The Ninjas of November (and other fantastic uses of time and money)

Hey all, it’s November, and all the video games have apparently come out. Now I can spend the rest of the year actually playing them, or in the case of Divinity Original Sin 2, Zelda, and The Evil Within 2, going back to them after getting sidetracked by other hot 2017 releases. Like you all, I have been riding that zeitgeist wave and playing only the hottest, most relevant things.

Super Mario Odyssey

I don’t really feel like I need to get into exacting detail about why Super Mario Odyssey is a stand-out title in a year filled with stand-out video games. Likely, you’ve already played it, intend to play it, or have zero intention of playing it and are kinda tired of everyone talking about how good it is. (or you’re one of those contrarians who will deride this as “another” Mario game, as if it hasn’t been 3 years since the last big one of those and a good 7 years since the last one in this style) But still, even with that preamble, I feel like I need to say that Super Mario Odyssey is fantastic. Some of the most fun I’ve had this year has involved running around the game’s densely-packed environments, stumbling over platforming challenges, weird puzzles, and moons every few minutes. Not every world is a total winner, but there’s a sense of calculated, crafted precision underlying every facet Mario Odyssey’s design, made even more impressive by how natural and effortless the entire thing seems, and like Mario Galaxy 1 it feels like the developers have only scratched the surface of what is possible with this game’s design and mechanics. Even if there isn’t an Odyssey 2 (which, I would be willing to bet there will be) I am more than happy and satisfied with this one.

Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth

Etrian Odyssey is the definition of “comfort food” in regards to video games. Looking from the outside, they’re all kind of the same game: an intentionally old-school series of dungeon-crawling RPGs where you draw your own map and create a party of characters filled with a bunch of cutesy-looking anime lolis. Honestly, that’s not far off, though it does undercut the improvements the series has experienced through the years, both in terms of cutting down on frustrating, punishing garbage and increasing the number of interesting player options when building a party. Etrian Odyssey IV, which came out like 4 years ago, represented the high point of that trend for me and remains one of my favorite 3DS games to this day. There’s a pure quality to these old-school blobbers that modern RPGs often lack, and that is a distillation of the idea of building up a team of complete weaklings who can barely take a hit on the first floor of the dungeon and turning them into highly optimized death machines. That’s ostensibly something that most RPGs have in one form or another, but Etrian Odyssey and its ilk take that idea and concentrate it into a particularly potent form of crack.

Etrian Odyssey V is no different in that regard, and it’s a very good “one of those.” The new hooks in this one, revolving around racial skills and the ability to choose between one of two subclasses (Do you want a Botanist who specializes in healing or status effects? Do you want a Dragoon who is good at tanking damage or one who can deal a lot of damage with gun skills?) aren’t quite as interesting to me as Etrian Odyssey IV’s more flexible system of multi-classing, but it still seems like you can create some pretty crazy, diverse party setups from these choices. That’s always been my favorite thing about these sorts of RPGs, so in that sense Etrian Odyssey V works out quite well. The Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack is still fantastic, the dungeon floors themselves are nice and sprawling without being filled with obnoxious puzzles (at least, not yet. I’ll see about that final post-game Stratum when I get there.) and it’s more or less exactly what I want from one of these games. So, comfort food, basically.

Ninja Gaiden Black

For the thing that started my blogging “career” in the first place, I have been remarkably lax on the whole “playing old games” schtick this year. If you check my list of games played in 2017, you’ll see a couple of older titles (some of which were replays, some of which were entirely new to me) but I’m seriously wondering if I can even muster together a top 5 list of games this year. You can probably blame a combination of factors on that (having disposable income to buy new stuff when it’s actually relevant, sacrificing some of my free time to the Anime hole, the part where I’ve already played most of the major CRPGs from the late 90s/early 2000s, etc) but in any case I finally have something to talk about that fits the parameters of my old blogs from so long, long ago. (hey, just a side note, but maybe don’t go back and read my old blogs. It’s, uh, been more than 8 years since I started doing this thing and I’d like to think I’ve improved as a writer and a person in that time.)

It was actually the addition of backwards compatibility on the Xbox One (which I don’t own, but my brother-in-law does) that caused me to give Ninja Gaiden Black another shot. I say “another” because Ninja Gaiden was one of the games present in my first-ever Giant Bomb list discussing games that I liked more in concept than execution (It’s fair to mention that a lot of the games on said list are titles that I’ve long since come around on in one form or another.) That’s because, to put it frankly: Ninja Gaiden Black is a cruel bastard of a video game. While the Souls series, the current poster children for “Hard” video games, reward patience and caution, (alongside some good old-fashioned pattern memorization) I think Ninja Gaiden’s difficulty is best categorized as demanding nothing less than raw execution from the player and punishing them harshly if they are not on the ball. Certainly, I can think of other character action games with similarly rough default difficulties (Devil May Cry 3 comes to mind) but Ninja Gaiden stands out to me because it doesn’t give a shit about your technique (in the same way a DMC or Bayonetta does) so much as it cares about your ability to murder things as quickly and efficiently as possible. That’s a bit semantic, since it’s not like Devil May Cry 3 doesn’t also care about the player’s ability to murder things as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, it does explain the adjustment I had to make in order for Ninja Gaiden Black to “click” for me. Once I realized I had zero reason to play fancy and could very much get away with using the Flying Swallow over and over again, I was able to finally make progress.

Pretty much all of the enemies in NGB are fast, evasive, and more than capable of taking out large chunks of your life bar with a couple of attacks, to not even discuss some of the game’s infamous boss fights. It’s a two-way street however, and Ryu Hayabusa just so happens to be fast, evasive, and more than capable of taking out enemies with a couple of attacks (to not even discuss some of the game’s less infamous boss fights, where cheese tactics are more than welcome) I wouldn’t call it “fair” so much as I’d describe it as “Equal Opportunity Bullshit.” None of that would be worth mentioning if the combat didn’t feel good (seriously, the Izuna Drop is dope as hell) and the weapons didn’t feel powerful but I’d hope that was a given, considering this game’s reputation among the pantheon of both the original Xbox and the character action genre as a whole. It’s very satisfying to chain together a bunch of ultimate techniques to defeat a large group of enemies… or just spam the lightning ninpo over and over again because you can get away with it and it’s not like you’ve used those devil elixirs until now. Unsurprisingly given the pedigree, it reminded me a bit of Nioh, which definitely feels like it takes some of its cues from Ninja Gaiden alongside the overt Souls influences.

Where the game falters for me a little is when the bullshit stops being fun and just starts being punitive or cheap. The game’s camera, which is fiddly and not great in the best of circumstances, is sometimes used to obscure enemies or traps to get a free shot at you. Sometimes, when you’re surrounded by enemies, it’s more than possible to get yourself stuck in a damage loop of getting grappled over and over, as anyone who has dealt with “Ghost Fish” can attest to. And yeah, I had trouble with some of the game’s bosses (though not Alma’s first fight, weirdly enough,) some of whom have absurdly damaging attacks with dubiously large hitboxes and one of whom asks you to engage with the utterly terrible ranged weapon controls. Any time the game asks you to platform is a moment of pain and regret, owing to aforementioned camera, the fixed distance of Ryu’s jump arc, and the rather touchy nature of some of the controls outside of combat. Oh, and the puzzles are boring, but I kinda expect that from this genre. These things weren’t enough to sour me on Ninja Gaiden, but they did feel like a crossed line from “fun” difficult, to a certain brand of “Git Gud Scrub” posturing that just makes me think game director Tomonobu Itagaki might be kind of an asshole.

I mention Itagaki, former head of Team Ninja and “Guy who went on to do exactly nothing of consequence after leaving Team Ninja” if only because I’m reminded of him and his outspoken attitudes while playing his video game. Not just in the game’s difficulty, but also in the almost hilariously juvenile nonsense story (which, thanks to the part where you can’t skip cutscenes the first time you watch them, I vaguely paid attention to) the game subjected me to. It manages to cram together fights with Demon Samurai, large-boobed demon ladies, a giant phallic lightning worm, and a helicopter all in the space of a few hours in a way that says “VIDEO GAME.” And then there’s Rachel, who I have to mention because she comes off as a parody of bad, embarrassing female character design in 2017. You don’t have to be Anita Sarkeesian to say HOLY SHIT. Like, it’s everything. Not just the giant, larger-than-head DOA boobs or the creepily perfect Barbie doll face, but also the ridiculous leather stripper outfit, the way she is introduced as a badass and then immediately spends the rest of the game getting captured or put into “compromising” situations, or the way the camera fixates on her boobs and ass, it’s all… ah, something. Yes, something entirely minor, but also a reminder that maybe we have made progress in the last 12 years.

But that aside, I was glad to see Ninja Gaiden Black manages to mostly live up to its reputation as a tough-as-nails, mechanically satisfying murder game. It’s not my favorite character action game by any means, but in a world where that genre is on life support most of the time I’m more than happy to find any new avenue to get my fix. That does lead me to ask if I should play Ninja Gaiden 2 on the Xbox 360 (or, Xbox One, I guess) or Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on my PS3 should I get around to it. Also I guess if Ninja Gaiden 3 is worth looking at, even in its enhanced Razor’s Edge form. I’d love to hear some opinions.

Random Endorsement:

As someone who currently runs a Dungeons and Dragons group (or attempts to run, depending on the week) I have occasionally solicited advice on doing so from the entity known as “D&D Youtube,” which like all subcultures on the internet has its share of useful and obnoxious. It’s not all just attractive, talented voice-actors giving unrealistic expectations of player investment and RP ability, however, there’s also a legion of bearded grognards who make videos explaining how to effectively corral one’s friends in the weird “group improv, but with dice rolls” thing you have going on.

My favorite of these grognards is game developer and writer Matthew Colville, who can frankly be a bit overbearing with his rapid fire line delivery and strong opinions (also he liked 4th Edition, which makes him one of the few people on the internet brave enough to admit it.) However, he’s also quite entertaining, and has a wealth of experience in both old-school and modern D&D that I’ve found useful or interesting, even if I don't always incorporate it into my game.

Also, in anime, I thought Haruhi Suzumiya was pretty great. That Endless Eight arc is probably the worst thing I've seen in anime all year, but at least the movie almost makes up for it.

I think I have fonder memories of Etrian Odyssey IV than I did right after playing it. I remember liking the basics and the character building, but I think the level design drove me bananas. Don’t remember, but it’s one of those RPG series I’m glad is still kicking, even if it’s just at a distance.

Black does have decapitations. I wonder why they cut them out of Sigma? I'll be going back to those two at some point. It feels good, even if there's some Shuriken bullshit.

I wouldnt say NGB is dated, from a gameplay stand point at least. I actually miss a lot of the juvenile fun of that era (I wil admit that Rachel's character design is a bit much) I feel like developers were making things because they felt it was badass not because it was funny in some post ironic way. I guess what i'm saying is I miss sincere stupidity. Sometimes you want a big dumb power fantasy in the vein of something like God of War or even Gears of War. (the latter of which at least still has some of that in it's current iteration, the former not so much)

As for NG2 it's a much more mashy game than the original and isnt paced quite as well. I would say get the xbox 360 version if you can because that's the most ridiculous version (more enemies, more gore, more colour) Although Sigma has more content. Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge tries to be a more serious, more mature game but falls more on the side of bad anime plots, although it is paced better than NG2. Gameplay wise NG3 is a bit more like the original too with less enemies that can take a bit more damage before falling apart. There are far too many QTE's though.

Anway, i'm glad you enjoyed NGB. I just wanted to say my piece because if you cant tell I like that game lot. I also really want to play Mario Odyssey at some point because that seems like some pure unadulterated fun, alas I do not yet have a Switch. Hopefully theres some good Black Friday deals.

Your thoughts on NGB are very typical for someone who is new to the game.

NGB has a vast learning curve across all areas. For example you mentioned the platforming, it is actually platforming and requires you to know where to position your jumps, wall runs, rolla etc. You won't get by with no issues on your first try.

The camera can be controlled in Black and while it's not perfect it's not nearly as bad as most make it out to be. Being able to control the camera while also dealing with combat or platforming is part of the games learning curve.

I know in text form this will more than likely come across as me just saying "git gud" but I'm not. NGB isn't a game where you just "get good", you must be willing to learn things. Once you learn how to move properly, how to control the enemies and use the environment to your advantage you realise just how ridiculously over powered you are in that.

One way I've always thought of NGB is a fighting game where you know what your opponent will do at every single point while playing. This of course won't happen over night but if you stick with it and learn what you need to you'll realise why it's so highly regarded in the genre.

@sparky_buzzsaw:Yeah, if you aren't in the mood for a particular brand of puzzle, map-drawingest dungeon design, then Etrian Odyssey is going to be a frustrating endeavor. The later areas in any given EO game tend to be filled with gimmicks like teleporters, dead-ends, and floor-wide riddles.

I think a lot of D&D 5e's current popularity has to do with a right time/right place situation, between it being significantly more friendly and streamlined than Pathfinder, the emergence of streams like Critical Role, and yeah, the general mainstreaming of a lot of nerd culture stuff in the last few years. I have no idea how popular D&D is in broader terms, but normal humans have expressed interest in playing with me, and I've absolutely noticed how big it's gotten even in just the space of "Nerds on the internet." Even the Dragonball Z Abridged guys have a Dungeons and Dragons stream now. I'll also say that I definitely like playing Pathfinder more, but as a DM I much prefer the amount of BS wiggle room 5e grants me to rule on things.

Thanks for the Haruhi info too. So it actually was a The Producers esque attempt at self-sabotage? Honestly, as someone who just came to the series, I don't need a third season (I think Disappearance ends on a well-enough note, even if the stories from the light novels are incomplete or whatever) but I guess there's that Nagato spinoff show that's just a slice-of-life romance thing if I really want to watch something tangentially related.

I hope I didn't come off as too harsh, since I also kinda like that Ninja Gaiden is unashamed of being a video game-ass video game (I thought the same thing about the first God of War when I played it a few years ago.) It's regressive and stupid, yes, but there's something charming about that. The PS2/GC/XBOX generation feels like it was the last one that allowed big mainstream games to get away with silly, dumb anachronisms like that.

So, uh, it looks like Ninja Gaiden 2 is not on the Xbox One backwards compatibility list right now. I don't have my 360 on me, so I guess that means Sigma 2 is going to be the more convenient choice. 3 is also not on that list, though from your response I guess it might actually be worth a look if I'm really curious?

I don't think you're coming off as elitist, and I figure you'd know your shit as someone with a Ninja Gaiden avatar. Having watched some videos of higher-level play on harder difficulties, there are definitely some nuances in Ninja Gaiden Black that I never quite managed to get the hang of in my playthrough (I should've mentioned how thankful I was for the game's generosity with healing items on Normal.) It should be said that unlike the ridiculous frame-cancelling antics of any given DMC video, a lot of the crazier stuff in Ninja Gaiden seems more doable, which I guess just calls back to my thoughts that it's a game about raw execution above all else.

I'll still stand by there being some cheesy, punitive bullshit for scrub casuals like myself, but if I ever give the game a replay I'll definitely look up some of the ways to deal with trickier enemies and bosses without just spamming ninpo or depleting my stock of healing items.