Ninja Gaiden Black : Chapter 9 - Combat & Enemy Data Analysis | "By the Numbers"
450:00 Intro
5:52 NGB Chapter 9 [Normal]
Hey everybody! Guilty here and you read that right—Ninja Gaiden Black: By the Numbers is back!
It’s been a long time since the last episode of the series was published and honestly, I don’t really have an excuse. But the past is past and if you’re here, it’s likely because you want some of that sweet, gooey analytic action.
Before we get going, I do want to share a few acquisitions I made some months ago. These are various game guides for Ninja Gaiden 2004 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, imported straight from Japan. (Yes—strangely, Ninja Gaiden Black did not seem to get its own dedicated publication.) In these pages, I have the closest to what are the official names of enemies and fiends, and it’s with the aid of on-screen translation software and ChatGPT that I have made this content comprehensible. Going forward, rather than referencing the Xbox executable—the XBE—when listing the enemies fought in a chapter, it will be from these sources where I draw their names or any other descriptors.
We’re picking things back up in Chapter 9 on Normal difficulty. Tairon is still on lockdown, but not for much longer as Ryu infiltrates the Vigoorian military base. It’s Ayane’s approximation that destroying the Army’s communications tower will be enough to plunge Ryu’s pursuers into disarray, so much so that he can slip back into the shadows and resume his own hunt for Doku.
In Chapter 9, I fought 26 Heavy Infantry, 24 Heavy Infantry (with Rocket Launchers), 2 Heavy Infantry (Mounted Twin Machine Gun Turret), 24 FL-2000 drones, 1 Vulcan cannon (atop an Infantry Armored Vehicle), 2 tanks, and 1 attack helicopter.
Of the 26 machine gun-wielding Heavy Infantry, the majority—69%—were assigned 640 health points. The second-most prevalent assignment was 760 points (19%), followed by 520 points (8%), and finally, 820 points (4%).
Of the 24 rocket-firing soldiers, the majority—54%—were assigned 760 points. The next most-prevalent assignment was 640 (29%), followed by 900 points (12%), and lastly, 980 points (4%).
There were only two Mounted Twin Machine Gun Turrets, just outside the Warehouse. Each of those soldiers had 760 points, similar to the rocket launcher-types.
Three-quarters of the troupe of FL-2000 drones that harass you when inside the Warehouse were assigned 180 base points; the remaining 25% were assigned 200 points.
Both of the tanks are assigned 9000 points and, just like when we met last chapter, the attack helicopter is assigned 10000 points.
Just playing this chapter opened my eyes to a couple things, but these guides have also enlightened me to game mechanics and details I was not aware of. For instance, the effectiveness of Windmill Slash (Forward-X) is dependent on Ryu’s proximity to the enemy and dictates which of two different levels of damage he inflicts. If Ryu is too far, the attack will deal roughly 17% less than its full potential, almost as if he is clipping the enemy with the Dragon Sword, rather than striking them with its full force. Such an event occurs in this chapter; that damage is indicated with blue fill color.
I also discovered that, when fighting the tanks and attack helicopter, Ryu’s arrows can do two different levels of damage. This apparently depends on when the arrow’s impact on the target occurs relative to its release from the bow. You’ll see during play, when using the APFSDS arrows, that some do 640 damage while others do 800, seemingly at random. It was during testing that I was able to “freeze” the helicopter just adjacent to the overpass and discovered then that every arrow fired into it was doing 800 points of damage. This was after freezing the helicopter in-position before conducting its long-distance strafe and seeing every arrow, regardless of placement, returning 640 points of damage. I even discovered the Windmill Shuriken can inflict damage!
Finally, I had previewed Ryu using melee weapons against the tanks in the last episode and I made sure to give that a quick trial for this episode. Indeed, Ryu can use the War Hammer, Dabilahro, and Unlabored Flawlessness to inflict damage against the tanks. However, even with the Vulcan turret and main cannon disabled, the vehicle itself is still very nimble and should not be underestimated.
Until next time: like, subscribe, go outside.
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