Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

[Talvalin]

After having to take a break from Elden Ring and gaming after knackering my left thumb somehow, I decided to leap back into a completely different Fromsoft game instead. This one. I bought it on release, got to the first mini-boss, got my arse seriously kicked and gave up. Now I'm about two bosses in (LB and the horse guy) and getting absolutely roasted by Genichiro on top of the castle.

 

This after having to slog my way through more Nightjar bastards perched on rooftops (and getting smashed flat by one of the guys on a kite), then the difficulty spike of the castle guards being significantly harder to kill that the standard soldiers. I am getting better but damn this game is hard and I cannot summon help. Argh.

[Gigawatt]

12 hours ago, Jamie John said:

 

Sifu, which came out this year, felt very similar to me in terms of its challenging combat. It copy and pastes Sekiro's structure system, too. I finished it last week and enjoyed it enough to get the platinum trophy:

 

Sifu is on my boomerang rental list so I will hopefully get to play it soon. Thanks for the rec. 

[Talvalin]

After a solid few weeks of playing, I'm approaching  the last story boss, with one optional boss (Demon of Hatred) and a bunch of mini-bosses left to mop up (all of the Headless and the new mini-bosses that appear in Ashina Castle right at the end).

 

 

[Benny]

Buckle up!

[Talvalin]

I thought I had written more, but perhaps that was a draft that I imagined I had written.

 

It's been an absolute blast playing Sekiro. Much as I loved Elden Ring, I will freely admit to using summons and Spirit Ashes pretty often, and so for a lot of the bosses I didn't spend all that much time learning their patterns. Sekiro on the other hand forces you to learn the patterns and to know when to punish, when to deflect and when to get the hell out of there. At first, it was mostly a case of whittling down vitality to build up posture for the Deathblow, but towards the later stages I started being more aggressive with deflections as well to build posture even faster and it feels like I have really learned the mechanics.

 

When I first reached the keep of Ashina Castle, I had to do my absolute best to avoid fighting more than one Ashina Elite at a time as I was getting trounced every time I had to deal with more than one (I think the worst was when I managed to aggro three of them at once!), but later on when I fought three Ashina Elite apparitions in the Sunken Depths, I smashed them (okay, there was some kiting around the scenery involved, but I was able to take them on as a group and win).

 

I still love Dark Souls and Elden Ring, but Sekiro demonstrates that Fromsoft can make a focused game with far less build choices than the Soulsborne game, and still make it very enjoyable. I still have another full playthrough to get all the Prosthetic Tool upgrades, and am debating about whether to go as far as NG+++ to get all the endings, start a new game for those or save scum, but bring on Sekiro 2 or a similarly themed sequel. Absolutely brilliant game, and is vying with Elden Ring for my second favourite Fromsoft game.

 

 

[robdood]

The more I think about it, the more I think Sekiro is their best game, these days!! 

[Kayin Amoh]

Bloodborne or Sekiro's a tough choice, for sure.

[PikaStu]

I reached the point where I’ve almost given up… I’m not even very far into the game!

 

The Shinobi Hunter with the spear, and the big fat drunk guy are both brick walls for me, no matter how much time I spend training the dodges and counters back at base. 
 

I didn’t struggle like this with ER or Dark Souls Remaster (well, the sword mistress in ER is a brick wall, but I’ve spend 166hrs exploring in that game!)
 

I didn’t want to give up on a game that’s so stunning, so I spent the night watching YouTube guides on these two “boss” characters. I’ll see if I can make progress today.

[DC]

He is a cunt, I certainly had to come back later, stronger, maybe not better, to get him.

[merrychan]

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

I reached the point where I’ve almost given up… I’m not even very far into the game!

 

The Shinobi Hunter with the spear, and the big fat drunk guy are both brick walls for me, no matter how much time I spend training the dodges and counters back at base. 
 

I didn’t struggle like this with ER or Dark Souls Remaster (well, the sword mistress in ER is a brick wall, but I’ve spend 166hrs exploring in that game!)
 

I didn’t want to give up on a game that’s so stunning, so I spent the night watching YouTube guides on these two “boss” characters. I’ll see if I can make progress today.

I was the same and only just got a bit further than the bits your're talking about, I need to start this again really but it's definitely something I want to get back in to since when things start to click it's incredible and I adore the setting.

[Kayin Amoh]

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

I reached the point where I’ve almost given up… I’m not even very far into the game!

 

The Shinobi Hunter with the spear, and the big fat drunk guy are both brick walls for me, no matter how much time I spend training the dodges and counters back at base. 
 

I didn’t struggle like this with ER or Dark Souls Remaster (well, the sword mistress in ER is a brick wall, but I’ve spend 166hrs exploring in that game!)
 

I didn’t want to give up on a game that’s so stunning, so I spent the night watching YouTube guides on these two “boss” characters. I’ll see if I can make progress today.

 

If you don't have the Mikiri counter unlocked, go get that. It'll help with the Shinobi Hunter quite a bit. You can also stealth him to wipe out a pip of his life right away.

 

Drunkard probably just needs some practice, but you can also douse him in oil and set him alight with the prosthetic to do decent tick damage over time.

[robdood]

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

I reached the point where I’ve almost given up… I’m not even very far into the game!

 

The Shinobi Hunter with the spear, and the big fat drunk guy are both brick walls for me, no matter how much time I spend training the dodges and counters back at base. 
 

I didn’t struggle like this with ER or Dark Souls Remaster (well, the sword mistress in ER is a brick wall, but I’ve spend 166hrs exploring in that game!)
 

I didn’t want to give up on a game that’s so stunning, so I spent the night watching YouTube guides on these two “boss” characters. I’ll see if I can make progress today.

These guys are tricky, but they lead to a dead end exploration wise, there's still other places for you to go!! 

[Talvalin]

Yeah, I was about to say that the Mikiri Counter makes the Shinobi Hunter reasonably straightforward, because pretty much all of his Perilous Attacks are thrusts so you can deflect them with the Mikiri Counter, slash a couple of times and then repeat until his posture breaks or his health is down to zero. I note that similar spear-armed shinobi hunters turn up later and they do sweep attacks as well so you can't just spam the Mikiri Counter on them. I have a feeling that you're talking about those other guys, since you had to kill the first Shinobi Hunter mini-boss to get to the drunkard right? I have to admit that I left them until much later in the game lol.

 

The drunkard was an utter bastard and I died to him a lot. First you need to clear out the mob around him, then hide until he forgets about you which allows you to get one stealth Deathblow on him. After that, if the NPC guy in the water is still there and you haven't already talked to him, he can serve as a distraction whilst you batter the drunkard in the back. Just be careful, because he takes massive backswings for a lot of his sword attacks, so you can still get hit even when you're behind him and he's attacking the NPC.

 

Don't be afraid to use any candy that you've picked up to reduce vitality loss or posture damage, but remember that you still have a few enemies to beat after the drunkard until the next idol! Worst case is that you die and then you can skip past all the other enemies and go straight into the building.

[Talvalin]

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

I reached the point where I’ve almost given up… I’m not even very far into the game!

 

The Shinobi Hunter with the spear, and the big fat drunk guy are both brick walls for me, no matter how much time I spend training the dodges and counters back at base. 
 

I didn’t struggle like this with ER or Dark Souls Remaster (well, the sword mistress in ER is a brick wall, but I’ve spend 166hrs exploring in that game!)
 

I didn’t want to give up on a game that’s so stunning, so I spent the night watching YouTube guides on these two “boss” characters. I’ll see if I can make progress today.

 

Alternatively, if you're stuck with those guys, you can explore more of Ashina Outskirts to gain more XP and level up a bit more. Have you got the Flame Vent, and have you gotten past the Chained Ogre yet?

[PikaStu]

Yeah I’ve got the Mikiri counter and the flame vent. You can get to the Drunkard and bypass the Shinobi Hunter by jumping into the water at the tower and swimming to the left, climb a tree and enter a mine, which takes you to the burning village.

 

I think I’ve been everywhere I can at the moment, perhaps I’m wrong.

 

I had a couple of tries this morning, got Drunkard down to virtually no health and the red target to use a death blow, but it didn’t work and next thing he’s back to 3/4s energy 🤦‍♂️
Setting him on fire sounds like a good plan tho…
Also had the Shinobi Hunter under half health, but I kept messing up the counters and dodges as usual. 
 

Im on a lot of pain medication, including morphine, maybe that’s affecting my reflexes 😂

 

Edit: I should add that I’ve stealth attacked both bosses to take off one bar of energy. And with Drunkard, I’m using the NPC character to distract him while I hit him from behind. I suck 🤦‍♂️

Edited August 8, 2022 by PikaStu

[PikaStu]

14 minutes ago, Talvalin said:

 

Alternatively, if you're stuck with those guys, you can explore more of Ashina Outskirts to gain more XP and level up a bit more. Have you got the Flame Vent, and have you gotten past the Chained Ogre yet?

I forgot all about the ogre! I’ll have a go with him!

[Talvalin]

44 minutes ago, PikaStu said:

I forgot all about the ogre! I’ll have a go with him!

 

Chained Ogre tips if you need them.

 

Spoiler

• Remember that enemies with red eyes (like the Chained Ogre) are weak to fire, so use the flame vent (and oil)
• After he does an attack, there will often be a green grapple marker above his head. If you grapple his head quickly, you'll fly towards him and get 2-3 hits in before he recovers (this is something that comes up with some other large bosses too, so keep an eye out for it!)
• Other than that, you need to bait an attack, avoid it and then punish the Ogre with 1-2 attacks, back off and then repeat
• It is possible to get a stealth Deathblow on the Ogre after you've aggro'd it. Basically you need to get it to chase you around the corner where the spear guy is (you need to kill him first, but he always starts with a charging thrust Perilous Attack so Mikiri Counter that and then slice him up). You can then get the Ogre to follow you off the edge of the raised area and fall down to the lower part, at which you run all the way back up and crouch until he forgets about you.

 

[PikaStu]

I’m making progress at last! Beat the chained ogre and the Shinobi hunter tonight, still struggling with the Drunkard. I’ve been trying to get a stealth kill on him to drain his first life bar, but he’s having none of it! 

[Number 28]

I would continue on the ogre Ashina Outskirts route. I think it's sightly easier than the Hirata Estate flashback which I didn't complete till later.

[idespair]

I’m bounced hard off this on release (despite having finished the main routes through all three DS, plus BB at that point), but decided to pick it up again in the recent sale.

Previously I got stuck at Genishiro and Lady Butterfly, but I’ve obviously got better at reading my opponents as I made it past Corrupted Monk (took two hours) and into Fountainhead Palace last night.

 

Holding block and learning the parry timings has definitely been key to most fights. For non-human enemies it’s often worth remembering that you are faster and can run out of range of their attacks, before circling back around for a few hits.

[Talvalin]

So, dealt with all three mini-bosses in Ashina and then got absolutely slapped down by the Demon of Hatred.

 

After a lot of flailing at it over the past two nights, I've been able to get to the third phase a few times before dying very very quickly. Comedy moments have included dying in the second phase and resurrecting only to eat that long-range flame attack and immediately die a final time, or earlier today when I managed to get it down to its final Deathblow with virtually no health left, died, resurrected, used up a Divine Grass and then took two Shower of Flames (the downward slicing attack comes with bonus fireballs) to the face in a row and died.

 

 

Of course I haven't got anyway near as close to that since. Aside from being the wrong kind of boss for the game (albeit one that fits the story), the massive health bar, 1-2 shot attacks and general cheap tactics are really fucking annoying. I am determined to kill it properly without resorting to the cheese method, but my willpower is waning.

[PikaStu]

I made a little bit of progress last night, faced off against General Yamauchi and beat him first time! Onward to a dark cave and a scary looking headless dude. Made the mistake of jumping down to fight him and got my arse handed to me on a plate 😂

 

Also, this game looks and runs tremendously on the Series X which arrived yesterday. Big upgrade to my One X in terms of frame rate and loading times. Even the HDR was more vibrant?!

[Benny]

Boring possible technical reason: could be with the extra power it's dynamic resolution scaling less, and higher temporal resolution and sharper visuals will make it look brighter generally.

[Rayn]

Inspired by the revival of this thread I ended up getting this as well. I skipped it on release as I was fatigued on From games. Elden Ring brought my apetite back so it felt like a nobrainer to get this now. 

 

All rumours that this game is hard are true, it really does require some pixel perfect desicions done at the correct timing, the setting is great and I'm dying to get better so that I can start to enjoy the game proper. 

 

I've got a minor issue with the game, though, and that's the performance. It runs noticably smoother on the Series X as opposed to Series S. The difference is so big that I doubt I'll ever spend time playing this on the Series S at all as the reduced framerate makes for a harder game, the general feel and flow of the controls feels off on the Series S. A shame, really, as this means I won't be able to play this game as often as I'd like (or should). 

[Talvalin]

5 hours ago, Talvalin said:

So, dealt with all three mini-bosses in Ashina and then got absolutely slapped down by the Demon of Hatred.

 

After a lot of flailing at it over the past two nights, I've been able to get to the third phase a few times before dying very very quickly. Comedy moments have included dying in the second phase and resurrecting only to eat that long-range flame attack and immediately die a final time, or earlier today when I managed to get it down to its final Deathblow with virtually no health left, died, resurrected, used up a Divine Grass and then took two Shower of Flames (the downward slicing attack comes with bonus fireballs) to the face in a row and died.

 

 

Of course I haven't got anyway near as close to that since. Aside from being the wrong kind of boss for the game (albeit one that fits the story), the massive health bar, 1-2 shot attacks and general cheap tactics are really fucking annoying. I am determined to kill it properly without resorting to the cheese method, but my willpower is waning.

 

And he's down. After all that, I managed it without needing to resurrect once, using the Ceremonial Tanto, healing gourds, 3 pellets and the Red Withered Gourd for the first two phases and then Divine Confetti and the Malcontent whistle for the third phase. 

 

I am strangely proud of that, even knowing that there is a lot of RNG involved in terms of which attacks come out.

 

No doubt there is some mad lad on YouTube who did him hit-less on NG++++,  Attack Level 1 with the Demon Bell and no charm.

[Benny]

I like how From as a concession make it an optional boss, but people are still like: fuck you I'm still beating it.

[Kayin Amoh]

2 hours ago, Talvalin said:

No doubt there is some mad lad on YouTube who did him hit-less on NG++++,  Attack Level 1 with the Demon Bell and no charm.

 

Not quite what you said, but I've no doubt this guy could do it. His channel has some pretty great vids. 

 

 

[Talvalin]

All the Headless are beaten now, so it's just the final boss to go and he's tough. Managed to get to the second phase (third?) but I hate spears and so a really long spear it is.

[robdood]

1 hour ago, Talvalin said:

All the Headless are beaten now, so it's just the final boss to go and he's tough. Managed to get to the second phase (third?) but I hate spears and so a really long spear it is.

Good luck. He's the best boss ever.  You'll dominate when you eventually do it!  BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. HESISTATION IS DEFEAT ETC. 

[MardiganX]

So… here I am. Years of debating whether to play it or not. So many times having it sitting in a download basket only to remove it. Haunted by my experiences of Souls games and Bloodborne where the gameplay cycle eventually, in all cases, became crushingly boring and unfulfilling. No matter how much Sekiro looked like a game that was perfect for me, with its intricate and stylish combat, I just couldn’t get past the fear of hitting that wall again. Until today.

 

Ive been really struggling to find games to play recently. If it wasn’t for the masterpiece that is Death Stranding being available on PS Plus I may well have started Sekiro sooner but it feels like I’m playing it exactly when I am meant to. Just like Death Stranding.
 

I want to love it and it’s started well with me hitting what seems like a mini boss type character who is obliterating me but only because I am currently an awful Shinobi. I’m a Shitobi! I can see what I need to be doing and know that when I do these things I will get that buzz that I always get from games that require you to learn like you are playing an instrument. I just hope the beautiful ballet of swordplay is enough to keep me strong when things get evil. I can handle any manner of difficulty in games. I am absolutely here for the challenge that brings. I just hope with Sekiro it’s more about you learning something truly special, rather than simply having the stomach to continue lumbering through an oppressive maze of nightmares