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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 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.
We played the movie to test audiences and they said they really hated one character, so we put some of that character's deleted scenes back in.
Star Wars Episode 1?
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
It wasn't a matter of bad management. Itagaki knew what market he was aiming Ninja Gaiden for. Gamers shouldn't act like he made a bad decision just because the game isn't for them. Ninja Gaiden is meant for good players who want a challenge. If it's too hard for you, there's nothing wrong with playing another game.
Here's another example from the film world. David Mamet gives a test screening for his new film, but a decent portion of the audience complains because they don't understand the dialogue between characters. So, while doing the final edit, David sticks a bunch more of that dialogue into the movie because he knows that his fans will eat it up.
Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
I'm glad you mentioned the controller.
I'm 29. I hadn't thrown a controller since Alex Kidd in Miracle World back in the Sega Master System days.
Yet, I threw it once playing Ninja Gaiden on the X-Box.
I'm OK with them not having the option to make it easier though. It was a throw back game (pun is optional). It force me to get good at the game. If you've made it through most of the game, go back and start over and it's actually not that hard. It's just instead of bring a modern "just play through, little skill required" like most games, it makes you get good. And I respect that.
Interesting concept. Also known as: Bad management
Imagine the quote from a film company: We played the movie to test audiences and they said they really hated one character, so we put some of that character's deleted scenes back in.
It could very well be that the testers became complacent by the easier sections of the game. When the difficulty ramped up as high as Team Ninja wanted the testers felt the change and felt that it was too sudden / too strong. To smooth out the perception of disjoint in the difficulty curve, Team Ninja could have either made the hard sections easier, or made the easy sections harder. They chose the latter.
Considering all of the press that this game has recieved, it was the right choice. Compare this outing to the recent update of Strider... Which was truer to the source material? Which was the better game?
Imagine this quote from a film company: We played Lost Highway to test audiences and they said they didn't it, so we're simplifying the storyline and making things clearer. Sometimes it's best not to do what your audience wants.
The ______ Agenda
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.
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'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.
Yeah, except going the lowest-common denominator route can turn off a huge part of your potential audience. I enjoyed Ninja Gaiden partially because it was challenging (though not as hard as many people complain - think tactical, gamers!). If it was easier I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much, and I am far from alone.
And you can't ignore the fact (even though you attempt to) that Team Ninja made the game pretty fair in terms of difficulty. There are what, only two parts of the game with 'instant kill pits', done largely for good game design reasons (like under the monastery - you can't just let the player jump all the way down, but you don't want the player taking falling damage for the other 99% of the game)? Compare that to a game like the Shinobi remake or your average platformer (hell, even classic games like Mario64!), which are filled with that kind of 'one mistake=death' annoyance. NG also allows you to build up as much money as you want (via various bat areas), so you can buy as much health potions as your skill level requires. Try playing something like Genma Onimusha, which has similar mechanics (lots of respawning enemies), a camera that is literally ten times or so worse, and a complete inability to buy health potions. You have to beat the game with what the designers give you - get to the last boss without enough potions, too bad. May as well restart. Even the 'bad camera' you talk about is pretty damn good, because it is paired with the ability to block 95+% of attacks with the touch of a button, and all enemies make noises so you know when an attack is coming even if it isn't visible (another thing Genma Onimusha screws up). Ninja Gaiden isn't easy, and maybe some parts could be tightened up a little or smoothed out, but it is intensely fair.
If you just started playing games recently (say the PSX era), or if you predominently play all of the recent (and easy) Nintendo games, Ninja Gaiden just probably isn't for you. There's nothing wrong with people like Itagaki making games for the millions of old school (and nowadays mostly Western) gamers that are so often ignored by most other developers. We really, really appreciate it, and the game's sales reflect that.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon