Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[Wunderbar]

Genichiro before Isshin

How many phases are there in total? because if it is to much I will just shoot myself now.

Genichiro (1 phase), then Isshin (3 phases).

 

[Durandal]

Health bloat on enemies is a very precarious thing to balance, but in my opinion only a real problem if the actual execution of fighting the enemy itself is dead boring. If you can already perfectly no-damage a boss 99% of the time, then said boss having tons of health merely drags out things. But if you don't have the boss down to a T, the large amount of health is there moreso to force you to get to grips with the boss itself. On a theoretical easier difficulty you could barrel through a boss by sheer luck more than anything as you can kill it before it throws out its most dangerous attacks at random or before it can sap all your health and estus flasks.

When the boss has enough health to not be killed in ten seconds, he'll inevitably cycle through all his attacks which you'll inevitably have to learn to not get hit by them. It's what made the Nelo Angelo 3 fight in DMC1 on DMD really work as your double healthbar could be deleted in three-four swings and his took forever to get down. You should know his patterns by now, but it takes some skill to be able to execute the necessary strategies to deal with said attacks consistently rather than beat them by lucking out once or twice. Sekiro relies a lot on tight reaction parries, so I don't think this is too much of an issue. I only found it a problem during some mini-boss fights which barely give you an opportunity to damage their vit but have ridiculous posture regen/maximum posture anyways, like the Snake Eyes with Bell Demon on.

In Sekiro a lot of the bosses' final phases tend to be easier then the ones before, because the bosses start opening themselves up a lot more. Genichiro and Isshin will start spamming lightning which you can easily reverse for free damage and a stun, Headless Ape has more predictable swings and an overly telegraphed overhead swing which when deflected staggers him for free damage (while also being susceptible to the spear trick), and Owl starts doing that smokescreen stomp which is easily punishable.

For the Ashina Bros. fight you can delete Genichiro in half a minute if you know what you're doing and Isshin's first phase in around the same amount of time if you never stop letting up, it's only the second phase that's really tricky (while the third is about the same but gives you free lightning, see embed). I think in Sekiro's case you're given enough avenue to power through bosses if you know what you are doing (except for arguably Demon of Hatred). It's not unreasonable for the final boss in a game to have more HP than is the norm.

 

[RapineDel]

 

[RapineDel]

I decided to go for 100% and last thing I have to do is to grind the last skill tree (tedious, might not do it) so without exploits this meant I had to run through the game 4 times.

The game really isn't that hard and people talking about From having to "one up themselves each time making things harder" this really isn't the case. What they should learn from this is they just need to change the combat system enough each time so people have to learn something new, that's the key to a good From Software game, not HP bloat etc.

People are talking about the phases like they make fights long and tedious, again I don't know about that. Even the last fight with technically 4 phases, if you know what you're doing it's still over in a handful of minutes since Geniricho and phase 1 of Sword Saint shouldn't take you more then a couple of minutes alone, this is even on New Game +++ so I'd be interested in knowing how quick it is in the first run. I personally think if you find the first phases that tedious then you need to consider if you're being as efficient as you can on the first phase or two.

Having Parry and block on the same button means it's pretty rare to get hit if you learn a bosses moves, you've also got the icon which warns you of an incoming move, I'd be interested in a mod that removes this just to see how it affects the game. Then you've also got all the eavesdrops that reveal plenty of tips for new players, another "casual" element that there wasn't much of in previous games.

I don't think it's From's hardest game at all, I had far more trouble in the first Dark Souls which probably took me 70+ hours to finish. Obviously there's enough that carries over in new games that help you but I think Ornstein and Smough is much harder on a first time player then anything in Sekiro.

 

[Somberlain]

Iron Passage is still the worst thing FromSoft have made before or since

 

[Strange Fellow]

I had to run through the game 4 times.

The game really isn't that hard

Every time.

 

[Wunderbar]

Ok so what's your opinion about

Spoiler

the giant straw-man? Felt completely random and out of place to me.

so i just finished the game with normal (i think) ending, and this is what i saw in a cutscene.

Spoiler

 

[Sentinel]

Man I wish I had saved the article and wikipedia entry I read about the straw creature in jap folklore. It definitely isn't random.

 

[Wunderbar]

TheSentinel rated your post

what?

Emma is a straw man!
Somebody call vaati.

 

[Sentinel]

She can have my straw any time.

 

[Sentinel]

may be related.
http://yokai.com/waraningyou/

Wara ningyō

藁人形
わらにんぎょう

TRANSLATION: straw doll
ALTERNATE NAMES: suge ningyō (sedge doll)

APPEARANCE: Wara ningyō are a popular kind of katashiro made of straw. Wara ningyō most commonly depict humans, but they are occasionally made in the shape of horses or other animals too.

INTERACTIONS: Wara ningyō are used extensively as wards against evil. During the Heian period, wara ningyō would be placed along the sides of the roads for protection against plague. It was hoped that the evil spirits which brought disease would nest in the straw bodies instead of living human bodies. Afterwards, the straw dolls would be discarded into a river, which would also purify the evil spirits.

Wara ningyō are popular devices in a number of dark rituals. They are combined with something from the recipient of the curse, such as a piece of hair. This transforms the doll into a substitute for the intended target. Long nails are pushed through the wara ningyō, harming the subject as well as the doll.

There are specific rules for creating different types of wara ningyō. These detail the materials to be used, the way the dolls are constructed, and the objects to be inserted into them. It can be difficult to find the materials needed to perform curses. The required items are not sold in most stores. However, some websites sell premade curse kits that contain all of the items you might need to perform a specific curse, including a wara ningyō, long nails, a mallet, pre-written curses with blanks for the recipient’s name, and other accessories. Of course, performing such rituals is illegal.

 

[Durandal]

ok so how do they make such a big one and why does it take me for a ride

 

[Lutte]

The bigger question is how immortality works in this game if it can't even regrow limbs. Why did wolf need a prosthetic

Spoiler

if the events of the hirata estate predates the events of the tutorial you start the game in? In the hirata estate is where you get the power with Kuro saving you. You lose your limb a long time after when Genichiro cuts it off

If cutting the limbs of an immortal is a permanent thing then why do you need to make sure someone is dead through the power of

Spoiler

the mortal blade

when you could just cut Genichiro's four limbs and leave him to suffer for eternity for what he has done? Could have ended the fight so much earlier.

 

[Sentinel]

There are two kinds of immortality - divine (Kuro, Sekiro supposedly, Dragon) and centipede (everyone else).

 

[Cromwell]

Spoiler

Hirata is strange anyways because its also the place where you get prostethics, like the Axe and the raven feathers. How do you get them and take them back to the sculptor if you are just remembering things.

 

[Lutte]

There are two kinds of immortality - divine (Kuro, Sekiro supposedly, Dragon) and centipede (everyone else).

Centipede is shown to have the same effect with regards to limbs.

Spoiler

Guardian Ape starts the second encounter with its head still cutoff, held in its hands. Clearly, it couldn't find it in its heart to reattach.

meaning that theoretically, wolf just wasted a ton of effort letting enemies leave encounters when he could have cut them bits by bits by bits into something that would beg for death. Heck,

Spoiler

he could have chosen to fucking shred that ape too and avoid that second encounter altogether

but wolf never seemed like the sharpest knife in the block anyhow.

Spoiler

Hirata is strange anyways because its also the place where you get prostethics, like the Axe and the raven feathers. How do you get them and take them back to the sculptor if you are just remembering things.

The game clearly implies some actual

Spoiler

time magic at play, because doing things like killing the thief removes him from the game too

 

[Cromwell]

At least for genishiro

Spoiler

they are as suprised as I was that the fucker is immortal. For the Ape the fucking sword in his neck may be a giveaway but I would excuse it as "didnt know there was a centipede in it"

 

[Hamziz]

Unsolicited opinion incoming:

After 15 hours I really don't like or enjoy Sekiro, because I can't shake the feeling that it does not earn or deserve it's difficulty.

After beating butterfly, I didn't feel accomplished, or relieved, just that I'd gotten lucky. If I face her again it would be 50/50 at best whether I'd come out on top. That tells me I haven't mastered anything, just that this one time I was able to react appropriately and in time to her various bullshit moves. That wouldn't be so bad if difficulty wasn't all this game had going for it, but it is.

The exploration isn't compelling, because the rewards for doing so are scant, and the levels are mostly linear. The verticality was fun at first, but it gets dragged down by the lack of meaningful opportunities to do anything cool with it. No sequence breaking, very few shortcuts. The level design sucks, which they must have realized judging from the number and frequency of idols.

I'm rambling, but my point is that this to me feels like a phoned-in, half baked game. I can probably get better and beat the last part of the game, but having already seen and done all of what little fun there is on offer, why on earth would I want to?

Tldr; I'm getting too old for this shit.

 

[Silva]

So can anyone gimme the rundown of the game's plot and lore? I won't be playing it until a sell on PS4 but this being From I'm sure there's some nice bits of lore around.

I'll start: what's up with the bunch of immortal people running around? Does this mean everybody raped the boy took the boy's blood or something ?

 

[Multidirectional]

After beating butterfly, I didn't feel accomplished, or relieved, just that I'd gotten lucky.

I did. It felt awesome, I was parrying her every move by the end. During the the last run I was so fucking aggressive with staying in her face with non stop attack parry attack parry that she didn't even get to call her illusions during second phase. Then right after that I went to the Bull and did him on first try (that day, anyway) by perfectly deflecting every single one of his charge attacks. I got fucking high from it. "Yeah boy, it's gonna be a smooth sailing from now on! I'm done sucking at this game baby!". Then little bit later I was back banging my head against the wall.
Miyazaki be like

Yeah if he can finish it then game can't be too hard! I mean who cares if he knows every fucking thing about it before he even starts playing.

 

[Multidirectional]

I won't be playing it until a sell on PS4

Enjoy playing this rapefest on something that can't even do 60 FPS.

 

[Hamziz]

I did. It felt awesome, I was parrying her every move by the end. During the the last run I was so fucking aggressive with staying in her face with non stop attack parry attack parry that she didn't even get to call her illusions during second phase.

I think our different experiences illustrate an unintended consequence of the bosses having such large and random move sets: I was able to eke out a win without deserving it because I could deal with ~half of her shit, and she just happened to only use that half. Felt really unsatisfying.

 

[Multidirectional]

Man I wish there was a separate option for combat music in this game. I think it's pretty shit and it becomes especially annoying when I'm dying over and over to something. It's like Witcher 3 all over again, but at least this doesn't have that "laylaylay" crap. I'm at Snake Eyes now. Yay, an area filled with poison water. I knew there was something missing in this game.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

 

[cvv]

Tldr; I'm getting too old for this shit.

That's what you get when you abandon your easy mode (summons). In the past scores of Souls fans could power through majority any Souls game on their own and for the rest they summoned a sunbro. Which is perfectly fine. In Sekiro there's only one instance where you can get help - in the early game Juzou fight.

Despite all the edgies hollering about "gaym daznt needz eazy mode", Souls have always had an easy mode because even FromSoft knows that one fixed difficulty is a terrible design idea. No idea why they backed off from that this time around.