Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

I'm only up to the Shinobi Hunter, myself. The only thing I'm not liking is dragonrot.

So according to Penny Arcade, Sekiro is so difficult it will give you super strength just for the purpose of breaking an unbreakable controller in frustration.

I guess this means it's more difficult than Ninja Gaiden, which is so hard that it kills your friends.

Edited by M84 on Mar 25th 2019 at 4:08:25 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

So they actually went even further beyond in making Souls games hard.

Is this the Dark Souls of Souls games?

Is this the Super Saiyan 3 of Souls games?

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

No, it is the Dark Souls of Tenchu games. Remember that this was originally going to be a Tenchu game.

It is not a Soulsborne game. The game will hurt you if you make that mistake. And it will continue to beat you until you learn. Because that is how From Software rolls. They clearly believe that pain is the best teacher.

Edited by M84 on Mar 25th 2019 at 4:16:24 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

So like Tenchu absorbing a Souls game or the other way around.

Is the Cell of Tenchu games then.

Shit I suck at Souls games anyway so might as well suck here too.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 25th 2019 at 1:13:42 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

I couldn't parry for shit in the Souls games. I've played through all three, and I could never pull off a single parry. Not one.

And since parrying is a major part of this game, I'm gonna have to pass. I know I'll suck at it.

Disgusted, but not surprised

I did learn how to parry well enough in Furi which was hard as fuck even in normal difficulty.

Sure I never beat the Final Boss but I still made it to the fucking Final Boss by surpassing all that came before The Star which includes The Burst & The Edge.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

I was able to get somewhat decent at parrying in DS 1 eventually. I have faith that I can do the same for Sekiro.

From what I'm hearing though, the final boss of this game is absurdly brutal even by the standards of From's other games.

The kite Nightjars are hilarious. You just hear "woooheee!" and so far have merely managed to land on their faces. This is a part in the game where stealth really does shine. Fuck fighting these guys.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

Do characters even die from Dragonrot? Doesn't look like anyone has reached a conclusion but from what I see it just pauses sidequests until you do the cure stuff. Which doesn't make it as big of a deal as people made it out to be.

In other words, Miyazaki was making us paranoid for the hell of it, and it worked.

Edited by UltraWanker on Mar 25th 2019 at 2:15:59 AM

They also can't get sick again once they've been sick once before.

Shinobi Hunter is still dunking on my ass. Will let you all know how it goes now that I have mikiri and shinobi eyes. May add in Ako sugar into the mix to see if I can make it so the mikiri leads to an instant posture break.

Gotta say, the timing for Mikiri is surprisingly generous.

It seems to me that the window for parrying in Sekiro is far bigger than it is in Soulsborne games, which makes sense considering how big a mechanic it is in the game. So I wouldn't personally transfer your skill at parrying in Souls over to this game and go "guess I'll suck then".

But it does seem to warrant an entirely different mindset to Souls. Souls rewards staying out of the enemy's reach and waiting for a chance to strike, while Sekiro seems to reward staying within the enemy's range and chipping away at their posture through both regular attacks and deflections. Also, your own posture recovers quicker when you have your guard up in Sekiro - the complete opposite to Souls, where DROP YOUR SHIELD is the mantra.

I've seen people compare the system to MGR:Revengeance or the Royal Guard style in Devil May Cry 3-5

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

Oh man, that's a pretty good finding. Gonna be useful.

Made it into the castle, fighting Jinsuke Saze. Bit of a shock in terms of sheer speed and distance, but he's pretty straightforward.

Edited by TerminusEst on Mar 25th 2019 at 2:42:39 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

I dont like dragonrot because it's an arbitrary punishment for not being good enough at the game. I was trying to learn the General after the third statue and managed to get four NPCs infected. It felt like I was being punished for trying to learn the game at the first legitimately hard enemy.

So far you don't seem to be missing much besides some extra items that most people won't use or forget about until New Game Plus. If you feel like dying to learn, just save those sidequests for New Game+ though curing Dragonrot is fairly simple if you wanna do that like others. Basically don't feel bad or change your style, Dagonrot is only there to get under your skin, and as a "punishement" it's pretty weak/nonexistant. But again, I tend to view these things mechanically.

Edited by UltraWanker on Mar 25th 2019 at 3:11:51 AM

Well, I have no idea what to do with the Blazing Bull. Again though, not frustrating, because I have literally no idea, not that I'm trying stuff and it's not working.

Firecrackers and aggression. Pretty much how I beat it.

Discovered that Jinsuke Saze can in fact be cheesed. Haven't got the timing right yet, but have been tantalisingly close.

Edited by TerminusEst on Mar 25th 2019 at 7:13:10 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

Yeah, I got past it now. No art to it, I used the firecrackers but they weren't as effective as I hoped, so it was just jumping and dodging and getting hits in when I could.

The bull has a window where it's temporarily immune to the firecrackers, which I found out to my chagrin. Took me about four or five times to kill it, especially since it took me forever to find the timing to dodge into its horns when it was charging. Fuck Seven Spears, though. That fucker was one where you seriously needed to master deflecting, as relying on just the Mikiri Counter—even with the Shinobi Eyes upgrade—wasn't enough. Guy killed me about half a dozen times before I could deflect enough of his attacks to break his posture.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.

Does anyone know if this game has New Game Plus and, if it does, how it works? I'm nowhere near the ending of the game, but it'd be nice to know so I can prepare when the time comes.

You keep all items save for key items. So skills, tools, money, Vitality, Attack and gourd upgrades all remain. Much like in the Souls series, all unlocked doors, shortcuts and sculptures are reset. Enemies also get stronger, if I'm not mistaken. I'd recommend collecting all of the mask pieces, since that gives a pretty strong ability.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.

The usual stuff I guess, one funny thing is that according to the wiki you get an optional item that can make the game easier.

Edited by UltraWanker on Mar 25th 2019 at 8:05:16 AM

I think that one's talking about the the three mask pieces, which forms into a mask that lets you convert five skill points into one attack point.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.