Ninja style is systemically under supported
It's clear that the intent is that both samurai and ninja style's are equal to each other but following their own logics. However this design shift to de-elevated ninja to an equal level with samurai nerfed ninja style's toolkit (ninjutsu).
It's also clear that both styles are supposed to have equitable systems (like mist ≈ ki pulse, evade ≈ deflect). However, Samurai style has multiple extra systems that ninja style lacks parity with.
- example: one of the loading screen tips will tell you to combine mist + jutsu (akin to how frostmoon is performed) will produce additional utility, yet nothing happens.
Lastly, ninja style is supposed to compress a lot of utility of the samurai style, the obvious trade-off being it being a limited, not a complete compression. The jutsu slots are supposed to make up for the lack of the other 2 stances of samurai style. However, because ninjutsu was nerfed when it should have been given more utility, ninja style's ratio of compression is off terribly.
- The fact that there is a preponderance of effects that affect melee actions rather than jutsu, makes the compression of utility of even more off.
LET ME BE CLEAR - I AM NOT CALLING NINJA STYLE WEAK, NOR AM I SAYING YOU CANT BEAT THE GAME WITH JUST NINJA STYLE.... THATS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. I'm talking about systems that add depth to combat, not power