• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | OT | Borne of Souls

So i was fighting the General on top of the castle and I died so much. I finally did the 2nd finishing move on him and was so happy......But then he comes back for round 3 and handed me my ass so I quit the game for a few weeks. Came back Couldnt beat him. Quit again. Came back tonight and somehow school him,. Had to be the hardest boss i have had to deal with in any from software game. Good job from software
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I'm impressed by how flexible this game is compared to the others in the Soulsborne milieu. By the time I beat Genichiro on the top of Ashina castle and moved the story into the next phase, I already sunk 35 hours into the game. To be fair, I was exploring as many other areas as I could and searching for as many shinobi tools as I could.

I was able to unlock (unlock, not upgrade) almost all of the tools. I explored the entire Senpou Temple until reaching a closed door, through the Sunken Valley and the Gun Fort, explored all of Ashina castle, through Hirata Estates, back to Ashina Reservoir including the well which led to a swampy area, etc etc, with about a dozen midbosses and full-blown bosses mixed in for good measure. After I beat Mr. Zeus ⚡, I was then able to fight those ghost-monkeys and proceed through the locked gun fort door. Now I am trying to beat that giant tantrum-ape and also trying to beat a bandaged midboss with a hook-gun (guarding a foggy door).

Having so many tools and so many routes available almost from the start is impressive. Replaying this will offer so many different paths / different order of completion. I have barely scratched the surface of how to incorporate the tools into the flow of combat (mostly just using firecrackers, shuriken, and axe when needed) and I think it compensates for the lack of extra weapons.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
the tools are legit underrated. great stuff.

certain tools are really crucial for boss fights. an upgraded umbrella can really help against G. Ape and various terror-inducing enemies.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
the tools are legit underrated. great stuff.

certain tools are really crucial for boss fights. an upgraded umbrella can really help against G. Ape and various terror-inducing enemies.
And yet you can do so much with so little, whereas in previous games you had to unlock more weapons, items, armor, stats, etc before the combat opened up.

Within the first few hours I already had access to regular attacks, deflections, charged thrust, sidestep + sweep, jump-kick, shuriken + chasing slash, firecrackers (to stun/interrupt), the charging spear, and mikiru counter and I am still using all of these on a regular basis.

I am underusing the other tools, that's for sure. Need to see how I can mix flame vent and maybe the axe into my rotation.
 

WindomURL

Member
the tools are legit underrated. great stuff.

certain tools are really crucial for boss fights. an upgraded umbrella can really help against G. Ape and various terror-inducing enemies.
Just my two cents. The only tools I ever used in this game were the shurikens, the axe, and occasionally the flame cannon. I found that a winning strategy in almost all bossfights was to never, ever stop running, which at first I did just because of the joy of having no limit to stamina. But I soon realized that it was a silver bullet of sorts, allowing quick entrance and exit from the opponent's reach-- approach, get a few pokes in, manage some deflections/mikiris, gtfo, and repeat, all while keeping a close eye on their patterns and behavior for necessary cues

Took out the ape on the first try this way

Final boss still took me upwards of ~30 (wasn't counting) tries though, as it required far more nuance than any fight before. But I never stopped running
ymmv
iu
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Just my two cents. The only tools I ever used in this game were the shurikens, the axe, and occasionally the flame cannon. I found that a winning strategy in almost all bossfights was to never, ever stop running, which at first I did just because of the joy of having no limit to stamina. But I soon realized that it was a silver bullet of sorts, allowing quick entrance and exit from the opponent's reach-- approach, get a few pokes in, manage some deflections/mikiris, gtfo, and repeat, all while keeping a close eye on their patterns and behavior for necessary cues

Took out the ape on the first try this way

Final boss still took me upwards of ~30 (wasn't counting) tries though, as it required far more nuance than any fight before. But I never stopped running
ymmv
iu
Don't you mean...?

giphy.gif
 

johntown

Banned
I found that a winning strategy in almost all bossfights was to never, ever stop running.
This makes me sad. To each their own and I am glad it worked for you but was it actually fun?

I find once you understand the way your are suppose to play the combat is highly satisfying and eventually the game gets too easy (eventually). The only tools I use were fireworks and the purple hat for the warrior dudes.

Once I beat the game I did NG+ and kept Kuro's charm and found the game was just too easy after that. My 3rd play I played without the charm and wow that was freaking hard. I think the last boss took me 6 hours to beat without the charm.

What lots of people don't realize is you can deflect 99% of all attacks even the perilous ones. Sweep attacks and a few special ones are the exception.

If you liked the game maybe give it another go without running. Once you get it, you will enjoy it a lot more IMO.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
i do love the endless running. it makes getting back to the boss for each attempt even easier.

feel like more than any other From game, this one is the most rewarding to replay. the freedom is a huge part of it, once you unlock a handful of essential skills, you can pretty much fight anyone in the game. posture being such a huge part of combat means that once you get really good, you can just go on the offensive, swinging away, and blocking when needed, and speed kill everyone, while feeling like a total badass.
 

WindomURL

Member
This makes me sad. To each their own and I am glad it worked for you but was it actually fun?

I find once you understand the way your are suppose to play the combat is highly satisfying and eventually the game gets too easy (eventually). The only tools I use were fireworks and the purple hat for the warrior dudes.

Once I beat the game I did NG+ and kept Kuro's charm and found the game was just too easy after that. My 3rd play I played without the charm and wow that was freaking hard. I think the last boss took me 6 hours to beat without the charm.

What lots of people don't realize is you can deflect 99% of all attacks even the perilous ones. Sweep attacks and a few special ones are the exception.

If you liked the game maybe give it another go without running. Once you get it, you will enjoy it a lot more IMO.
I totally get what you're saying, and I knew someone would call noob. I still enjoyed plenty of facetime with opponents and bosses; satisfying ballets of clashing nippon steer, just more punctuated.

And this approach absolutely didn't work with all bosses for obvious reasons. It's just a potential tool in the shinobi's kit.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
everyone has a different way to play. this game gives you so many tools to do it however you want.

everything about the game encourages experimenting and playing it your way. the level design is linear to an extent yet it also unlocks into this massive freely traversable well crafted open world with valuable gameplay-enhancing stuff hidden all over.

so you can focus on taking out bosses and gitting gud or you explore instead and try to beef up w the RPG elements. fight standard mooks like a firework shooting death machine, take them out silently like a stealthy ninja, or just run past everyone straight to the boss in less than a minute. over and over the levels and enemies are rolled out and well paced.

it may lack the standard RPG classes but it is a very customizable gameplay experience nonetheless.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
if u enjoy the game i highly recommend doing all 4 endings. 1 has a really cool alternate boss fight that ends the game early, so it's really only 3 1/2.

plus if you do them on the same save file, once you get to NG+++ you will be earning tons of XP from enemies, so purchasing the costly final skills is no problem. From has included several great XP farming spots, as always.

right now i'm doing the most difficult ending, with the twin snake hearts, and its a lot of fun. cool how you puppeteer a monkey to get to each snake.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
if u enjoy the game i highly recommend doing all 4 endings. 1 has a really cool alternate boss fight that ends the game early, so it's really only 3 1/2.

plus if you do them on the same save file, once you get to NG+++ you will be earning tons of XP from enemies, so purchasing the costly final skills is no problem. From has included several great XP farming spots, as always.

right now i'm doing the most difficult ending, with the twin snake hearts, and its a lot of fun. cool how you puppeteer a monkey to get to each snake.
I handed those over to the Divine Child a bit ago, and I just sliced that tantrum-ape's stupid head off. Very fun boss fight with a great song playing in the background. Figured I'd go for the most complicated ending then work my way backward from there.
 

Bigrx1

Banned
Did you finish it? I have 2 bosses left and am struggling currently.

Finally, I couldn't beat the Demon of Hatred and struggled with him for a couple days then just sat down and tried over and over and over endlessly for hours until this happened: Sword Saint was WAY harder than old man Isshin for me which is the first ending I got. It took me forever to find a working strategy for his 2nd and 3rd (long spear) energy bars. I finally used a mix of umbrella and the Senpou style art that does 3 quick hits and closes distance really fast.

I screwed up again though and missed some things for 2 other endings so will have to play one more time and use a guide to get purification ending and whatever the 4th is called that involves the most work. Since this was my first Fromsoft game how hard is it in comparison to the others?

Oh also my favorite boss of the game was Guardian Ape - because of his 2nd phase.

DejT2WE.jpg
 
Last edited:

Bigrx1

Banned
Having so many tools and so many routes available almost from the start is impressive. Replaying this will offer so many different paths / different order of completion. I have barely scratched the surface of how to incorporate the tools into the flow of combat (mostly just using firecrackers, shuriken, and axe when needed) and I think it compensates for the lack of extra weapons.

I struggled to ever find proper use of some of the tools, maybe I just didn't experiment enough. I never used the vortex thing really or the poison sword, rarely the axe or spear.
 

Bigrx1

Banned
the tools are legit underrated. great stuff.

certain tools are really crucial for boss fights. an upgraded umbrella can really help against G. Ape and various terror-inducing enemies.

Are there any of the boss fights that take advantage of the vortex thing, poison sword, or axe? I have a feeling I missed some opportunities probably with some of the tools.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I struggled to ever find proper use of some of the tools, maybe I just didn't experiment enough. I never used the vortex thing really or the poison sword, rarely the axe or spear.
Watch this and see how useful those tools can be but it has spoilers so watch it on your own risk.
 

Bigrx1

Banned
Watch this and see how useful those tools can be but it has spoilers so watch it on your own risk.


I'll take a look thanks,
I think I've fought all now except for whatever the optional ones are in the alternate Hirata estate
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
lol

VqwWO11.png


I struggled to ever find proper use of some of the tools, maybe I just didn't experiment enough. I never used the vortex thing really or the poison sword, rarely the axe or spear.
The poison sword seems to work well against the gun-fort women in terms of damage and stunlock. I haven't used axe much myself other than an easy way to break shields/hats. Spear is a great way to close the distance and to chip-damage an enemy.
 

Greedings

Member
I felt like I was cheating using the tools. Parrying is just so satisfying that I did everything I could to do it all the time.

Obviously some tools had to be used - firecrackers against certain bosses. But I generally just use the shrunken for a fast space-closing attack.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
The finger-whistle should've been one of the very first tools available to the player. Being able to do focused distraction, proximity-based distraction, and even delayed distraction seems right in line with the core mechanics. I guess pottery shards can do that but I've never been able to get them to work successfully. Are you supposed to throw them at the enemy?

Oh well. I'm definitely making it a point to use a wider range of tools and items in my NG+. Just like Greedings Greedings , I focused primarily on the combat itself (parrying, dodging, etc).
 

Greedings

Member
I am definitely taking a break before NG+. I will get back to it eventually, but I don't really have time for something so intense during work time. I still have DS3 to play too, probably won't get chance until Christmas.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
im finding the shiruken (gouging top) has a lot of uses in boss battles and outside. there is a very tough grey monkey at the bottom of the Buddha valley on the way to G. Ape. he is a very difficult fight, unless you use gouging top, then you can interrupt his attacks, stunning him temporarily, making the battle a piece of cake. it's also really useful for fighting those purple dudes that show up later. plus there are a few areas with lizards that hang on the wall, they can be used to knock them off the wall and take them out.

NG+++ again, the final playthrough to get plat on PS4 Pro. this is the only game i have ever done that on two systems! also did it on PC last year. currently i am lacking 4 prayer beads (???) so i know i need to explore before taking on the final boss. tearing through G. Ape in one go at this point, what with all the extra attack points earned from fighting all those extra boss memories.

i got a nice gameplay loop going on as well. i go forward in an area, maybe take out a boss, and usually after a boss i have a bunch of XP saved up. so i run to Mibu Village and take out all the dudes in the first area by the stream as well as the houses by the lake, and usually i gain a full skill point by the time I've killed everyone. there are lots of baddies there but they respawn, but they only do so for a certain number of times, so it's a perfect farming spot. i always farm there to top off a skill point before fighting a boss.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
im finding the shiruken (gouging top) has a lot of uses in boss battles and outside. there is a very tough grey monkey at the bottom of the Buddha valley on the way to G. Ape. he is a very difficult fight, unless you use gouging top, then you can interrupt his attacks, stunning him temporarily, making the battle a piece of cake. it's also really useful for fighting those purple dudes that show up later. plus there are a few areas with lizards that hang on the wall, they can be used to knock them off the wall and take them out.

NG+++ again, the final playthrough to get plat on PS4 Pro. this is the only game i have ever done that on two systems! also did it on PC last year. currently i am lacking 4 prayer beads (???) so i know i need to explore before taking on the final boss. tearing through G. Ape in one go at this point, what with all the extra attack points earned from fighting all those extra boss memories.

i got a nice gameplay loop going on as well. i go forward in an area, maybe take out a boss, and usually after a boss i have a bunch of XP saved up. so i run to Mibu Village and take out all the dudes in the first area by the stream as well as the houses by the lake, and usually i gain a full skill point by the time I've killed everyone. there are lots of baddies there but they respawn, but they only do so for a certain number of times, so it's a perfect farming spot. i always farm there to top off a skill point before fighting a boss.
Dang you are a legend. I'm not even to NG+ yet.

On my initial playthrough, the gouging top is really handy for groups of wolves.

Also as far as farming goes, I find that backstabbing the bell-weilding fattie with the Puppeteer ninjitsu if you backtrack from the Water Mill is a cheesy way to get a few 1000s free sen and experience. He does most of the work for you.
 

Kabelly

Member
Already a year? holy moly. Never got to the second hirata estate cuz i missed it until last week. The second owl fight is one of the only bosses I haven't beat and he's nuts. Still haven't. Plus I don't have the kuro charm so it's hard.

Still one of the best games released this gen.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Started playing NIoh 1 not too long ago. To me it seems a lot harder than Sekiro. What do you guys think?
It just shows that difficulty is different to each individual, there who fin Sekiro easier than Souls games but other might find Sekiro harder.
 

Carna

Banned
If you ask me, sekiro is easier than you're typical souls games, simply because there's more at you're disposal than what you are limited to in souls games, and the final boss of the game can be easily cheesed.
 

WingedEagle

Neo Member
This was an incredible play after a long layoff following BB and DS3. The parrying system and game speed made this a totally different experience. Bosses were ridiculously fun and different as well, even if they felt significantly harder at times. No idea why, but I absolutely hit a brick wall on Isshin Ashina. Emma was a cakewalk and every now and then I'd get through Isshin's first phase but would basically be one-shotted every time out. It got to the point I wasn't enjoying it anymore. Really sucks to get to that point so late in the game. Wish I could figure that out!
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I think I'm gonna knock out my third playthrough of this. Going for the easiest ending where I stay loyal to Owl and end the game relatively early. Then I just need to do the kinda-normal ending and then I have the platinum. I haven't done four playthroughs in the same year in a very long time. Feels great.

I've already completed the two hardest endings: -- spoilers --: Kuro turns into a space-baby and enters the Dragon's tear daughter womb and becomes... reborn as a normal human without the immortal gene? I'm guessing that's what the so-called "best" ending is supposed to mean. I dunno. Kinda lame. Wolf kills himself in the next-hardest ending and that was the best ending so far.

Also, I didn't pick up on this subtext at all in my first playthrough and I feel so dumb: it's cool how the Tengu warrior is actually Isshin Ashina. He's truly one of the coolest characters / bosses in the entire Soulsbornekiro pantheology. He's a total badass, but also entertaining to listen to (keep giving him booze).He knits the plot together in an interesting way.

Love this game. It might even surpass Bloodborne for me (which I'm also pretty far into replay of; about 23 hours, 6th or 7th playthrough overall. I'm diving deep into the chalice dungeons, too, which are a guilty pleasure of mine. The Mergo baby is crying inthe baackground and the Cthulu stuff has started).
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I think I'm gonna knock out my third playthrough of this. Going for the easiest ending where I stay loyal to Owl and end the game relatively early. Then I just need to do the kinda-normal ending and then I have the platinum. I haven't done four playthroughs in the same year in a very long time. Feels great.

I've already completed the two hardest endings: -- spoilers --: Kuro turns into a space-baby and enters the Dragon's tear daughter womb and becomes... reborn as a normal human without the immortal gene? I'm guessing that's what the so-called "best" ending is supposed to mean. I dunno. Kinda lame. Wolf kills himself in the next-hardest ending and that was the best ending so far.

Also, I didn't pick up on this subtext at all in my first playthrough and I feel so dumb: it's cool how the Tengu warrior is actually Isshin Ashina. He's truly one of the coolest characters / bosses in the entire Soulsbornekiro pantheology. He's a total badass, but also entertaining to listen to (keep giving him booze).He knits the plot together in an interesting way.

Love this game. It might even surpass Bloodborne for me (which I'm also pretty far into replay of; about 23 hours, 6th or 7th playthrough overall. I'm diving deep into the chalice dungeons, too, which are a guilty pleasure of mine. The Mergo baby is crying inthe baackground and the Cthulu stuff has started).
I absolutely in love with Sekiro’s combat system, in my opinion it’s best the combat system FromSoftware ever made.
 
Last edited:

Poordevil

Member
I never was able to cuddle up to the combat. Got past the chained ogre and that was it for me. Figured if I was having this much trouble with regular enemies and mini bosses, what hope was there in taking on real boss? For me the game was more work and frustration than it was a good time. A co -op option like Nioh might have been welcome.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I never was able to cuddle up to the combat. Got past the chained ogre and that was it for me. Figured if I was having this much trouble with regular enemies and mini bosses, what hope was there in taking on real boss? For me the game was more work and frustration than it was a good time. A co -op option like Nioh might have been welcome.
not all games needs co-op, Sekiro combat gives me satisfaction like no other and I’m not really talking about the difficulty, what I’m talking about is the feeling getting good the combat. It has nice feedback and flow in its entire combat system, I don’t know how to describe it but it feel really good.
 
Last edited:

mr.dilya

Banned
I never was able to cuddle up to the combat. Got past the chained ogre and that was it for me. Figured if I was having this much trouble with regular enemies and mini bosses, what hope was there in taking on real boss? For me the game was more work and frustration than it was a good time. A co -op option like Nioh might have been welcome.

Different people will have different experiences with the bosses.

Genichiro is viewed as the first big skill check in the game but he was easy for me. I had way more trouble with snake eyes or even jozu the drunkard.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I never was able to cuddle up to the combat. Got past the chained ogre and that was it for me. Figured if I was having this much trouble with regular enemies and mini bosses, what hope was there in taking on real boss? For me the game was more work and frustration than it was a good time. A co -op option like Nioh might have been welcome.
The more I played the game, the more I became convinced that combat in Sekiro is aimed at foiling the experienced Soulsborne player. You have to willfully let go of old habits, especially the habits pertaining to conserving stamina and invul dodge frames (block, counter, or jump before you resort to step-dodging in Sekiro).

- player stamina is infinite, which means you can run, dodge, jump (!!!), and mindlessly mash 'Attack' to overwhelm.
- most of the player attacks can be block-cancelled, which means you don't usually suffer from long recovery frames that make you vulnerable
- playing footsies with the AI and trying to get in just 1 or 2 stabs is highly rewarded in Soulsborne but discouraged (and even punished) in Sekiro
- jumping on an enemy's head -- especially after a Sweep -- is usually a more viable defensive move than a step-dodge
- blocking is super powerful, has a generous block meter, and very few enemy attacks will stagger you or break your poise in 1 combo. Soulsborne punishes most turtling strategies but Sekiro is pretty laid-back when it comes to blocking. If you get overwhelmed, you can slow down almost every battle by just holding Block.
- most bosses are vulnerable to the same exploits as normal enemies, like air-counters, firecracker stun, Axe spin-to-win, and so forth
- combat is close-range and fierce in Sekiro, whereas in Soulsborne you are usually punished with a big sweeping unblockable
- countering is more powerful than ever and Perfect Counters can be done indefinitely, even with a maxed out blocking meter.

I'm not saying the game is "easy", but it's not any harder than the other games in the meta-franchise.
 
Last edited:

#Phonepunk#

Banned
you can't go into these games doubting yourself. you really just have to believe.

for instance i had a hell of a time with that chain boss. died maybe a dozen times to him. but it doesn't matter, i stuck w it. same for the final boss of the game. he's hard as fuck. probably the hardest boss in any Souls game i have ever fought. he was not easy. yet i still beat him.

the glory of Soulsborne is looking back on those initial "impossible" encounters and realizing that you have overcome tremendous odds.
- combat is close-range and fierce in Sekiro, whereas in Soulsborne you are usually punished with a big sweeping unblockable
the great thing about Sekiro is once you master combat and replay the game, you are just tearing through every encounter, parrying non stop, you really feel like a total badass. instead of dodging and rolling out of the way a la Souls, there is a way to turn every almost enemy attack into a plus for you. once you get the parry timing down you can punish their aggressiveness with your own. it's a feeling that doesn't really exist in other Soulsborne imo.
 
Last edited:

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
you can't go into these games doubting yourself. you really just have to believe.

for instance i had a hell of a time with that chain boss. died maybe a dozen times to him. but it doesn't matter, i stuck w it. same for the final boss of the game. he's hard as fuck. probably the hardest boss in any Souls game i have ever fought. he was not easy. yet i still beat him.

the glory of Soulsborne is looking back on those initial "impossible" encounters and realizing that you have overcome tremendous odds.

the great thing about Sekiro is once you master combat and replay the game, you are just tearing through every encounter, parrying non stop, you really feel like a total badass. instead of dodging and rolling out of the way a la Souls, there is a way to turn every almost enemy attack into a plus for you. once you get the parry timing down you can punish their aggressiveness with your own. it's a feeling that doesn't really exist in other Soulsborne imo.
Yeah the closest thing in the other games is getting hit by an enemy in Bloodborne and then recovering the lost health by staying on the offensive.

Sekiro takes that to the extreme and lets you end most enemy encounters by assaulting + parrying the countermove. Feels badass. It's not as esoteric or sprawling as the other games and its missing the RPG elements, but otherwise it's the best FROM game so far, imo.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
3x1dol.jpg


There are fewer characters overall compared to other games like Nioh and Dark Souls, sure. But pound-for-pound, this is the best cast of characters so far.

- Kuro is a great character, someone the player wants to fight on behalf of.
- Wolf is a great protagonist. Mostly-silent, but shows glimmers of personality in subtle moments.
- Lady Emma, the Sculptor, and Isshin are the main trio of conversation partners. Completely optional dialogue is unlocked via booze. What I find so compelling about this mechanic is that each of these three is also a boss depending on your play-through. Isshin even has two different boss fights. Owl has two different boss fights, too. Genichiro has three boss fights. So you get to know them in a deeper way than with any other NPCs, tying you closer to the story events.
- Almost all of the bosses and most of the mid-bosses have their own dialogue and their own backgrounds, too. Even a boss like Guardian Ape or the big ol' dragon have associated lore and visual storytelling (like the bones of the ape's long-dead companion hidden in the upper cave)
- NPCs are scattered around the world with their own mini-arcs.
 
I never was able to cuddle up to the combat. Got past the chained ogre and that was it for me. Figured if I was having this much trouble with regular enemies and mini bosses, what hope was there in taking on real boss? For me the game was more work and frustration than it was a good time. A co -op option like Nioh might have been welcome.

This game is just too hard to enjoy and co-op would have helped on the tougher sections. I really do not know how this gets such good reviews in all honesty and doesn’t even look great either, mind you all from games look last gen.
 
Top Bottom