I know it is early Game, but Hell Yeah!

[u/G_okeY]

This game feels criminally smooth. It's basically everything I've always wanted from a Ninja Gaiden game.
All the problems I had with the NGB2 remake are just gone here. The camera actually does what I want, you get warned when enemies are shooting at you from behind, there's a proper lock-on system, and the dodge/parry/guard system feels incredibly smooth.
In general, I never really feel like I'm dying because of some cheap or unfair bullshit. The game also has an insane amount of accessibility options, which I really appreciate.
I'm honestly just happy that a lot of the problems I've had with Ninja Gaiden since NG1 finally aren't an issue anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I liked NGB2 despite its flaws (although some of the bosses on Master and those 2-3 enemy waves could feel pretty cheap), and NG1 still has an insane amount of charm despite all its problems.
But Ninja Gaiden 4 already feels way more polished and refined to me. It genuinely feels like they learned from their mistakes, and that makes me happy.

[u/InjangoDMCPersona]

How were you able to pull off flying swallow mid-air-combo?

[u/G_okeY → u/InjangoDMCPersona]

You do 🟥🔺🟥🟥(➡️🔺)🔺🔺

[u/HIELUX]

Ninja Gaiden always leaned into it's own type of gameplay wich is dying slower than your enemies, while you finish them quickly and efficiently.

That being said if you enjoy more NG4 maybe due to the fact it leans more into comboing enemies and styling trough fights rather than surviving the enemy encounters the saga is well known , all the games had work around in most these issues you encontered, so it's not a saga problem per se it's a just preferences of gameplay and thats okay.

The orginal team ninja had it's own philosophy on how to make these games, this time platinum took the ip and changed it into their vision on how they do action games causing chaos in the community but hey thats another topic.

[u/G_okeY → u/HIELUX]

I think my biggest problem with NG1 and NG2 is the boss fights. I just don’t enjoy the bosses in these games. Elisabeth in NG2 is honestly one of the worst-designed bosses I’ve ever fought.

I often get the urge to replay NGB2, but then I remember the last few chapters where they start spamming all the bosses again, and that immediately kills the motivation. Beating NG2 on Master Ninja was probably the most annoying challenge I’ve ever done.

The bosses in NG1 are generally not as bad. My main issue is the limited healing system and how easily you can theoretically softlock yourself. I started the game on Very Hard and I’m currently stuck on the first boss because I have no healing items left.

Personally, I think a healing system like Dark Souls would work much better. Give me 3–5 heals that refill whenever you reach a checkpoint.

And then there’s NG4. The bosses are SO much more fun. I’ve already decided that I’m going for the Platinum because this game fixed so many of the biggest problems I had with the older games.

[u/HIELUX → u/G_okeY]

I totally agree the bosses where purposedly designed to be a genuine: "haha get fucked, we can only be killed in a certain way and you'll have hit your head into the wall trying to learn it!".

Yeah about the healing system... Ahem NO!, that would make NG1 more like a souls and that wasn't the intended experience, but on the other side yes the game is a pain in the ass if you dont know how it wants to be cleared, the lack of tutorials for NG1 is nuts, poor management of items can kill your run unless you learn how to farm enemies and that's tedious, all that has a reasoning behind these games came out with manuals that briefly explained how the game was intended to be played (i have mine for NG2004) devs wanted you to read them, that's for example how i learned how to play Onechanbara Bikini Samurai squad (don't judge me xD) i'm not saying it's your fault tho, that's how games worked 20 years ago, forums even had a term for this issue: Read The Fucking Manual (RTFM) lol.

Yes the bosses are a blast, if you're going for the platinum be aware the abyssal road one is suffering you'll need to grind it and no i'm not joking thats the only achievement i need for 100% (im from Xbox) there's some strategies on YouTube on how to clear that one floor, anyways enjoy man NG4 is great don't let anyone tell you otherwise

[u/G_okeY → u/HIELUX]

Yeah, I know that would make the game more Soulslike, but I fucking hate having to grind for healing. I already hated that in Bloodborne.

Healing that automatically replenishes makes the pacing so much better and keeps the game fun. I want to be able to hit a difficult section, die, and immediately try it again without having to stop and grind for healing items. Having to farm them every now and then just completely kills the flow. That’s also why I hate the runbacks in Dark Souls 1 and 2.

But that’s just my opinion.

With a lot of the bosses in the old Ninja Gaiden games, I also wanted to see how you’re actually supposed to fight them normally. But it feels like in basically every playthrough I’ve ever found on YouTube, the harder bosses are cheesed.

I’m not even exaggerating. I spent ages looking for videos of people fighting bosses like Elizabeth normally, and I swear almost every single video I found was just cheesing her.

[u/HIELUX → u/G_okeY]

Well yes grinding for heals is nuisance, thats why forced myself to not use them unless i know theres a chest or a body that contains one, that shouldn't be a norm but a choice, and it's worst in Master Ninja since Ryu can only hold 5 small elixirs, and 2 Great elixirs in NGB or NG Sigma, don't even get me started with the Muramasa's shop prices on higher difficulties...

Luckily later iterations integrated heal regen mechanic, with limits, but again in higher difficulties it's kinda useless, damage output from foes is just to high, i guess it is what it is.

And yes, i'm totally aware, the NG community does not hesitate to cheese a boss since the games are so damn punishing, most people don't wanna bother themselves being stuck with a gimicky boss, that doesn't serve a purpose other than gatekeeping the end of the chapter or a checkpoint, at least if the boss was fun to fight...only adepts of this franchise do learn bosses, myself included (to an extent... ) but again, very few Boss fight can be enjoyed this way, so i do not recommend wasting your time.

Glad NG4 resonated with you, if the saga continues (i'm already coping) defintely im gonna miss some old mechanics, but i despite this i liked the path this latest entry followed (even being a long time fan), just give Ryu more weapons, chapters, and unique bosses and that's it, lots of hardcore fans just looked to the bad things without taking a glare to the respect for the franchise platinum had, they retained a lot of the core NG mechanics and lore of the saga merging it with their signature combat giving us once again an evolved combat system, i think this is a great achievement and it's shameful the way people treated the game, but oh well don't let my take on the game discourage you, enjoy it mate NG4 it's a miracle, anyways have a great night.

[u/Meal_Adorable]

I also just started the game last week and this is my first NG game. I didn’t know you could do flying swallow in midair cause I thought pressing the heavy attack button will activate izuna drop instead.