Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[Zep Zepo]

Looks like it will be pretty good with some new interesting mechanics. I'm a From fanboy so it's definitely a D1P.

Zep--

 

[Morgoth]

https://www.gameinformer.com/cover-...ruary-cover-revealed-sekiro-shadows-die-twice

February Cover Revealed - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
by Daniel Tack on Jan 08, 2019 at 10:56 AM

From Software has been around forever, but is best known for its suite of action RPG games beginning with Demon's Souls. Between Dark Souls titles and Bloodborne, From has explored atmospheric dark fantasy and cosmic horror, and now they head to feudal Japan for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. We spent over two hours with the game in Tokyo and picked From Software president Hidetaka Miyazaki's mind to get all the details on the upcoming game, from progression systems to traversal. Check out the cover for the February issue of Game Informer!

Join us to discover what makes Sekiro different from From's suite of existing games as well as why fans of Souls games have a lot to look forward to. The February issue doesn't stop there, and is dedicated to the top games of 2018, including our expansive top 50 list, game of the year award, and our top picks for each category. You'll also find our choices for top dorks, characters, publishers, and more, including an interview with the director of the 1994 Double Dragon movie!

Print subscribers can expect their issues to begin arriving in the coming weeks. The digital edition of this issue launches today for PC/Mac, iOS, and Google Play. You can also get the latest issue through third-party apps on Nook and Kindle later this week. To switch your print subscription to digital, click here, or to create a new subscription to the digital edition, click here.

Click on the banner below to visit our coverage hub for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and check back throughout the month for new, exciting stories and info.

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/01/08/how-character-progression-works-in-sekiro-shadows-die-twice

How Character Progression Works In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
by Suriel Vazquez on Jan 08, 2019 at 11:02 AM

One of the ways Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice marks a departure for From Software is in how your character becomes stronger. In other From games, you tailor your character by pouring points into different stats like strength, dexterity, and intelligence, depending on whether you want to fight as a brute, archer, or wizard, respectively. Shadows Die Twice won’t have that breadth of customization, as your character, The Wolf, is a shinobi through and through. That doesn’t mean you can’t tailor him to fit your playstyle, though.

A major departure hardcore From fans may scoff at is the lack of corpse runs. Though you gain experience from defeating foes in Shadows Die Twice, that experience is now divorced from currency; gold now drops from enemies as well, and you won’t lose either when you die. If you’re afraid that change might upset the balance of tension and accomplishment that have come define From games, there’s hope: Director Hidetaka Miyazaki says death will have a detrimental effect, but wasn’t willing to tell us what that might be.

Instead, progression in Shadows Die Twice is slow but steady, as the experience points you gain from killing enemies fill a bar that eventually provides you with a skill point that, you guessed it, you can spend in a skill tree. But it wouldn’t be a From game if there wasn’t a catch: Before you can invest in a skill tree, you have to unlock it by finding a particular item as you explore the world.

Once you’ve unlocked a skill tree, you can invest skill points at Sculptor’s Idols (Shadows Die Twice’s take on bonfires). From showed us a few skill trees for The Wolf; one based on shinobi arts, one around samurai arts, and another based on building up the prosthetic arm. Along with passive buffs and improvements to your basic moveset, you can also unlock special moves called combat arts, activated by pressing both front shoulder buttons and which must be equipped separately. These moves are meant to be periodic rewards that let you invest in a particular playstyle “just to give you something to make you feel like you’re roleplaying in a certain way,” says Yasuhiro Kitao, manager of marketing and communications at From Software.

Each of these trees is catered to a different playstyle. The samurai skill tree, for example, resembles the common warrior archetype, which relies on overt, grounded aggression. The shinobi tree is more evasive and lets you control crowds, with skills like a spinning slice attack that deals damage in an area and the ability to step over enemy spears. Finally, the prosthetic tree offers multiple more ways to approach different encounters, with the option to upgrade your shuriken throw with a follow-up attack that closes the distance between you and your opponent, or to let you throw multiple shuriken.

What we saw of these trees was fairly simple, though they weren’t final. We saw about three or four pathways to take our skill tree, with the final tier of skills requiring four skill points. How long these skill points will take to earn is still up in the air, however. The goal is to allow you to be “more creative and find your preferred ninja style, so you’ll have to specialize and think [about] which path you want to take,” Kitao says.

While the skill tree lets you build out The Wolf in various ways, upgrading his other stats will require more attentive eyes. As you venture through Shadows Die Twice, slay enemies and bosses, and find hidden rooms, be on the lookout for prayer beads, four of which will increase your overall health and posture (The Legend of Zelda’s heart pieces come to mind). You might also find tools to upgrade your prosthetic arm with new abilities, such as a shuriken launcher, an axe, or a flame vent, granting you access to new abilities to take with you on the battlefield. There might even be ways to build on the resurrection mechanic, From tells us.

All of these options make for one well-equipped character instead of several kinds of specialized warriors. From says this style of progression, which streamlines options at the cost of variety compared to Dark Souls and even Bloodborne, lets them focus on offering more overall depth to individual encounters, as From can more easily tailor encounters around your character’s skillset. “This is actually using Miyazaki-san’s own words – You could think of the previous Souls games as more expanding laterally, and adding breadth to these various options and builds,” Kitao says. “While you are a fixed shinobi protagonist, you do feel like there’s a sense of progression, there’s a sense of building your own character and finding your own playstyle, and experimenting with this throughout the game.”

For more on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, make sure to check Game Informer throughout the month, as we’ll have stories outlining various aspects of the game, like why it doesn't have online multiplayer, all this month. Click on the banner below to see all of our coverage.

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/01/08/why-sekiro-shadows-die-twice-doesnt-have-online-multiplayer

Why Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Doesn't Have Online Multiplayer
by Suriel Vazquez on Jan 08, 2019 at 11:09 AM

After the initial reveal of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, we quickly learned it would lack online multiplayer – a first for the developer’s major titles since Demon’s Souls. As part of our visit to the studio for our cover story, we asked them to elaborate on why that was the case.

Past From games have had an idiosyncratic take on online multiplayer. Players could leave each other notes throughout the world, warning each other of dangerous surprises or goading them into hazards. One player could summon another to help them with a difficult section, but risk being invaded and attacked by another.

From Software isn’t necessarily abandoning that part of its legacy, but it is taking a bit of a detour for now. “Of course, we at From, we love those online elements,” says Yasuhiro Kitao, manager of marketing and communications at From. “We love to create our own characters just as much as everyone else. We hope players are looking forward to something in the future where we might go back to that, but for now, Sekiro is very much its own thing.”

Not having an online component has its upsides, however. For one, players who’ve longed for an honest-to-goodness pause button (who first got a taste with the Switch version of Dark Souls) finally have that option. It also means players don’t have to worry about being invaded during tense encounters. And without co-op, bosses can be designed with a single player in mind.

Finally, it frees From up to let loose their creativity when creating Sekiro’s map. “When creating these playspaces, we don’t have to take into consideration how players will operate with one another in these maps, or how they may exploit the playspace by cooperating or something like this,” Kitao says. “So it allows us, again, to hone in on the player experience, and really capitalize on that lack of restriction that comes with creating a multiplayer-based game, and let our imagination run wild in these places.”

For more on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, check out our breakdown on how its progression works, or head over to our hub to see all of our coverage throughout the month.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Why Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Doesn't Have Online Multiplayer

 

[Jaedar]

So has this been cancelled for PC yet or what ?

 

[Zep Zepo]

Sounds like pop-a-mole.

Spoiler

So, I'll probably like it

Zep--

 

[cvv]

There was a great big hoopla at last year's E3 over Sekiro not being an RPG anymore. From was all "look at us we doing something new" and fans were like "zomg muh levelling, muh builds, waaah".

Turns out there is XP and there is progression. It's an RPG again, only dumbed down and published by Activision. Womp womp.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

There was a great big hoopla at last year's E3 over Sekiro not being an RPG anymore. From was all "look at us we doing something new" and fans were like "zomg muh levelling, muh builds, waaah".

Turns out there is XP and there is progression. It's an RPG again, only dumbed down and published by Activision. Womp womp.

It's really published by activision? Surprised it's on steam and not on bnet client

 

[MuscleSpark]

Turns out there is XP and there is progression.

Hopefully it's not too much of a crutch and players can't just grind skill points to overpower difficult obstacles; them removing the co-op summoning training wheels was a good move.

 

[cvv]

Turns out there is XP and there is progression.

them removing the co-op summoning training wheels was a good move.

It can be motivating, yeah. Then again if they go on with the trend and Sekiro is even more difficult than DS3/BB this could get hairy pretty fast.

I was NOT able to beat Nameless, Gael and Friede on my own, not before I got completely burned out on trying. I wouldn't want to be forced to abandon a great game just because I can't overcome some insane sword spamming boss.

 

[Ivan]

I was NOT able to beat Nameless, Gael and Friede on my own, not before I got completely burned out on trying. I wouldn't want to be forced to abandon a great game just because I can't overcome some insane sword spamming boss.

 

[Silva]

There was a great big hoopla at last year's E3 over Sekiro not being an RPG anymore.

But what is an RPG?

 

[Damned Registrations]

I would LOVE to be forced to abandon a game due to some vicious boss. So far the only things that have done this to me are some SHMUPs and the credits of Nier: Automata, which I refused to get help for. I swear I'm gonna go back and murder those fucking names some day. All twelve thousand of them.

 

[sullynathan]

I would LOVE to be forced to abandon a game due to some vicious boss. So far the only things that have done this to me are some SHMUPs and the credits of Nier: Automata, which I refused to get help for. I swear I'm gonna go back and murder those fucking names some day. All twelve thousand of them.

Play devil may cry on dante must die.

 

[Ivan]

lol dude you gotta stop all of those DMD mentions. 4 real lol

 

[LESS T_T]

Hidetaka Miyazaki will join the battle royale of game developers at Croatia in April: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...reers-in-joint-keynote-at-reboot-develop-blue

Dark Souls and Ico creators to discuss their careers in joint keynote at Reboot Develop Blue
Hidetaka Miyazaki and Fumito Ueda will participate in a unique, two-way keynote at Croatian developer conference

Reboot Develop Blue has added From Software CEO Hidetaka Miyazaki to its speaker line-up.

Miyazaki, who is best known as the director of Dark Souls, will take part in a unique session with genDESIGN founder Fumito Ueda, in which both designers will discuss their careers and their views on the games industry.

Reboot Develop Blue 2019 has already announced a number of influential speakers: Improbable COO Bill Roper, Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala, Subset Games founder Justin Ma, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke, and a large contingent from Halo developer 343 Industries -- including studio heads Kiki Wolfkill and Chris Lee.

In addition to From Software's Miyazaki, other new additions to the Dubrovnik-based event's line-up include George Krstic, director of story at Blizzard Entertainment, Raw Fury founder Jonas Antonsson, Jumpship co-founder Dino Patti, and Playground Games creative director Ralph Fulton

Reboot Develop Blue 2019 expects to host 120 speakers - fewer than half of which have been announced so far - with more than 2000 attendees from the global games industry arriving to watch their talks.

The event is held in Dubrovnik, Croatia from April 11 to 13. You can find the full speaker line-up on the official Reboot Develop Blue website.

 

[sullynathan]

lol dude you gotta stop all of those DMD mentions. 4 real lol

Great game with great challenge. Some cucks might not know what a good action game is so I'm spreading the word

 

[Silva]

I would LOVE to be forced to abandon a game due to some vicious boss. So far the only things that have done this to me are some SHMUPs and the credits of Nier: Automata, which I refused to get help for

Dude... getting help in the end credits is.. like.. the whole FUCKING MESSAGE OF THE GAME.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I know. Fuck that message.

 

[Perkel]

I was NOT able to beat Nameless, Gael and Friede on my own, not before I got completely burned out on trying. I wouldn't want to be forced to abandon a great game just because I can't overcome some insane sword spamming boss.

No need to burn fucker.
I played DS games since Demon's Souls on ps3 years before codex loved it and Friede is legit hardest boss in DS games.
It took me zilion time to beat her. If DS3 would be my first game i probably wouldn't beat her. Hell i would probably leave game at dancer which was other fucking hard boss in DS3 that mops the floor with every other boss in any other DS game.

DS3 bosses are peak hardest bosses from whole series.

I still remember playing Demons souls for the first time and raging about not being able to kill fucking phallanx.
Lately i was playing DeS via RPCS3 emu for PS3 (which works great !) and all of those bosses are piece shit easy compared to anything in DS2 or DS3.

 

[Machocruz]

I didn't play DkS3. is shield play against bosses even viable anymore? Every video gameplay I've watched is roll-to-live. Maybe that's just how most people prefer to play, I don't know. A good shield took you a long way in Demon's, plus there were some"puzzle" bosses, something that the series seemed to have ditched.

 

[Deflowerer]

I'm actually halfway through Dark Souls 3 right now and feels somewhat relaxing after Bloodborne, in particular Old Hunters DLC.

Maybe the end game will prove me wrong tho.

 

[Silva]

No need to burn fucker.
I played DS games since Demon's Souls on ps3 years before codex loved it and Friede is legit hardest boss in DS games.
It took me zilion time to beat her. If DS3 would be my first game i probably wouldn't beat her. Hell i would probably leave game at dancer which was other fucking hard boss in DS3 that mops the floor with every other boss in any other DS game.

DS3 bosses are peak hardest bosses from whole series.

But Dancer is fair and square, Friede not. Don't get me wrong, I love Friede, but 3-phases + old man backup borders bullshit territory and stains her status a bit.

 

[DemonKing]

I liked having bros to call on when my old man reflexes/lack of time rules me out of getting past certain bosses - would be a bit sad if I can't get past certain key bosses in the game and have to abandon it. Still willing to give it a go though because...FROM.

 

[Suicidal]

I never understood why some people call bosses like Friede "unfair". What's unfair about it? The fight follows the rules of the game, you don't need to resort to exploits and very specific strats to beat it, all you need is to learn all 3 forms and what they do and then not make too many mistakes while fighting. It's not an easy boss by any means, but it's hardly unfair.

You know what's fucking unfair? The final boss of Etherlords (old TBS and card game hybrid) on impossible difficulty, because on impossible your enemy has an absurdly high chance (like close to 100%, not even joking) to activate a passive effect and the final boss's passive effect is "block all damage taken", which he can activate every time you deal damage to him, effectively making him immune to any damage you can do. The only way to go around it is to level a skill that decreases the activation chance of the enemy's passive. Unfortunately, in the very last mission the game decides to take away your hero, which you have been leveling for the entire campaign, and give you a special hero that does not have this skill, so you'll be fighting an enemy that cannot be damaged by your attacks. So what do? The only way to win at this point is to make the boss lose to the timeout effect (if the battle takes too long, both sides start taking unresistable damage), but the boss has a lot more HP than your hero, so you have to use healing spells and overheal like crazy for the entire fight. Playing as a faction without any healing spells? Well fuck you then, better restart the entire campaign.

Or the final boss of Labyrinth of Touhou (indie JRPG dungeon crawler) because at some point in the fight it starts regenerating all the damage you dealt to it in the previous turn until you fulfill a bunch of arbitrary conditions. The game doesn't tell you about these conditions and it also does not tell you that the boss is even regenerating HP (no HP bars on enemies, no numbers indicating regeneration), making you think that you are damaging it, when you are, in fact, not.

I think the label "unfair" should be reserved for shit like this and not for a fight that merely requires a bit of effort and practice.

 

[Dyskolos]

I never understood why some people call bosses like Friede "unfair".

I agree but for the people who aren't just spewing retarded nonsense, I think it's the placement in the DLC. Native DS3 set the 'rulebook' of expectations and when the DLC - trying to go beyond and offer something new (3 stages, one with 2 fully independent bosses) - appeared to 'violate' the original rules people moaned. Doubly so because a bunch of people probably just jumped into an old save game and were months out of gameplay rhythm anyway.

Not that I think it applies here but the above is one of the few things I really find a weakness of the souls model - that something sold on and attracting players for difficulty suffers from pressure to constantly up the ante. Nioh I loved through NG+2 (?, can't even remember now) and expansion 1 but dropped because they lost creativity and opted for a stubbed toe to one shot you and for all new bosses to default into cancer stun combos. From is about the only company I trust to dodge that trap.