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

[eggydoo]

So played up to the ogre so far and yes like what @fuckle85 said, it's better to jump then dodge.  Took him out on 2nd try after learning dodging on the first try doesn't work for shit. 

I'm kind of confused on why there are "two paths" on this game.  Best to stick to one?  I got up to the first boss on the 2nd path but after 3 tries of dying I went back to first one.

[eggydoo]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Man I’m soooo on the fence with this game. 50/50

Buy it, it's fun.  I really like the sword play in this over Nioh.

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, Biggie said:

Man I’m soooo on the fence with this game. 50/50

 

Do you like being badass ninja with an extendo arm? If the answer is yes it should be 100%

[Biggie]

4 hours ago, eggydoo said:

Buy it, it's fun.  I really like the sword play in this over Nioh.

 

26 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Do you like being badass ninja with an extendo arm? If the answer is yes it should be 100%

I’ll download it Sunday. 

[Bacon]

Too many places to go and I don't even know why. Like, there is a boss I just found and I didn't even expect them. I didn't even know there was going to be a boss, and I don't even know why this boss is there. Dark Souls had different path ways, but they were limited or blocked to a certain extent, and it isn't like that here. It is fine if you like it, but it is really confusing for me. 

[Bacon]

Ok, maybe it isn't so confusing, but I would have liked the game to prevent me from going in those other direction until I beat the boss. 

[eggydoo]

Lady butterfly is frustrating the hell out of me and now my hands are cramped.  Anyone best this boss yet?  Tips?

[Dodger]

I can’t even beat general kawarda. I never get a death blow after jump kicking him after his sweep attack which I thought was supposed to be the point of his fight.

[Biggie]

Going to download this today and start it tonight. I’m sure I’ll be back with lots of questions. Wish me luck!

 

I caved too @Mercury33! 

[eggydoo]

9 hours ago, Man of Culture said:

 

The game literally tells you exactly how to beat the boss with a big ol pop up right before the fight. Long story short, aggressively spam dodge counter. 

 

 

Dodge Counter > Normal Attack > Dodge Counter > Normal Attack > Rinse and Repeat

Watched a vid and I think I know why I was messing up with the dodges.  I was trying to dodge through her like DS since that worked on other enemies.  In the vid he was just dodging to the left and attack and dodge to the right and attack.  Will give it a shot.

[Biggie]

Question. Is this the first Sekiro? Like is this a new franchise or has there been other Sekiro games? Just curious. @Man of Culture 

[Bloodporne]

I'm about several major bosses, various mini bosses and quite a few new regions in and I have to admit, I think I'm done with it.

 

The atmosphere, levels and regular gameplay is fantastic but this utter obsession with mini-bosses and bosses that have utterly absurd damage outputs just never stops. This is literally Getting Two-Shotted: The Game. It's almost funny by now that every new obstacles has that exact damage output.

 

I've advanced quite a bit, probably four main bosses down and a good amount of minis as well, lots of upgrades and yet it never ceased to feel really cheap. There was a lull with two gimmick bosses that were relatively easy but outside of that, I've had kind of a miserable time progressing and facing yet another brickwall of four different enemies that can nearly OHKO me...I'm just forcing myself through it because it's my big fan boy favorite From.

 

Especially being single player, this needed a difficulty setting seeing how relatively easy the stages actually are compared to the absurd bosses. It's like From finally bought their own memes.

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Question. Is this the first Sekiro? Like is this a new franchise or has there been other Sekiro games? Just curious. @Man of Culture 

 

First game.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Question. Is this the first Sekiro? Like is this a new franchise or has there been other Sekiro games? Just curious. @Man of Culture 

 

It's the first game but a spiritual successor to Tenchu in a way.

[Bacon]

So you are called Wolf/Okami/Okami-Oh and have one arm, so that obviously means your name is,

Spoiler

Sekiro.

No clue how that is supposed to work. Unless there is some magical kanji reading BS, it makes no sense. And I am well past that part but it just sticks out.

 

And the boss I fought yesterday was the first fun boss I fought all game. 

[Nokt]

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

So you are called Wolf/Okami/Okami-Oh and have one arm, so that obviously means your name is,

  Hide contents

Sekiro.

No clue how that is supposed to work. Unless there is some magical kanji reading BS, it makes no sense. And I am well past that part but it just sticks out.

Its basically an abbreviated form of 隻腕の狼. https://medium.com/@bagoum/sekiro-famitsu-interview-with-miyazaki-translated-47d81263e924

Quote

“Sekiro” is written in kanji as 隻狼, correct?

 

Miyazaki: Yes. 隻腕の狼 [one-handed wolf]. It’s the main character’s nickname or the like. A man who lost an arm, but who carries the ferocity of a wolf, that kind of feel. Since it’s a Japanese-style game, we thought about the name starting from the kanji, and ended up using the kanji 隻 which interested us on a design, meaning, and feel level. Unexpectedly, Activision, which doesn’t do much in the field of kanji culture, was interested in this decision.

 

 

 

[Bloodporne]

Some advice seeing how I think I may have gotten a bit further than most:

 

Learn how to properly engage with the parry system early on, don't rely on cheesing too much. Some later areas' regular enemies, and bosses, are next to impossible without a tight parrying game, so you'll pay for it later. Unfortunately I think the game does a quite shitty job teaching you this in a reasonable difficulty curve. Regular enemies are pushovers that can mostly be R1 stun-locked until ones pop up that can totally crush you in one swift combo.

 

My suggestion is to not really rely on R1 spamming on regular guys. Engage them in a proper parry blow-for-blow match as often as possible early on already to get into the habit. Best way I felt was to simply block the first incoming hit normally, then start parrying to get the timing down with the first block. Also, don't get greedy and mainly counter-attack to bait a retaliation strike from the enemy and parry.

 

Something that is noted in training but not explicitly again I think is that the less health bosses have, the less quickly their posture recovers. A crucial tidbit to the combat system.

 

Also read the fuck out of those load screen tips...some of that stuff isn't explained properly anywhere else.

[Bacon]

2 hours ago, Nokt said:

Its basically an abbreviated form of 隻腕の狼. https://medium.com/@bagoum/sekiro-famitsu-interview-with-miyazaki-translated-47d81263e924

Yeah, after talking with my bother is really is just magical kanji reading BS that normally wouldn't make sense except Miyazaki just removed some parts to make it work. Like, would a normal Japanese person know that is read Sekiro without being told? My brother and I don't seem to think so. 

[Nokt]

14 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Yeah, after talking with my bother is really is just magical kanji reading BS that normally wouldn't make sense except Miyazaki just removed some parts to make it work. Like, would a normal Japanese person know that is read Sekiro without being told? My brother and I don't seem to think so. 

Nickname is a better term for it, though it is somewhat of an abbreviation.

But yeah, I don't think you'd ever get that without being told, Japanese or not.

[Xbob42]

You know a game has you shook when you hop on the forum to shit talk how dumb the game's name's kanji is!

[Paperclyp]

The anger this game is causing some people honestly reminds me a little of the initial reaction to Demon’s lol. 

[Bacon]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

You know a game has you shook when you hop on the forum to shit talk how dumb the game's name's kanji is!

I don't know what this means but I am enjoying this game more since I got upgrades. 

[Bloodporne]

52 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

The anger this game is causing some people honestly reminds me a little of the initial reaction to Demon’s lol. 

I don't think it's surprising at all. Some of the decisions are more punishing than halving your health bar for losing in a game that you lost fifty trillion times in even.

 

Demon's was brutal but I honestly think Sekiro has one of the highest  skill demands in an Action game I've seen taking into account you don't have difficulty settings to work with. Most really tough Action titles I can think of can be at least bumped down to Easy to reasonably get through the game.

[Chris-]

1 hour ago, Paperclyp said:

The anger this game is causing some people honestly reminds me a little of the initial reaction to Demon’s lol. 

 

I mean, it's definitely different from a combat perspective. I've only been able to put in an hour or so, but parrying just doesn't feel good yet...I can never tell if I did it or not, or how much it really matters. I'm sure I'll understand the cues in time, but coming from the satisfying Soulsborne 'duhhhhhhnnnn', it's an adjustment. I also still haven't grasped the ratio you want between block-parry-dodge, but again, that will come with time. As always though, From has made an exquisitely designed game.

[Paperclyp]

49 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

I don't think it's surprising at all. Some of the decisions are more punishing than halving your health bar for losing in a game that you lost fifty trillion times in even.

 

Demon's was brutal but I honestly think Sekiro has one of the highest  skill demands in an Action game I've seen taking into account you don't have difficulty settings to work with. Most really tough Action titles I can think of can be at least bumped down to Easy to reasonably get through the game.

I'm not surprised by it. It's just an observation. 

 

I personally really enjoy how they do not offer difficulty levels. I might be tempted to go down a notch, but when I'm forced to learn what the game is teaching me, its all that more rewarding. From is one of my favorite developers because of this. 

 

The game is well-designed. Maybe this one isn't for everyone. 

[Xbob42]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

 

I mean, it's definitely different from a combat perspective. I've only been able to put in an hour or so, but parrying just doesn't feel good yet...I can never tell if I did it or not, or how much it really matters. I'm sure I'll understand the cues in time, but coming from the satisfying Soulsborne 'duhhhhhhnnnn', it's an adjustment. I also still haven't grasped the ratio you want between block-parry-dodge, but again, that will come with time. As always though, From has made an exquisitely designed game.

For me it's the opposite from previous titles in the From Software catalogue. Trying to parry in Dark Souls always felt cumbersome and slow, and different weapons/shields would have different timing so it never felt worth learning unless you were getting into PvP or into gimmick no-hit runs or something, at least for me. If I used a weapon/shield (I honestly can't remember if you could use weapons to parry) long enough, I could eventually figure out how to parry a fair amount of enemies with it, but the second I changed...

 

In Sekiro, I hit the button, he parries, or rather, deflects. That's it. Super responsive. If you parry successfully, the there'll be an orange sort of explosion or clash energy or some shit and it'll make a louder sound. You shouldn't take vitality damage from most attacks on a real deflect (I think it just counts as a block if your timing is off?) and your stance will take greatly reduced damage.

I've also found all the enemy tells vastly better than in any of the Souls games. Even with bosses, I'll generally know exactly when attacks are winding up, and when they're just about to land. There's a good rhythm and flow to it. If you have to, I recommend just sparring against some weaker enemies over and over until you get a feel for it. You NEED to be able to get good at deflecting. It's not a thing you're going to easily cheese around.

[Bacon]

Died three times on O'rin until I realized

Spoiler

that I shouldn't even bother doing much attacking. I just blocked the entire time and then jumped on her head for massive posture damage. Having the poison short sword really helps deal damage posture as well. Idk if that is the best method, but it worked. Kinda took any "epicness" out of the fight tho not that it is an amazing epic fight like the one boss. Just, when you are basically blocking the whole time you kinda lose any tension and the fight becomes a breeze.

And I didn't know this until my brother told me, but when you have high posture damage(when your meter is red/orange) you can hold block to recover posture damage much faster. 

[Keyser_Soze]

34 minutes ago, Bacon said:

And I didn't know this until my brother told me, but when you have high posture damage(when your meter is red/orange) you can hold block to recover posture damage much faster. 

 

Guess you haven't read the load screens.

[Bacon]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Guess you haven't read the load screens.

I get like one tip per load and I generally don't read them

[Bloodporne]

16 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I get like one tip per load and I generally don't read them

I was saying that in an earlier post. Reading them is crucial and you gotta speed-read and hit X for the next tip each time, it's kinda funny.

[Biggie]

Started this last night when I got home. So far I really like what I’ve played, which wasn’t much at all. I just reached that first General. I forgot his name but I was extremely tired from a long weekend and just didn’t have it in me to figure out how to defeat him. I’ll pick up today after a good nights sleep. But yeah the game seems legit. 

[Biggie]

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

[Keyser_Soze]

8 minutes ago, Biggie said:

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

 

Me.

 

[Biggie]

37 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Me.

 

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

[Keyser_Soze]

If the native language is Japanese I tend to stay with the native language. It sounds more accurate and natural especially if it’s in a Japanese setting.

A lot of dubs take liberties like putting a Texan accent on someone or someone trying to do a cute voice but it sounds like they’re just trying to mimic the cute voice instead of doing a natural English sounding cute voice.

But that’s for other things. I imagine this one just has British accents like the rest of From’s games.