From Software 'n such

[Sumez]

So am I.
Did you talk to Owl earlier in the stage when you first get to the burning buildings? He might be a little easy to miss.

[Illyrian]

So am I.
Did you talk to Owl earlier in the stage when you first get to the burning buildings? He might be a little easy to miss.

No wonder i found genchiro so hard i missed so many bosses i could have done first and got upgrades from!

[Sumez]

Well, one. But I'm sure the damage upgrade could have changed stuff a bit.

[Illyrian]

Well, one. But I'm sure the damage upgrade could have changed stuff a bit.

It is more that is discovered i could have had at least 1 more prayer bead upgrade as well to give me more health and posture.

[Necronopticous]

I’ve been working on a kind of challenge run. Spoilers for the Abandoned Dungeon area:

Spoiler

I am working my way down to the Depths and had forgotten that the Shichimen Warrior actually gates your progress. I don’t even know if I noticed the first time through because I just threw on some Divine Confetti and bulldozed him first try. Well, you absolutely can not do that with no upgrades, so I had to learn and practice the fight. It is really something!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0sXc5m7h4

[Sumez]

I forgot about that boss entirely. I missed that small cave entrance on my first visit to the abandoned dungeon, and when I randomly came across it I just got immediately screwed over by "terror" and decide to leave it be, until I had more resources.

[Sumez]

I really hate that Spirit Emblems are a consumable item. Seriously, what the hell dictated such an idiotic decision?

I spent one and half hour trading blows with what's gotta be the most frustrating boss of the game so far

Spoiler

O'rin of the Water

Through this process I managed to use up all of my 200+ saved up emblems without being able to beat her, and now I have to go farm for a while for each new attempt at the boss. Why the hell test my patience like this?

[Necronopticous]

Man...that was maybe my favorite moment in the entire game. You definitely do not need spirit emblems.

[Illyrian]

I thought that particular mini boss kinda sucked. It has 1 perilous attack you can exploit over and over with a jump kick and that kinda trivialised it for me.

But i think that is the point. That one is meant to force you to be able to use the dive kick move properly

[Sumez]

I thought that particular mini boss kinda sucked. It has 1 perilous attack you can exploit over and over with a jump kick and that kinda trivialised it for me.

You can? Doing so does no vitality damage, so unless you have reduced her health drastically (which is extremely difficult to do), the posture damage done is pretty pointless.

I've been able to get one phase done extremely fast by poisoning her, but it's very unlikely to have enough emblems to do so on both phases.

But i think that is the point. That one is meant to force you to be able to use the dive kick move properly

Ironically whether it feels like registering feels extremely inconsistent on this particular boss.

[Necronopticous]

You can break her posture without bothering with health damage if you are consistent enough. Also, there’s a trick to getting a stealth kill on her first phase. Here’s a video of me beating her with no upgrades and no shinobi tools.

[Sumez]

Wow. If I'd known about that stealth kill, that could have saved me around 75 minutes of grief yesterday D:

I think my issue might be that I back away too often. I see that your posture meter fills up as fast as my own, but you just keep at her with no problems.

[tnc]

Started playing Sekiro, only fought mini bosses so far. My problem is that I have a hard time understanding if a thrust or sweep attack is coming.

[Sumez]

There are a lot of those. If you are unsure, don't rely on either. Observe what the enemy in question tends to do and when they do it. If you're expected to counter a thrust or a sweep they are usually very easy to see coming once you get familiar with their moveset.

EDIT: Actually, don't listen to me. I think I'm still unable to play this game well.

[tnc]

Yeah, I have to play more and learn the animation.

Sumez I'm sure I'm worse than you are This game seems more difficult to me than Souls games as there is more to consider.

[Sumez]

Btw I also decided to go kill the ninja guy in the well the other day. After talking to the divine heir I figured there might be something back there, and turns out there was.
In fact, it seemed like I'd discovered an entirely new area!

But nope, it turned out it was just an alternative road into the Ashina Depths :\

Curiously though, I guess this means it's actually possible to access that area before fighting the boss at Ashina Castle?? Or will something block it off?

Also one more question... there's a one-way door in the Senpou temple main halls, but I can't seem to find away to get to the other side. Will I come back there later, or did I miss a "secret" area?

[Blinge]

And so I'd say to From fans: believe in yourself. Know that you can play the game you want to play, even if others are playing the game they want to play. An easy mode does not have to be complicated: ideally, I'd like to see the sort of deeper customization that Celeste has, but all you need to do is turn up the damage the player does and turn down the damage the enemies do. That's it! I do not, at this point, expect to ever see my wish granted. But it is my wish just the same.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier ... easy-mode/

[tnc]

And so I'd say to From fans: believe in yourself. Know that you can play the game you want to play, even if others are playing the game they want to play. An easy mode does not have to be complicated: ideally, I'd like to see the sort of deeper customization that Celeste has, but all you need to do is turn up the damage the player does and turn down the damage the enemies do. That's it! I do not, at this point, expect to ever see my wish granted. But it is my wish just the same.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier ... easy-mode/

LOL is someone forcing this guy to play the games?

[Sumez]

This is just Forbes doing their thing, creating a "controversial" article, hoping people are gonna share it and point fingers (and I've already seen this shared 4 other places, so it's working). It's essentially clickbait with a little more effort put into it.

At the end of a day, never trust a headline where every word is capitalized to have a relevant article.

[Necronopticous]

Easy mode is not ringing the bell!

[Blinge]

Hahah oh man, I met the armored warrior and beat him first try

Spoiler

That entertained me. Dark Souls reference?

I'm not sure I understood the mechanics. Tried to cook him in the armour, nope. Tried to break it off using the spear, nope.
Second deathblow knocked him against the wall pillar and he fell off.

Kongo Jungle is proving a nice area at the moment. I don't like the depths or snake-eyes yet..
Feel like I could beat genchiro with repeated attempts but I'm not in that mood. poured some fuckin' rice on the old bints head but she didn't like it.

[Necronopticous]

Speaking of Genichiro... my finest moment!

[rapoon]

This is just Forbes doing their thing, creating a "controversial" article, hoping people are gonna share it and point fingers (and I've already seen this shared 4 other places, so it's working). It's essentially clickbait with a little more effort put into it.

At the end of a day, never trust a headline where every word is capitalized to have a relevant article.

It's a valid complaint. I've taken out all but one optional boss, and I'm currently on the last boss. posture and health upgrades are basically worthless.
Ever do BL 4 defiled chalice runs in BB? They're a joke compared to sekiro's end game.

[Illyrian]

Hahah oh man, I met the armored warrior and beat him first try

Spoiler

That entertained me. Dark Souls reference?

I'm not sure I understood the mechanics. Tried to cook him in the armour, nope. Tried to break it off using the spear, nope.
Second deathblow knocked him against the wall pillar and he fell off.

Kongo Jungle is proving a nice area at the moment. I don't like the depths or snake-eyes yet..
Feel like I could beat genchiro with repeated attempts but I'm not in that mood. poured some fuckin' rice on the old bints head but she didn't like it.

ROOOOOOBEEEEEEERRRTTTTTTTTTT!

[Necronopticous]

posture and health upgrades are basically worthless.

As someone who has played through most of the game without those upgrades I can tell you that this is Not Accurate.

[rapoon]

posture and health upgrades are basically worthless.

As someone who has played through most of the game without those upgrades I can tell you that this is Not Accurate.

I watched your fight O'Rin; you were able to parry no fewer times than I could, with 14 vitality at the time.

"basically worthless" = infinitesimal gains. it is accurate when referring to posture 'improvements' and particularly the end of the game and the following fights, as examples:

Spoiler

Owl (Hirata version) - Did you fight him?

Seven Ashina Spears - Shume Masaji Oniwa - 18 Vit at the time, killed me multiple times in a single hit.

Purple Warrior in Hirata (actually went back here to test instead using the later warriors found around castle. 0 vit, no flowing water = posture red in 3, broken in 4 hits. 18 vit + flowing water = posture red in 3, broken in 4 hits)

Demon of Hatred - Did you fight him? I just beat him... it would have made absolutely no difference if I had 10 or 20 vit; the only thing that matters is Suzaku's Lotus Umbrella.

I look forward to your video showing you fighting Owl and deflecting his 3-hit combo without your posture being broken, which as far as I'm concerned, would unequivocally prove the upgrades (again, I'm primarily referring to posture)
are so infinitesimal, they're basically worthless.

[Illyrian]

The fact that certain attacks 1 shot you anyway doesn't mean health upgrades are worthless. They help you a great deal throughout gameplay in general when fighting regular enemies.

Also, the number of times I've survived attacks with a sliver of health left is a lot.

[rapoon]

The fact that certain attacks 1 shot you anyway doesn't mean health upgrades are worthless. They help you a great deal throughout gameplay in general when fighting regular enemies.

Also, the number of times I've survived attacks with a sliver of health left is a lot.

In all but one of my examples, I was referring to posture. as clarified multiple times and being clarified again, this very moment...

[Zaarock]

In NG+ you take vastly increased posture damage even on successful parry & chip damage on block so the upgrades get even more important there.

I enjoyed my first playthrough of sekiro a lot. NG+ cycles feel a little weird since a lot of what you do is block enemy attack patterns and those are exactly the same. If NG+ changed the enemy behaviour like a more fleshed out hard mode that could be really exciting. You can definitely play without using tools but that makes the combat even more restrictive, why not use different weapons in different runs etc.

Anyone else end up barely using the piercing hold R1 move by the end of the game?

Spoiler

Would be cool if you could switch around combat arts faster. and they feel a little clunky in general. grounded R1 spam does more damage than most of them so what's the point (ichimonji though..)

I found O'rin a massive pain on NG+. I think on +2 you'll run out of posture and die if you try to fully parry her flurry of attacks. I was positively surprised how different the hidden 2nd Owl fight is from the first one. Flame vent + living force is really strong for some fights, you can stun bosses with the flame status.

[Necronopticous]

Spoiler

Demon of Hatred - Did you fight him? I just beat him... it would have made absolutely no difference if I had 10 or 20 vit; the only thing that matters is Suzaku's Lotus Umbrella.

Spoiler

I did fight Demon of Hatred but I opted for a high mobility strategy. I never found the resin in Mibu Village on my first blind playthrough so Suzaku’s Umbrella was not an option.

Here’s the vid.

Spoiler

I actually did not know there was a second fight vs. The Owl! I will check that out soon.