Thread 12003018

I was excited by the prospect of playing a classic I'd missed, so I tracked it down and gave it a go. To put it bluntly, Shinobido is terrible in nearly every way and I can't understand what anyone likes about it. The visuals are fine for a PS2 game. The models are detailed enough and the areas look alright. The controls are horrendous, though. The main character controls like a boat. Movement is stiff and awkward as if there's a large delay on everything. It feels like a d-pad game converted to an analog stick. The controls also feel inaccurate. I'd try to get my character to do one thing and he'd instead fail.

The assassination missions are awful. The game is programmed so that most of the time you get remotely close enough to attack, a cutscene will play and they'll see you automatically. One mission had me slash paper doors to get to a room my target was in. It was the only way to enter. But going inside almost always led to the cutscene playing. I tested this over and over and over again, even avoiding the cutscene long enough to flatten myself against a wall. I threw a shuriken to draw his attention so that I could stealth kill him. But I couldn't see him due to having to flatten myself against the wall. Regardless, it appeared impossible to stealth kill him, as the cutscene would play even though he didn't see me. And that's not the only mission with laughable programming.

But what really aggravates me is that there are people over a decade-and-a-half later talking about it as if it's one of the greatest of its genre. I know that there are surprisingly few ninja stealth games considering how much demand there probably is for them, but that doesn't mean that a game like this should be put up on a pedestal. Shinobido is not a classic. It's not even just okay. Maybe the incessant positivity from people who look back on it fondly filled me with expectations the game couldn't hope to meet, but Shinobido is easily one of the worst stealth games I've ever played.

>shinobido
Didn't read, but that's an amazing game

>>12003034
The game is garbage

>>12003018 (OP)
never played shinobido but your description of it reminds me of tenchu which was created by shinobido devs.
and tenchu is an extremely overrated pos - controls are shit, stealth is too simple, ai is dumb as shit, forced boss sequences forcing you to stack grenades, limiting fog for early and psp titles.

tenchu z despite the flack, supposedly fixed a lot of these issues but filtered normies

>>12003756
Shinobido is made by the exact same team as Tenchu (Acquire)

>>12003018 (OP)
Most players actually hate stealth. So seeing a game that is not autistically showcased for mechanics complexity will never have the kind of stealth that you are thinking of.

>>12003756
In retrospect I can see how the PS1 Tenchu games seem janky as fuck but you have to remember this was sort of the developmental stage for stealth games. MGS1 came out around the same time and while it was revolutionary its controls were stiff, too and it didn't exactly have super advanced AI either.

At the time, the game being kid of clunky was less important than the fact that it was a 3D ninja game where you did real ninja shit. You grappled to rooftops, you shot people with blowguns, you lurked around corners to stab unsuspecting fools, you poisoned people, you threw shirukens at people, and while it had the usual cheesy voice acting and dialogue for games of that era that actually worked perfectly because the cutscenes played out like all the terrible ninja movies we knew and loved. All its flaws were very forgivable because there was really nothing else to compare it to unfavorably. The graling hook mechanic in particular made it feel really unique. There just weren't a lot of games where you got to move like that. It was like the rough draft for Batman's grappling hook in the Arkham games.

>>12003982
thief came out same year and it had great controls

>>12005436
You can't equate first person controls to third person.

>>12003018 (OP)
Whaaaaat? Of all the things I expected you to whine about, the controls are the last one. The game controls really nicely, it's easily the best part about it. Have you played Tenchu 3? THAT'S the one that feels super stiff. (I still like it though)

Not sure about the specific cutscene shit, it's been too long.

Shinobido is an extremely cheaply made game, and it shows in the way you repeat the same missions dozens of times. But the developers clearly care and manage to make something interesting in spite of that. The faction system makes for a game with a lot of replayability and the assassionation missions are extremely cool conceptually. (Idk about execution, I don't remember having any issues)
Furthermore, Shinobido has alchemy in it. It has a large amount of unique tools that you can use. It's just another thing that makes it extremely cool
Lastly, the secret garden. You can create secret gardens to keep enemies out Deception style. It's a whole tower defense minigame inside of the game that fits thematically.

Shinobido is awesome even if you can see how low budget it is. I'm convinced OP was written by an AI to drive 4chan engagement because that's what most threads on dead boards like /vr/ feel like.

>>12003982
As somebody who played tenchu 1 only recently, I loved every second of it and thought it aged great. The low poly models are also wonderful and it has some great environments. About my only gripe is that I feel like it peaked with the first game and was only downhill after.

>>12005462
That doesnt' change the fact that cutscenes automatically play whenever you encounter bosses even if you flatten yourself against the wall.

The game is garbage with shoddy programming.

>>12005519
I think I do remember something like that maybe, I don't know.
Seems more like you got owned and are crying about it DOE

>>12005531
No, the cutscenes play automatically. That's just how bad the game is.

>>12005542
So what? Are you saying it's impossible to clear the stage?

>>12005546
No, just that you're forced into combat due to how poorly designed the game is.

And the combat is shit, too.

>>12005549
That seems like an awfully stupid thing to complain about. May as well complain that boss fights exist

>>12005558
If the combat is shit, then the boss fights are shit
If a stealth game constantly forces you into combat then it is shit.
If a stealth game places an enemy in a position where he can always spot you, then it is poorly designed.

Anyone can see that it is a poorly designed game. It is not the classic that people make it out to be.

I played shinobido before Tenchu. I loved Shinobido when I was a teenager, it was one of my favourite games. I liked Crow. I haven't played it since, but I recently tried Tenchu: Return from Darkness on xbox (the superior, more complete version of Wrath of Heaven) and found it kind of shit. So now I'm worried after this thread, since people seem to think it's worse than Tenchu, that I may find it garbage too.

I'll remain blissfully ignorant and just never replay it. fuck you it's good. there's better options for stealth ninja games nowadays anyways.

>>12005564
Tenchu 3 is way more clunky but it's good in different ways. It's got actual levels and a story, for one. Whereas Shinobido is mission-based. But as far as the ninja simulation goes, Shinobido is better

>>12005563
>MGS is le bad because you HAVE to have boss fights
k

>>12003018 (OP)
Classic of what? I've never heard anyone talk about this game.

>>12003893
Tenchu wasn't really made by Acquire. It was a small dev team inside it. They are known as K2 after separating and they made all the Tenchu games after Tenchu 2 as that team.

Shinobido 2 is a great sequel. It has unlimited draw distance and a ninja kite you can fly through the level on.

>zoomer gets filtered because he has to actually learn a game and instead of getting good he cries about LE CLUNK
There was a time when gamers weren't crying pussies...

>>12003018 (OP)
>One mission had me slash paper doors to get to a room my target was in. It was the only way to enter
Wait for the target to move near the doors and you can assassinate him through the door.

>>12005729
Wrong on all accounts. Acquire back then was a small dev before they moved to Akihabara (and only decade later became a publisher that would buy other IPs like Gladiatior on PSP).
Back then, they were short on money to develop Tenchu 1, so they signed off a deal with Sony Music Japan to share the IP rights. After the success of the first game, SMJ went bankrupt and sold the IP, which then Activision purchased the rights.
Then they asked Acquire to develop T2, but afterwards they weren't happy because they wanted to make it to appeal more towards western sensibilities, so they booted off Acquire and handed T3 off to K2, which NONE of the former Acquire staff ever moved to or worked at.
K2 was formed by ex-SNK devs, with also like 3 people from Capcom and Taito.

Kinobido

>>12005816
He only stands still, facing the door. The game is so poorly designed that you can only get caught, even if you flatten yourself against a wall.

>>12005676
this but unironically.