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

Chairman Steve

Full Member
Joined
May 9, 2018
Messages
6,888
Can’t wait to play it. Love the Souls games and Bloodborne. I’m glad FromSoft are breaking away from the RPG genre and going into Action. The one piece of advice that I’ve keep reading about Sekiro from reviewers and people who’ve played it early is to not approach it like a Souls game.

With these huge review scores on a new game in a new genre, Hidetaka Miyazaki is now probably the best game director of the past 10 years and FromSoft as one of the best studios at the moment. They’re white hot on the back of this. Miyazaki and FromSoft could announce a dating sim game and people will hype it without even seeing the game, and people will pre order it the moment it gets announced.
 

Tommy

bigot with fetish for footballers getting fingered
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Messages
10,672
Location
Birmingham
Supports
Liverpool
Can’t wait to play it. Love the Souls games and Bloodborne. I’m glad FromSoft are breaking away from the RPG genre and going into Action. The one piece of advice that I’ve keep reading about Sekiro from reviewers and people who’ve played it early is to not approach it like a Souls game.

With these huge review scores on a new game in a new genre, Hidetaka Miyazaki is now probably the best game director of the past 10 years and FromSoft as one of the best studios at the moment. They’re white hot on the back of this. Miyazaki and FromSoft could announce a dating sim game and people will hype it without even seeing the game, and people will pre order it the moment it gets announced.
It's also a big reason why I can't really trust these review scores entirely until I play the game myself. It was always guaranteed an 85 minimum, just like the gash that Bethesda tend to put out, except in my experience, Souls games more than justify the praise they receive.

When a game company has such a hardcore & passionate following, giving lower scores, even if they're justified, can lead to some real nonsense. So we'll see what the community says about it after some time, I guess. Either way, I'm very excited to play it.
 

izzydiggler

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
3,098
For some reason, I haven't really been following it too much, despite finishing all the others. Was debating on the DS Remaster last week as I was itching for another go but given this was coming out, I bit the bullet and preordered.

Off tomorrow, so hoping for an afternoon to get to grips with it.
 

bosnian_red

Worst scout to ever exist
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
57,538
Location
Canada
Heard they took out any character customization, clothing/outfits, as well as multiplayer. feck knows why. Loved all those parts of the souls games (as well as the rest of the game of course, but by no means was that a bad part of those games).
 

ArmandTamzarian

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
3,830
Location
Belfast
Supports
Liverpool
I'm glad they changed the combat up, its been really good so far. It also has alot more erm, 'upfront' story & plot to it so far rather than the vague but quite deep lore of Bloodborne & souls games. That clang of two swords coming together in perfect timing is really rewarding.
 

ArmandTamzarian

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
3,830
Location
Belfast
Supports
Liverpool
From software are bastards :lol:

I think they make the first types of enemies easy to lull you into a false sense of confidence, the first mini boss I encountered kicked my arse multiple times but you really have to be aggressive and time those blocks well otherwise it's a war of attrition where you waste valuable resources and end up dying, a lot :nervous:
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,173
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
Hmmm not sure I dig the whole perk only system, no upgrades, added pause and weirdly no pvp. Also the penalty for dying seems pretty lame. Some rather odd choices.

But I am looking forward to this, the combat sounds excellent and the grappling hook should add a new dimension to the formula. I hope I get the chance to play this weekend.
 

Ainu

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
10,123
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
Heard they took out any character customization, clothing/outfits, as well as multiplayer. feck knows why. Loved all those parts of the souls games (as well as the rest of the game of course, but by no means was that a bad part of those games).
They just wanted to create something different this time around. They did 4 games following that same pattern, 5 if you also count Bloodborne (far less customization but still very similar). Can't blame them for trying their hand at another type of game.
 

Siorac

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
23,780
Can’t wait to play it. Love the Souls games and Bloodborne. I’m glad FromSoft are breaking away from the RPG genre and going into Action. The one piece of advice that I’ve keep reading about Sekiro from reviewers and people who’ve played it early is to not approach it like a Souls game.

With these huge review scores on a new game in a new genre, Hidetaka Miyazaki is now probably the best game director of the past 10 years and FromSoft as one of the best studios at the moment. They’re white hot on the back of this. Miyazaki and FromSoft could announce a dating sim game and people will hype it without even seeing the game, and people will pre order it the moment it gets announced.
Soulsborne games were action games, with some light RPG elements.
 

KirkDuyt

Full Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
24,398
Location
Dutchland
Supports
Feyenoord
Oh, this is out already? Consider me downloading it from PSN right now.
 

Woodzy

Full Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2004
Messages
14,684
Location
Cardiff
Combat seems great. Dare I say it would be the magic formula for a decent Star Wars game.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,173
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
Relented already and bought it, Steam version with the steam controller for an extra £12 or so.

So far, so good. Combat seems cool and the grapple hook works well. The only real gripe so far is it's 2019 and they still can't figure out a decent behaving camera :lol: Also I'm hoping the lack of online doesn't mean there's not as much to find out as the souls games, that was a very cool feature in them. But we'll see.
 

izzydiggler

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
3,098
Enjoying a lot so far...finding the parrying much easier than in DS but then I got my arse completely handed to me, so as always with these games, being comfortable didn't last long.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,173
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
General whatshisname is kicking my arse. I'm quite shite at this.
The first mini-boss that does the sweep? If so, I lucked and found out you can double jump on his head when he does that which seems to do a fair bit of posture damage, also you can sneak behind him from the start and get a cheeky back stab in from the off.

If it's the one right at the beginning when you are finding the path to lead the boy out, you are in big trouble ;) :lol:
 

KirkDuyt

Full Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
24,398
Location
Dutchland
Supports
Feyenoord
The first mini-boss that does the sweep? If so, I lucked and found out you can double jump on his head when he does that which seems to do a fair bit of posture damage, also you can sneak behind him from the start and get a cheeky back stab in from the off.

If it's the one right at the beginning when you are finding the path to lead the boy out, you are in big trouble ;) :lol:
No, it was the one with the sweep. I stopped just mashing buttons now and easily killed him. Jumping over his sweep does help yeah :)
 

Ainu

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
10,123
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
Enjoying a lot so far...finding the parrying much easier than in DS but then I got my arse completely handed to me, so as always with these games, being comfortable didn't last long.
If the parrying was as hard as in DS, with this game relying on it to that extent, I'd have no hope in hell of getting anywhere with this. Is dodging and timing your attacks even useful in this game? Or is parrying the only viable strategy?
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,173
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
If the parrying was as hard as in DS, with this game relying on it to that extent, I'd have no hope in hell of getting anywhere with this. Is dodging and timing your attacks even useful in this game? Or is parrying the only viable strategy?
Dodging and timing is very viable, yeah. In fact, they are brilliant for scoping out the enemy you are facing.

But the best thing is combos of everything at your disposal really. Don't forget the items too, i've only played an hour or so and I find them more useful than normal (especially the ashes in the eyes, but particularly that because it's dirty fighting ;) )
 

Ainu

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
10,123
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
Dodging and timing is very viable, yeah. In fact, they are brilliant for scoping out the enemy you are facing.

But the best thing is combos of everything at your disposal really. Don't forget the items too, i've only played an hour or so and I find them more useful than normal (especially the ashes in the eyes, but particularly that because it's dirty fighting ;) )
It'll take me ages before I get to play this game anyway, as I told myself to clear some of my backlog before getting any new games. :(
 

ArmandTamzarian

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
3,830
Location
Belfast
Supports
Liverpool
Enshin the Shinobi Hunter, a feckin cnut of the highest order. That's all there is to say about him really.
 

KirkDuyt

Full Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
24,398
Location
Dutchland
Supports
Feyenoord
Can I use the frame pacing issues as an excuse why I keep dying? Or is that not what that is:D
 

RedSky

Shepherd’s Delight
Scout
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
74,112
Location
Hereford FC (Soccermanager)
The music feels very similar to The Witcher 3 in places. The game itself is basically a reskin of DS3. It's very, very difficult though and very pretty.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,173
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
The music feels very similar to The Witcher 3 in places. The game itself is basically a reskin of DS3. It's very, very difficult though and very pretty.
Yep, even the bloody arrows still drift towards you in the exact same manner :lol:

One thing that I thought of earlier, as I got past the Shinobi Hunter, is the level design and enemy placement is quite similar to DS2 actually. There's a lot of sneak/pack attacks to artificially bump the difficulty of certain areas. Also, the stealth is a little weakly designed, most of the enemies stand still and don't seem to move or see too much. Enemy lock-on placement seems off too, but unlike BB or DS3, your moves don't seem to track properly without it they seem off to the direction you face.

I'm still really enjoying it though, I'm sure if I prefer it to Nioh yet or not. I'll have to play more for that, however I do miss changing the look of my character and playing with different weapons.
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,249
Location
india
From Software does it again. They are fecking brilliant. Currently playing Bloodbone. Looking forward to Sekiro.