Basic Ninja Gaiden Tips

I LOVE Ninja Gaiden. LOVE IT. Any regular reader of mine is already acutely aware of this, and probably sick of hearing about the franchise on this blog. Well, those people can roll their eyes all they want but it's my blog and I will mention Ninja Gaiden as many times as I want. I am independent, defiant and need no audience.

Wait, come back!

Okay, okay, I won't mention Ninja Gaiden for a while after this, I promise.

So, for anyone who may be new to Ninja Gaiden and are finding themselves assaulted by insanity and wondering how the hell they are ever supposed to excel at the game, I have for you a few basic tips that you should be aware of. Just remember, this is Ninja Gaiden, not Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Onimusha, God of War, etc. It is its own beast so be cognizant of that fact and treat it as such (not bashing any of those, btw.  love some of them, like others, blah blah. Ninja Gaiden is just in a league of its own in terms of both mechanics and difficulty).

The tips:

1) ALWAYS BLOCK. On the xbox, I basically hold the L trigger at all times. This should be your default position, and from there you can flick the stick to roll, initiate attacks, etc.

2) Use shurikens to interrupt enemy attacks, and also to cancel your own attacks (this becomes more natural with time....at first, use them for stuns). This will create windows for you within which you can initiate a pre-emptive attack.

3) X+A (or X and [] on the Playstation platform) will allow you to jump towards the nearest enemy. It is a tracking jump. Once you get near them, press A again to jump off of their heads. This stuns them and allows you to roll towards them and initiate a free attack.

4) Blocking reduces the damage taken from incendiary shurikens. If you time a dodge just as they explode, you completely negate the damage (due to the i-frames afforded you during an evasion) but before you get the timing for that down, at least make sure you're blocking when they blow up.

5) The center camera button is your friend. Use it often!

Good luck and again, remember that Ninja Gaiden requires a very different mindset and playstyle than does say DMC. You don't get openings, you create them. Enemies are not there for you to kill; they're there to kill you.

My Favourite Franchises are being Destroyed

Hear the latest news coming from the people behind the upcoming Resident Evil 6? They're after the Call of Duty market....Seriously:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/332888/resident-evil-attracting-cod-fans-the-dream-says-capcom-action-route-makes-sense/

First I see that abomination of a trailer and I figure there is no hope left, but then Capcom decided to at least be nice and remove any possibility of me maintaining even the slimmest glimmer of hope by announcing that, nope, you're out of luck, and yes, Resident Evil is not what it once was, aka what you fans  MADE it to begin with.

And btw, Capcom, RE5 was the biggest selling RE game and the most action oriented, but that correlation is just that: a correlation. To infer a causal relationship between the two is fallacious, and when you FAIL to grab a significant portion of the COD fanbase's attention, hopefully you will re-examine your conclusion. Protip: Was it the only RE game simultaneously released on multiple platforms, both with huge install bases in the middle of a gaming explosion in the mainstream? Was it a game that followed a tremendous entry into the series? Don't many franchises grow with time?

Can I be sure that it [i]wasn't[/i] the action orientated nature of the game that drove sales? Nope. They can't be sure it was, though, and when you factor in things like it following RE4, being multiplatform on 2 very successful consoles, etc., one has to wonder if perhaps they are being a bit narrow in their thinking.

And as if this shit wasn't enough, this comes after the bastardization of Ninja fucking Gaiden of all things, PLUS the shooter-ification of Mass Effect, the whatever the fuck you call it they did to Devil May Cry (although I hold out some hope that one may still be good), the abomination that was Dragon Age 2, the rape of Rainbow Six (although the games are still great, for the most part), the pillaging of the spirit of Fable, and on and on.

Not to mention other people's favourites that have been ASSFUCKINGRAPEFUCKED like Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Hitman, Metroid, Silent Hill, etc.

This is a pretty fucking sad time to be an 'old school' gamer. Everything classic is being bastardized in favour of being "cinematic," and "accessible," and anything that was stealthy, strategic or required any fucking thought, effort, patience, time or conquering of difficulty has become a fucking joke, with hour long turorials, incredibly obvious exposition, HUD's made for toddlers (breadcrumb trails, really Molyneux?), and someone in your ear at ll fucking times, telling you what to do and where to go (even goddamn motherfucking RYU HAYABUSA has someone chirping in his ear in Ninja Gaiden 3....WHAT THE FUCK?).

ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!!!  FUCK!!!!

/get off my lawn

New Ninja Gaiden 3 Scans (OXM)

Here are three new Ninja Gaiden 3 magazine scans. These ones are from OXM this time. (This is an update to this post, which contained the original 3 scans (from OPM) and a bit of info).

Scans:

Ninja Gaiden 3 Scans, and a Little Bit of Info....Including Multiplayer

Ninja Gaiden 3 Scans and Information Revealed in OXM and OPM. 


Here's a bit of info:


60 frames per second. 
Blood is back. 
Difficulty level won't be toned down for casual gamers. 
There will be both competitive and cooperative modes. One or both will support up to 8 players. 
The store is gone. Weapons will upgrade over time. 
Greater emphasis on Ryu's story. No other playable characters planned yet. 
May feature Move support."