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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice |OT2| Domo Arigato, Mr. ROBERTOOOOO!!!
- Thread starter janusff
- Start date
Finally finished the game. 9.5/10. Few minor technical and narrative things I hope get cleared up in Sekiro 2, but overall absolutely amazing experience. The most fun I've had with 3rd person melee combat in years, perhaps ever. The bosses are a murderer's row of challenging, diverse, satisfying encounters. Just some random thoughts on each / a rough ranking.
1. Lady Butterfly. Not just for how she fights, but when she appears. This is one of the great teaching bosses in games. Probably took me 20+ tries to defeat and I never felt frustrated. She got my brain in the right place to learn patterns, read options, and all the other things that bosses in Sekiro require. 10/10.
2. General Horse Dude. Total clown. One shot. Slow, easy to counter, just a joke. His yell is a funny meme but otherwise, the worst boss. 4/10.
3. Genishiro. I just blew right through him in the first encounter. Maybe I was a bit overleveled from exploring and killing mini-bosses. Took two tries and the second attempt was a squeaker but didn't feel like blind luck. He's an upgraded version of Lady Butterfly, and armed with the lessons from her battle, he wasn't that bad. 7/10.
4. Guardian Ape. Just a few attempts. Big swings that aren't that difficult to parry, very obvious warnings on his unblockables, huge arena to run around if I needed a breather. He's big and intimidating but not very tough. Round two with his helper wasn't that hard either. 7/10.
5. Owl (Great Shinobi.) The true boss of Sekiro. Merciless beast. His patterns aren't even that difficult, but he hits like a truck and his arena is tiny. Probably the most attempts of any single boss, but again never felt super frustrating. Nothing he does has that stink of bullshit difficulty. He's fast, he's strong, but learn his attacks and that's a wrap. 10/10.
6. Corrupted Monk. Eh. Took a few tries. Appreciate that she can be stealth death blowed in round 1/2. Very strong but not much too her patterns, and the gimmick of phantom attacks isn't very cool. 6/10.
7. Owl (Father.) Not sure if he's harder than Great Shinobi or not. Definitely similar difficulties. Took many attempts, and his phase two is so goofy. I think probably the inferior Owl. 9/10.
8. Sword Saint. Having to fight Genishiro for phase 1 is so weird. Sometimes I would blow through him in 20 seconds, sometimes he'd kill me in a few hits. I think part of what makes the fight so hard is that with the mid-fight switch in enemies, the patterns and timings change and it threw me out of the zone. This guy frustrated me a lot. The only yelling I did in Sekiro was at Sword Saint. Very challenging, but annoying in a way earlier bosses were not. I'm glad the final boss is a real challenge, but it wasn't my favorite fight. 8/10.
9. Bonus: Demon of Hatred. Ape tier. Him and the Ape both felt like Bloodborne bosses, but easier because parrying is so forgiving. Once you learn how to avoid the sweeps/grabs/fireballs, it's just an endurance race. Appreciate the third phase going absolute crazy for the first few seconds. Slightly higher grade than Ape just because he took some real practice to defeat. 8/10.
Shout outs to Seven Spears and Snake Eyes as the a-tier mini-bosses. Big laughs at the burning bull, who sucks.
Best regular enemies: purple ninjas. Wow, what studs. Love fighting them, love how they look.
Worst regular enemy: there is this one interior ministry soldier near the "first" Headless location. He has two long swords, and he is an absolute UNIT. Doesn't appear to be anything special about his model, or his drops, but he is hard as hell. Killed me a bunch of times and I could never really figure out what to do except sneak kill him.
2. General Horse Dude. Total clown. One shot. Slow, easy to counter, just a joke. His yell is a funny meme but otherwise, the worst boss. 4/10.
3. Genishiro. I just blew right through him in the first encounter. Maybe I was a bit overleveled from exploring and killing mini-bosses. Took two tries and the second attempt was a squeaker but didn't feel like blind luck. He's an upgraded version of Lady Butterfly, and armed with the lessons from her battle, he wasn't that bad. 7/10.
4. Guardian Ape. Just a few attempts. Big swings that aren't that difficult to parry, very obvious warnings on his unblockables, huge arena to run around if I needed a breather. He's big and intimidating but not very tough. Round two with his helper wasn't that hard either. 7/10.
5. Owl (Great Shinobi.) The true boss of Sekiro. Merciless beast. His patterns aren't even that difficult, but he hits like a truck and his arena is tiny. Probably the most attempts of any single boss, but again never felt super frustrating. Nothing he does has that stink of bullshit difficulty. He's fast, he's strong, but learn his attacks and that's a wrap. 10/10.
6. Corrupted Monk. Eh. Took a few tries. Appreciate that she can be stealth death blowed in round 1/2. Very strong but not much too her patterns, and the gimmick of phantom attacks isn't very cool. 6/10.
7. Owl (Father.) Not sure if he's harder than Great Shinobi or not. Definitely similar difficulties. Took many attempts, and his phase two is so goofy. I think probably the inferior Owl. 9/10.
8. Sword Saint. Having to fight Genishiro for phase 1 is so weird. Sometimes I would blow through him in 20 seconds, sometimes he'd kill me in a few hits. I think part of what makes the fight so hard is that with the mid-fight switch in enemies, the patterns and timings change and it threw me out of the zone. This guy frustrated me a lot. The only yelling I did in Sekiro was at Sword Saint. Very challenging, but annoying in a way earlier bosses were not. I'm glad the final boss is a real challenge, but it wasn't my favorite fight. 8/10.
9. Bonus: Demon of Hatred. Ape tier. Him and the Ape both felt like Bloodborne bosses, but easier because parrying is so forgiving. Once you learn how to avoid the sweeps/grabs/fireballs, it's just an endurance race. Appreciate the third phase going absolute crazy for the first few seconds. Slightly higher grade than Ape just because he took some real practice to defeat. 8/10.
Shout outs to Seven Spears and Snake Eyes as the a-tier mini-bosses. Big laughs at the burning bull, who sucks.
Best regular enemies: purple ninjas. Wow, what studs. Love fighting them, love how they look.
Worst regular enemy: there is this one interior ministry soldier near the "first" Headless location. He has two long swords, and he is an absolute UNIT. Doesn't appear to be anything special about his model, or his drops, but he is hard as hell. Killed me a bunch of times and I could never really figure out what to do except sneak kill him.
I wish they kept a version of that dragon rot system in rather than the one that shipped. Maybe tone down legwork but using that as a basis for the endings rather than a choice would have been much better and far more meaningful.
ok
im gonna do this, no way im killing it on a fair fight lol
I'm doing this on my NG+
It was painful enough the first time, never again.
Loved doing this. Have completed all of FROM's game, this was the first time I felt I could get one over on a major boss. After the struggle of finishing the last boss fight this was sweet. :)
So did I miss out on the
alternate Hirata Estate memory?
I never eavesdropped on Kuro and Emma and right now I'm currently in the middle of going through the Fountainhead palace stuff, can I still go back and get this?
I never eavesdropped on Kuro and Emma and right now I'm currently in the middle of going through the Fountainhead palace stuff, can I still go back and get this?
You can still do it if you haven't defeated
Divine Dragon
Damn, even if I didn't beat the boss of the area yet?
Oh, sounds good xChildofhatex!
Farming xp for the all skills trophy is so mind numbingly boring. Ugh, now I'm reminded why I have so few platinums.
As long as you don't fight the boss in fountainhead you should be able to get it.
While I haven't gotten any further in the game than the Shura ending, I really don't understand what they were thinking of with the Dragonrot element and its effect on the NPCs...guess I was hoping for something much more substantial.
This game sits comfortably next to Bloodborne as one of the most intense gaming experiences I've had. Good god. I can't think of anything that soured my my playthrough. A little jank here and there doesn't bug me. I Mean, the souls games were jankey as hell sometimes but always fair, I feel! It's a masterpiece!
I did it differently. On phase 3, I kept my distance waited for his jump in, then dodged forward just before he landed and attacked his back. I wasn't consistent enough in going face-to-face for whole fight. Once you've got him down to around 60% health you can start banking posture so deflects are then worth doing if you feel confident enough. This way i minimised risking my heals on first part of battle. On p4 i did same but poisoned the ahole at start (took 2 full attacks to get a poison status) which i did twice to speed things up a bit.
Question about NG+:
Do you start with everything you had from your first run of the game, like all your current vitality & damage upgrades, all your items and prosthetics, etc.? Also what about prayer beads and battle memories in NG+ - how does that all work?
Do you start with everything you had from your first run of the game, like all your current vitality & damage upgrades, all your items and prosthetics, etc.? Also what about prayer beads and battle memories in NG+ - how does that all work?
You don't keep story items/techniches (like underwater). Beads that you did get before are replaced with other items like purses or statues (but you can get the beads you missed if there's any).
You still get memories following each boss so you can continue upgrading your attack power that way.
Quite possibly the greatest gif you've made yet.
I had no idea and didn't ever think of simply crouching to avoid around a roundhouse or jumping kick.
I had no idea and didn't ever think of simply crouching to avoid around a roundhouse or jumping kick.
Thank you!
Two more questions - how does the XP work in NG+? When I last looked it would take me a little over 43,000 XP to get one skill point; does that set back to zero? Also regarding
Kuro's Charm
XP gets scaled up for enemies.
Kuro's charm makes you take more damage, and take damage even when blocking. Your choice if you want that challenge
The XP you need is the same, it doesn't reset. It increases with each skill point. You get more XP per enemy in NG+. You get additional XP if you refuse the charm.
The charm does make things considerably harder. I found the regular bosses to be OK so far, but random parts of the game like the bull and armor warrior are now just impossible (NG+4). NG+ with the charm is more like a victory run... I kinda recommend that if you're still going for all the endings
I beat DoH just after finishing ItSS :O I feel like a god haha!
Actually using the fire umbrella and malcontent made winning this fight quite possible. Just stay at his heels all the time and use fire protection when he launches his attacks on you. The follow-up slash really helped, too so you might want to invest in that skill. So today I beat all remaining purple magic warriors, the final boss and the optional boss. Hoorray! :D On to NG+ <3
Actually using the fire umbrella and malcontent made winning this fight quite possible. Just stay at his heels all the time and use fire protection when he launches his attacks on you. The follow-up slash really helped, too so you might want to invest in that skill. So today I beat all remaining purple magic warriors, the final boss and the optional boss. Hoorray! :D On to NG+ <3
So if I don't want to take more damage as well as block damage, should I take it or refuse it? And if I take it, can I unequip it like the Bell demon item?
You take it if you don't want the challenge. Refuse if you do.
You can go back with the Sculptor if you regret it, but only once, it's not like Demon Bell. So refuse it for now and you can go back later if you regret.
Those underwater headless in Fountainhead palace guard a chest that has a prayer bead.
Is there a mod that changes kuros dialogue to "you cheated not only the game....." when you refuse
Just get the parry timing down and when he flops down on his stomach at that part where you would normally just attack punish him, use the piercing spear to pull out the centipede [the same way you remove armor from enemies with a double tap of the prosthetic use button] and you'll do massive posture damage to him.
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on my way to the platinum in NG++, missing one ending (which will give me all bosses) and the unlock all skills trophy
I just consumed 5 skills in exchange for an increase in power by mistake.
I want to cry
I just consumed 5 skills in exchange for an increase in power by mistake.
I want to cry
I think they are also the easiest of all those encounters because underwater mobility is so fast.
His second phase is easier than the first, he has way more attacks that leave gaps for you to take advantage of and you've plenty of time to dash away from his terror attack.
Just bait his moves and then take advantage of the time with two or three hits max, then drop back out in case he uses that terror attack.
This phase can be done pretty easily, but takes a little while.
First of all, stay back - which is the opposite approach I would give for Phase 1, but dodge away and back from every Red Kanji symbol (specifically I would recommend backwards jump because this will also help you avoid the sweeping sword attack in addition to the dreaded AOE terror attack. Only attack 2 different things. First when he does that belly slide thing at you, jump forward over him to the left and get in 2-3 hits and back away immediately in case he does that terror attack. Second, if he's swinging the sword move in and start to parry it and look to see if he raises the sword over his head for the big drop, parry that and then get in 4-5 hits and back away immediately for the terror attack (when I see that he's starting to swing his sword that is when I get back in there and closer to start parrying him to be there to parry the big sword drop and the attack opportunity it opens up, but be careful because not all sword activity leads to that big sword drop and some can lead to the red kanji terror effect so be ready to jump backwards if he's not gonna raise that sword over his head. Rinse and repeat, don't get greedy, you always need to just get a few shots in and be backing away because of terror and circling to give your self room behind you so that you can always jump backwards.
This approach is really not hard, its just time consuming and it will only fail really if you are greedy about getting in extra hits. Its best to have 2-3 gourds and your resurrection just in case you get hit by terror and die - which you should always have for second phase after landing deathblow in the first phase, even if you use ressurrect in the first phase - in fact, it may be worth letting yourself get killed in first phase if you have low health and have been using gourds because its better to start Phase 2 with high health and some gourds to keep it high. If you are patient though and do the approach above, well I don't think I had to heal at all in Phase 2 on my successful run.
I'm sure there are ways to beat him more quickly, but I think these are riskier because they open you up to AOE terror instadeath.
This approach is really not hard, its just time consuming and it will only fail really if you are greedy about getting in extra hits. Its best to have 2-3 gourds and your resurrection just in case you get hit by terror and die - which you should always have for second phase after landing deathblow in the first phase, even if you use ressurrect in the first phase - in fact, it may be worth letting yourself get killed in first phase if you have low health and have been using gourds because its better to start Phase 2 with high health and some gourds to keep it high. If you are patient though and do the approach above, well I don't think I had to heal at all in Phase 2 on my successful run.
I'm sure there are ways to beat him more quickly, but I think these are riskier because they open you up to AOE terror instadeath.
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Ocarina_117
Even better, once you've
parried the big attack, you can use the spear prosthetic if you've upgraded it to do the attack that can pull off armour - the Loaded Spear - you can use that to pull a centipede thing out of its neck for quite a lot of posture damage and get in a couple of sword hits afterward
Damn it
Can we have a thread just for Sekiro gifs? I'll spend the whole day in it
Buy more items from the carp scale merchants and talk to them afterwards
Fighting 2 ninjas at once? Man that's a certain death for me.
I find Sekiro's battle is a beauty to watch, unlike all previous Soulsborne games, here you actually enjoy seeing other people fight.