Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (new From Software game)

[Correct_Carlo]

Finally beat it. That last boss was insane. Youtube videos kind of led me astrasy, as I was trying to do a cheese method that ended up being way harder than just straight up confrontation.

For the record, this method is shit and unnecessarily complicated (it takes forever, which means there's way more opportunity to mess up and die):



In the end, I just beat him by good old fashion move memorization + aggression. Mortal draw helped immensely as well. I did find it necessary to back off on the second phase of the fight (the sword saint's first phase after Genichiro 2), and just snipe him after he did a combo, then run away and repeat. I think phase 2 is the hardest phase in the entire fight. He hits so quickly and he has several weird lags in some of his combos, so it's difficult for me to aggressively get in his face and still be able to parry/attack. The final 2 spear phases hit hard, but they are much slower, so it's easier to anticipate what is coming and there are lots of opportunities to run away and heal.

Started NG+ with the charm active. Powered through to Genichiro in like 30 minutes. Game is really easy when you know what you're doing.

 

[Lambach]

That last boss was insane.

I really don't understand the hype behind Isshin. Yes, he's a nasty bitch, but I found both Owl (Father) and especially Demon of Hatred significantly harder. Isshin took about 7 or 8 attempts for me on NG and 3 on NG+. In comparison, the flaming fucking cunt kept me busy for hours and hours on NG and another hour, hour and a half on NG+.

Isshin has many wind-up attacks that can be easily dodged and punished, even when you don't use the "run around the field like a headless chicken for 50 minutes straight" strategy. His Perilous attacks are more telegraphed than DoH's and can be (fairly) easily Mikiri'd for tons of Posture damage. The attack where he leaps a great distance and slams you with the spear can likewise be Deflected and punished quite easily. In the third phase, he mostly ends up killing himself with lightning attacks.

Isshin is perhaps the most satisfying and well-designed fight in the game, but certainly not the most difficult, for me at least.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I didn't find Owl Father to be difficult at all. I found Isshin the most difficult because it's so long. With long fights I always fuck up at some point, even if I know the move sets. Any single phase of the fight would be easy enough on its own, but the combination of all 4 makes it way harder.

 

[Wunderbar]

In the end, I just beat him by good old fashion move memorization + aggression.

every sekiro boss in nutshell

 

[toro]

Father Owl >> Isshin Sword Saint >> Genichiro >>>>>> Demon of Hatred (this one is actually easy but long)

 

[mogwaimon]

Personally I didn't end up getting the purification ending so I never tried Owl (Father) and I never attempted Demon of Hatred because by the time I was on Isshin I was pretty much just wanting to be done with the game since I had some paid time off at work and wanted to focus on a different game with that week off. But with Isshin it was like everyone's been saying about Souls bosses, initially intimidating with his attacks but turns into a pussycat once you know his moves. Phase 1, at least, I still had trouble with phase 2 but I ended up getting good enough to finish him off shortly after I got to the point where I could blow through Phase 1 through posture damage with less than 25% vit damage on him for most instances.

Well, him and Genichiro, too. I'm the type of guy who, when challenged in video games, has to attempt it like 20-30+ times to beat it the first time but the second time usually takes only one or two tries even if it's months later. Like, my game crashed right after I beat true Corrupted Monk and it didn't save, and I was pissed because he had been giving me so much trouble but I fought him again and immediately won instead of having to make a bunch more attempts.

 

[Black Angel]

This game is so hard, it actually has specific punishment for streamers.

 

[Lambach]

This game is so hard, it actually has specific punishment for streamers.

 

[Zep Zepo]

As I said earlier, I skipped GG and headed to the temple...

Armored Warrior...he had a gimmick I couldn't figure out after death-blowing him about 10 times. Boned out, red up on the gimmick, easy fight afterwards.

Centipede Sen'Un, again, pretty easy if you get rid of all the mooks first, swoop in for a first death-blow from above afterwards, then it was just oil/fire/R1 and an occasional firecracker/R1 to knock off health dot #2.

With those 2 down I'm (I think) up to 5 prayer necklaces, also found 2 carp scales in a small pool in this area. Now I have 7.

Going to continue onward from here and see what's up ahead before I head back to fight General Genichro at the castle.

Zep--

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Now on NG++ after beating the Shura ending. Everything is legit harder on NG++, and it's not just the Kuro charm. You die pretty quickly from common enemies if you don't pay attention. Feels like the way the game was meant to be played.

Emma and Ishina were fun bosses in that they were difficult enough to be a challenge, but manageable. Nowhere near as hard as Sword Saint.

What sucks about this game, however, is that so much of it is about headspace. It's so twitchy that it requires you to go into an altered state of acting without thought to be successful. If I can get into that mental state, I power through. If not, I can spend an hour on a boss who was previously easy for me.

 

[Black Angel]

What sucks about this game, however, is that so much of it is about headspace. It's so twitchy that it requires you to go into an altered state of acting without thought to be successful. If I can get into that mental state, I power through. If not, I can spend an hour on a boss who was previously easy for me.

Huh, for me it's just like with the Soulsborne games. I need to be in right state of mind, and only then I can steamroll through almost everything. Once I got too tired, I fuck up and fuck up more.

 

[toro]

Now on NG++ after beating the Shura ending. Everything is legit harder on NG++, and it's not just the Kuro charm. You die pretty quickly from common enemies if you don't pay attention. Feels like the way the game was meant to be played.

Wrong_Carlo strikes again. Why!?

 

[Multidirectional]

Centipede Sen'Un, again, pretty easy if you get rid of all the mooks first, swoop in for a first death-blow from above afterwards, then it was just oil/fire/R1 and an occasional firecracker/R1 to knock off health dot #2.

Both centipedes are easy as fuck if you just deflect spam, with occasional jump on their head during sweep attack. I never died to single one of them, not even on first run.

 

[Nortar]

Both centipedes are easy as fuck if you just deflect spam

I would not say they are easy as fuck, nothing is this game is. )
But yeah, both centipedes are noticeably easier then other mini-bosses, as deflecting their flurry drains them of posture really fast.

 

[Multidirectional]

Both centipedes are easy as fuck if you just deflect spam

I would not say they are easy as fuck

I just said what makes them easy as fuck. Deflect spam. Their posture bar fills up very fast. I'm doing a Demon Bell run now and even with that on centipedes went down very fast. I was surprised by which fights gave me most trouble in this run. Lady Butterfly and Orin. Fights I excpected to be hard, like Illusory Monk or Guardian Ape - done at first try.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Just curious...

Are you "deflect" guys on PC or PS4?

I'm on an OG PS4.

I can handle Hanbei(sp) at the temple just fine using deflects and shit. But man, it seems like input lag is killing me when I try to play the "rhythm game" of deflects with the controller on mini-bosses/bosses.

I can do/deflect most regular mooks just fine, but the mini bosses/bosses with 4,5,6 combo flurries I get input lagged or something and F up.

Zep--

 

[Multidirectional]

Of course I am on PC. On PS4 this game must suck. I cannot even fathom playing Dark Souls III below steady 60 FPS, forget about Sekiro at 40 FPS or whatever PS4 version runs at.

I can do/deflect most regular mooks just fine, but the mini bosses/bosses with 4,5,6 combo flurries I get input lagged or something and F up.

Hah, for me flurries are the easiest part, just deflect spam. At worst if I fail to deflect I get a block.

 

[Zep Zepo]

just deflect spam. At worst if I fail to deflect I get a block.

Yeah, i've tried just tapping deflect, It usually ends up as a block, and I'm posture broken pretty quickly and have to retreat and hold block to reset it.

Zep--

 

[mogwaimon]

I'm on PC and I also deflected the centipedes to death, pretty easy. Same with the guy right before Genichiro, the iaijutsu dude. He pretty much killed himself.

 

[Multidirectional]

Poor console plebs, can't even get a console action game in playable state.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I'm doing a run without Kuro's Charm, and Great Shinobi Owl is kicking my ass on NG++. I don't have the deflection skills to get up in his face and deflect him perfectly for the entire fight (being aggressive with him was my strategy for my vanilla run, which worked well when you had the forgiveness of not taking damage for less than perfect deflects), so I've been kiting him around and hitting him whenever he does a special move that leaves him open. But he has this lunging slash that's very difficult to counter when you are taking a "run around and snipe him" strategy. You can dodge forward through it, but it's incredibly difficult to tell which combo he's going to be doing (especially when you are running away from him 99% of he time). And the arena is so small that the fucking camera constantly gets caught on the walls and removes your lock-on. Really a pain, as the entire fight becomes one long drawn out battle of attrition where you very slowly chip away at his vitality while hoping you don't fuck up 10 minutes into it and get one-shotted with one of his combos.

Also, I'm an achievement whore and the "Get all skills" achievement is a fucking pain. Unless you want to play through NG+7, the only way to get all those points is to grind. At the pace it takes to grind, I've estimated that it will take 5-6 hours of doing nothing but kill that ninja in the antechamber for me to get the necessary skill points (2500 exp per kill, one kill every 10 seconds). Don't know if I have that in me. I might just leave it to do when/if they release DLC.

 

[toro]

There is no point for "Get all skills" ... 99% of them are shit.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Poor console plebs, can't even get a console action game in playable state.

Good devs like Capcom manage just fine. It's just From that has problems.

 

[Black Angel]

Of course I am on PC. On PS4 this game must suck. I cannot even fathom playing Dark Souls III below steady 60 FPS, forget about Sekiro at 40 FPS or whatever PS4 version runs at.

I can do/deflect most regular mooks just fine, but the mini bosses/bosses with 4,5,6 combo flurries I get input lagged or something and F up.

Hah, for me flurries are the easiest part, just deflect spam. At worst if I fail to deflect I get a block.

I'm playing on PS4 and it's all fine. I managed to nail consecutive deflections 90% of the time. In fact, I just beat O'Rin on NG+ first try today, when previously on NG I have problems catching up with her rhythm.

Poor console plebs, can't even get a console action game in playable state.

Good devs like Capcom manage just fine. It's just From that has problems.

I don't get it, Sekiro is in perfectly playable state since Day 1 on PS4. I would say it's probably their most perfect Day 1 release yet, since I personally haven't heard any serious technical problems other than those dumb grab attacks hitboxes.

How old are you, Zep Zepo ?

There is no point for "Get all skills" ... 99% of them are shit.

How? Most of Ashina Arts are useful, especially the Ascending/Descending Carp and Flowing Water skill. The Prosthetic Arts tree is also very useful, with the exception of Shinobi's Karma skills which are underwhelming, and Emma's Medicine which are rather expensive.

 

[Multidirectional]

Here's what I am using on this run to make prosthetic upgrades more exciting: https://www.nexusmods.com/sekiro/mods/103

All prosthetic tool upgrades now increase your spirit emblem capacity by 1.

I think I will keep this, I don't see why I should settle for measly 20 emblems. I am up to 38 emblems now and it feels better.