My opinion is that the game really isnt good enough for me. The thought of wasting time replaying a who knows how many minutes long section of the game due to cheap deaths, dealing with the combat that clearly is not very fluid (even if the argument can be made that its on purpose, i disagree with that premise. A responsive game is an intuitively better game) and what are clearly bad item descriptions and lack of direction tells me well in advance that it is a game that will bring me more frustration than enjoyment.
Ninja gaiden 2 was hard and utterly responsive and visceral. Hard alone doesnt make a good game. Nowadays time is a precious resource for those of us that work. This kind of game requires patience, alot of it, to get to the enjoyment. I am glad people who like that have that game to get into, but i cant see it as a great game. It is obviously flawed in a fundamental level.
The ratio of fun to frustration is on a clear 50/50... and it may not even be the fun but simply the feeling of beeing rewarded for putting up with a bad game in order to be rewarded with items/points that will make it more bearable. I just can't help but think there is something fundamentally wrong with that. Its more the game is playing with you than the other way around.
