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Ninja Gaiden 2 vs Demon Souls remake | which one takes more skill to beat?

Which game harder to beat?

  • Ninja Gaiden 2 requires more skill to beat

    Votes: 104 80.0%
  • Demon Souls requires more skill to beat

    Votes: 21 16.2%
  • both games are impossible

    Votes: 5 3.8%

  • Total voters
    130

Jigsaah

Gold Member
I think Ninja Gaiden takes a different kind of skill than Demon Souls.

In Ninja Gaiden, you have to know your combos and be able to execute them from various camera angles (Ninja Gaiden's camera was notoriously bad). It requires proper use of the combat space. Navigation of the space fluidly is also key to mastering the game.

In Demon Souls...it's more about learning patterns and exercising patience until you're comfortable with the fights, be it normal mobs or bosses. The enemies themselves aren't incredibly aggressive. The level design and enemy placement is more of the danger. You also have to manage stamina in addition to health, whereas in NG, you have basically unlimited stamina. So timing attacks, positioning and choosing your battles wisely is key in Demon's Souls.

Which one is harder? It's strictly subjective based on your personal gaming skills. If you've been a Devil May Cry master...Ninja Gaiden may come easier to you, than something slower and more methodical like Demon's Souls. Of Course, Demon's Souls is a first of it's kind, so its difficult to be prepared for that game in terms of skills. So, if PS5;s Demon's Souls is your first Souls game, you may very well see it as more difficult..
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Where's my Ninja Gaiden 4, man? Give me my Ninja Gaiden 4.

mU2fsgP.gif
 
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Nah. Once enemies appear, land an Izuna Drop on just one enemy, he’ll die and drop an orb
Again, izuna drop is a combo, it's not actually easy to pull off for a lot of people.
I’ve never finished a FROM game without dying
Well that's because they are designed that way, lots of 'peek-a-boos' and 'gotchas' and enemies with an attack you didn't expect that kills you in one hit.
Once you get master ninja, you're already used to what 99.9% of enemies do in NG.

You've played NGB so you probably remember the part early on in the game, where you walk through the alley and the camera shifts to the left and suddenly a bunch of black ninjas show up, it's the first black ninja encounter in the game iirc.
I loaned my xbox to a friend of mine, and he and another friend just -could not- get past that part, I had to make them realise that you have to approach it like a fighting game and just react to what the ninjas are doing, instead of just trying to attack like it's a hack and slash.

These are people who went on having no real issues beating souls games, but the reflexive, fighting game nature of NG still fucks them up.
 

Geki-D

Banned
This is more reflex oriented, izuna drop is a combo, people who suck at fighting games will be dropping it all the time, especially while also trying to evade enemies who swarm to attack, grab and spam projectiles off screen; it's like people who can do combos in training mode, but then crack when something actually fights back.
Yeah but Flying Swallow isn't a combo and you can easily spam that to victory. That's sort of the thing to cheesing each game; NG2 is about spamming OP attacks and DS is about grinding to an OP build.

Though it's way easier to screw up a combo and miss an attack than it is to fail when your character is crazy over-leveled with a ridiculous OP weapon and/or spell. In that regard, I'd say NG2 is harder.
 
Yeah but Flying Swallow isn't a combo and you can easily spam that to victory.
Since we're talking about NG2, that's fair I guess, even NGB had enemies that could block, evade or even outright dodge it; you could still miss it, mess up the timing and die afterwards, so there's still a reflexive part to it.
 
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Jack Videogames

Gold Member
Even though I am currently getting my ass beat by Demon's Souls, I gotta say NG. Why? Because DS gives you choice. There are several playstyles; ranged, Str, Dex... Even an easy mode of sorts with the Royal. With some trial and error you're bound to find one that suits your skills.

Not only that, but in DS exp and gear can make up for the lack of skill. You can grind your way to victory. In NG if you aren't good you're screwed. You can choose the easiest difficulty mode, but the game very much doesn't want that and will laugh at you.

DS sets you in front of a big mountain and says "Get to the top, I don't care how, you've got tools in that shed, choose what you need". NG sets you in front of a big mountain and says "Get to the top using this set of tools I give you. If you feel you can't do it there's a smaller mountain there but you're a loser if you choose that one lol"
 
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This is more reflex oriented, izuna drop is a combo, people who suck at fighting games will be dropping it all the time
It's really more of a target combo where only the first hit actually matters. As long as that first hit connects, the rest will, too. After the initial two inputs you can even spam the rest and it will still come out, the timing is super lenient.
 
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After the initial two inputs you can even spam the rest and it will still come out, the timing is super lenient.
That's not true, because inputting an x instead of a y, will result in downwards attack and not the izuna drop, also if you input y before getting the third x, you're not getting the izuna drop either; it's not a "dial a combo" system, you actually have to wait till the third airborne hit comes out, but if you hesitate slightly, ryu drops the combo.
 

RCU005

Member
I still can't tell how the hell I was able to beat Ninja Gaiden on Xbox on the hardest difficulty. Nowadays, I can't even beat a game in normal.
 

Krisprolls

Banned
I don't know Ninja Gaiden 2 that well, but you can half cheese Demon's Souls using magic. The bosses are often more puzzle based than skill based too. I doubt Ninja Gaiden 2 can be beaten that way.

I loved Demon's Souls remake though. Gorgeous and fascinating game. I wouldn't like it if it was even harder.
 
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Also, in DS you can open a shortcut to basically all of the bosses.
Not always in Demon’s Souls though and Ninja Gaiden had checkpoints at least. Unless you meant Dark Souls. In fact, seems like shortcuts were kind of rare in DS for PS5 unless I was looking in the wrong place. Later Souls games were more forgiving with their checkpoint placement, but they were still difficult.

Honestly, though they are entirely different games though. Ninja Gaiden relies more on fast reflexes and precise timing while DS is a little more slow paced and defensive I feel.

Now Sekiro on the other hand.......
 
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It's obviously Ninja Gaiden 2, but this thread got me curious: have they nerfed casters in the DeS remake? That class is still by far the most overpowered thing in any Souls game.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
There is literally no contest here. You can beat DS without any skill using magic.
 

Chukhopops

Member
Demons Souls is the easiest Souls Title.
NG2 vs Sekiro would be a worthy poll.
Sekiro is hard but less punishing compared to other Souls games:
- Resurrect system means you can never get 100% killed in one hit or combo
- All main bosses have a checkpoint either right before or close to them, so there’s no corpse run to do compared to Souls games
- Prosthetics are a huge clutch, especially the umbrella
- Smaller areas with barely any traps or surprise gank

NG2 is massively harder in my opinion.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
Sekiro is hard but less punishing compared to other Souls games:
- Resurrect system means you can never get 100% killed in one hit or combo
- All main bosses have a checkpoint either right before or close to them, so there’s no corpse run to do compared to Souls games
- Prosthetics are a huge clutch, especially the umbrella
- Smaller areas with barely any traps or surprise gank

NG2 is massively harder in my opinion.
NG2 has checkpoints and unlimited lives too as far as I remember. I think those two are accurately compared.
The other Souls punish harder, thats true.
 
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By Crom, I miss Ninja Gaiden 2. What a beautiful symphony of blood and violence as you conduct your masterpiece, area by area, carefully and skillfully orchestrated by your chosen conducting baton of mass destruction.

The first time I got to the stairs, I didn't care the performance was taking a crash landing because I was in a trance of ultraviolence and would not be stopped. Top tier gaming memory right there.
 
Lol, there is absolutely nothing complex about souls games, neither as a game nor "rpg". A game that allows you to beat it staying level one isnt a rpg anyway. The only thing that is has in common with rpgs are attribute checks for weapons the character wants to equip, thats basicly it. Everything else is personal skill, not the skill of the role. The player has just to memorize the move set of the enemies,and he can beat this game even with a broken sword if he wants to.
Then you go and do it. Beat the game with a broken sword. It's so easy to do that! In which way being able to do all that makes it not an RPG? Your post reeks of ignorance saying all the attributes do is for weapon equip requirements, very ignroant. At least learn a little before commenting on something.
 

meech

Member
Then you go and do it. Beat the game with a broken sword. It's so easy to do that! In which way being able to do all that makes it not an RPG? Your post reeks of ignorance saying all the attributes do is for weapon equip requirements, very ignroant. At least learn a little before commenting on something.

The definition of an rpg basicly is, that the attributes und skills of your character matter, at least, as most as your personal skill. In souls games, attributes are only for damage increase and a check that you could use your weapon proficiently. Thats it. Nothing complex, at best bare bones "rpg". Lol, Sekiro is more rpg, it has skills that allow you to parry spears.
 
The definition of an rpg basicly is, that the attributes und skills of your character matter, at least, as most as your personal skill. In souls games, attributes are only for damage increase and a check that you could use your weapon proficiently. Thats it. Nothing complex, at best bare bones "rpg". Lol, Sekiro is more rpg, it has skills that allow you to parry spears.
Ok so you never played the game. So ignorant. Why would anyone comment on something they know so little about...you're one of those who hates the game because it kicked your ass? Stats matter fot everything in DS, more so than any other Souls game I will add. Sure you can beat it on level 1, but that's nothing to do with the stats not having importance, and you can't do this without having a good amount of knowledge of the workarounds you need to make it feasable, not to mention you have to be pretty skilled at the game too. Go try it for yourself and then tell us how you do since you make it seem such a menial thing.
 
Does ninja gaiden sigma on ps3 counts? That ones much easier than demons souls.

Demons souls doesnt require skill as such but patience (to grind) and persistence to keep coming back.

I would say more recent from games will test your skills as grinding is not an option.
 
Then you go and do it. Beat the game with a broken sword. It's so easy to do that! In which way being able to do all that makes it not an RPG? Your post reeks of ignorance saying all the attributes do is for weapon equip requirements, very ignroant. At least learn a little before commenting on something.
I've beaten dark souls with basic equipment, it's not difficult when you've gotten used to enemy patterns; on my first playthrough I beat the asylum demon naked, using some basic weapon like a club or something.
This way I had the fastest dodges, it took ~40 minutes to kill it, but it wasn't difficult, it just required patience.

Also beat NGB using only the wooden sword, meaning no flying swallow or izuna drop, this was much more difficult than any playthrough of a souls game I've done yet.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I haven't even played NG2 and I can tell you it's harder. DeS is probably the easiest From game.
 
I've beaten dark souls with basic equipment, it's not difficult when you've gotten used to enemy patterns; on my first playthrough I beat the asylum demon naked, using some basic weapon like a club or something.
This way I had the fastest dodges, it took ~40 minutes to kill it, but it wasn't difficult, it just required patience.

Also beat NGB using only the wooden sword, meaning no flying swallow or izuna drop, this was much more difficult than any playthrough of a souls game I've done yet.
Good for you. I've beaten NGB and NGS2 in Master Ninja. Platinum'd NGS2 actually, and have also beaten Demon's, DS, DS2 and Bloodborne without leveling up, also platinum'd Sekiro and beat the whole game with Base Vitality. So what?
 
I only remember trying one of the NGs on PS3, on normal difficulty I think and that was pure masochism. And I probably had better reflexes then.

Souls game require patience, understanding patterns and learning from your mistakes. NG requires certain skill, you have it or you don’t. Nioh 1 and 2 can be like that often.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Why discuss NG2 when with this year's Nioh2 Team Ninja offered their deepest and most iterated combat system ever?

Especially when its far more comparable in the sense that its all part of a RPG/Looter-style framework.
 
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