Shiro Tsuki

Microsoft has now been taken to court for misleading their customers. Hooray 😊 Hoping that this will take back everything to way it was on the Xbox ecosystem and everything else connected to it 😇 Take back everything they took from us and fix everything they ruined.

17 hours ago | [YT] | 3

Shiro Tsuki

A few issues I have found with Ninja Gaiden 4 right now. They're not game breaking or anything, more like detail-oriented.

1. When you throw a shuriken at an enemy from above, the shuriken goes up towards the enemy, but the character's throwing animation is like throwing at the front instead of upward. This wasn't the case in previous Ninja Gaiden games; the character actually faces upwards when throwing the shuriken.

2. When using the Divine Chimera skin, performing a decapitation obliteration technique with the Yatousen rapier makes his pauldron disappear for a short time. It's a glitch because I don't think it's intended.

3. In complex levels like areas with uneven terrain, such as the forest canyon, the character teleports to another spot when it gets placed on elevated areas like rocks or the side of the bridge. This was also the case with other Platinum action games like NieR Automata.

4. Why is Ryu Hayabusa's Blade of the Archfiend just a giant lightning sword with the exact same move set as his Dragon Sword? How come it's not the dual swords move set?

1 day ago | [YT] | 3

Shiro Tsuki

As far as I've seen, most fighting game players are not going to play an old fighting game that got remastered or ported to modern systems if it has no online play or has bad netcode, even if it had everything else right such as better graphics, updated mechanics, refined controls, improved AI opponents, and a more sophisticated training mode.

A lot of people were celebrating that Tekken 3 is going to be playable on PS5 through PS Plus, but when they found out it has no online play, they decided not to give it a go even though Tekken 3 is one of the best Tekken games of all time.

Tekken 3 on PS Plus does have a lot of players, but the ones who aren't playing it are the most vocal ones in social media. Most people who are playing Tekken 3 right now are people who like to casually play a variety of games, not so much with the long time Tekken players.

2 days ago | [YT] | 1

Shiro Tsuki

I started playing at Master Ninja difficulty. I can't get past the Kitsune courtesan boss. She won't let me catch my breath. I guess I'm taking a break for now before I break my controller, LOL

Edit: I finally beat her. Now I'm stuck on the Kurobo Guardian boss. The one that looks like a giant winged dog.

4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

Shiro Tsuki

I finished the story of Ninja Gaiden 4. It was... emotional. I'll only share superficial parts as I write this simple review, so I won't spoil for those who haven't played it yet.

I haven't bought the game yet. I only played it through Game Pass. I'll buy it when the DLC comes out next year.

First, Ayane isn't playable. Sorry, guys. I already knew this was going to be the case, but I still feel a bit disappointed. I said it a while back that I knew it's not going to happen, but it's a bit difficult to accept that I can't play Ayane, Momiji, and Kasumi in Ninja Gaiden 4 (for now). I really wish they will add them someday. Most single player games published by Microsoft usually get several updates before the support ends, and I hope there will be an update that adds them to the game.

Ayane's role seems kinda insignificant. It's like it doesn't matter if she had a presence in the story. It's like even if she had no cutscene, it wouldn't change anything in the story. They probably put her in just to attract Dead or Alive fans or Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Sigma, or NG3 Razor's Edge fans to play the game just for her.

When you play Ryu Hayabusa, you will play a younger version of him, because the first chapter when you play him takes place a few years before the current events of Ninja Gaiden 4. Let's say about 3-4 years prior. Tokyo already looks in terribly bad shape when you play his chapter.

Ninja Gaiden 4 feels more like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry combined than Ninja Gaiden...in a sense. It has a several mechanics that came from Bayonetta that's implemented in NG4. The game also feels very smooth, like the usual Platinum Games kind of smoothness.

The soundtracks are a bit of a mix for me. Some soundtracks are atmospheric and some are just like rock like Devil May Cry style.

The level design feels repetitive on the urban areas. Almost everything is like a copy and paste of one segment to the other, but in natural areas like forests and mountainous areas, it looks very diverse and beautiful.

I played around with Prioritize Framerate and Prioritize Graphics on the Xbox Series X. The most obvious visual differences are the resolution and the reflections. When you select Prioritize Graphics, everything looks shinier because the reflections are set to its highest setting, and the resolution is higher (1440p, I think. Prioritize Framerate is apparently sub-1080p). Some objects around the map like plastic bags, boxes, and other background objects are missing in Prioritize Framerate. The visual effects like the blood, sparks, fire, and the character models don't seem to be any different in either modes.

I wish the frame rate in Prioritize Graphics isn't capped to 30fps so when the next gen Xbox comes out, they won't have to tweak the code it to make it 60fps. Either Platinum Games or the Xbox backwards compatibility team will boost the frame rate on the next Xbox since Ninja Gaiden 4 is published by Xbox Game Studios

5 days ago | [YT] | 3

Shiro Tsuki

It's really disgraceful how some people on social media use Itagaki's death to spread hate to Team Ninja's games that didn't involve him. They say things like:

"If you buy Ninja Gaiden Sigma or NG3, you are disrespecting Itagaki's legacy."

"Cancel Ninja Gaiden 4 for Itagaki."
WTF??? I've been looking forward to that game, WTF?

"If you support DOA5 and DOA6, it means you hate Itagaki and you deserve everything bad to happen to you."

Itagaki left this world without holding any hate to anyone or anything. As much as I admire Itagaki, it doesn't mean I agree with everything he said.

I didn't agree when he said:
"Momiji and Rachel should not be in DOA. They should only be in Ninja Gaiden."
(I have to admit that I got a bit upset when I found out about that 7 years ago.)
"Alpha-152 being a playable character is nonsense."
"I don't want Kasumi to be in Ninja Gaiden because she is too peaceful."
"My daughter (DOA) is ruined." (Referring to DOA5)

I will always hold Itagaki in high regard not because of his games, but because he encourages others to be their authentic selves, even if it makes others dislike you. We live in a world where people try to pretend to be someone they're not just to be liked, or have a mob mentality because they want to feel accepted by a group of people or have a sense of belonging.

1 week ago | [YT] | 6

Shiro Tsuki

Apparently, when Itagaki was still at Tecmo, there were some people from Koei who hated him because he said the enemies from Dynasty Warriors are dumb-as-bricks. I don't think it's a coincidence that Koei and Tecmo merged after Itagaki left Tecmo. Some of the current members of Team Ninja are from Omega Force, the development team of the Musou games (Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, etc.)

I'm not sure if that contributed to the maltreatment of Dead or Alive 6. DOA6 wasn't just lacking, its monetization was also horrible. They also said "Ninja Gaiden 3 would be better without Itagaki" and that didn't go well with the original NG3.

And the current CEO of Koei Tecmo was a former director of the Warriors games.

1 week ago | [YT] | 5

Shiro Tsuki

My heart feels so heavy right now... Rest in peace, Itagaki 😔 We love you and you will be missed.

I wish Platinum Games would add a scene in the DLC story of Ninja Gaiden 4 where Ryu Hayabusa, Kasumi, Ayane, Momiji, Rachel, and possibly Hayate would visit Itagaki's grave in the Mugen Tenshin village. It would be a great tribute to his legacy and as an act of endearment. Even though Ryu Hayabusa isn't technically Itagaki's legacy, he is hugely responsible for making his presence popular in the game industry.

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 11

Shiro Tsuki

In the past few days, there have been people uploading videos of their playthrough of Ninja Gaiden 4; game play segments that weren't shown before, even though the game isn't officially released yet. It's just what I said 2 weeks ago, but that's to be expected anyway. Ninja Gaiden 4 is this year's most anticipated game, so it's no surprise that people have been wanting to play it and see new game play for so long.

The dark dragon sword from the first Ninja Gaiden makes a return, and when Yakumo uses it, he gains a superior version of Ryu Hayabusa's move set. As much as I like it, it sucks for Ryu because it degrades Ryu's individuality of his game play when he uses his sword, which is his primary weapon and the only one that's not DLC.

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

Shiro Tsuki

I'd rather have Ayane without a story in Ninja Gaiden 4 as long as she's a playable character instead of having her being a part of the story but not playable. I don't want that... Not the Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma/Black Kasumi treatment where she was present but not playable.

The reason why I want Ayane to be a playable character is because she has one of the most beautiful attack animations in Ninja Gaiden. She also has several kick attacks that are exclusive to Ninja Gaiden and don't exist in Dead or Alive, and the animations are very beautiful.

If Ayane doesn't become a playable character, it might be because they are trying to give Seori more spotlight. Seori is the main female character in Ninja Gaiden 4, so there is a possibility that they will try to give the other female characters less presence to make Seori shine more. If that is the case, I hope Seori will become playable and have an amazing move set.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 4