Comment on Weekly Recommendstions Thread: What are you playing this week?
mohab@piefed.social 2 days ago
Ninja Gaiden Black, actually. I was watching the Combat Overview video on it, and it made me realize I never really gave it a fair shake because I prefer NG2 by a lot.
BTW, if you in any way like action games, do yourself a favor and follow Combat Overview on YT. No one does what this guy has been doing for last couple of years, sadly. It’s been my go-to channel for long form breakdowns of action games since matthewmatosis shifted focus to making his game and TGBS moved on from making videos covering action games altogether.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 1 day ago
I love both games. I think NGB is a better game, but NG2 has higher highs. The combat in NG2 is more viscerally satisfying and fun to play around with, but the game is an unfinished, untested and unbalanced mess. I still love it, and Chapter 1 of NG2 is the best Ninja Gaiden level or the whole series, but NGB feels much more complete and balanced.
mohab@piefed.social 1 day ago
From the shit Flying Swallow to the nonlinear level design, my issue with NGB is it’s less committed to being an action game.
To me, NG2 is 3D Ninja Gaiden finding and accepting what it is: a brutal action game where nothing matters but combat interactions. Level design and balance be damned: it’s combat, combat, and more combat.
In that way NG2 is one of the most unique games out there. I can maybe liken it to God Hand, but NG2’s commitment to nonstop combat is so singularly deranged.
For that same reason I always found it difficult to compare them because they clearly set out to achieve different goals. It just happens that what NG2 tried to do is exactly what I need as an action game fan.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 1 day ago
If they would have finished and polished NG2 then it could have been the best action game of all time, for sure. It still delivers that “playable cocaine” feeling that’s very unique, and Chapter 1 of NG2 is probably the best level in the whole franchise and one of the best action game levels of all time.
The problem is all the absolute nonsense in the game, and the abundance of pretty much garbage levels. I think like half the levels in the game are outright bad. Also stuff like how completely broken UTs are. It’s obvious the game wasn’t fully playtested and balanced, and so the super powered UTs were slapped on as a bandaid. But they’re not really fun to use and end result is a mechanic that you at best feel forced to resort to just to get through levels, but most of the time try to actively avoid using in order to actually have fun.
mohab@piefed.social 1 day ago
I don’t think it has more garbage levels than Bayonetta or The Wonderful 101, for example. Like 3 or 4 bad levels? Predominantly where you have water, bow and arrow, and bullshit enemy behavior/checkpoint placement segments.
Most bosses suck in both games, and in most action games, TBH. I don’t understand why they’re hellbent on serving us giant monstrosities. Action games need more humanoid bosses overall.
How are they broken? You absolutely have to earn using them and be strategic about it. Enemies will mess you up if you misuse OTs on higher difficulties.
IME, most action games feel messier than they actually are on the first playthrough and the more you replay them, the more patterns start to emerge and first playthrough issues fade.
Now, if you didn’t enjoy the first playthrough enough to go back for more that’s fair, and a rather big risk these games typically take.