June 12, 2008

Heading in the Right Direction: Product Specialist Glenn Stotz Talks Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2
By Louis Bedigian

“The game definitely has, with all these new battle features, tons of strategic elements.”

If you’ve played Naruto: Path of the Ninja for Nintendo DS, you were likely wishing it had been designed for the DS from the ground up. Originally developed for the Game Boy Advance in Japan, Path of the Ninja was limited by old technology, forcing the developers to think narrowly when porting the game to another platform.

Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 won’t be coming to Nintendo’s dinosaur handheld. It won’t appear on any machine except Nintendo DS. Thus, you can expect a much-improved gameplay experience along with several other advancements the developers wanted to implement.

“Thirty characters – that’s the number of playable characters,” said Glenn Stotz, Product Specialist at Tomy Corporation. “The number of characters you’ll encounter [but not play as] is much larger than that. A player on one game save will be able to have 29 characters. The reason being is, toward the end of the story, you have the option to pick between two characters. A single save cannot have both, so you have to choose which one you want.”

As an RPG, Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 carries not only the hype for great gameplay, but also hype for a thoughtful story. How does Path of the Ninja 2 stack up? Give us some concrete story details that'll have us convinced this one is worth playing.

Glenn Stotz: The story in this one is that there’s a rogue ninja. They want to unleash an ancient beast, and in doing so they’re poisoning the area around it. So it’s up to Naruto and the other characters to re-seal [the beast] and stop the enemy.

The interesting thing about this story is that it’s very close to the story people know from the Naruto series but is at the same time very original. Once in the story, you’ll encounter enemies that are encountered in the television series, in sort of a flashback way, but it’s really relevant and new and exciting for the player.

But of course, the story isn't the only non-gameplay element of anticipation: we're also expecting a great soundtrack. What does Path of the Ninja 2 deliver in this area?

GS: A lot of people think, including myself, that [the] Naruto [TV series] has a great soundtrack. We tried to bring that kind of action-packed quality to the game as well. For the American release we added one new track for the battle sequences.

How many characters can you have in your party at one time, and how can characters be changed?

GS: Path of the Ninja 2 features a new four-man squad system. Character changing – I feel this is an improvement over the first game. Instead of having to go to one person in a map to get to different characters, here it’s really quick and easy. You just go to your menu and choose outside of battle.

This next one is a multi-part question: The abovementioned PR also says you'll be able to use the touch screen to execute attacks. Tell us more. Will the touch screen be used for all actions? Can you choose to use the D-pad and buttons instead? And how about character movement (navigating the environment pre-battle) – is this touch-based?

GS: What’s nice about this game being for the DS is that we didn’t have to stick it on a GBA game. You can move your character around, talk to people, activate chests and things and it’s a lot cleaner [implementation].

You execute attacks similar to [the first] Path of the Ninja. You choose your Jutsu and rotate your stylus and touch the screen. Keep the Chakra bar at a certain level by rubbing it – not to execute the attack but to make it more effective.

There’s also the Substitution Jutsu where, [when used] when an enemy attacks, you’ll have a small window to tap the screen. If you do, not only will you avoid damage but will return damage to your attacker.

What are the new Squad Leader and Ninja Tag systems?

GS: The Squad Leader function, basically, out of the four people in your party, one of them you get to pick as your squad leader. That has an effect on battle performance. Let’s say you’re in a group with Naruto and he’s your squad leader. I think his squad leader ability is that you gain more attack power but your defense lowers. Every character has a squad leader bonus like that.

The Ninja Tag system is something that adds a ton of customization to your team. Basically, you find ninja tags throughout the world of the story mode. Each character has a ninja attribute. Let’s say that Naruto at level 50 has 200 attributes. The water resistant ninja tag costs 20 ninja attributes. Well, you can apply that to Naruto, [deducting 20 from the 200 attributes], and use that in battle.

It almost sounds like this is somewhat of a strategy/RPG. Some of the screens look a bit strategic as well. How would you classify the game?

GS: I think the game definitely has, with all these new battle features, tons of strategic elements. This translates into the story mode as well as the multiplayer. It’s the kind of game where you’ll have to prepare for what you think your enemies are going to have. If you’re in a snowy area, you’re going to want to equip some water ninja tags, etc.

Wi-Fi multiplayer is going to be offered, but for me, an RPG is all about the solo experience. What about this game might change my mind?

GS: I think Wi-Fi presents players who like RPGs with… Because the battle in the Wi-Fi mode is essentially like fighting a really hard enemy, something the AI can’t re-produce – nothing your enemy can do in Wi-Fi is scripted. Nothing is foreseeable. If you’re looking for a really big challenge, which RPG players usually are, then Wi-Fi is the way to go.

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