Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[Silva]

Almost got this for my birthday but decided to pass it up for now. Watched Lobos play for 3h and found this boss-centric, guard-breaking, QTE fighting paradigm kinda... boring ? Also, a big part of Soulsborne for me is it's sense of place and I'm not feeling this feudal jap the same way as Lordran or Yharnam. I'll wait for a sell.

But hey, if anyone wants to give it to me on PS4 as a birthday gift I won't refuse.

 

[Sentinel]

The "HP bloat" in some of the bosses is merely an obstacle to force you to experiment (and is necessary for the posture mechanic). You can set him on fire to reduce his HP AND stun him for a few seconds.

 

[Wolfe]

Speaking of reviewers and decline: https://www.pcgamer.com/i-am-never-going-to-finish-sekiro-shadows-die-twice/

 

[Jasede]

Almost got this for my birthday but decided to pass it up for now. Watched Lobos play for 3h and found this boss-centric, guard-breaking, QTE fighting paradigm kinda... boring ? Also, a big part of Soulsborne for me is it's sense of place and I'm not feeling this feudal jap the same way as Lordran or Yharnam. I'll wait for a sell.

But hey, if anyone wants to give it to me on PS4 as a birthday gift I won't refuse.

There... Are no QTEs though?

This game plays much differently than it looks on a video. Sure, there's a symbol to warn you of impending unblockable attacks but that's no QTE. How you want to respond is entirely up to you and depending on the physical nature of the attack you'll have to judge how to respond.

 

[cvv]

Almost got this for my birthday but decided to pass it up for now. Watched Lobos play for 3h and found this boss-centric, guard-breaking, QTE fighting paradigm kinda... boring ? Also, a big part of Soulsborne for me is it's sense of place and I'm not feeling this feudal jap the same way as Lordran or Yharnam. I'll wait for a sell.

It's true that the feudal Japan part is kindda boring. The level design itself is very good but the aesthetics...meh. Plus dat annoying snow effect. I hope mods will fix that shit. But later on the game opens to awesome looking locations.

Combat is...good, definitely. I said earlier tho that I still prefer the stamina-based kind. I mean it's fun to have almost a realistic sword clashes with mobs but you're right about the QTE paradigm. It does feel a bit gamey. Plus the stealth mechanic was ultimately a mistake IMO. A fun mistake but still.

Overall the experience is great, even tho it's by far the hardest Souls game I've ever played.

 

[Jasede]

Is "hit L1 at the right time to parry" a QTE? I think not. Not once have I encountered some cutscene in which I'm asked to press a surprise button.

If dodging an unblockable is considered a QTE I guess Dark Souls was modern QTE trash...

 

[Villagkouras]

Well one can say that the final deathblow is a QTE. Not typical deathblows, but in certain bosses. But ok.

If you think that a fast paced Rock-Paper-Scissors game is the same as QTEs, then avoid Sekiro.

 

[Cromwell]

Is "hit L1 at the right time to parry" a QTE? I think not. Not once have I encountered some cutscene in which I'm asked to press a surprise button.

it will feel like one if they decide to hit you with not one attack but a few in succession. It takes a lot more concentration than parrying in darksouls (to be fair it seems the windows is also more forgiving). The fight also doesnt pause after a deflect (exceptions are the unblockable moves which play a little sequence after deflecting them accordingly) you just fight on and on and theres almost no breathing room. Pair that with the time it takes to finish a phase and three (or more I dont know all the bosses) phases were its possible to amost get oneshotted if you miss a crucial parry or dodge in phase x (and therefore be forced to begin again) and you have an exhausting system. It can get frustrating way faster than it got in BB or the Souls games imho.

 

[Somberlain]

There's nothing QTE about the combat systems. Some bosses give you a QTE finisher but that's after you've already won.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

If deathblow is QTE than backstabs/parries in souls are QTEs too because they work the same (press attack button near enemy under certain conditions to exectute a powerful attack).

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Starting score 10/10.

Lack of essential shinobi weapons like nunchaku/kusarigama, staff/spear, scythe/kama and claws is -2 points from basic score. And I am not even talking about lack of shinobi taijitsu like Izuna Drop (Nioh have all of these, including Izuna Drop).

Lack of variety in moves, especially considered there is only 1 melee weapon in -2 points from score.

Poorly balanced bosses health, bloated to at least 4x times which was neede is -2 points from score.

Final score so far is 4/10.

Just compare Sekiros spam of basic 2 hit combo all the game with this:

 

[Sentinel]

I get a feeling that most people here haven't read the tutorial prompts.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Having fun with it. Getting the hang of combat...I think.

Spent about 4 hours this morning doing the route from D. Temple to the Chained Ogre (Haven't tried to kill CO yet). Experimenting with all the different deflects and evades and things with the different mooks along the way, and trying to actually fight and not just Stealth Kill.

Practicing on the training guy does not prepare you for real enemies, I feel.

Taking a break now, back to more later.

Zep--

 

[Jasede]

I mean, Ninja Gaiden is like a different genre, or feels like it.

As for HP bloat - really? It doesn't feel that bloated to me at all. If anything I think most bosses have too little poise or HP and die too fast.

Only exceptions so far were the chained ogre mid boss and the burning bull.

 

[Sentinel]

Having fun with it. Getting the hang of combat...I think.

Spent about 4 hours this morning doing the route from D. Temple to the Chained Ogre (Haven't tried to kill CO yet). Experimenting with all the different deflects and evades and things with the different mooks along the way, and trying to actually fight and not just Stealth Kill.

Practicing on the training guy does not prepare you for real enemies, I feel.

Taking a break now, back to more later.

Zep--

You shouldn't look at Stealth Kills as an illegitimate way to play. Some encounters, and especially mini-bosses, are designed around stealth openings. You'll be getting fucked on all holes if you don't use stealth.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I mean, Ninja Gaiden is like a different genre, or feels like it.

As for HP bloat - really? It doesn't feel that bloated to me at all. If anything I think most bosses have too little poise or HP and die too fast.

Only exceptions so far were the chained ogre mid boss and the burning bull.

I had to do like 80+ attack on that spear guy who oneshots me to get his health bar low enough to start parryiing. And the main problem is - with a hard boss like this you don't even have time to learn him properly. You die in an instance if you make one mistake. The time it takes me to get back to him - I forget everything about fighting him.
I'd say thas a bloat! Bull and Ogre are not problem at all.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Having fun with it. Getting the hang of combat...I think.

Spent about 4 hours this morning doing the route from D. Temple to the Chained Ogre (Haven't tried to kill CO yet). Experimenting with all the different deflects and evades and things with the different mooks along the way, and trying to actually fight and not just Stealth Kill.

Practicing on the training guy does not prepare you for real enemies, I feel.

Taking a break now, back to more later.

Zep--

You shouldn't look at Stealth Kills as an illegitimate way to play. Some encounters, and especially mini-bosses, are designed around stealth openings. You'll be getting fucked on all holes if you don't use stealth.

Just practicing without it, stealth kills are easy. Trying to learn/perfect the combat mechanics instead.

Zep--

 

[Steezus]

I had to do like 80+ attack on that spear guy who oneshots me to get his health bar low enough to start parryiing. And the main problem is - with a hard boss like this you don't even have time to learn him properly. You die in an instance if you make one mistake. The time it takes me to get back to him - I forget everything about fighting him.
I'd say thas a bloat! Bull and Ogre are not problem at all.

What spear guy? That general in front of the tower?

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I had to do like 80+ attack on that spear guy who oneshots me to get his health bar low enough to start parryiing. And the main problem is - with a hard boss like this you don't even have time to learn him properly. You die in an instance if you make one mistake. The time it takes me to get back to him - I forget everything about fighting him.
I'd say thas a bloat! Bull and Ogre are not problem at all.

What spear guy? That general in front of the tower?

Nine Ashine Spears or smh.

 

[Steezus]

I had to do like 80+ attack on that spear guy who oneshots me to get his health bar low enough to start parryiing. And the main problem is - with a hard boss like this you don't even have time to learn him properly. You die in an instance if you make one mistake. The time it takes me to get back to him - I forget everything about fighting him.
I'd say thas a bloat! Bull and Ogre are not problem at all.

What spear guy? That general in front of the tower?

Nine Ashine Spears or smh.

That's the one. Yeah, you're clearly doing something wrong, my man.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I had to do like 80+ attack on that spear guy who oneshots me to get his health bar low enough to start parryiing. And the main problem is - with a hard boss like this you don't even have time to learn him properly. You die in an instance if you make one mistake. The time it takes me to get back to him - I forget everything about fighting him.
I'd say thas a bloat! Bull and Ogre are not problem at all.

What spear guy? That general in front of the tower?

Nine Ashine Spears or smh.

That's the one. Yeah, you're clearly doing something wrong, my man.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Matador]

The problem is damage is inconsistent. For example 7 spear guy does insane damage to posture an health while Genishiro, reasonable damage. This is OK in some way because Genishiro has 3 phases.

The spear guy is not enjoyable to fight. He does to much posture damage and he receives almost no one even if you miriki counter him or jump over sweeps; you are not rewarded for a clutch performance.

Genishiro or the lady are tough but they are more enjoyable to fight.

I have fought 3 mayor bosses (shinobis), and liked a lot those fights. Among the best in Souls games or any action game. The Mid bosses I'm not fun of some of them:

- The mage in the cave is just an insane dumb cheap nuke spammer unless you have one scarce item.
- The samurai before Genishiro does damage through you blocks, insane posture damage, but to beat him you have just to time double tap his combo twice and he is dead.
- Lackies surrounding them that you can stealth kill, but it's a chore to do it everytime you die.
- Camera Ninja in the cave.
- The Bull Fighting, more like bull ass chasing, Olé!

Sekiro is great, in my top 3 "Souls", but I think the concept is not yet refined. Another iteration could perfect it.

 

[toro]

This is funny.

Spoiler

I beat the Ape 1st phase first try. Of course I forgot about the second phase.

4 more tries and it was underwhelming. If you sprint then you are never in danger.

This fight was long as fuck. Also a complete chaos. 10 for presentation, 4 for the fight

 

[toro]

The problem is damage is inconsistent. For example 7 spear guy does insane damage to posture an health while Genishiro, reasonable damage. This is OK in some way because Genishiro has 3 phases.

The spear guy is not enjoyable to fight. He does to much posture damage and he receives almost no one even if you miriki counter him or jump over sweeps; you are not rewarded for a clutch performance.

Genishiro or the lady are tough but they are more enjoyable to fight.

I have fought 3 mayor bosses (shinobis), and liked a lot those fights. Among the best in Souls games or any action game. The Mid bosses I'm not fun of some of them:

- The mage in the cave is just an insane dumb cheap nuke spammer unless you have one scarce item.
- The samurai before Genishiro does damage through you blocks, insane posture damage, but to beat him you have just to time double tap his combo twice and he is dead.
- Lackies surrounding them that you can stealth kill, but it's a chore to do it everytime you die.
- Camera Ninja in the cave.

Sekiro is great, in my top 3 "Souls", but I think the concept is not yet refined. Another iteration could perfect it.

Yeah. There are a lot of "problematic" boss encounters

The most frustrating thing for me is that I never feel in control like in DaS. Each boss introduces new mechanics priority, overwrites previous mechanics priority or is simply trolling the player.

There is no difficulty crescendo: each boss is just another nuance of a cluster fuck. Yeah, I know there are way to cheese probably all encounters but I don't have to time to experiment with all prosthetic or skills.

The game issue is that the combat's design is autistic in nature. There are few instances in which it works and it feels good. Chopping the Ape with the Katana was retarded.

Less spastics mobs, less homing attacks, less trolling would make the game a lot more fun. But I don't know what Miyazaki intended to do with Sekiro.

Also 3 phases bosses. Why stop at 3 !? You can go for 10+ phases for all I care. They make zero sense.

My top bosses until now: Lady Butterfly, Genichiro, O'Rin of the Water. The rest honestly were a chore.

 

[toro]

Speaking of reviewers and decline: https://www.pcgamer.com/i-am-never-going-to-finish-sekiro-shadows-die-twice/

He is complaining about the same things I've complained above: incoherent and inconsistent experience. Sekiro the Dark Souls of Trolling.

Maybe we are both retarded or maybe there is an argument to be made half way.

Honestly, I don't expect to finish the game. However I do intend to enjoy whatever I have left. The world design is really special.

Edit: Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo