Why not include grabs? The point should be "you can't deflect this", nice and simple, very relevant to how the gameplay is set up. As is it just enforces the Sekiro: Beat Master™ feel and doesn't actualy streamline shit. Which is lame because it's a small addition, just a symbol that shows up as an alert, that disproportionally affects the feel of the game.
Sorry, had a bit of a brainfart atm, so I couldn't really get what you meant here; are you saying that grabs should also be undodgeable? If so, I'm not sure if that can be called "doesn't streamline", because making it so that perilous moves undodgeable across the board is...well, streamlining. If we go by the assumption that Sekiro not really having i-frames per se, with how thrusting attacks can only be dodged *specifically* by dodging it sideways other than perfectly deflected/Mikir counter, and sweeping attacks meant as an attack targeted at your feet (and thus can only be jumped over), then it makes sense for grabs to be the only one that can be dodged.
Besides, some grabs can actually be 'deflected', specifically the ones by the Snake Eyes minibosses, and others by using the Umbrella prosthetics (though I've only seen and did this on certain bosses, not sure if Ogre's grabs can be defended against with the Umbrella).
Nobody will cite that Dragon fight in the clouds? I know it's weaksauce as a fight but those visuals, the music, the lore (you killing a fucking god!) makes it awesome.
It's definitely THE best gimmick bossfight Fromsoft has ever conceived by far, but you're not actually 'killing' it. You simply broke its posture, making it 'safe' for you to extract its tears by opening up a wound on its tear duct with the Mortal Blade, the only weapon capable of bleeding (and, yeah, killing) immortal beings.
Why Sekiro didn't kill the Divine Dragon there and then? Most likely because its lifeforce is tied to Kuro, and by that extent, his own. Which is why you need to go through all those procedure to get the different endings; just the Dragon's Tear fed to Kuro would have you kill Kuro to severe the immortality; add the Aromatic Flower, from the branch that the previous Divine Heir took from the Divine Realm, and you get Purification, where you severe immortality by killing Sekiro and remove the Immortal Oath that tied Kuro to the Divine Dragon; add the Frozen Tears, which can only be gotten by feeding the Divine Child of Rejuvenation (likely created by the Senpou Temple as an attempt to produce their own Divine Heir) the Serpent Viscera from both Great Serpent encounter at the Sunken Valley, and you'll get the Dragon's Homecoming/Return where Kuro is reincarnated(?) as a child for the Divine Child. And then you journey West, from whence the Dragon came and 'return' the immortality.
Sekiro is not Dance Dance Revolution but the combat system definitely has a flow to it which punishes you if you get desynchronized from it.
Sounds a lot like the rest of the Soulsborne games, don't you think?
That is what is meant by rhythm. Also, while using tools/prosthetics adds notes of flair, they never become overwhelming advantages. You can’t brute force your way through the game - you adapt to the rhythm of each encounter or die. Which is the reverse of what you claim.
Some people actually brute force through the game; either by spamming R1/L1, or headstrongly insisted on playing it like it's a Souls game. Then they go around complaining how the game doesn't work, or that it doesn't play like a Souls game.
But true, you need to adapt or die, as is true with the Soulsborne games, and in fact with any other video games worth their salt. However, the tools/prosthetics CAN be an overwhelming advantages, depending on the situation, some even to the point of absolutely trivializing it.
- The Firecrackers is a counter against bossfights with 'beast'/animal elements to it, like with the Guardian Ape (with its head still on its shoulder), the Bull boss(es), and Gyoubu who rode on a horse. Hell, the Firecrackers kicks asses in general, but against these bosses in particular it's a definitive advantage (though to some people, the Bulls are easier to parry instead).
- The Umbrella is pretty OP; if you noticed how some attacks, when normally deflected, would knock Sekiro back in a very brief cinematic sequence, using the Umbrella against those attacks will *not* have Sekiro getting knocked back; it can even 'deflect' some grabbing attacks that normally you would need to dodge. The Fire version allows you to safely deflect fire attacks (including the Blazing Bull's and Old Isshin's 2nd phase), and the Purple version allows you to safely deflect all the Terror-based attacks without having to use Divine Confetti
- The Spear *absolutely* trivializes the Headless Ape bossfights; without it, it would take substantially longer to defeat him, or rather, the fights with the Spear is just a whole lot faster in comparison. Combined with the Chasing Slice skill, it became an alternative quick dash/gap closer move in place of the Shuriken
- The Fire-element prosthetics also *absolutely* trivializes the Red Eyes encounters, and in general if you could inflict Burning status on your target, it completely stops their posture regen
- The Shuriken trivializes Lady Butterfly significantly, but only if you could catch up to her pace at first; then it's a matter of dealing with her jumping around and standing on her threads, and with the upgraded version of the Shuriken (Charged) you can knock her off her threads. Its most effective usage would be to interrupt enemies who backs off to regain their posture, and with the Chasing Slice skill it became your main dash/gap closer.
- As mentioned above, the Malcontent upgrade to the Finger Whistle makes the Demon of Hatred fight much easier, and so does with the other Apparition-type enemies like the Headless and the Shichimen Warriors, but not to the point of trivial because you can only use it three times on them, unlike with the Spear on the Headless Ape or the Fire-elements prosthetics with the Red Eyes.
- The Axe deals insane posture damage; sure, is slow and rather unwieldy, but that's the point. Kinda like using an ultra greatsword/greathammer, rather slow but hits hard. If used from the air (requires Mid-air Prosthetic Tools skill), the swing is a lot faster.
- Finally, using the Mist Raven or the Sakura Dance combat art in place of the normal Lightning Reversal, which already trivializes all Lightning attacks without too much drawback except for one, completely removes the small Vitality damage you would normally got, which is the only aforementioned drawback, thus there's really no reason to not use either one of them for Lightning Reversal, other than to save Spirit Emblems.
That leaves us with the normal Finger Whistle, the Divine Abduction, and the Sabimaru. The first two's uses are mostly non-Bosses related, though Divine Abduction can be used on mini-Bosses, while Sabimaru was supposedly effective against the Okami (regular soldier mobs of the Fountainhead Palace), and also their 'descendants', including the Snake Eyes and O'rin of the Water; however, I don't find it very effective against the Snake Eyes, and O'rin regularly retreats to her incorporeal form making Sabimaru inefficient for me. Still, if you can inflict the Poison status with it, it can stop posture regen like the Burning status, and one of the upgrade lets you switch between your normal sword and Sabimaru attacks, AND allows you to evade damage when doing so; too complex play for me, tho.
