Difficulty in Games

Call me old fashioned but I don't like this new trend of difficulty in games. It seem like now everything wants to be like Darksouls, which is known for its punishing difficulty. That's all well and good, but it makes the games feel unfair to me. Having to memorize what one enemy does when you're surrounded by hoards of enemies just doesn't seem fair to me. I can hardly remember what I had for breakfast let alone which enemy attacks which why, when, and how.

Dark Souls Stephen Totilo Kotaku

  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like difficult games, on the contrary, I love a good challenge, but there is a fine line between being cheap and being hard. This, of course, isn't anything new in games. It's been around since the days of text adventure games. Also, I know some people may like games that are frustrating, and if that's you, more power to you, but that doesn't mean that the game isn't cheap and unfair. Before we go too far, however, let's define difficulty:
When you have enemies that can kill you in one to two hits regardless of your health, while you, as the player, have to hit that same enemy 20+ times to kill it, that's what you call unfair. There are exceptions of course, like during boss fights, which are supposed to be a test of all the things you've learned. Even they, can be frustrating sometimes, especially when the instant death moves comes out of no where.  I can understand dying five six, even ten times to figure out how to beat a boss, but after 20, 30 or even 100 deaths the game just stops being fun. I'd like to say that this solely applies to bosses, but in many games (like the aforementioned Dark Souls) it applies to every enemy. Some games allow enemies to attack you from off screen. How am I supposed to defend myself if I can't see that I'm being attacked. There are some games that fill the screen with so many things that you can't even see where you are and die as a result. Then of course, you have stun locks which is when you are hit by an enemy, stunned for a brief second, and then hit again by another enemy, wash and repeat, until you're health is gone. 
We can't talk about difficulty, though, without also addressing the opposite side of the spectrum, easy hand-holding, difficulty. This is when a game does things for you automatically, like blocking or dodging, or some other move to help you. The problem I have with that is that you don't learn anything from that, because, if the game is doing it for you, there's on reason to figure out how to do it. It can be helpful sometimes, especially if you are new to a series or franchise, but, at least for me, If I want to play a game, I want to learn it. I want to get good. I play on easy my first play through to get the ropes of the game, and learn the ins and outs, and then I switch to normal, and if I enjoyed it, to hard difficulty. But games that hold your hand, make it harder to learn, and in some games, even normal difficulty is ramped up way more than it should be, even after playing the game on easy.
So what makes a fair challenge?
People love Form Software Dark Souls, saying that once you take the time to learn it, it's very fun. Personally, I've never played it, so I can't really conform or deny those allegations. But what I have played are games with that Dark Souls formula, NioH for example, which I did not enjoy at all. My biggest gripe with those games is that they are punishing from the start. There isn't an option to play on easy to get better, you just have to die and try again, and that's not fun for me.
What is fun, in my opinion are games like Devil May Cry (the original) and Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma. To me, those are the epitome of fair difficulty. I admit I was frustrated when I first played them, and I'm not even ashamed to say that I had to switch to Easy Automatic/ Ninja Dog Mode. Now before we jump to conclusions, these are not hand holding difficulties. In Devil May cry Easy mode means that more moves are unlocked at the beginning, and that you don't have to hold down the "charge shot" button. Also you are stronger and take less damage. In Ninja Gaiden, you are given more healing items, and more accessories as well as more defense and higher attacks.
In those modes, you're still playing the game though, things aren't being done for you and you still have to learn to be a better player, especially as you begin playing higher difficulties. In those games what makes them hard, for one thing, is enemy placement. As you play through the game the enemies you fight, even on easy, become progressively harder. On higher difficulties, those enemies can show up sooner, often when you are ill equipped to fight them. Even though they are harder enemies that doesn't mean that they do insane amounts of damage, or that they kill you in two hits. As a player you still feel like you have a fighting chance, and that's whats important.

Variety is also important. In Ninja Gaiden there are so many enemies that it's hard to count them all, and each one fights just a bit differently, keeping you on your toes at all times. Devil May Cry, while it has fewer enemies, the ones you do fight can be very tough. Devil May Cry has variety too. Some bosses, for example have a limited move-set on lower difficulties, meaning that when you play on higher difficulties they can do things that they couldn't do moves that they couldn't do on lower ones.
Also, I should note, that both games do punish you. In Devil Ma Cry there are certain enemies that you especially have to watch out for because they have Fatalities. This means that they can grab you and do massive amounts of damage. I should not here that while these moves may kill you outright at the beginning of the game (hence the name Fatalities) as you play through the game, and increase the size of your health bar, getting caught by these attacks will do tones of damage, but WILL NOT outright kill you.
In Ninja Gaiden, if you hold down the block button for too long some enemies will vault over you and skewer you with a sword. Others will knee you to the face. They don't do that much damage, but it is a lesson learned. There are some foes around mid game that can skewer you with the bayonet at the end of their gun, or throw you down to the ground. What's more, the attacks come out pretty quickly. If you aren't paying attention you can be seriously hurt several times in a row. It's absolutely infuriating, but it's also fair.
Fighting these various enemies, it forces you to change your play style. It forces you to actually learn the GAME not just learn what time to dodge a specific enemy attack. And once you've mastered it, you feel like you can take on the world. You feel powerful. That, to me is what difficulty should be.
To conclude. Easy mode should be just that, easy. I should be able to plow through enemies with out blinking, but once I get to a boss, I do want to be tested. That doesn't mean I want to die 100 times though, there needs to be a balance. Challenge me, but make it clear what I need to do, and give me the tools to do it. If I have to use all my potions, so be it. When I play a game on higher difficulties, I want to test my skills. That doesn't mean EVERY enemy should have instant death attacks, on or might, but they need to be well marked, like being a different color than all the rest so that you can tell them apart. They can be more aggressive, sure. They may be more nimble, that's cool. They may even have different moves sets on higher difficulties, and I'm okay with that. Maybe even surprise me by making me fight an enemy from a later part of the game sooner. Make me think on my toes.
What a game shouldn't do is hold my hand or punish my for playing.

What Ninja Gaiden 4 Needs

In light of the last game, which I will not call a total fail, but it could have been better for sure, I have come up with a few things that Team Ninja could do better in their next game. That being said, however, I will give them props first. The story in the game is the best in the Ninja Gaiden series. While the first game had a decent story (when it remembered to tell you that there was one) the second game’s story was almost non existent. I can actually remember watching a comparison video online for Ninja Gaiden 2. IGN was comparing Ninja Gaiden2 to Ninja Blade. The two hosts wanted to know which game was more ridiculous. When they got to story Ninja Blade had plot twists that “you could see from a mile away”.  The host defending Ninja Gaiden 2 then countered: “I don’t know that this game had a plot to twist.” So, suffice to say, it’s story was bad.

                Now to be fair the best stories in the game are the NES versions. Looking back on them now, however, some of them might not be that inspiring, but in the 80’s and early 90’s when the games came out, the story was one of the best in a game. In fact, it was one of the first games to have an actual story that played out in cut scenes.

                The other two things that I think Ninja Gaiden 3 did right was the Dive Attacks (or whatever the game calls them) which Ryu did from buildings, helicopters, bridges, etc. It had you do them a lot. Some times along with a kuni cliff climb. Again, the dives could be fun, especially when diving upon an unsuspecting victim and ripping them to shreds before he/she/or it ever even knew you were there. The kuni climb could be fun in moderation. Frustrating to be sure, but still fun. I wouldn’t mind seeing a return of them in future titles.Only in moderation though. It would be a nice change of pace for a bit. Of course knowing Team Ninja it will not be a change of pace with rockets flying all over the place while you climb. In short I didn’t hate them. Though to be honest Flying Bird flipping up walls is much faster and cooler.

                Another thing I liked was the stealth mode. In the first level, and approximately two random times after that with Ayane (only in Razor’s Edge) goes into stealth mode. This means that his/ her body turns translucent as he/she walks. As he/ she does this you can sneak/walk up to enemies and instantly kill them. Again, it was a fun change of pace, and one I would not mind seeing again in future titles.

Okay, so onto the bad.

In Ninja Gaiden 3 Ryu was given only 1 weapon, a sword. Technically two because you got a bow and arrow as well. At any rate the only weapon you could use were those, and the kuni’s so three. That was it though.  The reason for this was supposed to be that Team Ninja wanted players to know what it was like to “cut someone down.” That’s fine and all, but that doesn’t mean we only should have one weapon. I mean the first game had two other swords, one that split into two swords (this was expanded upon in Sigma with the duel katanas), the other the Dibilharo which was a 100 pound sword. Why not learn what it’s like to “cut someone down” with one or both of those as well? They are still swords after all.

 So Ryu went through the entire game with a single weapon. Had this been the first iteration of the game then maybe it would have been fine. But as this is the third game, and we have had over a dozen weapons to choose from in the first game alone, and about a half dozen or so in the second game, this just won’t cut it (no pun intended). Now we are reduced to one? Really? Of course this was remedied by the Razor’s Edge remake which gave the player a few familiar faces.

Another thing that was very bad in the third game was the “Steel on Bone” attacks. The game really wants you to use them, so much in fact, that if you don’t use them in battle your health goes down. This can be “remidied” by using the one ninpo in the game, but regardless, it is still tedious. It becomes even more tedious when you evade in the wrong direction and don’t get to do it or aren’t close enough to the enemies when they give you the chance. Of course with the “lasting damage” health bar this becomes really irksome.  Some how I always end up fighting bosses with a health bar the size of a fingernail.

This leads me into the boss fights. While there are some really fun ones. There is one fight that will make you want to eat your controller, your console, your game, and maybe take up alcoholism afterward. That is the freakin’ dinosaur fight. That is the single most horrible fight in this game. I admit the other two games had some awful fights like the “blind bandit” thing in Ninja Gaiden 2 or Pa Zhu in Ninja Gaiden, but once you got the hang of them, they really aren’t bad fights. This dinosaur fight just blows chunks.

Not to mention the fucking helicopters fight. I mean really, we already beat the helicopter in the first Ninja Gaiden. Can’t we beat something else like a fighter jet, or a giant mechanical Gundum/ Dinosaur/ Eagle/ old fart who shoots flames out of his ass after you have already had to fight two mechanical spiders who shot flames and missiles out of their asses? I mean really It’s not like we already have shitty health and have another boss fight only about five minutes after this one. Also who the fuck is this old fart and where the fuck did he come from? Anyway I digress. Then of course we have the grabs. These don’t kill you outright like in Ninja Gaiden 2 but they still suck. This is because every enemy has them. It’s really fucking tiring. I hate grabs. Oh, and on the subject of enemies I will say fuck the final boss fight. I’ve died there so many times do to stupid shit. The game doesn’t even prompt you to do anything it just says “oh your not standing in the right spot well fuck you than.” Then you are stuck with doing the whole fight over again. So with all this said what would I like to see in the next game? Well here is my take on what the next Ninja Gaiden game could do. One of the things I really liked about the second game was the dismemberment. There was just something cathartic about slicing off another person’s limbs. Of course I have a PS3 so the blood of the second game was replaced by random rainbow mist. First off, don’t ever do that again Team Ninja. Limb removal was not present in the third game originally but was present in Razor’s Edge. It was fun to do, but also dangerous. Enemies with removed limbs know they are dying so they will kamikaze themselves upon you. I do have some issues with this(mostly due to grabs) but more on that later. The only real problem I have with this is that it feels more like a gimmick than anything else. There is no real point or reason to the chopping of limbs other than to perform an Obliteration Technique. So what could the game do to

make it feel less like a gimmick and more like a game mechanic? Let me introduce you to one of my favorite games. Darksiders did a great job with this. As you fought enemies they would eventually form a prompt over their heads and you could perform an Execution. This was simply a really cool way to kill them. I would be okay with that. Rather than Ninja Gaiden having a prompt though, the prompt could be the fact that an enemies arm or leg has been removed from its former location. I just feel like it should take a little longer to kill the enemies. In this way the game would force the player to utilize Ryu’s attacks rather than just spamming what works. There is a reason this game was modeled after one of the best fighting games out there. Also maybe that way we could have a bit less rocket spamming as well. But like that’s ever going to happen.  Anyway moving on. Ninja Gaiden 3 introduced the “steel on bone” ability. This is simply waiting for the enemy to strike at a certain time in a certain way and attacking him. The ability was simple to pull off as it wasn’t really based on timing. You did have a limited time to perform it, say 10 seconds, from the time someone’s arm turns red to the time they attack. Much of the time I failed (thanks in part to the camera) and was caught off guard and of course ended up being grabbed or kamakazied. Honestly, I don’t really care for steel on bone but maybe that’s because I feel (and it was meant) to be a replacement for obliteration. So the question is how could Team Ninja incorporate them into the next game and keep obliteration as well? 

Meet another Favorite Game of mine. Devil May Cry, if memory serves, was the first to use the “block at the right moment to counter” ability. The game calls it Royal Guard. I have played several other games with the ability though in DMC it is the hardest for me to pull off. Actually scratch that it was Harder in Bayonetta. But if Team Ninja were to incorporate the steel on bone attacks in this way then it would work really well. Ninja Gaiden wants you to block, in fact if you don’t you will surely die. However, what it doesn’t do is reward you for blocking. It will punish you for sure with rockets to the face but you never feel cool blocking. You only feel safe. That is until an enemy vaults over you and skewers you with your own sword. The point is Ninja Gaiden could use the steel on bone abilities as a kind of “Royal Guard” attack. Where if you block just at the right second Ryu will launch into a fit of rage and kill several enemies at once. Even if it only killed a single enemy it could still be integrated into the game. I liked the steel on bone to a point. It was mostly just during those damn “kill everything in sight” modes that it bothered me and that was only because my health was depleting and, rather than do the attack, I keep getting spammed with fucking rockets. By the way I know I mentioned this before but the health bar “regenaration” thing has to go. Or at least put it back to the way it was in two, though I hated that too. I much prefer the health in the first game. It grew as you went along but as long as you had items you were fine. And speaking of items I miss them. The “meditating” to bring your health up was fine, but it could only go up so far, and unless you did the steel on bone attacks, your health probably sucked. My suggestion is to either bring back items (like they were in the first game) or if you want to forgo them then bring back the health bar from the first game. I don’t mind sacrificing Ki energy to raise my health, but I don’t want my health only to be able to regenerate to a certain point. Going into a boss fight with a bar of piddly health blows. 

The next issue I’d like to address isn’t an issue per say but it is pretty useless. I suppose it’s there for the comedy of it, but really it’s just useless. The fact that they would even add it in there tells me that there are few, if any woman, in Team Ninja. Yes I am referring to the breast jiggle in the second game. Perhaps, rather than spending your time on stupid shit like this you could make the motion control useful and have us use it to, say, break free from fucking grab attacks. Just a thought though. Hell even shaking the controller to make ninpo stronger would be better. I still shake the controller  for ninpo in the second and third games even though I know it doesn’t do anything. Really though. Unless you are going to make the jiggle do this to your enemies than there is really no point to it.

This next issue has been the biggest issue in the game from the start and that is the camera. I really don’t know what can be done to fix it other than keeping it in one place. I know many people don’t like it though and I’m sure if Team Ninja did keep it in one place they would still find a way to screw it up. The camera is one of the more irksome things about the first Devil May Cry game. It changes abruptly and turns me around

constantly. Although in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS it worked brilliantly so I don’t know. I like to be able to move the camera but not that much. I played a game one time, Prince of Persa I think, and every time I moved the camera, even if I moved it in a complete 180 it would slowly make it’s way back around to the back of the character. Perhaps if Ninja Gaiden could do that in some way. Maybe then the camera wouldn’t cause so many problems. I don’t know. All I know for sure is that it has been the cause of many a deaths in this game. Something has to be done.

Now at the risk of being flamed I am going to say that, while I do so love the weapons from the first two games having them again in the third game got a little stale. This could be due to the fact that the weapons felt like an afterthought in the third game, which they were, in all honesty. I mean I don’t mind having say, the sword, the lunar, the 100 pound sword (Dibrilharo/ Enma’s Fang), the vigoorian flails, and the dual katana , but give me something different too. Don’t just throw the same old weapons at me. The first game gave you several nunchuks, a second (semi  dual) sword, and a war hammer. The second game gave you the claws, the scythe, Kasari Gama, and the Tonfas, all of which are fun to play with now and again. I know Momaji has a different weapon, and that’s neat too, but I want Ryu to have different weapons. And also, on the subject of weapons, that goes for throwing weapons too. My understanding is that the second game had several throwing weapons, like the exploding shuikans, and the bow, and the windmill blade. In the Sigma 2 version Team Ninja decided that that was too much and left us with just the normal Shurikans, the bow, and they gave us a cannon, which by the way is insanely powerful and pretty much useless against ground enemies. In the 3^rd game they didn’t even bother to give us the cannon. To be fair, one of Ryu’s attacks causes him to throw his sword, but still it’s not the same.  So what could Team Ninja do to remedy this? That’s an easy one. Give us different weapons. How about a mace, or a trident, or a whip? That could be cool. Just be creative. There are plenty of weapons out there that Ryu could utilize so let’s do it.

Now speaking of the weapons, often in the first two games, more so in the second, you would get a brand new weapons and, rather than playing with it, you got to go play as Ayane who didn’t have any of the same weapons at all. Honestly I think I am one of the few who likes playing as these characters but not necessarily within Ryu’s chapters. I think it might be fun to give Ryu his own chapters and have him play through them. Then, throughout some of the chapters he could get help similarly to the way they did it in the third game.

Momaji acts as an intelligible AI character. I say intelligible because the AI in the Ninja Missions of the 2^nd game were shit. So in the third game Momaji goes along with you. Then after the chapter is over you “unlock” her. I think it would be cool if Team 

Ninja were to do something like that for all the characters with secondary chapters. Then rather than making use play as the other characters during Ryu’s campaign we could play these secondary chapters that would fill in the holes from Ryu’s plot, if done right of course. It would also add a bit more play value to the game. If you are a completionist like me you must, find, and do everything there is to do in a game before you are done. That includes any secondary story elements of the game. That way the other characters could maybe get some different weapons too, not just keep the same old things. Also, just a side note, but does anyone else want to play as Joe Hayabusa?

Another thing for me that, while not an issue, is something that I would like to address, and that is the traveling the world thing. To put it simply, I don’t like it. The best part about the first game was it’s rpg esque elements. I would like to see a return of those. Even if they did it the way Final Fantasy 13 did where you are on a liner path, but every now and again will find a spot to branch off and find some health or weapon or whatever. In a game like this that would be a welcome thing. Just not in a Final Fantasy, but I’ve already addressed that.  The first Ninja Gaiden did let you explore a bit. There were so many branching paths to go down, and yet by the end of the game you find yourself having gone down them all for various reasons. Some

more than once. Now I’m not saying that Ryu should always be in the same place. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Ryu has to go to Paris. Okay, great. Explore the city of Paris. That includes the Eiffel tower, the catacombs, Gothic structures, Art Nevou, modern architecture, and maybe even medieval architecture. A better example. In the Second game Ryu started out in Tokyo. Why not let him stay there and explore it a little. Tokyo should be easy for Team Ninja to mimic. I’m sure the developers make enough money to explore other cities like Paris, New York, Chicago, and where ever else they wanted to though. The point I am trying to make here is that I would like to spend more time in one place rather than a little bit of time in several places. This way Team Ninja could focus on making the one place look great rather than making several places look okay. Maybe even throw in a few more indicators like the Eiffel Tower if Ryu were in Paris, or the Empire State Building in New York. Honestly without the statue of liberty in the second game I would have guessed that Ryu was in some generic city. That happened in fact, after the HOLIDAY ARMADILLO fight in the second game. Seriously who the fuck brings a flaming armadillo onto an air ship? What does it fart out flames and make the thing move? Okay back on topic. Where does Ryu end up? Paris? Russia? No they are speaking English. Oh and the main boss is sitting at top a clock tower. Is that Big Ben? Oh, okay, then were are the English accents? I know story was never Ninja Gaiden’s strong suit but really, throw me a friggin’ bone here. I won’t dock the game any points for story. In fact, I liked the story best in the first game. The third game was great but some of the scenes were a bit long and there were a lot. Sometimes the best scenes are the ones that don’t need words. Ninja Gaiden 2’s story was just shit though. 

The next thing I would like to suggest is Ryu himself. If we are going to give him different weapons why can he only use one? The coolest thing about Devil May Cry games was the fact that you could change weapons on the fly. Don’t want to use the sword anymore? Okay switch to the flaming gauntlets. How cool is that? I don’t know if anyone remembers but when the second game was first announced Ryu was shown with three weapons. The sword on his back the scythe in his hands and the claws on his legs and feet. It would be a dream of mine to be able to be able to use either both at the same time or to swap between them on the fly. Not have to stop the game, open the menu, choose a weapon and go on. So many games already do this now that it would hurt Ninja Gaiden not to. Not much, mind you, but hurt none the less.

The last thing I would like to discuss is the enemy verity. The first game had so many that it’s impossible to count them all. What’s more, they were all dangerous in their own ways. The red dinosaur things were very dangerous up close as they could bit down on you if you were not careful. They had the ogres who not only had a massive range to their weapons but would become more dangerous as you whittled their health down. Same goes for the Berserkers. They were incredibly dangerous and fast. The second game had about three generic looking fiends. The third game had some good variety. The snake things, the gorilla things and the bipedal lady who could mimic both. Then they had some from two as well. I would like to see variety in the game. Don’t just throw the same generic enemies at us. Especially on harder difficulties. Don’t be afraid to pit us against enemies that we haven’t met yet. That’s what really makes a game hard. Spamming rockets only adds to the games tedium.

I think this is about all I wanted to touch on. There are so many ways to improve what’s already there. It would be great if Team Ninja were to see this and use it to help them. I know that it’s not likely, and even if they did see it, they probably wouldn’t be able to read it. These are just some of my thoughts though. If anyone reads this and would like to add something feel free. All I want, really, is another Ninja Gaiden game. Even if Team Ninja were to read this and do the opposite of everything I suggest I would still buy the game. It’s just so much damn fun.