From Software Lyric Suite's own Sekiro corner

[Nathir]

Why not post this in the Sekiro thread?

 

[Lyric Suite]

Why not post this in the Sekiro thread?

1) It's a let's play. I assume eventually it might be moved to the playground forum all thought for now i'd like it to be here if it gets more visibility.
2) I made an extensive video log of my playthrough of Elden Ring and lately Armored Core 6 and people gave me shit for not making my own threads. Now that i did people are giving me shit for not posting this in the Sekiro thread like make up your minds.

 

[Andnjord]

Started my second run and got to my first four prayer beads and pheew lads, the rust is thick and full pro shinobi run this ain’t. Thanks for making want to scratch that itch again!

 

[Nathir]

Why not post this in the Sekiro thread?

1) It's a let's play. I assume eventually it might be moved to the playground forum all thought for now i'd like it to be here if it gets more visibility.
2) I made an extensive video log of my playthrough of Elden Ring and lately Armored Core 6 and people gave me shit for not making my own threads. Now that i did people are giving me shit for not posting this in the Sekiro thread like make up your minds.

I'm not giving anyone any shit, I just needed to post something so this shows up on my feed.

 

[cvv]

2) I made an extensive video log of my playthrough of Elden Ring and lately Armored Core 6 and people gave me shit for not making my own threads. Now that i did people are giving me shit for not posting this in the Sekiro thread

Codex working as intended.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ By This Axe I Rule! (Part 2) ~​

Spoiler

So, uporn returning to the temple, Wolf decides to ask Lyric Suite whether the memory was real or not, to which of course he only receives a vague esoteric answer:





Of course, if it was all a dream, how come i just returned with that Shinobi Axe of the Monkey? Of course, perhaps, the fact i found it in a temple...

Such imponderables being beyond the ken of a simple warrior, i merely ask the Sculptor to carve my new implement into the prosthetic. I also decide to aquire Mikiri Counter, my first skill, which i then tested on my friend the zombie trainer (which you have already seen).

Before returning to the dream, i decided to unload my sens to that merchant i saw in the Outskirts, who seems to have a thing for crows:



It is now time to test my axe, bestowed to me by the Buddha himself, so without the slighest dint of fear, i face both shielded bandits head on:



Ready? Here it comes:






Ho yeah! YEAH! Dig the prowess, the capacity for violence. At this particular moment in time, i don't believe i have a healthier and more deeply felt respect for any object in the universe than this here axe.

I'm the man, i'm superbad. I even try to parlay Emma to pose naked at my feet, clutching my leg, while i raise the axe to the sky, but the frigid bitch tried to call the police on me.

Erm, anyway, moving on. I now finally approach the boss area. Scouting ahead reveals a very ugly situation:



For a moment, my eyes gaze over yonder, wondering if the Dragon child is trapped in that inferno:



In order to get a closer look, i drop down into the patch of blue flowers below, which i use as cover to make my way towards this strange white fog:



Mesmerized by this strange sight, i fail to realize the boss was almost upon me, and he kills me so fast i didn't even have time to react. But wait, what is this?



Why did i get here? As i awaken, i look over the Sculptor, who seems more morose than usual:



It appears i'm now in possession of certain rot essences that pertain to two specific figures, the Sculptor, and some old woman. Upon recieving those items, it seems my karma has taken a turn for the worse, and i will no longer recieve as much unseen aid as before. But how is my death causing this sickness onto others?

The Sculptor, now visibly ill, has this to say when asked if there is anything wrong with him:




Has my death caused this? Is this the price for resurrection? "The Stagnation overflows and spreads". What does it mean? The Sculptor appears to find it difficult to even speak, and while trying to dismiss the gravity of his situation, he tells me to ask Emma about the rest.






So it seems my death, my failure, has lead to the suffering of others, which is likely the reason i no longer recieve favor and aid from the Buddha. But is there a cure?



With this meager hope, i now return to the dream, this time determined not to repeat my failure, to prevent my death from causing more suffering to others. While the man who caused this was only the last in a long line of failures, of deaths and resurrections, he must be put to death, switfly and decisively. Death, it seems, is no longer an option for me, not if i don't want to inflict the consequences of my failure onto others!

Alright, managed to take out this fucker, but i had to totally cheat. In my narrative, i weaved a nice tale for why i went into full shinobi mode, using every dirty trick in the book, but the actual reason is that i just hated the fact i had to fight my way through so many mobs for every single attempt. I hate when FromSoft does that. It's just annoying and boring. I would have preferred if they had made the boss twice as strong instead of having me go through that over and over.

As for this new consequence for dying i also mentioned in my progress narrative, it's definitely interesting and something i didn't expect. Now this creates an interesting problem. I'm not too concerned about the reduction to the Unseen Aid bonus, but the possibility you can actually kill NPCs worries me. This creates a certain conundrum, as now i'm not sure i want to die anymore, which means on the several attempts i made to beat this boss, i opted to just making an hasty retreat as soon as i saw things were going south and reset everything, which led to a surplus of sen and XP, something i was trying to avoid but it's either that or accumulate more death penalty, spreading Dragonrot to who knows who else.

 

[Andnjord]

Death, it seems, is no longer an option for me, not if i don't want to inflict the consequences of my failure onto others!

Oh you sweet, sweet summer child

 

[Multidirectional]

Yeah that's how I played it on first run too. Strictly no deaths.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

By the time I finished my run, there was so much dragonrot in the world, the dragons were getting vaxxed.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ A Smouldering Detour ~
​

Spoiler

After defeating the monk, the way is now clear:



Ho hello little Buddha guy:



Over yonder, i see a trail wounding up towards what i believe is the end point of this dream. Before going that way however, i decide to take a detour to a path i had spied earlier. Before that, i take one final glance at the inferno raging up above, wondering if my ward is safe:



I now set to explore this ravine. Mmmh, wonder if there may be more of those carp things down there:



Jesus wept they frikking bite now!



(ignore the continuity error here, i wanted to capture one of those things coming to bite me and got a lucky shot before i did the boss, so i'm posting that one as i couldn't get another one):

Also, no carp scales. I guess those aren't them. Sure enough, as i swim up ahead, i spot the path i had glanced earlier:

]

And behold, a pagoda:



Mmmmh, what's going on here:



I kill the first guard without getting seen, and try to circle around them to get a better view, where i spot this dude at the last second lmao:



After making short order of his cheeky ass, i'm now wondering what exactly is going on here:



I decide to come back for this later, as i see a trail disappearing into the bamboo forest next to the pagoda. As i make my way down, i nearly miss this little nugget:



I keep strolling down this path, and as i make a turn ho fuck what in the living shit is this:



They are regular mooks now are you kidding me? Already? Damn that was fast:



Taking both is likely out of the question, so i decide to just lure one of them. Having practiced with their bigger brother earlier, i feel confindent i can dispatch them both with ease! (video included in thread).

It's now time to deal with those bandits near that tunnel. I decide the best approach is to take out the axe guy with a stealth kill, which allows me to kill the rest with ease:



I now enter the cave, and i'm greeded with a familiar sight:



Right, how many times does FromSoft think i can fall for the same trick now? Lmao:



After scaling what looks like some kind of upward tunnel or hatch, i find myself right in that blazing inferno i had gazed at from a distance:



I make my way ahead, trembling in anticipation, for my ward may be here and he may be in peril! After taking out a bandit around a corner, i now take a full view of the situation:




As anger swells in my veins, i brace myself for action. No bandit shall remain unpunished! Time to do my duty for a change!

​

 

[cvv]

LS you seem to have got the combat down to a T, even confident enough to parry perilous attacks. Good shit.

Did you have any problems with any mobs or bosses so far?

 

[Lyric Suite]

LS you seem to have got the combat down to a T, even confident enough to parry perilous attacks. Good shit.

Did you have any problems with any mobs or bosses so far?

Regular mobs not so much the only one that gave me trouble is the axe guy. I have yet to figure out how to spar with him reliably, i usually just resort to dance around him as trying to deflect those slow, delayed lumbering attacks of his doesn't seem to lead anywhere. I did have an initial phase where this game felt like the first time i played DS1 back then. Like even regular mooks felt like mini boss fights, but i think as different as this combat system is, some of the practice i got by playing Souls games for so many years did carry over here for sure. It definitely took me less to get used of the combat here than it did when i first played Dark Souls 1.

Hardest one was the general dude but that's because i was still fumbling with the combat. I forgot how many times i redid that one, it was a lot (at first i just reset it as i didn't want to lose my sens or XP, that was before i figured out you are not going to actually lose skill points once the bar was filled lmao. I'm honestly surpised i didn't see the Dragon rot sequence with him, but i didn't die once after him and i guess i was actually one death away to get it). It's too bad i didn't visit the zombie guy before i fought him as i could have used some of those new techniques.

To be honest, while this fighting system is very different from Souls, it's also "Souls-like" in that it's still all about learning patterns and recognizing clues. On this spear dude, he didn't seem to have as varied a number of attack patterns as the general, or maybe i just got lucky that the AI randomly pulled the same number of tricks on me. None of those guys are true bosses though, i'm still in mini boss territory so i think i have yet to test my mettle in a true way.

Don't spoil it of course, when i get my ass whopped hard i'll know i got to a true boss lmao.

 

[cvv]

LS you seem to have got the combat down to a T, even confident enough to parry perilous attacks. Good shit.

Did you have any problems with any mobs or bosses so far?

Don't spoil it of course, when i get my ass whopped hard i'll know i got to a true boss lmao.

So you haven't fought any major boss yet? From what I can see you've travelled to the Hirata Estate memory before fighting the first boss in the present time and you haven't got to the main memory boss either yet?

And by "axe dude" you mean the axe bandits roaming around the memory?

 

[gabel]

LS you seem to have got the combat down to a T, even confident enough to parry perilous attacks. Good shit.

Did you have any problems with any mobs or bosses so far?

Don't spoil it of course, when i get my ass whopped hard i'll know i got to a true boss lmao.

So you haven't fought any major boss yet? From what I can see you've travelled to the Hirata Estate memory before fighting the first boss in the present time and you haven't got to the main memory boss either yet?

And by "axe dude" you mean the axe bandits roaming around the memory?

By axe dudes he means the shield guys in Hirata Estate imo.
Edit: Apparently not.

Spoiler

I hope he finds the ninja dude up at the tower.

 

[Lyric Suite]

LS you seem to have got the combat down to a T, even confident enough to parry perilous attacks. Good shit.

Did you have any problems with any mobs or bosses so far?

Don't spoil it of course, when i get my ass whopped hard i'll know i got to a true boss lmao.

So you haven't fought any major boss yet? From what I can see you've travelled to the Hirata Estate memory before fighting the first boss in the present time and you haven't got to the main memory boss either yet?

And by "axe dude" you mean the axe bandits roaming around the memory?

Maybe i'm following the wrong way but yeah, i got as far as the Chained Orgre then i made a trip back before engaging him and as soon i clicked on the Buddha statue to offer the chime i got ported here, so i thought this is where i was supposed to go (and considering you find the fire prosthetic thingy here in the Hirata Estate i'm pretty sure i'm following the right path).

So right now the only two bosses i met are General Naomori Kawarada and Shinobi Hunter Enshin of Misen, neither of which felt like actual bosses to me (so much so the second one becomes a regular guy right after i mean).

 

[Lyric Suite]

And by "axe dude" you mean the axe bandits roaming around the memory?

Those guys:



I'm still a bit awkward around them. Maybe i should single one out and spar with him for a bit.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i'm now wondering whether i went the wrong way. This area with fire everywhere feels like a main showdown place, i think i should have continued past the myst fog after killing the Shinobi Hunter dude. I was sure that was the way forward to the end of the area, i thought the one next to the river that leads to this smouldering place was the detour.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i had to think about the speed by which i'm progressing with the combat, and i think this is like when a musician who has played a certain kind of music suddenly wants to try out a completely new genre. Say you have been playing heavy metal for years, and got pretty good at it, but now want to try something like jazz where you have to learn a whole different set of scales, chord progressions etc. Sure, it's going to take work, but it's not like all the years of practice you did when you were playing metal don't matter anymore.

I think it's the same here. After playing (and re-playing in some cases) four Dark Souls games (Elden Ring being the fourth one, and according to steam i clocked a 1000+ hours into it lmao), and a couple of the ghetto Souls-clones for good measure, i wouldn't consider myself a novice. It doesn't matter how much effort they spent in trying to make this one different. If i can make consistent parries in Souls i can make consistent deflections here.

In a way though that makes me sad. I wish i had played this one right after Dark Souls 1, without over half a decade worth of training. I mean i only learned how to parry while doing PvP in Dark Souls 2 it would have been brutal to play this after Dark Souls 1 and i would have loved every second of it. It still feels great though. I can't believe they came out with such a great combat system and it's confined to a single game only. People are jaded by the Souls sequels now but imagine if there was only the one, either only Demon Souls or Dark Souls 1 and nothing else like that ever again. Boy would that suck.

 

[Multidirectional]

BTW, i'm now wondering whether i went the wrong way.

I think the game at least wants you to get the flamethrower prosthetic before fighting the ogre, that's why you get the bell charm a little ways before that encounter.

 

[cvv]

Sure, it's going to take work, but it's not like all the years of practice you did when you were playing metal don't matter anymore.

They do, they can help you in Sekiro but they can also fuck you up.

It took me hours, struggling all the way to Gyoubu, before it finally dawned on me to stop playing Sekiro as Dark Souls. Beat the horsefucker on second try after that.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, just had to try this at least once:



Of course, those fucking axe guys ruined my swag a bit but i pulled it off.

I think tonight i'm going to try to back track and see what was past that myst fog. This really looks like the end boss of this entire area, so i definitely think i shouldn't have come this way before exploring what was after the fog barrier. Just need to come up with an ingame justification for going off track at this critical moment lmao. Actually the idea i had for this video was to rush towards the boss and get killed, but i didn't expect to meet an NPC before the big battle so i decided to just stop it there. Let's see what bullshit exscuse i can come up with to justify backtracking from a roleplaying point of view, one that doesn't involve me just pissing my pants lel.

 

[cvv]

Yeah I remember those axe guys actually being annoying, for the starter basic bitches that they are.

 

[Egosphere]

Spoiler

I hope he finds the ninja dude up at the tower.

That purple f*ggot was such a piece of shit when I first played the game. Ofc I do suck at it, but still, I reserve a special hatred for that bastard in particular.

 

[cvv]

Spoiler

I hope he finds the ninja dude up at the tower.

That purple f*ggot was such a piece of shit when I first played the game. Ofc I do suck at it, but still, I reserve a special hatred for that bastard in particular.

He was a pain in the ass mostly because a lot of people didn't have mikiri at this point plus everybody was still learning the ropes.

Later in the game I ate those pricks for breakfast. They're actually some of the most enjoyable mobs to fight.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah I remember those axe guys actually being annoying, for the starter basic bitches that they are.

They feel kinda Elden Ring in style, ironically. Big, phat delayed attacks with ton of hyperarmor and fast follow ups to their lumbering strikes that trip you up.