dodge it. I would consider it a complete write-off if not for the fifth and final level where they suddenly decided to actually put some effort in with a really fun and epic boss battle that makes great use of Eagle City's verticality. Hopefully they make every stage as good as that with future chapters.
In short, I'd say buy it only if you really want the rewards or if you want to play a good boss fight, otherwise skip. And if you do buy, definitely get it while it's on sale because it's absolutely not worth $10.
In short, I'd say buy it only if you really want the rewards or if you want to play a good boss fight, otherwise skip. And if you do buy, definitely get it while it's on sale because it's absolutely not worth $10.
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I've been actually considering picking up the story chapter not because of the story itself or the ugly clothing, but mostly for the bonus medals it gives out for completing it (gold medals are at such a premium in this game normally holy shit)...and also slightly because I think the Loco Soda utsusemi looks funny. What I haven't seen anywhere though is just how many medals you actually get for it? If it's only worth 20 or so golds it might not actually be worth even the five bucks.
I switched the Iron Noise for the Corn Bat and oh yeah, this is definitely my go-to weapon when I'm not trying to play support (which is a bit of a fool's errand when playing with randoms anyway). A lot of people say the standard drill is better but I prefer the homing gum shot to the weird spiky thing, and I have a tendency to get killed trying to use Punishing Blade. The dragon is pretty weak in comparison but it's fun to use it as a "fire and forget" special.
Also, I have to say... once you get used to the movement, it's really fun to get around in this game. Your default run speed is pretty slow but if you know how to make the most of your energy bar by taking routes near the refill pickups, you can chain dashes to move pretty darn quick. Doubly so if you're using the drill and make frequent use of its special that lets you dig underground at high speed.
The Loco Soda utsusemi is definitely the best cosmetic reward. As for gold medals, you get 5 for getting a gold rank on each normal mission and I believe you get 10 for doing the same in hard mode, so 75 gold medals total.
Also, I have to say... once you get used to the movement, it's really fun to get around in this game. Your default run speed is pretty slow but if you know how to make the most of your energy bar by taking routes near the refill pickups, you can chain dashes to move pretty darn quick. Doubly so if you're using the drill and make frequent use of its special that lets you dig underground at high speed.
The Loco Soda utsusemi is definitely the best cosmetic reward. As for gold medals, you get 5 for getting a gold rank on each normal mission and I believe you get 10 for doing the same in hard mode, so 75 gold medals total.
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Just brought story mode for free.99 thanks to my redeemed points since I heard it isn't great except for an amazing boss fight
As someone who usually plays action and fighting games, the gameplay in this game is a little bit...shit?
The stun lock means that you will be dead after their first attack hits and the rest connect, there are almost no defense or parry options, the starting sword like weapon is shit, etc.
This is not a fun game to play.
I am dropping it but got the special gacha clothes on my first try using the free currency the game gave me so...
The stun lock means that you will be dead after their first attack hits and the rest connect, there are almost no defense or parry options, the starting sword like weapon is shit, etc.
This is not a fun game to play.
I am dropping it but got the special gacha clothes on my first try using the free currency the game gave me so...
As someone who usually plays action and fighting games, the gameplay in this game is a little bit...shit?
The stun lock means that you will be dead after their first attack hits and the rest connect, there are almost no defense or parry options, the starting sword like weapon is shit, etc.
This is not a fun game to play.
I am dropping it but got the special gacha clothes on my first try using the free currency the game gave me so...
I think they have most of the gameplay down, but the stun lock and parry system are the big things that everyone has a problem with, and both seem like they could be solved without too much difficulty. Stun lock just needs to not be infinite, weapons should be able to do one combo for some big damage and then the person getting attacked should be able to potentially jump or dash away if they have the energy for it.
As for the parry system, I can think of no good reason for it to be RPS. IMO it should just be a standard parry that makes a shockwave to keep the scavengers away like usual but skips the clash stuff to instead briefly stagger the attacker and give the person being attacked the chance to either dash away or go on the offensive. Attackers would still have the option of predicting the parry and using a break attack, and even if they fail they would most likely have the energy to counter-parry and get the advantage back.
When you get hit you should be able to perform an S-Burst by hitting L to defend yourself as long as you have the stamina cost (or with the starter card, you get one free no-stamina s-burst per life). The only time you should get infinite juggled is if you already blew your free s-burst, and then stayed too low stamina to defend yourself with. You just gotta avoid spamming gum-dashes and hitting 0 stamina. Of course, if you're getting the initial hit in the first place, you've already lost.
So here's one mechanics question I haven't seen an answer for yet: Why do yo-yo class weapons sonetimes apparently get super armor during parries, particularly if they go with the wide attack? And I'm not just talking about weird lag armor shenanigans, they seemingly get the same blue shield aura that the SK8 and Sushi hammers do from their weapon ability during the duration of their attack. I've seen it a couple of times with me fighting the normal yo-yos and even once last night saw a streamer using the trick ball gain armor when they picked the dunk attack...but none of the yo-yo abilities involve super armor at all and while some shinobi cards will reduce damage, no card or assist codes grant armor either.
It can't just be "wide attack during clash has super armor" because it doesn't seem like it activates consistently and if it did that's be broken as hell, but I don't otherwise understand how it happens.
It can't just be "wide attack during clash has super armor" because it doesn't seem like it activates consistently and if it did that's be broken as hell, but I don't otherwise understand how it happens.
Good question, I was wondering about that myself.
I now use a yo-yo, and sometimes during parry I get that blue shield and I win the RPS every time! I wonder if it's some card buff I have equipped...
I kind of doubt it's a card, since like I said I've looked through all the cards and assist codes previously and not a single one of them mentions super armor, and none of the yo-yo abilities mention it either (doubly so since this seems to be a thing with all four yo-yos, and not just a pair of them like the armored hammers. Out of curiosity though, do you remember what cards you have equipped?
I'm at least glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed this. Feels like it's either a weird glitch or there's some sort of stealth yo-yo buff that just isn't mentioned ingame anywhere (which I can't entirely rule out, given Ninjala's penchant for not explaining anything).
I have the Extra parry and the Extra S-energy cards equipped. Not sure about the assist codes.
Later tonight I'll check. I'm also gonna lab in training mode against the AI and have him always parry to see what triggers the blue shield.
I've encountered this too and I think I stumbled across the answer in a Ninjala Discord this morning, I didn't quite know what they were talking about until you mentioned this.
Apparently if you use an attack with super armor in a clash and the opponent picks the same direction as you but is using a weapon that does not have super armor on that move, instead of resetting like you normally would you'll trade damage. Even though the yo-yo's wide attack doesn't normally have super armor, it does in a clash for some reason. So basically, a back (left/right) attack with a Hammer will trade with a back attack from a Katana or Yo-Yo, and a wide (down) attack from a Yo-Yo will trade with a wide attack from a Katana or Hammer.
This... actually puts a bit of strategy into the RPS stuff? It's Ninjala though, so of course it had to be randomly discovered instead of explained to the player.
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Interesting. So there are really moves with super armour.
I'm definitely gonna try to perform these in Training mode.
For those of you who haven't bought the battle pass yet, they just gave out another 100 free Jala for the 2 millionth download, which means if you haven't spent any of the other freebies they've given out you can get yourself the battle pass for just 99 cents by buying the one-time 500 Jala pack.
If you both press the same direction there's a tie. You go into RPS again.
Left/Right beats Up, Down beats Left/Right, Up beats Down.
I feel weirdly tempted by the notion of getting the season pass for basically a dollar, even though I don't particularly love most of the cosmetics it's offering. I guess it would mostly be beneficial for the Jala and Medal bonuses, but that's also contingent on actually making it all the way to the end of the 100 tiers and it's hard to get a sense for how much play-investment is really needed for that yet.
Uh wow that's so oddly specific without hardly anything to indicate the RPS path. Thanks for the info.
I'm around level 10 now, it's rough around the edges in some ways but I am really enjoying it. I think it's main issues are shit like that question I just had to ask. There's not a lot of feedback in plenty of avenues that there should be to let you know what exactly is going on. Only the really dedicated are gonna figure it out, and for everyone else it's just gonna feel like a confusing mess that they'll probably ditch. Like fuck just once again using the clash example, Why not just label the arrows as rock paper and scissors rather than 3 colors that don't really mean anything? That immediately would help so many players better understand it.
I think some of it's systems are just inherently a little weird too and hard to grasp. Like the whole gum system seems to be designed as accessible and natural, but really since the concept of it is just so out there and there's so many options based around it (options that are also weird), it comes off as confusing and odd. There's issues with the whole camera/lock on system too, although enabling the cursor has helped me some in that regard.
The stun lock stuff doesn't really bother me especially once you start learning about how the other systems can allow you to avoid it. I actually kinda like that it allows you to satisfyingly beat the shit out of your opponent if they use up all their defenses. It hurts when it's comin back at you, but *shrug*. I still don't exactly know what the L option is during the parry series though. I know that typically allows you to dodge outside of parries, but what does it do during them? Just seems like it gets me hit a lot when I try it.
I've posted about it early in the topic before but the logic of the "what beats what during parries" question makes natural sense if you think about it in terms of the baseline katana'a attacks:
-Left/Right beats Up because you strafe and hit them in the back while they attack straight
-Down beats L/R because the wide sweep hits behind you and catches their strafe attempt
-Up beats Down because your straightforward attack comes out faster than their wide sweep
Once that relationship is truly detailed I feel it's pretty easy to understand and internalize. The problem is that, up front, the extent of the attack tutorial that the game guarantees all players see is, "Press ZR to attack!"
...That's it.
No mention of directional attacks evwn existing, let alone how they interact, and no mention of the break attack either. So you're thrown into a match, getting hit brings up a big flashing ZL sign that they never explained either, and you end up with an RPS clash without knowing why or what your options are or what winning or losing the clash even means for you. Then at the end of the match someone is awared an Ippon Master bonus...even though the game never directly explains what differentiates Ippon from a normal KO or what various conditions allow for it. So much basic stuff is left optionally buried in tutorial text boxes that a far-from-insignificant players will completely skip because the game makes no indication offhand how much more there is to combat than what's mandated.
Communication overall is just...poor.
Anyway, dashing out of a parry basically allows you to avoid dealing with the win/loss of an actual clash, but bear in mind the attack your opponent selects still plays out while you dash away, so depending on which direction you move in, there is a chance that it might still hit you.
I knew those attacks were a thing, but I never put 2 and 2 together and realized that's what came out during parries. More poor communication. That does make some sense. They could still get the same effect as labeling then RPS though, and it would just give more needed visual feedback.
I didn't even know how exactly to make those attacks come out normally, but I see now it's basically a smash motion with the stick. Man yeah this game sucks hard at teaching.
Edit : now that I know this about the parries I'm thinking about it way too much. Yeah just give a visual cue. Also can you hit someone when they're combo'ing someone else? Can't even really tell
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I'm done trying to get golds in hard mode for the story. This has to be one of the most frustrating and unfun games I've played in awhile.
I haven't spent any Jala yet and I only have 300 currently without buying the 1-time 500 for 99c yet. Where did you get the other 150 from?
I haven't spent any Jala yet and I only have 300 currently without buying the 1-time 500 for 99c yet. Where did you get the other 150 from?
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100 from the release day bonus
100 from the 1 millionth download
100 from the 2 millionth download
200 from tier 10 and 16 of the free battle pass
500 from the 99 cent deal
=
1000 Jala!
Oh, I didn't know about the 200 in the free BP.
I've been mainly trying to get all the golds in story mode so I'm still only tier 4. lol
Just got an update. Wonder wut fer
Is the story mode actively shit? Thinking about grabbing it but if it's just painful I'll probably avoid it.
Is the story mode actively shit? Thinking about grabbing it but if it's just painful I'll probably avoid it.
Damn. Unless I need the medals guess I'll skip it.
Man the Y dash with the katanas is just awful for locking onto people. It just controls awful in general really. It hits drones fine though.
Has an unnecessarily steep learning curve due to poor in-game tutorials, but a lot of fun once you understand how it all works.
Exactly what Camjo said. It initially can seem like a random mess but it's kinda great if you dig in. The game does it no favors explaining itself. I'm loving it even though there's some bullshit sometimes.
Can you not party up and play battle Royale/team? That really sucks. Edit : nvm, you can. Phew. They just gotta be over level 5. But looks like you can only do team which is a bummer.
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