From Software Lyric Suite's own Sekiro corner

[Andnjord]

Also, the upgraded version of Ichimongi, is really good, the posture damage is nuts and it is very safe to use due to the stagger it causes.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Fight Fire with Fire ~
​

Spoiler

So, before moving on, i decide to sweep the area for a bit for hidden goodies. I pick up the one i had spotted earlier, where, after backtracking a little, i see this little path i had missed the first time:



Up above, i find another goodie:




Turning around, i spot a few ledges i can jump my way into, where i find some more loot, and i also get ganked by a group of those silly Daikatana frogs:




Honestly those guys could use a faster poison build up or something they are a far cry from the death frogs in Dark Souls to say the least. So far the least dangerous enemy in the game.

On the other side of this area, i spot another broken bridge. It seems the Ashina castle tried to block off all venues of attack:



Behind me i pick up an upgrade material, and i'm finally in full view of the Ashina Castle:



I make my way towards the actual gate to the castle, and it seems something is waiting for me up ahead:




And from the looks of it whatever it is isn't particularly friendly:




Not that those guys need to worry about that anymore:




Finally, i am now inside the Ashina Castle! Up ahead it seems the coast is clear except for a few guards. Wonder what those guys outside must have been talking about. Likely something waiting for me past that gate:



Or not lol:



Can they stop doing this fuck's sake i'm never ready for this shit. I knew something was coming just didn't expect it so soon. Not only did this thing caught me by surprise, but the two guards actually survived and while i started running around like an headless chicken trying to avoid them the thing wrecked my shit so i just decided to suicide myself and do it over:

Bleh, despite the cool title of this chapter, fire doesn't actually do a whole lot to this thing, but those fireworks are godly by contrast. Also, lol at the two guys at end. Nice bit of extra trolling.

Spoiler

I'm now finally inside the castle proper. On the bridge, i meet some crazy old lady (what else is new). She mentions an holy man in a temple on Mount Kongo. I have a feeling he won't be really as holy as she says:




I go up to the Sculptor's Idol, and as i turn around i see something shining from below:



Jumping in the water, fully expecting of having to fight some horrible monster, all i manage to find is a passageway:



Making my up, i see some faggot closed the door while i was down there. Jeez:



On the side, i see a path that diverges from the castle:



And up ahead, i drop onto this conversation:




Apparently, this guy doesn't like to wear armors, and chances are, it's going to come off during a fight:



So basically i gotta fight this guy until he gets pissed at the armor and takes it off. Got it.

Across the bridge, i'm now confronted with another Remnant memory. So it appears that Lady Emma was with Kuro while he resided in the Ashina Catle. It seems that Genichiro didn't confine Kuro to a cell, and allowed him to be escorted around the castle at the very least:




Despite his apparent freedom of movement, Kuro is still a captive and he uses that whistle he gave at the beginning of the game by which he hopes to call on me.





But, wait a minute. The reed whistle we used before? Is this memory from a time AFTER Kuro is apprehended a second time, after i lost my fight with Genichiro? What is Lady Emma doing here? I must inquire about this.

Up ahead i see what i assume is a battle impossible to win, all though i'm more than tempted to try:



I presume the passage underneath the bridge is meant to bypass this. It appears i'm now confronted with several options and several paths to take, including the one i skirted before earlier, before the giant snake. I return to the Dilapidated Temple, hoping to get some answers from Emma, but apparently she has nothing to say. I can only assume after she revived me, she was with Kuro for a time before joining me in the Dilapidated Temple.

 

[Andnjord]

Not gonna lie, I was hoping that you would do like me the first time where, flush with adrenaline and terror after killing the boss, the rushing guard speared my ass.

Also, just in case but you can deflect both the bull and hammer fatso.

 

[Andnjord]

Also, shame on you for not using this song as the update’s soundtrack:

 

[Lyric Suite]

Also, just in case but you can deflect both the bull and hammer fatso.

Ho come on that's not intuitive at all that you can do that. Sadly, i just erased the old back up save before reading this so i can't redo it now.

 

[Strange Fellow]

I mostly dodged too. The bull is manageable enough without deflecting, to the point that I thought you weren't supposed to try it.

 

[cvv]

I mostly dodged too. The bull is manageable enough without deflecting, to the point that I thought you weren't supposed to try it.

Yea it had never occurred to me to parry the bull either. It was my most ragey boss in my first run, I fucking hated that fat fuck, never occurred to me to parry him or to firecracker him, I just frantically dodged and tried to get in a slash or two, god what a fucking shitshow that fight was.

 

[Multidirectional]

I mostly dodged too. The bull is manageable enough without deflecting, to the point that I thought you weren't supposed to try it.

My favorite way to deal with him is to keep baiting his charge by getting enough distance away and then deflect that. Can then get good amount of slashes in during during his turning around animation.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Detour into Shinto Hell ~​

I bet you all knew this was going to happen, and you were all laughing at my expense:

Spoiler

So, from this point on, it appears this game branches up quite a bit. After picking up a little nugget hidden in a corner facing the arena with the bull, i kill the two guards on the left path and get this thing from them:



Ok, i'm pretty sure this means in order to defeat that armored dude i need to get this Horn thing.

After crossing the bridge, i spy possible paths in all directions:






Out of curiosity, i check the path under the bridge, where i hit a literal wall:



I assume there's a way to actually get through this, and considering where the old hag is pointed i'm going out of a limb and also assume this path leads to the mountain where this "holy" man is supposed to be.

Now logically, Wolf would want to storm the castle but i think there has to be a reason why there's so many branching paths and i think there might be things in them that are needed for when i do get into the castle. Unsure where to go for the moment, and being the pig headed bastard that i am, i decided to go check out that thing i was warned to stay clear of. I travel back to the post with the warning affixed on its wall, on the way having a close encounter with a little friend:



Hello there little guy!

Now because this game is based on "real" life and has Buddhist references in it, it has just dawned on me that those must be Shinto shrines:



This is also why those things were scattered all over the place where i first saw the giant's snake shedded skin. The snake is probably worshipped as a kamuy. If i'm right, this also means whenever i see those things i can expect to see something otherwordly or mystical, likely connected to nature in some way.

Now i cautiously make my way forward, and this appears to be the only possible way down:



From the branch, i see some loot in the distance, which indicates that's the way to go:



Except i'm not exactly sure where to go from here. After plunging to my death half a dozen times, i finally see it lmao:




Finally, i make it to the cave:



Ok, i don't think i like the look of this:



Why does it feel i'm going down actual hell here. Eventually, i emerge in a cave, darkness all around me, and i finally see it:



Now because i found one of those Divine Confetti right in the post, i assume those are the guys you are supposed to use them on. Since i have only a few, i decide to try him without it, just to see what happens. Boy this guy is a real nightmare. He got some kind of slow aura and his attacks are incredibly hard to read. He also does an incredible amount of damage and on top of it i get massive terror build up if i block rather than deflect an attack, a status effect for which i don't even have any remedy for yet. Curiously, it seems i can still damage him even without the Confetti, and i'm thinking if it wasn't for the Dragonrot shit i could potentially just train against him until i get it right. While i'm mulling over silly questions like this, he disappears, and when he reappears, this shit happens:




Did i... did i just got literally ass raped. I mean, in all my years playing FromSoft games i always joked about getting raped in the ass, never did i expect it would literally happen. Jesus next time this game warns me about something i better pay heed. Like, fucking hell lol. And just to tip it all off, i get more Dragonrot once i resurrect.

A gaping hole where my asshole used to be, i now limp back to the Ashina Castle, where i think i'm going to go look for that horn thing as i'm not feeling like storming the Castle just yet, not after this trauma.

I'll definitely come back for this guy soon though, as i'm not going to give up so easily. Only thing that stopped me now is the fact i have so few Divine Confetti and don't have a way to deal with terror build up. Once i do, i'll definitely make my way back here.

 

[cvv]

Yep, gaping holes where our anuses used to be is how we recognize a fellow Sekiro player.

Enjoying this playthrough a lot btw. Always entertaining to watch first runs through this game. Too bad you don't tube/stream it LS.

 

[Crayll]

Fun fact, some Japanese monsters (notably kappa) are said to be able to yank a ball containing your soul out through your ass. So there's some logic behind the anal fisting attack, if that makes you feel better.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho yeah, the fucker turned me into goatse but that sure makes it better.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ The Art of Autism (Part 1) ~​

Alright, to make cvv happy i decided to upload some autism, but don't expect me to do this too many times. I'd rather not clutter my video log with crap like i did with Elden Ring:

Spoiler

So, patching up the crater left in my butthole as best as i can, i decide to backtrack and return to where i was. First off, i spar a bit with that guy with the big bell i spotted earlier. He is not much different from the other burly guys. He got me inside the bell at least once which was funny. During the kill shot, i manage to take a clear picture of his face, which i'm going to save for posterity:



I now move inside, where i find myself in some dark interior:



On the way down, i find yet another of those merchants, who offers an extra line of dialog:



Eventually i might piece out some kind of lore on those guys. Turning around, i now find myself in front of what appears to be a mineshaft, where i'm confronted by a zombie!



In true FromSoft tradition, zombies die twice in this game, which apparently is now the rule since Dark Souls 3. But lo, as i kill him, something new drops!



Nice, getting closer to my chance for getting revenge on that ass raping bastard! BTW the description is histerical. If seized with fear, cover your rear? Jesus wept FromSoft is Codexian now.

Over the distance i see the path makes a sharp downturn. Not sure if this is going to lead up to this game's version of Blighttown (the merchant even makes me think of Domhnall of Zena given where he is placed), but for the moment i think i'm going to skirt this path.

Now outside i take a better look and i finally realize this is the same place i escaped with Kuro during the prologue:



Having a good idea where to go now, i begin by retracing my original steps in contrario motu, from the end to the start:



More of those damn rats. I take no chances, and kill them unseen:





Door is locked, heh:



So is this one, i guess this opens from inside the castle:



Not sure if this is just about me or it's an hint there's another shinobi around as well:




Of course, those guys have a funny definition of "being seen". I literally left a trail of death and destruction on my way here, then i remember those are Ashina guards, the most inept there has ever been.

I kill them with ease and i'm now able to scout the situation:




Looks difficult, but due to popular demand, i decide to throw caution to the wind and and opt for wanton recklensses!

Before making what is likely to be a suicide charge, i decide to pick up that skill that was recommended to me (with this i can now see the end of this skill tree as well). Let's see if i can put it to use:



Time for battle!

Well, there you have it, this is what happens when i face a boss the first time lmao. Of course i think i picked the worst one possible. I even went to check out what people had to say about him and apparently he has enraged many. At first his attacks are very difficult to read and the place where you fight him is a mess. Predictably, he is ten times easier if you just keep the pressure on him. Took me about a dozen tries or so to get him down pat and in almost half of those i managed to aggro the burly giant with the hammer, just because why not.

I kill the boss at the start of the second video if you just wanna watch that. As for the mooks massacre, this time i tried to deflect the burly guys, and it's actually better than i thought it was going to be. One interesting thing is that in the second video, because i got into the rythmn of the boss, i started losing my footing with the big guys a little bit. I guess i needed some time to regain my posture after getting hyperfocused on the pattern of the boss. Funny how that works.

 

[cvv]

Yeah, Yamauchi is a great filterer, I fought him for an hour my first time around. But he's a fantastic trainer for the sort of rock-paper-scissors style of combat you'll need for many bosses to come.

 

[Andnjord]

Nice, it's actually pretty fun to see your first, panic-stricken attempt at a boss before we get to see the successful one.

 

[Lyric Suite]

He is actually unusually easy if you keep hitting him, because he defaults to only a couple of responses. He either tries to hit you back after he deflects one of your attacks, or he just does that overhead spin which if you can deflect he then follows up with that perilous attack you can use Mikiri on. And that's literally all he does if you hit him non stop. He gets staggered by your hits if he tries anything else so i just had to prepare for those two attacks. Almost felt like i was cheating. Ho, he also sometimes does a follow up to his perilous thrust but that makes it better since after you deflect it he just loses his balance and you get free hits on him.

Ho, i also had to corner him up there to avoid aggroing that stupid giant. I hated this location on one try he went inside and i couldn't see shit because the camera was too close.

 

[proxon]

You can backstab him easily by jumping on the roof before combat, ng+ tip

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho no, i'm intentionally trying to do them "legit", more or less.

[EDIT] BTW, in case you didn't get it, that was a pun on Bach's Art of Fugue, including the rectus and inversus shit (first video is front to back second is back to front). Behold my cleverness lul.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ The Art of Autism (Part 2) ~
​

Spoiler

After massacring everything in sight, it is now time to clear the place. First, i make it inside to the Samuari Gatehouse, where i find a chest containing the thing i came looking for in the first place:




A tool for stripping big burly men hey?

Ho, that drop again. Still no loot like before, but view is still nice:



Wouldn't have expected Kuro to be locked here again, but now that if i think of it, this was a logical place to go if i were to stay in character, so it wasn't a bad idea to come here after all before storming the castle:



Inside, i find a Remnant memory of Kuro:





I can understand his dilemma. He has the power to save the Hirata clan but the consequences could be terrible. Speaking of power:



That's a good question. I don't think the game has explained what this Dragon power is where it comes from yet, unless i missed it. BTW, it appears he was in fact caged initially:



Unless this place just happened to have a cage in it for no reason lmao.

On the roof, i find one of those babby things:




Obligatory scenery porn since i'm up here:




BTW, i had to crawl under the gatehouse for nostalgia's sake where i actually find a nugget there:



This is where it all begun then. But who that now:



Ho right, just another lunatic, same as usual:




If you are on patrol why aren't you attacking me since i'm obviously an intruder? Is this the guy who trained all the other guards in the now famed Ashina security?



Dude, i don't think you understand what a patrol is for:



Wolf decides to play coy which ticks off the guy, but apparently it's still not enough for him to do anything about my presence:



Well fine then, no point beating this dead horse with someone this oblivious.





Can't say that i have. Also, what's a shamisen?




He finally tells me to forget he said anything, but then kneels back to his hole. I just leave him with his craziness:



I make my way down, where i see a shadowy figure in the distance. Time for battle then!

So to keep with the theme of this chapter i managed to kill him first try. Of course, it doesn't really count since his moves are identical to that other ninja in the Hirata Estate sequence so even though i made some mistakes finger memory basically saved the day. Towards the end the camera gets fucked up which was annoying as hell, but i managed to beat him nontheless.

Spoiler

Fucker got what he deserved! First he calls me a coward, then he attacks me out of nowhere like a bitch. Also, was he the one playing the shamisen?

Finally, after so long, i reach that goodie i couldn't pick up at the beginning of the game, and turns out it was just some upgrade material lmao:



Talk about a let down. I now see the way continues from here, and holy crap, another branching path:



I try to scout ahead a bit, and yeah, no thanks:



After the other guy ripped my asshole i'm not looking forward to this one ripping my balls too or whatever he is going to do. I think at this point i'm going to just try the castle. It's what Wolf would do anyway.

 

[Strange Fellow]

He is actually unusually easy if you keep hitting him

I'm finding that this is sekiro A-Z.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Am I the Baddie? ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, time to move into the Ashina Castle! First off, i decide to bite the bullet and start upgrading the prosthetic. Like the skill tree, the first upgrades are mandatory but to be honest they don't seem that interesting:



Not sure firing multiple shurikens is that useful i usually just use them so i can follow up with that swipe and close the gap on enemies. Maybe on those chickens since they don't die with one hit like the dogs. The firecracker upgrade seems even more useless as the only reason to use those is for animals and i think they are good for that as it is but again upgrade is mandatory so it's irrelevant. The flame vent one might be useful if it makes setting people on fire easier. Probably still useless but it's a mechanic that exists and i want to feel strategic and shit lmao.

Ho, i also decided i wanted to open up the Prosthetic Arts further. Most people at this point would probably pick the one that increases curatives but i think i'm going to go with the one that allows you to use Prosthetic Tools while jumping. Probably useless but hey, rule of cool and all that:



For last, i see what's going on with my polite looter friend. Not looking too good, sorry buddy:



I'm still not sure how this isn't the bigger drawback of dying. Sure, NPCs don't eventually die, but their quests get put on freeze from what i understand and unless you played the game before it's hard to say when and how it's likely you gonna miss out on some things, and i don't have a lot of droplets as of yet. Hell, i'm already getting paranoid and wonder if i missed out something with the Sculptor, who has been sick for much of my game time. I'll try to kill some more bosses and then i'll pop a droplet and we'll see what happens then.

Anyway, speaking of bosses, i return to the Ashina Castle, because it's now time for battle!

This poor general guy is routine now, but he does have one tricky move that sometimes always gets me. To be safe, i decided to just backstep and close my distance again with that forwards swipe whenever i knew was coming. Having to face the five reflemen before hand was tricky and i didn't want to risk it. He still manages to get me once which pisses me off. You can see the second my rage switches on since i get on his ass with extreme prejudice. I hope it feels as good to watch it happen as it did when i was doing it, heh.

Spoiler

I kill the general, but you know, it kinda felt hollow. Why exactly am i killing those guys? All those Ahina people seem cool as hell:




He gives this amazing rousing speech then i just go there and kill everything wtf. Is saving the Divine Heir worth exterminating the entire Ashina clan? Like shit, Genichiro should worry more about me than the Interior Ministry since apparently i'm doing all the work for them lmao. Since killing Oniwa i'm starting to feel like i'm the bad guy here. Maybe i could take on the Interior Ministry as a whole and Genichiro wouldn't have to use the Divine Heir anymore and it'd solve everything.

Anyway, moving on i guess. I like how unlocking those things gives you lore:



I see now i'm faced with one of those difficult rooftop levels FromSoft loves so much:



On the ground level, there's dozen of guards, which might require a stealthy approach:



Mmmh, what's with that smoke stuff:



Suddenly, while i ponder where to go next, i get hit in the face and as i turn out i see some bitch throwing ninja stars at me. Fuck you i'll deflect all your shit asshole:



I decide to backtrack and see what's on the other side for the time being while this bastard cools down. After resting on the Idol to reset the thing, on the side i see a chest but no loot. Sadness:



Around the corner, i spot some guards, but no conversations to heavesrop on. That's good, but i think i'm not going to kill them just yet:



I decide to make my way to the opposite side, where i see a door which for a change actually opens:



It appears there may be some kind of cellar down there:



Up ahead i see another door which surprise also opens, and now i'm on the other side of this structure:




On the right, i see i'm on the other side of that moat. I make my way there, but again i hit a wall at the end of the tunnel like why is this crap even here:





I make it down on the lower floor of that previous building, where i find a third door i can also actually open! Ho my:



Ho wait, i'm back here. So much for that:



I make my way back to the gate, where i see the guards have respawned, but no general. Man this is so sad:



This time i use stealth to get past that bastard unseen:



Hey look, a merchant guy or something:



I carefully manage to flank the fucker, and justice is served:






So that's where the smoke is coming from:



I make my way up there to see if there's any nugget hidden and i get greeded by more of his friends. I run back for cover, but you know what? Fuck this shit:



I spring into action and with a quick leap i'm on top of them, killing the first one after dealing with his spazzy attacks:



But as i turn to face the second one, i suddenly hear some horrifying scream and i instantly lose my nerve as the last thing i want to do is get into a boss fight right now especially with the other nimble bastard about to jump me from the right, so i nope the fuck out of there as fast as i can, so fast in fact i end up missing a jump and i fall all the way to my death lol.

I decide to just reset the whole thing and do it over, this time by focusing on the bottom part, which from the looks of it is going to take a while to fully explore:



Ho wait, i see them, more of those nimble bastards:



Also at this point i'm assuming they are the ones putting those smokey things up there, for whatever reason. I succeed in sneaking up on both. Killing the last one, i see i missed a goodie on the side, but i'll come back for it later:




On the way down, i see one of those rat bastards:



I plunge for a quick silent kill but somehow i manage to fuck up the landing and end up aggroing everything in a mile radius. So much for stealth lol:



There's one guard left, and after killing him, i gaze at the gate below, a feeling of regret for having killed its guardian:




I return to that goodie, which appears to be a nest:



Did those nimble guys put this thing here? Boy they are really taking their bird cosplay seriously. Down, i see more guards, but you know what? Fuck stealth lol:





Now i got the run of the place i think, so i go have a little chat with that merchant guy, who apparently was hiding from the guards in the first place:





I wonder if i had talked to him first he may have had some different dialog, feels like i completed a quest before i had one. As reward he hands me a little note, where i learn something i had already figured out:



He has nothing more to offer, as apparently he is too cowardly to deal in a place like this, to his admission:




At least he is honest about himself. I have a feeling i'll meet him again soon enough.

I now take my time to clear out the whole place. Those rooftop levels always make me paranoid as i'm always afraid to miss something. I look under every possible nook and cranny, and it's now time to face whatever was about to gang on me up there:



I kill the two bastards and carefully inching my way forward i can now see where it's coming from:



Turns out it was just another variant of those things. I guess i panicked for nothing. BTW, i switched to this spear thing and it works very well on those nimble bastards. I now get a view of the opposite side, and holy shit:




I try to make it for the guy on the right, but i got made:



I had to run away and wait for them to return to their posts. I try to go around, where i spot one above me:



I try to make a quick kill but as soon as i jump up there i get ganked by two more out of nowhere, and i had to turn tail again. This shit is getting frustrating now.

I see that patrol again, i go for it and predictably i aggro them again:



After running away for a third time, i'm now at a loss at what to do. Already all the pity i had for Ashina is evaporating. Am i the baddie here? Who gives a fuck i hate the Ashina now and i want to see every single one of them dead. They deserve nothing better for putting me through this shit.

I return to the front, where i successful manage to lure the guard on a spot where i can finally take one out without getting seen:




Perhaps my whole approach was wrong here. Instead of trying to flank them, i think taking them out up front was the best way. On that note, i decide to try the one on top, and again succeed in doing it without being seen. After killing him, i spot a window but the way in is barred fuck:



I then make a leap for the one on the roof across the other side, but while killing him i draw the attention of a second one that was likely on the roof on top of this one, but since he is by himself i can easily deal with him in open combat:




I have a good feeling for their moveset now so i succeed in taking little damage. At last, i get the one from the back, which isn't so tough now without his two friends:



Feeling i'm in the clear finally, i leap again on the other side, but as soon as i make a corner i get ganked by one of those screaming fuckers who almost manages to one shot me. I deal with him in a panic, and as i set out again, barely alive, i find this shit lol:



So the game is trolling me now lmao. My mood already soured as it is, and the game just taking the piss on me on top of it, i at last reach safety! With tears in my eyes, i make way towards it. Boy was this whole place fucked. Fuck you Ashina, i won't feel any remorse from killing any of you bastards from now on!

 

[cvv]

If I wanted to be suuuper nice I'd say the side quests in Sekiro are a gigantic missed opportunity. That's why it doesn't matter much if some NPCs get rotted.

As for the "polite looter friend", on my first run I saw him looting, chastised him by slashing his throat and then got cut off from his stock. Goddamn looter apologists, FromSoft.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I gotta say one thing switching to an higer setting in OBS and recording videos at 1440p is yielding some pretty good damn results on youtube. The local filesize is gargantuan, but it's worth it.

Apparently, if you go over 1080p youtube switches to a different compression format that's much better quality but you HAVE to stick to 1440p or 4K (i think most people go with the latter) during vewing. The second you switch to 1080p and it looks as shitty as always. So if you can just watch it at 1440p as it's easier to see what's going on without those compression artifacts.

 

[Lyric Suite]

If I wanted to be suuuper nice I'd say the side quests in Sekiro are a gigantic missed opportunity. That's why it doesn't matter much if some NPCs get rotted.

As for the "polite looter friend", on my first run I saw him looting, chastised him by slashing his throat and then got cut off from his stock. Goddamn looter apologists, FromSoft.

Well, i want to see them. I hope i didn't miss any so far.

 

[Andnjord]

About the droplets, don’t use them just yet. You’ll know pretty soon when to use them properly.