From Software Lyric Suite's own Sekiro corner

[Multidirectional]

It's too funny watching you sperg out about the pointless rot mechanic to tell you anything. Plus, you didn't want spoilers, right? May this experience cure your autism forever.

 

[Lyric Suite]

It's too funny watching you sperg out about the pointless rot mechanic to tell you anything. Plus, you didn't want spoilers, right? May this experience cure your autism forever.

No you guys did well in not telling me.

I actually enjoyed playing thinking the Droplets were a finite quantity. It made for an interesting first playthrough, and it's the first that counts for things like this.

Hell, i remember getting so mad when i died in Dark Souls 1 or Dark Souls 2, but in subsequent playthroughs it was nothing so it was fun to have that same "first time" experience here as well.

 

[janior]

10 hour game and he still didn't beat it in month and a half, nice videos, scrub

 

[Lyric Suite]

There's someone in the playground forum that took five years to complete a let's play you should be glad i was this fast.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ichimonji is very good in this fight

It seems to be good for most things. Look what it did to that poor Corrupted Monk, heh.

The fact it doesn't consume Spirit Emblems and the ability it has to stun enemies if you use it right (and occationally even when you use it wrong) makes it almost broken.

 

[Andnjord]

There's someone in the playground forum that took five years to complete a let's play you should be glad i was this fast.

Finishing the LP would already put it above 90% of the rest of the Playground.

 

[cvv]

Ichimonji is very good in this fight

It seems to be good for most things. Look what it did to that poor Corrupted Monk, heh.

The fact it doesn't consume Spirit Emblems and the ability it has to stun enemies if you use it right (and occationally even when you use it wrong) makes it almost broken.

The trouble is you can usually do three regular swings in the time you can pull of the double Ichimonji, making it really useful only situationally.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ No End In Sight ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, time to find out what's going on here. I have now killed the Divine Dragon and obtained the Dragon's Tears:




But it appears in the meanwhile things have turned for the worse in Ashina:




I knew this was coming but i had hoped i could share more sake with him for a little while longer. So long, you were the coolest grampa ever.

But apparently this is only the beginning of the troubles befalling Ashina:




Wolf asks her about Kuro, and she hands him this key:



So Kuro has escaped through the secret passage we used at the beginning of the game:





I see.




So this is the end of the game then. I wonder if i can get it done within this single progress update. There's still some unresolved quests though so i better explore around first before making my way to the silvergrass field.

Before leaving, she has a few more words to say:





Curiously, i now get the option to give her sake, where as i didn't see it before when she was next to the Sculptor. I tried it, but she won't take it:



I don't remember if i ever gave her Dragonspring sake. Do i actually have an extra one, or did i miss on some dialog? Once i'm done with the game i suppose i can just google it.

I now try to make it upstairs but the way is barred:



I go to the Sculptor's Idol to check and yep, it seems we are doing this shit again:



Damn it, do i really have to rediscover all the Sculptor's Idols around the Castle? I pop the Dragon memory:



But instead of starting from the Abandoned Dungeon again i decide to check this level fist since Emma said something about the Nightjar signals. Sure enough, next to the library there is an opening:



As soon as i get out some kind of battle music starts, but there's no enemies. I check down and it seems the Ashina Castle is going down in flames:



Upon closer inspection it appears it's those damn Santa Claus ninjas again:



It seems the Inferior Ministry really went out in full force after learning of Isshin's death. Kinda of a strange coincidence that his "illness" took him right after i killed the Divine Dragon too, ain't it.

I check around the roof here and there's dead Nightjar guys everywhere:




Seems the battle is raging far and wide:




I take a closer look at the battle ensuing below, i think the Ashina forces stand no chance:



In the distance, i also spot two Nightjar guys fighting:



I don't get this aren't all the Nightjar guys in the service of Isshin? Why would they fight one another.

Before going this way i need to check the other side of the Ashina Castle as well. Things appear to be a little more quiet here:



I'm not sure i remember what this side was, seems like the battle is raging all over Ashina though:



I check inside Isshin's quarters, and i notice that the Tengu costume is missing:



While i'm up there i knock some lamp or something and suddenly a boss battle begins out of nowhere. The music starts and i see the health bar on the top side of my screen. I was not prepared for this so i bolt out of there, and once things are quiet again i try to get a closer look undetected. Who bitch is this now?





I try to look around the corner to see what he is talking about, and i get spotted. Two microseconds later i'm lying dead on the floor lol. Guess it's time for revenge now!

WTF is with this coked out lunatic. So he loses in two seconds like a bitch in my last fight with him, and then goes on to take massive amounts of steroids or something and is now faster than he used to be and also has far more vitality and posture. Fucking hell his cross attack was so fast i had to let go of the controller with my left hand and wrap my fingers around the trigger as i couldn't double press it fast enough any other way. I was putting so much force on the trigger while doing this i had to plant my controller on the desk for stability, but i also lost a couple of tries because it tended to just bounce off the desk which threw off my timing, so i had to tighten my grip with the right hand which forced me to let go of the buttons. This means i couldn't easily punish his sweeps with jump stomps or anything fancy like that. I just had to keep some distance and focus 100% on deflecting his Ashina Cross. I wanted to be a try hard and make a no hit video. I came close but he still managed to hit me once because he tricked me with one of his fake outs. Close enough though i'm afraid if i keep trying i'm going to damage my controller, cave in the trigger or something like that not worth it.

Spoiler

So after killing that coked out bitch, i get a Prayer Bead as a reward. I check my character screen and my Vitality is at 19. This means that if the game wants me to end up with an even 20 i'm going to have to fight three more mini-bosses after this. Lol, so much for this being the end of the game. I now decide to check the Ashina Castle by following this dojo and emerge out of the secret wall partition:




I was preparing myself for battle with the two blue samurai but they aren't there anymore. Just like last time the Castle was invaded, things are a little different now:




I go check upstairs and it seems i'm gonna have to rediscover all the Sculptor's Idols in turn, one by one:



This guy hasn't moved it seems, heh:



I make my way up through the window and i guess i really have to do this, revisit all the Idols one by one:



There's really no logical reason why Wolf would be doing this too, but i'm not gonna miss out on loot and bosses just because of muh roleplaying.

Alright let's see what's going on inside the Castle. I sneak around, and at first it seems like the ninjas and the samurai are in cahoots:




I drop on a ninja with a deathblow and figure i may have to redo this several times, just kill one, nope out of there and do it again, but it seems the samurai and the ninjas aren't working toghether, i just didn't trigger the script that makes them fight one another by coming from this side first. But as soon as i drop down, they begin their battle:



I figure i might as well go activate the Scultor's Idol on this level and then come back to finish off whoever is left. There's a ninja on the way where the blue samurai used to be:



He is no problem though and i activate the Idol without an issue. When i come back i see they are still at it:



It's funny that the samurai could barely damage any of the ninjas but if i had to fight one i'd rather fight the ninjas. For some reason the samurai always manage to trip me up. After the samurai dies i take care of the ninja and i now have the place for myself:



That's a cool looking map why didn't i notice this before:



I find nothing else of note up here so i make it down. No Ogre this time, but there's a bunch of Santa Claus ninjas down there:



I kill one with a leap deathblow:



And i take on the other but i don't know if i just forgot how they work or if they updated their move sets since he almost kicks my ass, but eventually i prevail:



I go check outside but the battle is raging and no way i'm going to get involved in this, i'll come back later and deal with the survivours instead lol:



There's new loot here too this means i'm going to have to redo this entire area for the third time now. This is kinda of bullshit to be honest:



I decide to check in the back first where things appear to be more quiet. There's a Santa Claus dofus laying in ambush around the corner:



So long bitch:



I don't know who he was trying to ambush though as there's nobody here except wounded soldiers or some that are cowering in fear:





I go check in the back if things settled down a bit and good grief:






Fuuuuuuck that shit lol. I bolt the fuck out of there and run towards the bridge to clear aggro, where i chance upon this guy again. I remember killing him, but i guess in this game's canon he is still alive, still being conflicted by his greed going counter of his Buddhist beliefs:








Not to worry bro, i got the solution to your dilemma (again):



I continue on this side and it seems the monkeys are back, and i guess they got pissed they got slaughtered by the ninjas last time as apparently they have called for reinforcements:



I flank the first group, around five monkeys, three with weapons, and take them out without much issue:




But as i turn around i come on a much more complex situation. There's an entire group of armed monkeys, around four sword monkeys, one rifle monkey and to make it even more fun two of those dreaded samurai monkeys, all fighting with some wolves. I can't see any ninjas in there though, and after the fight ends i check the situation:



Not much else i can do here but rely on my trusty whistle:



After this all hell break loose, and in the chaos i manage to charm the other samurai white monkey, and after they make short order of the rest of the group, it's now a battle to the death between them:









Eventually one of them succumbs, and the other goes straight for me, but even though i sort of forgot their moves, he has so little health left it doesn't take much to kill him:




Man look at this massacre:



Killing the white monkeys gives me a Jinzo babby statue. I activate the Sculptor's Idol and look around, but apparently that was that so i move to the next section:




This whole side down here appears to be deserted, i guess everybody moved up front to try to stop the Interior Ministry's advance:



How they managed to rebuild the bridge is anyone's guess. While i'm taking those shots i notice that Nightjar guy is actually sort of moving, so i go check it out, turns out he is still alive and has something to say:








Yeah what exactly am i supposed to do here take on the entire Interior Ministry army?

At this point i start hearing combat noises and i see the script that makes the Ashina forces go into battle has kicked in:



While they are slaughtering each other, i check this place out. More rats, does it mean...



Sure enough, the racoon dude has finally made it here, but it appears he isn't doing so good:






Wolf asks what happened.




I'm guessing he is talking about Kuro.







Once he dies, his body gets a little glow but i can't loot anything:



After trying a couple of times, i decide maybe i need to port out and come back, but whatever it was it's gone now:



Man did he really take all those by himself?

Eventually i decide to google it, and apparently you were supposed to hold the interact button, not just press it. In hindsight it was obvious but it was late and i guess i was kinda tired and my brain wasn't working right. The reward for his entire quest line was just a one time use consumable. Useless, but it sorts of bothers me that i missed it like this. The text does add some extra flavor to the story through. Taken from a shot i found on google:



So i guess the gist of it is that in memory of his son, he decided to give up his life to save Kuro. It's too bad some of the poignancy was lost by failing to loot the item but i still gotta salute the Badger for his bravery even if he managed to fuck me twice out of an item, first by leaving before i had the chance to buy it, then by making me miss this baloon by changing the way how NPC items are looted for no apparent reason. So long my short friend, for whatever that's worth.

I now check the bridge, man, what a massacre:



I creep up and see one of the guards is still alive:






Ok, so what am i supposed to do now, take on the Interior Ministry attack force?



I suppose i could just make my way by porting to that Idol:



But this still feels wrong. Wolf should logically go straight for Kuro i don't understand am i really supposed to save Ashina by myself now? I think i better go check to see what's going on near the secret passage in the Ashina Reservoir, but upon porting to the Abandoned Dungeon it seems the way was blocked this whole time:



Ok, so i guess i gotta drop down from the top of the Ashina Caste after all. Before trying that, i think maybe i can port to that Idol in the Ashina Outskirts past that new bridge and see just how much of this game is still left on that side before moving towards the ending. To my dismay though, all the Sculptor's Idols in the Ashina Outskirts are grayed out too now:



All i can do is port to the Dilapidated Temple. Once there i go straight for the merchant as i assume something must have changed with him too:






He then says this:






I go check and he is indeed gone, and it seems he is gone for the rest of the game since by interacting with his tools allows Wolf to make his own prosthetic upgrades:



I go check if i can enter the Ashina Outskirts from here, but the way is no longer there:



Just what the hell is going on here. I make it back to the bridge while the battle is still raging:



And while everybody is distracted i dash to the other side and just make it to the Idol. So i guess i'm supposed to redo the entire Ashina Outskirts from here:



Behind me there's a barricade so i guess there's only one way in now:



Man, to think i thought i was about done with this game lol.

I guess the only way i can justify this lore wise is that there's no point in helping Kuro if Ashina falls. Even if i succeed in severing the Dragon's Heritage he'll just be taken by the Interior Ministry and both him and Emma might end up dead anyway, and all this would have been for nothing. I guess there's gonna be more progress updates after this. Fuck lol.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

makes it almost broken.

But also the coolest move out of them all so that makes it OK

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ War, War Never Changes: Orangutan Finds Peace ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, well, nothing i can do but make my way through the Ashina Outskirts again. If anything i'll found out what happened to the Sculptor.

I now have access to that Sculptor's Idol next to the bridge:



As soon as i rope my way up, i find myself in the midst of battle:



The Interior Ministry advance is brutal. Must war always rage in Ashina?

Taking advantage of the chaos, i rope my way up the nearest tree branch, and begin scouting around this fortification. I need the intel to formulate my plan of attack:




Ho crap, is that boss?



From the looks of it it's another one of those fat bastards. I wonder if they added some different attacks this time.

I check behind me and it seems the Ashina people managed to merely take out a single one of the red ninjas, so basically i gotta kill all them on my own:



I mean, man do they suck:



I see some of those red ninjas like to patrol all the way to the boss area too, nice:



Also, who bitch is that, probably an alarm guy:



Ok, let's try a little bit of stealth here:



I get literally under his nose but i cannot perform a deathblow. Why did they even bother putting all this grass around him then:




I check on the guy below, but he is unreatchable too:



I try to lure him out first with a ceramic stone then with the finger whistle but he is programmed not to budge. I try to spar with him a few times and at first he kicks my ass, but eventually i figure him out. Well, sort of, i discovered that after a deflection he usually defaults to the same attack so all i had to do is learn that one.

After killing him, i actually went all the way to where the first Headless boss fight used to be:



There was nothing there but at least it made for a nice trip into memory lane.

I try the ninja hiding in the grass and the whistle does work with him, so that's a start at least.

I now discover you can rope your way to the alarm dude without being discovered:





I kill him without alerting the boss. Ok, now we are cooking:



I go check inside here and there's no enemies there, but from here i can see i'm really going to have to redo the entirety of the Ashina Outskirts, crap:




Even though i've been killing those Ashina bitches myself seeing this country go down in flames is making me mad.

On the side i find a locked door:



I remember this from way back. I couldn't find a way to open it, and then completely forgot about it.

BTW i can't even get close to it that something inside aggros:



I don't need any more boost in stealth than what i already got, but it's kinda of irritating how if you knock even so much as a lamp everything around a mile radius gets alerted. After checking the last section here:




I decide to just make it back to the Idol and pick up Suppress Sound after all:



Like i said i don't need any boost in stealth but if it helps prevent mobs getting alerted when knocking over clutter it might be worth it since that shit is just obnoxious and irritating (editor's note: it doesn't do shit, so i basically wasted three skill points for nothing).

Anyway, after several attempts, i finally come up with a good plan to take out this whole fortification, boss included, in one swoop. Fuck it. if they want me to take out the entire Interior Ministry army by myself, i can certainly oblige!

So my first approach here was the usual with screenshots and stuff, but after several botched attempts, especially because of the boss, i gave up and decided to just erase everything in one swoop. Fuck everything.

In my video of course i decided to be a try hard and avoid all the ways you can make this easier, and there are quite a few. First, it's important to take out the riflemen near the bridge since that will allow the Ashina forces to survive the remaining red ninjas. In all my tries there were always two or three standing after (of the Ashina people i mean). Next, you can turn the red ninja making the patrol near the boss into a zombie to help you fight the big ninja guy guarding the path towards the original Headless fight. You actually need to help him as he won't be able to win on his own. That takes a bit of care because he can actually damage you with his swipes even though he is fighting the big ninja dude, not you. You can also accidentally perform a deathblow on him while trying to hit the other guy. Best way i found is to just stagger the bigger ninja guy with a quick swipe then let your zombie friend get a couple of swipes in, rinse and repeat. It seems the reason he can't win is because the bigger guy has better initiative on top of doing more damage. Of course, you can just ignore the big red ninja if you want but hey, it feels good if you can do this whole thing in one go, trust me.

Then of course there's the big one, the deathblow you can give the boss from above, right after you kill the alarm dude. You can then go even further and after you take out his first life you can just rush to the red ninja laying in ambush around the corner on the right, turn him into a zombie, and have him help you with the second phase of the boss. Hell, you can even strip his armor with the loaded spear while you are at it just to make it more even for your zombie friend.

BTW, yes, i did try to just turn all of them into zombies but unfortunaly the AI is kinda of stupid so the idiots won't follow you around unless you kite them. You can do it but it's kinda of annoying. I wanted to bring a whole army of zombie red ninjas right to the boss but some of them kept getting lost in the way which ruined it.

Spoiler

Alright, now that Ashina has been saved (lol) let's see if i can find out what the hell happened to the Sculptor. I can barely take a glance of what's up ahead that some asshole starts taking shot at me from a mile away:




I check upstairs and see there's a rat guy behind that door with a breach in the wall next to him:



I make a few tries but there appears to be no way to get up to the roof:



From the other side of course i can't do anything until i take out that fucker in the tower. I try to scout ahead but no matter what i do i get spotted:



For once this works in my favor though as those guys decide to come investigate, which allows me to take them out easily:






Well, at least there was that.

Let's see if i can get a look from here:



Mmmmh, i think i should just try flanking the tower guy given that he still has a few friends left:



I definitely need to find a way to get up there, i can't believe i can't figure out how to open this stupid locked door:



Well, the tower first. Perhaps if i drop from here:



Of course as soon as i do i get spotted, but upon crouching the alert goes from red to yellow almost instantly:



I'm pretty sure they didn't just make the AI harder, there's some kind of script going on here and it's janky as shit.

It seems i made it after all though:



I'm gonna start with the guy under the tower:



One quick stealth blow and he is gone:




Now the tower guy:






After which i take out the guy by the gate:



And in three strikes the place is mine now:



Mmmmmh, i guess this is the end of his scheming:



Wonder if he would still be alive had i given Kotaro the Red and White Pinwheel and send him here.

Man i can't believe i'm redoing all this:



Nothing down here at least:



Before going there though i need to clean up this previous section. I wonder if this is the guy who was crying about his dead horse:



So how the hell do i get up there:



I activate the Sculptor's Idol and start checking down the cliff here. It definitely seems i missed something the last time i went this way, where i first saw the snake skin:



So i gotta find a way to get there:




And then from there rope my way around:



Maybe i should start from the very beginning of this path, right where i saw the snake skin:



But before doing that i need a little space. I check around and there's a red ninja coming my way:



Once he is within reach i make my leap:



But as soon as i do that a rat guy drops down from who knows where:



So i'm forced to tale them him in combat. I hate those fuckers:



But this is getting irritating now. It seems i can't do shit here without alerting something. I check ahead and there's even more rat guys further down:




On the side of course there's another one hiding in the grass:



I have half a mind of just blasing my way through this whole thing but i gotta keep this let's play consistent.

Maybe with a little help i can do this:



Let's see if i can flank the bastard from there:



I make it to the other side undetected:



But as soon as i try to jump i alert him, so i have to kill him in combat as well. That's two now:




Coast is clear on this side (i hope):



But before going there i need to check the side of this cliff again for a way of getting to that secret area. I drop down, and what do you know, a rat guy crawls out of a ledge:



And of course since that in itself wouldn't be enough, two Santa Claus ninjas pop out of nowhere, right on cue:




I make one last hopeless attempt at flanking them again. But while it seems i may be able to give the two red ninjas the slip, the rat guy has to come up here and i'm forced to kill this one too. Three times the charm, right?



At this point i had enough of this bullshit so i just drop down and take out both ninjas right in the open. Fuck off already:




Ok, is the coast actually clear now or what?



No more suprises, so i beging retracing my steps here:



Yep, there's the snake skin:



I make my way around but apparently i really didn't miss anything, and after a few rope jumps i'm back to where i was before. In fact, now that i remember i pretty much did the same thing last time and gave up then, thinking that perhaps the way would open up later. Yet i'm still here.

While i'm looking at the cave, it finally dawns on me that might be the same place where i fought the Headless:



I reach the boss area and sure enough, there it is:



I guess i was so spooked by the boss when i first got here that i forgot to check out for secret opening and by the time i killed him i had completely forgotten about that locked door. It seems i can finally get there now, after all this time:






There be rats:



I wonder if the previous loot was added to the new loot:



I don't understand why this game thinks this shit is so valuable:



Anyway, with that out of the way, it's finally time to finish off those bastards. At this point i had just about enough of the Interior Ministry and their relentless attacks on Ashina. War is a fact of human life and undoubtedly it will continue to rage on but this invasion will cease today!

When i saw the Ogre i figured this was the third mini-boss, since as i reasoned there would have to be four before the end if the game wants me to end up with an even 20 vitality. Turns out they just downgraded him to regular mook status, but once i got this going i figured i might as well finish it. Took me several tries but eventually i managed to figure out this entire final section. I didn't need to fight the Ogre or the big ninja at the end, could have just killed both of them with deathblows as well but i had to be a try hard, 'cause why make a video otherwise.

Spoiler

After killing the last of the Interior Ministry forces, it seems this battle is not over yet. Just what has happened here:



Are those clawmarks?



Even though he is an enemy i cannot bring me to kill him while he is mourning the death of one of his companions:



The Interior Ministry's advance has been thwarted, at least for today. Further slaughter would serve no purpose.

I turn around, and see one of the guards has some dialog:





This can only mean one thing... Shura.



It seems the fires of war have finally spawned a demon, like that old woman said. This beast cannot be allowed to roam free in Ashina, time to bring this war to an end!



Earlier on i took this shot btw:



I took a similar shot very early in the game it's amazing how different everything feels to me now compared to then.

Before fighting the Demon of Hatred i also picked up a couple of things, my first Lapis Lazuli prosthetic:



And then i decided to try one of those upgrades from the Mushin tree:



I found the range of the Mortal Blade to be lacking sometimes, so i thought this was going to be a good pick, but i should have read the description more carefully as apparently you need to charge the blade before you get the "empowered" version which makes it kinda of useless. I would have preferred if it just used more Spirit Emblems instead. Ho well.

Time to deal with the Demon then.

Pretty good boss but the constant swiping i had to do did get old after a bit. I made an earlier attempt yesterday and uploaded the video but i knew i had it in me to make a no hit run so i did a better video this morning. I'll probably erase the older video soon enough the only interesting thing about it if you wanna watch it is what i did at the start of the third phase. On the first attack he does, instead of running away i decided to see if i could dodge it up close. The first is easy but i had a 50% success rate in avoiding the second low sweep. Maybe one of this days i'll understand how to do it consistently for now i just defaulted to using the Umbrella. After he creates his ring of fire, he just stands there doing his little pose and you can get quite a few hits before he moves again. The reason i went with Mortal Draw instead of regular swipes at first is that it seemed to me it allowed me to reach his stagger faster. Initially i was just throwing it in to add a bit of visual variety to the constant swipe swipe swipe stuff but then i noticed i could get a stagger really quick after using it. I then also discovered that Malcontent doesn't override his stagger, it actually chains itself on top of it, or at least i think it does. This allowed me to basically open the third phase with a long stretch of free swipes.

On my second video i learned how to deflect most of his attacks that could be deflected and it's a better overall video, so just watch that one and maybe just skip to the third phase in the earlier video to check out that initital swipe bonanza i did at the beginning. One thing that tripped me up quite a few times is that the AI is programmed to do its "new" move at the start of each phase. This is not an issue in the third phase but the second was ass because if he had no room to do it the AI would just spazz out and then do it out nowhere in situations where i couldn't possibly avoid it, so i had to resort to the Umbrella too at least for that. It actually happens in the video, if you wanna check this janky bullshit. I died quite a few times before i realized wtf was going on.

Spoiler

So killing him reveals what we all knew, that this is the Sculptor:



The first memory doesn't say much:




The remant by contrast says something strange:



I thought the Demon WAS the Shura. Probably another issue with the translation that fails to capture some subtle meaning in the original Japanese text.

Either way, it's obvious. The Sculptor was not able to contain the Shura, and became the Demon of Hatred.

I go talk to the old woman, who asks me if i understood who the Demon was:



Wolf apparently hasn't figured it out yet.


\


I'd like to think his karmic debt is now over, and the Sculptor was finally able to atone for his sins. She then adds this warning:






Well i already did the Shura ending so there's no danger of that happening lol.





That i do. Ashina may stand a chance now that i have stopped the advance of the Interior Minitry, but there is still fighting raging in the Castle and i have yet to save Kuro.

I check in the back and it seems the rest of the Ashina Outskirts are locked out for good:



Time to move on then!

Spoiler

Well, not really, as after beating the boss i went to check the wiki and i learned apparently you get some secret dialog if you manage not to miss on that eavesdrop opportunity like i did. Just to be thorough, i decided to cull some screenshots from a couple of youtube videos showcasing the extra dialog. First, here's the conversation in question:





Those damn rats!

The conversation then moves to something else, something ominous:







It seems Emma feels like it is her duty to stop the Sculptor should the flames ever take over:




The Sculptor doesn't even want to hear it:



Indeed, upon talking to the Sculptor once she is gone, he asks for Wolf to do it:




Wolf tries to act like he has no idea what the Sculptor is talking about:





What this conversation does it seems is unlock new dialog during the battle with the Demon of Hatred, which makes the whole encounter feel more poignant:






BTW this stupid try hard idiot of a youtuber not only made his video in HDR, which forced me to use a different program to take those screenshots as VLC couldn't do it, he then forgets an extra bit of dialog during this fight, so i had to look for another video:



He also put that stupid text at the bottom, which covered the extra dialog from the old lady, so i had to rely on the other video for that as well. So when she asks Wolf if he understood who it was he just killed, he says yes, which changes her dialog a bit:







Well farwell Orangutan, you were probably the best blacksmith since Andre of Astora.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ A Threefold Finale ~
​

Spoiler

After paying my respects to the Sculptor, it is now time to finally finish this. I make it back to the Jōkamachi in front of the Ashina Palace, and see the Ashina guards are stuck in some perpetual hell where they keep getting set ablaze by Santa Claus ninjas, yikes:



Those Nightjar guys are also still going at each other:



Upon closer inspection, i see the white one has red eyes:



I think i understand what's going on. Listening to that coked out samurai with the red eyes while he was talking in front of Isshin's armor, i got the sense he was trying to take Isshin's place. So while Ashina is going down in flames, there appears to be some sort of internal war with factions within Ashina itself trying to take power for themselves, and those Nightjar guys must be working for the red eyes samurai. Well, that's my theory, and i'm gonna stick with it.

Next to the Nightjar dudes, i find a kite:



I jump on it and suddenly i find myself back to the other side of the Ashina Castle. Not sure what's up with this. BTW, i wonder if i could have caught a glimpse of the Demon of Hatred from here:



Still not sure if i'm actually locked out of those areas until NG+ now:




I make it back past the Nightjar brawlers, and below me i spot a giant:



Not sure why they didn't have this one fight a red ninja.

Much more interesting is the one i spot on my left:



This guy wears armor and is basically almost invulnerable to regular swipes. I'm surprised they didn't do this before it made for an interesting fight.

Mmmh, i'm guessing all the paths leading to the earlier potions of the Ashina Outskirts are gonna look like this:



I make it down when i suddenly hear somebody calling me:



I turn around and see it's a dying guard. In the distance i spot one of those roided up red ninjas facing a general. Sadly, i know the general is going to lose:



Talking to the guy reveals i kinda of jumped the gun by striking out to the Ashina Outskirts on my own instead of going straight for Kuro:




So i guess the game flat out tells you to do that first. The game also explains why that kite was there:




Lol ok then.






Well, let's just pretend i went to do that after this and call it a day.

While i was talking to this guy, it seems everybody around me just killed each other, so after activating the Sculptor's Idol i reset it as i want to give that big group a try. As soon as i do that, that guard reveals he wasn't dead after all:



Dude, at least wait i'm actually gone before trying to pull off this charade.

Seems this way is also cut off for good:



Well, no matter, let's see if i can take out that big group:



I mean i take one look behind me and all the Ashina Guards are almost all dead already. I rush to kill my first one anyway:



At first i didn't think this was going anywhere, but as i turn around i see there's actually a blue samurai in the mix too:



Ok that's actually not bad. I charge the next red ninja and turn him into a zombie:



And with the help of those two i take out the rest of the group:





Despite getting almost wrecked by stray hits, i'm surprised at how well this went. I guess now all that's left is for the samurai and the zombie ninja to square off:



Comically, they end up killing each other at the same time lol:





That was amazing i should have recorded it.

I make it around the corner just in time to see a general dude get torched by the flamethrower ninja biggus dickus guy:



The other general also succumbed to the ninja he was fighting. Those guys can't catch a break, and i don't get how as when i fight them they are still way harder than any of those pussy ninjas and yet they can't win.

Anyway, once i reach the Ashina Reservoir, i see i have to face that spear guy again, this time with a general friend:







Genichiro? I totally forgotten that bitch was still alive. Let's get rid of those two first though.

So at first i tried fighting those guys at the same time, but it's not gonna work. I don't know if there's anybody out there autistic enough to be able to pull this off. I'm pretty autistic myself but not on that level. On my second try i kill the general in stealth, but once i take on the spear guy i see he is basically the same, doesn't even have increased attack power, vitality or new moves. Plus, unlike the previous fight, where i had to push him against a wall to avoid aggroing mobs on my back, i got to fight him alone which made the encounter piss easy by comparison. So to make it a bit more interesting, i decided to make a final try hard video, where i kill a couple of guys before him, a ninja, that armored giant dude and a general. The route i took was a bit arbitrary but i didn't want to get too crazy about this.

Spoiler

Guess everything is just blocked:



I begin to move towards the secret passage, but i don't find anything of interest along the way:




There's nothing much there except for that useless nugget above. I've suspected this for a bit but it seems i actually missed a Prayer Bead. No way to just comb through the game to find if i missed a secret wall or something, and since i'm basically done with this shit anyway i decided to succumb to the temptation and went to google it. Turns out i missed out a fairly large secret area back where i fought the Giraffe guy:



I walk through this shaft and i'm faced with two possible paths in front of me:



Turns out the one on the right is a dead end. I keep forgetting this game is supposed to be relatively linear. On the left side though i discover a pretty substantial secret area:





I make it to the first cave, and i'm greeded by a bunch of passive lizards:



At the end of the cave i find some loot, and upon picking it up all hell breaks lose:




Well, can't say i didn't see this coming. I get poisoned stomping them but hey, it was kinda of fun:



But it's not finished yet. Down below there's more goodies:



As well as more things to stomp on:






Eventually i get my Prayer Bead, which allows me to unlock my last Prayer Necklace:



I guess i was really supposed to get it right after killing the last spear guy. I don't know if there's any more secret areas i missed but i'll leave that for NG+, i just allowed myself to google this one because i wanted the achievement.

Out of a whim i decide to pick up this thing:



The game is over so it doesn't matter at this point. I also pick this as my second Lapis Lazuli upgrade:



So i guess to get all the achievements i gotta play the whole game again once more, and then a third time up to the Shura ending. I liked the idea of starting the game from scratch without Kuro's Charm so the fact i have to do this first annoys me. I may end up not doing it at all, especially if NG+ doesn't get any harder what would be the point? We'll see how i feel about it once i get to it later on.

Alright, it's finally time to finish this up once and for all!

Spoiler

So after unlocking the door, i finally emerge on this damn field once more!





As i step forward, a distraught Kuro enters the frame. He is alive, but it appears he has been injured:



Wolf rushes to his side:



Kuro prevents Wolf from rushing forward unware of the dangers ahead:






Wow, so this hobo hasn't even bothered to shower or anything after he escaped our last fight. Has he been hanging out here this whole time? Like, dude.





He then turns to Wolf:





But Wolf requires no encouragements, his duty is clear:






Thus, the battle begins!



It takes me a bit to refresh my memory about his moves, but eventually i come out on top. He drops on his knees, and then cuts himself with the Blade Blade:







Now i knew the last boss was Isshin since i heard his name being mentioned a billion times over the years, but i wasn't expecting this shit lol:





At this point i was expecting a centipede to come out of his neck. I was NOT expecting what came next and my jaw dropped and hung low through this entire sequence:





Who? What? WTF is going on:





Fuck my life lol:






Damn, so that's how i'm supposed to fight Isshin:



So i guess this is what the text meant when it said the Black Blade gives life instead of taking it away. So it literally brought Isshin back to life by pulling him out of the underworld. And it seems this Isshin is full of ambition, unlike the old one i knew and loved. Time to end this ghastly apparition!

So this is the fight you were all waiting for. I actually found it great, since there were ZERO bullshit moves which was a pleasant surprise. For everything he threw at me i found a counter, and didn't need no stinking guides either. I was expecting a long haul here, so i started by uploading my first victory video early on monday. I actually started sparring with him the day earlier but it was pretty late as i wasted some time making that stupid video with the spear guy. Later that day i uploaded another one after i got back from work which was a little better, but not entirely to my liking. So this morning i made another attempt and i thought it looked pretty good, so i uploaded that one as my "final" video but there were a few things that bothered me, like the fact he didn't do that long combo and i wanted to show how far i got into countering that. Plus, i got distracted by that stupid rock at the end and he managed to hit me once, making me mess up the finisher. I don't know why despite having five square miles of grass to move around he constantly found a way to back himself into a corner or around some clutter.

Anyway, so while that was uploading i made another one which is the one i posted here. As you can see, i still didn't get the long combo to perfection. Several missed deflections all though i did block everything at least. That combo is probably the hardest thing he does and will likely require a lot more practive than several hours between a two day span to really master. Another hard attack that i found difficult to counter was one of the openings in phase 1. He doesn't do it on video #2 but he does it on video #1 so you can check it out on that one. It's a simple three hit attack but for some reason the timing was quite difficult to nail. Also for some reason he sometimes started his second phase with that one instead of his spear sweep, which i'm 100% convinced was a glitch that they left in just to pretend it was just added difficutly. I managed to catch it happen on video on the one called "practice", if you wanna see that janky bullshit in action. On video #1 i was also able to deflect his Ichimonji but that was easy. Much harder was deflecting his Ashina Cross which i did it in video #2. That took some practice too because of the obnoxious fake out where you are expecting his usual sweep you can jump over instead he delays his attack and does the Cross, fucking you up. Lastly, i got the timing to that long charge attack to perfection. It was a bit annoying i couldn't also deflect the one he does in his last phase, the one with the two rings. At first that pissed me off because i couldn't find a way to avoid it. I would dodge twice and it would always hit me with the second one, until i figured out you have to dodge on one side first, then the opposite side for the second ring. You can see that in video #1 as he didn't do it on video #2 (he died too fast i think lol).

Video #2 is basically a no hit video if you ignore the damage from the Lighting Reversal (despite hearing the "clank" i still took some chip damage so i guess that's how it has to be), so i think it's good enough for now. I don't know if i wanna gun for a 100% deflection attempt now or if i want to just postpone that until i do my charmless run. For now i had to end this let's play so i'll just leave it like this.

Spoiler

After a grueling battle, i finally prevail:



But a warrior of this prowess requires an honorable death, abomination of undeath that he may be:






The lore i get for killing him hints this is a "younger" version, much like Owl:




Of course, the character model still uses the withered body of old Isshin, 'cause why not.

Killing him also unlocks another weapon art and that guantlet thing again, which i can actually try now:




The game also tells me i have unlocked Gauntlet of Strength: "Divine Heir", and Gauntlet of Strength: "Severance". I had to google what either of those means and apparently i got some cool things waiting for me when i do NG+:

https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Gauntlet+of+Strength:+Divine+Heir
https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Gauntlet+of+Strength:+Severance

Anyway, let's close this part at least. Kuro is laying on the floor, and i assume if i interact with him the endings will begin. After taking a look around this field for the first time since i started this game:





It's now time to get on with it once and for all!

~ Endings ~
​

Alright, just so i can capture all of them in this let's play, i decide to savescum again and get all endings in one go.

​

1) Immortal Severance:

Spoiler

This part actually had me flinching, killing this sweet kid like this:







The ties of immortality have been severed, but it seems Wolf has incurred an heavy Karmic debt in the process:









Wow, talk about going full circle. The implication that this whole drama is going to start again is also pretty omonious.

2) Purification Ending:

Spoiler

I think this is a better overall fate for Wolf compared to the first one. Kuro gets to live a normal life too from now on:



















This one was actually pretty great.

3) Return Ending:

Spoiler

Ok, last ending. I had to refresh my memory about what this one involved, so i went to talk to the Divine Girl:







Ok then:








Compared to the other two he seems to have an expression of peace here.





Let's see where it goes from here:






So he is just going to live inside her now.













I suppose this is the best case scenario out of all three?

Out of all three, i think i like the second one best. Third one is interesting, with its esoteric implications and otherwordly feel. The "west" here is clearly the divine realm, so essentially everybody is ascending here. It is appropriately mysterious given it's the hardest ending to unlock. I think normally i should like the third ending best, and it's a pretty good one, but something about the second one just hit me in a different way and left a mark. First ending was also pretty good, not as much in terms of outcome, but was also pretty cool. Frankly, i liked all of them in different ways.

So i guess that's that, i can call this let's play complete. I think if i ever return to this i'll just make an addendum section where i may upload some Remnant or Gauntlet fights while i'm doing NG+ but other than that it's more or less finished i should say.

 

[Egosphere]

Awesome LP

 

[cvv]

Great LP, had a blast.

That last fight was epic, reinforced for me that Saint Isshin is the best boss FS have ever created.

 

[Lyric Suite]

It's definitely one of the best i've had. He was hard but didn't have a single bullshit move. After Shura Isshin i was expecting the worse but the game surprised me with a complex but over all clean and logical fight.

 

[cvv]

He was hard but didn't have a single bullshit move.

Yep.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lol, so i woke this morning and i found myself with nothing to do. I sort of feel empty this is over now.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Lol, so i woke this morning and i found myself with nothing to do. I sort of feel empty this is over now.

Demon bell + no charm + yashariku sugar/spiritfall.
Achieve greatness.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lol, so i woke this morning and i found myself with nothing to do. I sort of feel empty this is over now.

Demon bell + no charm + yashariku sugar/spiritfall.
Achieve greatness.

That will come but not now. I gotta stop otherwise i'll burn out like i did with Elden Ring and never touch the game ever again. I also want my skill level to drop a bit so when i return i can milk the most enjoyment out of the bump in difficulty.

I also have another let's play in mind but that will come later as well. For now i gotta freshen up, play something completely different like a turn based RPG or something like that. Get my mind off anything FromSoft related so when i came back it will be fresh again.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

High quality LP dude, cool.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Lol, so i woke this morning and i found myself with nothing to do. I sort of feel empty this is over now.

Armored Core 6 now?

 

[cvv]

I gotta stop otherwise i'll burn out like i did with Elden Ring and never touch the game ever again.

So true. It's been 1 1/2 years since I played ER and had a blast, for the most part. But everytime I think about going back, maybe for NG+ or something, I...just can't. The game crushed my soul, the last third was pure slog and suffering.

 

[Andnjord]

Caught up to the last couple of updates and well done on finishing this LP as well as seriously kicking the game's back by the end of it.

Out of curiosity, how long did the playthrough take in the end?

 

[Lyric Suite]

I played the game at the same pace as the let's play. So i started when i made this thread and finished the game right around when i posted my last update. That would be what, over a month and an half?

This is normal for me. Took me a month to finish Armored Core 6 (NG only, no NG+ or NG++) and over three months to finish Elden Ring lol.

 

[Andnjord]

Sorry, I meant in terms of hours played. Just curious how long the no hit boss fights stretched your playtime compared to playing it "normally".

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho. Probably double the time? It's hard to say really. Keep in mind i was doing those kind of "no hit" stuff even before i started uploading videos on youtube, just for myself. It begun with Dark Souls and i started doing that because i wanted to "appreciate" the design of the bosses more fully, take the time to study and counter moves in order to appreciate the game more. You can brute force your way on a lot of bosses in all of the Dark Souls, but i always opted to go about it the hard way because i felt a sense of duty towards the designers and just enjoy doing it in general. So even if i wasn't uploading videos i still would likely spent a lot of time perfecting fights just for my own entertainment.

I consider FromSoft to be the action gaming equivalent to classical music to me. There's just something about their design that is very clever and compels me to try to figure it all out like i would with a Bach fugue or something. I don't want to "miss" out on any it by healing my way through a boss and not learning anything about the patterns, if that makes sense.

This means i don't really have a reference as i never rushed through a FromSoft game. I pretty much been playing them like this this whole time lol.