Ninja Blade

The player plays as a modern-day ninja, using a katana, twin swords and broad sword as the main weapon to the hostile creatures. The combat system is similar to Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. A chi bar is used up when "ninja vision" or ninjutsu is used. The gameplay is highly cinematic, relying on quick time events to finish missions; after attacking a boss until the health bar is empty, the player must perform a finishing move called the "todome".

Ninja Blade

Ninja Blade put players in the shoes of a modern-day ninja, who uses a katana, twin swords, and broad swords to fight off various enemies. Much like other hack-and-slash games at the time, it was very heavily influenced by other seminal action games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Reviews at the time of its release were mixed, with much of the praise was given to the incredibly cinematic action set pieces and cutscenes with criticism for its bland action gameplay. Despite this, some fans consider Ninja Blade a neat overlooked title by FromSoftware before its massive success with Demon's Souls.

You'll thankfully spend plenty of time wielding some powerful blades and wreaking havoc on the rooftops of Tokyo. Using the titular single katana, a pair of fast-acting blades, or a heavy but effective sword, you'll slice up a variety of mutated meanies as you seek to liberate Tokyo from a nasty epidemic of demonic, symbiotic worm thingies. Ninja Blade is a fairly straightforward button masher, so you can string your two main attacks, blocks, and jumps into various combos that you unlock as the game progresses. The combat system isn't terribly deep; you won't perform Ninja Gaiden II's wall-leaping slices or use Devil May Cry 4's numerous fighting styles. However, the action delivers a nice feeling of impact and fills the screen with a lot of flashy visual effects. It doesn't deliver much of a challenge, though, and you could finish the game without exploring some of the more snazzy-looking moves. That doesn't mean you can choose a single weapon and mash your way to triumph; some enemies need to be softened with your heavy blade, whereas the speedy dual blades are more effective against certain foes (and helpful when trying to block oncoming projectiles as well). Nevertheless, if you want a decent challenge, you should crank the difficulty up to the highest available setting from the get-go.

There are other activities that help alleviate any potential tedium. You can run up or along certain walls Prince of Persia-style, though these moments are highly scripted and can't be mixed into battle. Nevertheless, they control pretty smoothly for the most part, and the minor bullet-time effect makes it fun to watch Ken leap from one wall to another. In some places, you'll use a grapple wire to zoom to your next location, or break through walls with your giant sword. You can also enter ninja vision (yes, it sounds cheesy), which slows down time and lets you inflict more damage and see potential spots of interest in the area. More notably, you can unleash the wrath of three different types of spinning blades: fire, wind, and electricity. You'll need them to solve certain types of puzzles (for example, the wind shuriken douses flames), though they can come in handy during battle, if not always because you need them, but because they light up the screen with vibrant special effects.

And then you have those unlockable costumes, a common extra found in these types of action games, but delivered here in an uncommonly hysterical manner. You can dress Ken up as an evil ninja and scowl while you play if you prefer, but for a curiously ridiculous treat, don the clown costume and mess around with its color scheme. Such a look doesn't befit a proper ninja, of course, but then again Ken does prefer to leap around Tokyo with flair, so unless you insist on high levels of seriousness in your ninja games, you'll enjoy kicking bad-boy butt in purple paisley. But even if you keep Ken looking prim and proper, you can upload your scores for each level to the online leaderboards, which may give you a reason to return once you've vaulted your way through the eight or nine hours it takes to complete Ninja Blade.

The player plays as a modern day ninja. The player can use a katana, twin swords and broad sword as the main weapon to kill parasites and other creatures. Combat is similar to Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. The gameplay also revolves around a chi bar. The chi bar is used up when ninja vision or ninjutsu is used. The player also has ninja traits such as the ability to run along walls and ability to run at super fast speed.

Ninja Blade[Katana class]Blood loss1.10xArmour penetration-20%Attack+2Defence-4Damage vs robots-40%Damage vs humans+10%Reach21A smaller, lighter katana with a straight blade that is easier to produce. Popular with ninjas because they're better for stabbing people in the back with, but not the best for toe-to-toe combat.924-gamedata.base

Even when a game is as gleefully stupid as possible, developers are sometimes smart enough to leave room for the player to make it even more so. It's almost inspiring. Case in point: Ninja Blade. The game opens with a unit of ninjas, one of which is you, being dropped from a transport plane into a city that's been infected by Alpha Worms from Space. Or something. None of the ninjas have parachutes. On the way down - slashing enemy flying things who have the misfortune to be passing by - you proceed to land by crashing through the side of a skyscraper and slow the impact by doing a forward roll. That's as sane as it gets. By the end of the level, you've kicked an enormous demolition ball into the boss' equally enormous tendril-covered face.

Which is all mental enough. But then you finish the level, and realise it includes a costume editor. So now, when the high-octane straight-faced lunacy kicks off again, it's starring a fluorescent pink ninja. It only gets worse as you unlock other outfits. I went out the room when a friend was playing and he edited the ninja so he was rocking a scarlet leopard-skin with pink love-hearts all over his sleeves.

There are two sorts of ninjas. There's the sort who are big on hiding and the sort who really aren't. Ninja Blade is the latter. He thinks hiding is what animals are covered in. He's an expert in three weapons - the ancient ninja blades, mystical shuriken and the M60 machinegun. He is, to stress the point, mental. Lunacy is the primary constant. At Ninja Blade's best, it's hilarious, destructive and joyous. Even at its worst, it's often bad in a way that makes you wonder at the sanity of the developer for making whatever decision you're contemplating.

In the original Golden Sun, it is first available in Lunpa, and can be equipped by Isaac, Garet, and Ivan. In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, it is first available in Izumo, and can be equipped by Felix, Jenna, and Piers. In the first two games, the Ninja Blade's sole Unleashed power is Cyclone Slash ("Cyclone Attack" in the item screen, which was fixed back to "Cyclone Slash" for The Lost Age). Cyclone Slash converts all damage to Jupiter damage and attacks with an additional 38 attack points. It may also lower the target's resistances by 40 (this effect can stack twice). Visually, Cyclone Slash appears as a light violet whirlwind that blasts the target into the air when the blade hits.

This generally becomes Ivan's best weapon for when it can first be found, which is after completing the optional Lunpa Fortress and the shops in Lunpa reopen for business. The blade's Unleash has its power increased if its wielder has a high Jupiter power rating, so Ivan, who has naturally high Jupiter Power, can do respectable damage with the Unleash to enemies that have low Jupiter resistance. Ultimately, it becomes a good placeholder for until Ivan acquires the best Jupiter-element weapon he can equip in Lalivero, the Swift Sword. The Ninja Blade is not as useful in The Lost Age, though, because the main Jupiter Adept in your party, Sheba, cannot equip Light Blades.

Ninja blades are katana variants, based on a theoretical real life counterpart variant, the ninjato, blades said to have been wielded and crafted by ninjas themselves to accompany their repertoire and skill. Likewise to their real life counterparts, ninja blades are straight, short, and even more agile than their larger counterparts, and often remain exclusive to their namesake job class.

Depending upon their presentation, ninja blades will often meld between hosting their own set list, commonly found in Ivalice titles, or, boast the names of creators commonly associated with katana set lists. They may deal Dark-elemental damage, keeping in theme with their shadowy and stealth-based associative class.

Ninja swords are fast and have high combo rates. In the original version, all ninja swords are Dark-elemental. In the Zodiac versions, only the the Yagyu Darkblade is Dark-elemental; four have no element, the Koga Blade is Earth, and the Iga Blade is Water. In Zodiac versions, the Shikari can equip ninja swords. Shikari's ninja sword licenses are locked behind Quickening licenses, and as there are four licenses and only three Quickenings, it is not possible to unlock all ninja swords for the same character.

Ninja swords use the Speed damage formula. Damage depends on the weapon, the user's Strength and Speed and character level. The characters' stats can vary. Vitality varies the most, by 30%, Strength varies 10%, and Speed 9%. The male characters have the highest Strength+Speed. Good accessories to equip with ninja swords are the Speed-boosting Germinas Boots and the combo-boosting Genji Gloves.

[view edit purge]A ninja was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan who specialized in unorthodox warfare. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, and open combat in certain situations.

A hack-and-slash adventure, Ninja Blade saw players take on the role of a modern-day ninja with gameplay focused on swords and a plethora of quick-time events. It was a cinematic affair inspired by Hollywood action films, and popular melee combat games of the time such as Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Those interested in the studio's history might be interested in taking this curio out for a spin, but for some reason Ninja Blade has been delisted on Steam. 041b061a72