by McJorneil, HSM guest contributor

Konnichiwa!

It has been quite some time since I last wrote about Peakvox Ninja, the brilliant third-person shooter game from O-Two. At the time of writing I could barely contain my excitement as the game had yet to arrive in the European and North American regions of PlayStation Home. Several months later it finally happened – and I have witnessed many new shinobi rise and clash. Currently, every known reward, weapon, and upgrade for the game has been released. Some players have successfully reached the highest level available and moved on to different things, while others continue to visit on a daily basis, honing their skills and competing for leaderboard ranks or just for the sheer fun.

So the question is where does it go from here? This is something I would like to discuss, as I have many ideas to present. I do not know how much money the developers have managed to make, but as a huge fan I hope to demonstrate just how much potential I still see in this game. Let’s start by taking a look at the newest (and most expensive) Peakvox Ninja related content that was released: the Metal Ninja Machines.

I have to be honest, when I first saw these in the store I immediately rushed to buy the gold one. Not because it was gold, but because it looked different from the other two available and because it could transform into a lion. I probably don’t need to point this out but lions are awesome. Robots and ninjas are awesome too. Therefore a ninja robot which happens to also be able to transform into a robot lion is too good to pass up on having.

Anyway, it was no doubt an impulse buy and short-sighted of me as I had also made the assumption that at the price of $6.99 these full body costumes would include some kind of defensive perk in the game. After all, the previous costumes released for the game all had defensive perks. It only makes sense that these would as well, right? No such perk was mentioned in the item description however, so I was wrong to assume. Lesson learned. Metal Ninja Machines do not grant you extra defense and always be sure to pay attention to the description instead of making assumptions.

Wait, whaaaaaaat!?

The Metal Ninja Machines do not grant extra defense? Something is very odd here. And considering I have seen very few of these machines running around, I’m inclined to believe they didn’t sell as well as they could have. I can remember a very brief conversation I had with another Home user regarding the Metal Ninja Machine I purchased. It went something like this:

Random Home User: Cool costume. How much was it?

Me: Thanks! It costs $6.99.

Random Home User: Oh… Does it have any perks in the game?

Me: Unfortunately not.

Random Home User: Oh… That sucks.

My takeaway from that is people do genuinely think the costumes are cool, but even with a couple custom emotes and animations, unless it provides some kind of advantage in the game, the $6.99 price tag is more than what most are willing to pay. That’s one dollar more than O-Two’s Seasons Themed apartment and their Moonlight personal space, which provides an EXP bonus for owners. In a way, O-Two has set up a consumer expectation that anything released for Peakvox Ninja will provide some kind of advantage or function in the game. That’s only part of the problem though.

The other part is the fact these Ninja Machines do not have female counterparts. I have a couple guesses as to the reason for this. The first being that O-Two felt not enough women would be interested in playing as a robot to justify the development of feminine Ninja Machines, and the second being that O-Two may have wanted to see how successful the costumes are with men before designing more. Whatever the case might be, I did see plenty of users unhappy with the decision to exclude females, especially when it came to the reward you get for reaching Level 50.

Metal Ninja Machine No.4 is an alternate colored variant of Ninja Machine No.3 and it happens to possess all of the same emotes and animations as the other Ninja Machines. Indeed, it is a very nice reward item. Certainly one of the best to ever appear in Home. The problem is it gives people less incentive to purchase the paid versions.

Why spend $7 on a costume when you can get one exactly like it for free? Had I been aware of this reward’s existence prior to my purchase of the gold Ninja Machine, there’s a good chance I may never have bought it. This is a contributing factor to why I believe O-Two would do well to update their Metal Ninja Machines by applying a damage reduction perk to each of them in the same manner that was done with the Ninja Crow, Ninja Swallow, Ninja Yamato, and Ninja Miyabi outfits. For quick reference, here are some details for every costume that was released prior to the Ninja Machines:

Name	Gender	Perk	Cost
Ninja Crow	Male	Reduces damage from melee weapons by 10%	$2.99
Ninja Swallow	Female	Reduces damage from melee weapons by 10%	$2.99
Ninja Yamato	Male	Reduces damage from projectile weapons by 20%. Can be worn with other Peakvox Ninja upgrades.	$4.99
Ninja Miyabi	Female	Reduces damage from projectile weapons by 20%. Can be worn with other Peakvox Ninja upgrades.	$4.99

 

As you can see, every outfit that provides extra defense in the game has been created for male and female avatars. And for two extra dollars, a player receives an additional 10% in damage reduction as well as the option to wear other helpful items designed to give an edge in battle. If the developer was to continue following this trend, one might assume the next outfit in line would reduce the damage received from melee weapons and projectiles by 30%. Since these are Metal Ninja Machines we’re talking about, it makes perfect sense that they would be able to take a lot more hits in battle. However, I personally think that 30% would be too low for them.

My suggestion is to give Ninja Machines No.1, No.2, and No.3 a defensive perk that reduces the damage received from all weapon types in the game by 50%. Yep, you read that right. Half damage from everything except elemental ninjutsu. Before you say “That’s a bit extreme,” there’s one more thing I would like to add. In order for this to be fair, the Metal Ninja Machines would also have to be made completely incapable of healing. That means the rice bales, water ninjutsu, and the medicine cabinet’s health regeneration would all be rendered useless while playing as a Ninja Machine.

Since these things would be able to sustain more damage, I believe it would simply be too overpowering if they also had the capability to recover from said damage. As for Machine No.4, I think it would be fine if it had the same perk as the others, with the exception being that it receives 30% less damage instead of 50%. This would keep it consistent with the others in terms of function but not to the point where it totally undermines the paid outfits in effectiveness. Plus it gives players who work their way up the ranks without owning any of the ninja armors a chance to enjoy well-earned added defense. A player who is able to defeat a Ninja Machine should be proud of that accomplishment, and perhaps receive bonus EXP and Gold at the end of a match for doing so.

Having more Ninja Machines running around in the game would be a welcome sight in my opinion. Their high endurance would add a new layer of depth, variety, and challenge. Not only that, but as more players discover how powerful they are, there’s a better chance more will be purchased, further supporting O-Two in the process. It’d be especially cool if the Ninja Machines changed into their animal forms while using ninjutsu, however I do not know if that would be technically possible as it would prevent them from being able to attack with weapons while in that state. Maybe it would work better for their normal running animation instead.

If you look closely at how they are designed, each Ninja Machine has been marked with either red, blue, or gold in certain places. These colors correspond to the game’s elemental ninjutsu, which relates to other types of perks I’ve considered after asking myself what would make me buy all three. What if by owning all three Ninja Machines (excluding No.4) a player could receive some additional enhancements to their robots? Here are some ideas I’ve come up with:

Ninja Machine	Bonus 1	Bonus 2
No.1 (White & Blue)	Water Ninjutsu damage reduced by 50%	Ability to run under water.
No.2 (Black & Red)	Fire Ninjutsu damage reduced by 50%	Automatic bullet bonus and additional weapon slots.
No.3 (Gold)	Lightning Ninjutsu damage reduced by 50%	Ability to run on land at double speed.

 

As you can see, I’ve made it so that each machine would receive additional defense against a specific elemental ninjutsu, along with a perk that complements the element. The water resistant No.1 would be suited for combat in the water. The fire resistant No.2 would be well-equipped for all out attack. And the lightning resistant No.3 would have the ability to move at greater speed while on land. That’s all definitely something I’d be willing to pay for. And the best part is they each apply things that have already been designed into the game in some capacity, which would hopefully minimize the amount of coding that would be required to implement these suggestions.

Now then, what about the kunoichi of Peakvox Ninja? Should O-Two design female ninja robots or should women simply buy the ones released for male avatars? Well, another explanation that recently occurred to me as to why women did not receive Metal Ninja Machine costumes is that O-Two released a set of unique female fighting outfits, including one that is rewarded by exchanging in-game gold at the Peakvox Ninja reception desk. There’s just one very big problem here. These outfits are completely hidden from people visiting the public space!

The only current way to buy them is by visiting the Costumes store (or using the newly added Inspect feature). This needs to be corrected. I only very recently discovered this, so I’m unsure as to when the outfits were actually released. This would probably explain why I haven’t seen anyone wearing them. Ah, but there’s yet another problem. If O-Two were to update the Metal Ninja Machines with perks similar to what I’ve suggested, how would these two-piece female outfits compare?

They only cost $0.99 ($1.98 if you buy the top and bottom) and also lack unique emotes and animations. You couldn’t exactly add in-game defense to them without raising the price to justify the perk. You could, however, release new accessories that work together with the outfits and provide a wide range of options in perks. I’ve always wanted to see more variety in upgrades for this game, and these different earrings I came up with would be great at doing that:

Fighter’s Earring of Protection (Right/Left)	Reduces the damage received from all weapon types. Wear two of them to reduce damage further. Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Elements (Right/Left)	Reduces the damage received from elemental ninjutsu (15%). Wear two of them to reduce damage further (30%). Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Strength (Right/Left)	Increases the damage inflicted by your weapons. Wear two of them to increase damage further. Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Restoration (Right/Left)	Fills a portion of ninjutsu meter when attacked with elemental ninjutsu. Wear two of them to increase restoration further. Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Fire (Right/Left)	Greatly reduces the damage received from fire ninjutsu (25%). Wear two of them to reduce damage further (50%). Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Water (Right/Left)	Greatly reduces the damage received from water ninjutsu (25%). Wear two of them to reduce damage further (50%). Only works with female fighting outfits.
Fighter’s Earring of Lightning (Right/Left)	Greatly reduces the damage received from lightning ninjutsu (25%). Wear two of them to reduce damage further (50%). Only works with female fighting outfits.

 

Players would be able to use several combinations of earring types to enhance their playing style. Maybe you’re aggressive and you’d like to do more damage, making the Earrings of Strength a good match. Or perhaps you’re more cautious and favor longevity over power, making the Earrings of Protection your ideal choice. A player who’s tired of falling victim to elemental ninjutsu might find the Earrings of Elements, Fire, Water, and Lightning extremely useful. And the Earrings of Restoration would be especially helpful when you’re in a pinch and just a tad short on some much needed chikuwa. Whatever the case might be, I can definitely see myself buying them all if they were ever created.

So there you go! This is just the first portion of a long list of suggestions I have yet to put forward. If I were to write them all here, this article would be absolutely massive. Therefore I will have to wrap things up here, until next time. For now, I hope those of you reading this found my ideas interesting.

Share

Tweet

2 Responses to “Where Will the Peakvox Ninja Strike Next? (Part 1)”

1. Jin Lovelace says:

   October 12, 2013 at 3:01 pm

   This article is absolutely golden! I seriously hope to see this implemented.

   Reply
   • McJorneil says:

     October 16, 2013 at 3:21 am

     Thank you Jin! I am hoping for the same thing.

     Reply