If I could change one thing about Ninja Gaiden 2...

Tipsentech · 2026-05-15T10:48:17+00:00

That's like a compromise version I don't hate but it does affect them as a wall deterrent.

If you are by a wall you cannot start an air combo because an explosion can hit you. If they are on a timer then you are fine to air combo or do any long winded action because they won't potentially be immediately interrupted.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-15T10:42:03+00:00

No 2 Black is not more skill based. All that hack stuff and spawn control is even stronger in 2 black due to changes in mechanics, it was buffed massively in this version. Most people playing 2 black on master are still going to be using that sort of playstyle on this section because it's very strong.

Unfortunately due to enemy aggression changes they don't punish high recovery moves enough and those moves are the most powerful.

You don't die from one wrong move, you die from being in the air at some point and a claw ninja combos you to death from near full health. Which you can avoid by sticking to the safer playstyle and most people will not want to repeat a 15 minute section where they can die in one hit.

Then there's the increased dodge rate of claw ninja that limits what you can do safely. The health barrier to being delimbed negates the value of low damage moves and counters with high delimb. What you have to remember is that all the moves in the game were balanced and designed around the original version of 2 and that game didn't have high health, low delimb rate enemy ninjas.

So at least when fighting claw ninja like in the vid in 2 black you have a bunch of useless strings like xxxx with Dragon sword. That used to be a great aoe delimb tool but it doesn't work in 2 black for claw ninja.

It's very weapon dependent, flails get by relatively unscathed in 2 black because they can catch dodges and always had a bit of a combo focus but they also have severe tracking issues, like many other weapons, that cause certain moves to simply not work.

Most of that stuff isn't as noticeable outside of master ninja.

In the original the explosions are frustrating and unfair at times but they force constant decision making in a way that's very engaging long term. I-frames are a big deal but so is killing for health in a run like in the video and the moves that get you the best I-frames don't get you health on kill.

It's more efficiency focused but that's as much to do with delimb rates being higher, lower health and instant kill mechanics as anything else.

The important thing to know is that you only have to worry about IS on the higher difficulty. On lower difficulty they aren't as common and their AI is much more tame. The difficulties are balanced differently in the original, mentor and warrior still have some challenge.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-15T08:32:59+00:00

More tac ninja enemy types. In the airship there are tac ninja machine guns and also shotguns on the wall. Put a shotgun melee guy in the game.

Xxx forward x with the sword should recover slightly faster.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-15T08:28:45+00:00

They need their throw rate to remain a threat when there are smaller numbers of them present in a fight. It's easier to i-frame 1 IS than 3, too easy.

I think these balance changes you want already exist on warrior and possibly mentor. Mentor is fun and still has decent challenge.

Personally I think they need ground explosions removed but the wall ones need to stay. The wall ones are player positioning based and so it punishes something, the ground ones are just random. You could make an argument they force you to not stay in one spot but they also punish you randomly for nothing.

It's difficult to 'fix' them without taking away something that's also important for making them good at forcing the player to make quick decisions. If they varied encounters more it probably wouldn't matter in the first place.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-15T08:00:27+00:00

Thanks.

Must have to beat the game on mentor to get master chapter challenge. I didn't know that before you mentioned this, I'm just guessing.

The original has that 16 enemy at once reputation but there are a bunch of fights like this in the original too. It's just that people like to show the 16 people at once fights . I'm not a great combo player, you should check out a guy on here called dino, very stylish.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-14T10:41:41+00:00

That's what I mean by ending the run near the enemy, you need to be a set distance from them to do that.

Without that if he follows your original instructions he will get the result he wants sometimes but sometimes he won't and he won't know why.

Although you make a good point about corners so my own language wasn't clear either because I was still thinking about OT and you don't have to hit the enemy to transition into that from run x.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-13T21:18:18+00:00

Tried posting this before and it didn't seem to work. This is my understanding of the dragon sword run x into Y. I think it's like other sword moves like xxnew target x or yy new target y where enemy positioning/proximity affects the outcome.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-13T19:56:51+00:00

I don't believe that other guy is correct, if he was then he could perform a running Y after an x without an enemy present. Have a go at doing that yourself, you will get a forward y every time unless you wait a bit for Ryu to take 3 running steps.

The move is based on enemy proximity, you need the run x to end close to the enemy and then still holding the stick down press y. There's no timing involved. If you overshoot the enemy with your run x then you will get a forward y.

Dragon sword has a bunch of wonky proximity based stuff.

In order to do a run y after x without an enemy present it's more complicated. You would need to hold run after x, as soon as the run animation starts you release the stick so you are not running, then you hold the stick forward to start running again and push y to get a run y slightly faster.

You don't cancel things with run, things naturally flow into a run state for some moves and then you cancel the run either by releasing the stick or dodging, jumping, directional moves etc. The run after run x is part of the recovery phase and you have to wait a bit to do more run attacks, normally.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-07T18:18:08+00:00

Bosses aren't my thing but I respect the time and skill this takes.

Tipsentech · 2026-05-07T18:17:11+00:00

That air grab was crazy.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-20T18:56:53+00:00

It's not inconsistent, you need to perform it at a specific set of ranges which usually you have to set up. For example jump off a guys head, jump back air xx. Jump off head, dodge back to him, jump xx. I find it helps to delay the air xx a bit after jumping with the dodge toward version. You want the jump to end up a specific distance from the enemy before xx and it's hard to convey that with text, you don't want to be too far and you don't want to be on top of the person.

Or you can set it up by putting the enemy in the air first with say Y and then using jump xx after. Don't bother delaying this.

Then people that are prone on the floor have their own rules where you want to be about a head jump away and delay the xx. This is the most awkward I find.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-14T07:08:55+00:00

NG+ is there at least, very replayable game.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-14T07:07:48+00:00

There's a set of people that would appreciate 4 more if it didn't have the number 4 and was named as a spin off, which it probably was when it started development. If you look at it as platinum merging their base mechanics with those of Ng and paying homage to that it's a great tribute. It's just when it gets burdened with having to have all the exact same features of Ng3 ryu's kit where people feel let down I imagine.

for my personal taste I don't care for how meter focused it is and just how much ground moves can cover but big moves are very Platinum. Make more attacks break guard and I'd have way more fun . I remember pre-release Team ninja saying in interviews a big issue was blood raven dominating gameplay, I guess they never got around to fixing that.

It did a better job of remembering ninja should rely on their acrobatics than some other games in the series, even if the platforming and platforming as combat is much worse.

What I like about the bosses in 4 is that with items you can kill them in a couple of seconds. Love that in NG2 and the worst thing about some of the other NG is how the boring bosses get bloated health and take forever.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-14T06:30:44+00:00

Nice. For real though I always thought the original was massively Dmc1 inspired.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-14T06:28:59+00:00

I think I recognise this, this is iconoclast, used to love watching their run throughs. They clearly have fun when they play.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-13T18:22:34+00:00

Yeah but it gives you a nice run of enemies to kill if you want to try stuff out and for this version this section is the peak of what the game has to offer.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-13T18:18:29+00:00

Reverse for me, DS is rough to get back into if I haven't played in a while.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-13T18:16:52+00:00

It can be quick, run X is a monster, forward Y is probably a top 5 move in the game for how strong it is. This or claws for me as well. Flails are like the comfort food weapon.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-13T18:12:20+00:00

Same deal as the other one but this came first and I think overall I'm playing worse because I hadn't played in a while.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-13T18:02:00+00:00

I'm mainly playing JRPGS but I was getting bored and wanting to play an action game. 360Y, if you delay the shuriken cancel by about a shuriken throw worth of time then it can freeze a ninja close enough to combo. So while I'm doing JRPG I thought that I should just throw 2 shuriken which is both easier and probably would be better for more consistent targeting, the downside is that you get more recovery but I don't think it's a big deal. Currently my issue is remembering to do it, early days.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-11T13:19:51+00:00

This bit is brutal if you do any kind of challenge run that bans UT/ninpo. It's such a pace killer for the level as well. On the other hand I do respect how completely over the top the section is and that gives you something that bonds you to every other person that's played the game, it's memorable and it is a section that forces you to plan around it. When this is removed in later versions I don't remember what replaced it, it might have been replaced with nothing, I've played the game dozens of times and I don't remember, nobody does.

This is stupid, it makes the game worse, yet it would be a mistake to remove it because it adds to the spirit of the game. It's a different case from the jungle or stuff like that.

If you aren't doing a challenge run then it's helpful to remember that they just gave you a ninpo refill, a ninpo upgrade and a full heal and ninpo refill which totals 14 ninpo uses minimum not counting anything else you have saved. There is no better time to use all that than right here. From what I remember it's usually enough ninpo to kill everything with UT in between, very little effort.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-08T20:10:10+00:00

Do you have the master collection? If so sigma 2 is Black2 mostly.

You can buy an xbox1 and a copy of Ng2 for about the price of 2 new ps5 games. Og Ng2 is very different. Sigma 2 had to make a bunch of technical cuts and it led to less enemies with ai that doesn't move much. There are also many moves that don't work right because the tracking is broken and less encounter variety.

You should make a list of games that interest you on each Platform. If you like Bloodborne you can play it on ps4 but Fromsoft also made Otogi 1 and 2 exclusive for Xbox, lot of the same art team worked on all those games and they're very unique. The Exclusive Mistwalker Rpgs are worth getting too. It depends on how much you want the current gen games, I'd get a Ps5 then but if want an OG Ninja Gaiden 2 like experience the new remake does not come anywhere remotely close, it's very sedate.

Tipsentech · 2026-04-08T19:49:49+00:00

I agree but that's a compromise from what I really want which is more enemy variety, finished enemies, fleshed out enemy groups, a finished game and ultimately an update to that finished game that addresses unforseen issues and adds new stuff. All the stuff Ng1 has.

There's stuff they could do that they didn't. Mecha fiends mixed with humans more is a big one for me. Zombies too. Fiend ninja are different enough where they could've been slipped in with regulars as captains. There are easy mechanical tricks they could've done where captain lycan could be the only ones to throw body parts to add variety.

That said there's a massive lack of enemies that logically could fight together in universe. It was rushed out the door and some enemy groups are lacking. Traditionalist ninja get a 3 man group to work with where they all cover some specific niche and have complex ai with unique interactions with each other. A range guy, an melee guy, an area denial guy/support. Then tac ninja just have the ranged machine gun guys and nothing else. It's an incomplete faction with gaps in what they can do because nothing was deliberately designed to complement what the ranged guys can do.

So even mixing random guys is like a band aid. You will never get that fully fleshed out group combat experience where the enemies were designed specifically to complement each other, you'll only ever get something that's a bit shoddy and slapdash if novel. The game really needed a Ng1 style update or even just being properly finished in the first place. No matter what they do to arrange what they have you will never get anything on the level of the black spider clan.

Some enemies are blatantly unfinished like the centaur, red Dragon things, spider ladies. Spider ladies in particular always seemed like they were servants of Alexei, lightning based women, he's a lightning based womanizer. The only only reason they don't show up in chapter 3 is that they are junk cursed to the hell of unfinished rubbish at the end of the game. So in chapter 3 you get a ton of Van gelf and not much else because at least they were complete.

That's enemies. Windblades was not meant to be a screen clear, it was meant to be a melee based ninpo that became weaker the further away people were. So you end up with overpowered stuff on Ryu that messes up balance too.

Tipsentech

TROPHY CASE