Ninjala is great, but there's a problem...
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- While I enjoyed the Ninjala beta this past week, I can't help but shake the feeling that it just doesn't quite live up to my expectations. In this video, I explain why I feel like some things need to be changed to make the game more interesting.
Ninjala releases for FREE on Nintendo Switch on May 27. No Nintendo Switch Online subscription required!
Outro Music: Ninja Hero by Onoken (Ninjala OST)
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Check out current streams on Twitch at / fullmental
Follow me on twitter at / fm__nick 
Игры
A big problem of this game is that the tutorial doesn't do a good job fully explaining the mechanics of the game. Parrying takes 5 energy to use, and can be baited out, or if you want to avoid a parry situation you can L dash out to escape. If you win a parry, using your break attack directly after will break your opponent's weapon and trap them in gum, even if they try to parry again. The reason people could parry so much was because of a skill card equipped by default that allowed you the parry again one more time with no energy left. Parries feeling luck based is still a problem I agree with, because even if you attack first, you can lose because you lost the parry clash, and baiting parries was risky in the map we had since people could come up and ambush you or steal your kill. Taking the parry risk puts up a shield that knocks people away if they try to intercept the fight. Another thing not mentioned is that using disguises and staying stationary recovers health and energy much faster then simply being idle (which recovers faster than moving).
I agree with a lot of your points here, but the break mechanic was very inconsistent in my experience, and dashing to get out of an encounter usually ended in getting knocked out regardless. An interesting thing to note is it seems the parry only costs you energy if you don't win the rock paper scissors game. I definitely had games where two of us would parry 4-5 times, and that's impossible if it actually cost each of us 5 energy out of a maximum of 10 each time. Even with the card, it'd max out at 3 parry's in a row otherwise.
I'd like to see how the mechanic gets tweaked ahead of and shortly after release. It definitely needs something, and my suggestions are certainly not the only options. I just want to see this game be successful and fun!
Wow I didn't know half of that was a thing, the game could definitely use an indepth explanation that walks you through the mechanics similar to how Splatoon did.
@@NickCharles The moment you press ZL to parry the energy is taken from you. The energy is only taken from the person initiating the stance, so a max of 6 parries can happen in a 1v1 situation if both players have the extra parry card. L-dashing out of a parry gives you lag and the opponent whiffs their parry attack, giving them lag, basically resetting to "neutral." (Both players can dash out no matter who started the parry, but the window to do it is small and doing nothing treats it as a loss I think.) The faster weapon at this point will likely get the next attack in (as long as someone doesn't come in and tries to sneak in a kill off of two low-health players). The demo stage, like stated in your criticism, didn't do the gameplay justice with it being far too easy to yoink kills and ippons from people.
Break attacks are slow and have a shorter target distance (similar to the bat's Y-dash target accuracy where it liked to miss 90% of the time) which is why it can be hard to hit, I think this is fine because getting your weapon broken every 10 seconds doesn't sound fun lmao.
Overall I just think that a call for nerfs to parrys might be jumping the gun since most people saw the ZL prompt and immediately started spamming it (me included), and if the final game has a better drawn out tutorial, maybe through the story mode, players will better understand the risks and rewards behind parrys.
I like to look at this game at what it could bring at a high level of gameplay by rewatching others and taking notes of strategies I missed while playing, just like you, I want this game to be the best it can be! Currently want to figure out why sometimes a parry RPS clash is cancelled or your opponent can seemingly beat you up for winning the clash. (It might be linked to directional attacks such as down attack, back attack, side attack, etc.)
@@TrentMkw interesting. The game definitely needs a better tutorial, but I agree if the situation can resolve itself that's great. I still disagree with providing ippon bonuses for a parry though. It's is still luck, it's not something to be rewarded explicitly in my opinion.
Thanks for your input! It's great to hear from different players and IMO it helps expand the game knowledge by having these discussions.
Hand Holding like that is what completely ruins the experience. It's better to learn the more complex mechanics through trial and error than having it spoon-fed to you before you actually get to play. People who take the easy way out like that don't deserve to play.
When the enemie hit you and you cant block, thats annoying
WHY DO THEY ONLY LET YOU PARRY AFTER BEING HIT??? DON'T MAKE THE BUTTON TO READY AN ATTACK BE THE SAME ONE AS YOUR COUNTER/BLOCK MOVE!!!
I do it but i miss and then he hit me and i cant do nothing
I thought it was me being too stupid to play lmao (....) so you actually can’t block them- ehw.
Still an amazing game!
what if they just did what shinobi strikers did that would be alot more better
@@liamdalemon1525 Can't you block with the gum?
Your critisism is marvelous, being constructive and even adding in your ideas was a beautiful touch! Can't wait to see more stuff
Thank you very much! More content to come soon, that's for sure. I definitely want to get a full review done on this game in particular shortly after release.
True, either people hate it and talk trash about it, or are way too positif and arent honest
Positive/constructive criticism is amazing to see
I do have to agree with the parry system.
Toxic ppl be like: Allow me to introduce myself
A game about Ninjas.
Everyone: CHARRRRRGE!!!!!!!!!!
The combat is like final fantasy dissidia
We ride at dawn
Ninjala news: Ninjala game is officially on mobile
Me: Bruh. *Starts to play roblox arsenal*
Me: *Rages*
Amazing video! Great pacing and lovely in dept criticism
to me the problem of the parry mechanism luck base is fixed when you start baiting it , and striking when your opponents has run out of energy / parry time
as for the chaotic aspect, i believe this will be much more relaxed in 4v4 modes compared to the frantic 8 players battle royale
hoping to see more ninjala content from you soon :)
Thank you! I appreciate the input on this too, though my main concern is that these more "advanced" strategies have a bit too much of a learning curve, and scoring/energy mechanics that seem to encourage the opposite style of play at a lower skill level. What I've been seeing is a lot of people that picked up the game for 1 session during the beta (or watched on twitch for a little while) immediately got turned off by their first impression of the parry system, and decided they didn't care about the game anymore. In my opinion, a system that doesn't cater well to the beginner and casual players will struggle initially, which could cause the game to ultimately fall short of expectations.
A wild GG has emerged! Btw love ur channel 😉
GABRIEL?!?!?! Hi🙃
4v4 is still frantic with parrys and such but at least you have allies
hi there c:
I have an idea for the parry:
Basically you have to move your L stick to the arrows (like where the arrows go in a pattern) and whoever does it faster gets the parry successfully
I hate the gamble system they have and that is such a good idea! It puts more emphasis on reactions than luck
Yeah, like a Simon Says game?
Oh boy I think with this mechanic I’ll be winning a lot of parry duels. But this is a very nice way to fix the parry gamble
GUYS its just rock paper scicoors
Green beats blue, blue beats red, red beats green
@@Gamekid22_ bruh, it's not gambling, it's literally predicting your opponent's moves. Like real parrying.
Dude, you didn't just play, you also thought about everything, and this is pretty important. Can't wait videos from you
Thank you!
Personally, I dislike how the tutorials left out half of things that needed explaining, and I can't find a way to look at the tutorials I did get again.
I also kind of find it... a bad idea to have a lock on reticle for someone who is morphed. Wuts the point? It's outting my location.
While it does make sense that, in-universe, to use up different weapons skins since they're gum, but like... I earned that. I want it forever.
Finally, I wish would could swap out our gum shiot type and ninjutsu ultimate without changing our weapon. The yoyo is my baby, but I want to shoot webs or throw nukes.
Despite all this, I still play Ninjala all the time now and I love it. So... there's that
Yeah I wish you can create your own personal weapon in Ninjala
The parry system is very confusing
it's not really...its rock paper scissors with an extra option to leave the situation.
Forward attack beats back attack. Back attacks beats side attacks. side attacks beats forward attacks.
You can Dash out of the parry battle as long as you have the meter to dash out and reset the situation.
@@Ultra_Riku If the parry works like you say then yes, it's confusing, HOW TF I SUPPOSE TO KNOW THAT???
@@eldiegoetc9257 It tells you in the tutorial. You can set up the training dummy to s burst your first hit so you can hit them a second time to practice the different parry option. The only confusing think is that certain weapon types have different swing timings and getting a parry correctly will still lead to you getting hit...I'm not sure if that is intentional or not
@@eldiegoetc9257 🙄 how do you know that rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock? It's not that mindblowing
@@eldiegoetc9257 no?
I don't like the parry system and it happens so often
Nome Cognome same
Same it's my only problem with Ninjala
Same
Yeah hopefully Nintendo will change the parry system in a future update
the thing that sucks about it is that hitting ZR is the only way to halt you from being stun locked!
Never got a chance to try out the Testfire, but from what I've seen, my biggest problem is the Parry mechanic. There is no skill to it; but it makes up such an overwhelming amount of encounters and influences your score so heavily, matches may as well be a roll of the dice.
I feel like the rock-paper-scissors mechanic should be scrapped completely, and make it skill-based. I don't know what to, but something that requires legitimate skill.
Tobi of the Akatsuki you can dodge out of parry and then get a free punish or you can bait out someone using a parry and time it out because bad player will practically spam it all the time so you can easily get some sick plays off
Glad I discovered such a small channel with such high quality. Keep it up, dude! (RUclips recommended actually worked lets goooo)
I don’t really like the hole luck aspect. I wish they would implement a more skillful way
sure there are ways to get oout of it but then that just makes the game WAY too unpredictable and screws up your play style
It would be cool if they just replace the rock, paper, scissor system with a skilled system like:
Move the left stick in the shown direction and do more combos in that way than your enemy.
Ooh, I like that idea!
you should mention this to the developers, i know i will!
@@iaopa3587 Thanks, I also thought about that but I don't know how to contact them :/
@@luuigi5007 i just tweeted them to their page, who knows they'll read it.
@@iaopa3587 If they do then pls do not claim it was your idea ok?😂
When the full game releases im gonna make sure i use everything in my disposal.
You and me both! It's what makes these sort of games fun, in my opinion.
Good luck getting in right now, for some reason they're still under maintenance.
Imakuni_BoomAtack i got in the game is super fun even if your bad (me)
Markeece Mobley my main issue is Eagle City never shows up making the yo-yo with the beam Ultimate useless.
Imakuni_BoomAtack I made a lobby for people to join and I put the map as eagle city before I played the map I was wondering why it was never played because it looks so good but after playing the map I realized it’s a little to big(that’s what she said)
Love the video. Hope you make more of these, because I'm subscribed now!
The Academy was my favorite map, while I do love the city it has it's problems.
- it's a Huge map and I don't move fast enough and I have to keep spamming the dash button
- it was very hard to find drones
There are shinoni cards that let you see drones through walls! Also they level up with increased range. That’s also stuff that will come naturally from learning the map geography.
There is gonna be a LOT of “art” of the game’s gimmick and the characters in “sticky” situations.
The age of the characters makes me disturbed by this revelation, even if the gun merely makes the user younger as the downside rather than only being used by younger people.
Welcome to the internet.
Eh hem.....ok boomer
@Basketbomber Slackingson
Rule 34: if it exist there is porn of it
What if bigger weapons always won parries, and parry's only happen on equal size weapons.
You know that is an interesting idea. Kind of makes sense too.
@@NickCharles It also helps with your idea of focusing more on the drones and upgrading your S-energy so that your weapon gets bigger and you win more battles.
that would be kind of ridiculous though as it would completely unbalance this already shaky game
These are great criticisms and I hope that they get adressed as I also thought that the parry system was the weakest part of the experience for me. I hope these get adressed upon release and that the game has longetivity!
Thanks, me too!
Finally got the game heres what I can say:
-Electro hammer is too OP
-The fact that you can't break the sheild when someone is about to swing at you with the hammer delay makes that tatic too OP
- That second baton that always breaks your weapon is too OP. Like it can deadass break with 1 hit-
-Eagle City is a mess
-I wish you could earn a bit more Jala for free
-You shouldn't have to always be an object in order to heal. You should also be able to heal while not being hit for a certian period of time, maybe have it heal slower if you're not camoflauge?? Idk
-People should not be able to tag into a 1 v 1 unless they use their special.
my complains about cosmetics: they always show off the CoOl GeAr, yet you NEVER GET GIVEN ANY CLOTHES! also why can't you switch characters?
I forgot I commented this. I might edit this in the future
I just need the hitstun to be toned *way* down, if you fail a parry, you might as well give up since you can’t do anything
Subscribed! Hopefully I’ll see more ninjala content from you! This was really good!
Oh my god, this content is really goood how do you not have at least 100k yet?
When I played the second Ninjala Open Beta, it also made me think of Mario Kart because of how skill as well as luck [with parrying] was required to place 1st.
I tried Drill Beast and it became my favourite weapon. I pressed the Y Button with Drill Beast for mobility and I found its Gum Ninjutsu, Punishing Blade, useful for scoring multiple IPPONs.
I am still looking forward to the full release of Ninjala.
I definitely like the drill beast for getting ippons. Shame though because I liked the trick ball more for most everything else. I feel like the trick ball with a different special that's not so easily cancelled or avoided would have been better, but perhaps it would also ruin the game balance that way.
This was so interesting to watch! And I agree that the parry system is a bit to luck based. Out of my friend group I got the most battles at around 14 matchs. I won most parries. But I mainly used my Y attack as I used the spin drill. The game does need more mechanics, and with it being pushed back to next month. We should hopefully see more things fix in the game. But I am glad the disguise is there to be used as healing. Since most people were always in the middle. I was able to run out to the outskirts to heal up, get back in and do some clean up with my gum, Y attack, or special. Great video overall with how you addressed each issue so far! Can't wait to see another after this next beta test.
I’m playing the second session this weekend and I’m with you on every criticism here. The tutorial also needs to attempt to teach you the flow of battle. It’s so awkward to even know what’s happening in a given engagement, why you’re not moving, kind of knocked down, what hitting ZL does after getting parried, etc.
This is a splatoon situation; the default mode will be extremely flawed because the game is designed towards the 4v4 ranked modes instead of the casual battle royale, just like turf war and ranked in splatoon.
What was wrong with turf war
But splatoon has never tried to do a battle royale type game. I was always meant to be a team up game, so you can't compare the two. That's like comparing apples and oranges.
Love this kind of quality keep it up
Wow this video is so well done. I thought you had 200-300k subs based on how the video was presented. Keep it up I love the content.
You only have 133 subs? That sucks. I understand what it's like to be underrated because I've been there before, so I'll sub!
Why is this channel so underrated? Subscribed!
Dude i loved this video first
Time finding your channel. How are you not big already?
Thank you! Having hardly any content and irregular uploads certainly doesn't help, but I hope to fix that soon!
I agree with u on that! I do hope they can change it up a bit! I want this game to do well! Great vid as well!👍
Same here. Thank you!
we need more game reviewers like you so guess what lad imma subscribe
9:40
RIP Toe lol
Couldn’t have said it better myself! I was so excited when the game officially came out but I now find myself not playing very often because I find the parry system so frustrating; that and the fact that your character gets stuck in combos so easily. I feel like that takes so much skill out of the game. Great analysis and recommendations!
I agree but you can actually escape a parry i think it is with L
so I played a lot of the open beta today and I agree with everything you said, the problem with hiding is that the players can see you anyways a little mark appears on the object you become and it even auto targets sometimes which is bs because it takes all the meaning of it. My tactics to win the games were usually focus on the drones and when I get the special I try to ippon as many people as possible, it was the only way to get ippons without that shitty rock paper scissors mechanics
Wow, I thought u were some big Nintendo RUclipsr but I looked at your sub count. Your content is SO good for such a small channel. I wish you more subs!
Thank you for your constructive feedback on the game! You really made a good video here, and I hope to see more of your content in the future!
I just uncovered some new info on how parries work that could greatly change your perspective...
*You can dodge out of parries.*
If you choose the wrong direction, there is a window in which the opponent swings around you to attack. You can dodge away to avoid punishment during this animation provided you have enough s-meter to perform a dodge. This makes parrying no longer a black and white outcome in which one opponent is randomly granted the hand at random, but a little back and forth game of preparation and reaction time. Parries become more about whoever has the most s-meter to tank unlucky outcomes than the outcome of one parry deciding the fight.
-
*PS:* the dodge button is the L-button, in case you missed it. I know I did for my first ten games. And when I did notice its existence, I never used it, because it seemed almost purposeless. But now we know the purpose.
0:35 When i saw that character, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY! But I screamed, “NATHANIEL BRANDY?”
During this latest test witch was yesterday if you did not know they added the ability to press the L button and the parry would stop, but there was a 1-second stun but that really didn't affect you I used this multiple times to maybe use mine alt or my "Y" ability. But you couldn't do this every time but that makes sense or the parry system wouldn't be used at all.
I think there should be more general combat options.Your zr attacks are the only ones without a cooldown (I don't fully understand the gum attacks but they seem more tricky to implement in the moment) and really all you have is a simple attack combo which you kinda just spam around, even auto homing onto your opponent.
Idk if this is something they added recently, but the break attack is a great way to play around the parry cycle. See, youll get in a parry if both of you attack at the same time, but you can also iniciate a parry by hitting the ZL after being hit, that makes your charcater stop and kinda emits a purple glow. At that moment if you get attacked with a break attack (R i think) you pretty much get stunned. So yeah, theres a lot of play around it. Plus, with a big weapon you win the parries on draws as well so thats another modifier
I love your criticism!! You actually tell them how to improve on the game without sounding like a your trashing on the game! New subscriber!!
Honestly u deserve more subs
Thank you! We'll get there, every channel starts at 0!
Nice Constructive Feedback! ^^
I totally agree. I found that if you aim for the direction of your weapon helped win parrying
Did the R button just not have any functionality at all in the open tests? Because after the game is out and trying it myself... Its prettt easy to bait out a parry, then weapon break them...
i noticed in the most recent open beta test that happened theyu actually included an option to just flat out leave the stalemate, and that net me a few wins so im happy
is it just me but does it feel like the music hammer is broken? like you can't get out if the spam the static ball repeatedly then they'll use their breaker right after.
i did think the parry stuff was kinda dumb... most of the time i had no idea if what i was doing was good or bad and it gets pretty hectic. like it really just seems down to luck
One time I got 1st place by avoiding people all together and just attacking drones, so it is possible. The y attack for the scroll saber is a lifesaver for me, and I found a way to (almost) ensure my win in the parry, depending on the weapon in training mode.
I just kinda hate that you have to buy Jala IRL in order to further customize your character. I'm not allowed to buy them :(
By the way when im playing ninjala i sometimes get hit multiple times to the point were i cant do anyhting and i cant even parry
I've learned a lot from your review. Thanks
The grab for the the hammer that OHKOS YOU AND PUTS YOU IN IPPON LIKE OHKO?!
I agree with what you said but I think the parry mechanic can be countered by the break attack (correct me if I am wrong)
In theory, yes the break mechanic should do that. In practice, I found it to be very inconsistent to the point it lead to me getting KO'd more often than I'd break free. I also have to double check my footage but I don't remember the break mechanic being mentioned once when the game explained the controls to me.
By the number of people who just had no idea the mechanic exists - myself included until the final beta session! - I think it wasn't explained well, if at all.
WHY IS THE BUTTON TO BLOCK ATTACKS THE SAME BUTTON TO BLOW BUBBLEGUM?!?
One thing I would change is ninjutsu damage. Some instantly IPPON your opponents, some would let you ram over 3 people and have them be at low health and have your KO's stolen because you couldn't do a follow up attack.
your criticism is actually really good! though interestingly enough ive found that people that played the beta alongside me all had the same complaints of eagle city being TOO big
sneaking around as a ninja on that map would definitely lead to a lot more interesting tactics, but yes it is very daunting to have to run around most of the time finding people
at least that was my problem as well as i played (parry mechanics aside *shivers*)
Yes, I also got that feeling after playing the second open beta. The time limit sort of starts working against you there.
@@NickCharles Not helped by how spread out the drones can be from eachother, making powering up your weapon almost impossible at times.
You really deserve more support and subscribers
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words.
It's sooo fun, but the tutorial really needs an improvement, and something about the parrying feature needs to change, I just can't place what
Actually there is a tiny bit more to the attacks but I think it depends on which weapon you are using, like the drill, while attacking if your put your stick down you would do a spin attack, putting it left would make your character teleport and attack from the side and same with the right. (I’m not 100% sure about the left and right attacks but the down is correct and I don’t remember the up one if there was one)
Was there any change? Would love to see your review on the state of the game now that it's out. Thanx
I thought the same thing now that it’s finally out I played like 3-5 games thinking it was just a copy of splatoon somewhat. Now that I’ve played it a few days and put in like 100 games I’m getting the flow of combat and combos with specials and wide attacks and incorporating a lot of s energy moves. This game starts daunting then feels boring for a bit then when it finally “opens up” to you it becomes awesome! Just keep playing and practicing utilizing all the mechanics. I really really love your idea on ippons not being rewarded to parry. That’s such a good idea.
Alright, so i played the second open beta and here is a few things i didn't particularly enjoy
1. Knockdown state, if i were to get knocked down once it would be all over for me since they could dash right up to me and i still wont be able to move at all.
2. Attacks seem....slow, sometimes they just feel awkward and out of place, really hope to see some faster attacks.
3. Love the Trick ball gum (basketball looking weapon), and looking to main it but its special is really broken, i could be minding my own business and see a group of people all fighting, since the fighting is slow and a lot of moves have a lot of end lag, i can simply throw it and get 4 free ippons.
4. This goes with 3, the current maps all have a gathering place, WNA academy is just at any one of the 4 corners of the inside and eagle city is either at the top center or the bottom road, so its really simple at getting ippons with the rocket special from trick ball gum.
5.Tutorial absolutely needs a revamp, i was able to play a few games and tutorial and i realized they had a card system that gives perks, which they didn't say anything about. You got a few medals which you can use to improve or get new cards. They need to be more clear about what you can do in this game.
6.Rewards, idk. They are kinda meh, sometimes you get a soundtrack for when you are winning and sometimes you can get a weapon skin which wears off in 20 games(from what I've seen), then probably the most important reward is exp and the medals but even the exp doesn't really matter since lvling up doesn't seem to give anything. Maybe they have something planned for them but for now, seems useless.
7. Drones are kinda just there, like i know its useful but half the time that could be spent looking for drones for a even worse reward could be spent getting ippons and getting more points for just 2 ippons. That is where the post game rewards come in, Drones give 500 as a bonus and ippons give 1000, obviously people will be going for ippon bonuses which will basically make drones useless. From when i played it 8th-5th place usually got the drone bonus which would not do much to boost them while 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, received the ippon bonus which boosted them up more than you could expect.
That's probably all of the ones i can think of at the moment, if anyone has any other problems feel free to reply to them here.
anyone know what the scribbles mean when parrying?
Maybe instead of the parry system, their could be a block or a dodge. that beats the normal attack but not the gun shot attack making a soft counter move triangle:
Normal > Gum shot > Block > Normal.
Also, attacks hit from behind should deal more damage.
After I figured out how to gum break I always baited out the parry making things a lot easier
While I do agree with you on all of your statements, there’s actually a reason why nobody has been using disguises, and that’s the fact that there’s a targeting system in the game
If you actually click down on the right stick, you’ll be able to lock on to people, this completely counters disguises, HARD, as with this targeting you can see through disguises
There’s also the fact that more aware players will be able to notice changes, and be able to sniff out people with disguises
I’d say, on top of disguises, you can use cover to spy on enemies for those shinobi tactics you said in the video
I hope the props in the map change where theyre at so disguises would be useful
You deserve more subs.
Thank you! We'll get there someday!
100% agreed. I don't even know how to guess what your opponent will pick in the parry thing, I just pick a random direction. It's way too stressful!!
Just a question: how u get more gum it doesnt let me play without one
It's great to see criticism done right!
You just got a new sub
nice vid i subbed
Well don’t expect to play the other map as it only plays WNA, Eagle City doesn’t show up in quick match for some reason.
They should add a damage buff by striking from behind because it will reward the player for engaging in fights by sneaking around and stuff. Maybe they should also make the parry system to work only once per engagement or have a cool down timer so that it doesnt get spammy but i wasnt able to play a match when the beta was open so idk.
I can't even play ninjala, it always says theres an error. Help?
Uh personally I only like encounter parries 3 times per match because im a really good break attacker so when i bait their parry out with my gum shoot i break their weapon using break attack then procced to IPPON them.
If you want to dodge the blue shell. Then you makes sure someone is close behind you then when you see the blue shell you break
Now that team mode has released it’s really fun
Lmao watching these videos so I can prepare myself. Ik im gonna be a failure at parrying and landing hits when those arrows show up LOL
I believe the battle system is fine as is, in most matches, I don't specifically go for parry situations, as you explain, it is (mostly) random, and that fact alone deters you from just getting into parry situations, even when i had all three assist codes for the sudden burst shinobi card, i still don't want to risk the chance of getting the equivalent of reverse 3-0'd, i just attempt to get a k.o. or an IPPON, not specifically one or the other. Battle I would not say is monotonous, you have so many abilities that in most situations, you have access to all of them, since most cool down pretty quickly, every battle is a quick flurry of action, you see an opponent, maybe do a gum shoot or special, maybe get an upper hand, get a combo, and/or enter a parry, k.o.
As for "stalemates", how do you get into one? if you attack and they do the same attack, thats a parry, which leads to either a combo followed by a k.o, or another parry, and one less parry available. If you get a combo off, then thats fine, either a parry, or a k.o. Are you saying being in a parry situation is a stalemate?
At this stage in the game, people may not have been all that good at the game, and i must confess, i am not as good as i should be a month into it. And thus people are not using somewhat niche features. Morphing is not very often used as it requires you to stay motionless to be effective, something that happens very rarely in such an active game as this, mostly i use it when i'm hurt and just got away from an enemy, or when i'm waiting for a drone to appear. It doesn't help that the areas in most maps are pretty barren of objects, and experienced players can recognize places where there arent usually props. the other mechanics disuse can (mostly) be chalked up to beginner simplification.
In most situations, you can use your abilities to gain an advantage and potentially avoid parrys, i mean dodging with L can just straight up end parry encounters, and gum binds score IPPONs too, making that just as incentivized as parrys, in fact better, as it stuns them, making them unable to react. In fact, more often then not, when i'm just minding my own business, destroying a drone, or i see someone doing that, i will actively try to get behind them (usually to not very good results) and take them by surprise.
But yes, usually morphing and tactics like that are used far less commonly than others, but in such a fast paced game, the devs would need to really incentivise it to give players a reason to use it more frequently.
One thing that I think you missed (or at least didn't mention) is that the basic attack can be controlled using directional input, like with the parry. If you move the joystick in a certain direction just before you make an attack, then the attack will change based on the direction you input, with the directions being forward, back, and either left or right (which just activate the same attack). Thus is very important because I was able to win most matches with the hammer by inputting a certain combo. It definitely adds a bit of strategy and lowers the number of parries that you get caught in.
Thought ya'all should know all that.
Sorry for the long read. My comments get lengthy very easily.
this review deserves a subscription
“The players aren’t having fun the way I want them to!”
The way you pronounce Ninjala is funny. Incorrect, but funny. In the title screen it's pronounced "Nihn-JAW-law" not "Nihn-Juh-luh." Regardless, this was an amazing in-depth review and I agree with literally every point you made. You got my sub!
After the second and final beta, I have to say that sneaking up on people is a lot more fun. Running up a wall or using a disguise next to a drone to get the drop on someone really makes the game feel more like it's about ninjas.
Edit: On the topic of parrying, a better idea would be to make a mini game where you have to follow button prompts that get faster until someone fails. It would go with the ninja theme since you have to be fast with your reflexes. And while I'm talking about reflexes, there should be a good use for the dodge other than choosing you don't feel like fighting today. Maybe it could be used for smoke bombs instead, so that if someone attacks you, you can use smoke bombs and the cloaking ability to get the upper hand. The smoke could work in a way that if an enemy player steps into it their screen gets clouded and maybe they get the double effect and some smoke clouds moving around to make players hard to track if they cloak, and if you use it in my previously suggested parry idea, it pretty much guarantees loss. Of course they would be some kind of gum ability so that they're limited, and they would be expensive so that you can't reverse an entire situation on someone by spamming them with smoke. If we really want to get stupid, the dodge could instead be a temporary invisibility move, which, now that I think about it, would be way more balanced than smoke. It could work like the normal cloak, but drain the cloak gauge much faster, which would be shared between disguise and invisibility, and make every effect from your abilities appear completely invisible, such as the effect with gum dash, until you hit someone. That was long.
I definitely like the idea in theory, but since the game uses automatic target tracking I'm not sure if it could be implemented in a way that is meaningful.
I fully agree with this now that the game is out it's just sooooooooooooooooo ugh to get the jump on someone only for them to mash ZL and parry and win it and I lose because epic random rps moment
Honestly I want a weapon that’s based ALL around long ranged attacks
It'll be interesting to see the full weapon loadout once the game is released. I know the trick ball had a long range S-burst attack in what I call the tactical nuke, and the gum attacks are typically ranged too. You could probably do longer range regular attacks, but there would have to be a downside to them too, like worse accuracy, or lower damage.
We need gum snipers now
and for his neutral special he wields a gum
I feel like there should be little challenges/missions that would give you a reward or more points to level up for example:use only shinobi tactics in _ match(es) which could get people more used to using shinobi tactics and it could be more fun than just “mindless” and it could be more skill based
Very informative, I didn't have a chance to do the beta because if the time slots but I have it ready to go when it gets released. Looking at this it seems pretty basic but all I could think was this game is begging for a prop hunt mode.
So, now that ninjala is officialy out, were the problems fixed or not?
My thoughts exactly, also they should separate Ippon master and drone master since the latter gets overshadowed, where the player actually gets an opportunity to explore the map and seek the drones
I actually try to bensneaky. I place a gumchi and someone thinks it is a person and attacks it. i then come from behind and then attack. I also blend in behind the drones and then attack. I usually get first place. Also with your points I agree. The parry is random and may need to be modified and eagle city would have helped them push actual stealth tactics as being bigger and more hiding places. I love the video and I do agree. Please make more.
Honestly would anyone be surprised if this was a smash character for the second pack?
There is room for improvement i just hope they decide too
Ok, after one year of ninjala being out I'm gonna address your statements.
1: Parry system actually doesn't affect the game too much, people have found ways to work around it and they dash out of parries a lot more.
2: This most recent season, one of the Shinobi cards got a new ability, which if you land an attack with the new power up while morphing, you get a bind to score an ippon.
3: as the meta advanced, people have actually been begging to nerf drones because of how little people attacked.
Overall, all of your complaints have been addre and you should try this game again