Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Catch-All

This is pretty good.

Didn't say much at all the first time I was there, but went back and did the tutorials now. No jumping attack for me either. I bet he enjoys watching me die.

Anyone know if you can respec skills?

I'll put it in spoilers but I'm currently getting my butt handed to me in an area well... I'll just say it involves a memory.

Spoiler:

That drunken boss guy is just destroying me. Managed to clear out all the adds he starts with by sneak attacks and withdrawing repeatedly but it takes a while. Then I managed to get the boss down to one pip with some cheesing and help from the npc dude. When that guy dies I'm usually not far behind. Don't think I'm picking up his patterns to well. Anyone else get there yet?

Yeah, that was the area I mentioned I only found later, after I had already moved past it.

Spoiler:

Been fighting him today too. He was really difficult. And yep, I died to him when on the very last hit. Sigh.
Seemed unrealistic to parry him, I played super careful instead, waiting for him to do long-winded attacks (drinking, or his two-combo attacks), go in for a single hit, and immediately back away again. It worked reasonably fine, but is very slow.

Watched a video afterward, and it seems like the optimal strategy against him is being very close to him, dodging all the time. But just seemed way too dangerous when the attacks are so hard to read.

Also not a fan of this games desire to put the bosses in the middle of normal enemies, so you have to clear them out each attempt.

Got to the next boss a little while ago. By far the best boss so far imo. Finally one where nearly all attacks could be parried, and where the boss seemed designed to do just that.
And a boss where I felt like I got a little better each try, rather than merely hoping the game decided my dodges were not too late. Hopefully he is more indicative of what is to come.

Who is playing on the PC with a gamepad? The internets have stated that stuttering in the game is caused by controllers and this seems to be the case for me. controller off, smooth. Controller on, stuttering laggy mess. Never seen this particular issue in all my gaming days.

I am. PS4 controller.
Haven't noticed major stutter, feels quite smooth, but who knows, maybe that is why dodging feels off (one could hope)

I've also heard that windowed mode could run bad, but switched to that today, and nothing changed for me.
Guess its just traditional PC gaming. Everyone got unique problems.

I’m playing on PC with Xbox One controller and I haven’t seen any stutter.

JC wrote:

Who is playing on the PC with a gamepad? The internets have stated that stuttering in the game is caused by controllers and this seems to be the case for me. controller off, smooth. Controller on, stuttering laggy mess. Never seen this particular issue in all my gaming days.

When you plug in the controller, the game switches to console mode. It performs worse, half the mechanics are missing, and you can't change any settings.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
JC wrote:

Who is playing on the PC with a gamepad? The internets have stated that stuttering in the game is caused by controllers and this seems to be the case for me. controller off, smooth. Controller on, stuttering laggy mess. Never seen this particular issue in all my gaming days.

When you plug in the controller, the game switches to console mode. It performs worse, half the mechanics are missing, and you can't change any settings.

Wait, seriously?

Well, that's about all I need to at least prevent me from making a dumb impulse purchase tonight. No chance I'm bothering until that's dealt with.

Hedinn wrote:

Things improve a lot when you are using "standard" stuff in your PC setup (and 21:9 monitor is really not)

It should be.

Seriously folks, despite the occasional annoying case like this game where maybe you have to download a mod or hack to get support, ultrawide resolutions are absolutely life changing. If you can swing it, you should absolutely consider a 21:9 aspect ratio for your next monitor upgrade.

JeremyK wrote:

I'll put it in spoilers but I'm currently getting my butt handed to me in an area well... I'll just say it involves a memory.

Spoiler:

That drunken boss guy is just destroying me. Managed to clear out all the adds he starts with by sneak attacks and withdrawing repeatedly but it takes a while. Then I managed to get the boss down to one pip with some cheesing and help from the npc dude. When that guy dies I'm usually not far behind. Don't think I'm picking up his patterns to well. Anyone else get there yet?

Yeah, I beat him a little while ago. It took me quite a few tries.

Spoiler:

It takes long time to clear out the adds, so I took the riskier and faster approach of rushing in head first with the NPC. The boss isn't super aggressive right away, so I pick off the archers, then the melee enemies attacking the NPC, then move on to the shield guys since they're so easy with the axe. If done quickly, the boss should be on your NPC buddy while he still has close to half health. He'll die before the boss does, so you will need to be able to fight him solo. I dodged, deflected, and got in chip damage where I could. Every time he goes to drink or spit poison, that's the time to get in close and wail on him. I didn't really see a big secret other than that.

If you still can't manage to get him down, there's also a boss over in the Ashina Outskirts you could try if you haven't already.

(I was joking. )

zeroKFE wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
JC wrote:

Who is playing on the PC with a gamepad? The internets have stated that stuttering in the game is caused by controllers and this seems to be the case for me. controller off, smooth. Controller on, stuttering laggy mess. Never seen this particular issue in all my gaming days.

When you plug in the controller, the game switches to console mode. It performs worse, half the mechanics are missing, and you can't change any settings.

Wait, seriously?

Well, that's about all I need to at least prevent me from making a dumb impulse purchase tonight. No chance I'm bothering until that's dealt with.

Pretty sure she's just making a PC gamer joke there

Edit: ^ What Clock said.

Shouldn't joke about that when it comes to From. Way too realistic.

Jump kicking is just pressing jump again. If I'm remembering right. It's used for countering those unblockable sweep attacks. Jump over the sweep, kick them and deathblow after if possible.

Also when you do tutorial zombies lessons sometimes they unlock more lessons too.

imbiginjapan wrote:

I won't get to play this until May, but wanted to jump in and say that I am inordinately excited that Future Press is back to do the Sekiro hardcover strategy guide. I have all the strategy guides for Souls and Bloodborne, mainly for the purpose of perusing the delicious art and intricate maps. Prima did the Dark Souls 3 guide and made a pig's ear of it.
To be frank, Prima is the New York Post to Future's New York Times.

Yeah the DS3 guide was a disaster.. I saw that there is a Future Dark Souls Trilogy strategy guide coming out though.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

(I was joking. )

Bah!

In my defense, while it's thankfully getting more rare, your nightmare scenario was all too close to reality at times for half hearted PC ports of Japanese games. More absurdity next time please!

EDIT: Also, damnit, now I'm back to having to decide if I want to buy it or not.

EDIT 2:

IMAGE(http://www.bitterfilms.com/rejected-4-300.jpg)

Just popping in to say I've bought the game and I'm making sure this thread is in my set of watched things

Damn,

Spoiler:

Butterfly

boss has to be one of the most challenging bosses for me in a From game yet. And the game has barely started. Annoyingly fast moves.Think I got through every single consumable I had gathered in those last 30+ tries.
At least it might be the shortest run from the respawn point ever. The game is generally quite fair about that.

Shadout wrote:

Damn,

Spoiler:

Butterfly

boss has to be one of the most challenging bosses for me in a From game yet. And the game has barely started. Annoyingly fast moves.Think I got through every single consumable I had gathered in those last 30+ tries.
At least it might be the shortest run from the respawn point ever. The game is generally quite fair about that.

For me the whole game has been a struggle fighting for every inch of ground I've walked. It's by far the hardest From game yet.

Shadout wrote:

Damn,

Spoiler:

Butterfly

boss has to be one of the most challenging bosses for me in a From game yet. And the game has barely started. Annoyingly fast moves.Think I got through every single consumable I had gathered in those last 30+ tries.
At least it might be the shortest run from the respawn point ever. The game is generally quite fair about that.

Have you explored elsewhere? I got to that boss early and decided it was gonna be too rough so soon, so I explored another way. I'm 3 bosses down a different path and still going, so I'll be much stronger next time I attempt that boss.

Edit: But yes, it's hard.

Yeah, I have explored in the other direction

Spoiler:

(killed the horse boss - found the bull, but didn't try it).

I did kill this boss, but still, that was frustratingly difficult. I just hope it does not go up from there, I think that was close to my skill ceiling
On the positive side, it is one of those bosses where I felt I got better. Not every try, but slowly. Which is how the bosses should be. I actually think it is a very well designed boss. I can see how I might get to a point, if I played enough, (and wasn't completely incompetent), where I could do that whole fight without taking damage. She probably has the "easiest" to read attacks of the bosses so far. She is just doing them really fast.

That first real boss has really soured my on the game and I really hope other bosses are better. Assuming I ever beat it. There's very little interesting to it. Just dodge and hit. The real annoyance is you do so little damage it takes forever. And if you don't keep up a constant flow of attacks the fight goes even longer. It really isn't a good boss compared to other soul like games. Maybe that's the dozens of deaths talking though. I'll try to power through it but hoping other bosses are more interesting.

edit: the boss i meant was

Spoiler:

lady butterfly

Which boss? The first 'real boss' (as said before, bosses in this game seems slightly undefined) I encountered is by far the worst one, in both combat design and actual play (it kept doing the DS2 teleport attack on me, luckily I have not seen that from any other enemy). The others are better imo - even though they are also harder.

Edit: Okay. As said above I thought she was fine design-wise. Just too hard.

Yeah I'm probable more then a little salty overall. So take my views with a grain of salt. I'll take a break and maybe try again tomorrow or just ignore that boss for a while.

If it makes you feel better I’m also stuck on that boss and I’ve died a bunch trying. I’m pretty sure every npc will be dead from Dragonrot soon(not a fan of that mechanic at all!).

Can they actually die from it?

I'm happy to contribute to the research of what happens when you die too much.

Your sparring partner is really helpful. If you play all the lessons, you unlock more. Also, more lessons opened up after I met a general. They definitely helped me defeat that mini-boss (and get a good reward). I still feel out of control when fighting out in the world, but it is early.

I had preordered the collector's edition, and it it is very nice. There's a very solid statute, 3 large heavy coins, a mini art book, a map (which I've not opened yet), digital soundtrack and steelcase. Along with the model sword letter opener as a Gamestop preorder bonus, it was a great deal for an extra $30.

Official new label for the Fromsoft oeuvre is now Soulsbornetwice. We must now use this label whenever referring to their games.

(greatly enjoying the game, btw. The combat specifically is a vast improvement)

That one enemy with the Reckless Attacks is hard. I feel bad for, y'know, dying all the time. But I gotta figure him out, probably. I dunno, this is my first FromSoft game so maybe I don't? I'm going to try again tomorrow, though.

In spite of my better judgement, I bought it. $48 at Best Buy using gamerclub discount.

It feels less like a Souls game than I expected. The movement feels better, the combat feels faster without seeming messy. It does kinda feel like a more well realized Tenchu, which is great for me.

I got about two hours in yesterday during breaks and lunch (worked from home). I’m guessing I haven’t gotten to any of the hard stuff yet, but it doesn’t seem like From’s most challenging game to me. Bloodborne was harder out of the gate for me. The parry mechanic in Sekiro is way more generous and it’s easy to use your superior mobility to get out of sticky situations.

Loving it so far, overall. I’m anxious to get some more skills unlocked.