Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[cvv]

Beat Orin, Monk and Ape in quick succession today. Was hoping for a more relaxing stretch of the game but realized I'm probably at the end and it got harder and harder.

The boss that awaits you after you beat Monk and Ape keeps raeping me so hard. Gotta say, towards the end the game is tiresome more than anything else. Huge, extremely long and difficult fights one after another. It's like someone constantly pummeling you in the head while you play.

As usual with From games, the exploration was my highlight. Absolutely amazing. I wish there were more secret areas and secrets in general tho. Also wish the game is a bit longer but ok. Hopefully 2 DLCs at least.

Boss fights are good, not a single dud but again, the main boss fights towards the game are just so fucking tiresome. I vastly preferred the mini-bosses. Those were fucking amazing. Just as brutal but much shorter.

Only two "gimmick" bosses. Too bad, I love those. These kind of games desperately need some change of pace. The snake is the best gimmick boss since DeS but the monkeys are sadly absolute trash. There are hints but I just stumbled into them randomly. A nice setpiece but otherwise hot garbage.

 

[toro]

Spoiler

Finally O'Rin can easily be beaten via posture damage without confetti, she does drop a bead.

Great advice. Hope you choke on a black dick.

 

[toro]

I've given up on lord Genichiro. My leet skills may have taken me through Friede and Gael, but this is just too much.

I gave both Friede and Gael 30+ attempts, never could beat them. I beat Genichiro in 10, with 3 gourds left. Unlike Friede and Gael, who are all about fast reflexes and generally being gud, Genichiro is all about staying aggressive, beat his ass constantly and only side step away when he does his jumping attack.

Friede and Gael is an attrition fight or kiting (whatever you prefer). Just hit once, run like a retard, wait for another opportunity, rinse and repeat. It's a shitty fight.

The spectral monk is THE STUPIDEST FUCKING FIGHT in all videogame history. It fucking takes like 20 minutes because you can only do damage when she turns her back towards you, so only after certain rare-ish moves. OR you can farm the confetti for 2 hours for a single boss run. What a gigantically idiotic fight. Fuck you From.

That it is.

 

[toro]

O'Rin of the water is one the best boss fight ever.

Tactic without Divine Confetti, special skills or some other bullshit:

Spoiler

- don't attack her by your own initiative, you will get rekt,
- let her attack you, block twice and attack, if she jump slowly back then attack more, if she jump or move sideways then retreat,
- if she raises her sword before attacking, it means that she will end her combo with a special attack, block twice, jump once and punish her for the special attack,
- when she deflects your attack don't go for the counter! It's bait!
Normally you hear the sword clinging sound and you try to deflect the attack but the trick is: counter works when she spins to the left, counter fails when she spins to the right.
Unless you are a God, there is no way to be 100% sure that the counter will work therefore don't take the bait.
That's it.

Kudos to all that missed the point of the fight.

 

[Sentinel]

The boss that awaits you after you beat Monk and Ape keeps raeping me so hard. Gotta say, towards the end the game is tiresome more than anything else. Huge, extremely long and difficult fights one after another. It's like someone constantly pummeling you in the head while you play.

what boss?

This final boss is gonna give people an aneurysm. This guy is like every boss in the game combined into a big fuck you encounter.

 

[polo]

Purple fags seem to be made with the only purpose of making the player rage. They are not even hard, but the map where they make you fight them... Jeez. The one hidden in hirata state and the one in the reservoir, tight spaces, shitty camera angles, corners to get stuck... Cheap and annoying af.

 

[toro]

Purple fags seem to be made with the only purpose of making the player rage. They are not even hard, but the map where they make you fight them... Jeez. The one hidden in hirata state and the one in the reservoir, tight spaces, shitty camera angles, corners to get stuck... Cheap and annoying af.

You can bait the second one (outside of the canyon).

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

 

[toro]

Divine Confetti can be farmed from the fighters around Ashina Castle - Antechamber.

Spoiler

There is secret wall there as well

Also before the O'Rin of the Water there is a plot of land where mobs care be easily farmed for like 700+ XP.

 

[Ivan]

Nothing in Sekiro has prepared me for this. Even Guardian Ape is nothing compared to this.

Spoiler

 

[DemonKing]

Took the day off yesterday and managed to beat the Drunkard, Horse Dude and the Raging Bull so pretty happy with that (although I almost died straight after the Bull when I was busy celebrating and 2 peasant enemies ran up and started attacking). I haven't had a boss yet that's taken me more than 10 tries or so although I'm sure that won't last before I finish this.

I have pretty aged skills and was not born with a controller in my hands but so far I'm finding this game manageable. I think the game does a good job of giving you the tools to take on any opponent - you just have to make sure you experiment and find the best approach and then execute it successfully.

 

[Jinn]

Really enjoying the environments in the second half of the game, both atmosphere-wise and exploration-wise. It's got this whole descent into the underworld feeling, and it's as if things get further and further from reality as the game progresses. Like the longer you remain immortal, the more times you experience death, the more your mind begins to slip into a mad, stagnant, fantasy realm (reflecting on some themes visited in the Souls series). The way they handled the balance between mythical/fantastical/reality in Sekiro is interesting, and is something I've been noting throughout the entire game. Also appreciate how

Spoiler

We start to see the relationships between the NPCs slowly emerging, creating this web of interaction you're just entering now. Also, Isshin Ashina turning out to be the masked tengu Shinobi who named you "Sekiro" after you battle with Horse General Gyoubu Oniwa. Pretty damn cool.

 

[Solid Snail]

Judging people's habit and labeling them as no-lifer based on a post in which they don't praise the so damn praised From Software because of some dumb (in my opinion) decisions is rather stupid.

Just to be clear, since I got lumped into this post, I didn't call you a no-lifer. I think you can play a lot of videogames, be passionate about them, and still have a life beyond them. I was just curious what compelled you to play so much while saying you hate the game. Thank you for the explanation! I think you have some good points, but I would say that one thing I disagree with is the comment stating progression with a boss is based on luck. I think Genichiro is the perfect example of this for me, because you actually have to learn the mechanics and his particular moveset intimately to beat that fight. I really don't think luck could get you through it. Maybe there are bosses beyond that where luck factors in, but when I see comments like this, I feel like it's because the player is stubbornly beating their head against what they think they've learned from the game, instead of trying to find if something new needs learning.

Anyway, I'm sorry that you and others didn't get the From game you were looking forward too. That legitimately makes me sad, cause I know how much people were anticipating it. Hope the next one does better for you.

I was discussing with Jenkem and I told him I didn't find Genichiro too hard, I tried to beat him three times and did it. Otherwise I played the Guardian Ape like 20 times before doing it. I think the way someone progress into the game is subjective, people will find an obstacle where other won't, but in sekiro I have never the sensation "oh, I can do this again now". When i was released I played Metal Gear Rising Revenagance on the highest difficulty getting all S ranks: in that game I felt I turned into a robot, because I could actually win every fight against bosses several times without being hit because I memorized their pattern (it happened to get hit occasionally).
In Sekiro...nope, this element is missing, at least for me. I also think bosses have way too much health for how the whole thing works, because From expects from the player to have 100% of the attention for a very long span of time. If they can fix those issues, because they are fixable, the game could turn really good, but I doubt they will start nerfing things left and right. It's sad to wish From to actually nerf something in one of their games, it feels strange even to me, but I think there is a line separating a fair challenge from a frustrating piece of software.

 

[RegionalHobo]

finished the game.

not in the mood to start again and have another end just so i can see the different content atm. ( seems like there s one different boss there )

boss fights, even the ones i died many times, resulted in the most fun i've had with videogames in a long long time, many memorable fights i'll not spoil here. the in-between bosses was not as good, but good enough.

things i'd improve: the soundtrack is really mediocre, even worse if you compare with other FROM SOFT works, like BB. the lack of a boss mode like tenchu had is borderline heresy, i want to do so many fights again and can t without a lot of work, it sucks.

that said, the game was, a big surprise for me, since i did not like DS nearly as much.

i'll now go and test Outward, a pity i'll have a fraction of the time because of work

i hope the good folks of codex have as much fun as i did with this title, part of the fun for me was reading the experiences posted here

PS: dragonrot is overrated. as it is the mechanic adds nothing and is forgiving as fuck ( at least from the '' mid game '' onwards ). it s really far from the demon souls system people said this would be

 

[Jasede]

While I do think it's very hard it's still a very long distance from those top of the line bullet hell shmups and arcade games in general which, in modern times, tend to be fair, but tuned to the difficulty of Japanese autistic supermen that can practice the same stage for weeks at a time.

Sadly I don't quite have the reflexes I used to have and sometimes Sekiro really does demand you deduce the coming attack in 0.2 seconds and react correctly. My neurons don't fire that fast!

I beat Butterfly but every time she used slash, I rolled and got hit. By the time I told my brain, dude this isn't DS, jump! I was already hit. And that attack doesn't come out that fast.

Still having a lot of fun. I'm now struggling with stairs spear lord and well ninja camera.

 

[RegionalHobo]

While I do think it's very hard it's still a very long distance from those top of the line bullet hell shmups and arcade games in general which, in modern times, tend to be fair, but tuned to the difficulty of Japanese autistic supermen that can practice the same stage for weeks at a time.

Sadly I don't quite have the reflexes I used to have and sometimes Sekiro really does demand you deduce the coming attack in 0.2 seconds and react correctly. My neurons don't fire that fast!

I beat Butterfly but every time she used slash, I rolled and got hit. By the time I told my brain, dude this isn't DS, jump! I was already hit. And that attack doesn't come out that fast.

Still having a lot of fun. I'm now struggling with stairs spear lord and well ninja camera.

you mean the six spears asahina something guy? i tried him without stealth hitting and he's easily the one who killed me the most in the game.

 

[cvv]

The boss that awaits you after you beat Monk and Ape keeps raeping me so hard. Gotta say, towards the end the game is tiresome more than anything else. Huge, extremely long and difficult fights one after another. It's like someone constantly pummeling you in the head while you play.

what boss?

 

[cvv]

I don't want to fight Owl anymore, pleeease game don't make me. The usual trick - staying aggressive - doesn't work coz he does such a shitton of posture damage. You block four, five of his strikes and you're done.

So the fight amounts to rock-paper-scissors kindda thing - countering precisely his bag of tricks. With a pinpoint precision. For half an hour. I'm sick of this HP bloat bullshit. It's a huge stain on my incredible experience in the game. It's like you fight a boss like Owl and then you need a holiday. This is taking the souls philosophy too far.

 

[Somberlain]

That's weird, I don't remember him dealing particularly high amounts of posture damage. You can land your own attacks on him pretty easy though. If you get behind him (such as when he throws shurikens and then leaps high up to do a heavy attack, you can easily dodge and get behind him), you usually get two free attacks on his back. Also, you can usually get attacks in when he starts backflipping, so try to get his back against a wall, just like Artorius.

Sekiro is the Dark Souls of Sekiro

 

[toro]

The Centipede, the horror. I've spent 2 hours on this bullshit running around him.

I wasted all my spirit emblem but I could not do enough damage to take him down. And one combo = dead. Fuck my life.

I get stuck on bosses because it seems that I'm old. I know what I have to do but I cannot press the keys fast enough. Sad realization.

Edit: I'm retarded

Spoiler

You can win the fight by spamming parry :/ Wtf.

 

[Mojobeard]

Yeah Owl seems like the basic Souls boss, which is why he's kind of weird, pretty much just perfect dodges, and he's open for a long long time for punishes. Blocking is almost pointless.
I'm at 17 vitality and 8 strength, so it should be pretty easy I guess, just wasn't focused enough, got him to half health and ragequit.

By the way the fire axe is ridiculously broken, 10/10 would recommend. Got a problem with any mid-boss? Backstab and fire axe to hell and back.

Edit: hey Iron Pinapple knows my pro-strats on how to play the game

 

[Sentinel]

I don't want to fight Owl anymore, pleeease game don't make me. The usual trick - staying aggressive - doesn't work coz he does such a shitton of posture damage. You block four, five of his strikes and you're done.

So the fight amounts to rock-paper-scissors kindda thing - countering precisely his bag of tricks. With a pinpoint precision. For half an hour. I'm sick of this HP bloat bullshit. It's a huge stain on my incredible experience in the game. It's like you fight a boss like Owl and then you need a holiday. This is taking the souls philosophy too far.

Which Owl boss are you fighting (name at top left)? (There's two versions depending on choices - and there's 2 unique bosses in one of the paths)

 

[cvv]

The Centipede, the horror. I've spent 2 hours on this bullshit running around him.

I wasted all my spirit emblem but I could not do enough damage to take him down. And one combo = dead. Fuck my life.

I get stuck on bosses because it seems that I'm old. I know what I have to do but I cannot press the keys fast enough. Sad realization.

Edit: I'm retarded

Spoiler

You can win the fight by spamming parry :/ Wtf.

Yeah, been there. 2 hours of running from the idol, clearing the trash mobs around him and getting spammed to death by claws. Out of desperation I watched a YT guide and that trick you mentioned indeed works.

I didn't even try it because I was absolutely certain I wouldn't be able to time it so fast (I just knew holding block doesn't work). But nah, you just mash the button. Stupid.

 

[cvv]

Owl down. My problem was I insisted to fight him like I did other similar bosses - staying aggressive and dodging PAs. But with him the trick is actually counters. Yeah. He's obviously built for that because his swings are much slower than other similar bosses. So he hits, you parry and you hit. The counters do a lot of posture damage, especially with the passive skill. Second phase is more tricky because he clears away his posture gauge but it's the same schtick, it just takes longer to chip him to death.

My point stands tho. These bosses suffer from a disgusting HP bloat. Gimme Snake Eyes or Orin instead, anytime.

Which Owl boss are you fighting (name at top left)? (There's two versions depending on choices - and there's 2 unique bosses in one of the paths)

Spoiler

It was the one at the castle. Where you fought Genichiro. I suppose "the other" one results from the "protect the code" choice? So you fight him no matter what? Interesting. I thought if I choose to protect the code he'll join me or some such. And then we both fight Kuro and Tomoe :D But don't tell anymore, that's for my NG+ playthrough.

 

[Silva]

Almost got this for my birthday but decided to pass it up for now. Watched Lobos play for 3h and found this boss-centric, guard-breaking, QTE fighting paradigm kinda... boring ? Also, a big part of Soulsborne for me is it's sense of place and I'm not feeling this feudal jap the same way as Lordran or Yharnam. I'll wait for a sell.

But hey, if anyone wants to give it to me on PS4 as a birthday gift I won't refuse.