Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z: My Impressions And Suggestions On Latest Developments

I’m here at it again sharing some incredible insight over one of my favorite games of all time and that is Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and ofcourse I’m mainly talking about the overall “concept” as I haven’t actually played it yet, but I really love the concept and the fun nature of the game and all that has grown out of it’s creation thus far. I was really interested in the game from since they showed off the very first trailer that I came across unwittingly, while actually searching for something else :D. The point is, I know a good game when I see one.  I don’t depend on large sites and organizations to determine what’s good for me or not. I also am the type of guy to only look at reviews to see what’s actually in a game if there is a lack of clarity about game specific things otherwise and not to see what’s the highest score and things like that. That’s why I prefer that if anybody reviews a game, that they put pure facts in it, and I hope yaiba gets lots of “accurate” reviews :D.

I must really commend the whole team for actually accomplishing one of the critical things about the game which was to make Yaiba more like a “menace” who’s essentially the total oppoite in comparison to Ryu. Based off of latest development, to me, they really aced that aspect, despite the dialogue and voice-acting needing a little work xD. But I think in many ways, the game in many of it’s dynamics, literally is “outstanding” in being different from the original ninja gaiden series. It has the really colorful comic-book art-style that really makes the game’s sequences very exciting atmospheres to play in since they have alot of creativity placed in them in addition to the fact that they are hand-drawn with alot of distinctive style. They are cel-shaded  but they are very very original “hand-drawn” models and images that are cel-shaded. I’d say, given all that I have seen, it is by far one of the best games I’ve seen in ages in regards to it’s art style., not just comparatively to other ninja gaiden games but out of games in general, in an overall sense. It stands as one of the most creative action games I’ve seen in a while too based off of what I’ve seen through out y experience gaming, having played all sorts of games despite the fact that the zombies don’t really do much xD. But it seems that they have been working really hard to remedy that situation, and as a result, some of the mini bosses and enemies I’ve seen still looked competitively fun to play against.They had to get creative to come-up with unique and very interesting ways you can actually play this game in particular, to make it a hack and slash game that’s similar to ninja gaiden when it comes to competitive execution, responsiveness etc, but yet at the same time there are lots of “over the top” opportunities that arise that make your interaction with the enemies, especially the zombies, range from amusing to jaw-dropping lol.   

Then ofcourse, you have the main character himself and that’s Yaiba — just brutally kicking the life out of zombies :D. One very basic method I always use to determine if yaiba is really a different personality then Ruy of the main ninja gaiden series, is to picture what would it feel and be like if I were playing the main ninja gaiden games and I suddenly encountered yaiba as an opponent?, that’s when you realize yaiba’s characteristics really falling into place and setting him apart drastically from the otherwise very calm and composed and honorable Ryu Hayabusa!, In a major way, you’d actually feel what yaiba is developed to be, personality wise, if the tables were turned and you were playing as ryu in the main ninja gaiden series then but-up on yaiba and had to face him as an opponent and see his attitude and how he thinks and how he actually does stuff, keeping in mind his cyborg assets and so on. So I think the Yaiba team aced the objective of developing a unique personality for a new protagonist(or antagonist :P) I’m looking forward to seeing more of miss Monday and what her role really is in the game hopefully without having to “often” hear really awkward suggestive remarks making it seem like she’s about to be “raped” as opposed to “flattered”, because that kind of thing is not appealing to me no matter who it’s from and I’m not apologizing either because I’m not playing a hack and slash game for that kind of material. It wasn’t my idea to have that stuff in there because I personally don’t think it would help to “improve” yaiba in anyway. I’m not in no way shape or form interested in this game because it’s “mature” either — I don’t care about it’s rating. It could have been rated “AP” for “all people” and I still would have loved the game regardless :D. Half-done vulgar dialogue in this game just because it’s “mature” is bogus – I believe that Yaiba deserves much better than that.

Lets remember that it took the collaboration of multiple development teams to make yaiba possible, so it was a big collaboration and it’s always best for each side to remember what’s at stake and that the enormous effort that was put in, could very well not happen again — I mean what’s the odds of these multiple development teams coming together again without their own priorities getting in the way?. But on the other hand, it could happen again(money talks right?) if every one sees to it that the opportunity isn’t wasted and they aim to put the best ideas forward and make use of them with the ambition of getting Yaiba into the league of “One Of The Best”. I would really love to see it become a growing series and not really turn-out to be a “one hit wonder”. I would love to see a game as creatively and fun driven as this, be able to have some much more going for it. So Yaiba actually being the main game should be able to have many different themes — that’s not to say that they can’t expand on a larger plot within the core base of an “outbreak of zombies”, but at the end of the day, the core idea here is that the future of the franchise gets brighter. In all honesty, I wouldn’t mind seeing better duels with ryu or even perhaps co-op missions with him at certain points in the game, but I just think there is something so killer about being able to hunt down and face off against ryu is this game as you just can’t do that in any other game and I hope ryu fights as he does in the original ninja gaiden games, because if not, it just won’t feel like an authentic experience. Which brings me back to the original point I was going to make which is; the only way we’ll really see just how different the two personalities are is to have them in a showdown exactly like what they did in the cut-scene in the game that was debuted where Yaiba and ryu had an epic duel!. That’s one of the biggest things about this game, the fact that he would end up in a battle with ryu and obviously it’s going to be disappointing is that doesn’t hold up to epic standards as well as the rest of the. Game.

That being said, I hope they don’t get too caught up on the “Ninja Gaiden” name and mess this game up in the sense that they don’t fulfill this game’s original and essential needs. It’s a new IP. and there has to be an experimentation of ideas that should be supported. I like the idea of the clown zombie reveal and things like that — it’s sure as heck way better than hearing a dialogue laced with awful suggestive contemplations just for the sake of supporting the game’s “M-Rated” designation. Yaiba does not need to be “forced” into being an M-Rated game or an embarrassing run-off-the-mill one. Obviously you can’t just throw any and everything in the game because believe it or not, I would definitely appreciate yaiba to be just as hardcore as the next hack and slack action game, but that’s all what developing is about — trying new stuff. The smart thing to do, is to see how the idea manifests, then judge it, because there are some things you might not get the idea of through mere words unlike when they are actually illustrated. So you can have the clown zombies, then outright all kinds of different “corrupted souls” that have became “zombiefied” like: former boxing coaches and corrupted  zombiefied tribes and street gangs and that kind of trend. It’s an outbreak and the developers shouldn’t be hesitant to express that just because the game has the subtitle of “ninja gaiden” in it.