Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - The Bear and Badger

Djornson

After much reflection i think i just miss having a big fucking weapon and smashing seven shades of hell out of everything, it's that simple. Sekiro is all fast and nimble and shit, me like smash. The sense of slicing/smashing up flesh is much better in soulsborne.

Edit: I think i have problems.

Silke

The one thing that always helped me tackle the bosses was beer. Meaning light real life inebriation. Being buzzed greatly calmed my nerves and made it much easier to feel and follow the flow of the duels.

So yes, I might have problems too but they were certainly of help here.

Vastik

Tempy wrote:

in Sekiro, I never got too annoyed, mad or frustrated cos I knew there was nothing else to do so I clearly had the tools to deal with it, it was just a matter of patience and performance. But in Nioh I frequently got annoyed because I knew I could have just powerlevelled, got more gear, or summoned in some kind of madman to one shot them.

Yeah, I've got this problem in Souls currently (playing through on Switch at the moment). Stuck on Four Kings boss, feel like I probably need to go grind some souls and upgrade my armour so I can withstand their attacks better, and I really cannot be arsed.

voices

Kings is a damage race isn't it, rather than something where you need to avoid difficult attacks?

Vastik

voices wrote:

Kings is a damage race isn't it, rather than something where you need to avoid difficult attacks?

Yeah, unfortunately I don’t seem to be able to win that race currently.

If I didn’t have to run back to the boss only to die quickly it’d be a lot less frustrating, such is the way of these games...

hylian_elf

Repeatedly running to bosses is such a chore. Hated in Souls. Bosses in Sekiro thankfully are right next to save points.

stonechalice

I dunno I still find even the slightest run back to a boss irritating - especially in a game like this. Take Genichiro for example; just start me in the room after I fail - not on a roof - a fiddly two ledge clamber away from the fight. I began to feel as though the devs had deliberately designed it that way to fuck people off, which in turn put me off the game.

Most boss approaches in Sekiro are like that - mildly inconvenient run backs that are too short for you to reflect on your mistakes and too long to keep your flow going. It's like a kind of purgatory that I battled with for my time with the games bosses.

Djornson

Fair point about the grinding, i dont mind a bit of a grind if the combat is satisfying i guess, its kind of like practise anyway.

voices

Back in the day, I got really good at the 4 kings corpse run. Optimising the sprint past the bone daddy guys (wraiths?) was kind of fun. Not that I'd wish it on anyone...

stonechalice

Oh fuck yeah that was some infamous shit that four kings run. Forgetting to equip the ring of artorias before taking the plunge down. I remember doing that at soul level 1. Every now and then you'd get clipped by a dark wraith. Nightmarish.

voices

Bosh rush update coming in late October. Why so late? Very strange.

hylian_elf

Woot woot! Any reason to revisit such a great game.

voices

I will have to glue my LB1 button back together, so I might give it a miss. No joke, all that mashing made my controller break.

hylian_elf

I need to grind out XP for the platinum so might do that too.

JonB

voices wrote:

I will have to glue my LB1 button back together, so I might give it a miss. No joke, all that mashing made my controller break.

It made my hand break. My left index finger was actually swollen for a afterwards, and I had pain there for some time.

Speedhaak

So I started this on PC - I did have it on Xbox originally but couldn't stomach 30fps so didn't play for long and have only just recently gotten back 'round to it. Pretty difficult game alright, I landed at the Butterfly Lady yesterday and did well enough until I realised there was a second phase. I just didn't have the AP or Vitality to last two (four?) rounds with her, will go back later I guess.

Went another route, stabbed a giant albino snake in the eye and ended up fighting some due atop horse back. Bested him on my first go to my surprise. Suspect this is the direction the game wants me to go on my first play through.

Feels great at 60fps on my 32" QHD monitor, gorgeous looking too. Looking forward to more adventures, although there are so many games coming out in November that I want to play...

Tempy

Mentioned elsewhere, but I saw you playing this!

I've done a few runs through the last day or so, to unlock stuff for gauntlets. The gauntlets are real rough, even though you can refresh your gourd in between each, having to tackle them in a row is nasty.

You can do Butterfly/Gyoubu first, there's no hard and fast order, but Butterfly is more of a test than Gyoubu.

stonechalice

Sekiro was the first From game that broke me. I wanted to love it but the strict, often miserly methods for victory and flaky performance wore me down in the end.

acemuzzy

Most from games I initially bounce off, return to a year later, then love. Hope it happens with this (at 60FPS...).

Syph79

I wanted to like it to, but parrying in From games is the one thing I don’t enjoy or do. I’ve beaten every single one of them but Sekiro, because if you don’t parry, you ultimately can’t succeed.

hylian_elf

Once you get the rhythm down, though, it’s one of the most satisfying games. The more I think about it, the more it’s one of my all time favourite games.

Keep meaning to go back and grind out that platinum trophy.

Speedhaak

Yeah Butterfly is definitely more of a test than Horse Master 6000 (Gyoubu) - I think for me a lot of it is retraining the brain from Souls. No dodgy dodge here mate. Best get offensive and parry that shit. I've found if you take the time to study the attack patterns it becomes more digestible but it's definitely the hardest From game I have played, of that there is no doubt. Like I said though, it is outrageously good looking on PC (sorry console peasants) so there's that.

I do appreciate this type of game though, I love having my metal tested. Even if I am nearly 40 and more prone to finger slips and gammy eye syndromes.

Speedhaak

Tempy you're a bit of a of a fiend for the hardcore shit aren't you?

Kow

Must go back to this. Headless gorilla thing did my head in. I've forgotten how to play now though.

Hyde

I absolutely loved this, until I reached G. Just couldn’t do it, which was a real shame for me. I thought it would be too difficult for me solo as I had to summon for most bosses in BB and DS3 (no shame!).
Fantastic setting, graphics and gameplay but just too much for me

Dinostar77

Kow wrote:

Must go back to this. Headless gorilla thing did my head in. I've forgotten how to play now though.

Thats where i threw the towel in. Agree with syph79. Love the From Software games, but not the parrying.

Tempy

Speedhaak wrote:

Tempy you're a bit of a of a fiend for the hardcore shit aren't you?

Stuff like Sekiro yeah. Fast reflexes, harsh but fair. Combat systems with nuances and good parries/risk reward.

The boss rushes all seem to end with a version of a boss with a few new moves, often including one combo that has to be perfect blocked or it does damage.

Speedhaak

Kow wrote:

Must go back to this. Headless gorilla thing did my head in. I've forgotten how to play now though.

This the bloke in the cave? He softened my cough earlier that's for sure. Christ!

Speedhaak

Tempy wrote:

Speedhaak wrote:

Tempy you're a bit of a of a fiend for the hardcore shit aren't you?

Stuff like Sekiro yeah. Fast reflexes, harsh but fair. Combat systems with nuances and good parries/risk reward. The boss rushes all seem to end with a version of a boss with a few new moves, often including one combo that has to be perfect blocked or it does damage.

Yeah, take this any day over numbers, stats and run of the mill gameplay.

Have your tried Ghostrunner? It's wicked.

stonechalice

Madame Butterfly posed no problem for me. Genichiro on the other hand was a road block. Brilliant fight but the restarting got really tiresome. It feels good when you melt him though.

I'm an advocate of having an easier difficulty level for this game. I'd have loved to have seen the whole game through but the harshness just ended up turning me off of it. Unlike Souls, Sekiro requires a very strict and linear play style with no reward for trying boss encounters in different ways. You do it the one way, or not at all.

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