Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[cvv]

In an LP I've seen a merchant in the courtyard before the chained giant. There's none in my game. Does he appear after some event? I want my merchant.

 

[toro]

In an LP I've seen a merchant in the courtyard before the chained giant. There's none in my game. Does he appear after some event? I want my merchant.

Probably is random. There is a merchant after you beat the horsy ... in my game world.

 

[Jinn]

In an LP I've seen a merchant in the courtyard before the chained giant. There's none in my game. Does he appear after some event? I want my merchant.

Have you entered your memory of

Spoiler

Hirata Estate yet?

Pretty sure there is a connection there, which I thought was a really clever way of introducing the character.

 

[Taurist]

Finished the third boss and I'm not overy impressed. It seems like the worst bits of Dark Souls 2 combined with shit stealth mechanics. Props to the devs for trying something different I guess. Also if you fall off a bottomless cliff you clip through the cliffs like PS2 shovelware.

 

[Ivan]

And so begins my first session. Wish me good times bros! Impressions to follow...

 

[Hobo Elf]

Played it for several hours, the game is nice overall, combat system is kino, but the bossfights are a real putoff. Out of 4 I had already, only 1 was enjoyable, 1 was that fucking ogre with janky hitboxes and poor telegraphing, and 2 are only good at proving that Miyazaki still has this delusion that stronger than normal enemy+several normal enemies that pile on you is a good boss design. Also reducing player's HP for dying so you'll have even more trouble with this particular boss is one thing, but killing NPCs for dying too much thus potentially cutting the questlines short is whole another level of idiocy, considering the bullshit deaths which doesnt happen as rarely as one would wish. But to be fair, if they'll polish the jank and make multi-enemy encounters more fair it'll be an honest 9/10. Right now it's way too frustrating at times.

Oh btw, the dragonrot is apparently random on everyone but sculptor

This is where my feelings for the game lie as well. I'm a fair bit further than you are, having dealt with Lady Buttefly and climbed my way up to the two bosses on top of the castle, but so far I haven't enjoyed a single boss fight in this game, and they are quite plentiful. I like the fast and furious nature of the combat versus mooks since they die fast and the game looks stylish with all the parrying, jumping on enemies and zooming around with shuriken follow up attacks, but it feels like it all starts to crumble vs boss fights who are just HP sponge slogs. Guard/Parrying hasn't worked too well for me on bosses since the timing to perfect guard them is quite difficult on some attacks that have devilish telegraphs and many times even if I did manage to get a perfect guard they just did an immediate follow up attack and punish me, so it feels like I'm better off just evading and chipping away at their health using Whirlwind instead, but this doesn't make for very exciting gameplay. I never feel like I'm particularly rewarded for my trouble either and I'm not sure if there are any fun new mechanics to look forward to later on that make all this misery worth it for me. I think this game just ain't my thing. Sucks, but them's the breaks sometimes.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I was playing with keyboard a little bit. It's not that bad.My gamepad just works terribly. Controls sometimes not reacts, or sometimes keeps doing the same thing after i've stopped presisng it (like turning the camera).
Much better with keyboard and mouse.

 

[Sentinel]

Once you get a red sign it means that the opponent will do some bullshit attack. However in order to actually counter the attack you have to parry it once the attack is landing.

The red sign means unblockable attack (block = Hold L1/LB). If the enemy has a thrusting weapon, a shinning blade shortly before the attack indicates a thrust attack. These attacks can be parried normally (L1/LB) or can be parried with a special skill (Miriki or some shit) that deals additional posture damage by dodging into the attack just before it hits. If the enemy points his blade towards his side when the red sign shows up, it means a sweeping attack is coming. For these you have to jump to avoid them. Jump towards the enemy and then jump again for a double jump/massive posture damage on them. Slashing attacks cannot be parried.

The game's combat combines Bloodborne's aggressiveness with Dark Souls' parry fest to turn it into a sword-fighting focused action game. You really can't go into it with a souls mindset. i-frames on dodges are severely reduced, meaning that dodging is not as reliable - it's more of a repositioning tool than invincibility shit it was before. The best rhythm I've found so far was to apply pressure on enemies until they deflect an attack, then immediately prepare to deflect their counter - from here you'll have to analyze enemy behavior to decide on your next action. The classic "wait for an opening" Dark Souls approach doesn't seem to work too well here. The combat is really about keeping up the pressure.

Another tip: the Shuriken+R1 combat trick is extremely useful for interrupting startup moves. For example, it can interrupt almost every "Red Sign" attack I've come up against so far.

Played it for several hours, the game is nice overall, combat system is kino, but the bossfights are a real putoff. Out of 4 I had already, only 1 was enjoyable, 1 was that fucking ogre with janky hitboxes and poor telegraphing, and 2 are only good at proving that Miyazaki still has this delusion that stronger than normal enemy+several normal enemies that pile on you is a good boss design. Also reducing player's HP for dying so you'll have even more trouble with this particular boss is one thing, but killing NPCs for dying too much thus potentially cutting the questlines short is whole another level of idiocy, considering the bullshit deaths which doesnt happen as rarely as one would wish. But to be fair, if they'll polish the jank and make multi-enemy encounters more fair it'll be an honest 9/10. Right now it's way too frustrating at times.

Oh btw, the dragonrot is apparently random on everyone but sculptor

You're confusing boss fights with mini-bosses. The ogre isn't a boss. What do you mean with the "normal enemy + several normal enemies" boss? Do you mean Lady Butterfly?
No one has died in my playthrough so far and I have accumulated plenty of deaths. You can also cure dragonrot pretty easily.

 

[cvv]

Have you entered your memory of

Spoiler

Hirata Estate yet?

Pretty sure there is a connection there, which I thought was a really clever way of introducing the character.

Yeah but maybe I have to finish the memory? I suppose it ends with beating the Drunkard but I can't beat him yet. There's also the purple ninja which is insane, is he this game's version of Bloody Crow?

 

[Sentinel]

Have you entered your memory of

Spoiler

Hirata Estate yet?

Pretty sure there is a connection there, which I thought was a really clever way of introducing the character.

Yeah but maybe I have to finish the memory? I suppose it ends with beating the Drunkard but I can't beat him yet. There's also the purple ninja which is insane, is he this game's version of Bloody Crow?

I think the merchant is one of the guys you meet in the memory before the fatso. He's on the left side of the streets "borrowing" from abandoned houses.

 

[cvv]

Have you entered your memory of

Spoiler

Hirata Estate yet?

Pretty sure there is a connection there, which I thought was a really clever way of introducing the character.

Yeah but maybe I have to finish the memory? I suppose it ends with beating the Drunkard but I can't beat him yet. There's also the purple ninja which is insane, is he this game's version of Bloody Crow?

I think the merchant is one of the guys you meet in the memory before the fatso. He's on the left side of the streets "borrowing" from abandoned houses.

Aw shit, that guy?

Killed him.

What? I thought he was Patches.

Goddamn.

 

[Jinn]

Yeah but maybe I have to finish the memory? I suppose it ends with beating the Drunkard but I can't beat him yet. There's also the purple ninja which is insane, is he this game's version of Bloody Crow?

Did you meet the merchant in the memory?

Spoiler

He's off to the left of the main boulevard before the steps ascending to where you fight the shinobi hunter (if I remember correctly). He tells you about a 3-tiered pagoda that is supposed to hold some nice treasure in it.

In terms of what people are saying about mini-boss and boss fights, I just can't agree that they aren't enjoyable. They are some of the most intense action experiences I've ever had in a game. Those crucial moments where you have to be on top of your game, watch your opponent's every movement, time things perfectly, watch the sparks fly between your swords, then thrust through to a bloody gushing fountain of victory. It's made me exclaim my intense satisfaction or frustration out loud in the heat of the moment, which games rarely make me do.

I don't know, it's just really fresh and exciting to me.

 

[polo]

The merchant appears before the memory. I think he should always spawn.

 

[Villagkouras]

I think the game is unfair unless one mini boss which is surrounded in lots of mooks is for later.

I like my combat methodical and this ain't. Although it's too early and I might git gud but I feel it's unfair. Sometimes I forget to heal due to the frantic nature of combat.

I think that they should automatically give money due to the penalty. Sometimes I kill 2-3 enemies and I die to the 4th who's surrounding me and I can't press the gather money button.

Also, in a parry based game they should make enemy attack animations natural and not unrealistically delayed like Dark Souls where you dodge or block.

I'll definetily finish it, but I'm not a fan of this combat system. Everything else is top, no doubt about it. If you like frantic combat, with a fraction of DS's margin for error, you'll love this.

 

[toro]

This game is insane (in a bad way). First time in years when I get dizzy from a boss fight.

Spoiler

The blazing bull fight. It's a attrition fight. Chip his vitality. 2 minutes of running non-stop. WTF.

And a random loadscreen:

 

[Silva]

There's also the purple ninja which is insane, is he this game's version of Bloody Crow?

By the talk of you guys, every fucking enemy is a Bloody Crow in this game.

Which begs the question: it's possible game difficulty is unintended over the roof and next patched make it more manageable? I don't remember it's being the case in previous Souls but who knows.

 

[Sentinel]

This game is insane (in a bad way). First time in years when I get dizzy from a boss fight.

Spoiler

The blazing bull fight. It's a attrition fight. Chip his vitality. 2 minutes of running non-stop. WTF.

And a random loadscreen:

Use the firecrackers tool. It stuns him for a couple seconds which means free hits.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Spoiler

FUCKING EZ, 3RD ATTEMPT

SO TO ALL YOU BETAS SAYING I'M BAD CUZ I WANT PVP:

SUCK MY ディック

 

[Jinn]

Use the firecrackers tool. It stuns him for a couple seconds which means free hits.

I like stuff like this in the game too. It really encourages you to figure out how to use all your tools together and figure out which enemy they are best used on, with particularly nice synergies between quick items and prosthetic tools. Not required, but it can make your life a lot easier sometimes if you do some experimentation.

 

[RapineDel]

The more I watch and read about this, the more I think it's probably not for me.

Combat seems to be especially one-dimensional. Play the fucking parry game and be aggressive at all times or get fucked. No, sorry; I want my combat encouters to offer some options—that was one of Dark Souls greatest strenghts. There were dozens of ways you could approach the game, each of them more or less viable.

Most things that made Dark Souls for me are watered down or completely missing here. Even exploration, which many people are raving about, is totally worthless if there's (almost) nothing to find. No weapons, no different armors, just these retarded prosthetics.

Even less customisation than Bloodborne, the fucking hook that's just usable at specific points, enemy indicators on screen, a departure from the optional storytelling in favour of a more story-driven experience, still the same shit engine from BB/DS3, and combat consisting of glorified QTEs. And I don't like the setting. Yeah, I'll skip this one. Difficulty alone doesn't make a good game for me.

I was thinking about this while playing last night. Let's be honest, most of the stuff you find in Dark Souls or Sekiro you probably aren't going to use or can feel useless but I think the key is HOW you find these items, not always what you find. If the level design was boring and items were just thrown around the place, I'd probably not bother looking for everything but when there's high quality level design on offer I feel compelled to explore and hey, you occasionally do find something cool.

Yes, it's missing the choice and flexibility of Dark Souls but I don't think that has to be a negative. It's a different game, it's not an RPG and I don't think it's fair to criticize a game for not being something else. If you don't like the combat, fair enough but I think most can agree it's well developed.

I think there's positives to there being just one option. It means they can design every encounter around a single style of play which means there's an opportunity for tighter design and less exploits along with the game getting easier. I'm not far enough along to see if this holds true for this game but looking back at From's strengths one of the reasons Bloodborne was so good was for those very reasons.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Spoiler

FWIW this fight is my favorite fight from all From Soft games. I fucking love the fast paced parry swing swing parry parry parry swing combat. One problem I always had with souls games was that they relied way too much on rolling which caused the fights to feel fake. These fights feel way more real

***GAME STILL NEEDS PVP***

 

[Sentinel]

Use the firecrackers tool. It stuns him for a couple seconds which means free hits.

I like stuff like this in the game too. It really encourages you to figure out how to use all your tools together and figure out which enemy they are best used on, with particularly nice synergies between quick items and prosthetic tools. Not required, but it can make your life a lot easier sometimes if you do some experimentation.

The game seems to be designed to make you use your items. I got through all previous Souls games just ignoring 90% of the shit consumables I was given, but Sekiro actually gives me a reason to use most of them since shit can be pretty brutal.

 

[toro]

This game is insane (in a bad way). First time in years when I get dizzy from a boss fight.

Spoiler

The blazing bull fight. It's a attrition fight. Chip his vitality. 2 minutes of running non-stop. WTF.

And a random loadscreen:

Use the firecrackers tool. It stuns him for a couple seconds which means free hits.

I did but you still have to chip his vitality. Also you can use the flame prosthetic and put him on fire.

 

[DemonKing]

Played a bit more this morning and beat the Shinobi Hunter on the first try - definitely getting better at this. Horse dude still kicked my ass on my initial attempt though.

What does the green symbol with the inverted triangle means when it appears over enemy heads?

 

[Sentinel]

Played a bit more this morning and beat the Shinobi Hunter on the first try - definitely getting better at this. Horse dude still kicked my ass on my initial attempt though.

What does the green symbol with the inverted triangle means when it appears over enemy heads?

Means you can grapple onto them by pressing L2/LT.