General Gaming Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (22 March 2019) OT - Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4 . . . (Update: GOTY Edition coming October 28!)

[Bloodporne]

8 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Optional. 

Haha you guys have excuses for everything. Most players won't know that shit is even optional until way after when you realize you bashed your head against it for no reason. 

 

I'm not even putting the game down just what he's saying is totally valid. There are plenty of mini bosses that are tough as nails for the average player right in the beginning you have to clear entire arenas for to even attempt to take on only to be destroyed by two errors, that's a fact. 

 

The fact you're meant to stealth a decent portion of these enemies only exacerbates the feeling of frustration. You can't fly into the Samurai General arena after the Ogre guns blazing even on your 10th attempt for example. Each time you have to rather tediously take out the entire arena at a point in the game where you're not that fluid with its mechanics and exploits yet. 

[Bacon]

You can also skip that general after the ogre. Of course, he drops a prayer bead. 

[Bloodporne]

20 minutes ago, Man of Culture said:

 

The part I was responding to was "the difficult run up to the boss" which is untrue. You can literally bypass all the mobs without so much as a scratch if you wanted to. Once you know the path to the boss, it's just a matter of picking and choosing your fights if you want to even fight at all. A great example is the run up to the Armored Knight. If you go through the path presented, you're going to run into rats the whole way up and potentially waste a gourd or two. Or, you can just use grapple points and get up to the Armored Knight in seconds without so much as a scratch.

That part I agree with, you can mostly jet past most enemies to full boss battles especially with the highly liberal frequency of idol/bonfires. The instances where you cannot feel designed for simple trolling however and were negatively surprising compared to From's usual "hard but fair" design philosophy. 

 

Off the top of my head, I can't remember such instances even in Bloodborne and that game was at least designed for pure aggression. I think Sekiro is a fantastic game overall and I really enjoyed it after getting over that initial brick wall but I still think between this and DSIII, I don't really like where From has been heading. I think they're losing the thread with their difficulty approach a little here, it's starting to feel like less and less calculated per game to me.

 

[Biggie]

2 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

Drunkard? 

Yes

[eggydoo]

58 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Yes

still stuck there? 

Try this tactic?

 

[Biggie]

Thanks I’m trying this tonight! @eggydoo

[Biggie]

Ok that doesn’t work. All the enemies you run by come into the water area and attack you. Not sure how or why they don’t attack this dude. I tried several times and the always follow you into the water area where you are trying to wait. 

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Ok that doesn’t work. All the enemies you run by come into the water area and attack you. Not sure how or why they don’t attack this dude. I tried several times and the always follow you into the water area where you are trying to wait. 

The way I got him was stealth-ing his first life diamond and then employing hit-and-run until his health was basically depleted. He's kind of slow and you can sprint around like a maniac after all, it's fairly safe if you don't get greedy. When his health was way down, I went and triggered the NPC to finish him off with. 

[skillzdadirecta]

5 hours ago, Biggie said:

Ok that doesn’t work. All the enemies you run by come into the water area and attack you. Not sure how or why they don’t attack this dude. I tried several times and the always follow you into the water area where you are trying to wait. 

 

I stealthed most of the lesser enemies in the area before taking him on. Then I got the NPC to help me double team him. You can always leave the area and come back until you whittle down all thee scrubs. The Drunkard was one of the easier mini-bosses I fought in the game.

[Bloodporne]

2 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

I stealthed most of the lesser enemies in the area before taking him on. Then I got the NPC to help me double team him. You can always leave the area and come back until you whittle down all thee scrubs. The Drunkard was one of the easier mini-bosses I fought in the game.

It's a bit comedic to remember this fucker is actually a MINI-boss. But he's definitely wholly manageable compared to Seven Spears for example so I see your point ha

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Activision “Couldn’t Be More Pleased” With Better-Than-Expected Results for Sekiro

 

[Biggie]

I’ve taken a break. But I’ll be back. This is by far the most difficult game I’ve played but damn is it fun. Need to step away and then come back fresh. I’m sure I’m just rushing and getting overly frustrated. Game is damn good though. 

[skillzdadirecta]

11 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I’ve taken a break. But I’ll be back. This is by far the most difficult game I’ve played but damn is it fun. Need to step away and then come back fresh. I’m sure I’m just rushing and getting overly frustrated. Game is damn good though. 

 

It really is but it is tough. I play in spurts... I beat Genichiro and I'm taking on Headless now.

[eggydoo]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

I’ve taken a break. But I’ll be back. This is by far the most difficult game I’ve played but damn is it fun. Need to step away and then come back fresh. I’m sure I’m just rushing and getting overly frustrated. Game is damn good though. 

Hirata Estate is completely optional too.  You can go back and do the main path.

[Biggie]

5 hours ago, eggydoo said:

Hirata Estate is completely optional too.  You can go back and do the main path.

Yeah but I’m at the point where you fight some General surrounded by lots of enemies. lol

Spoiler

He kicks my ass every time 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

6 hours ago, Biggie said:

Yeah but I’m at the point where you fight some General surrounded by lots of enemies. lol

  Reveal hidden contents

He kicks my ass every time 

 

 

The guy standing above in front of the big door? Most of the lesser enemies are rifle men I believe. Again, you focus on those guys FIRST. Take all of them out then focus on him. I think you can initiate that encounter by backstabbing the general first, taking one of his death blow thingies down. The thing about this game is the only way past difficult parts is through or you just won't progress.

[Bloodporne]

 

20 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

The guy standing above in front of the big door? Most of the lesser enemies are rifle men I believe. Again, you focus on those guys FIRST. Take all of them out then focus on him. I think you can initiate that encounter by backstabbing the general first, taking one of his death blow thingies down. The thing about this game is the only way past difficult parts is through or you just won't progress.

6 hours ago, Biggie said:

Yeah but I’m at the point where you fight some General surrounded by lots of enemies. lol

  Hide contents

He kicks my ass every time 

 

I think he's talking about the General right after the Ogre actually unless I'm mistaken. That one has a huge arena surrounding him.

 

I think you might be thinking about Seven Spears in front of the moonlit tower, skillz. 

 

But you're totally correct in that you have to power through the tough shit, even if they're technically optional. You'll just trip yourself up later not engaging early on. I had that problem. 

[skillzdadirecta]

6 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

 

I think he's talking about the General right after the Ogre actually unless I'm mistaken. That one has a huge arena surrounding him.

 

I think you might be thinking about Seven Spears in front of the moonlit tower, skillz. 

 

But you're totally correct in that you have to power through the tough shit, even if they're technically optional. You'll just trip yourself up later not engaging early on. I had that problem. 

 Na I wasn't talking about Seven Spears... You can fight him solo by avoiding all the guys near him entirely.  I was talking about THIS guy

 

 

[Bloodporne]

52 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 Na I wasn't talking about Seven Spears... You can fight him solo by avoiding all the guys near him entirely.  I was talking about THIS guy

 

 

Oh I saw this dude and noped the fuck out immediately. Ended up fighting him from behind...which sounds slightly sexual. 

 

I think @Biggie is on the guy after Ogre though.

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, Bloodporne said:

Oh I saw this dude and noped the fuck out immediately. Ended up fighting him from behind...which sounds slightly sexual. 

 

I think @Biggie is on the guy after Ogre though.

Yes. The guy right thru the door after the Orge. 

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, Man of Culture said:

Yup, Biggie is still at the very beginning

 

I suck. lol. But I’m trying. 

[skillzdadirecta]

10 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I suck. lol. But I’m trying. 

 

Is THIS the guy?

 

 

 

[Biggie]

Yes thanks @skillzdadirecta

[skillzdadirecta]

7 minutes ago, Man of Culture said:

 

Honestly, the best thing you can do right now is to single out one enemy and practice deflecting their attacks for a few minutes. Then move onto a different enemy type and do the same thing. Do that for like 30 minutes and then go fight the boss, you'll notice a significant improvement in your performance. Just remember, if they look like they're swinging in a side motion, jump into the enemy to stun them; if they're looking like they want to stab you, deflect, mikiri counter or dodge to the left or right.

 

Edit: waggle R1 (Right Bumper) every now and then between blocks and attacks. You'll find attacking opportunities you didn't think were there previously.

 

Yup, what he said. Beating Madame Butterfly made beating Genichiro much easier.

[Keyser_Soze]

On 5/2/2019 at 7:14 PM, SFLUFAN said:

Activision “Couldn’t Be More Pleased” With Better-Than-Expected Results for Sekiro

 

 

I thought it was interesting they put this on steam, publishing the game they could have easily put it on b.net. Perhaps they didn't think it would sell.

[Biggie]

I suck at this game and yet I can’t stop playing. lol. Came sooooooo close to finally beating that drunkard. 

[Biggie]

Good news: finally FINALLY beat Drunkard

Bad news: now I have Lady Butterfly

 

[Biggie]

Man I was selling items to get money and I think I sold my blood droplets. The things that cure dragonrot. Am I fucked?

[eggydoo]

7 hours ago, Biggie said:

Man I was selling items to get money and I think I sold my blood droplets. The things that cure dragonrot. Am I fucked?

Nah you barely use it unless you need to progress in a npc story if you really care for them.

Lady butterfly has a cheese if you have the nightjar flip move.  I tried it on my 2nd playthrough and only got hit a couple times.

[P-Love]

Beat the game last night!

 

Last boss only took me like 6 tries.  I was expecting it to take me a lot more tries, but what a great fight.  Wonderful game and I liked every boss except 

Spoiler

the demon of hatred.  That boss was not fun and went against most of the mechanics of the rest of the game.

 

[Bloodporne]

Having finally beaten the game recently, I'll fully admit that it ultimately was just too fucking hard for me. I mean yeah, I did manage to beat it, but looking back on it with some distance, I think more often than not it was frustrating instead of challenging and just not particularly fun. I don't know if it's just my perception but I really wish there had been more "regular" combat between bosses and mini-bosses. It often felt like one brick wall after another to me. 

 

I still think it's a great game objectively but I'm not sure I'll pick it up again for a long time unlike my other favorite From titles which I've all played through several times each. Demon's, DS1 and Bloodborne were all immediate replays for me in NG+ (or however it worked in Demon's) but with Sekiro I mostly just felt relieved that I can file it away for now. 

 

I'm not even sure I can properly spell out what I would change about its difficulty but at least for my tastes, I hope From fine-tunes and reevaluates their approach to difficulty a little. By that I don't mean simply easier but just work on the curve or...something. 

[TheLeon]

So I finally bought this game and really jumped into it this week. I've been making slow but steady progress, and I'm really loving it so far. Assorted notes:

• I love the mix of stealth and in-your-face combat. Individually, they're each satisfying, and the times that they mix are especially thrilling.
• At first, the death/resurrection/dragonrot system really stressed me out, but it doesn't really bother me now. I'm rarely carrying a lot of cash, EXP loss never feels that bad, and dragonrot isn't actually all that impactful (that I've noticed, anyway)
• It definitely took me a while to come to terms with just how fragile your character is, and that he's not really ever going to get much tougher. 
• Once I realized just how mobile you are in combat (it really clicked in the Blazing Bull fight), I started having a lot more fun.
• Just like in other From games, I can really easily slip into a trap against bosses, where I get stuck and focus on a specific way of fighting them that's "wrong" and it takes a lot of runs before I self-correct and do it the "right" way 
• So far, I haven't been too frustrated with the difficulty. I'm facing Genichiro right now, and every boss/miniboss has felt more or less fair, even though most of them take me 5+ attempts. 

I'm sure I'll hit a point eventually where I get frustrated and need to put the game aside for a week or two, but at this point I feel pretty good and want to keep on rolling through it. Having Super Mario Maker 2 to jump into as a cool down helps. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

Quote

• Reflection of Strength / Gauntlet of Strength

Rematch previously defeated bosses in single and consecutive battles. Extraordinary foes that once stood in the way of victory can be fought again and again to your heart’s content.

• Change Form

Change the Wolf’s outward appearance. There are 3 new forms to choose from to suit your mood, including “Old Ashina Shinobi” and “Tengu.”

 

• Remnants

Send a recording of your actions to the worlds of other shinobi. “Remnant” recordings can be up to 30 seconds long and may also be affixed with a message. Share strategies and hints via network to broaden the scope of play.

• This update is completely free of charge.

Whether you're familiar with Sekiro or have yet to try it, we hope you find some enjoyment from this update.

 

[Pikachu]