Wow, getting the power seals was SO not worth it.

[marcussparchs]

Seriously, the boomerang shuriken is pretty useless

[Habanero]

It can actually kill the Demon King in under a minute if you throw out all of them and keep them flying around.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by marcussparchs:

Seriously, the boomerang shuriken is pretty useless

I thought it was worth it for the challenge alone. the reward is kind of garbage, yes. But it's meant to be an homage to the original ninja gaiden, since that game had a shuriken that behaved in a very similar manner. For me, some of the seals were very challenging and it was rewarding to get them. But some of them were just flat-out cheap imo. Not many, but some. And I play a LOT of hardcore platformers. I have beaten all of the Ninja Gaiden games without save states, if that means anything.

[marcussparchs]

Originally posted by Habanero:

It can actually kill the Demon King in under a minute if you throw out all of them and keep them flying around.

The Demon King is already a joke. Easiest boss in the game.

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

Originally posted by marcussparchs:

Originally posted by Habanero:

It can actually kill the Demon King in under a minute if you throw out all of them and keep them flying around.

The Demon King is already a joke. Easiest boss in the game.

Yep, when the fight ended i was like that's it? Such an anticlimactic boss.

[Cyber Akuma]

It honestly feels like a downgrade in a sense since I found the range of the original far more useful than the boomrang quality of the upgrade, even if it hits harder.

[Halfshell]

Originally posted by MrUnbecoming:

Originally posted by marcussparchs:

Seriously, the boomerang shuriken is pretty useless

I thought it was worth it for the challenge alone.

But it isn't challenging at all to get any of the seals. Theres maybe 2 or 3 where I actually had to retry.. if they are all optional they should at least be more challenging than the main content for sure?

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Halfshell cat:

Originally posted by MrUnbecoming:

I thought it was worth it for the challenge alone.

But it isn't challenging at all to get any of the seals. Theres maybe 2 or 3 where I actually had to retry.. if they are all optional they should at least be more challenging than the main content for sure?

Challenge is subjective. I found some of them challenging, but it also was just fun getting them.

[Halfshell]

Originally posted by MrUnbecoming:

Originally posted by Halfshell cat:

But it isn't challenging at all to get any of the seals. Theres maybe 2 or 3 where I actually had to retry.. if they are all optional they should at least be more challenging than the main content for sure?

Challenge is subjective. I found some of them challenging, but it also was just fun getting them.

Well roughly how many did you find challenging? If it was less than 1/4th then I would say that they are not nearly challenging enough. I will admit that I am fairly adept at platformers so my play-through feedback is worth less than yours in this regard.

[Sad Pug]

It is great for final boss. Not that he's hard or anything, but it makes short work of him.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Halfshell cat:

Well roughly how many did you find challenging? If it was less than 1/4th then I would say that they are not nearly challenging enough. I will admit that I am fairly adept at platformers so my play-through feedback is worth less than yours in this regard.

I am very adept at platformers. Most of the games in my library are platformers, and that's pretty much all I ever played on the NES in my childhood. I would say less than 1/4 were very difficult, but I still died on quite a few of them due to trial and error. One of the ones I had the most trouble with was one with low ceiling crushing blocks. It was very unforgiving and the timing was very tight. I probably died 25 time til I got through that gauntlet.

[stealthycow]

a big problem I had with the game's difficulty is how many of the platforming challenges are irrelevant because you have HP. if you can fall, land on the spikes, and then jump back up onto a platform, or even just keep running across the spikes and get hit 2 or 3 more times to get past the section, it kills any sense of difficulty. it'd be a much different story if you actually had to play perfectly.


I guess it's just a design decision. they didn't want to make a "hardcore platformer". it just seems so strange to me that they'd take the time and effort to carefully design all of these tricky platforming segments but then allow you to very easily bypass them by taking a hit or two. particularly true of the power seal rooms you can get hit in. I feel like if anything those power seals should've acted as the "hardcore platformer" segments and replaced all spikes with insta-kill lava or something to up the optional difficulty.

[Cyber Akuma]

Mosty of the trigcy platforming I saw was over pits or other instant-death traps, also, the spikes most certanely CAN kill you due to the invunerability being fairly short so you can't just tank the hits, if you can't recover within about 2-3 hits, which isn't happening in many areas if you fall unless it's right at the end, you're dead.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by stealthycow:

a big problem I had with the game's difficulty is how many of the platforming challenges are irrelevant because you have HP. if you can fall, land on the spikes, and then jump back up onto a platform, or even just keep running across the spikes and get hit 2 or 3 more times to get past the section, it kills any sense of difficulty. it'd be a much different story if you actually had to play perfectly.


I guess it's just a design decision. they didn't want to make a "hardcore platformer". it just seems so strange to me that they'd take the time and effort to carefully design all of these tricky platforming segments but then allow you to very easily bypass them by taking a hit or two. particularly true of the power seal rooms you can get hit in. I feel like if anything those power seals should've acted as the "hardcore platformer" segments and replaced all spikes with insta-kill lava or something to up the optional difficulty.

If the traps were instant-death (besides pits and getting crushed) trust me, it wouldn't be challenging just infuriating. I think many people would prefer they aren't instant death since it feels more unfair than just a slap on the wrist. I see the general response to this game to overall be positive, which I agree with. I absolutely loved it. But if the spikes were instant death and not 1/3 of your HP taken, I think people would hate it.

[Halfshell]

I have always been against insta death spikes in games where you have more than 3 HP. Sure it allows you to bypass a few sections, but forcing you to replay everything up til then due to one mistake is a little bit much imo. Really the problem is with how common health refills are and how the enemies aren't all that dangerous. Its a little odd that they stick with the same enemies throughout so since you are constantly getting more health the game actually gets easier as you progress.. its only a few platforming areas that get more difficult. The spike balance was perfect at the start IMO (3 damage and you have somewhere around 5 hits, after ~2 areas you should have 6-7 hits and the spike damage reduction).

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Halfshell cat:

I have always been against insta death spikes in games where you have more than 3 HP. Sure it allows you to bypass a few sections, but forcing you to replay everything up til then due to one mistake is a little bit much imo. Really the problem is with how common health refills are and how the enemies aren't all that dangerous. Its a little odd that they stick with the same enemies throughout so since you are constantly getting more health the game actually gets easier as you progress.. its only a few platforming areas that get more difficult. The spike balance was perfect at the start IMO (3 damage and you have somewhere around 5 hits, after ~2 areas you should have 6-7 hits and the spike damage reduction).

Agreed. Instant death spikes do not belong in a game like this, so I am happy they made it this way. To counter your point of the game being mostly easy: I didn't buy any of the damage reduction upgrades because I wanted to experience how the game was meant to be played (as it was designed without the tacked on upgrades) And as a result it was quite challenging, but satisfying to overcome the challenges. I also agree there wasn't enough enemy variety and the enemies were too easy, but it was an 8.5 maybe 9/10 game for me for sure. Thoroughly enjoyed it.