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

[Chris-]

I have the English dub on, I don't really care to hear everything in Japanese.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, Man of Culture said:

 

Most of the accents range from American to Spanish. One character sounds like he's trying to do his best Antonio Banderes impression

 

 

Jeez. 

[Bloodporne]

Wolf/Sekiro seriously sounds like fucking Nicholas Cage very often in the English dub. It was...funny...but that wasn't what I wanted out of the game's atmosphere so I switched back to Japanese after giving it a shot. 

 

By the way, this is pure "first time playing Dark Souls". Put the game down with the intent of dropping it and it's like an infectious disease that wormed its way into my brain. I kept thinking of strategies constantly over the weekend and I think I'm on my way to gitting gud-er and officially hooked? Fuck, disregard my earlier post I guess?

 

I still want to Shinobi Execute Miyazaki for his hard-on for two-shotting me constantly, I mean what an asshole, but Jesus Christ the game is so, so good at the same time  .

 

Two details that are really sticking out for me positively:

 

The world and level design first of all is just fucking superb but what I really enjoy is the return of a really focused and de-cluttered Demon's/Dark 1 style environment. It's very barren and visually clean in a way that really enhances the atmosphere for me and truly everything you see, you can get to, there's just no 'fat'. 

 

The music and general audio design might possibly be my favorite after Dark Souls 1. I love the inclusion of constant background music, which is especially fantastic in Hirata Estate. In general, I feel like the OST has a more eccentric touch like Demon's and Dark 1 to it again which is something I was hoping for. 

[ShreddieMercury]

I played this for several hours yesterday, and I'm on the fence about it.  The gameplay and level design is varied and interesting, and it looks fantastic.  But the game seems to be less challenging than it is just needlessly difficult.  I'm still very early on:

Spoiler

at the Hirata Estate trying to fight the Shinobi Hunter.

Since Wolf is killed so easily, and the enemies all have different/staggered attacks, it becomes a game of pure repetition rather than dynamic and interesting combat.  The posture/deflection system is really cool and fun to use, but the fact that you have so little vitality means that you can't mess up even once or you are likely dead.  This wouldn't be that much of a problem, save for the fact that all enemies in an area respawn after you die, meaning that you have to work your way through again just to try your hand one more time in a 20 second, pinpoint-precision combat encounter. 

 

I want to keep going and see if I can get the game to "click", but it may just be too punishing for me.  My question to those who are farther into the game: is there a point where you got comfortable enough with the controls to feel like the mini-boss/boss fights were fun?  Or is it the same thing of running into an absolute brick wall and having to grind it out until you defeat them to progress?

[Keyser_Soze]

I got to that shinobi hunter and couldn't figure out how to do the mikiri counter for the life of me.

But I also didn't discover the guy you can practice with next to the temple. So I went to him to practice the counter. I guess you just have to push B (dodge) with no direction after the red mark pops up and you hear the strings. That went a long way into understanding how to do things.

Also, stealthily taking out everyone else in the area and landing a fatal blow on him helps the battle go a bit more easily.

[Paperclyp]

2 hours ago, Biggie said:

Yeah kinda wish I had. Something feels off about everyone speaking perfect English. 

You can change it at the title screen. 

 

I switched it to english last night. The Japanese sounds cooler, but I like to focus on the visuals during the cutscenes and reading was distracting me from that. I also had a hard time distinguishing between wolf and the npc’s voices.

 

[Paperclyp]

By the way, being able to pause this game is a fucking godsend for me right now. I have a puppy and a baby that need attention at unreliable intervals, and I cannot believe my luck that you can pause this game. 

[Bloodporne]

1 minute ago, Man of Culture said:

 

Save for the main bosses, you can literally run or grapple past everyone if you wish to avoid combat.

That's terrible advice for him though. You absolutely have to practice and learn to tightly parry as soon as possible or you're just fucked even slightly further into the game. The game absolutely skill checks you a bit further in. On top of that, there are quite a few mini-boss encounters that can indeed end your life very quickly like he's saying while definitely forcing you into rather long re-dos of downing mobs around them every time. 

 

That and running past everything nets you zero XP which means you can't upgrade shit. 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the most popular Steam launch of 2019

The game sold over 100,000 copies on PC in the first 24 hours of release, and hit a peak of 125,315 concurrent players yesterday. By comparison, the second biggest launch on Steam, Devil May Cry 5, only managed a peak of 88,894 concurrent users.

 

Nexus Mods Portal for Sekiro

 

Unlock Frame Rate and Custom FoV mods (Widescreen Gaming Forum)

[Keyser_Soze]

32 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

 I also had a hard time distinguishing between wolf and the npc’s voices.

 

Racist!

[Bloodporne]

Japanese language track is definitely the way to go I think, it sounds so much cooler. Then again, there is a certain 70's Kung Fu flick charm to the stilted English voices...

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Back up your Sekiro save files now – players are reporting data corruption (PCGamesN)

It appears that there’s an appreciable risk of your Sekiro save data getting corrupted if you’re playing on PC. It’s happened to me – which will delay our final review a little bit – and we’re seeing a number of anecdotal reports on Reddit and the Steam forums.

[Keyser_Soze]

46 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

Back up your Sekiro save files now – players are reporting data corruption (PCGamesN)

It appears that there’s an appreciable risk of your Sekiro save data getting corrupted if you’re playing on PC. It’s happened to me – which will delay our final review a little bit – and we’re seeing a number of anecdotal reports on Reddit and the Steam forums.

 

Is this save data in a convenient spot unlike the Dark Souls saves? I recall you had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get to the save files which are save system level or something.

[Xbob42]

15 hours ago, Biggie said:

Just curious how many of you are playing with Japanese language but English sub-titles?

Nope. Having things sound "authentic" is secondary to being able to simply understand by watching the scene and not having to read subtitles. These characters don't have to read subtitles, so it's not authentic, because the character speaks the same language!

Also I can't fucking stand Japanese voice acting, so that's also a part of it. Everyone sounds like they do one of 3 trope voices. Dunno how anybody goes out of their way to undub games.

[Nokt]

4 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Nope. Having things sound "authentic" is secondary to being able to simple understand by watching the scene and not having to read subtitles. These characters don't have to read subtitles, so it's not authentic, because the character speaks the same language!

Also I can't fucking stand Japanese voice acting, so that's also a part of it. Everyone sounds like they do one of 3 trope voices. Dunno how anybody goes out of their way to undub games.

I would typically agree (at least in Anime), but this really isn't bad at all. 

[Xbob42]

Just now, Nokt said:

I would typically agree (at least in Anime), but this really isn't bad at all. 

Yeah, everything is subtitled in that Souls way anyway, so it doesn't really matter much either way. I was expecting something a little more cinematic, which I'm glad we didn't get. Basically just play it however.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

15 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Is this save data in a convenient spot unlike the Dark Souls saves? I recall you had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get to the save files which are save system level or something.

Your save data is found at C://Users/’your user name’/AppData/Roaming/Sekiro. It’s hidden, so go into ‘properties’ and tick the box to view hidden files and folders.

[Biggie]

Beat that General after about five attempts. Felt sooooo good to get him. lol

[skillzdadirecta]

Beat The Chained Ogre and The General just now... neither was too tough.  Now that Shinobi Hunter? 

[Bloodporne]

4 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Beat The Chained Ogre and The General just now... neither was too tough.  Now that Shinobi Hunter? 

Is that the spear-wielding dickhead in Hirata Estates with a fog wall? 

 

If so, there's a skill for him and his ilk that works wonders if you don't have it unlocked already.

[skillzdadirecta]

4 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

Is that the spear-wielding dickhead in Hirata Estates with a fog wall? 

 

If so, there's a skill for him and his ilk that works wonders if you don't have it unlocked already.

That's the guy.

[Bloodporne]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

That's the guy.

Check your Shinobi Arts skill tree, there's a good one in there to deal with his dumb ass. Also, if you haven't done it yet, there's a specific training mode against thrust attacks, so spears essentially. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

47 minutes ago, Man of Culture said:

 

Are cloud saves being corrupted as well?

No idea!

[eggydoo]

56 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

That's the guy.

Just wait til you face samurai.

[Biggie]

Game is difficult as hell but also fun as hell all at the same time. 🤪

[Bacon]

mini-bosses are harder than bosses

[Bloodporne]

20 minutes ago, Bacon said:

mini-bosses are harder than bosses

Seven Ashina Spears is such a monumentally huge asshole alone, I'm inclined to agree. 

[Bacon]

Supposedly, there is a way to knock him on his ass after a mikiri counter. 

[Bacon]

5 minutes ago, Man of Culture said:

Not that I know off. He specifically attempts a counter attack right after you mikiri. Maybe if his poise damage was high enough..

Maybe. That it what my brother told me. I think it was like you mikiri counter and then perfect deflect the next attack and that knocks him down. Maybe you need the better mikiri counter from the skill tree, idk. 

[Keyser_Soze]

11 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Nope. Having things sound "authentic" is secondary to being able to simply understand by watching the scene and not having to read subtitles. These characters don't have to read subtitles, so it's not authentic, because the character speaks the same language!

 

You have bad eyesight if you can't see the rest of the picture while reading a brief blurb of text.

[Xbob42]

7 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

You have bad eyesight if you can't see the rest of the picture while reading a brief blurb of text.

Bad eyesight? What? You have to flick your eyes down and back to read subtitles, it has nothing to do with eyesight, at least not in the having-good-eyes sense. Know what does have to do with eyesight? The fact that the further from the center of your vision, the less effective resolution your eyes exhibit! Which is why if you're on a desktop, you can't read this post at the bottom of your screen while also being able to read what the address bar says without moving your eyes, even if you can technically "see" both at once!

 

Now, whether you find the downwards flick distracting or not every time a new line is uttered is up for personal preference, but that's a different story. I find it way too distracting and all for... what, exactly? Shitty Japanese voice acting that sounds like every anime in existence? Overly gruff Japanese dude growls lines, tiny boy sounds like tiny girl, gentle generic woman. It's all the fucking saaaaaaaaaaame. At least if I'm gonna listen to mediocre voice acting, have it serve the purpose of saving me from being distracted from the scene itself.

[fuckle85]

If this were a more serious movie based on Japanese history it would be one thing (I'll probably play GoT with subtitles for the immersion) but I actually prefer the dub in this one because it reminds you of those gritty martial arts films on VHS you'd watch when younger.  There's even some (intentional?) off point lip synching to give that feeling.  Either way, the VA is pretty good.

[Bacon]

Xbob prolly prefers the english version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

[Keyser_Soze]

18 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Bad eyesight? What? You have to flick your eyes down and back to read subtitles, it has nothing to do with eyesight, at least not in the having-good-eyes sense. Know what does have to do with eyesight? The fact that the further from the center of your vision, the less effective resolution your eyes exhibit! Which is why if you're on a desktop, you can't read this post at the bottom of your screen while also being able to read what the address bar says without moving your eyes, even if you can technically "see" both at once!

 

Now, whether you find the downwards flick distracting or not every time a new line is uttered is up for personal preference, but that's a different story. I find it way too distracting and all for... what, exactly? Shitty Japanese voice acting that sounds like every anime in existence? Overly gruff Japanese dude growls lines, tiny boy sounds like tiny girl, gentle generic woman. It's all the fucking saaaaaaaaaaame. At least if I'm gonna listen to mediocre voice acting, have it serve the purpose of saving me from being distracted from the scene itself.

 

Here's a flick you can easily see after some text

 

[Bloodporne]

7 hours ago, Man of Culture said:

Absolutely agreed lol. After 7 deaths I was like "Yeah, nope.. I'll come back later."

I went back today, whiffed the fucking stealth strike and still destroyed him with my best run of tight parrying yet for the entire two rounds. Barely any tool usage either and I spent 4 gourds total.

 

I have no idea how this level of skill came over me, man...I fucking Matrix'd that shit. Then I pummeled the purple ninja Long/Lone? Shadow guy after on my third try also whiffing the stealth kill.

 

It's like I slept and woke up gud.