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Team Ninja Doesn’t Need Itagaki, NGIII Coming Along Nicely

Hey, you know what we haven't heard about in a while? Ninja Gaiden III .

We still know little about the highly anticipated action title, but at least we now have an encouraging update : according to a source, the development team doesn't really miss their former chief, the colorful and controversial Tomonobu Itagaki. The latter left a while ago to form his own design studio, Valhalla Games, and they're currently working on the interesting action/third-person shooter mix, Devil's Third . Itagaki is driven and respected and fans were worried how the famed NG franchise would fare without him…well, have no fear. The team actually says NGIII will be better without their former boss and as of now, "the game is shaping up beautifully." It's also more "well-rounded and together" than any past development process, so we're hoping to see some footage in the near future. Hey, let's not forget that David Jaffe left the Sony Santa Monica team and the latter still managed to pump out God of War III , so…

Yeah, we're not too concerned. That being said, we'd like to see some media sooner rather than later…if Bayonetta 2 is as good as we anticipate, NGIII will have fresh competition.

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Scarecrow
Scarecrow
13 years ago

That's what they said 'bout Hironobu Sakaguchi when he left Squaresoft.

Look what happened…after FFXII they went down in quality.
We'll see


Last edited by Scarecrow on 12/1/2010 10:20:41 PM

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

Death to Wada….'s career.

Snaaaake
Snaaaake
13 years ago

At least Yoshinori Kitase is still in SE.

BigBoss4ever
BigBoss4ever
13 years ago

agree fully, Sakaguchi is the soul of FF and Square Soft. right now it is just its former shell without soul, and will die down very very soon.

and GOWIII is the worst of the three comparing to its own. a series cannot miss the main chief soul, just as MGS can not live without Kojima. like wise for all games.

p.s. new Dante is doomed to fail, period


Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 12/4/2010 12:43:52 AM

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

Gaiden has always been too difficult for me, I like pick up and play games now.

That said, with Xbox fanboy Itagaki out of the way, how about a Multiplat Dead or Alive next eh Team Ninja?

LegendaryWolfeh
LegendaryWolfeh
13 years ago

Indeed, Itagaki has always rubbed me the wrong way, but w/e, I too would love some bounce on my PS3, I mean come on, it's on the PSP..

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

yeah, and I'm not just flinging the fanboy term here, the guy is on record as being very Valve-like in his opposition to Sony hardware. But DOA has been multiplat before so I say bring the Bounce back!

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

No, World, it's not too difficult for you. If you're new to NG then start at the easiest difficulty and try to pick up on the gameplay system as you work your way through. You'll find, overtime, there's a logical play system to adhere to that'll make the game enjoyable and far from too difficult.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

Back in the day I used to roll with NG on NES and even those were tough, then went I went to play BLACK on my Xbox and I just got my ass whooped all over the screen and I was like f*ck that noise. Not worth the frustration.

Orvisman
Orvisman
13 years ago

I thought Itagaki always claimed he liked developing for the most powerful console available, hence DOA and NG going to the Xbox.

I don’t know why he changed his stance this gen — okay maybe I do and it is colored M$ green — and didn’t lead on the PS3.

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

World, the NES games were challenging back then, They were intense action/platformers. They were some of my favs back in the day, too. I actually still own the NES cartridges of those games lol (yeah, I'm cool like BikerSaint 😉

But concerning Black or any modern NG. The game's aren't designed to be "mashers" or a test of endurance by hitting the action button widely.

As a beginner, understand these basics:

If you need time to think, keep rolling. It's usually hard for the enemy to hit you if you stay rolling.

Also, learn the 2 hit launcher combo. It starts with a quick slash(the first hit can interrupt another enemy's attack) the second hit will launch you and him into the air. This moves yourself out of being vulnerable to other attacks pretty well. As soon as you get the Izuna Drop ability lean on this pretty heavily until you get a grasp of other elements.

But a massive technique that any good NG player will use a lot is the faster ultimate technique. "off the ground UT"… "while landing UT"… it has several names.
If essence is floating around, when you return to the ground from most any airborne maneuver, and tap the strong attack button just before making contact with the ground, you'll near instantly draw nearby essence into you sword and execute an UT. It'll lay out a lot of enemies and keep you pretty safe while doing so.

ALso, another good tip. Pay attention to the rules for essence absorption. The block button prevents the essence from absorbing.. so here's a synthetic scenario.
I'm in an area with about 4-5 enemies; there's two essence orbs dispatched and floating. I'm holding block and I maneuver around by rolling for positioning. If I need to travel far, I roll into a forward jump. I can begin the roll, and for a split second, let off the block button and then execute the jump input, immediately after launching myself airborne I hold the block button down again .. this prevents the orbs from absorbing. And then, just before I return to the ground I tap the triangle button and draw in those two floating essence orbs and very quickly unleash a UT. It's actually easier done than said 😉 Just give it some time.

But YES, you too can become a skilled Ninja!

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

Yes, Orvisman, he claimed that. BUt then he changed his tune with 360. He then claimed it's the fighter jet he'd rather fly.

I think he was more into trying to grow a gamer populace for those genres(fighter and action) under the XBOX. Basically, I think he believed the only reason Tekken sold so well was because Tekken was with PS since the beginning and it steadily grew into a big franchise. But seeing that TTT smashed DOA2 HC in sales when PS2 launched, he fled to Xbox and try to grow something in less competitive soil.

And as it turns out, the Xbox ended up existing for Xbox LiVE and competitive online shooters (L4D, Halo, CoD, Gears) and both DOA and NG never sold "better" on XBox. His efforts would've been better rooted by sticking to PS.. oh well.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

That's what I mean, I like to mash in action games, hence my love of DMC, GOW, and the like. RPGs are for my brain, Action is for my fingers. I just don't get anything out of pulling off very difficult maneuvers. That's all I'm sayin. Not knocking the games, they are clearly quality.

Snaaaake
Snaaaake
13 years ago

Maybe they can, but we'll see.

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

NG3 will be the greatest video game of all time.

And the series will do fine without Itagaki. I really think Itagaki needed to take Team Ninja multi-plat this gen a lot sooner. DOA4 and NG2 were trying to exist in a gaming culture that was moving towards competitive online FPS. Both, DOA and NG would've had better success if, from the beginning of this gen, they had gone multi-plat.

Shams
Shams
13 years ago

I wonder will it be more like the first or the second. I loved both.

TheHighlander
TheHighlander
13 years ago

Well, I'm hoping that if they decide to go with the more blood thirsty style of the 360 version of NGS2, they also include the option to switch to the more stylized – and less bloody – way the PS3 version of NGS2 was presented.

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

Highlander, yeah, it'd be nice to have an option for the gore.

Master Shams, yeah, I liked both, too. The first game had more of an epic feel due to the heavier exploration and puzzle component that was nearly stripped entirely from NG2. But NG2 had a more in-depth fighting mechanic which I think has always been the star of NG's show. So I didn't mind seeing the more linear design approach. It also made the stand-in characters feel less cut 'n paste unlike how Rachel felt in the first NGS.
I'm ultra excited for NG3 because I know I'll get tons of replay value from it. I think Halo: Combat Evolved and the NG/Black/Sigma are the only games in the last 15+ years I've played through more than 10x each. Right now, I'm up to 5x working on my 6th time through on NG2/NGS2 (I'm on Rachel's Master Ninja level now)

I'm just glad to read that the next game is well under way.

marcusfrommo
marcusfrommo
13 years ago

Omg.. ff13 bashing. Please, the graphics and overall detail is better than gow3. It's not easy at all, plus i think it also had a difficulty setting. it's an action rpg for heaven's sake.

Oh well, next topic.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
13 years ago

Only the CGI in FFXIII is superior (to just about everything). In terms of overall graphics…no, GoWIII wins that easily.

But I do agree…we don't need any more FFXIII bashing around here. Still a great game.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
13 years ago

Great game that would have been GoD (Game of the Decade) if Sakaguchi was in charge.

Orvisman
Orvisman
13 years ago

If you guys love Sakaguchi so much, you better get a Wii for his new FF clone, The Last Story. I can see The Last Story XIII being published in the 2040s.

TheHighlander
TheHighlander
13 years ago

LOL! is there a non-FF name that can be used for it so that FF fans can ignore such conversations in future? After all, it's fairly common for people to say it's a terrible FF game, but a great game in it's own right. Why not just drop the FF bit?

😉

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

FF13 is a beautiful game, artistically. And it's also quite awesome technically. But the gulf of detail between GoW3 and FF13 is pretty large.

GoW3 and Uncharted 2 are in a class of their own.

Heck, even Uncharted: DF is great looking.
I've been playing ME2 and Uncharted: DF simultaneously(well, not literally), and while ME2 is good looking and much better than the first game, U:DF is better looking and it's a 2nd gen PS3 game 0_0

Shams
Shams
13 years ago

I followed suit with you, Sensei Temjin, on Black Friday when i picked up FF13 for $17 from Target. I'll be playing it after i finish Folklore.

Temjin001
Temjin001
13 years ago

That's great, Master Shams. I really liked FF13. It has many of the amazing artistic elements, music creations and various FF hallmarks that you'd come to expect from FF. Plus an interesting and dynamic combat system to freshen things up a bit for FF players.

Alienange
Alienange
13 years ago

Itagaki was probably holding them back. Let them show us what they've got, free from the tyranny of this self indulgent designer.

Maybe, just maybe, they'll make a game the rest of the world will enjoy.

___________
___________
13 years ago

which was the biggest disappointment to ever disgrace the industry!
i rest my case!
they dont need Itagaki, but to say the series is better off without him is a ridiculous claim!
HE IS NINJA GAIDEN!
i love ninja gaiden, by far my favorite action series so i really hope 3 is a worthy sequel.
but, i dunno this team reeks of arrogance and we all know how that turns out!

Fane1024
Fane1024
13 years ago

No one "reeks of arrogance" more than Itagaki.

Just be careful he doesn't put his fingers in your mouth; that's a bad sign.

Lawless SXE
Lawless SXE
13 years ago

I wish I could find a copy of NGS 1. I've seen a few copies of the second, but not the first since I read Temjin's review and got interested in the series. Good to see that it is coming about nicely, but I think that right now, I would lean more towards DmC than either this, or Bayonetta 2. Call me weird, I can take it. Also, Itagaki is simply an arrogant berk. If he is so violently opposed to the PS3, as he seems to be, why is Devil's Third coming to the system? Who is the publisher?
Peace.

Orvisman
Orvisman
13 years ago

THQ

ABUrabad
ABUrabad
13 years ago

Will this game be exclusive to the PS3? ITS never been mentioned anywhere ?

Lawless SXE
Lawless SXE
13 years ago

Well, the first two of this series of NG were exclusive to the 360, until the Sigma editions, so the smart money says 'No.'
Peace.

___________
___________
13 years ago

it wont be exclusive at all, tecmo will want to squeeze as much money out of it as possible!
this will probably be the first game in the series to release on both the ps3 and 360 simultaneously.

GuyverLT
GuyverLT
13 years ago

Or they probably do it like the others and release for the 360 first then to PS3 which isn't a bad thing considering the PS3 version gets more exclusive content.


Last edited by GuyverLT on 12/2/2010 9:03:20 AM

Shams
Shams
13 years ago

Team Ninja team lead Hayashi-san said it's in multiplatform development, which means it will be a simultaneous release, and no more timed exclusivity.

GuyverLT
GuyverLT
13 years ago

Either way one of the versions might get some content that's lil different from the other and that happens seeing as I am a proud parent of both slim versions of the 360 & PS3 I might just a copy for both.

___________
___________
13 years ago

the original versions were exclusive to the 360 because of Itagaki, now with him out of the picture i seriously cant see tecmo turning away a paycheck!
sure, they could do a timed release but thats only risking putting fans off.
there better off releasing both games the same time, instead of releasing one than the other a little later.

marcusfrommo
marcusfrommo
13 years ago

administrator, that's where your wrong. I respect you a great deal, but everything wasn't cgi. was it? Like the few interuptions of the characters. Except for the hair, you could barley tell the difference. I'm not referring to the two scenes where there flying on some colorful reptile or the highway intersection stage.

Just the character models alone just as equel to Kratos. If not Kratos, then every other character. The detailed menu screens, The backgrounds of the ice stage, the airship stage, grand pulse, the open and or broken highway stage, and a few others.

When the characters go into battle, they have their own style and the magic spells, the buffers, the saboutour techniques, the SUMMONS are just sweet. If you remember just looking at the trailer for the 1st time, you might say to yourself, the game doesn't look this good. The in game lightning charcter doesn't look like that, but she does.

Aside from the graphics, each character gets the same amount experience points, whether there active or not. Your health is replenished after each battle. The items you purchase in the paradigm shift are permanent. By that i mean, you don't have to purchase a phoenix down or magic spell replenisher. With or without the libra, you can use any attack and or spell as much as you want and it won't cost you a thing.

Okay, back to the graphics, you can't zoom, but if you play with the camera, you can see the detailed textures of lightning shirt or top. Gow3 filled up about 35 gigs, and ff13 filled up about the same. But gow3 is in 1080i and ff13 is in 1080p. Grand pulse alone, i want to say is bigger than gow3. All of grand pulse can't even be shown on a map. Well not all at once. There's even an area where your character and or 1 or 2 other characters are in a rainforest, and there's an option to change the climate to either sunny or raining. And doing so causes different creatures to come out.

I wonder what was the overall budget for this game? Does anybody know? I heard gow3 was 30 to 60 million. Ff13-2, please, please, please.

BeezleDrop
BeezleDrop
13 years ago

This should be a sad attempt at sarcasm, you realize FF13 had some of the uglies character models around? The first thing I noticed about FF13 was how terrible they looked, just awful. Now as stated before, the CGI looking absolutely phenomenal.

berserk
berserk
13 years ago

The way i see it is that they will be less limited .With a strong leader often come few new ideas accepted even if they are better then the original concept .

A

berserk
berserk
13 years ago

"Ff13-2, please, please, please. "

God no , only way for me to buy another one is for them to make it turn base again and have some sort of limit break back or even better tag team attack like in chrono cross .

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