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

Ødegaard

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Just defeated Father Owl(2nd encounter) proudest gaming achievement ever.
Grats. He's one tough fecker, even when you know how to exploit (i.e dodge/block and get hits in on him) all of his moves. :lol:
The combo into a firecracker+slash and combo into a firecracker+deathblow slash always had my nerves going into overdrive as I was unsure which it was, even with the sign telling me when it was the deathblow slash. Hell, with the combo into firecracker+slash attack you have to hope that you don't have a pillar on your right-side (if you dodge through it twice like I do) or you have good spacing (unlikely after that combo) and space between you and anything behind you to dodge backwards.
At times I was wondering if my medical condition of having a useless focus would make him unbeatable for me for that alone.
 

syrian_scholes

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Grats. He's one tough fecker, even when you know how to exploit (i.e dodge/block and get hits in on him) all of his moves. :lol:
The combo into a firecracker+slash and combo into a firecracker+deathblow slash always had my nerves going into overdrive as I was unsure which it was, even with the sign telling me when it was the deathblow slash. Hell, with the combo into firecracker+slash attack you have to hope that you don't have a pillar on your right-side (if you dodge through it twice like I do) or you have good spacing (unlikely after that combo) and space between you and anything behind you to dodge backwards.
At times I was wondering if my medical condition of having a useless focus would make him unbeatable for me for that alone.
His fire owl attack got me a few time until I learnt how to dodge it, when I got that down I beat him really fast.

Last boss is a motherfecker, I can get to 3rd phase but I've never been to the 4th one. :(
 

Ødegaard

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Beat the game and made sure to get the true ending :D, for those who has seen it
Congrats!
Gonna do ng+ runs? Or more ng runs for the shura ending?
Was thinking of trying to speedrun it a few times.
(will never speedrun owl father ending)
 

syrian_scholes

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Congrats!
Gonna do ng+ runs? Or more ng runs for the shura ending?
Was thinking of trying to speedrun it a few times.
(will never speedrun owl father ending)
No! Like when I finished Bloodborne I really loved the game but I'm glad it's over, some bosses left me a nervous wreck.
 

syrian_scholes

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Think about how easy most of them will be now. :D
I might give it a couple of weeks, I really need to study though I'm fecking myself up with gaming! :lol:

I will say though at the end I much prefer this style over dark souls style, for me both Bloodborne and Sekiro are better games than the souls series.
 

Ødegaard

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I might give it a couple of weeks, I really need to study though I'm fecking myself up with gaming! :lol:

I will say though at the end I much prefer this style over dark souls style, for me both Bloodborne and Sekiro are better games than the souls series.
Agreed. In terms of fun, this is next to bloodborne and right below Nioh for me.
 

Ødegaard

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I haven't completed Nioh, reached that monster on the ship and stopped for a while then never got back to it.
Umi-Bozu? The big slime-boss?
Use fire on your sword (lighting some stuff in the level gives you access to it in the boss-room) and you'll deal good damage to him. After that it's just as every other boss fight. :D
 

syrian_scholes

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Umi-Bozu? The big slime-boss?
Use fire on your sword (lighting some stuff in the level gives you access to it in the boss-room) and you'll deal good damage to him. After that it's just as every other boss fight. :D
The problem I had with that boss was the design rather than it being hard, I was very let down by the designs in Nioh.
 

syrian_scholes

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Just seen a few videos on youtube of some of the fights to see reactions, got to say the english dub is really bad.
 

Woodzy

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Agreed. In terms of fun, this is next to bloodborne and right below Nioh for me.
What makes Nioh stand out over the others? I tried it very, very briefly the other day and something seemed very clunky.

I’ll obviously give it a proper go but for some reason I assumed it would be more responsive (probably the downside of coming straight from Sekiro).
 

DouLou

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I might give it a couple of weeks, I really need to study though I'm fecking myself up with gaming! :lol:
I set myself a nice schedule for studying for this month and then this fecking game came along and I've done nothing this week!

I've just beat Owl (the proper fight at the burning estate), and done the Monk at the Fountainhead Palace. At least I've only got a bit more to do then it's all done and I can move on with my life.
 

Ødegaard

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What makes Nioh stand out over the others? I tried it very, very briefly the other day and something seemed very clunky.

I’ll obviously give it a proper go but for some reason I assumed it would be more responsive (probably the downside of coming straight from Sekiro).
It's a lot down to personal taste.
Nioh's setting (similar to Sekiro) is the setting I love the most.

I grew up playing diablo 2 and other looting RPGs, so the loot aspect is fun for me (mostly due to the added forging mechanic).
I love seing numbers as damage and increase it. Within my genre (JRPG), I grind for the pleasure of seeing numbers go up. Nioh gives me that.

I enjoy reading lore-bits & watching vaatividya, but having a story there to follow as you play is a good thing. You are in the story, not after it (if that makes sense).

I think the combat is different, but not to the point where I will call it much better or worse than the others.

Ultimately I believe Nioh to be a lesser game than Bloodborne, but due to these things (and probably more I can't remember) I was having a absolute blast with Nioh.
 

DouLou

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Has anyone else kind of neglected the use of prosthetics/items? I was just watching a YT video and the guys using all these firecrackers/snap seeds and dousing the beasts in flames to make the fights look quite easy. I've basically been playing this whole game with just sword and deflect with the occasional shurikens to take out archers :lol:
 

KirkDuyt

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Has anyone else kind of neglected the use of prosthetics/items? I was just watching a YT video and the guys using all these firecrackers/snap seeds and dousing the beasts in flames to make the fights look quite easy. I've basically been playing this whole game with just sword and deflect with the occasional shurikens to take out archers :lol:
Shurikens are nice for archers and dogs and the axe follow up does some nice posture damage. Then again, the Shimonji (?) double, works just as well.

I guess fire crackers can be handy, but I find just learning the deflect timing is much more beneficial.
 

Woodzy

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Has anyone else kind of neglected the use of prosthetics/items? I was just watching a YT video and the guys using all these firecrackers/snap seeds and dousing the beasts in flames to make the fights look quite easy. I've basically been playing this whole game with just sword and deflect with the occasional shurikens to take out archers :lol:
Apart from Shuriken on dogs and Axe on shields, not at all. I also have 19 experience points in yet to use.

It really made dying often less of a big deal and I was also haopy to avoid enemies when I couldn’t be bothered.

Think the game suffered overall because of the fact there was no real reward for staying alive/retaining experience.
 

Tommy

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How easy is a level 1 run compared to the Souls games? Thinking about finally buying this (or MH:W).
 

Ødegaard

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Has anyone else kind of neglected the use of prosthetics/items? I was just watching a YT video and the guys using all these firecrackers/snap seeds and dousing the beasts in flames to make the fights look quite easy. I've basically been playing this whole game with just sword and deflect with the occasional shurikens to take out archers :lol:
Shuriken: Small animals (Dogs/lizards mostly) & Archers.
Axe: Shielded enemies, some bosses can be taken down with it doing damage and posture damage (Ashina Elite for example).
Spear: I barely use it, but it can be used to take away the armor of some enemies & you can drag out the centipide from the apes at some point in those battles.
Flame vent: Anything with red eyes are afraid of flames and will easily burn for damage over time.
Umbrella: Phoenix/purple one is fantastic against headless & shichimen warriors. Lotus/red one is great against demon of hatred.
Firecracker: Good against anything to stun & get in a hit or heal.
Sabimaru: Great against enemies in fountainhead palace, otherwise good against O'Rin of the water.
Mist raven: Think it was Redlambs who said it's overpowered. I haven't bothered with it. Looks to be good at getting some distance between you and the enemy or going in for a counter.
Divine abduction/Fan: Golden one is great for farming (enemy drops extra coins & sometimes loot. Generally can be used to get backstabs with turning enemies around.
Finger whistle: Generally you can use stones for it's purpose (but the group of apes near the giant ape waterhole can be made to fight each other with it), but the final upgrade (malcontent) will stun headless & demon of hatred and trivialise at the very least the headless. Makes demon of hatreds last round much easier.
 

Ødegaard

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How easy is a level 1 run compared to the Souls games? Thinking about finally buying this (or MH:W).
You don't level up in the game, so easy?
But you'll have to perfect deflecting if you do a no-upgrade run since you have almost no posture without upgrades.
 

Tommy

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You don't level up in the game, so easy?
But you'll have to perfect deflecting if you do a no-upgrade run since you have almost no posture without upgrades.
Ahh, gotcha :D Cheers.
 

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It's a lot down to personal taste.
Nioh's setting (similar to Sekiro) is the setting I love the most.

I grew up playing diablo 2 and other looting RPGs, so the loot aspect is fun for me (mostly due to the added forging mechanic).
I love seing numbers as damage and increase it. Within my genre (JRPG), I grind for the pleasure of seeing numbers go up. Nioh gives me that.

I enjoy reading lore-bits & watching vaatividya, but having a story there to follow as you play is a good thing. You are in the story, not after it (if that makes sense).

I think the combat is different, but not to the point where I will call it much better or worse than the others.

Ultimately I believe Nioh to be a lesser game than Bloodborne, but due to these things (and probably more I can't remember) I was having a absolute blast with Nioh.
Vaati is awesome, I love his work.

For me Souls 1/3/Nioh are easily the best games all round, Bloodborne is my favourite story/setting and Sekiro is a nice change, but too much like DS2 to challenge the others. Though that shouldn't be taken as bad, because it and DS2 are still head and shoulders above all else.

I'm a sucker for a japanese setting too, I just found the darker/grittier Nioh one to be my favourite.

How easy is a level 1 run compared to the Souls games? Thinking about finally buying this (or MH:W).
Way easier due to how the game works. That's not to say it'll always be easy, but I never use any of the tools you get and you can parry/block most stuff, you just have to git gud ;)
 

KirkDuyt

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Didnt play for a few days and today I beat that cnut Owl first try and only took damage once:lol:
 

DouLou

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Just beat the demon of hatred. Wasnt too hard but still took me an hour. Once i got the hang of jumping over his main perilous attack it was fine.

On to the last boss! Is he the hardest?
 

Ødegaard

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Just beat the demon of hatred. Wasnt too hard but still took me an hour. Once i got the hang of jumping over his main perilous attack it was fine.

On to the last boss! Is he the hardest?
People argue between him and Owl in Hirata. Some swear to DoH being the hardest, but Owl and the final boss are the ones I see most people agree on as the top two.
 

izzydiggler

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On the final boss on the ‘good’ ending path. Got all the terror bosses to get through yet though...anyone know if you can go back and fight them after completing it or does it automatically go into NG?
 

Ødegaard

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On the final boss on the ‘good’ ending path. Got all the terror bosses to get through yet though...anyone know if you can go back and fight them after completing it or does it automatically go into NG?
You can go back.
 

DouLou

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On the final boss on the ‘good’ ending path. Got all the terror bosses to get through yet though...anyone know if you can go back and fight them after completing it or does it automatically go into NG?
I wished the terror bosses scaled. Felt way too easy by the time i went for them.
 

DouLou

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Beat the game! I found the last boss way easier than The Owl but that might be due to the fact that beating The Owl improved me a lot. I found with Isshin if you just got close to him and kept up the pressure he didn't really have any tricks up his sleeve. The Owl was mostly hard until you figured out how to reliably dodge his firecrackers IMO.

But yeah, also in his third form it all gets a bit easier since deflecting lightning is a piece of cake and completely wrecks him.

Anyways, great game! Can't say I have any real interest in doing another run though.
 

izzydiggler

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Done pretty much everything in the game now, beat all the optional bosses I think, except for the 2nd Owl fight because I didn’t do something at a key time, so finally tried the end boss.

Rant incoming...it’s the straw that has broken the camel’s back but it just typifies the colossal flaws the game has. Massive long battles of attrition where you parry 10 strikes but the posture damage disappears after 2 seconds, so it turns into chipping away at a massive health pool (3 bars!!), where he takes hundreds of hits and deflections but can kill you or break your posture with one combo 10 minutes in and then you have to start again...all 4 phases.

There’s ‘getting good’ and there’s this - I just can’t be bothered. I want a challenge, not to spend days of trying on a single boss. The whole thing is a slog and this ridiculous artificial difficulty just feels cheap and unfair. Finally beating a Souls boss felt good and that you’d overcame adversity...I’m so burned out by this I don’t take any pleasure from it at all. If this is how From games are going to be in the future, then I’m out...
 

izzydiggler

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I wished the terror bosses scaled. Felt way too easy by the time i went for them.
I hated the terror bosses. Didn’t feel like the was any skill to them, was just about using items. That they thought having 5 Headless was a good idea, is absolutely baffling.
 

syrian_scholes

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Done pretty much everything in the game now, beat all the optional bosses I think, except for the 2nd Owl fight because I didn’t do something at a key time, so finally tried the end boss.

Rant incoming...it’s the straw that has broken the camel’s back but it just typifies the colossal flaws the game has. Massive long battles of attrition where you parry 10 strikes but the posture damage disappears after 2 seconds, so it turns into chipping away at a massive health pool (3 bars!!), where he takes hundreds of hits and deflections but can kill you or break your posture with one combo 10 minutes in and then you have to start again...all 4 phases.

There’s ‘getting good’ and there’s this - I just can’t be bothered. I want a challenge, not to spend days of trying on a single boss. The whole thing is a slog and this ridiculous artificial difficulty just feels cheap and unfair. Finally beating a Souls boss felt good and that you’d overcame adversity...I’m so burned out by this I don’t take any pleasure from it at all. If this is how From games are going to be in the future, then I’m out...
Final boss takes 5 mins to beat if you do it right.