The Ninja Gaiden franchise is often noted for its excessive difficulty that keeps some potential customers away. With Ninja Gaiden 3 though, developer Team Ninja plans to appeal to a wider audience by toning things down a bit.
Director Fumihiko Yasuda talked about how the upcoming action title will have an easier "hero mode" that allows more people to enjoy the story.
"We really wanted to flesh out the story this time around, so we wanted people to enjoy that story and get used to the game as it is," he explained. "In the past the games were really hardcore and we couldn’t get players to stay with us and complete the game."
Team Ninja is working hard on "redefining" Ryu and making him a more relatable protagonist. So Ninja Gaiden 3 will be about both the story and action, rather than a huge focus on the latter like in past entries.
The new "hero mode" is entirely optional, and Yasuda assured longtime fans that the challenge they crave will still be there.
"At the same time we’ve got the super hard difficulty mode," he stated. "We’re keeping the hardcore aspect of the game anyway, we’re just trying to get the players who have never had a go at Ninja Gaiden to come check it out."
[Joystiq]
