Gaming Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Redlambs

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I'm not sure why they'd remove poise entirely, it has made facing multiple enemies a chore rather than fun. Also the archers firing across the map through enemies and some obstacles is plain broken. Their placement is generally odd too, they shouldn't be easy to stealth, however they also shouldn't have multiple covering a group of enemies you HAVE to fight, as in the case with the path to the drunk sumo dude. Speaking of multiple enemies, the target lock is broken and sometimes doesn't switch, or switches to an enemy in the opposite direction but you have to use it as the hit tracking to camera is incredibly weird.

That all kind of falsifies the difficulty for me. I'm still having fun, but it definitely has some issues that make parts a chore more than anything.
 

Ødegaard

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I'm not sure why they'd remove poise entirely, it has made facing multiple enemies a chore rather than fun. Also the archers firing across the map through enemies and some obstacles is plain broken. Their placement is generally odd too, they shouldn't be easy to stealth, however they also shouldn't have multiple covering a group of enemies you HAVE to fight, as in the case with the path to the drunk sumo dude. Speaking of multiple enemies, the target lock is broken and sometimes doesn't switch, or switches to an enemy in the opposite direction but you have to use it as the hit tracking to camera is incredibly weird.

That all kind of falsifies the difficulty for me. I'm still having fun, but it definitely has some issues that make parts a chore more than anything.
Multiple enemies? Whirlwind slash for combat art or deathstrike one and use a tactical retreat.

The purple ninja you can cheese by jumping back into the water, getting up and backstab him for a instakill.

The big boss with all his adds...
Well, you can sneak-kill most of the adds & take of a piece of health of the mini-boss (go by the left side to kill 2 enemies, follow the road until you can deadstrike one of the shielded ones. Then run back past the water and lose their aggro, go back and kill one more, repeat until you've cleared most of/all the adds. Then hide behind the big rock/lose aggro from the boss and go back and backstab him. After backstabbing him you can run to the helper (but you won't need him) to make the last piece of life easier to take down.
Truth be told you can cheese the boss as well by constantly running around him and bait out when he gets more sake/poison either to spitor to enhance his sword. Use a charged attack every time he does it and run back out. He should be dead without touching you.

The bolded part I believe comes down to it being different from soulsborne. You can't just dodge around like a idiot and not get hit, you don't have invicibility frames for that. You have to use tactical retreat. Less dodging and more parrying (slashes) & counters (you can get a counter-move that works against stab-attacks). Some enemies have warning attacks that go for your feet, jump on the enemies at that point to add more posture-damage.

Also, shurikens are great to take down hounds (although they are easy to kill. Don't lock & guard their attack and attack them after for easy win) or ranged shooters (who you can posture-break with 2 attacks for a deathstrike, and otherwise are usually placed so you can sneak up on them and kill them before tactically retreating.


I’m glad FromSoft are breaking away from the RPG genre and going into Action.
Yeah, I'm sorry to tell you that there is still a lot of rpg-mechanics in this roleplaying game. :lol:
You find prosthetic tools, you grind up skills and upgrades for both Sekiro & his tools and you beat mini-bosses in order to increase your vitality and posture, while killing bosses gives you more damage.
You just grind normal enemies to unlock stuff now, not to up how much damage you deal and take.


On another note, I can't agree with those saying it's like a reskin of DS3. The movement is completely changed and the use of environment and planning before engaging is also different. Even the earlier mentioned reward for grind is way different. I think the only thing that properly reminds me of DS3 is the lock-on system.

So far, it feels like a completely different game to soulsborne, nioh and the likes. In a good way in my opinion.
So far I've really only met one enemy that I can't get my head around properly, and it's a spear-wielding mini-boss that has a lot of range and speed, so I've not seen his openings yet (need to get better to read when to counter and when to jump on this enemy).
Loving it so far.:D
 

Redlambs

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Yeah, that's a lot of cheesing though. Sure it's easy to play the game and take advantage of bad ai or walls and all that. That's that problem with this game, the combat is much talked about but there's gaping flaws in both it and the level design so far which makes you get to the point where it's actually more viable to just cheese.

For example, the big troll thing on the bridge leading up to the estate on fire. Now he does a pretty identical swing for 4 different attacks, but only one you jump over and only one you get the possible posture break from. Now that's not something you can learn to skill against, that's something that you have to endure. To use your BB analogy, you don't even have to dodge him to cheese, you literally run around that back every single time. Where's the fun in that?

Don't get me wrong, I'm liking the game so far, but personally I like to master these games and I was looking forward to mastering this, but something is off about a lot of the elements. The combat is so far not actually that deep, which is disappointing.

Edit: Btw about this:

The bolded part I believe comes down to it being different from soulsborne. You can't just dodge around like a idiot and not get hit, you don't have invicibility frames for that.
How is that any worse than literally running away in plain sight and waiting for them to just give up because the pathfinding leashes them? In fact it's a lot dumber down to at least in BB you can't dodge around for ever without losing stamina.
 
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Ødegaard

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Yeah, that's a lot of cheesing though. Sure it's easy to play the game and take advantage of bad ai or walls and all that. That's that problem with this game, the combat is much talked about but there's gaping flaws in both it and the level design so far which makes you get to the point where it's actually more viable to just cheese.

For example, the big troll thing on the bridge leading up to the estate on fire. Now he does a pretty identical swing for 4 different attacks, but only one you jump over and only one you get the possible posture break from. Now that's not something you can learn to skill against, that's something that you have to endure. To use your BB analogy, you don't even have to dodge him to cheese, you literally run around that back every single time. Where's the fun in that?

Don't get me wrong, I'm liking the game so far, but personally I like to master these games and I was looking forward to mastering this, but something is off about a lot of the elements. The combat is so far not actually that deep, which is disappointing.

Edit: Btw about this:



How is that any worse than literally running away in plain sight and waiting for them to just give up because the pathfinding leashes them? In fact it's a lot dumber down to at least in BB you can't dodge around for ever without losing stamina.
I'm saying it can be cheesed. You could always just git gud. :p

The big guys are slow & are easy to bait. Dodge out when they attack and go in for a charged attack until you can attack him so he loses his posture.

As for the boss, again you can choose to learn his patterns. Any attack that he does can be used to your advantage. You just have to learn the patterns, like in every soulsborne.
 

Ødegaard

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Oh and it literally is a reskin. Right down to the broken archers and even the game engine doing the same back to splash screens when you quit :lol:
Reskin implies they have reused tons of assets, mechanical assets. I completely disagree with your statement as the mechanics and gameplay is so different. It has more in common with Nioh (not just the setting) than Dark Souls 3 in my opinion.
 

Redlambs

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I'm saying it can be cheesed. You could always just git gud. :p

The big guys are slow & are easy to bait. Dodge out when they attack and go in for a charged attack until you can attack him so he loses his posture.

As for the boss, again you can choose to learn his patterns. Any attack that he does can be used to your advantage. You just have to learn the patterns, like in every soulsborne.
You haven't provided any actual opposition to my points, you simply said cheese everything. At no point did I say the bosses or anything were too hard, it was the exact opposite so your "git gud" meme is badly used there to say the least :lol:

I'm not saying it's hard I'm saying it's cheap much like DS2. I also pointed out some technical issues which help cause that, which will either be patched (yeah right!) or modded. BTW, the whole "tactical retreat" to describe cheesing the ridiculously stupid ai is brilliant, I'm stealing that ;)


Reskin implies they have reused tons of assets, mechanical assets. I completely disagree with your statement as the mechanics and gameplay is so different. It has more in common with Nioh (not just the setting) than Dark Souls 3 in my opinion.
Reskin actually means the same game and engine with different assets. Which this is.

Just because they added the little parry signs of when to dodge or jump and changed stamina to the parry meter, it doesn't change that.
 

Ødegaard

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You haven't provided any actual opposition to my points, you simply said cheese everything. At no point did I say the bosses or anything were too hard, it was the exact opposite so your "git gud" meme is badly used there to say the least :lol:

I'm not saying it's hard I'm saying it's cheap much like DS2. I also pointed out some technical issues which help cause that, which will either be patched (yeah right!) or modded. BTW, the whole "tactical retreat" to describe cheesing the ridiculously stupid ai is brilliant, I'm stealing that ;)




Reskin actually means the same game and engine with different assets. Which this is.

Just because they added the little parry signs of when to dodge or jump and changed stamina to the parry meter, it doesn't change that.
I disagree.
You've talked about a negative experience about stuff being hard that I haven't found difficult to the point where I see it as cheap, I've gotten noticeably better at the game as I've played.
I can't argue against your experience, which is why I've tried to give you helpful pointers. When you continue with moaning about your experience the git gud meme is all I can provide you with, because you need that soulsborne click before you change your play style or whatever it is that makes you feel like it is cheap.
 

Ødegaard

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You haven't provided any actual opposition to my points, you simply said cheese everything. At no point did I say the bosses or anything were too hard, it was the exact opposite so your "git gud" meme is badly used there to say the least :lol:

I'm not saying it's hard I'm saying it's cheap much like DS2. I also pointed out some technical issues which help cause that, which will either be patched (yeah right!) or modded. BTW, the whole "tactical retreat" to describe cheesing the ridiculously stupid ai is brilliant, I'm stealing that ;)




Reskin actually means the same game and engine with different assets. Which this is.

Just because they added the little parry signs of when to dodge or jump and changed stamina to the parry meter, it doesn't change that.
Which it isn't. But never mind me, we won't agree here and I can't be bothered to try and change your mind.
 

Redlambs

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I disagree.
You've talked about a negative experience about stuff being hard that I haven't found difficult to the point where I see it as cheap, I've gotten noticeably better at the game as I've played.
I can't argue against your experience, which is why I've tried to give you helpful pointers. When you continue with moaning about your experience the git gud meme is all I can provide you with, because you need that soulsborne click before you change your play style or whatever it is that makes you feel like it is cheap.
No I haven't. You've entirely misread what I actually said dude. And your pointers were to cheese too, which made my actual point even stronger.


Which it isn't. But never mind me, we won't agree here and I can't be bothered to try and change your mind.
It actually is though. It's the same engine with different assets, I know for myself because I already have the modding suite to poke around, but you can always google it for yourself I suppose. Also for a helpful pointer, reskin comes from the term artists use to texture models. As in they are putting skins on them. In gaming terms it means exactly that too, they are taking the engine and putting a new skin on it.

Just because they've labelled the gameplay elements differently and one or two (at most) work slightly differently, it doesn't change what @RedSky said in the slightest. That's one element of the game I have no problem about too, as I love the soulsbourne games. It doesn't help they've not fixed some of the issues from those engines though, which makes the fact it's a reskin even more prominent I guess.
 

Ødegaard

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No I haven't. You've entirely misread what I actually said dude. And your pointers were to cheese too, which made my actual point even stronger.




It actually is though. It's the same engine with different assets, I know for myself because I already have the modding suite to poke around, but you can always google it for yourself I suppose. Also for a helpful pointer, reskin comes from the term artists use to texture models. As in they are putting skins on them. In gaming terms it means exactly that too, they are taking the engine and putting a new skin on it.

Just because they've labelled the gameplay elements differently and one or two (at most) work slightly differently, it doesn't change what @RedSky said in the slightest. That's one element of the game I have no problem about too, as I love the soulsbourne games. It doesn't help they've not fixed some of the issues from those engines though, which makes the fact it's a reskin even more prominent I guess.
:lol:
Bla bla bla.
 

Redlambs

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:lol:
Bla bla bla.
Yeah, there's that response to being schooled :lol:

Anyway, back to the game eh mate? BTW A honest question for you, did you ever get involved in PvP in the souls games? If so, what's your opinion on how they've changed this? I'm not sure I miss the fact you can't summon, but I kind of miss the funny little messages. Either way, I find myself liking being drawn into the game more without distractions.
 

Ødegaard

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Yeah, there's that response to being schooled :lol:

Anyway, back to the game eh mate? BTW A honest question for you, did you ever get involved in PvP in the souls games? If so, what's your opinion on how they've changed this? I'm not sure I miss the fact you can't summon, but I kind of miss the funny little messages. Either way, I find myself liking being drawn into the game more without distractions.
Schooled? My response was based on me telling you I couldn't be arsed to respond to what I perceive as moaning based on experience. Your experience is true for you, I don't have the same experience. There is no point for me to take it further than that. Especially since I'm already drugged and feeling down, engaging further (on what I don't see the point in) would be both meaningless and bring me nothing. I tried to offer help because I like you, if I misread you then it's fine, but that's all there is.

I did some pvp in dark souls, but it has never been a big deal for me. I think the lack of it will make the game less enjoyable on multiple playthroughs because people will learn every pattern and input and find it boring after a while. But I think I read something about ng+ giving enemies new attacks and movement?
I think it's a negative overall, but I don't think it matters for me personally. They have the codes for it though, so it's a bit sad for those that often used help to get past bosses they struggled with and might end up giving up due to frustration. I also think the game could be cool as feck with a friend. Would be awesome to both jump into a place and start attacking different enemies.

I'll ask though:
What places are the reskinned in your opinion? Which games were they from?
What enemies and their moveset/range have been reskinned? What was the big troll for example in another from-soft game?

That's what I see as reskin. Firelink shrine in ds1 is reused asset with a reskin for where you fight the demon Prince in ds3. In tales of berseria (recent game i played) there is types of enemies that have the same moveset but just changed looks, different colours is very common for what I see as reskinned enemies. I haven't seen enemies in Sekiro that I thought anything like "this is acting just like that enemy from that other game".
We might view the places/enemies differently and that being a reason for us seeing it differently on if it's reskinned or not.
Rangers shooting across the map is just normal for these types of games in my opinion and doesn't count as a reskin in my eyes. And (if I read right, otherwise it's a pointless note) I've seen tons of rangers end up shooting at walls/roofs and their shots stopping there.
I think the game would be a lot better if you could use situational awareness to make enemies hit each other both with swords and especially ranged. So while I might disagree with the comment I also think it's something that could be massively improved.
 

Redlambs

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Schooled? My response was based on me telling you I couldn't be arsed to respond to what I perceive as moaning based on experience. Your experience is true for you, I don't have the same experience. There is no point for me to take it further than that. Especially since I'm already drugged and feeling down, engaging further would be both meaningless and bring me nothing. I tried to offer help because I like you, if I misread you then it's fine, but that's all there is.
It's all good dude, I was just being my usual cheeky self with the comment. But yeah you did get the wrong end of the stick, neither of us need much help with these games by now considering how much we play them! :lol: It's controversial I know, but so far I will say I think this will eventually be ranked down near DS2 in the all time lists by people in the near future. It has many of the same problems, and the new fighting mechanic is disappointingly shallow. IMO of course there.


I did some pvp in dark souls, but it has never been a big deal for me. I think the lack of it will make the game less enjoyable on multiple playthroughs because people will learn every pattern and input and find it boring after a while. But I think I read something about ng+ giving enemies new attacks and movement?
I think it's a negative overall, but I don't think it matters for me personally. They have the codes for it though, so it's a bit sad for those that often used help to get past bosses they struggled with and might end up giving up due to frustration. I also think the game could be cool as feck with a friend. Would be awesome to both jump into a place and start attacking different enemies.
Yeah, pretty much how I see it. Maybe they'll add it though.

PvP was great fun in the other games though, it's a shame that the same old metas get used nowadays though :(


I'll ask though:
What places are the reskinned in your opinion? Which games were they from?
What enemies and their moveset/range have been reskinned? What was the big troll for example in another from-soft game?

That's what I see as reskin. Firelink shrine in ds1 is reused asset with a reskin for where you fight the demon Prince in ds3. In tales of berseria (recent game i played) there is types of enemies that have the same moveset but just changed looks, different colours is very common for what I see as reskinned enemies. I haven't seen enemies in Sekiro that I thought anything like "this is acting just like that enemy from that other game".
We might view the places/enemies differently and that being a reason for us seeing it differently on if it's reskinned or not.
Rangers shooting across the map is just normal for these types of games in my opinion and doesn't count as a reskin in my eyes. And (if I read right, otherwise it's a pointless note) I've seen tons of rangers end up shooting at walls/roofs and their shots stopping there.
You need to look again at my definition of a reksin mate, that's not my opinion that's fact. And that's not be being arsey or anything, that literally is what a reskin is. It's a term coined and used in the industry, not from gamers. I don't really know where to begin answering your questions there, because they are fundamentally wrong, however I will say look at what I said about enemy placement and that because they are very similar to level design tropes used in DS2, one of the things that game was slagged off for.


I think the game would be a lot better if you could use situational awareness to make enemies hit each other both with swords and especially ranged. So while I might disagree with the comment I also think it's something that could be massively improved.
That's basically what I think. A lot of the 'new' stuff could be utilised so much better. The problem with the combat, for example, is as I said above about the big troll thing they've given you two new techniques to look out for, yet their whole movesets look near identical which makes it pointless. The drunk boss for example, fight him again and see that there's no difference between all 3 different sweeps he does. How do I know there's even 3 different sweeps? Because two give off different audio cues and the third has that symbol shit going on. Also, the combat is way to stop-start, you never feel like a smooth cutting ninja because of it. For example, when you fight groups, you can't cut and weave between them with any skill, because the lack of a real poise system coupled with the fact they always put numerous archers (who fire like machine guns to boot) in the mix just messes the whole flow up. On a technical level, the lock-on is broken and the aim when unlocked is too (from a quick thought, I assume they have the camera matrix a little off there). Again though, it's DS2 levels of artificial difficulty which forces you to cheese after a while when you get bored of the same old scenario.

The grappling hook too, let's look at that. It's so wooden and under-utilised because you can only use it on some objects and not completely identical ones right next to you. Sure I don't expect them to work everywhere on everything, but in any one part of a level you might have 2 or 3, which only gives the illusion of choice where to go. Never, at any point, is it worth using them in battle for anything other than running away, there's no real freedom of movement.


I'm going to stop now, because it's beginning to look like I hate this game because I don't, I really like it. I just think it's disappointing the more you play it, as all the cool new stuff that supposed to separate it from the souls series, really feels like add-ons rather than fully thought out systems. BB, despite having flaws to me, still felt fresh and different. This feels a bit linear and same 'ol same 'ol.
 

Ødegaard

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Ramble alert.
It's all good dude, I was just being my usual cheeky self with the comment. But yeah you did get the wrong end of the stick, neither of us need much help with these games by now considering how much we play them! :lol: It's controversial I know, but so far I will say I think this will eventually be ranked down near DS2 in the all time lists by people in the near future. It has many of the same problems, and the new fighting mechanic is disappointingly shallow. IMO of course there.




Yeah, pretty much how I see it. Maybe they'll add it though.

PvP was great fun in the other games though, it's a shame that the same old metas get used nowadays though :(




You need to look again at my definition of a reksin mate, that's not my opinion that's fact. And that's not be being arsey or anything, that literally is what a reskin is. It's a term coined and used in the industry, not from gamers. I don't really know where to begin answering your questions there, because they are fundamentally wrong, however I will say look at what I said about enemy placement and that because they are very similar to level design tropes used in DS2, one of the things that game was slagged off for.




That's basically what I think. A lot of the 'new' stuff could be utilised so much better. The problem with the combat, for example, is as I said above about the big troll thing they've given you two new techniques to look out for, yet their whole movesets look near identical which makes it pointless. The drunk boss for example, fight him again and see that there's no difference between all 3 different sweeps he does. How do I know there's even 3 different sweeps? Because two give off different audio cues and the third has that symbol shit going on. Also, the combat is way to stop-start, you never feel like a smooth cutting ninja because of it. For example, when you fight groups, you can't cut and weave between them with any skill, because the lack of a real poise system coupled with the fact they always put numerous archers (who fire like machine guns to boot) in the mix just messes the whole flow up. On a technical level, the lock-on is broken and the aim when unlocked is too (from a quick thought, I assume they have the camera matrix a little off there). Again though, it's DS2 levels of artificial difficulty which forces you to cheese after a while when you get bored of the same old scenario.

The grappling hook too, let's look at that. It's so wooden and under-utilised because you can only use it on some objects and not completely identical ones right next to you. Sure I don't expect them to work everywhere on everything, but in any one part of a level you might have 2 or 3, which only gives the illusion of choice where to go. Never, at any point, is it worth using them in battle for anything other than running away, there's no real freedom of movement.


I'm going to stop now, because it's beginning to look like I hate this game because I don't, I really like it. I just think it's disappointing the more you play it, as all the cool new stuff that supposed to separate it from the souls series, really feels like add-ons rather than fully thought out systems. BB, despite having flaws to me, still felt fresh and different. This feels a bit linear and same 'ol same 'ol.
From my point of view, I think it's fair if you think the game-design is bad (even if I don't think so, apart from some of course), if you call that the games skin and that's the definition then that's fine. I've never talked about the skin of the game being that way and have never understood others talk about the skin of a game being like that either, so it's a first for me.

big troll thing they've given you two new techniques to look out for, yet their whole movesets look near identical which makes it pointless.
At this point I have to make sure. We're talking about the troll near the bridge where you turn right to find the purple ninja, right?
The only reused asset I've seen of that one is the one with the bell-chain weapon, which has a different moveset entirely.
If you are comparing the bridge-troll with the drunk mini-boss then I suppose it's fair, but it wasn't so similar that I thought of it before it was mentioned. You tend to pay more attention to that kind of thing than I do, from what I've come to understand. I usually enter a game trying to play it on it's premise and I either enjoy it or I don't (or find certain aspects good or bad, but I normally don't stop to consider stuff like enemy-placement beyond if I can use it to my advantage).

The drunk boss for example, fight him again and see that there's no difference between all 3 different sweeps he does.
If I remember correctly, the first down-ward slash he has can be used once or twice. It is used twice if you are still within hit-range when the first hits the floor and it is parryable (right-click parry for me) to give him some stance-damage. He has a flail-attack that hits 3-4 times (can't remember the exact number), which you can hold the guard up for or of course dodge backwards and out of his way, depending on your own stance-bar, I believe them to be parryable as well. Then he has a stabbing attack which you can counter (the skill-counter, more traditional parrying in from-soft games) for great stance-damage. He has a headbutt attack that you can dodge to the side from that he follows up with an attack, I didn't experiment with how to use that as a way to damage him but I'd guess a normal hit after dodging the headbutt before parrying or countering his follow-up attack.
Then there is the "please kill me" time when he takes out the bottle.
Naturally I might have forgotten or not seen all his moves, and my memory tends to be shit so don't take it as gospel but more what I can remember of the fight.

I think the biggest gripe I have with the game so far is some enemies tracking your movement when you dodge to the sides (very noticable on down-ward slashes), making kiting a much more effective tactic than dodging, which forces you somewhat into either kiting or parry & counter-gameplay. It is understandable that a lot of people don't find enjoyment in that (i've seen a lot of negative comment from soulsborne players in a norwegian gamers group on facebook on how dodging feels worthless).

For example, when you fight groups, you can't cut and weave between them with any skill, because the lack of a real poise system coupled with the fact they always put numerous archers (who fire like machine guns to boot) in the mix just messes the whole flow up.
I suppose it depends on the size of the group. I've taken on a group of 7 without issues, 3 of which were archers I believe (the group before the drunk boss). In a closed space it would be absolute hell I imagine, but they are usually placed so I can drop in and one-shot a archer, break the guard of another and deathstrike him (gives invicibility frames) before either retreating to regain my overview of my enemies positions or using whirlwind slash to get the last archer through some other enemies. You get some poise while using whirlwind slash (and I believe other combat arts, although I haven't been using floating passage yet which is the only other combat art I've unlocked so far).

When I see a new place I tend to scout around from edges and stealth-places for archers or potential big enemies or mini-bosses to see how I want to approach it. In the open square before the horse-boss for example a ranged enemy is hiding inside a house. I found him and killed him off before engaging the others by getting down by the wall to the left and up to his house, I was still somewhat bad against the big guys so I escaped when they attacked until I got rid of the smaller enemies. I think it makes it different in how I approach the Dark Souls series where I usually just run in and react and can use invincibility frames with dodging whenever I panic. In Sekiro when I panic (usually against enemies that are fast and have long range, like the spear-miniboss when you return to the tutorial place) i start jumping around like a moron and get hit.

Oh, I remember another enemy that annoyes me, the small guys with hats. I think the axe is supposed to break their hat or the flame is supposed to burn it, but it hasn't worked for me (not upgraded), so those I feel like I have to stealth-kill for now, which feels unfair when there are 3 of them and I can only stealth-kill 2.

BTW @Ødegaard I forgot to add, I hope you feel better soon mate. Hey, through all my cynicism, at least we have another From Software game to help you take your mind off things for a bit ;)

All the best.
Thanks man. :)
It's been mixed lately. We've put our appartement out for sale and the response seems great. We've visited my mother late last month, which was nice and we're getting married on the 26th and going to Rome on the 28th, so a lot has been happening. A lot happening however means my heart-rate goes up and the pains have been more or less on extreme-mode all the time so the game dropping and me enjoying it has really helped me get my mind off the depressing thoughts. Our little boy has started to show himself a bit, I felt him kicking her belly yesterday. Just tons of emotions going every way, but ultimately it's mega-positive but tiresome. :)
Refused myself to log on the caf for a while because I feel like any contribution I can come up with at this point will be a bad one. I started to note down how much I was affected when I saw how badly my response to oneniltothearsenal was in another thread and then seeing someone else explain my point of view much better, to the point where I disagreed with what I wrote myself.

Wish you well, and hope it ultimately is a "click" issue where you start enjoying it more very soon. Otherwise at least as you say, you are enjoying it despite the flaws!
 

Redlambs

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Ramble alert.

From my point of view, I think it's fair if you think the game-design is bad (even if I don't think so, apart from some of course), if you call that the games skin and that's the definition then that's fine. I've never talked about the skin of the game being that way and have never understood others talk about the skin of a game being like that either, so it's a first for me.
No, again, you've read wrong. I said the ASSETS are what's reskinned, the actual graphics. That's not the gameplay, not the engine, but the visuals that you see. Think of a 3D model, it's just white polygons kind of like a lump of clay you cut and mold to suit. Let's say a simple wooden box. You make a basic white box, then add some drawings or photos of wood over the top to make it look wooden, i.e you add a skin to it. Now if you want to change it to a metal box, you don't remake a new box, you simply add a new skin. That's what reskin means.

Now for a whole game, the box would be the actual engine which includes the game mechanics too. Reskinning would mean all new models and textures, all new level layouts, but basically put on top of an existing game and tweaked. Factually speaking, that's exactly what Sekiro is, it's pretty much the exact same engine and mostly the same game code as the others, warts and all. That's not an opinion, that is what it is.


At this point I have to make sure. We're talking about the troll near the bridge where you turn right to find the purple ninja, right?
The only reused asset I've seen of that one is the one with the bell-chain weapon, which has a different moveset entirely.
If you are comparing the bridge-troll with the drunk mini-boss then I suppose it's fair, but it wasn't so similar that I thought of it before it was mentioned. You tend to pay more attention to that kind of thing than I do, from what I've come to understand. I usually enter a game trying to play it on it's premise and I either enjoy it or I don't (or find certain aspects good or bad, but I normally don't stop to consider stuff like enemy-placement beyond if I can use it to my advantage).
Right troll, wrong point. I'm not comparing it to anything other than itself. I'm talking about movesets for individual characters. That troll has two swings when you are infront of him about mid distance, one has the symbol, one doesn't. They are identical though in everything else.


[quote[I think the biggest gripe I have with the game so far is some enemies tracking your movement when you dodge to the sides (very noticable on down-ward slashes), making kiting a much more effective tactic than dodging, which forces you somewhat into either kiting or parry & counter-gameplay. It is understandable that a lot of people don't find enjoyment in that (i've seen a lot of negative comment from soulsborne players in a norwegian gamers group on facebook on how dodging feels worthless).[/quote]

This is the aimbotting I'm talking about. It's nothing to do with what you or I do as players, it's about how quick the enemies 'snap' to you. That giant snake is an obvious example, as it's scripted and insta-hits you if you step out of line.


I suppose it depends on the size of the group.
It's about the game flow, not the size. Yes it's easy to take a group out, but is it easy to do it within the confines of what the gameplay is supposed to do? Is it something you can master, in terms of feeling like a badass? The above is one reason the answer is no, the problems with locking on and poise are others. Basically, you can't play the game as a free flowing ninja at all, you can't even be creative with it, you have to use the same old techniques of hit, dodge, move in groups or exploit the terrible ai. In fact, you can barely even hit because even low level enemies ignore all but your best shots.


When I see a new place I tend to scout around from edges and stealth-places for archers or potential big enemies or mini-bosses to see how I want to approach it. In the open square before the horse-boss for example a ranged enemy is hiding inside a house. I found him and killed him off before engaging the others by getting down by the wall to the left and up to his house, I was still somewhat bad against the big guys so I escaped when they attacked until I got rid of the smaller enemies. I think it makes it different in how I approach the Dark Souls series where I usually just run in and react and can use invincibility frames with dodging whenever I panic. In Sekiro when I panic (usually against enemies that are fast and have long range, like the spear-miniboss when you return to the tutorial place) i start jumping around like a moron and get hit.
As do I :lol:

My issue is, you then don't have much choice how to proceed because lots of the enemies never move, their detection is wonky at best, and when you do decide to say "feck it I'm going in", it resorts to the above. It's a wasted opportunity to me. It's just the illusion of depth, but ultimately there's very few places where you actually have any choice how to proceed.


Thanks man. :)
It's been mixed lately. We've put our appartement out for sale and the response seems great. We've visited my mother late last month, which was nice and we're getting married on the 26th and going to Rome on the 28th, so a lot has been happening. A lot happening however means my heart-rate goes up and the pains have been more or less on extreme-mode all the time so the game dropping and me enjoying it has really helped me get my mind off the depressing thoughts. Our little boy has started to show himself a bit, I felt him kicking her belly yesterday. Just tons of emotions going every way, but ultimately it's mega-positive but tiresome. :)
Refused myself to log on the caf for a while because I feel like any contribution I can come up with at this point will be a bad one. I started to note down how much I was affected when I saw how badly my response to oneniltothearsenal was in another thread and then seeing someone else explain my point of view much better, to the point where I disagreed with what I wrote myself.
Congratulations on getting married and the baby, brother! Sincerely, after all you've been through it's put a genuine smile on my face so much is going so well. Being a daddy is awesome and so much fun, don't let people scare you off with all the talk of late nights and pooping (of which there is loads, let me tells ya!).


Wish you well, and hope it ultimately is a "click" issue where you start enjoying it more very soon. Otherwise at least as you say, you are enjoying it despite the flaws!
Cheers man, but yeah I am enjoying it a lot. I guess I just hoped for a much deeper combat system as a real change from the norm is all, but as you say, at least the dashing/dodging about stuff has been nerfed! That's something different to contend with ;)
 

Ødegaard

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No, again, you've read wrong. I said the ASSETS are what's reskinned, the actual graphics. That's not the gameplay, not the engine, but the visuals that you see. Think of a 3D model, it's just white polygons kind of like a lump of clay you cut and mold to suit. Let's say a simple wooden box. You make a basic white box, then add some drawings or photos of wood over the top to make it look wooden, i.e you add a skin to it. Now if you want to change it to a metal box, you don't remake a new box, you simply add a new skin. That's what reskin means.

Now for a whole game, the box would be the actual engine which includes the game mechanics too. Reskinning would mean all new models and textures, all new level layouts, but basically put on top of an existing game and tweaked. Factually speaking, that's exactly what Sekiro is, it's pretty much the exact same engine and mostly the same game code as the others, warts and all. That's not an opinion, that is what it is.
Ahh, now I get the reskinned part. :lol:
Well that is indeed very different from how I've viewed it. Usually I just say it's the engine/core mechanics (if you've played tales of games, a lot of them basically have the same battle-system, even down to the same skill-names and how those skills move) and think of skin (when talking about reskin) as if I've taken one enemy and just given it a different look and very, very little difference in movement. You could say in pokemon my view of a reskin would be having 2 pokemon with basically the same stats and moveset but different pokedex-entry.

This is the aimbotting I'm talking about. It's nothing to do with what you or I do as players, it's about how quick the enemies 'snap' to you. That giant snake is an obvious example, as it's scripted and insta-hits you if you step out of line.
This alongside not being able to use movement to make enemies hit themselves would have been the two biggest upgrades I would want in the game. Letting people dodge more to the sides would make me feel like you would have 3 ways of taking on enemies, and facing multiple enemies would be a lot more fun and rewarding.

It's about the game flow, not the size. Yes it's easy to take a group out, but is it easy to do it within the confines of what the gameplay is supposed to do? Is it something you can master, in terms of feeling like a badass? The above is one reason the answer is no, the problems with locking on and poise are others. Basically, you can't play the game as a free flowing ninja at all, you can't even be creative with it, you have to use the same old techniques of hit, dodge, move in groups or exploit the terrible ai. In fact, you can barely even hit because even low level enemies ignore all but your best shots.
I suppose you have a point.
Bit off the trail, but the hatchet-enemies tend to stagger with a charged attack, but not normal attacks they poise through so you can't just go right into a group without identifying who can be staggered by which attacks. You're almost always on either the defensive or looking at the pattern of where the developers have decided that we are allowed to attack. It might get better as skill improves. Bit early to say for sure.

My issue is, you then don't have much choice how to proceed because lots of the enemies never move, their detection is wonky at best, and when you do decide to say "feck it I'm going in", it resorts to the above. It's a wasted opportunity to me. It's just the illusion of depth, but ultimately there's very few places where you actually have any choice how to proceed.
I haven't analyzed it to that point. But when you say it that way, I think I agree. I don't have an issue with it now on my first playthrough since things are new and it feels fair with how I play enjoy playing the game. I do think it will become a issue for future playthroughs if ng+ don't change up positioning or changes ai in some regard.

I had a "feck it, i'm going in" round against that group of 7 or so enemies before the drunken guy, and came out on top. Figured that was better and tried again and got rekt. :lol:
After that I started doing the pattern that the game offered to taking them down relatively fast without much risk.


Cheers man, but yeah I am enjoying it a lot. I guess I just hoped for a much deeper combat system as a real change from the norm is all, but as you say, at least the dashing/dodging about stuff has been nerfed! That's something different to contend with ;)
I think we'll get the improvements on enemies being able to do friendly-damage during next-gen. I don't know much about development, but if it's not limitations now that is holding them back then I think it's more down to them needing a new engine and the fire that comes with a new generation to make notable improvements over the old.


Congratulations on getting married and the baby, brother! Sincerely, after all you've been through it's put a genuine smile on my face so much is going so well. Being a daddy is awesome and so much fun, don't let people scare you off with all the talk of late nights and pooping (of which there is loads, let me tells ya!).
Thank you! We're both really looking forward to it. Late nights is already a thing for me, so hopefully it means that my wife can sleep a bit more once the baby isn't fully depending on her during the nights. On paper he'll come out on the 4th of August.
Luckily my girl and I talked about how it would be having a kid with me in my condition, so she has agreed and accepted that it would be as if she was a single-mother just with a friend helping out every now and then due to my limitations. "Luckily" I can feck off when the kid gets sick, as I'll just end up at the hospital (or worse, also need of care at home) if I stick around, so free-time in those times. I expect that my head will try to make my body do more than it can, but we'll probably adapt with time. I really couldn't have imagined better woman.

We purchased a new house and a new car. The car will come on the 19th of April and we'll take over the house either the 20th of May or latest at the 11th of June. So we'll be in when our boy arrives.
Tons of people have offered to help us with moving everything, so I'm not dreading that part anymore. :)
 

Chairman Steve

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I tried playing the way that FromSoft probably wanted English speakers to play (default set to Japanese voices and English subs) but I didn’t quite like it, so switched to English voices. I love how the opening narration is by D.C Douglas in the English version, so it feels like Wesker from Resident Evil is now in this game :lol: Wolfs English VA sounds remarkably like the same VA as Charles in RDR2.

The addition of the jump button and the fact that the character moves a lot faster than the Soulsborne games took a while to get a feel of. The level design I’ve seen so far looks amazing... I find myself looking down every cliff to see if there’s a inconspicuous ledge there. There are at least one weird yet funny enemy type as per typical Soulsborne.

I’ve met one sub boss who I beat first try, then another sub boss who kept wrecking my shit. He had two troublesome grab attacks which basically were death if caught... One grab attack is ridiculously quick and another grab which is a tracking grab, so you can technically ‘dodge’ it by going sidewards but the mechanics just goes ‘naw’ and just puts you in it anyway until I figured out a strategy for him and beat him and took no damage... which was very satisfying.

A small non-spoilery as possible tip for anyone is that some enemies might be better fought when not locking onto them... particularly the mentioned sub boss who likes to grab.
 

Woodzy

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I tried playing the way that FromSoft probably wanted English speakers to play (default set to Japanese voices and English subs) but I didn’t quite like it, so switched to English voices. I love how the opening narration is by D.C Douglas in the English version, so it feels like Wesker from Resident Evil is now in this game :lol: Wolfs English VA sounds remarkably like the same VA as Charles in RDR2.

The addition of the jump button and the fact that the character moves a lot faster than the Soulsborne games took a while to get a feel of. The level design I’ve seen so far looks amazing... I find myself looking down every cliff to see if there’s a inconspicuous ledge there. There are at least one weird yet funny enemy type as per typical Soulsborne.

I’ve met one sub boss who I beat first try, then another sub boss who kept wrecking my shit. He had two troublesome grab attacks which basically were death if caught... One grab attack is ridiculously quick and another grab which is a tracking grab, so you can technically ‘dodge’ it by going sidewards but the mechanics just goes ‘naw’ and just puts you in it anyway until I figured out a strategy for him and beat him and took no damage... which was very satisfying.

A small non-spoilery as possible tip for anyone is that some enemies might be better fought when not locking onto them... particularly the mentioned sub boss who likes to grab.
I've beat him now but what on earth was this strategy?! Took about 30 tries on him...
 

Redlambs

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The drunkard is a good fight if you master him, but that npc with you is far worse than even ds1 summons :lol:

I love the backdrop of burning buildings and leafy lake, it really has some nice views in this.
 

izzydiggler

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Reminding me of DS2 a bit with the mobs of people seemingly everywhere...I like the challenge of FS games but the tedious procedure of trying to get people 1 on 1 isn’t skillfull, it just sucks the momentum out. There’s a great game in here but I’m finding it hard to get to it.
 

Vadim

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I love the Souls and Bloodborne games very much.

But I dont know about this. I like the co-op aspect of the DS/BB games plus being able to invade and be invaded. Sekiro having no multiplayer whatsoever is a big let down for me.

I might pick it up when it hits the digital sales around Xmas.
 

Redlambs

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I love the Souls and Bloodborne games very much.

But I dont know about this. I like the co-op aspect of the DS/BB games plus being able to invade and be invaded. Sekiro having no multiplayer whatsoever is a big let down for me.

I might pick it up when it hits the digital sales around Xmas.
Considering the game really is no different to the soulsborne games, the more I play it the more leaving out online and any customisation looks more and more like a weird decision to say the least. I mean you'd think the combat they lauded would be perfect for tactical pvp battles (spoiler, it isn't though).

It wouldn't be quite so bad if the perks or weapon attachments weren't so dull and only useful in very few specific situations.

On the plus side, if you like the combat in souls games, this at least freshens it up a touch and I'm not bored of fighting enemies yet and find myself drawn to playing it for hours in end which is always good.
 

Redlambs

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Reminding me of DS2 a bit with the mobs of people seemingly everywhere...I like the challenge of FS games but the tedious procedure of trying to get people 1 on 1 isn’t skillfull, it just sucks the momentum out. There’s a great game in here but I’m finding it hard to get to it.
It kind of works if you resort to not using the lock on, if the mobs are close together, but the problem is the camera/aiming issues make that a bit tedious too, especially when it comes to blocking after hitting someone.

It's a weird one, you can see how all the elements should work, but the various small problems block any of it coming together. There's issues they haven't even fixed from DS1 in there.
 

izzydiggler

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It kind of works if you resort to not using the lock on, if the mobs are close together, but the problem is the camera/aiming issues make that a bit tedious too, especially when it comes to blocking after hitting someone.

It's a weird one, you can see how all the elements should work, but the various small problems block any of it coming together. There's issues they haven't even fixed from DS1 in there.
Part of my issue is overcoming the conditioning of stamina management, so I’m too passive but then you get mobbed and you have to run away or die. Maybe it’s just me being crap but it’s killing my desire to play through it.
 

Redlambs

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Part of my issue is overcoming the conditioning of stamina management, so I’m too passive but then you get mobbed and you have to run away or die. Maybe it’s just me being crap but it’s killing my desire to play through it.
The posture system is wrong for me. It should be about get them down to break their guard, which on the surface it is. However it's not actually like that, look at the bosses for example: You can't realistically break them during the fight, only when you have their health down, which is basically the same as just fighting them in any souls game. I mean, you can get occasional breaks if you parry every single attack and take hours, but it's just not practical.

What it should have been is the break opens up 1-hit finishers for normal enemy types, but the stronger they are the less damage the poise break hit does. So for example, you can wail on the bigger enemies (if you can get away with it) it break them occasionally to get a more powerful hit in. As it stands, the dots above the health bar just means you are effectively hitting them until they run out of energy, making the poise system almost completely redundant. Even the added talk of "oh but it gets easier to break them as their health gets lower" is just exactly the same thing, you are just taking health down like in any old game.
 
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izzydiggler

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The dragon rot mechanic is terrible. I was under the impression resurrection increases the rot as a punishment for making the game easier, so haven’t used it at all but then I’ve just had it increase for dying a few times...so if you fail too many times, the game locks off side quests that can only be got back if you use finite items and apparently by a specific part of the game or they’re gone for good.

I don’t mind the progression of getting better/unlocking skills to beat the bosses/mini bosses but penalising you for that process is utterly stupid IMO - especially as the only way to improve your health pool is to get items for killing them. Plus their health/poise is massive, so it takes an absolute age to even get down their first health bar. The whole thing just feels cheap and unfair.
 

Redlambs

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The dragon rot mechanic is terrible. I was under the impression resurrection increases the rot as a punishment for making the game easier, so haven’t used it at all but then I’ve just had it increase for dying a few times...so if you fail too many times, the game locks off side quests that can only be got back if you use finite items and apparently by a specific part of the game or they’re gone for good.

I don’t mind the progression of getting better/unlocking skills to beat the bosses/mini bosses but penalising you for that process is utterly stupid IMO - especially as the only way to improve your health pool is to get items for killing them. Plus their health/poise is massive, so it takes an absolute age to even get down their first health bar. The whole thing just feels cheap and unfair.
It is very much packed with false difficulty like I say. Dragonrot mechanic is incredibly stupid you are correct, it's very much like the health shit in DS2. If it was down to the ressurections it would make much more sense, a think a number of the reviewers thought it was just that. But it's not, it's whenever you die, which is trash.

In fact @RedSky was wrong, it's not a reskin of DS3, it's more a direct reskin of DS2.