# Ninja Gaiden for Xbox



## Mind Riot (Jun 28, 2005)

Just picked it up last night. One of the best looking games I've ever seen, that's for sure. The combat system is amazing and fast, when you pull off a nice move or combo it's really satisfying.

Sure is hard as heck though, definitely a steep learning curve in this game. If you don't pay attention and learn fast you get slaughtered, even on the first couple of levels. Took me about five tries to beat the first boss, seven for the second boss, and ten or so for the third, that fat chromed peice of crap. But I know it'll get harder. I beat the fourth level, Tairon, and I'm at the drawbridge in the City Of Fiends level now. 

Obviously Vince has played it (now I know where you got your avatar  ), but has anyone else? It's pretty cool, and a good challenge. I don't like that much gore myself, I don't think it's really necessary or cool to have everybody just explode into blood when they die, but I know I'm probably in the minority. 

I only got an Xbox about a month ago, been digging some Halo action until I got this last night. I'm going through Halo on Legendary, man that'll kick your butt. 

Anybody else dig these games? I also got Halo 2, but I'm holding off on playing it too much until I get really good at Halo 1.


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## Vince (Jun 28, 2005)

Greatest game ever.

Beat the first two bosses then the real game begins. They are the hardest in the game.

By the time you hit about level 4, you're an incredible badass in that game. 

The learning curve in Ninja Gaiden is similiar to Neo in the first Matrix. What I mean is that he knew he was fast, but his enemies seems overpowering. When it finally clicked for him, he was unstoppable.

Ninja Gaiden is the same. Once you "get it", which may take months of playing it, you're character will be unbelieveable. You enter a room, 6 or 7 demons rush you and 10 seconds later they're evaporating in pools of their own blood.

Nothing beats that, my friend. Awesome fucking game.


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## Mind Riot (Jun 28, 2005)

desertdweller said:


> Greatest game ever.
> 
> Beat the first two bosses then the real game begins. They are the hardest in the game.
> 
> ...



I heard that some of the earlier bosses are harder than some of the later ones. I wonder why they'd design it like that. 

Like Neo, eh?

"Okey dokey. Free my mind, right."

I'm on level five right now, and I definitely wouldn't consider myself to be a badass by far, but I'm learning fast. It's definitely involving.


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## Vince (Jun 29, 2005)

you're almost to the monastery then, right? Some cool levels coming up for ya. The boss you'll face on the second time through the monastery is absolutely insane. It won't be the last time you fight her either. Great stuff.


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## Mind Riot (Jun 29, 2005)

desertdweller said:


> you're almost to the monastery then, right? Some cool levels coming up for ya. The boss you'll face on the second time through the monastery is absolutely insane. It won't be the last time you fight her either. Great stuff.



Yep, in between my last post and this one, I finished level five and started the monastery. The fiends and the end boss were way easier than Muria and the Samurai Horseman. Two tries for the fiends, got the tentacled thing on the first shot. 

Although getting there was another story. I went from the last save point right after the drawbridge, and got my ass handed to me several times by either the three red ninjas there or the four of them later. Man, four instead of three really makes a difference. I finally got them, and as cool as it was to beat them, I wish I could have done some more straight combos that I could see. The only way I could beat them was to always be jumping off them and such. But when I finally did beat them, I only got hit once in two groups of four.  

But somehow I got the language switched to Japanese with no subtitles, so I have no idea what the blonde with the ludicrously enormous breasts, Ryu, and the blue haired lady were saying at the end of the level. I'll have to go see if I can find a game script.


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## Vince (Jun 29, 2005)

Change the language in the options menu back to english 

Oh, and an easy way to beat those 4 dark ninjas.... there's an alley with narrow walls right there. Get in the alley and bird flip up high and come crashing down with a grand circada slash (the wall jump move where you turn blue and kill all objects on the ground). Other than that, you can fight on the ground, but always be moving, their incendiary shurikens are a pain if you get hit. Upgrade the sword to level 2, if you haven't already, that'll grant you the flying sparrow attack, which is absolutely choice.

The Inazuma drop is the greatest move in the game. I can't remember how you unlock it, maybe you buy it, but I know you get it from that guy in the shop. get next to a bad guy, XY -- then you're up in the air -- XXXY --- three slashes with the sword and that Y button push should start a spinning pile driver that kills him and injures anyone nearby.

The tentacle boss is the easiest boss in the game. Next, you'll fight the bone dragon in the underlevels. He's not too hard, but the level is incredibly long (lots of fights). The fight with Alma will be your first real challenge. Make sure you have all the magic you can get before fighting her. Double back sometimes in certain rooms later in the game too, there's extra items in there each time you enter. For instance, after you complete the sublevels under the monastery, go back into the library room. You'll have what's called a "50-fiend fight". Take down all 50 that attack you in succession and you'll be awarded something valuable, usually a life of the thousand gods, extra ninpo slot, or stronger ninpo. There's a lot of these rooms in the game, and two of them in the Monastery alone. The elevator room in the Monastery, you can go back in 3 different times throughout the game and get different items from the combination-locked safe in the room each time.

[/nerd]


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## Vince (Jun 29, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> But somehow I got the language switched to Japanese with no subtitles, so I have no idea what the blonde with the ludicrously enormous breasts, Ryu, and the blue haired lady were saying at the end of the level. I'll have to go see if I can find a game script.



The story is not that complex  No need for a game script....

Ryu: I'm gonna kill bad guy.
Babe: You can't kill bad guy. But if you want to, path to bad guy under monastery. I like to fly.
Blue haired girl: blah-blah-blah fiends blah-blah blood blah-blah.  
Ryu: I'm gonna kill bad guy.

Then Ryu walks off.


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## Metal Ken (Jun 29, 2005)

Just so we have a visual
This Ninja Chick with Ginormous Boobs.






Not to be confused with the original Ninja Chick with Ginormous boobs:


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## FoxMustang (Jun 29, 2005)

Haven't played Ninja Gaiden, but I need to find it used/on sale somewhere. Ninjas are fucking true


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## Mind Riot (Jun 30, 2005)

Okay, now I'm on the military base level. I went through the platform jumping craziness in the warehouse then got killed by the tank, so I have to do it all again. 

Say, how do you get that scarab on the railroad car in the warehouse?

I didn't know about the fifty fiend thing in that room, I'll have to try that again sometime. I just jumped down into the middle of the room and fought Alma. 

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind. I assume from the way things are going now that you have to beat the game before you can replay any of the levels, which seems logical so you can't overly beef up your character by playing one level over and over. But once you do beat it, can you play through again with your massively studly buff Ryu?

I know from some stuff I've read that it takes fifty scarabs delivered to Muramasa to unlock the original NES game, then there's a few steps to unlock the other two. But you don't have to save all your scarabs up to fifty to do that, do you? As in, if I give him fifteen of them, it's not like I spent those fifteen and in order to unlock the original game I have to find fifty more, right?


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> Say, how do you get that scarab on the railroad car in the warehouse?



Get next to the rail car on the right side, wall run up it, then at the top of the wall run, hit the Y button. You'll downward stab and land right on top of the rail car.


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind. I assume from the way things are going now that you have to beat the game before you can replay any of the levels, which seems logical so you can't overly beef up your character by playing one level over and over. But once you do beat it, can you play through again with your massively studly buff Ryu?
> 
> I know from some stuff I've read that it takes fifty scarabs delivered to Muramasa to unlock the original NES game, then there's a few steps to unlock the other two. But you don't have to save all your scarabs up to fifty to do that, do you? As in, if I give him fifteen of them, it's not like I spent those fifteen and in order to unlock the original game I have to find fifty more, right?



You constantly collect scarabs and give them to Muramasa. There's only 50 in the game, and he keeps track for you. If you give him 20, you've now collected 20 in the game. You want to give them to him as fast as you can, because when you hit certain numbers of scarabs, you get certain items. Namely, the Dihablro sword (which is an incredibly fast & heavy upgradeable sword) and the armlet of tranquility. The Armlet of Tranquility is one of the best items in the game, and I think you have to have 40 or 45 scarabs to get it. It recharges your health for you slowly, but constantly. If used correctly, you'll only have to burn elixers in the boss fights.

The hardest scarabs to find/collect are the one on top of the incomplete pole in the Peristyle Passage, and the scarab you have to wall walk to find above the Muramasa statue (you wall walk from the high doorway that led to the Strong Bow).

Also, you had asked about doubling back with a more powerful character. There's no stage select in the game, but you will see the same areas of the game over and over again, as the rest of the game takes place in and around that town you're in. The way the game overcomes your increasingly powerful character is by making the enemies in each area increasingly powerful. When you first entered the town, there were weak military guards with shock sticks and a few guns. Now that you're in the Military Supply base level, you're seeing more advanced infantry with armor, machine guns, and rocket launchers. The next time you roll through that town, those humans will have been demonized and you'll have to fight much much more powerful and sadistic enemies that do much more damage.

Bottom line, the difficulty of the game always keeps you in check.

Your next level after the military supply base is the hardest level in the game. The Aqueduct is fucking insane. Three boss battles, each one much much harder than the one before it. It's also the largest and longest level in the game.

There's 1 trick to Ninja Gaiden. You can get all of the items in the game in the beginning of the Aqueduct level. How? The bat trick.

When you first enter the Aqueduct level (after the train explosion), you'll drop down into a sewer. In that first room of the sewer is a ton of bats. Throw two ninja stars into the room, killing at least two bats. Charge up a Y-attack with either the sword or flails, absorb the two essence orbs from those two bats, and release the Y button, unloading an ultimate attack killing all the bats. When you do this, you'll receive much larger essence orbs, containing more essence. Usually 1 entry into the room will yield over 1000 essence points. Climb the ladder to exit the room, then drop back down into the room, and there the bats are again. Rinse, repeat. Give it 10 minutes and you'll have 60,000-80,000 essence points. Go buy stuff 

Also, get the wooden sword and begin upgrading it. It has 7 levels of upgrades, and takes roughly 120,000 essence to fully upgrade. You won't see an increase in it's power until the 7th upgrade, but when you do upgrade it for the 7th time, you'll be glad you did. Best weapon ever.


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> Okay, now I'm on the military base level. I went through the platform jumping craziness in the warehouse then got killed by the tank, so I have to do it all again.



hehe, you'll love what you have to face when you beat the tank. It's like the Family Guy pilot episode.


Peter: "Aw great! What'd I win?!"

Quagmire: "Another beer!"




A trick with the tank... knock out the guy on the top of the tank first, then bludgeon the side of the tank with arrows. There's boxes of both arrows on either side of the area there. If the tank's about to run you over, hit a ninpo. You probably won't do any damage, but you'll be invincible while the magic is taking place, and if you're using a projectile ninpo like the fireball, you just might take out the guy on the top of the tank.


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## Mind Riot (Jun 30, 2005)

Awesome, I can't wait to try that. [EDIT: You're too fast with your lightning posts, I was talking about the bat trick.]

BUT, I have to point out, you didn't answer one of my questions. Can you replay through the game with your beefed up Ryu once you've beaten it?

I'll try for that scarab near the strong bow, but what's the other one? Is that on a level I haven't gotten to yet?


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## Mind Riot (Jun 30, 2005)

Speaking of Family Guy, the new episode last Sunday had this one joke that really killed me for some odd reason. Brian is talking to the camera on the reality show and he's holding this drink with an umbrella. 

"I have to say I was really impressed. There was a fully stocked bar, and the bartender really knew his stuff. Look, he made me a Mohito."

*SIP*

"I-I don't think it's a gay drink."

....


"Mo-heet-toe."


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> Awesome, I can't wait to try that. [EDIT: You're too fast with your lightning posts, I was talking about the bat trick.]
> 
> BUT, I have to point out, you didn't answer one of my questions. Can you replay through the game with your beefed up Ryu once you've beaten it?
> 
> I'll try for that scarab near the strong bow, but what's the other one? Is that on a level I haven't gotten to yet?



Yeah, you'll know when you hit the peristyle passage because it'll pop the name if it up in the middle of your screen. It's a tall but narrow vatican style hall with a marble floor, pillars on either side and a statue at the end. One of the pillars doesn't hit the ceiling. Guess what's up there  Also, in that room is another 50-fiend fight. Kill all the baddies in the room before continuing and you'll get a prize.

As for replaying the game with a badass ninja, the answer is yes and no. Once you beat the game, you can continue on in "successive play". That means you start the game as weak as before, but the computer knows you've completed the game, and you keep your scarab count. This is especially great if you finish the game but only have found 45 or 46 scarabs or so. You can go back through the game again and the only scarabs that will be there will be the ones you missed the first time. The first time you hit Muramasa's shop (in the 2nd level just before the guys on horse back), you'll get all your awards from the previous game's scarab collection, sans the Dihabilro. You'll get that later in the game. It's freaking sweet running through the early levels of the game with the armlet of tranquility. You're basically unstoppable.

Oh, and about the lightning posts, it's my day off


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## Mind Riot (Jun 30, 2005)

Ah, I see. That makes sense, sounds like fun and really enhances the replay value. You can tell a lot of development and thought went into this game. I hear it was years and years in development.


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> Ah, I see. That makes sense, sounds like fun and really enhances the replay value. You can tell a lot of development and thought went into this game. I hear it was years and years in development.



yeah, I can't find an action game that even comes close. About the only games that I enjoy as much are the PC versions of the Jedi Knight games, that's about it.


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## Mind Riot (Jun 30, 2005)

How the hell do you beat the helicopter? I can't seem to dodge the missiles, and I don't have any health elixirs after the tanks.


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

If you don't have any elixirs, it's gonna be tough. The missiles are tough to dodge, but you can do it. If it's too hard to dodge, use ninpo when they come close, as you'll be invulnerable during the magic.

Be precise. It's only about 10-15 shots needed to take the helicopter down. There's a save point nearby, and right after the helicopter is a Muramasa shop.


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## Vince (Jun 30, 2005)

Mind Riot, this is a video tribute some kid did to Ninja Gaiden.

http://www.fileplanet.com/140955/140000/fileinfo/Ninja-Gaiden-Tribute-

It's an 83 meg video that shows the entire game within a 5 minute clip. For anyone who hasn't played the game, it's a good vid to watch as it really shows how great an action game this is.

Be forewarned, though, this is ripe with spoilers, so if you don't want to know how the story progresses or what bosses you'll have to fight next, don't download it.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 2, 2005)

I'll take a look at that sometime, but I only have dial up, so it'll take forever. 

I FINALLY beat the helicopter. Man, with no elixirs that is a real pain in the ass. I was getting discouraged, thinking I'd have to start all over. That's one thing I don't care for about the game. If you save at the wrong spot with no elixirs, and you can't beat the next section or boss, you can't replay the level. You have to either get it absolutely perfect or start over from the beginning. So if you're low on health and have no elixirs and save at the wrong spot, unless you want to play the game a LOT to get good enough at it, you're screwed, which kind of sucks.

I got to the Aquaduct level, spent one really boring half hour getting the max essence to spend TWICE, upgraded all my current weapons as far as they can go and stocked up on elixirs.

The Unlabored Flawlessness is cool, but I was expecting something different. It may be powerful, but it's really slow. Personally, I prefer the totally maxed out Dabilahro to it. 

The Vigoorian Flail is really fun for combos on some of these guys. Hey, I was wondering, do you get anything besides more essence for higher combos? I got two fifty hit combos and then a hundred hit one against those guys, and it flashed on the screen really fast, I was wondering if it meant anything other than an ego stroking.

One other thing that I thought could have been a bit better was if they gave you more incentive to use the different weapons, like a level where you have to or you'll get slaughtered. But the Dragon Sword is totally effective in every situation, and it makes the others seem just a tad gimmcky to me. They certainly are fun and great looking, but if you get right down to it, you never NEED anything but the trusty Dragon Sword. Nitpicky gripes given the overall fun and quality of the game, but it did occur to me.


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## Vince (Jul 2, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> I FINALLY beat the helicopter. Man, with no elixirs that is a real pain in the ass. I was getting discouraged, thinking I'd have to start all over. That's one thing I don't care for about the game. If you save at the wrong spot with no elixirs, and you can't beat the next section or boss, you can't replay the level. You have to either get it absolutely perfect or start over from the beginning..



BS. You can ALWAYS double back. In fact, from the Helicopter, if you run out of elixirs, think about it, you can double back all the way to Muramasa's shop in town.

The game always allows this. In fact at the end of the game, after a few of the boss battles, you basically have to double back from the palace to the town to buy more stuff, it's almost mandatory.

Think Grand Theft Auto. The entire town is open to you. You can take a walk over to the Monastery any time. Han's Bar, Muramasa's, even Twin Serpent Plaza. 

YOU CAN ALWAYS DOUBLE BACK.
YOU CAN ALWAYS DOUBLE BACK.


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## Vince (Jul 2, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> The Unlabored Flawlessness is cool, but I was expecting something different. It may be powerful, but it's really slow. Personally, I prefer the totally maxed out Dabilahro to it.



Jump first. 

It's really fast then! Jump and hit the X a few times in the air. The weapon, once mastered, is the best in the game.


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## Vince (Jul 2, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> One other thing that I thought could have been a bit better was if they gave you more incentive to use the different weapons, like a level where you have to or you'll get slaughtered. But the Dragon Sword is totally effective in every situation, and it makes the others seem just a tad gimmcky to me. They certainly are fun and great looking, but if you get right down to it, you never NEED anything but the trusty Dragon Sword. Nitpicky gripes given the overall fun and quality of the game, but it did occur to me.



Each weapon has it's strengths & weaknesses. The flails are awesome against the sewer opponents, red oversized mosquito things, and the zombies. The sword is a great weapon, but sometimes the flail speed is just required. When you get later in to the game and you're fighting the LARGE opponents (when a room fills with the red dragons or the spiked-skinned firebreathers), you'll want to switch to the upgraded Dihabrlo or the Unlabored Flawlessness because of their combination of speed and power. Sometimes it's the only way to beat some of the larger enemies without getting killed. Remember, you're only about halfway to 2/3rds through the game. The last few chapters are really really long and challenging.

The other thing about the Unlabored Flawlessness... the more injured you are, the stronger it becomes. When your health is below 1/4th, the lettering on the side of the weapon glows brightly and the weapon is nearly unstoppable and extremely powerful. Use that in your strategy against some of the bigger opponents (like the ice cave boss).

The Dihabrlo's ultimate attack is the weakest of all the weapons, while the UF has an ultimate attack that looks like a nuclear blast and kills EVERYTHING.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 2, 2005)

desertdweller said:


> BS. You can ALWAYS double back. In fact, from the Helicopter, if you run out of elixirs, think about it, you can double back all the way to Muramasa's shop in town.
> 
> The game always allows this. In fact at the end of the game, after a few of the boss battles, you basically have to double back from the palace to the town to buy more stuff, it's almost mandatory.
> 
> ...



I agree that that's true with almost all of the game, but at this spot at the helicopter, it wasn't. Even after I beat the tanks, the door back to the locomotive turntable was locked, and that was the only way out. There was nowhere to go, no elixirs, if I went back down the elevator there was only the open area where I fought the tanks with the arrow crates and that was it.


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## Vince (Jul 2, 2005)

wow, I didn't realize that. You're a hell of a gamer if you beat the helicopter in that condition then!


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## Mind Riot (Jul 3, 2005)

Not really, it took me about fifty freakin' tries and totally memorizing the helicopters movements to get it. Not to mention taking your advice and using some Ninpo goodness. 

Ah, what the hell, thanks for the compliment. *flex*

So you don't know about the combos? I tried looking for some info and couldn't find anything. I'm just wondering if getting higher combos gets you anything more than higher essence. I got a couple fifties and a hundred on the aquaduct mutants with the Flail. I was thinking it might get you a better end of level ranking, but after I beat the aquaduct level I only got "ninja dog". Guess I had to try too many times to beat the two electric worms.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 3, 2005)

desertdweller said:


> When you get later in to the game and you're fighting the LARGE opponents (when a room fills with the red dragons or the spiked-skinned firebreathers), you'll want to switch to the upgraded Dihabrlo or the Unlabored Flawlessness because of their combination of speed and power. Sometimes it's the only way to beat some of the larger enemies without getting killed. Remember, you're only about halfway to 2/3rds through the game. The last few chapters are really really long and challenging.



*cracks knuckles and whips out the Dabilahro*

BRING IT OOOOONNNNNNN!!!!!!


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## Vince (Jul 5, 2005)

So, where you at now?


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## Mind Riot (Jul 6, 2005)

The Core level. I had a bit of trouble with Ghost Doku, but I got him the second try. I got through all the levels of offering the deities, and I'm at the top of the pyramid. I got through that long ass challenge with all the fiends, and the tentacle creature, and the snow ape thing revisited, but then when I faced the demon himself I was out of elixirs and he beat me. I'll have to go at it again, see if I can make it through with some elixirs on hand. I hate those big red/black fiends with the lazer eyes, they're a pain.

I still like the Dabilahro more than the Unlabored Flawlessness, though.  It's got some neat combos, and maybe it's just that awesome sound it makes when you hit something with it. 

I think I missed a couple scarabs along the way, darn it. I was looking forward to unlocking the original game. I have about 43 or maybe 45 now, maybe the last five are in the last level, but they sure seem to be pretty scarce now.


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## Vince (Jul 6, 2005)

There are no scarabs in the last level. Check out Gamefaqs.com for a rundown on where all the scarabs are.

The demon at the end, which one?  Are you fighting the Emperor or the one who protects the emperor?

You fall down into the field of flowers, then you see the "one that protects the Emperor" appear with the Dark Dragon Blade over his head. That guy, or have you beaten him yet?

Or is it the big green guy with wings that controls the demon realm? In which case, you still have a few fights left. It's one boss after another from here out.

You still have aways to go, but your hardest battles are behind you. Those undead fish are really really annoying, but they leave all kinds of essence. Use the flails and the ninpo that surrounds you in flames to beat them quickly. You won't waste any ninpo, because they almost always drop a red essence or two.

Fun stuff. Make sure to save your game right after you beat it to save your successive play. The last fight in the game is ironic and really quite fun. The last level, however is a royal bitch.

Oh, and if you like the big weapons like the Dihabrlo and the UF, beat the game, then run through it again, and when you hit chapter 13 on successive play, the Dark Dragon Blade will be there for you, and it's as fast as the Dihabrlo and as heavy hitting as the UF.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 6, 2005)

Yeah, I meant the green winged guy who controls the underworld. I beat him since my last post. But I'm waiting to offer up the demon thing and go into the last level. I'm going to see if I can find the scarabs I missed. So far I've found two, for a total of 46, so I'm only missing four. I just hope they're somewhere where I can still get to them. 

Yeah, I heard a lot about how annoying those ghost fish are, but I read up on how to beat them in advance so they aren't too bad. I've gone up and down the whole tower with the four challenge rooms and all the ghost fish a few times to get some essence and pick up some elixirs. Now I'm just roaming the city, trying to find the last four scarabs. I think I'll copy an FAQ onto my computer and just go through looking for them all. I don't really want to have to go through the whole game again trying to find the last four.

I heard that once you enter the last level, there's no more Muramasa statues and save points, so I'm going to make sure I go in completely loaded; elixirs, Ninpo, Talismans of Rebirth, the works.


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## Vince (Jul 6, 2005)

If you want easy essence, head back to the cave behind the waterfall. In the drop-down room, there will be 3-4 waves of bats. Back up to the waterfall and go back into the room again. 3000-4000 Essence every time you enter the room.

Store up on elixers now, because you have 3 bosses in a row to beat, and all are fairly hard. Make sure you have TONS of magic elixers, as many as you can carry.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 7, 2005)

All right, now I'm mad. 

I read some FAQ's on finding the scarabs and I realized that one of them that I missed is in the military base, and it seems that once you're done with that level you can't get back in. You go in through the gate, which is locked now and the armored shutter is back in place covering the switch. And you get out through the train wreck. Now I have to play the whole game again to get that one scarab. Grrrrrrrrr.

And the other one, I don't know where it is. (I found fourty eight, so I'm missing two. One's in the military base, and I'm not sure where the other is.) I thought it might be in the stadium where you first fight Doku, so I head back there. I get attacked by the dinosaur looking fiends. They just keep coming, so I figure it's a challenge, and I'll get a Lives of the Thousand God's or something. So I fight them and kill about sixty of them, takes about a half hour. Then a chest pops up above the stadium. I think no prob, because that's where I was going to look for a possible scarab anyway.

But then I realize that the moving platforms in the stadium have been moved since I was last there to places where I can't get up on top of the stadium, and none of the switches work anymore! WTF?!?!?!? 

Forget the scarab, how am I supposed to get up there to get the reward after the challenge if they move the platforms out of reach and turn off the switches after I leave the first time? Why would they even put a challenge there if they make it so you can't get to the reward?


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## Vince (Jul 7, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> But then I realize that the moving platforms in the stadium have been moved since I was last there to places where I can't get up on top of the stadium, and none of the switches work anymore! WTF?!?!?!?
> 
> Forget the scarab, how am I supposed to get up there to get the reward after the challenge if they move the platforms out of reach and turn off the switches after I leave the first time? Why would they even put a challenge there if they make it so you can't get to the reward?



That's strange, they should move in the same way as before. If you haven't moved them since your last visit, they should be fine. They should still all be fully-operational. It's odd if that's not the case! I do believe it's either a life of the thousand gods or it's a jewel of the demon seal. One or the other. I've gotten it before. That's the hardest 50-fiend challenge in the game.


BTW, going through the game a second time is actually quite fun. You'll be suprised how good you are at it as you effortlessly thrash through the early levels. It's really fun because you have the armlet of tranquility as of the 2nd level, and you almost never have to burn an elixir.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 7, 2005)

I'm actually looking forward to going through it again, but I was really hoping to unlock the original games my first time through. Plus it kind of sucks to kill 50 dinosaur fiends and get nothing for it. 

I hope it was just a glitch or something, maybe when I go back it'll work. But I didn't move any of the platforms since I left last time, this was the first time I came back since I originally fought Doku.

I'm not getting an interact prompt or nothing.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 9, 2005)

Okay, despite the fact that the platforms still don't work, I managed to just BARELY make it onto one of them to get to the top. The Kitetsu has a double aerial attack that carries you just a bit further forward than the Dragon Sword's version, so at the end of my jump I used it and just made it, after twenty tries or so. Got the reward (Lives of Thousand Gods) but no Scarab.

So I went on to beat the game. The two Vigoor Emporers were a bit tricky, especially the second one, but Murai was such a pushover that I was half expecting another plot twist with the REAL end boss. Wierd. 

Out of all the bosses, I personally have the most trouble with the two electric worms (not one, one is easy), the helicopter, and the lord of the underworld. I hear a lot about people having trouble with Alma, but I started going through again on successive play and I beat her without using one Elixir. Actually, with the Armlet of Tranquility I didn't use an elixir at all in my second time through the game until the two electric worms. 

The two scarabs I missed that I couldn't get back to were the one in the Military Base warehouse, ON TOP of the room where you get the shutter key (never thought to look up there) and the one in the Captains Quarters on the Airship. How could I miss such an obvious one, you say? Well, the answer is, I didn't. I got it then died at some point and forgot to get it again before I saved my game and beat the level (forehead slap).

But now I'm on Chapter 12 on my second time through, and have the original Ninja Gaiden and NG2, but I have to go back to the Peristyle Passage for NG3 still. I've used about five or six elixirs thus far in the entire game. Man, the armlet of tranquility is sweet. 

Thanks for your advice, Vince. The game really is awesome, and I can see how far I've come when I have my friends over and they play it and can't get past the first level without help from me.


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## Vince (Jul 9, 2005)

Dude! You beat the game and you're already another 10 hours into it? You sound like me now, you addict 

I agree, the two electric eel bosses together are insanely hard. What I do when there's just the one is constantly wall run and flying sparrow off the wall (y slashing attack), when there's two of them, or the lava one, it's a bit harder as I have to take out the arrows and ping 'em down with arrows.

The hardest bosses for me were always the first two. The others are almost all pushovers if you have your elixirs and know their weaknesses.

Dude, when you revisit the village in the rain in chap 13 (I think it's 13), on the top floor of the building you have to go in, there will be the dark dragon blade waiting. It's a fun weapon to use in the later levels of the game.

Fun game.


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## Vince (Jul 9, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> and the lord of the underworld.



heheh, we should nickname him Timmy since he doesn't really have a name 

:south park:


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## Mind Riot (Jul 10, 2005)

desertdweller said:


> Dude! You beat the game and you're already another 10 hours into it? You sound like me now, you addict
> 
> .



Actually, it's only taken me about four and a half hours to get to level 12 on the second time around.

I'm looking forward to using the Dark Dragon Blade when I get there.


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## Vince (Jul 16, 2005)

just in case you thought Ninja Gaiden was too easy...

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3140456

That's a link to the interview with NG's main developer. Cocky motherfucker, isn't he? Ninja Gaiden Black looks like the ultimate Xbox game. I've played the Hurricane packs (hard as hell), and I can't wait to play this game, especially the 50 mission mode.

Check out this screenshot (sorry in advance for the HUGE size)...

That's Ryu, donning his ninja costume from the original NES games, and he's fighting two of the most vicious creatures from the Hurricane Packs, the Catwomen. Those replaced the black ninjas in the Hurricane Packs, and they're the hardest "henchmen" enemies I've ever seen in a game.


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## Drew (Jul 16, 2005)

haha, that interview... What a dick. 

Suddenly I want an XBox. :/


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## Mind Riot (Jul 18, 2005)

Murai is going to have white ninjas fighting you with him? 

And there's a staff and a spear in there that you get to use? New enemies? New Bosses? RAWK!!

When is this coming out?


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## Vince (Jul 18, 2005)

September.

If you have Xbox live, you can download the expansion packs now, Hurricane pack 1 & 2, which have the Bo staff/spear weapon and many of the harder characters. NG Black will have all that plus a Master Ninja mode (very very very hard), a Ninja Dog mode (for the casual gamer), and 50 stand-alone separate missions.

I've got both Hurricane packs, and they are damn hard. I'm about 1/3rd of the way through Hurricane pack 1 right now. HP1 is the entire Ninja Gaiden game, only harder. No bat-tricks, every item/combo is insanely high-priced, and the enemies are sadistic. Having said that, I've made my way to the Monastery. The flying creatures in the Monastery are killing me now. In the normal, hard, or very hard modes, you can usually flying sparrow right into them a few times and kill them. in HP1, they dodge the flying sparrow, and follow up with a swing of their weapon, so you have to find a new way to kill them. Not just that, while fighting them, you'll have those vicious catwomen to tend to, and they're really hard to beat. They're constantly blocking, and if they get ahold of you, they have a grip attack that kills 1/2 your health in 1 shot.

Hurricane Pack 2 is a re-creation of the last level from the game (The Core), only when you go into each room, the enemies are a lot harder, you have a lot less health, abilities, and ninpo, and the only save point is at the top of the Core. I haven't made it into the fiend realm in HP2 yet, but I'm trying 

As for the new additions in NG Black, I'm looking forward to it! I have to try the Murai fight with the two ninjas there, that should be fun.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 19, 2005)

My god, that sounds insane. I don't have Xbox live, I'm a 56k throwback. A buddy of mine has it though, I'll have to have him get his password and such so I can download the HP's onto my XBox. 

Can you still play the unaltered game after you've downloaded the packs?

I'm going to have to step up to hard or very hard on the original, normal is getting pretty easy to me now. At least the non boss stuff.

So did you mean that you can't essence farm in the new packs? What, the bats just don't respawn after you leave the room or something?


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## Vince (Jul 19, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> Can you still play the unaltered game after you've downloaded the packs?
> 
> I'm going to have to step up to hard or very hard on the original, normal is getting pretty easy to me now. At least the non boss stuff.
> 
> So did you mean that you can't essence farm in the new packs? What, the bats just don't respawn after you leave the room or something?



You can still play the unaltered game after you've got the hurricane packs. Here's how they work: You go online to the Master Ninja Tournament. You download the Hurricane packs, but at first you can only play them online. Once you've reached a save point in the hurricane pack you're playing, you can save your progress to your Xbox's hard drive. From that point on, you can play offline.

So, for example, I have a save point for Hurricane Pack 1 that's right before Murai in the first level. That is a save point I will never overwrite. I suck at HP2 and have yet to reach a save point, so I have to play Hurricane Pack 2 online until I can get to the save point. Once I reach the save point, I can play from then on offline.

Make sense? I hope I explained it thoroughly.


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## Mind Riot (Jul 19, 2005)

That makes perfect sense. I'll have to get my buddy to find all his info (password and such) so he can sign on to his Xbox live account with my Xbox so I can save it to mine. 

So what about the essence farming? You mentioned that you can't do it anymore with the packs. How does that work?


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## Regor (Jul 19, 2005)

Mind Riot said:


> That makes perfect sense. I'll have to get my buddy to find all his info (password and such) so he can sign on to his Xbox live account with my Xbox so I can save it to mine.



Don't think that's going to work for you dude. Every Xbox has a unique ID that Xbox live reads. If you log into Xbox Live with a different box, I'm pretty sure they're going to catch that and do something about it (i.e. cancel the account). If you are going to try it, definately do it from the same IP address tho. Make sure to go into your Xbox and DHCP so it'll pick up the IP addy from his ISP.

Now, if you had a modded Xbox, I would think you could just go and download a game save from xbox-saves.com and upload that to your box and have the HPs.


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## Vince (Jul 19, 2005)

mind you, I'm only at the Monastery in HP1, but so far when I've encountered bats, charging up and killing them only yields small essence orbs. I'm hoping I did it wrong or something changes by the later levels, because it'd be murder to try to buy any of the stuff in the game w/o the bat trick, as the Hurricane Pack prices are much much higher than the regular game.


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## Vince (Jul 26, 2005)

Yo, Mindriot... I've progressed further in the Hurricane Pack 1. Apparently, the bat trick still works, but the bats only yield about 1/3rd of what they did before. I was mistaken because the essence orbs are still the small ones. The lunar (bo staff) is actually an incredible weapon once you master it. It's actually the only way to get through the monastery. The catwomen attack you at the same time as the flying enemies, and the only weapon fast enough with enough range to hit both kinds of enemies is the lunar.

I'm past Alma now, the bone dragon almost beat me, and I'm noticing the game is much harder, the bad guys have more vitality and fight in them, and the new enemies are absolutely vicious. If you can, download the hurricane packs, or get NG Black when it comes out, it's pretty fun, if a bit hard for most gamers. You have to be really really fast in some of these fights, constant combos, constantly flying around, etc. My fingers hurt today after playing about 3 hours in HP1 last night


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## Mind Riot (Jul 26, 2005)

I might get Black when it comes out, but I don't think I'm quite hardcore enough to be honest. I'm more of a casual gamer. I tried playing on very hard and couldn't even get past Murai. 

Been having some more fun with some other games of late. Had a couple of awesome system link parties with Halo 2, that was so fun it was just insane. I also picked up Burnout 3 and that is one of the fastest, craziest fun racing games I've ever seen. If you haven't tried it I'd recommend it.


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## Vince (Oct 18, 2005)

Being the absolute Xbox addict I am, I just bought Ninja Gaiden Black last night.

All of the new features in the game have to be unlocked, which means you gotta play through the game once and beat it before you get the 100 mission mode (which is why I bought the game) or the hurricane packs. The graphics and feel of the game are slightly improved in the base game, though, and I'm really liking going through some of the tougher enemies with the new weapon, the Lunar. It's a super-fast spear weapon.

Anyway, just wanted to post to say I got NG Black. I'll post a further review once I get more into the added stuff


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