From Software 'n such

[Immryr]

played this quite a bit again today. the combat is making more sense, but i still feel like i'm only getting through certain bits by cheesing.

Spoiler

against juzou for instance, i killed a couple of the grunts in his arena, ran away to reset aggro, rinse and repeat till juzou is alone, then sneak up on him to start the fight with a deathblow. group fighting in general feels insanely hard, so every time there is a similar set up with a general and a bunch of hollows i find myself doing the same thing, maybe i should just stop being a wuss?

any way, i've made some decent progress:

Spoiler

killed the spear guy in hirata second try surprisingly. i had actually not seen him on the way to juzou initially, i went through the water, but i found him when retreading areas looking for mini boss types i had sneaked past. the thrust counter felt super helpful.

killed juzou, tried the butterfly lady a few times, thought i had killed her - then the second phase kicked in. decided to leave her for now.

horse back man only took a few tries today. i kind of abused him by sprinting round in a circle till he did his attack which i could grapple, but after a while i started doging under his attacks and trying to stay close to him. seemed to work out.

killed the bull, in maybe three tries. kind of feel like i cheesed him by sprinting round in a circle again. the dodge feels fairly useless against this type of boss.

had a look round the reservoir area a bit, found a jerk down a well and a big spear guy near the tower where kuro was at the beginning. only fought each one once, they're still alive.

explored the castle area a decent amount. the climb up to the antechamber past all of the nightjar guys was pretty great and panic inducing. fought my way up to the dojo, tried the boss once and called it a day.

the combat, when i'm 'getting it', feels really great. parrying, dodging and countering, jumping over sweeps, it all feels great. grappling is cool. the game in general feels really polished, other than the occasional shaky camera in enclosed spaces. all of the systems make sense, unlike bloodborne.

i feel like this game has been slightly ignored compared to the past couple of from soft games. not sure if that's cause people are a little burned out on them, or cause this isn't an rpg and doesn't have online multiplayer so less of the souls streamer types are playing it. but it's shaping up to be an amazing game.

[Stevens]

Well here I am. Presumably at what is the final battle

Spoiler

Sword Saint

.

I didn't

Spoiler

look at your O and S strat. What I did was Gaichiin, sneak around, puppet. The trickiest part about this is not getting hit by your puppet. After I killed Oniwa I wailed on the sword dude like 40 times for fun. Ok maybe not 40 but you get the idea.

So my real question is this - am I ready to wrap this up or do I go after Demon of Hatred and or the two apes?

Not sure.

Oh I found my way into the operating room in the dungeon.

[Illyrian]

Well here I am. Presumably at what is the final battle

Spoiler

Sword Saint

.

I didn't

Spoiler

look at your O and S strat. What I did was Gaichiin, sneak around, puppet. The trickiest part about this is not getting hit by your puppet. After I killed Oniwa I wailed on the sword dude like 40 times for fun. Ok maybe not 40 but you get the idea.

So my real question is this - am I ready to wrap this up or do I go after Demon of Hatred and or the two apes?

Not sure.

Oh I found my way into the operating room in the dungeon.

Spoiler

Demon of Hatred isn't a very good fight. There are some janky attack hitboxes at play and it goes on for too long. In particular it has a charge attack with a short wind up and a weirdly wide hitbox that requires a very specific jump away that will almost certainly 1-shot you if it hits you, unless you have 30+ prayer beads. If you're a completionist go and do it. It is harder than Sword Saint in my opinion. You can break it a bit with one of the Finger Whistle upgrades that let's you stun it, it's still pretty rubbish. Looks cool though. I've beaten it once and never bothered to fight it again.

[Blinge]

all of the systems make sense, unlike bloodborne.

u wot m8

[Steamflogger Boss]

all of the systems make sense, unlike bloodborne.

u wot m8

Slander of the holy game.

Get im bois.

[Blinge]

YOUUU PLAGUE RIDDEN RAT!!

[Stevens]

Seven spears O&S Variant is a bitch.
If you want a way to make that fight a one-on-one, here's my solution:
https://youtu.be/LZHAGvU4u5c

Same result, slightly different way of getting there. The

Spoiler

Gaichiin allows you to sneak all the way around between them and back stab sword guy.

Spoiler

Demon of Hatred isn't a very good fight. There are some janky attack hitboxes at play and it goes on for too long. In particular it has a charge attack with a short wind up and a weirdly wide hitbox that requires a very specific jump away that will almost certainly 1-shot you if it hits you, unless you have 30+ prayer beads. If you're a completionist go and do it. It is harder than Sword Saint in my opinion. You can break it a bit with one of the Finger Whistle upgrades that let's you stun it, it's still pretty rubbish. Looks cool though. I've beaten it once and never bothered to fight it again.

I appreciate your thoughts and am not by any means a completionist.

Yeah my optional fights at this point are all uh..hard is probably the right word.

Spoiler

Headless underwater? Feels like his grab is even harder to avoid. The two apes? I'll see how much punishment I feel like subjecting myself too.

Edit - I beat

Spoiler

Guradian Ape x2. Dropped (from village side - ako's and drank the purple stuff as to not get terror'd) in and wailed on him like usual except after the first DB I stuck with him. Headless ape runs away while the other tries to distract you. After I killed the headless one proper I was getting all ready for round two and he surprisingly (pleasantly) vanished.

Spoiler

Got DOH down to last half bar. Seems to just be stay on his ass and whack away. Goes for stomp? Block and punish. Goes for jump in air? Hide under parasol (the fire one) wait out the blast after he lands, and get a few more hits in. I'm close on this guy. I may try to punish with mortal draw after a blocked stomp. That could help a lot. Could also eat my emblems that I would need for protection. Will test.

However the key is execution. I still get hit on stomps sometimes cause I get greedy.

[Immryr]

oh come on, bloodborne is an amazing game, but it's a bit of a mess design wise (as from soft games often are). it sounds a little unfair, but looking back it seems a bit like a half way house between dark souls and sekiro and they just hadn't quite figured out how to do a more stream lined action game yet. at least not while keeping it similar-ish to the souls games which had made them popular at the time.

the leveling system is basically the same as dark souls with str, dex, int and faith for damage, but the game more or less discourages you from doing a bloodtinge or arcane build. they just feel like a chore, which means i basically never use any of that stuff - even some of it is really cool.

add on top of the diablo-esque loot system, found within a series of procedurally generated dungeons etc etc


also... why did they ever think not being able to rest at lamps without going back to the dream was a good idea(yes i know it was like that in demon's souls)?


i haven't played as much sekiro today, didn't make to much progress in terms of beating bosses or tough enemies but i found some new areas.

Spoiler

i killed the samurai elite guy in the dojo after a couple of attempts. it was actually a pretty easy fight. when i first met him i was a little overwhelmed by how fast his double slash attack was and how much damage it did, but it was actually very easy to dodge to the side and punish him.

climbed up a little higher and found genichiro again. i was surprised to be meeting this guy again so early in the story. i only gave him one attempt then decided to do more exploring.

i jumped down the roof tops towards the moat and found that the ashina want salt, found the blackhat merchant and explored the start of the sunken valley.

so currently i have infront of me:

lady butterfly
the guy in the well who has a fog door on one side, plus the spear general above him
genichiro
sunken valley

not sure what order to tackle these in, or if i've missed other things a long the way. oh yeah, there was that headless guy just before the valley of the snake too.

[Steamflogger Boss]

The arcane tools you get including old hunters stuff are sweet. I beat the game previously with an arcane build but yeah it's not something you should go for your first time.

Chalice dungeons are totally optional. Can't lie though not being able to rest at lamps is annoying.

[Blinge]

The procedurally generated loot is only necessary for better-than-endgame stuff.
So like, later and later NG+'s

The Chalice dungeon route up to the final chalice boss isn't procedural at all. in case anyone wasn't aware.

Yeah the lamps are annoying as shit.

Dunno if i've posted this but damn, maining Arcane is insane.
Routine Beast Extermination.

https://youtu.be/y6TWvIZ1LhQ

[Steamflogger Boss]

Great video.

@blinge: I noticed that when I watched some videos after I already cleared it myself to see some other possible strategies for some of those bosses.

[Stevens]

One step closer to having no one left to kill -

Spoiler

After ape and ape I went back and killed Sashimi boi and got that ring I needed to upgrade the whistle. If I've learned anything with Sekiro it is that you should go check places out again after the light changes. Yes in BB too, but I feel it is more pronounced here.

Came super close on Demon of Hatred, but yeah I got one shotted in his third phase. The whistle is useful in the fight to keep him from doing that carpet bomb move on phase two. Otherwise its sword, parasol, and I heal/akos sugar in between each phase.

Not feeling the draw to the

Spoiler

underwater Headless crew so I will probably finish the game and leave them be. After the demon killed me a bunch I went and hung out with the sword saint. Holy shit he might take me a while. Phase one is pretty damn easy (Gen), but after the cut scene damn. He has a lot of attacks, some of them have a lot of range, and he's fast. I'll figure it out:D

As far as Sekiro v Bloodborne? They're both amazing and I prefer different things about both compared to the other. Setting? BB by a hair. Combat? Sekiro by more than a lot more than a hair. I thought I would be terrible at it but I'm mediocre:D The bosses are sooooooooo satisfying to kill and you feel super involved cause of all the button pressing as opposed to dodge, dodge, attack. It's a trip.

[Steamflogger Boss]

I love both.

[it290]

Decided to give wrapping up the Dark Souls III DLC a shot (got stuck at the first Adjudicator a year or so ago and put the game on hold for a loong time). Now I just have to finish up

Spoiler

Slave Knight Gael. I'm probably just rusty, but what a pain in my ass so far. I can get through the first phase more or less unscathed, but during the second phase it's challenging to get enough of an opening to get a stagger in without getting punished in return. Appropriate stamina use is a must for this fight, for sure.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Blinge this guy is a maddd lad. Went down a rabbit hole with his vids, impressive stuff.

[Blinge]

Spoiler

Came super close on Demon of Hatred, but yeah I got one shotted in his third phase. The whistle is useful in the fight to keep him from doing that carpet bomb move on phase two. Otherwise its sword, parasol, and I heal/akos sugar in between each phase.

As for avoiding the Carpet bomb.. you mean the really long one? The best I can suggest is a sprint at 90 degrees from far away and then sprint jump in time. I don't always get out o_o

The sweep attack that Floggerino mentioned is simple enough to avoid you just jump and move vaguely left. If I get hit it's because i'm still in endlag from a sword swipe.

Stevens as for

Spoiler

Underwater headless
They're a lot easier than you think. I outspace the melee attacks, then when they go for the grab, I just dash past them to the right. like 1'oclock direction. puts you behind and able to punish. they take a lot of damage and give you ample opportunity to wail on them.

[Immryr]

oh, i'm not trying to say sekiro is better than bloodborne, or even really pit them against each other. just that playing sekiro made me think about how.... unrefined bloodborne is in some ways.

that arcane build does look like it could be fun. maybe i'll give arcane another go. that guy seems to level a lot more than i would though. levelling 8 times before gascoigne seems nuts, i generally kill him before levelling, and i've never levelled to anywhere close to 124, let alone 150.

[Blinge]

.. Don't you kill the Cleric beast first?

Oh yeah but you said BB's systems don't work which is the kind of statement that's always gonna be challenged..
Does BB have less character build options than DS series? sure!
I think BB makes up for it with the awesome moveset variety with the trick weapons though.

Anyway Sekiro = I had a really good fight against the final boss (SS)
First time I've fought him since back when the game came out, actually.
https://youtu.be/MOjZwFiOn5E

Spoiler

banana's complaints about the 3rd phase are true tbh. it's dumb how often he uses lightning

yo stevens don't watch that shit yet

[Immryr]

nah, i generally just go directly to gascoigne.

today's sekiro progress update:

Spoiler

I tried the spear guy a in the reservoir area a couple more times. i feel like i'm doing hardly any damage to his vitality or his posture, even with the thrust counter, so i decide to leave it for now, again.

went to the sunken valley next and after a little bit of trial and error i made it across while dodging all of the gunfire. i stealth killed all of the gun guys on the far side to pick up the items, then met voldo. this was a bit of an easy fight. spam parry, hold l1 to get posture back then jump on his head when he sweep attacks. rinse and repeat till he's dead. i'm not sure if i'm missing something in the area under his floorboards, but i only really found two dead ends with enemies guarding items, and a route back towards the bonfire. dunno if i've missed the key for the door here somewhere, or if i get it from killing one of the bosses i've skipped, but for now this route seems to be closed off.

i then paid a visit to lady butterfly, who i haven't gone back to for quite a while now. i decided to try and fight her much more aggresively then i was earlier and ended up killing her first try. i now think i was probably supposed to kill this boss much earlier than i have. having an extra attack upgrade would probably make quite a bit of difference for the areas i've been going through.

next up, swordsman down the well. i tried playing more aggresively again and managed to kill him after a couple of tries. the thrust counter absolutely wrecks his posture. had a bit of an explore in the area past this guy and found the abandoned dungeon and the depths. i got almost one shot by a snake eyes guy in the depths then noped out of there.

after that i went and took down the spear guy who has been plaguing me for so long. the extra posture damage i was doing since killing lady butterfly defintely helped a lot. i was kind of surprised i only got a prayer bead for killing him though.

and finally i've been fighting against genichiro. this is my favourite fight in the game so far, it feels like it has a good balance of dodging and parrying, being aggressive and defensive. i've made it to the second phase a few times, but never with much healing.

unfortunately i'm back in work tomorrow, so won't have much time to play till the weekend -_-

[Stevens]

yo stevens don't watch that shit yet

Nope definitely not. Haven't played today, should have a chance tomorrow.

I did check out your tip for underwater headless and will using them.

Found a great spot to farm Sen and XP:

Spoiler

Start at the stairway in the outskirts, head towards the castle. It's a bunch of quick kills starting with the gun guy in the tower. You the kill everyone between you and the bridge. It's a lot of stealth kills so it goes quick. It's 12 or so ministry guys. There is also an optional double sword deadpool looking guy over by the Ako's Headless but he can be dangerous. It adds up really fast on both fronts which is helpful since skill points cost a lot now.

[Bananamatic]

Spoiler

banana's complaints about the 3rd phase are true tbh. it's dumb how often he uses lightning

Spoiler

The jumping attack is even worse since he uses it even more and in 2 phases
Lightning is a really dumb mechanic imo, there's nothing to tell apart like thrusts/grabs/sweeps, just jump and press r1 for massive free damage, it makes Genichiro's 3rd phase feel like a tutorial and the Divine Dragon shouldn't even count as a boss

[Blinge]

There is also an optional double sword deadpool looking guy

Make a running jump along the wall then wall jump off it, you can land right behind him

[Stevens]

I think I'm done with

Spoiler

DOH. His design is cool, but the fight honestly isn't very fun. It goes on a bit too long and feels out of place with the mechanics that make Sekiro great.

On the other hand

Spoiler

the Sword Saint is excellent. I can get through the first two phases (Genchiro and SS's) well enough. Genchiro is usually a quick kill. First phase I've had a fair bit of success just getting up in his face and trading strikes and parries. I've also gotten better at side stepping his Ichi and my spacing on his cross which allows me to sneak a few hits in. I'm not good enough to deflect the cross, although getting it down would make that phase easier for me. When I get to the second phase it is usually pretty quick. I've almost gotten to the third phase but not quite there yet. As far as tools I have usually have ravens mist or the umbrella but hasn't use them. I'm having fun learning how to duel him.

edit - I forgot

Spoiler

I killed the castle moat Headless.

[Blinge]

The lets see how bad Blinge is at Dark Souls series is complete

https://youtu.be/9WY6KSWT8Ro

Soul Level 1 vs Manus, Kalameet, Gwyn.

Bruh that took ages to edit. My video capturing capability leaves much to be desired.

[Immryr]

i managed to fit a couple of hours of sekiro in last night after all:

Spoiler

i killed genichiro in a couple of tries after spending quite a long time fighting him the night before. this was a really satisfying fight to learn, definitely my favourite of the game so far. once again, being aggressive seemed to be the best approach, but he gives you enough space to feel like you can learn his attacks without just being overwhelmed, which is nice.

talked to kuro, found isshin, had a look downstairs from him and found three nightjars and a breakable wall which leads back to near the antechamber idol, which is interesting. I wonder what happens if you go to where isshin is before fighting genichiro?

talked to kuro again, got the key for the gun fort - glad i hadn't just missed this somewhere.

decided to take a look in the abandoned dungeon to find the senpou temple. the guy who shoots all of the skulls is pretty scary so i just ran away from him and had a look around the waterway area. i followed the route to a lift like contraption then doubled back to check the other route which it turns out leads back to the reservoir and a big guy with a bell/wrecking ball weapon. i was hoping he might be guarding the key to the locked door in the reservoir, but nope.

the climb up mt kongo was pretty cool, i like the music here, it's very understated. moving through this area made me think a bit about platforming/traversal in this game vs other from soft games, but i'll post about that when i'm not just skiving at work. climbed up to an area with a bell, and a warning not to ring it, also found the second headless enemy - still haven't killed the first one though. maybe i'll do that tonight. went back down a bit and tried to go across the bridge....

the armoured warrior felt fairly easy, but then he didn't die.... dunno if i need to use the spear to remove his armour or something? in general i've been basically ignoring the prosthetic most of the time, but i had a test of a couple of the weapons last night. the firecracker seems insanely strong, it stuns everyone i tested it on, not just beasts as the description would have you believe. maybe i've been gimping myself the whole game by not making much use of the prosthetic?

[Steamflogger Boss]

The lets see how bad Blinge is at Dark Souls series is complete

https://youtu.be/9WY6KSWT8Ro

Soul Level 1 vs Manus, Kalameet, Gwyn.

Bruh that took ages to edit. My video capturing capability leaves much to be desired.

Ah yes sending the elevator back up en route to a boss, the sign of a broken lad.

[Immryr]

just seems like totally normal behaviour to me.

i'll give this a watch later tonight.

[Austin]

Finished Scholar last weekend, Frigid Shitskirts and all.

Good stuff overall. It was a lot more fun this time around.

Though I am thinking of negating all that and torturing myself with Demon's Souls. Never did finish that one, I raged fairly hard on it last year.

[Steamflogger Boss]

just seems like totally normal behaviour to me.

i'll give this a watch later tonight.

Kinda. If you win the fight it wasn't really needed though.

The video is entertaining, that's for sure.

[Blinge]

Kinda. If you win the fight it wasn't really needed though.


The video is entertaining, that's for sure.

<33

haha sending the elevator back up is done as a matter of course no matter where i am or what run i'm playing.