Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin (Video game discussion)

[DuckBricks]

I will recap the story in full once I beat the game's storyline.

And hopefully more so this Summer. I've always been a sucker for the bounty hunter type character and I can't wait to see his portrayal in the show.

EDIT: Spoilers Ahoy!

The game starts out with Kai retelling what happened on Chen's Island (these are the tutorial levels). Jay calls him out, after Kai claims Jay loses his pants.

Dareth walks in with new students he said he'd bring. Turns out their disguised Ronin goons and they force the Ninja outside. Ronin (in complete Oni Samurai gear) then bombs a cliff side, practically urging the Ninja to follow him.

After catching up with him, Ronin steals a few years of the Ninja's lives (they remember up to the end of the pilot episode of the TV series) with the Obsidian Glaive. Ronin escapes in Ronin R.E.X.

Sensei Wu tells them to meet a man at Kryptarium Prison who has some knowledge of the Obsidian Glaive.

This man tells them to drink a 'Tea of Insight' to locate each weapon. They find the berry needed to brew the tea, and find out that they need to go to each of the locations the Golden Weapons were located and find their corresponding Obsidian Weapons.

The Ninja do just that (the only interesting thing here that happens is that Zane remembers being sold to Chen by Ronin. Beyond that, this secondary plot piece is not expanded further). Ronin uses the Obsidian Glaive on the Serpentine to distract the Ninja on their journeys. It is here that Sensei Wu reveals that the Obsidian Glaive can rewrite memories as well.

The leftover Nindroids go haywire (for no reason at all) and the Ninja save the day (with help from Nya. You get to pilot the Samurai Mech in this level).

Ronin (having now donned his gear he wears in the set, forever discarding the Oni Samurai Gear) eventually runs into them and shows off his new toy. It is a pure elemental power called the Lightning Forge (it's a blue jewel)

Sensei urges them to find the Fire and Ice Forges so that Ronin can't have a full set. Kai, Zane and Wu find the Fire Forge. Jay, Cole and Dareth (complete with 'Zoojitzu' animal styles and the ability to 'communicate' with animals) find the Ice Forge. The Ninja recover the Forges but Dareth screws up, and practically gives Ronin the forges.

Sensei then tells the Ninja that Ronin needs and artifact called the Primal Fulcrum in order to use the Forges. To do this, they find Lloyd and Misako who with the latter's help recovers the artifact. In an attempt to destroy, the Ninja are put into elemental bindings by the Fulcrum. Misako betrays them. Ronin reveals having rewritten her memories. Lloyd angrily attacks Ronin, destroying the Obsidian Glaive in the process, thus restoring Misako's memories.

Ronin heads to Chen's Island to activate the Fulcrum. The Ninja arrive just in time to watch him activate it. They are sent to an unspecified dimension where Ronin powers himself with the elemental forges, builds an Elemental Golem around him, and tosses the Ninja around the dimension.

for the small remainder of the story, including an explanation as to what happened with the helmet of Darkness.

The... end...

Dang this game sucked.

Besides the music, which was subpar, the game was just "wash, rinse, repeat." (i.e. Do this, Sensei tells you what to do next, do the next thing, Sensei tells you what to do next... etc.)

The characters are ruined by shoddy voice acting (it's pronounced "Nee-Ya" not "Nigh-Ya" you nincompoops).

The levels are very straight forward, but when it comes to special abilities, nothing is explained outside of the Ninja's abilities (the Constrictai, and the Skeletons, all of which you can earn have special do-hickeys that you can use. Nothing explains that, though). Which characters you need to choose are unclear for all of the extra tasks and characters you need to accomplish/earn in free-play mode. Speaking of which, toggling between characters that you need for free-play is cluttered due to how many lists of characters (all of which have not context as to their abilities) you need to go through.

The timing and frame rate of the game is also atrocious.

The Ninja's special abilities are meh.

There is nothing cool or fun about this game.

*sigh*... if you do have any more questions, I'll be glad to take them.

Thanks. I just watched most of the cutscenes off of YouTube, and boy are their plot holes EVERYWHERE. This being canon is worse than the TV show's mess-ups.

Some thoughts:

- Why had Zane never mentioned being abducted by a stranger and sold to Chen before, well, before the others actually met Ronin? He clearly remembered being abducted by him. How come none of the ninja asked him how he got to Chen's island? Or even how he rebuilt himself? This could have easily been fixed by Zane finding his memory sais first, and then realizing he already told the other ninja how he had been abducted.

- Morro (presumably) appears at the end as a giant green hand, and Ronin is shocked at the fact that he inadvertently released the ghosts. That was all fine and dandy, and a nice tie-in to the next season, but Morro already appeared at the end of Episode 44...

- No explanation is given when the ninja magically obtain their Tournament "Zukin" outfits when they regain their memories. Not too big of a fault though, as Ninjago does this ALL the time.

- Why can Kai turn a random red katana into the Sword of Fire's motorbike? Why can Cole summon the Roto-Jet from thin air? Why does Zane have his Shruiken-of-Ice Snowmobile???

- I have to admit, I didn't see Misako's betrayal coming. For Lego, that was actually quite good! Normally, betrayals in Lego are seen coming from a mile away. (They're getting better though, with Skylor etc)

- And the exact identity of Ronin was never revealed. Is he a bounty hunter? Kai's long-lost uncle??

- How come we have never heard of Elemental Forges before? Or Obsidian weapons? Or the Tea of Insight? (Tea of Insight could have sure come in handy when fighting the mysterious Chen!)

- Dareth's little thing at the end, while funny, opened up a huge plot hole. I assumed the Stone Army was destroyed by Nya's gun turret at the end of episode 26, which is why the ninja didn't use the Stone Army against the Nindroids or the pseudo-Anacondrai. But Dareth's skit at the end completely ruins this. If the ninja had an all-powerful, indestructible army at their disposal for the past two seasons, why didn't they just use the army to demolish the Nindroids etc, who would have been no match for an indestructible army!!

- Wasn't the Fire Temple destroyed by a volcanic eruption back in the 2012 arc?

- The jokes were unbearably awful. The only one I admit was remotely funny was Jay complaining that all an obsidian scythe does is destroy evil wheat....

- Fire plus Ice makes water..... And there goes another hint at water's introduction to the story

- Agreed, the voice acting is awful. Even the dialogue was horrid; at times, Ronin was menacing and evil sounding, and at other times, he acted like a villainous Jar Jar Binks, at least to me. Telling your enemies that your all powerful evil weapon takes a while getting used to and laughing nervously is not cool, Ronin!

- Why did the Nindroids reactivate and turn evil again???

- Why does the Fangpyre graveyard contains clues to the Primal Fulcrum? Who even made that place? The Serpentine?

[Mandate]

Well, if that's the case, I've still got questions about the Serpentine Wars and the Masters of Fire, Water, Earth, Ice and Lightning, and how Zane was captured. Sadly though, I know you're not able to answer them. We can assume/speculate quite a bit on these things now that we know the nature of Ronin's powers and his greedy nature, yet I get the feeling this will never be explained canonically.

Thank you very much Penkid, we wouldn't have this info so easily without you.

[DraikNova]

Actually, some of those plot holes aren't all that difficult to fill:

Zane's memory was stolen with the obsidian glaive, which might wear off over time, allowing him to remember how he got to Chen's island. And nowhere is it mentioned that that giant hand is Morro, and we know that Ninjago has quite a few alternate dimensions, like the one Garmadon went to. And why exactly would we know who Ronin is? If you're a bounty, you don't go around introducing yourself to everyone, do you? No, you try to stay as secret as possible, so that your marks won't recognize you if they spot you.

There's no real excuse for the rest of them, except that Dareth is a: lazy and b: stupid.

Edited March 26, 2015 by DraikNova

[PenPlays]

Well, if that's the case, I've still got questions about the Serpentine Wars and the Masters of Fire, Water, Earth, Ice and Lightning, and how Zane was captured. Sadly though, I know you're not able to answer them. We can assume/speculate quite a bit on these things now that we know the nature of Ronin's powers and his greedy nature, yet I get the feeling this will never be explained canonically.

Thank you very much Penkid, we wouldn't have this info so easily without you.

Completely unable. There was no development on these plot points whatsoever. It's a shame too, because this game could have been unbelievably fantastic had it been built similar to how the original Lego Star Wars games were, and would have you play through the episodes of the show. Then this would have been absolutely glorious!

[Mandate]

Completely unable. There was no development on these plot points whatsoever. It's a shame too, because this game could have been unbelievably fantastic had it been built similar to how the original Lego Star Wars games were, and would have you play through the episodes of the show. Then this would have been absolutely glorious!

Did they even touch on Kai's father's "dark secrets"?

[CET23]

Did they even touch on Kai's father's "dark secrets"?

No, they didn't.

Edit: I will say that if you are looking for something to force the image of Kai's family onto Ronin, it does appear like he uses fire at one point but that could easily be explained with a flamethrower since he is very bounty hunter-ish

Personally I enjoy this game a lot and love the amount of detail put into each of the unlockable characters. However it does leave a lot of questions that were not answered in game and I find it funny that in the manual at the end of the introduction section it asks: "But just exactly who is this Ronin? And what is his final goal?"; and as far as I can tell (unless there is a secret cutscene) the game doesn't even answer these questions.

Edited March 26, 2015 by CET23

[PenPlays]

Did they even touch on Kai's father's "dark secrets"?

Ed, Edna and Misako are the only parents that showed, or were even mentioned (or playable for that matter). There is no development for any characters outside of Ronin and Zane's one little moment when Zane regained his memories (that effect the TV show, at least). The game is quite literally "point-a to point-b." There are no sidetracks. No extra missions. No special endings. No secrets.

[DraikNova]

Personally I enjoy this game a lot and love the amount of detail put into each of the unlockable characters. However it does leave a lot of questions that were not answered in game and I find it funny that in the manual at the end of the introduction section it asks: "But just exactly who is this Ronin? And what is his final goal?"; and as far as I can tell (unless there is a secret cutscene) the game doesn't even answer these questions.

Why would Ronin even have a final goal? He's a bounty hunter, why exactly would he want something besides money?

[CET23]

Why would Ronin even have a final goal? He's a bounty hunter, why exactly would he want something besides money?

That does seem to be the case, however it would be nice for some confirmation of who he's working for and exactly what they hired him to do. The game basically sends the ninja's off speculating about what he's doing and Ronin never gives any in depth explanation about what exactly he is doing; but I guess that's the sign of a good villain. Ronin does seem to be a very well done character and I can't wait to see what they do with him in the show.

[Vector Prime]

Well talk about wasted potential.

Truth be told it seems all the developers really wanted to do was make a giant hub to explore all the locations because it is rather absurd just how many they crammed in there for really no reason. (why did Nya go to the junkyard when the Ninja visited Kryptarium? Jay apparently called them, so it isn't like she delivered the news in-person.)

The Obsidian Weapons didn't make any sense. One of the things I loved about the pilot episodes was that they actually revealed who hid the weapons and why, but who created the Obsidian ones? And why were they placed where the golden weapons were located; something that only Wu and Kai's father were supposed to know?

But I think the main thing that bugs me is P.I.X.A.L. What happened to her? Did Zane remove her Neural drive for some reason? Was she affected by the memory loss as well? And since now we know that Ronin sold Zane to Chen, did he sell P.I.X.A.L. as well? I'm more or less willing to forgive Zane for not remembering Chen due to him having memory problems, but there's no reason P.I.X.A.L. never mentioned him.

[Ninja of Fire]

No way can P.I.X.A.L. be deleted, that would be pointless for Zane to insert her into his neuro-drives. I don;t think she was even mentioned in the game.

[Lind Whisperer]

Do the pirates appear at any point, or are their characters unlockable?

[Mandate]

No, they didn't.

Edit: I will say that if you are looking for something to force the image of Kai's family onto Ronin, it does appear like he uses fire at one point but that could easily be explained with a flamethrower since he is very bounty hunter-ish

Personally I enjoy this game a lot and love the amount of detail put into each of the unlockable characters. However it does leave a lot of questions that were not answered in game and I find it funny that in the manual at the end of the introduction section it asks: "But just exactly who is this Ronin? And what is his final goal?"; and as far as I can tell (unless there is a secret cutscene) the game doesn't even answer these questions.

Not really looking for proof that he's Kai's father, moreso proof that this game isn't an utter waste of time and resources like Nindroids was.

Ed, Edna and Misako are the only parents that showed, or were even mentioned (or playable for that matter). There is no development for any characters outside of Ronin and Zane's one little moment when Zane regained his memories (that effect the TV show, at least). The game is quite literally "point-a to point-b." There are no sidetracks. No extra missions. No special endings. No secrets.

What about the brainwashed serpentine? Does that get tied up or is it a loose end?

Why would Ronin even have a final goal? He's a bounty hunter, why exactly would he want something besides money?

Because his actions affect all of NINJAGO. Apparently he was trying to open the Cursed Realm, but who hired him and why wasn't revealed. If he's gone for good, good riddance.

Sadly, it seems like the LEGO Universe content expansion will be the greatest NINJAGO game tie-in we ever get.

[PenPlays]

But I think the main thing that bugs me is P.I.X.A.L. What happened to her? Did Zane remove her Neural drive for some reason? Was she affected by the memory loss as well? And since now we know that Ronin sold Zane to Chen, did he sell P.I.X.A.L. as well? I'm more or less willing to forgive Zane for not remembering Chen due to him having memory problems, but there's no reason P.I.X.A.L. never mentioned him.

Whats worse? She's a playable character... What's up with that?

Do the pirates appear at any point, or are their characters unlockable?

No. Other awesome/reputable characters that don't show up are Mother Doomsday, Lou, and the Overlord (for funsies). you do get to play as the Postman though, he's one of the game's first unlockables. I'm gonna compile a list here soon of the playable characters. This includes Lego's official names for all of the Ninja's outfits of recent years.

Not really looking for proof that he's Kai's father, moreso proof that this game isn't an utter waste of time and resources like Nindroids was.

It's an utter waste of time. 'Nuff said.

What about the brainwashed serpentine? Does that get tied up or is it a loose end?

Misako's memories were returned when Lloyd destroyed the Obsidian Glaive, so it is inferred that the Serpentine were cured as well.

Sadly, it seems like the LEGO Universe content expansion will be the greatest NINJAGO game tie-in we ever get.

Lego UniverseXNinjago will always be the best Lego multi-franchise tie-in. Always. There are no exceptions!

(I nearly cry every time I see you profile pic, Mandate. So many beautiful memories)

EDIT: I changed my profile pic. This is all your fault, Mandate... Thank you.

EDIT 2: Character List

Kai (2011)

Tournament Kai

Kai DX

Kai ZX

Elemental Kai (Kimono 2013)

Techno Kai

Jungle Kai

Jay

Tournament Jay

Jay DX

Jay ZX

Elemental Jay

Techno Jay

Jungle Jay

Showhost Jay

Cole

Tournament Cole

Cole DX

Cole ZX

Elental Cole

Techno Cole

Jungle Cole

Zane

Titanium Zane

Zane DX

Zane ZX

Elemental Zane

Techno Zane

Pink Zane

Sensei Wu (Classic)

Sensei Wu (Black Kimono/no subtitle in game)

Nya

Kabuki Nya

Samurai X (2015)

Young Lloyd

Tournament Lloyd

Lloyd ZX

Elemental Lloyd

Techno Lloyd

Jungle Lloyd

Gold Ninja Lloyd

Dareth

Sensei Garmadon (2014)

Sensei Garmadon (2015)

Possessed Garmadon

Lord Garmadon

Pythor P. Chumsworth

Bleached Pythor

Skalidor

Bytar

Chokun

Snike

Fangtom

Fangdom

Fang-Suei

Snappa

Skales

Slithraa

Mezmo

Rattla

Acidicus

Lizaru

Spitta

Lasha

P.I.X.A.L

General Cryptor

Nindroid Soldier

Nindroid Warrior

Nindroid Drone

Min-Droid

Frakjaw

Bonezai

Chopov

Wyplash

Nuckal

Kruncha

Krazi

General Kozu

Stone Warrior

Stone Soldier

Stone Scout

Helmetless Ronin

Samurai Ronin

Ronin

Ronin Goon

Ronin Warrior

Disguised Ronin Warrior

Disguised Ronin Goon

Ed

Edna

Misako

Tour Guide

The Mailman

Master Chen

Skylor

Karlof

Shade

Griffin Turner

Neuro

Ash

Invizable (I refuse to call him Paleman)

Toxikita

Gravis

Jacob Pevsner

Silver Eye (Eyezor)

Mojo (Chope)

Zumo (Zugu)

Anacondrai Warrior (Kapau'rai)

Prisoner

Prison Guard

Villager

Gingerbread Man

Those who are notably missing (That would be plausible):

Bolobo

Mother Doomsday

Lou

Samukai

The Overlord

Arcturus

Morro (he could have been hidden! Seriously Lego!)

All NRG Ninja

Battle Damaged Zane

Clouse

Cyrus Borg/Overborg (he shows up as a projection)

Evil Wu

Lloyd DX

Young Wu

Young Garmadon

Lar

Edited March 27, 2015 by Penkid11

[Mandate]

Whats worse? She's a playable character... What's up with that?

Well, it could mean that she was given a proper body again and isn't a more useless and irrelevant Cortana.

Lego UniverseXNinjago will always be the best Lego multi-franchise tie-in. Always. There are no exceptions!

(I nearly cry every time I see you profile pic, Mandate. So many beautiful memories)

EDIT: I changed my profile pic. This is all your fault, Mandate... Thank you.

You're welcome. I'm glad to see my old wallpaper is getting some use now

[Lind Whisperer]

No. Other awesome/reputable characters that don't show up are Mother Doomsday, Lou, and the Overlord (for funsies). you do get to play as the Postman though, he's one of the game's first unlockables. I'm gonna compile a list here soon of the playable characters. This includes Lego's official names for all of the Ninja's outfits of recent years.

Rats. I was hoping that they'd at least be unlockables.

Lego UniverseXNinjago will always be the best Lego multi-franchise tie-in. Always. There are no exceptions!

(I nearly cry every time I see you profile pic, Mandate. So many beautiful memories)

EDIT: I changed my profile pic. This is all your fault, Mandate... Thank you.

I honestly think, that if a group of dedicated enough fans would band together - and said fans knew enough about technology - that readily available freeware has arrived at the point where they could plausibly remake LU - or even make a better LU.

I mean, look at this for an example. And this only took me a couple of hours.

Sure, the figure was posed, but put an armature inside it, lower the polygon count, and...Well, you can see it for yourself. And yes, that is an actual 3d environment, imported to Blender from LDraw. Not a fancily edited LDD screenshot. If I, or someone else knew how Unity or its equivalent worked, and I could figure out how to cut down the polygon count...Let's just say, that there are a lot more possibilities for fans then there were four years ago.

You're welcome. I'm glad to see my old wallpaper is getting some use now

Venture League FTW!

Edited March 27, 2015 by Lind Whisperer

[coolcab1]

I just finished the game and it was alright. The game, like Penkid said, is full of holes but that was what I was expected since it's just a game. I really liked Ronin in the game and I can't wait to see him in the TV series. I think that if this was a console game it would be 100 times better but that's just me.

[PenPlays]

I just finished the game and it was alright. The game, like Penkid said, is full of holes but that was what I was expected since it's just a game. I really liked Ronin in the game and I can't wait to see him in the TV series. I think that if this was a console game it would be 100 times better but that's just me.

Oh, it's not just you...

[Mandate]

If it was a console game, it would be the exact same thing, except with voice acting cut from the TV show.

[PenPlays]

If it was a console game, it would be the exact same thing, except with voice acting cut from the TV show.

Console Lego games have been known to have higher detail as well as plenty of extra content. Sound quality would also be better (the game does not follow a direct storyline in the show, so there would be no VA work to cut into the game). Gameplay would probably be a bit more adventurous as opposed to the semi-sidescroller the 3DS game turned out to be.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Penkid11

[Mandate]

Console Lego games have been known to have higher detail as well as plenty of extra content. Sound quality would also be better (the game does not follow a direct storyline in the show, so there would be no VA work to cut into the game). Gameplay would probably be a bit more adventurous as opposed to the semi-sidescroller the 3DS game turned out to be.

...I was joking about the VA thing.

[legofanatic12]

Who are the characters in this game besides Ronin and the ninja? And also there will be any characters from the Minifigures series again.

Plus Paleman (Invizable) and Toxikita from Ultra Agents will be in the official LEGO game.

And some Elemental Masters. Only I saw Ash, Gravis, Griffin Turner, Jacob Pevsner, Karlof, Neuro, Shadow, and Skylor. But I haven't seen Bolobo and Camille in this game yet.

And a crook from LEGO City and a Prison Guard from LEGO City Undercover are playable. I thought it was a Ninjago City Policeman since he does not have short sleeves. Wait a minute, there's an unknown character which is next to the Prison Guard.

Edited March 28, 2015 by legofanatic12

[PenPlays]

Who are the characters in this game besides Ronin and the ninja? And also there will be any characters from the Minifigures series again.

Plus Paleman (Invizable) and Toxikita from Ultra Agents will be in the official LEGO game.

And some Elemental Masters. Only I saw Ash, Gravis, Griffin Turner, Jacob Pevsner, Karlof, Neuro, Shadow, and Skylor. But I haven't seen Bolobo and Camille in this game yet.

And a crook from LEGO City and a Prison Guard from LEGO City Undercover are playable. I thought it was a Ninjago City Policeman since he does not have short sleeves. Wait a minute, there's an unknown character which is next to the Prison Guard.

That's right! Camille isn't there either!

The "mystery character" is a Spinjago Villager.

I posted a character list a couple posts back if you want to see a complete list.

[legofanatic12]

This game has only one minifigure from Collectible Minifigures which is S11 Gingerbread Man. And the Prison Guard is first appeared in LEGO City Undercover.

Something weird names like the following below.

Eyezor = Silver Eye (Not to be confused with Eyezor in Anacondrai form)

Chope = Mojo

Zugu = Zumo

Chop'rai = Anacondrai Warrior

And Skylor appearance in this game is only in hooded variant.

Missing Anacondrai cultists are Clouse, Kapau, Krait, and Sleven.

And a prisoner minifigure? It seems that he would be possible minifig in the future Minifigures series since he has a printed black and white stripes arms except the black cap which commonly used for LEGO City Crooks. Maybe he should have a new headgear with black and white stripes on it.

Ronin's Henchmen are the only that are exclusive in the game.

That's right! Camille isn't there either!

She's not present in Shadow of Ronin, but in Ninjago Tournament App is playable.

Toxikita, Gravis, and Jacob Pevsner are the first Elemental Masters that appeared to be playable in this game which they are not appeared in iOS Tournament App.

Lar never appears in this game also since he is exclusive in the book.

Edited March 28, 2015 by legofanatic12

[Ninja of Fire]

Wait, are there any Bonus Levels/Mission, and Minikits?