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[hououinkyouma00]

"Based on the feedback received, we are preparing a patch aimed for release in mid-February with some balance adjustments and additional features."

I booted it up this morning without seeing this first and was pleasantly surprised to see DLSS finally. Looks much better then FSR.

Game is definitely a remaster but looks pretty good overall. Running it fully maxed on a 4070S at 1440p.

 

[Larsowitz]

Team Ninja is still alive and kicking. They just don't have Itagaki, unless all the team left. I can't see that all the following games show team ninja at the start:

They made Nioh 1 and 2 (amazing games if you haven't played them).
Rise of ronin.
NG Sigma 2, Sigma 2 plus (vita)
NG3 and razors edge
NG master's collection.

Maybe these are good games, but during TN’s prime (99-2008) every TN game released was technically and gameplay wise best in class, far exceeding what other game studios were offering. This changed after Itagaki left.

 

[Hot5pur]

Team Ninja is still alive and kicking. They just don't have Itagaki, unless all the team left. I can't see that all the following games show team ninja at the start:

They made Nioh 1 and 2 (amazing games if you haven't played them).
Rise of ronin.
NG Sigma 2, Sigma 2 plus (vita)
NG3 and razors edge
NG master's collection.

I did play through Ni-Oh 1 and 2. They were OK. The combat was fun, but everything around it was kinda bad (story, graphics, loot, level design).
Also I'm still not convinced the souls formula is a great fit for third person hack and slash with emphasis on combos and stylish gameplay (which maybe Ni Oh wasn't that much).
Then there was Wo-Long, which I thought was the biggest heap of trash. It was everything that was wrong with Ni-Oh turned up to 11, with a dumbed down combat system and really boring levels.
Rise of Ronin I haven't played.
Let's also not forget they co-made Yaiba, a zombie based ninja game, which was atrocious.
NG3 when it launched was a travesty which I forced myself through. RE helped it a bit but you can only polish a turd so much. These games are boring, sterile, and lack the NG magic.
Then there are the various remasters and re-releases, which is probably the best thing Team Ninja has put out in the last decade compared to their actual "new" games.

I just went and rewatched the trailer for NG4. It seems the main protagonist has dual blades that fuse into a single blade...that then expands to get longer...wtf
Like why can't we just have a fucking NG game where you take Ryu from 2, give him all the weapons, turn gore to 11, get rid of all the childish demon designs, add some more weapons, add some more bosses like Murai (ninja vs. ninja battles work SO well).
God damn do you even remember the first battle against Murai, just walking into that room and having him bitch slap you with those 'chucks till you had to get gud? Hold me daddy.
Nothing TN has done since those golden days comes close to that.

 

[Timberwolf25]

I did play through Ni-Oh 1 and 2. They were OK. The combat was fun, but everything around it was kinda bad (story, graphics, loot, level design).
Also I'm still not convinced the souls formula is a great fit for third person hack and slash with emphasis on combos and stylish gameplay (which maybe Ni Oh wasn't that much).
Then there was Wo-Long, which I thought was the biggest heap of trash. It was everything that was wrong with Ni-Oh turned up to 11, with a dumbed down combat system and really boring levels.
Rise of Ronin I haven't played.
Let's also not forget they co-made Yaiba, a zombie based ninja game, which was atrocious.
NG3 when it launched was a travesty which I forced myself through. RE helped it a bit but you can only polish a turd so much. These games are boring, sterile, and lack the NG magic.
Then there are the various remasters and re-releases, which is probably the best thing Team Ninja has put out in the last decade compared to their actual "new" games.

I just went and rewatched the trailer for NG4. It seems the main protagonist has dual blades that fuse into a single blade...that then expands to get longer...wtf
Like why can't we just have a fucking NG game where you take Ryu from 2, give him all the weapons, turn gore to 11, get rid of all the childish demon designs, add some more weapons, add some more bosses like Murai (ninja vs. ninja battles work SO well).
God damn do you even remember the first battle against Murai, just walking into that room and having him bitch slap you with those 'chucks till you had to get gud? Hold me daddy.
Nothing TN has done since those golden days comes close to that.

That Murai battle was the eye opener of the pain you were about to get.
It took me 2 days to finally beat that dude because I just didn't understand how I was supposed to play the game.

When NG Black was released, it was the fight I dreaded the most, but surprisingly I was able to bitch slap his ass the first attempt. The systems that Itagaki and crew developed on the OG NG is still the pinacle of action games. You've got to wonder how NG3 could've turned out if he was still at the helm.

 

[RedC]

Wait what, its 85gb for one game? Instant pass for me. Why are games so damn large anymore? I get new games like stalker, starfield, final fantasy etc... but this? Doesn't make sense.

I have stalker 2, bg3, forza horizon 4, grim dawn and a handful of 360/og Xb games on my xb1.
I had to remove starfield, and forza 7 to get stalker 2 on there. no way. I miss being able to have everything installed and just move back and forth between games.

No way am I paying Micro$haft $150 for a storage expansion. They can suck it!

Seriously, who is in charge over there. Phil Spencer needs to go!
(sony isn't much better but at least you can use different brands and get deals, ps4 i could use a 5gb hd and have 100s of games. Switch a 1tb sd and have 100s of games).

This I hear is also got some modern audience remodelling for the ladies. If so double no for this game.
Plus the cost $50, sorry no deal, 3 strikes - no buy!

I am glad I bought the Ninja Gaiden 2 disc for my series x. It cost me $5 at a antique store.
M$ was charging $30 for an almost 20 year old game. They are greedy for non game pass people.

Microsoft has nothing to do with the pricing for other publisher's games

Microsoft is only responsible for the pricing of the games they publish.

Ninja Gaiden 2 and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on the Microsoft Store are both published by Koei Tecmo.

Microsoft is publishing Ninja Gaiden 4.

 

[MMaRsu]

That Murai battle was the eye opener of the pain you were about to get.
It took me 2 days to finally beat that dude because I just didn't understand how I was supposed to play the game.

When NG Black was released, it was the fight I dreaded the most, but surprisingly I was able to bitch slap his ass the first attempt. The systems that Itagaki and crew developed on the OG NG is still the pinacle of action games. You've got to wonder how NG3 could've turned out if he was still at the helm.

I heard he didnt even get to finish Ng2

 

[Timberwolf25]

I heard he didnt even get to finish Ng2

He finished it, but I think he was having disputes with Tecmo at the time. Probably over money.

It wasn't as polished as the OG NG as you can tell by the massive performance drop on the epic staircase. I don't know if he trying to adhere to a deadline MS had set or an internal deadline by Tecmo or his own deadline, but I suspect given his own standards, that it wasn't his choice.

He left Tecmo shortly after NG2 release if I'm remembering it correctly.

Edit: According to Wiki, you're right. On June 2, 2008, just before the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360, Itagaki announced that he was resigning from Tecmo and was suing the company for withholding a bonus promised for his previous works.

The game was actually released the same month he resigned, so likely done (and rushed). And probably part of his contract.

 

[MazingerDUDE]

EVERYONE!! TO THE TEAM NINJA X NOW!! THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO SET THINGS RIGHT!!!!

 

[MMaRsu]

He finished it, but I think he was having disputes with Tecmo at the time. Probably over money.

It wasn't as polished as the OG NG as you can tell by the massive performance drop on the epic staircase. I don't know if he trying to adhere to a deadline MS had set or an internal deadline by Tecmo or his own deadline, but I suspect given his own standards, that it wasn't his choice.

He left Tecmo shortly after NG2 release if I'm remembering it correctly.

Edit: According to Wiki, you're right. On June 2, 2008, just before the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360, Itagaki announced that he was resigning from Tecmo and was suing the company for withholding a bonus promised for his previous works.

The game was actually released the same month he resigned, so likely done (and rushed). And probably part of his contract.

Yup they booted him really shitty stuff

 

[Timberwolf25]

EVERYONE!! TO THE TEAM NINJA X NOW!! THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO SET THINGS RIGHT!!!!

1.7GB for a problem with not being able to continue after certain bosses? The other fix doesn't matter for Series consoles or PS5.

Seems like those patch notes gotta be incomplete

 

[SkylineRKR]

Yeah Tecmo was on top of their game during the early Xbox years. NG1 and DoA 3 were technically probably the most impressive console games period. It was a level above PS2 and GC. DoA X wasn't much of a game, but I loved the laid back summer vibe it had. Also graphically amazing.

DoA 4 was kind of seen as a disappointing next-gen release because it didn't change much, but in the end it was one of the best looking 1 v 1 fighters that gen. The stages and all, like the marketplace and the waterfall looked extremely good. Fruit would roll around and things would break. It was a launch window title from 2005 mind you. DoA X2 is where it got sour, it was a bad game and ran rather poor. NG2 ran even worse, even at near SD resolution it barely held together. Then Itagaki left and Tecmo didn't release many noteworthy games for a long ass while. NG3 ofcourse was dumpster fire, and the direction it went, no way Itagaki would've greenlit this one.

As for while NG2 ran poor, I guess it were the design choices, the focus on huge enemy counts and delimbs. Bodies would also stay on the ground. I think that game was simply too ambitious for the time. Xbox One or rather the One X did it justice.

 

[MazingerDUDE]

1.7GB for a problem with not being able to continue after certain bosses? The other fix doesn't matter for Series consoles or PS5.

Seems like those patch notes gotta be incomplete

this is the part you should pay attention to

 

[RAIDEN1]

I'll just leave this here:

 

[Timberwolf25]

this is the part you should pay attention to

I did pay attention to that and that's great, but we also recieved a patch today.

So I'm just wondering what's in this patch because this doesn't make sense for 1.7GB

• Fixed an issue where the options for DLSS and XeSS would not appear when selecting super resolution type on the Microsoft Store version of the game.
• Fixed an issue that in rare cases made it impossible to progress after defeating certain bosses.

Especially since, the first issue doesn't apply to consoles. And the 2nd part doesn't make sense for such a large file size patch.


I'm looking forward to the future patch though

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

I keep hearing that there are many different versions of Ninja Gaiden 1-2-3 but I have never played 2 and 3 and don't remember anything from the original on the OG Xbox. Will I enjoy this very sion or is the collection on Steam a better buy?

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

EVERYONE!! TO THE TEAM NINJA X NOW!! THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO SET THINGS RIGHT!!!!

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/ninja-gaiden-2-black-announced-available-today-on-console-pc-and-xbox-game-pass.1679961/post-270061373

 

[Timberwolf25]

I keep hearing that there are many different versions of Ninja Gaiden 1-2-3 but I have never played 2 and 3 and don't remember anything from the original on the OG Xbox. Will I enjoy this very sion or is the collection on Steam a better buy?

If you have a Series console, I'd buy the NG Black and OG NGII. Combined it would be cheaper than the NG Collection and both are the definitive edition gameplaywise if you don't care about the added section with the ladies.

I'm not sure how much NG 3 RE is right now, so it's possible that the Collection would be cheaper if you want all 3. NG RE is considered the low point in the series so not sure you would be missing much.

Edit: I just checked and Ninja Gaiden 3 RE is on GamePass. And also seems that I own it digitally. Lol, I don't remember buying it digitally, but I wonder if got it from Games with Gold at some point. I know I have the disc copy somewhere

 

[RobRSG]

I'll just leave this here:

This maniac is playing the game with keyboard and mouse, it is very annoying watching footage like this due to the camera bouncing non-stop.

 

[havoc00]

Got through the first 2 bosses without dying would I be comfortable playing something like Wukong? Keep in mind lies of p magde me rage quit as did prior souls games.

 

[Spainkiller]

Got through the first 2 bosses without dying would I be comfortable playing something like Wukong? Keep in mind lies of p mage me rage quit as did prior souls games.

You can't really compare these games with soulslikes/sekirolikes, but Wukong is, overall, substantially easier than most. Definitely a heck of a lot easier than Lies of P.

 

[havoc00]

You can't really compare these games with soulslikes/sekirolikes, but Wukong is, overall, substantially easier than most. Definitely a heck of a lot easier than Lies of P.

I just know these games were kinda known as "hard" games back in the day, so me doing what I did kinda pumped me up and made me think maybe I would enjoy and could get through something like wukong

 

[Spainkiller]

I just know these games were kinda known as "hard" games back in the day, so me doing what I did kinda pumped me up and made me think maybe I would enjoy and could get through something like wukong

I understand, but games can be hard in many different ways. In both Ninja Gaiden and soulslikes enemies can be relentless, but it's all about the tool set the player gets: Ninja Gaiden 2 is mostly about offense (killing them before they get to kill you) which means enemy prioritization and on the fly decision making, while games like Wukong and Lies of P are way more defensive — it's mostly about dodging enemy attacks and punishing their animations. So the former is more about quick thinking, while the latter is more about timing and being patient.

I know people who suck at soulslikes but excel at Ninja Gaiden, and vice-versa. (I'm obviously someone who rules at both. Cough.)

 

[RedC]

I hate how comparison videos are comparing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on PS5/Series X to Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox 360.

I'm replaying Ninja Gaiden 2 on Series X on a 4k TV and for people who haven't experienced the Xbox 360 version via BC on Series consoles may not realize how overall clean and clear it looks in motion and how great it still holds up.

I hope Digital Foundry highlights this.

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

8B

I understand, but games can be hard in many different ways. In both Ninja Gaiden and soulslikes enemies can be relentless, but it's all about the tool set the player gets: Ninja Gaiden 2 is mostly about offense (killing them before they get to kill you) which means enemy prioritization and on the fly decision making, while games like Wukong and Lies of P are way more defensive — it's mostly about dodging enemy attacks and punishing their animations. So the former is more about quick thinking, while the latter is more about timing and being patient.

I know people who suck at soulslikes but excel at Ninja Gaiden, and vice-versa. (I'm obviously someone who rules at both. Cough.)

In fairness you can't play defensive in Wukong.

 

[Spainkiller]

In fairness you can't play defensive in Wukong.

?

It's very dodge-heavy and there's even a(n optional) parry.

 

[Orbital2060]

If you have a Series console, I'd buy the NG Black and OG NGII. Combined it would be cheaper than the NG Collection and both are the definitive edition gameplaywise if you don't care about the added section with the ladies.

I'm not sure how much NG 3 RE is right now, so it's possible that the Collection would be cheaper if you want all 3. NG RE is considered the low point in the series so not sure you would be missing much.

Edit: I just checked and Ninja Gaiden 3 RE is on GamePass. And also seems that I own it digitally. Lol, I don't remember buying it digitally, but I wonder if got it from Games with Gold at some point. I know I have the disc copy somewhere

It was on Gold, I got the same thing

 

[Larsowitz]

I hate how comparison videos are comparing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on PS5/Series X to Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox 360.

I'm replaying Ninja Gaiden 2 on Series X on a 4k TV and for people who haven't experienced the Xbox 360 version via BC on Series consoles may not realize how overall clean and clear it looks in motion and how great it still holds up.

I hope Digital Foundry highlights this.

The remaster looks good but is visually very unstable. Lot’s of LOD pop-in, see for example the cherry blossom trees in mission 1. It also misses many visual effects and details of the 360 version.

Original is very clean which I think was always TN’s vision (remember the high res press screenshots) even though not fully achieved with the 360. Luckily MS made it BC.

 

[kevboard]

The remaster looks good but is visually very unstable. Lot’s of LOD pop-in, see for example the cherry blossom trees in mission 1. It also misses many visual effects and details of the 360 version.

Original is very clean which I think was always TN’s vision (remember the high res press screenshots) even though not fully achieved with the 360. Luckily MS made it BC.

the biggest downgrade are the reflections...

the pretty good and clean planar reflections of the original were replaced by ugly, super unstable, smeary Lumen and Screen Space Reflections.

while the Lumen/SSR reflections cover most reflective surfaces, where on 360 most reflections are cubemaps and simple reflections with only select surfaces like large water bodies had detailed reflections... the super low quality of the Lumen/SSR reflections in Black are more of a distraction than an actual upgrade... like they look so fucking bad! SO BAAAD... it's insane...

 

[Larsowitz]

I did a mission 1 mentor comparison run of NGII, NGS2 (MC) and NGII black during the last couple of days and can confirm that the enemy pattern & amount of NGII black are indeed 100% copy past from NGS2. They only changed weapon upgrading and removed the stupid buddha fights.

Will continue with mission 2 but need time for this (work…).

Also mentor on NGII 360 is much harder than NGS2/NGII black.

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

?

It's very dodge-heavy and there's even a(n optional) parry.

It's dodge heavy but I can only beat bosses by trying to be aggressive in this game.

 

[Mister Wolf]

 

[Stafford]

Game is fun as hell, but holy fucking shit did they mess up the HDR.

Yet another game with trash HDR, washed out as fuck. Sigh, devs why even bother?

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

Got through the first 2 bosses without dying would I be comfortable playing something like Wukong? Keep in mind lies of p magde me rage quit as did prior souls games.

I'm not very good at action RPGs like the Souls series but I was able to complete Wukong (however the last boss took me many, many tries). The bosses can feel a little cheap at times (eg completely unblockable moves, and you're locked in an animation where they pummel your health), but overall it is an easier experience than Dark Souls 2/3 and Elden Rings.

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

Game is fun as hell, but holy fucking shit did they mess up the HDR.

Yet another game with trash HDR, washed out as fuck. Sigh, devs why even bother?

Yep HDR looks trash. Could use RTX HDR as an alternative.

 

[Timberwolf25]

Passed the epic staircase last night on Warrior and it had a ton of Ninjas on it. I'll need to get there again on my OG NG2, but I don't think it was as many, but definitely more than someone here had mentioned on his playthrough.

It could be different difficulties was the difference or something they added on this patch (wasn't mentioned), but it was roughly 30-50 or so and they seemed to spawn in about 10 at a time.

Also, who is the hottest waifu in this version? I'm going with Elizbet, but it could also be because her cutscene was "almost" completely nude

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Got through the first 2 bosses without dying would I be comfortable playing something like Wukong? Keep in mind lies of p magde me rage quit as did prior souls games.

Havoc, just upgrade the lunar staff.
Boss strategy : after they finish doing their attacks,
just press attack, attack , heavy attack to punish them, do that 4 times and they're basically dead.

This works until the 2nd Genshin fight towards the end, after that, equip the Scythe and press - yet again - attack, attack, heavy attack.
This works for fiend Genshin, fiend Elizebet.

For the dagra dai boss (penultimate one), equip the scythe and do this :
Jump towards him and while in the air press attack, attack, heavy attack, heavy attack.
This also works for the final boss btw.

Regarding Wukong, yellow Loong, scorpion bandit, Erlang and the final sage form almost made me quit the game, it's easier but at the same time harder compared to lies of p if that makes any sense
Manus and nameless puppet in Lies of P made me scream/yell in Sanskrit due to the frustration, not gonna play that game ever again (same with Wukong)