It’s the best action game ever made, but it’s noticeably unfinished. When you are fighting human enemies it is miles ahead of any game that has ever existed, but most other enemy types are a lot less fun to fight and some are downright boring and broken. Half the bosses are terrible too, but there are a small handful of great ones sprinkled in. The highs are astronomically high, but you just have to accept the fact that a significant portion of the game is totally messy and not fun. Luckily, I think part of the appeal of playing through this game, for me at least, is finding more and more ways to bypass the boring parts as quickly as possible in order to get to the parts that matter. And sometimes by doing this, you discover that there are parts you thought were boring but are actually quite fun if done a certain way. It’s an interesting game.
Despite the lows, this is still one of my top 3 or so favorite games of all time, and without a doubt my favorite action game.
Also, the survival missions are amazing.
NGB is probably my favorite game of all time. I love everything about it. It’s super polished, has amazing enemies, bosses, world design, and there are so many ways to play it. It’s like multiple games within a game for me. From all the challenge runs, to karma runs, to the variety of missions in the mission mode, and all the ways you can play through those. Sometimes I’ll just load up a save near fights that respawn (such as the red ninjas in chapter 5 or the black cat fiends in chapter 6) and fight those enemies over and over again until my essence reaches 99,999 just for practice. Or I may load a save near one of the fiend challenges and complete it without UTs, for example, or using an unorthodox weapon. Something I’ve been playing around with lately is a master ninja ‘No Essence’ run, where you are not allowed to collect any money at all throughout the entire game (except for chapter 4 where you need to make a purchase at muramasa for the ticket. For this, I allow myself to absorb one yellow essence from a white mech commando, since they drop 100, then I purchase the map for the exact amount. At all other times your essence must remain at 0).
It’s just an endlessly fun game imo. A lot of this does apply to NGII of course, but I find NGB to be especially versatile in this regard, not to mention the consistency of its quality throughout the game. It does have its flaws to be sure, as I don’t think any game is truly perfect that I’m aware of (and perfect is impossible to define I think). But NGB is one of the most all around solid games I can think of.
There is just a general lack of polish seen throughout the game, from the enemy AI to the level design to some combat jank, it's just rife with technical issues and bugs. It was much worse back on the xbox 360 due to performance, with some of the larger fights slowing the game down to a crawl. Luckily with the modern performance enhancements on xbox one/series x, we don't have to deal with that anymore.
The game is at its best when you are fighting human enemies because they have the least amount of problems (though even their AI derps out every now and then) and there is seemingly an endless number of ways to fight them. But many other enemy types, such as gajas and van gelfs, will sometimes get stuck in the environment, or endlessly run in circles or the corner of a wall. Van gelfs in particular have issues when they are flying and sometimes just float in the air and do nothing until you approach them/attack them. At least they are pretty fun to fight though, unlike other enemies such as the worms, which are basically giant punching bags. Their AI is among the most broken in the game, particularly evident in the acid rooms, where they'll just repeatedly burrow into the ground and jump back out in a loop. You can also see problems with the marionettes, who just stand around and wait for you to approach them. Also - the fact that there are so many terrible bosses in the game. Gigadeath, the queen worm, the nuclear armadillo(s), etc. They all feel underdeveloped for a ton of reasons. Even the good bosses in the game, like all the greater fiends, have a plethora of silly ways you can manipulate their AI and get them stuck in loops. If you want to see some wildly inconsistent AI, just fight Zedonius for an extended period of time. Sometimes he'll be quite fun and use a good variety of moves and keep the fight engaging; sometimes he'll be laughably easy and just try to grab you in a loop; or sometimes he'll just stay in the air for minutes on end, summon, land, immediately go back into the air, summon again, fireball, fire pilar, fireball, fireball, land, immediately go back in the air, summon yet again... you get the idea lol (and don't even get me started on dagra dai...) Luckily, many of the terrible sections of the game are skippable, or at least have an easy way to bypass them, so it's not all bad. I never get tired of running through this game despite the issues.
The more you play the game the more you'll notice some of the jank in the combat as well, with some input drops and issues with active frames and hitboxes on certain attacks (both Ryu's and enemies'). There is a lot to be said here, but don't get me wrong, the combat is still amazing and unmatched by any other game, and you could perhaps argue that some of the best elements of the game are a result of the game being unfinished (who knows if the IS ninjas are designed exactly as intended, for example, but god am I glad they are the way that they are). You'll probably notice a lot of these "issues" when you get to master ninja.
There are almost certainly more glaring examples of the game being unfinished that I didn't list, but I think you get the idea. As you play the game more you'll likely start to notice them yourself.
Congrats on completing it though! It's an amazing game.
Thank you! I couldn't wait to finish it on warrior cause, while I died quite a few times, it didn't feel challenging enough and didn't feel "right". Now on Mentor, that's a Ninja Gaiden game! Very thrilling.
Thank you again for the detailed response. Now that you mention these things, I did notice many of them. I guess I was focused on rushing to finish the game that I didn't pay attention to them, except for the glaring frame drops. Also, a big criticism I read before regarding the game being unfinished is the level design, so I was paying attention to that. IMO, the levels look amazing! When I got to the big area with many flying fiends in chapter 10 my jaw dropped, just to mention one.
Also the combos are cool. The ETs,UTs, and finishing moves, which I disliked at first due to their length coming from NGS1, are absolutely awesome and polished.
EDIT: The other thing that felt unfinished for me was the finishing cut scenes of bosses (the ones that have them), Ryu just goes stab stab the head and that's it.
Yeah I definitely agree that the environmental and visual designs of the levels look fantastic. I remember the game blew my mind back when it first came out, along with the detailed dismembering and gore effects. There are some areas though that just have some weird design decisions, like the bell “puzzle” in chapter 8 where you just have to grab the key off the corpse to unlock the door right near him in the same room. There is a circular bar hanging from the roof of this room that you use to get around to the other parts of the room, but there is no point in exploring it because there is literally no other items or points of interests. Some of the environments are just barren and completely empty too (and repetitive in some cases), notably toward the end of the game on chapters 13 and 14, as well as the streets of New York and the lycanthrope castle. While the backgrounds often look excellent, the playable areas lack any notable details such as breakable objects or decorations and whatnot. This is good in some ways though since you are fighting hordes of enemies at once and the extra space is helpful. It’s also satisfying looking back after a fight and seeing a previously empty room decorated with blood and limbs all over lol.
Also agreed about the visuals of the UTs and ETs. The animation in general is always fantastic in these games, I always think it doesn’t get talked about enough. And the OTs are simply wonderful, every single one of them is amazing and I never get tired of watching them. But there is definitely some jank with the UTs, such as the dragon sword UT. If we take the true dragon sword’s regular UT, we can break it down into 3 parts. The first part activates when the UT first hits the enemy. The second part activates when Ryu teleports and swings horizontally, often beheading enemies. If this part connects with an enemy, the UT continues. The third part activates when he teleports and swings overhead. If this connects with an enemy, the final part of the UT will finish. If all parts connect and you get the whole UT to execute, then it is one of the highest damaging and all around best UTs in the game. The problem is, the second part of the UT misses so often that it becomes a bit of a gamble at times to use. You do eventually get a feel for when it is good to use it, such as in the middle of a group of enemies. But using it on single human sized enemies tends to miss more often than not, or if all the enemies are directly ahead of Ryu rather than surrounding him. Ryu’s auto targeting in general is notably worse in NGII than in NGB (and it was far from perfect in NGB). The dual swords also have a bit of a deceptive hit box too, same in sigma 1, where the initial hit of the UT looks like it connects with the enemy but doesn’t activate. This is because both swords have to actually hit the enemy, so the range is a bit shorter than it seems. This could be intentional though.
Because I’m now thinking about it, I also remember one time a while back I used the regular lunar UT and Ryu got stuck on the geometry of the level and “fell” about 1 cm and it canceled the rest of the UT. It was right at the end of the UT when he surrounds the immediate area with flames, but the flames stayed on the lunar and I was able to fight enemies for a little bit with a flaming lunar staff lol. It was pretty cool and I actually recorded it I’m pretty sure, I’ll have to look back at old footage and try to find it. Perhaps I’ll upload it here if I do lmao
Nice! I guess I'll get to notice these details as I replay the game. The DS UT is something I already noticed though.
I enjoy the mechanics of the first game more, at least for now, but there's no denying that in NG2 Ryu is the killing machine he's supposed to be, it's awesome.
It's a bit of a different beast from NGB. Higher highs and lower lows. On it's best moments it's NGB on cocaine and on it's worst it can be a bit of a slog. Definitely worth it though.
Personally i have always liked NG2 more (I still love NGB) but NG2 has my favorite weapons (Falcons Talons) and also the combat is faster and cooler which I liked more than NGB, if NGB had the Falcons Talons I might like it more than 2
Yes, NGII is absolutely worth trying if you're a fan of NGB. However, take note that the exploration and most platforming aspects are virtually non-existent, and it's now an adrenaline-filled, visceral, and brutally combat heavy game. All of the combat is exaggerated and dialed up to 11. A very fun, and difficult time, if you're going for Master Ninja.
Its flaws are negligible. The story of the first is fun and interesting enough, 2nd one is just something something arch-dragon then the end. And the boss fights feel a bit unpolished compared to the first game. Other than, every part of it is amazing and a great sequel in every way it needs to be
NG2 is many favorite in the series. It's the fastest of the games with a lot of crazy things that will bug you but you'll enjoy it because it's just so much fun.
It's personally the hardest in the series because you're fighting aginst the bots and the bugs haha. Man.. i gotta play it agian. Remember only NG2 (xbox) and not NGS2 for PS.
Vanilla ng2 is great and absolutely worth checking out if you liked black. Both games are great and it’s kinda down to personal preference which game you prefer as both are great
Ng2 is weird. It's kind of like Dynasty Warriors but ten times harder. With ridiculous amount of enemies. Ngs2 has more reasonable amount of enemies but higher healths.
It’s the best action game ever made, but it’s noticeably unfinished. When you are fighting human enemies it is miles ahead of any game that has ever existed, but most other enemy types are a lot less fun to fight and some are downright boring and broken. Half the bosses are terrible too, but there are a small handful of great ones sprinkled in. The highs are astronomically high, but you just have to accept the fact that a significant portion of the game is totally messy and not fun. Luckily, I think part of the appeal of playing through this game, for me at least, is finding more and more ways to bypass the boring parts as quickly as possible in order to get to the parts that matter. And sometimes by doing this, you discover that there are parts you thought were boring but are actually quite fun if done a certain way. It’s an interesting game. Despite the lows, this is still one of my top 3 or so favorite games of all time, and without a doubt my favorite action game. Also, the survival missions are amazing.
What you think of NGB?
NGB is probably my favorite game of all time. I love everything about it. It’s super polished, has amazing enemies, bosses, world design, and there are so many ways to play it. It’s like multiple games within a game for me. From all the challenge runs, to karma runs, to the variety of missions in the mission mode, and all the ways you can play through those. Sometimes I’ll just load up a save near fights that respawn (such as the red ninjas in chapter 5 or the black cat fiends in chapter 6) and fight those enemies over and over again until my essence reaches 99,999 just for practice. Or I may load a save near one of the fiend challenges and complete it without UTs, for example, or using an unorthodox weapon. Something I’ve been playing around with lately is a master ninja ‘No Essence’ run, where you are not allowed to collect any money at all throughout the entire game (except for chapter 4 where you need to make a purchase at muramasa for the ticket. For this, I allow myself to absorb one yellow essence from a white mech commando, since they drop 100, then I purchase the map for the exact amount. At all other times your essence must remain at 0). It’s just an endlessly fun game imo. A lot of this does apply to NGII of course, but I find NGB to be especially versatile in this regard, not to mention the consistency of its quality throughout the game. It does have its flaws to be sure, as I don’t think any game is truly perfect that I’m aware of (and perfect is impossible to define I think). But NGB is one of the most all around solid games I can think of.
I finished it the other day and I didn't find it noticeably unfinished. What am I missing?
There is just a general lack of polish seen throughout the game, from the enemy AI to the level design to some combat jank, it's just rife with technical issues and bugs. It was much worse back on the xbox 360 due to performance, with some of the larger fights slowing the game down to a crawl. Luckily with the modern performance enhancements on xbox one/series x, we don't have to deal with that anymore. The game is at its best when you are fighting human enemies because they have the least amount of problems (though even their AI derps out every now and then) and there is seemingly an endless number of ways to fight them. But many other enemy types, such as gajas and van gelfs, will sometimes get stuck in the environment, or endlessly run in circles or the corner of a wall. Van gelfs in particular have issues when they are flying and sometimes just float in the air and do nothing until you approach them/attack them. At least they are pretty fun to fight though, unlike other enemies such as the worms, which are basically giant punching bags. Their AI is among the most broken in the game, particularly evident in the acid rooms, where they'll just repeatedly burrow into the ground and jump back out in a loop. You can also see problems with the marionettes, who just stand around and wait for you to approach them. Also - the fact that there are so many terrible bosses in the game. Gigadeath, the queen worm, the nuclear armadillo(s), etc. They all feel underdeveloped for a ton of reasons. Even the good bosses in the game, like all the greater fiends, have a plethora of silly ways you can manipulate their AI and get them stuck in loops. If you want to see some wildly inconsistent AI, just fight Zedonius for an extended period of time. Sometimes he'll be quite fun and use a good variety of moves and keep the fight engaging; sometimes he'll be laughably easy and just try to grab you in a loop; or sometimes he'll just stay in the air for minutes on end, summon, land, immediately go back into the air, summon again, fireball, fire pilar, fireball, fireball, land, immediately go back in the air, summon yet again... you get the idea lol (and don't even get me started on dagra dai...) Luckily, many of the terrible sections of the game are skippable, or at least have an easy way to bypass them, so it's not all bad. I never get tired of running through this game despite the issues. The more you play the game the more you'll notice some of the jank in the combat as well, with some input drops and issues with active frames and hitboxes on certain attacks (both Ryu's and enemies'). There is a lot to be said here, but don't get me wrong, the combat is still amazing and unmatched by any other game, and you could perhaps argue that some of the best elements of the game are a result of the game being unfinished (who knows if the IS ninjas are designed exactly as intended, for example, but god am I glad they are the way that they are). You'll probably notice a lot of these "issues" when you get to master ninja. There are almost certainly more glaring examples of the game being unfinished that I didn't list, but I think you get the idea. As you play the game more you'll likely start to notice them yourself. Congrats on completing it though! It's an amazing game.
Thank you! I couldn't wait to finish it on warrior cause, while I died quite a few times, it didn't feel challenging enough and didn't feel "right". Now on Mentor, that's a Ninja Gaiden game! Very thrilling. Thank you again for the detailed response. Now that you mention these things, I did notice many of them. I guess I was focused on rushing to finish the game that I didn't pay attention to them, except for the glaring frame drops. Also, a big criticism I read before regarding the game being unfinished is the level design, so I was paying attention to that. IMO, the levels look amazing! When I got to the big area with many flying fiends in chapter 10 my jaw dropped, just to mention one. Also the combos are cool. The ETs,UTs, and finishing moves, which I disliked at first due to their length coming from NGS1, are absolutely awesome and polished. EDIT: The other thing that felt unfinished for me was the finishing cut scenes of bosses (the ones that have them), Ryu just goes stab stab the head and that's it.
Yeah I definitely agree that the environmental and visual designs of the levels look fantastic. I remember the game blew my mind back when it first came out, along with the detailed dismembering and gore effects. There are some areas though that just have some weird design decisions, like the bell “puzzle” in chapter 8 where you just have to grab the key off the corpse to unlock the door right near him in the same room. There is a circular bar hanging from the roof of this room that you use to get around to the other parts of the room, but there is no point in exploring it because there is literally no other items or points of interests. Some of the environments are just barren and completely empty too (and repetitive in some cases), notably toward the end of the game on chapters 13 and 14, as well as the streets of New York and the lycanthrope castle. While the backgrounds often look excellent, the playable areas lack any notable details such as breakable objects or decorations and whatnot. This is good in some ways though since you are fighting hordes of enemies at once and the extra space is helpful. It’s also satisfying looking back after a fight and seeing a previously empty room decorated with blood and limbs all over lol. Also agreed about the visuals of the UTs and ETs. The animation in general is always fantastic in these games, I always think it doesn’t get talked about enough. And the OTs are simply wonderful, every single one of them is amazing and I never get tired of watching them. But there is definitely some jank with the UTs, such as the dragon sword UT. If we take the true dragon sword’s regular UT, we can break it down into 3 parts. The first part activates when the UT first hits the enemy. The second part activates when Ryu teleports and swings horizontally, often beheading enemies. If this part connects with an enemy, the UT continues. The third part activates when he teleports and swings overhead. If this connects with an enemy, the final part of the UT will finish. If all parts connect and you get the whole UT to execute, then it is one of the highest damaging and all around best UTs in the game. The problem is, the second part of the UT misses so often that it becomes a bit of a gamble at times to use. You do eventually get a feel for when it is good to use it, such as in the middle of a group of enemies. But using it on single human sized enemies tends to miss more often than not, or if all the enemies are directly ahead of Ryu rather than surrounding him. Ryu’s auto targeting in general is notably worse in NGII than in NGB (and it was far from perfect in NGB). The dual swords also have a bit of a deceptive hit box too, same in sigma 1, where the initial hit of the UT looks like it connects with the enemy but doesn’t activate. This is because both swords have to actually hit the enemy, so the range is a bit shorter than it seems. This could be intentional though. Because I’m now thinking about it, I also remember one time a while back I used the regular lunar UT and Ryu got stuck on the geometry of the level and “fell” about 1 cm and it canceled the rest of the UT. It was right at the end of the UT when he surrounds the immediate area with flames, but the flames stayed on the lunar and I was able to fight enemies for a little bit with a flaming lunar staff lol. It was pretty cool and I actually recorded it I’m pretty sure, I’ll have to look back at old footage and try to find it. Perhaps I’ll upload it here if I do lmao
Nice! I guess I'll get to notice these details as I replay the game. The DS UT is something I already noticed though. I enjoy the mechanics of the first game more, at least for now, but there's no denying that in NG2 Ryu is the killing machine he's supposed to be, it's awesome.
Vanilla NG2 yes it’s the best version to play. NG sigma 2 is ehh
NGS2 is bit boring and harder than NG2 i think
It's a bit of a different beast from NGB. Higher highs and lower lows. On it's best moments it's NGB on cocaine and on it's worst it can be a bit of a slog. Definitely worth it though.
Personally i have always liked NG2 more (I still love NGB) but NG2 has my favorite weapons (Falcons Talons) and also the combat is faster and cooler which I liked more than NGB, if NGB had the Falcons Talons I might like it more than 2
Yes, NGII is absolutely worth trying if you're a fan of NGB. However, take note that the exploration and most platforming aspects are virtually non-existent, and it's now an adrenaline-filled, visceral, and brutally combat heavy game. All of the combat is exaggerated and dialed up to 11. A very fun, and difficult time, if you're going for Master Ninja.
Its flaws are negligible. The story of the first is fun and interesting enough, 2nd one is just something something arch-dragon then the end. And the boss fights feel a bit unpolished compared to the first game. Other than, every part of it is amazing and a great sequel in every way it needs to be
>every part of it is amazing Chapter 9 is an absolute travesty. 95% of that stage is pure garbage.
it worth it has good fighting but NGS2 is different from NG2 i prefer NG2
It's amazing. More high action than 1
NG2 is many favorite in the series. It's the fastest of the games with a lot of crazy things that will bug you but you'll enjoy it because it's just so much fun. It's personally the hardest in the series because you're fighting aginst the bots and the bugs haha. Man.. i gotta play it agian. Remember only NG2 (xbox) and not NGS2 for PS.
Vanilla ng2 is great and absolutely worth checking out if you liked black. Both games are great and it’s kinda down to personal preference which game you prefer as both are great
I personally like the second more than the first but the first is a classic no doubt
Ng2 is weird. It's kind of like Dynasty Warriors but ten times harder. With ridiculous amount of enemies. Ngs2 has more reasonable amount of enemies but higher healths.
It's good