Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Catch-All

DanB wrote:
Spoiler:

he's got red eyes, just saying'

Yup. That shade is dangerous. Still, sure I can beat him today or tomorrow. I have that kind of faith and confidence hehehe. Still, pretty freakin' hard hitting from that dude.

I'm starting to feel a bit weird about all the

Spoiler:

ape slaughter

in which I have been participating.

Spoiler:

Trick monkeys, giant apes who come back after death, another undead ape who summons a weak living monkey. What's next!?

brokenclavicle wrote:
DanB wrote:
Spoiler:

he's got red eyes, just saying'

Yup. That shade is dangerous. Still, sure I can beat him today or tomorrow. I have that kind of faith and confidence hehehe. Still, pretty freakin' hard hitting from that dude.

It's kind of a clue about the useful prosthetics

Spontaneous waiting in lobby poetry time! Typing on phone so forgive typos.

Flame Vents and Ice Snakes
by Kotarobert Frost

Some say red eyes are weak to fire
Some say ice
The prosthetic tools that I desire
Hold extra options that favor fire
But if I had to perish twice
I think I know the DLC
(Call'd Sekiro: Shadows Die Thrice)
Has tools for me
That feature ice

OK, I ordered the retail PC box with the Steam code because it was 10$ cheaper than buying directly through Steam. See you all Wednesday-ish.

brokenclavicle wrote:
Spoiler:

found a suped-up version of a samurai mini-boss

Spoiler:

This guy hits really hard ... but is also pretty cheeseable. I did three cheesy things and still almost lost.

So, that red-eyed bafoon?

Done...

Spoiler:

Took me a couple more tries of experimenting, but the magnet umbrella prosthetic made short work of that silly bastich. Explored that area as far as I could before moving on to the rest of Ashina Caslte so near to the end where I foujd at least two minibosses. Got a fancy medicine upgrade, made it to that field where Genichiro severed my hand, originally, and then decided to call it a night.

I feel like this might be the end of the game and I'm sure I'm missing some headless to kill and one more gourd or two before completing the game (9 gourd uses, so far).

Good stuff!

There is only one more gourd.

NSMike wrote:

There is only one more gourd.

Gah, the completionist in me beckons! But, much like in other FROM games, I can find a tenth gourd in NG+, I'd wager. That way, I can ignore the urge to go scour all the areas for that one gourd I'm missing.

I'm pretty sure I'm at the end of the game.

EDIT:

And just a few hours later, I took on the final boss...

Spoiler:

Bosses, rather. Genichiro wasn't that tough this time, either. Isshin Sword Saint, however, took some cunning. It took me two attempts in total; one to get a feel for the fight, and a second to actually nail it - though I wasn't expecting to get the win so soon. For Genichiro, I mostly baited him into doing the deathblow that one can counter with Mikiri, so that I could strike him. If he didn't do that, I would mostly run away at mid-range to try and keep baiting him. With Isshin, the first stage meant keeping at close range but sprinting away once he did a move. If he did a three hit combo, I would slash him at the end of it and sprint back. If he did the dashing strike, I kept my distance. If he did the dashing strike with the long sword-sheathing preamble, I would run counterclockwise and hit him at the end of the two hit combo he does.

Second stage took me a bit, but I found that the loaded umbrella could get me through the most of his hits and gunshots without much trouble, allowing me to unload thereafter with Projected Force. A handful of these pattern runs - despite some serious camera and lock-on issues that caused me to take unfair hits - and I was in the third stage. Got caught by lightning first, but managed to heal up and bait him into the same pattern as in the second stage, keeping an eye out for the lightning which I learned to dodge by jumping out of range. I managed to get him to within a sliver of his life bar when I ran out of emblems for the umbrella, so I went gung-ho and got him just as I was about to die, myself. I literally jumped for joy!

The stage in these boss battles is kinda bullsh*t, what with the damned cliff and the boulders, but I figured that if I kept the little dirt path as my guidepost and managed the area by moving along that path, I could avoid taking unnecessary falls.

NG+, here I come!

So, with a bit of time for the game to settle, I thought I'd write my overall thoughts on things:

- Is this From Software's best game ever? Well, I never really was in on the original Dark Souls or Demon Souls train, but I have played DS2, Bloodborne and DS3. For me, I'd find it hard to go back to them after playing this. The more I think about it, the more it confirms to me that this is my favourite game they've done to date.
- It's the combat that makes the game really, I think that is obvious! Whereas in Dark Souls and Bloodborne you can dodge to death, Sekiro doesn't give you that option. Instead, it really does make you get in there and get dirty. I remember when I first played Batman: Arkham Asylum and was so impressed by the combat in it. I get a similar feeling with this. You have to work more, but the flow of combat with the deflections and posture trade-off just adds so much more.
- For me, it's hard to argue that Sekiro is a bigger evolution on the formula compared to Bloodborne. And I'm soneone who considered Bloodborne as the best game on the PS4. And, as above, that's all due to the combat. The added story as well was very welcome for me. Going back and watching streams of DS and BB (as I am now) makes them games seem so slow.
- The level design is brilliant, largely helped due to the grapple, which makes movement seamless. Areas are split up implictly into mini-arenas with the boss system in the game, and it's brilliant. Whereas on the surface it may seem small, it actually takes quite a while to beat. Many have made a big deal about the Dark Souls 1 level design as a real benchmark for gaming, but this seems like it must be up there as well.
- On the bosses, I don't feel they were as good in this game. Although initially you got a wow factor because of the mechanics, I don't feel that there are as many memorable bosses as in something like Bloodborne. The puzzle/gimmick bosses in the game largely didn't work either for me.
- Do I want another Sekiro? I don't know. I'm happy for them to continue to make games in different settings and continue to change the formula. Judging by sales numbers, I'd say From Software could consider themselves a bit unique, in that people are more concerned by the developer name than the game name. Sekiro has sold really well even compared to Dark Souls sequels.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Not drunk - Died about ten times.
drunk - Flawlessly took him out with a strategy that was a full 180 from what I had been slowly figuring out.[/spoiler]

This was my experience with the final boss to a T, although it was definitely more that ten times... I was stuck there for a few days, but with the assistance of a couple additional fingers (of rye) I got through without locking up on that last deathblow - didn't even use a resurrection.

I dove right back into NG+ afterward, if only to marvel at the contrast to my first time through. Blew through everything up to Genichiro and Butterfly in additional hardship mode, but I think that's where the chip damage becomes too punishing for me. I'll probably set it aside now and come back to it from time to time when I'm really missing that amazing swordplay, or maybe leave off entirely and wait to see what the DLC situation ends up being.

I'm still a bit annoyed that I didn't sufficiently progress the chain of events for anything but the "default" ending before I had passed the point of no return, but I sought out all the other optional encounters and was very satisfied overall. Easily one of my favorite games in recent memory, and far surpassed my uneven relationship with Dark Souls.

benign1 wrote:

I dove right back into NG+ afterward, if only to marvel at the contrast to my first time through. Blew through everything up to Genichiro and Butterfly in additional hardship mode, but I think that's where the chip damage becomes too punishing for me. I'll probably set it aside now and come back to it from time to time when I'm really missing that amazing swordplay, or maybe leave off entirely and wait to see what the DLC situation ends up being.

Have had a similar experience in NG+; blew past everything until Genichiro, whose surprisingly - or perhaps unsurprisingly? - that much more difficult this time around. I feel like I need to adapt my strategy or change it all together, as he seems to get through my posture in seconds. For now, I haven't touched the game in a week or so, letting it simmer, until I feel like giving it a few attempts when I have time to spare.

I just got to Genichiro in my first play through and I'm also of the mind that this game is my FromFave.

I'm not far at all (just got through the first Shinobi hunter, after stumbling into an alternative route past him) but I fear my eyes are too old and my fingers are too slow and fumbling for this game. When locked in combat I don't know what I should be looking at most of the time.

imbiginjapan wrote:

I'm not far at all (just got through the first Shinobi hunter, after stumbling into an alternative route past him) but I fear my eyes are too old and my fingers are too slow and fumbling for this game. When locked in combat I don't know what I should be looking at most of the time.

I honestly felt a lot like that for a substantial portion of my first play through but I can tell you it gets better. None of it is actually harder or more complex than the Souls games, so I'm confident if you've managed some of those you can do this.

So I’ve never played a FromSoftware game before, but have been thinking hard about this one (and I did hear Hollow Knight get a lot of comparisons to Dark Souls). Are there any other, similar types of games that I could use to gauge if I’d like this?

Good news! Sekiro is very unlike other FROM games!
The closest from game, in terms of mechanics is probably Bloodborne. But that still lacks the stealth mechanics.
Hollow Knight is great, don't get me wrong, but it's 2d and not stealth based. More like a hack n slash.
Maybe The Surge?

While Sekiro is different from other From games to some degree, I'd still say it has more in common with Bloodborne and Dark Souls than it has differences. Bloodborne seems like a good place to start, if you dont want to jump directly into Sekiro.

After not playing the game for about a week or so, I managed to beat Genichiro in my NG+ run in 4 new tries. After that, I've run through every boss like it's nothing. I'm looking forward to likely getting the one ending I'm missing tomorrow night or so.

EDIT: And now that I've made it to what would be alternate end-game...

Spoiler:

I'm getting my butt kicked by Isshin Ashina. You'd think that, having beat Sword Saint after Genichiro, I wouldn't have that much trouble with him. You'd be wrong. I have managed to get good enough with Emma that I hardly use any healing gourds (may get so good at it I might not use a single one soon), but Isshin seems to wreck me, and when I manage to get to the second phase, he insta-kills me with some cheap AoE fire attack that seems unblockable so far. I know he does a straight short with fire, but this is something else entirely; it seem to target the entire battle area. I've had enough for today and will likely let the game simmer for a few days before I try again, as that's the winning formula for me so far, but yeah, needed to vent. :D

Ah NG+, the real easy mode in From games. I missed you. Ran all the way through Butterfly and Genichiro in just a couple of hours.

I'm at Genichiro in my first run. That surprise additional stage really got me! I managed to get to it just once (the final run in the video) with but a sliver of life and promptly died. I could definitely use pointers on all stages.

The unblockable attack after he jumps in the air really gets me, particularly in his first life for some reason. It seems like no matter how rapidly I push dodge, jump or engage a Mikiri counter, he gets me. In the second life I can usually dodge out of the way.

The nice thing is that I did manage to get to that surprise stage after only a handful of tries so, in a sense, I'm doing better than I was against Lady Butterfly.

DanB wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

I'm not far at all (just got through the first Shinobi hunter, after stumbling into an alternative route past him) but I fear my eyes are too old and my fingers are too slow and fumbling for this game. When locked in combat I don't know what I should be looking at most of the time.

I honestly felt a lot like that for a substantial portion of my first play through but I can tell you it gets better. None of it is actually harder or more complex than the Souls games, so I'm confident if you've managed some of those you can do this.

I've gained some more confidence with the system and beat Gyoubu on my second try.
Keeping the printed strategy guide nearby has been really helpful as it takes the guesswork out of how tactics and tools work without being as spoilery as a walkthrough video.

imbiginjapan wrote:
DanB wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

I'm not far at all (just got through the first Shinobi hunter, after stumbling into an alternative route past him) but I fear my eyes are too old and my fingers are too slow and fumbling for this game. When locked in combat I don't know what I should be looking at most of the time.

I honestly felt a lot like that for a substantial portion of my first play through but I can tell you it gets better. None of it is actually harder or more complex than the Souls games, so I'm confident if you've managed some of those you can do this.

I've gained some more confidence with the system and beat Gyoubu on my second try.
Keeping the printed strategy guide nearby has been really helpful as it takes the guesswork out of how tactics and tools work without being as spoilery as a walkthrough video.

Strategy guide worth it?

Balthezor wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:
DanB wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

I'm not far at all (just got through the first Shinobi hunter, after stumbling into an alternative route past him) but I fear my eyes are too old and my fingers are too slow and fumbling for this game. When locked in combat I don't know what I should be looking at most of the time.

I honestly felt a lot like that for a substantial portion of my first play through but I can tell you it gets better. None of it is actually harder or more complex than the Souls games, so I'm confident if you've managed some of those you can do this.

I've gained some more confidence with the system and beat Gyoubu on my second try.
Keeping the printed strategy guide nearby has been really helpful as it takes the guesswork out of how tactics and tools work without being as spoilery as a walkthrough video.

Strategy guide worth it?

I've collected all the guides for the Souls/Bloodborne games and this one is just as well-done as all the other Future-published guides. At 25 bucks for the pre-order it was a great value. I think it's 36 dollars now which YMMV in terms of cost value. Obviously there are free online options that will evolve over time but I am a big fan of the effort and presentation that Future puts into their guides. I also simply prefer the physical presence. They have nice art and solid indexes.

For anyone interested, Waypoint posted a great spoiler discussion about Sekiro.

Dyni wrote:

For anyone interested, Waypoint posted a great spoiler discussion about Sekiro.

I am trying to savor every last drop of this game - the only thing pushing me to rush through is my desire to listen to this.

Aaaand as seems to be the case so often with From Software games and I, on my first try today, I nearly flawlessly...

Spoiler:

Took down Emma, and then I made relatively short work of Isshin Ashina with a couple of gourds to spare. That Shura ending was pretty interesting, though I still prefer the one where Sekiro sacrifices himself for Kuro. That one, and the one where they go off together with Emma.

The Platinum is now in the books.

I'm left wondering: will there be a sequel, and if so, how? Which ending would be canon, given that Sekiro is the title of the game and the main character? I would certainly enjoy playing through a new game in this same vein. I guess now we just wait for the From Software/George R. R. Martin collab, which - judging from the scant rumors - is likely in a very different setting, and perhaps have very different mechanics.

Pretty proud of my takedown of Genichiro. This fight took me less attempts (by far) than Lady Butterfly did.

As soon as I switched over to the Ashina arts overhead attack instead of the whirlwind, the first two stages became significantly easier.

I have completely fallen out on this. I got to a late game stage, completed a couple of objectives, and then just stalled hard (despite things getting kind of... charged).

Not sure why, but something about this game just makes me feel tired. I want it to have options it doesn't, and each time I run into a boss fight that takes me 30+ tries (only to discover a 2nd phase, or similar), it just wears on me.

I dunno if I'll ever pick it back up, and that makes me sad.

Tyrian wrote:

I have completely fallen out on this. I got to a late game stage, completed a couple of objectives, and then just stalled hard (despite things getting kind of... charged).

Not sure why, but something about this game just makes me feel tired. I want it to have options it doesn't, and each time I run into a boss fight that takes me 30+ tries (only to discover a 2nd phase, or similar), it just wears on me.

I dunno if I'll ever pick it back up, and that makes me sad.

I feel I'm in the same place. I want to go back, but I know it will mean working and working to get past the next boss, which sounds exhausting.