Playing through Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge because of the recent NG developments.

It's different so far, which isn't the same as bad, but it's also... kinda... bad so far. My 1) decision to start on Hard and 2) old habits from NG1/2 are surely partly to blame for my impression so far, but also the game just has some inherently bad game design. I didn't even make it past the first chapter and I had already spent 10 hours trying to gel with the new combat system and still kind of failing. And that second chapter... hooooo boy. That hoverjet boss is an absolute trainwreck, ESPECIALLY on Hard, ESPECIALLY on first playthrough.

That said, once I started leveling up weapons and unlocking more moves, the game became much more enjoyable to play. Still, some aspects remain incredibly frustrating, such as the aggressive lock-on, and I don't understand why they didn't just get rid of the Wind Run entirely if they were going to nerf it to such a degree. It can actually get in the way of gameplay now.

But really, fuck that hoverjet. What a phenomenally terrible boss. NG1 and 2 both had their share of bad bosses, but this immediately ranks FAAAR above any of them.