Sifu Catch-All

I'm definitely finding the club less fun overall than the squats and not just because of the difficulty. I'm not giving up on it yet but I'm going to take a break for a few days and play some other stuff.

Not tried it out yet but this seems helpful. The first ti is holding the left bumper but the other tips relate to it in a nice way.

One of the issues I'm having with the game in general is whether to LB+stick (avoid) or dodge (right trigger). I prefer dodging because holding block with the intention of avoiding stops movement until you let go of LB. Once you start dealing with multiple enemies that seems like a recipe for disaster so I typically use dodge liberally to establish position, hit and run until I get a takedown or I'm about to be attacked, and then either avoid or dodge out of range entirely to reassess.

I also rely on dodge more because I still don't have the muscle memory down for avoiding quickly, which further drives my reliance on dodge. In a game where your defense needs to be on-point all the time, that generally means lots of damage/deaths. I'm not sure how to get around that other than to just keep playing.

I beat Kuroki again last night after a couple botched attempts. She is definitely a boss that's teaching you to dodge instead of parrying. Last time I posted here I said the Museum shortcut can help you skip 75% of the stage: this is inaccurate. You can take the elevator straightaway thus skipping 95-99% of the fights. A great way to get your reps in on the boss fight but you will miss out on a number of jade statue upgrade stations.

Haven't watched the video yet. I'm finding parries are fraught with risk but the payoff is you damage your opponent's structure while also taking your turn to attack. Some enemies have such weak structure that a single perfect parry will open them up for a finisher.

Hold-LB dodges are extremely satisfying to pull off but rely on you committing to dodging most if not all of an enemy's attack string and you don't touch their structure until you start counter-attacking, AFAIK. Hold-LB dodging is critical for the end stage bosses.

RT dash-dodge has its uses, mainly for closing distance or making space if you are already at the limits of your opponent's attack range. I've also found this move to be key at certain points during the Kuroki boss fight, so maybe future bosses or encounters will also reward you for careful dash-dodging.

I’m starting to get my feet under me and am winning fights (first level still.) I have a couple of permanent upgrades. At the moment though the game is locking up when I use the jade statue on the approach to the final boss. It’s happened twice and both times I had to unplug the console before I could restart. I’ve reported both events.

Might have to play something else while I wait for Elden Ring.

Maclintok wrote:

Last time I posted here I said the Museum shortcut can help you skip 75% of the stage: this is inaccurate. You can take the elevator straightaway thus skipping 95-99% of the fights. A great way to get your reps in on the boss fight but you will miss out on a number of jade statue upgrade stations.

I found it wasn't too bad to take the stairs to the top exhibit floor (skipping the exhibits themselves). Then you can get the statue there, and then hop in the elevator. You only have to fight a few extra goons. But if you just want to get your reps in to figure out Kuroki's moves, then yes jump in that elevator right away.

Haven't watched the video yet. I'm finding parries are fraught with risk but the payoff is you damage your opponent's structure while also taking your turn to attack. Some enemies have such weak structure that a single perfect parry will open them up for a finisher.

Hold-LB dodges are extremely satisfying to pull off but rely on you committing to dodging most if not all of an enemy's attack string and you don't touch their structure until you start counter-attacking, AFAIK. Hold-LB dodging is critical for the end stage bosses.

The other thing (mentioned in the video) is that dodging (edit: avoiding), heals your structure. So a solid strategy is, try to parry until your structure is bad (because you will miss-time some, or you will block some dangerous attacks), then dodge to heal it, then repeat to break their structure.

If I'm understanding it correctly based on some of the post-its on the in-game board and some of the button names in the control layout, there might be some confusion about avoiding and dodging.

Avoiding (LB+L) regenerates your structure AND supposedly slows time while the avoided attack is still in motion, allowing you to stun the opponent if you hit before their attack animation ends. I don't recall being able to pull this off very often as the slowdown effect isn't visually prominent. Dodging (tapping RT and a direction) gets you out but provides no other benefit that I'm aware of.

After finishing Ni No Kuni the other day, I picked up Sifu this morning. What an opening, and what a great training montage! I've played partway through the first area, and I can tell I'm going to love it.

Avoiding (LB+L) regenerates your structure AND supposedly slows time while the avoided attack is still in motion, allowing you to stun the opponent if you hit before their attack animation ends. I don't recall being able to pull this off very often as the slowdown effect isn't visually prominent. Dodging (tapping RT and a direction) gets you out but provides no other benefit that I'm aware of.

Yeah, I was using the wrong word. I think of holding LB+left stick as dodging and of RT+left stick as "that other kind of dodge that I only occasionally try."

LastSurprise wrote:

After finishing Ni No Kuni the other day, I picked up Sifu this morning. What an opening, and what a great training montage! I've played partway through the first area, and I can tell I'm going to love it.

The opening + credit sequence was masterful!

Thanks @Agathos! I'm going to have to actually watch that video in case there are more useful tidbits.

Kuroki is a mean lady. Her Phase 1 is so much harder than phase 2 IMO... I have a save at age 26 entering the museum.. use the stairs to beat up enough enemies without dying to get 2 shrine upgrades and get to Kuroki. If I could just get past phase 1 cleaner, I would be so well set up for levels 4 and 5.

My best run so far I beat her at 44 (I think) and I made it to the stage 5 boss on that run (I assume final). Really want to get a low 30's run which hopefully sets me up to beat this game.

When you have the combos, parry, avoids all working this is definitely one of the most satisfying beat-em-ups I have ever played. It just feels so good. Such great details that I'm still noticing.. On one takedown move in stage 3, I have a sword, start the takedown, I stick the sword in a nearby display case, throw a few punches at the enemy, pull the sword out of the wall, and finish... ridiculous.

I really want to move onto Elden Ring, but having so much fun with Sifu, I'm going to do everything I can to wrap this one up before starting Elden Ring. Of course now that i have the key to that "back room" in Stage 1, i'm so tempted to do a new Stage 1 run. My current save has me beating it at age 22. While I'd like to think I can do better now that I have a better handle on mechanics, I see myself trying to go too fast and dying and getting frustrated.

After a break I'm back at this. This time I'm really focusing on avoiding and using throw as a stun follow-up much more liberally. The first thing I noticed from this approach is how much focus I've been losing out on by dodging most of the time instead of avoiding. It's absolutely going to change the way i play and i may just start over to get some extra practice time in before attempting The Club again.

There’s a patch incoming with some nice refinements by the sound of it. I’m looking forward to getting back to Sifu once my Elden Ring play through looses a bit of steam.

That patch sounds welcome, and I am really glad to see the shrine reward portion of the update. I had noticed that some of my rewards were disappearing as I played and had no idea why. This explains it, I think.

A few nights ago I had some amazing progress. After several attempts at the Club, where I didn't even make it to the end, I managed to reach and beat Sean on my first attempt (around age 50). Then, I continued to the museum and -- as in my late 60s or even early 70s (forget which) -- I managed to win the key to the stairs. This had me feeling like a real badass.

And also lucky, as another attempt to take down Sean, and reduce my age, did not go nearly so well. Learning kung fu feels like it comes in fits and starts.

LastSurprise wrote:

That patch sounds welcome, and I am really glad to see the shrine reward portion of the update. I had noticed that some of my rewards were disappearing as I played and had no idea why. This explains it, I think.

Hah! I never bothered to really notice either. Like, I sensed something was up with the shrine upgrades but didn't quite care enough to be fussed about it. Good to know they've fixed it!

I don't know if I should lay the blame on the new patch but when I played the update game last night, the game hard glitched in The Tower when I went down the elevator shaft to the dungeon. The car may have clipped into the ground and I could never get out. And it was nearly pitch black save a hole in the ceiling where I could glimpse a bit of skybox.

So let's talk Jinfeng, the CEO boss of The Tower: MUCH easier than Kuroki. At first I thought she was going to be another big difficulty wall but I found she was quite solvable even by the 2nd or 3rd attempt. I'd place her slightly above Sean in terms of difficulty but well below Kuroki. I hear final boss Yang is all sort of B.S. so... look forward to that!

Made it to the final stage at age 70 then at 50. Need to drop those numbers down a bit more. Aiming to complete The Tower (using shortcut) no older than 45 (starting at 38).

Jinfeng definitely easier than Kuroki, but I still find myself dying way too many times on her. The pattern is clear, but actually sending those messages from my eyes to my brain to my fingers doesn't seem to work nearly as well.

Stage 5 boss is PITA. The overall level I'd say is relatively easy, and with the shortcut its quick to go straight to the boss, but that fight is... yikes. I think I've gotten to him at <45 and still not close.

And what makes it particlarly miserable

Spoiler:

At least in phase 1 and 2 (I don't know if there's a 3.. i hope not) your focus moves are completely disabled.. no takedown/punch cheese

And done! holy crap stupid final boss. I think I was just random avoiding hoping for the best.. did it on my final life... (age 70+), and my Level 5 save starts at age 39.

Spoiler:

His Phase 1 I got down pretty easily. If you can Parry (instead of avoid) its probably a easier, but that's risk/reward. I find avoiding easier, but doesn't always leave you an opening vs. a successful Parry against him.

Got to phase 2 at age 43 so only 1 or 2 deaths.. i just can't for the life of me get the timing on his high-high-high-low combo... either I'm avoiding low (L1+down) once too many times, or I'm just too slow... I know its coming, but I just can't do the L1+Up combo fast enough after 2 or 3 L1+Downs and I get tripped every time. If you can time this, then Phase 2 is probably not hard at all, but I can't do it for the life of me.

Now on to Elden Ring!

Gratz Carlbear95! Hop on into Elden Ring it’s astonishingly good.

Here are some bits of my gameplay (early days) mixed in with Ghost of Tsushima fights.

This is good fun so far.

Higgledy wrote:

Gratz Carlbear95! Hop on into Elden Ring it’s astonishingly good.

Its taken me about 3 days to finally stop hitting R2 to try to dodge in Elden Ring... not easy to transition from Sifu to that.

Oh I hate that when your muscle memory is tuned to a different game. In the Division 2 and Uncharted’s multiplayer the vault over cover and tuck in behind cover buttons were reversed. The transition from one to the other could be rough.

I'm starting Mission 5 at age 50 which I wanted to say is fine, provided I tread through the stage very carefully. But I watched a streamer friend give the final boss a go last night and he looks like a right bastard. Beginning to think I should go back even to the Museum to see if I can shave some years off my truncated clear for that stage, then again for a shortened run of the Tower.

I ran into something odd tonight. I have 3 savegames, #1 and #3 at age 23 with different movesets unlocked after completing full Squats runs on each and #2 at age 22 having completed the Squats with the shortcut. All three saves had unspent XP, 3k-4.5 k for #1 and #3 and around 2500 for #2.

I loaded savegame #3 last night, unlocked a move or two, and loaded The Club. While in the middle of attempt #5 or #6 to get to a certain point in the level without dying, I noticed my overall XP count was only around 700. I quit the level and backed out to the dojo and the XP meter was zero. Somewhere along the way I lost all the XP I'd gained during the initial Squats run.

I loaded savegame #1 and even though I hadn't attempted The Club in that savegame, the XP was zero there too.

Savegame #2 had the amount of XP I expected (2500ish).

For savegame #3 during my play yesterday, I liberally used either "give up" or 'restart level' to restart in the interest of perfecting that one section of the level. Considering the XP I gained was done in a previous level, I wouldn't have expected to lose all of it using either of those reset methods.

Has anyone run into this or know of a reason that previously gained XP would have been wiped if I didn't reattempt the level(s) it was gained on?

Edit: I reproduced the issue. If you 'give up' to take another go at the level, then go back to the dojo instead of going right back into the same level you were working on, even if you don't restart a previous level, it wipes everything, shrine buffs included. However, it keeps the age you were when you finished the last level prior. Seriously? Not sure what the design intent was there...

After failing to make it through the Museum starting at 50, I backtracked a bit, made a bunch of runs through the Squats, bought some more skills, and just trained myself up. Over the past couple days, I've completed my best pair of runs at the Squats (age 21) and the Club (age 26!). Here we go, Museum!

Finally got a deathless run on Squats this morning. I'm going for a structure build (increased structure + structure gain on avoid) on that savegame and a weapon durability build (all 3 lvl 1 shrine points) on the other save, which is currently at age 21). I think I'm finally getting good enough with the avoids that avoid-based buffs are finally viable.

It is GREAT to hear you guys are putting in the extra training at The Squats.

I've resigned myself to starting The Sanctuary (mission 5) at age 50 for now until I summon up the appetite to grind The Tower again. I've got the shortcut unlocked for the final boss but even when going in "fresh" at 50, it's an incredibly tricky fight to learn. Each retry requires me to fight through a cadre of goons in a courtyard before meeting the boss, so I'm not exactly setting myself up for success.

I have managed to progress to the boss' second phase in my late 50s once but the margin for error is very low since that final phase is really bonkers. I'll have to "review the tape" from my last live stream to pick up some intel then give my current age 50 a few more good attempts. If no luck then I'll throw in the towel and replay Tower and/or Museum.

Beat Yang finally. Replayed a few missions to enter the finale at a spry 42. Watched the first end sequence at age 47.

Things really came together for that final run. Yang really requires you to go in young because of all the trial and error required. His mix up game in the second phase is borderline b.s.!

Nice job! I'm looking forward to beating it, but also trying to savor it while it lasts because it's been such a rewarding experience so far.

I haven't been playing much lately but I finally finished The Club a couple of times. I probably could have gotten through it quite a while ago but have restarted mid-level a bunch of times trying to achieve specific milestones (e.g., getting through the Club lobby without dying, etc). Using the weapon durability/damage build, my first completion I got through at age 38, then got it down to 30 for the second. My goal is to get through it at age 25 or less before moving on. I don't imagine it'll take too many more attempts as I feel like I've really got a handle on the game now.

Now that I've got a much better handle on defense, I'm back to thinking about offense, specifically about unarmed combos that are effective after successful avoids. I haven't found anything super reliable, especially against bosses. I primarily use light-light-heavy (ends in a snap kick) a lot as even blocked it creates a lot of space and light-light-light-heavy for potential damage/knockdown/structure damage, but I haven't found anything starting with a heavy to be very effective as most of that gets parried/blocked.

I'm also curious about how y'all use sweeps. I think the instinct as a novice player is to consistently follow them up with ground attacks, but I've been starting to use them as crowd control or to buy time instead as the damage from ground attacks seems pretty negligible, especially against bosses.

Jow wrote:

Now that I've got a much better handle on defense, I'm back to thinking about offense, specifically about unarmed combos that are effective after successful avoids. I haven't found anything super reliable, especially against bosses. I primarily use light-light-heavy (ends in a snap kick) a lot as even blocked it creates a lot of space and light-light-light-heavy for potential damage/knockdown/structure damage, but I haven't found anything starting with a heavy to be very effective as most of that gets parried/blocked.

I think I've put in less time than you, but I'm finding that after successful avoids, the best thing is to hit heavy as fast as possible. Fighting Sean a few times, and also Kuroki, I've found that if I connect with a heavy strike immediately after a successful avoid, I get a little sound-and-rumble emphasis and the boss is stunned for a second, which lets me get off another full combo.

Also I am really liking one of the unlockable moves to follow up on this, the rapid strikes. The timing is heavy (pause) heavy.

LastSurprise wrote:

I think I've put in less time than you, but I'm finding that after successful avoids, the best thing is to hit heavy as fast as possible. Fighting Sean a few times, and also Kuroki, I've found that if I connect with a heavy strike immediately after a successful avoid, I get a little sound-and-rumble emphasis and the boss is stunned for a second, which lets me get off another full combo.

Also I am really liking one of the unlockable moves to follow up on this, the rapid strikes. The timing is heavy (pause) heavy.

Hola!

Yeah, a stun happens any time you counterattack successfully after an avoid. My issue, for example, is that with certain combos they recover from the stun in the middle and are able to block/parry part of the string. It could be timing: i tend to wait to commit to additional combo hits to hit-confirm or to stagger an opponent's counterattack but that's probably providing enough time to escape the full combo. I'll have to experiment some more.

I haven't found an unlockable that I really love yet but I've already permanently unlocked the hard sweep focus ability. That seems invaluable in situations where I really need the crowd control.