• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge |OT| - Slightly unf*cked, now for PS3/360

jorgeton

Member
See, I'd disagree with that. I think the game is remarkably fair. I'm not a perfect player by any means, but I can't think of an attack that I can't evade or see how to evade. This isn't NG2, where you're constantly pelted with projectiles with no rhyme or reason. The projectiles in RE all have a distinct pattern, and an appropriate response window that's more than large enough to let the player fire back. Attack patterns can appear relentless, but they aren't especially chaotic or cheap.

I agree with this. The game may seem chaotic and random at first, but it makes more sense the more you play. There is a lot of depth and strategy, even if the combat system is a bit button mash-y. The projectile guys never bothered me because it takes all of 2 seconds to dispose of them. Those gorilla mutants tho.. By far the most annoying standard enemy in the game.
 

isual

Member
I agree with this. The game may seem chaotic and random at first, but it makes more sense the more you play. There is a lot of depth and strategy, even if the combat system is a bit button mash-y. The projectile guys never bothered me because it takes all of 2 seconds to dispose of them. Those gorilla mutants tho.. By far the most annoying standard enemy in the game.

I agree. Gorilla mutants are tough, and the crystalline fiends in the last day are a challenge as well - they seem to be re-skinned versions using falcon's claws. The mages/alchemists in this game are manageable
 
This game would be so much better with a hard lock-on. I never missed it in previous games, but in RE it would make dodging into a SoB counter much more reliable, especially when fighting bosses. You can usually hit grunts while they're winding up, but bosses seem to prefer you to avoid their red attacks and land your own as they miss. You can't depend on the soft lock to allow you to fire back in time to take advantage of a SoB window after a sidestep. It's very annoying, more so because when I get it right it feels like I lucked out with the lock-on. It also seems easier to do with some bosses over others. Four-armed science guy is incredibly easy to SoB, because he's large enough to catch, but his attack is focused enough to subtly dodge while staying in range of the lock-on.

I wholeheartly agree with this. It would remove the auto targeting problems and it would allow to the game to grow beyond NG2 rather than be in its shadow.

Honestly the only things (outside the garbage story of course) that stops this game being a fair sequel to NG2 (for better or worse) Is the targeting and the health management.

Still, 3 attempts to fix a game within just over a year and still not getting it right is unforgivable.

See, I'd disagree with that. I think the game is remarkably fair. I'm not a perfect player by any means, but I can't think of an attack that I can't evade or see how to evade. This isn't NG2, where you're constantly pelted with projectiles with no rhyme or reason. The projectiles in RE all have a distinct pattern, and an appropriate response window that's more than large enough to let the player fire back. Attack patterns can appear relentless, but they aren't especially chaotic or cheap.

its unfair because the wave after wave after wave of enemies wear down your health. You can avoid everything, but you are bound to get tagged once or twice. With so many waves to fight at times you die even though you was kicking ass. Each level feels like an endurance survival run, which is cool in small doses, like in black and NG2's test of valour, but way overdone here.
 

Aske

Member
its unfair because the wave after wave after wave of enemies wear down your health. You can avoid everything, but you are bound to get tagged once or twice. With so many waves to fight at times you die even though you was kicking ass. Each level feels like an endurance survival run, which is cool in small doses, like in black and NG2's test of valour, but way overdone here.

I agree that the level and encounter design lacks creativity, and there were certainly a few areas that became a little tedious because the devs tossed in an extra wave or two of chimera; but I never felt that the game was unfair. It never hit me with more than I could reasonably be expected to handle, and if I was tagged by something, I didn't feel inclined to blame the game. That's just my experience - I'm not saying it invalidates your criticism. I think a hard lock-on would remove any sense of unfairness in the combat system, because tightening control of Ryu is all that's necessary. A little more precison in terms of control would address the soft lock issues and introduce a layer of finesse that would all but negate most of the common sources of frustration.

I actually don't mind the way health regen is handled either. I like the mechanic of choosing to spend mana on my health bar via meditation in between fights, and the game gives players five total regens in the form of health upgrades that they can buy when necessary during the campaign. I'm not opposed to bringing back healing items, but I don't miss them.

All that said, I couldn't agree more about the lack of polish. I'm very satisfied with RE, but for the third iteration of the game it's still not where it ought to be. The amount of work it took to make the game acceptable really highlights how atrocious the product was when it first released.
 
A couple of things regarding health management (regarding what's been posted on this page), my problem is that:

1. Yes you can avoid a lot of the attacks- but the problem is there are so many enemies and most of them are aggressive at the same time that you are bound to be worn down. There are moves that you can block but eventually you will take damage. Some enemies are so aggressive that you are bound to get hit by offscreen projectiles/grabs, full screen grabs, or whatever. So not only are you losing health, you are losing health that cannot be regenerated. I don't see the point in this, especially when the game still has control lag issues that can leave players vulnerable to take damage.

2. During the main campaign the game is relatively fair - well, if you do die at a boss fight, you get your health back anyway when you restart. I am more thinking about that Test of Valor or the trials. Something about that just rubs me the wrong that I survive hordes of enemies to only run into a cheap/lame/difficult boss and I am not fully equipped
 

isual

Member
I'm getting the notion that the lunar staff and kusari gama will be the optimum weapons for master and ultimate ninja difficulties since you can rack up a ton of mana with them
 

Mesharey

Member
Finished the game finally, now to finish tests of valor and unlock costumes.

Edit: Karma glitch works on Xbox ?
Edit 2: It works.
 
I'm getting the notion that the lunar staff and kusari gama will be the optimum weapons for master and ultimate ninja difficulties since you can rack up a ton of mana with them

You can get a decent amount of ki with dismemberment and obliteration technique but it's a lot harder because of shitty auto targeting and enemies blocking/dodging most of your attacks.
 
I agree that the level and encounter design lacks creativity, and there were certainly a few areas that became a little tedious because the devs tossed in an extra wave or two of chimera; but I never felt that the game was unfair. It never hit me with more than I could reasonably be expected to handle, and if I was tagged by something, I didn't feel inclined to blame the game. That's just my experience - I'm not saying it invalidates your criticism. I think a hard lock-on would remove any sense of unfairness in the combat system, because tightening control of Ryu is all that's necessary. A little more precison in terms of control would address the soft lock issues and introduce a layer of finesse that would all but negate most of the common sources of frustration.

I actually don't mind the way health regen is handled either. I like the mechanic of choosing to spend mana on my health bar via meditation in between fights, and the game gives players five total regens in the form of health upgrades that they can buy when necessary during the campaign. I'm not opposed to bringing back healing items, but I don't miss them.

All that said, I couldn't agree more about the lack of polish. I'm very satisfied with RE, but for the third iteration of the game it's still not where it ought to be. The amount of work it took to make the game acceptable really highlights how atrocious the product was when it first released.

My biggest issue with meditation is that clicking a stick is never something that is viable mid fight, especially as the left stick is your main driver of movement. I dont agree with the long extended meditation animation either. It just isnt balanced with the nature of this game.

meditation basically only works before or after an encounter, which defeats the purpose entirely as your health will already regenerate at that point. I dont see what issue hayashit has wjth health items they lead to way more flexiblity with the combat system which in turn leads to more experiementation

in any case meditation should be a button press or combination press. SOB chains are a much more viable way of regaining health mid battle, but the SOB restricks the player to "press A for awesome" gameplay.
 

danmaku

Member
My biggest issue with meditation is that clicking a stick is never something that is viable mid fight, especially as the left stick is your main driver of movement. I dont agree with the long extended meditation animation either. It just isnt balanced with the nature of this game.

meditation basically only works before or after an encounter, which defeats the purpose entirely as your health will already regenerate at that point. I dont see what issue hayashit has wjth health items they lead to way more flexiblity with the combat system which in turn leads to more experiementation

After each encounter you only recover a part of your health, just like in NG2. Meditation allows you to recover "red damage" (well, it was red in NG2) without waiting for a savepoint. That's why the animation is long, it's not meant to be used during a battle.

One thing they did right in comparison to NG2 is the enemy choice: they focused on humans and small enemies in general, which are the most fun to fight. NG2's later levels were infested with big dumb demons you couldn't even dismember and took forever to kill.
 
One thing they did right in comparison to NG2 is the enemy choice: they focused on humans and small enemies in general, which are the most fun to fight. NG2's later levels were infested with big dumb demons you couldn't even dismember and took forever to kill.

I'd say you were right if you didn't have to do a certain amount of damage before you could use things like Izuna on them. At least in vanilla anyway.
 

danmaku

Member
I think they changed it. Every Izuna Drop/Underworld Drop I did was an instant kill (even on enemies at full health).
 
After each encounter you only recover a part of your health, just like in NG2. Meditation allows you to recover "red damage" (well, it was red in NG2) without waiting for a savepoint. That's why the animation is long, it's not meant to be used during a battle.

One thing they did right in comparison to NG2 is the enemy choice: they focused on humans and small enemies in general, which are the most fun to fight. NG2's later levels were infested with big dumb demons you couldn't even dismember and took forever to kill.

Im aware of that. However, I still believe meditation is basically useless if it cannot be used with the same level of functionality as health items in the previous titles. If I have survived to a regeneration point, I normally will survive till I get to a save point too.

Several times I have completed several waves, meditated, then walked over to a save falcon. Makes the whole thing pointless.

I personally loved the fiends. Every single one of them. in my view Razors edge's best addition is the return of van gelfs and shadow fiends.

I think they changed it. Every Izuna Drop/Underworld Drop I did was an instant kill (even on enemies at full health).

I understand the logic behind it, but this irritated me a bit because in Vanilla NG3, the izuna drop was a greater meter builder. You would ID, then OT. This built meter not only for your ki but also your murder UT. (which I still prefer to use over a charged one in this game for its psudeo-onlanding properties)
 
You guys can go ahead and change the topic title, cause this game is dope. Flat out. I think people just have a bad taste in their mouth from vanilla NG3.
 
You guys can go ahead and change the topic title, cause this game is dope. Flat out. I think people just have a bad taste in their mouth from vanilla NG3.

No. It really isn't.

the only area this game excels is the amount of content. Everywhere else is either acceptable for a ninja gaiden title or downright mediocre.

I consider NG3:RE to be a better package and more true to the spirit of its orgins, but this game doesn't even beat DmC. Its still the weakest action game release this year.

The fact this is its 3rd release, makes that even more astounding.
 
well it's all opinion. Why doesn't "Even" beat DMC. DMC to me is a far better action game than MGSR which gets all sorts of praise. You must be too into story mode or something.
 

Aske

Member
I consider NG3:RE to be a better package and more true to the spirit of its orgins, but this game doesn't even beat DmC. Its still the weakest action game release this year.

Totally disagree with this! DmC isn't even in the same ballpark. Razor's Edge might fall short compared to previous NG titles, but it's still light years ahead of most action games. Aside from the capricious soft lock-on, the combat mechanics are superb, and slicker than any game outside the established greats of the genre. This game doesn't stack up to games like Bayonetta or good DMC; but it still surpasses games like God of War in terms of depth, precision, and complexity.

Regarding the Tests of Valor - I'd say they're far easier in these bite-sized incarnations compared to the endurance marathons on NG2. If you never use Ninpo on the bosses (and why would you - it does minimal damage and returns little health compared to meditiation), you can approach every one of them with full health. Unlike some of the campaign bosses, most of them are very easy to take out once you know how.
 
well it's all opinion. Why doesn't "Even" beat DMC. DMC to me is a far better action game than MGSR which gets all sorts of praise.

lemur.gif



You must be too into story mode or something.

Nothing could be further from the truth

to quote the now legendary NG2 OT:-


Y7umW.png

Why are you reading this section? This is an action game. The story doesn’t matter and shame on you for thinking it should. All you really need is an old school premise that answers the question: Why is my character mercilessly slaughtering thousands of beings without remorse?


Totally disagree with this! DmC isn't even in the same ballpark. Razor's Edge might fall short compared to previous NG titles, but it's still light years ahead of most action games. Aside from the capricious soft lock-on, the combat mechanics are superb, and slicker than any game outside the established greats of the genre. This game doesn't stack up to games like Bayonetta or good DMC; but it still surpasses games like God of War in terms of depth, precision, and complexity.

Regarding the Tests of Valor - I'd say they're far easier in these bite-sized incarnations compared to the endurance marathons on NG2. If you never use Ninpo on the bosses (and why would you - it does minimal damage and returns little health compared to meditiation), you can approach every one of them with full health. Unlike some of the campaign bosses, most of them are very easy to take out once you know how.

DmC is like a chinese knock off a DMC game, but it still is a very cohesive product overall. NG3 is a colossal mess in game design and while Razors Edge fixed some of the problems, it basically is still the same shitty NG3 underneath.

Its actually quite interesting that the solution to most of NG3's problems in the eyes of team ninja was "make it like NG2".
 
It's all good. Again everything is opinion and point of view. All I know Is I can play NG3RE, MGSR, DMC, and Bayonetta, and enjoy them all for different reason. Don't know why not many others can do that.
 

OSHAN

Member
Why the fuck are the Ninja Trials regulated to the online portion? I kept receiving network errors this afternoon and it was kicking me from trials mid-game. Do you know how incredibly infuriating it is to be at the end of a trial, and then have the game kick your ass out with an message stating "A Network Error Has Occurred"?

Well, I hope you never do.

If it is due to your custom ninja, fine, whatever; it shouldn't be online only when you're playing as Ryu or the rest of the cast.

Urg.
 

Aske

Member
Why the fuck are the Ninja Trials regulated to the online portion? I kept receiving network errors this afternoon and it was kicking me from trials mid-game. Do you know how incredibly infuriating it is to be at the end of a trial, and then have the game kick your ass out with an message stating "A Network Error Has Occurred"?

Well, I hope you never do.

If it is due to your custom ninja, fine, whatever; it shouldn't be online only when you're playing as Ryu or the rest of the cast.

Urg.

Seriously? That's awful game design. I assumed the solo trials functioned like the rest of the single player modes.
 

OSHAN

Member
Seriously? That's awful game design. I assumed the solo trials functioned like the rest of the single player modes.

False alarm.

I disabled my internet connection and tried the mode again, to see if you can even access the trials. At first, it will bring up the screen notifying you the connection is disabled, but you can still access the solo trials.

It doesn't connect to the leaderboards, so you can't upload your score, but, you don't run the risk of being disconnected.

It would be nice to have an option to disable the network features in-game, so you don't have to bother with system settings.
 

Lt.Chips

Member
False alarm.

I disabled my internet connection and tried the mode again, to see if you can even access the trials. At first, it will bring up the screen notifying you the connection is disabled, but you can still access the solo trials.

It doesn't connect to the leaderboards, so you can't upload your score, but, you don't run the risk of being disconnected.

It would be nice to have an option to disable the network features in-game, so you don't have to bother with system settings.

Sounds like its the same issue as NGS2. When you become disconnected from PSN, the game will kick you out to the title screen even if you were playing single player story mode. The solution to the problem was to disable the connection to PSN from the beginning. I'm guessing the same solution - just signing out of PSN before starting the solo trials - should work on NG3:RE as well?
 

GuardianE

Santa May Claus
You guys can go ahead and change the topic title, cause this game is dope. Flat out. I think people just have a bad taste in their mouth from vanilla NG3.

well it's all opinion. Why doesn't "Even" beat DMC. DMC to me is a far better action game than MGSR which gets all sorts of praise. You must be too into story mode or something.

You said it yourself. Opinions. Just because you think that NG3:RE is a great game doesn't mean it is one. Neither is DmC to most people. You keep stating your opinions as fact. Just because you keep posting them in here doesn't mean that everyone agrees with you.

NG3:RE is an okay attempt to bring back the combat of NG2 and it does add a lot of elements that I would like to see built upon. But it is not the best NG. Not even in the top 2.
 

isual

Member
The scythe seems to be a popular choice

You can get a decent amount of ki with dismemberment and obliteration technique but it's a lot harder because of shitty auto targeting and enemies blocking/dodging most of your attacks.

True with dismemberment, however, in later difficulties, speed and invulnerability frames are very important. The lunar staff is the most efficient when dealing with most enemies, since 1. It can hit quite fast, thus giving a lot of mp, and 2. There are invulnerability frames when using certain moves
 

danmaku

Member
DmC is like a chinese knock off a DMC game, but it still is a very cohesive product overall. NG3 is a colossal mess in game design and while Razors Edge fixed some of the problems, it basically is still the same shitty NG3 underneath.

Its actually quite interesting that the solution to most of NG3's problems in the eyes of team ninja was "make it like NG2".

They're clueless. They tried to change the formula and failed, so they went back to what worked. Nothing new, but at least the game is good and feels like a real NG. DmC is more cohesive, but who the fuck cares when the combat is so bland and boring? It's a game you complete once, just to watch the pretty graphics, and throw away.

edit: I started a new game on hard and discovered that I have to unlock everything... again...? how does this works? I cleared the game on normal and unclocked just half of the health upgrades, what's the point of having more if you can't use them on harder difficulties? and the extra costumes require an insane amount of grind. It would be fine if I could keep everything I earned so far, but if I need to get millions of karma points on every difficulty level... I'll just use the glitch.
 

Aske

Member
I started a new game on hard and discovered that I have to unlock everything... again...? how does this works? I cleared the game on normal and unclocked just half of the health upgrades, what's the point of having more if you can't use them on harder difficulties? and the extra costumes require an insane amount of grind. It would be fine if I could keep everything I earned so far, but if I need to get millions of karma points on every difficulty level... I'll just use the glitch.

I never enjoyed that aspect of NG. Much prefer to unlock abilities initially, and then use those abilities to take on harder difficulty levels. If nothing else, the costumes really ought to carry over.
 

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
So the consensus is that this is an average/sub par offering? I've been on the fence but id rather not play anything than a bad NG game
 
I agree with this. The game may seem chaotic and random at first, but it makes more sense the more you play. There is a lot of depth and strategy, even if the combat system is a bit button mash-y. The projectile guys never bothered me because it takes all of 2 seconds to dispose of them. Those gorilla mutants tho.. By far the most annoying standard enemy in the game.

The mutant gorillas are very easy to deal with, at least for me. They are very grabby, and they love to interrupt your combo strings and then go for grabs. So basically attack them with light attacks, dash out of the way, SOB them.

Done.
 

Aske

Member
So the consensus is that this is an average/sub par offering? I've been on the fence but id rather not play anything than a bad NG game

Depends on your perspective. As you can see from the back-and-forth in the thread, opinions vary pretty widely.

If nothing else, I think everyone would agree that the demo is an accurate representation of the game, so give it a shot. If you have fun, the full game is a no-brainer for the price.
 

danmaku

Member
I never enjoyed that aspect of NG. Much prefer to unlock abilities initially, and then use those abilities to take on harder difficulty levels. If nothing else, the costumes really ought to carry over.

I started a new game on hard yesterday and I found out that Ryu had some abilities unlocked since the beginning (Wind Path, Counterattack...) and the double swords were level 2 already. A bug? The Dragon Sword was level 1 and every other weapon was locked.

Speaking of bugs, at the beginning of Day 8 (on normal) I couldn't change weapons, I was stuck with the Blade of the Archfiend. I thought it was intended, but after a few fights I could change them again. WTF...? Also, the game crashed twice during my Normal run, on Day 4 and... on the fucking loading screen! I hope my Xbox isn't dying...
 
Anyone wants to play co-op ? Mentor or Acolyte, after 90 minutes.

For future reference are you on psn or Xbox? I keep finding myself coming back to this game...


And I hate those purple and green giant monsters with a passion. Long range grab, relentless attacks, fast fireballs, and sometimes their attacks have priority. Both the grab and fireball can come off-screen. Hated them in sigma 2, hate them now. And of course on master ninja difficult we would get more of them

And fighting helicopters is a chore
 

Aske

Member
I started a new game on hard yesterday and I found out that Ryu had some abilities unlocked since the beginning (Wind Path, Counterattack...) and the double swords were level 2 already. A bug? The Dragon Sword was level 1 and every other weapon was locked.

Speaking of bugs, at the beginning of Day 8 (on normal) I couldn't change weapons, I was stuck with the Blade of the Archfiend. I thought it was intended, but after a few fights I could change them again. WTF...? Also, the game crashed twice during my Normal run, on Day 4 and... on the fucking loading screen! I hope my Xbox isn't dying...

Did you have a save from the demo that included upgrades unlocked on hard?

The weapon switch bug has hit me a couple of times. Pausing and resuming fixed it. Weirdly, it's only happened to me on Day 8 as well - the section right before the first save point.
 

ultim8p00

Banned
Btw I'll be down for some coop tomorrow after my exam which is around noon CST.

Add me if you'd like. I need to finally get around to playing these missions. GT: D3vinchi.
 

rvy

Banned
It's all good. Again everything is opinion and point of view. All I know Is I can play NG3RE, MGSR, DMC, and Bayonetta, and enjoy them all for different reason. Don't know why not many others can do that.

Because some of those games aren't good, pretty simples really.
 
Finished it twice and trying Master Ninja now and Chapter Challenges with Kasumi. Master Ninja seems a little more balanced now, but still very difficult. It seems like the 20 waves of enemies no longer consistently come out on Master Ninja which is definitely a good improvement. I don't care what any of you say, the fighting engine in NG3 was very solid despite the flaws, but in NG3:RE, the fighting engine is excellent and enjoyable. Much deeper than it appears to be. It seems to have more depth, moves, weapons, etc than most action games. Game is so much fun and it seems to have quite a bit of replay value and lots of content. Now some of the bosses are rather.........annoying, but then again, I personally think Ninja Gaiden always had it's share of annoying bosses such as Alma's second form and Elizabet.
 

isual

Member
my GT is isual. I'm still at mission 1 in master ninja. Probably finish it by the end of the month.

I find that Hard for me is normal, and master ninja is hard.

if you're going to add me, please leave a message that you're from gaf
 

OSHAN

Member
I feel this game is worth it for the trials alone. They're 100 trials, they're fun to play, and leveling up your ninja is a good time as well.
 
Top Bottom