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Itagaki Talks Ninja Gaiden Difficulty, Sequel, DOA
Thanks to Kikizo for its interview with Tecmo's Tomonobu Itagaki regarding "Ninja Gaiden 2, Code Chronus, Dead or Alive Ultimate, DOA4 and PSP, [and] Nintendo DS development", conducted at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. Itagaki addresses the complaints of some about Ninja Gaiden's extreme difficulty, posturing: "It was done intentionally of course. The testers who tested this game went nuts. At first it was easier, but when the testers said 'this is too difficult', I made it even more difficult", before mentioning that a Ninja Gaiden 2 is planned, and "the concept will not change", but "it will be after [development of] Dead or Alive 4", which in turn will be produced after the nearly completed Dead Or Alive Ultimate, the Xbox Live online-enabled title which "takes the first two Dead or Alive titles, adds all new environments, a novel online setup, a higher degree of interactivity in its levels, new movies, new costumes, and more."
I love Ninja Gaiden
I just wish that I had the patience to put up with the riculous difficulty.
I've even managed to destroy one of my controllers in frustration. I just don't see why he couldn't have put an easy or normal option in the game, let us choose how hard we want it to be.
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I suspect many fans of the original NES Ninja Gaiden games, like myself, would have been annoyed if it HADN'T been more difficult than most games these days.
The original is one of my favourite NES games of all time, even though I was never able to finish it. Just too hard. It wasn't uncommon to have trouble getting past the first area of the first world if you were new to the game.
Gamers now are spoiled by excessive (and therefore forgiving of dying) save points, and difficulty through gimmics. Once you figure out the gimmic, it tends to get a LOT easier. It's nice to see a game that's just HARD.
Dark Nexus
"Sanity is calming, but madness is more interesting."
I was hard, but it wasn't impossible. Once I learned how to actually play, I finished the game in around a week and a half. Sure, it was hard at first, and fighting the second boss on horseback, or the first time you fight the fiend chick were freaking crazy. But it's just a steep learning curve. Once I finished it, it unlocks a third "Very Hard" option and a secret costume. Pure bliss.
There is a market for really hard games, and if you don't want to play them - don't. But personally, it would have pissed me off to have finished Ninja Gaiden in 6 to 7 hours and it would have pissed me off if the same strategies worked against every enemy. What I loved about that game what that you had to learn how to actually fight within the context of that game. You had to learn to exploit an enemy's weaknesses, you had to learn how to use the terrain to your advantage, when to use your Ninpo and when to save it. In the end, it was one of the best games I ever played - if it had been easier... it would have just been eye candy. People who want easy games should buy easy games.
The common complaint agaisnt Ninja Gaiden is its difficulty. I really do not see the difficulity. I believe gamers might find it difficult is because they do not use useful tactics to beat the enemies. Mashing buttons and just killing everything that moves is not a useful tactic. If you actually use counters and the soul charge move so you can kill enemies in chains( the move the first boss explains to you) you should not have that much of a problem. Also, learning how to use the weapons and when to use them. Also, if u upgrade your wooden sword to the unlabored flawlessness, the game is even easier.
THe key to tackling games is to actully think about what u are doing and dont button mash and let the stylish moves make you think u have to do them. Espically in Ninja Gaiden, u can use about 5 moves and finish the game.
Ninja Gaiden isn't actually that difficult. It's a fighting game at the core, and repetition of combos is your saving grace.
The camera just sucks. The camera is your real enemy, especially during the pointless platforming sequences.
Ninja Gaiden is an amazing game in many, many ways. Sure, it's also extremely difficult, but not for the right reasons. In many areas, it is indeed the camera that would put you in comprimising situations that would often lead to high levels of frustration. There were some other obnoxious things I encountered (ie, not being able to change weapons or even use health items while an enemy's health meter was draining, oftentimes leave you wide open for an attack - wtf?).
I'm sorry, but I think it should be the goal of someone who creates a game to make it as much fun for everyone interested in that particular genre as possible. Making even the easiest mode extremely difficult really can kill the enjoyment level for many players (and I know for a fact it did). To those who are looking for a challenge, that harder mode would have been available.
In every interview I've read, Itagaki comes across like a pompous ass, too. How he can say things like "It was too hard, I made it harder" or even, when faced with questions regarding camera issues, deny it...that's just unreal.
A truly challenging game is hard to come by these days, for every Ninja Gaiden, Viewtiful Joe and F-Zero GX, there are 2 dozen games that bow to eye candy and plot development over actual difficulty.
Sadly this is a curse that has been steadily gaining momentum since the PlayStation era and throughout, where the craftsmenship of demanding perfection/reactions within a 2D environment were sacrificed at the alter of style over substance. Itagaki needs to be lauded for his attidude, not criticised.
While I will most certainly agree that a lot of games are a bit too eays now, Ninja Gaiden was pretty difficult. A learning curve should be gradual, and having such a difficult boss (the horsemen) so early in the game is a strong deterrant for many gamers. I have been playing computer and console games for over 25 years, and I have to say that NG is one of the more difficult ones out there.
On one hand, making such a difficult game can be good, for some reasons cited by previous posters. But on the other hand, it is bad for several reasons, one of which is this:
Harder games are for a niche market.
NG was not geared for a few elite gamers. It was made and heavily marketed for as large an audience as possible. And large audiences like games easier than what NG is. So a fe wposters here and onl lots of gaming boards constantly ridicule the majority of people who say it is hard by saying "I don't see why everyone says it is so hard. I beat the flying demon woman on my 2nd try." Well congratulations for you.. You're in the top 2% of the people who bought the game. And consequently, that isn't enough to keep large game development companies in business. Here in Japan, NG sold well at the beginning, but I sure as hell see a lot of copies of it at used game stores now, unlike GTA3.
If they gear the sales of a game for a wide audience, then they need to develop it for that wide audience. And having added in a difficulty select at the beginning of the game - of the "EASY" variety - would have helped the game be more enjoyable for a large number of people. I never finished NG because like a growing number of gamers out there, I have a job, and a life which is not just me playing games at home. My game time is limited, which means I will only play games that I enjoy. And constantly getting my arse handed to me by an incredibly difficult boss on the 2nd level of a majorly hyped up "you have to have this game" release does not make me want to keep playing. I'd rather go back and play some GTA:VC, which I beat a year and a half ago at 100%, than keep losing over and over and over and over again.
Making NG so difficult is going to hurt the initial release sales of NG2, I am quite sure, because a large number of people who thought the first installment was too difficult will think the same holds true for the sequel.
Anyways.. that is just my take on it.
+ - +
Having this interview translated by what I assume was a marketing flack probably evened out some of his lunacy. From the times I've seen him at events and the interviews I've read, it seems that he always wears a lizard skin jacket, sunglasses, jeans and boots. He's quite tall for a Japanese guy - over 6 feet with the boots on, so he has a certain impact. But that's just clothes - anyone can dress like a rockstar.
It's the way he interacts with people and the things he says when there's no minder around that lets you know he's totally insane. Check out Tim Roberts' account of meeting him at E3 http://www.livejournal.com/users/108/42763.html, or the Tokyopia interview.
Mind you, when I say that he's crazy, that's at least half-positive. He seems to pretty much do what he wants, and he's been successful enough that obviously Tecmo is happy to let him have his way with things. That means that his games have been designed with only one purpose in mind: making him happy. That's miles better than a crappy movie-license game, or some other forgettable game that's been designed by committee. Ninja Gaiden may be too hard, but it's certainly original - we could use more lunatics like Itagaki.
I absolutely love the difficulty level of NG. Finally there is a game I can work on over the course of weeks and months (in the hour or so I can play it on some days after work) and gradually refine my skill over time. That's what I did in the days of yore on Metroid, and it made Metroid Zero Mission infinitely better because I already had such a practiced feel for controlling Samus. It is taking me a while to learn the various moves in NG and creep upward through the levels, but I'm happy with it. Anyone looking for a similar challenge level should at least try it.
Is it me, or does this guy come off as a bit of a prick? Maybe if I liked his games more I wouldn't think so.
Any you guys complaining about it being too hard actually play through the game? First time through is awful, but by the second time you go through it and know what works, the normal difficulty level is cake - it's an EASY game once you know how to play.
However, I do agree that an easy difficulty level would be good for casual gamers/people who paid for the game but can't get past first boss...
There are two different types of difficulty: challenging and frustrating. NG has a lot of both, but the latter does not improve the game. Finally beating a boss through skill is gratifying, but does it make up for all the time wasted running back from the distant save point, beating up the same low-level monsters, and navigating the same jumping puzzle? Losing to a pile of enemies because you weren't good enough is one thing, losing to the same pile of enemies because the camera decided to aim at the wall instead of the danger and throw off your timing is another. Shops are a major source of health and ammo, but by the end of the game getting back to one requires a five-minute trip through hostile territory. There's at least one save point I can think of where the monster regeneration system virtually guarantees that you will be attacked by offscreen enemies within seconds of restoring a game there. And death is always followed by an excruciatingly long load screen on top of the aforementioned obstacles between the save point and whatever challenge you're currently retrying. There are a lot of minor things that could be changed in NG without making the combat, which is supposed to be the meat of the game and source of the challenge, any less difficult.
Apropos.
3 -08
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-0
I really hate Dan Patrick.
And death is always followed by an excruciatingly long load screen
We are talking about Ninja Gaiden, right? You know, the game with 1-3 second, max, loading times (with the possible exception of when it first loads)?
Something is probably wrong with your disc or Xbox...
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
Dude, there is a fine line between hard, and ninjas busting in your door and killing your best friend while you're playing the game.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
I completely understand a person having a preference towards games that are harder, but insulting people who enjoy RPGs or other games that don't require masterful hand-eye coordination is ridiculous.
Games are meant to be fun, not a contest to see who's more "leet". Grow up a little.