Sekiro Shadows Die Twice (translator's note: Sekiro means ninja fuckery)

[Himu]

Jesus I haven’t played in weeks and now I’m playing like Borys.

[Himu]

Rust is off!

[Coax]

How's yall progress Cindi, MMaRsu, kingv, Coax, Don?

Got to the last two pre-boss parts two weeks ago but there's been some annoying af noisemaking nearby that sets me on edge so I've left off playing anything for the time being. Wish I could divine abduct some people.

[Don Rumata]

How's yall progress Cindi, MMaRsu, kingv, Coax, Don (Bebpo posts progress updates all the time )?

Kinda lost interest all of a sudden after i beat the first "bird".
I did the Dragon, but then stopped there, i couldn't be arsed to do the final boss, also because i had seen the ending when my brother beat him, anyway (not that i gave a shit about the plot, tbh).

I still enjoy the fighting, but the game itself came and went really fast for me, as far as interest goes, maybe it's because there's really little to no variety to it, and the stealth is really shallow.
So everything is in doing the bosses, but then the combat doesn't have that wide gamut that other action games (NG, Bayo, DMC) have.

I would enjoy a Boss Rush mode though.

[bork]

[Let's Cyber]

I lol'd watching Borys' vid. Somewhere, Miyazaki is crying.

"I knew we should have kept the stamina bar"

 

[Don Rumata]

Nah, i'm tired of having to stop and go when i'm trying to go around levels in Souls.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

The Borys method works, it just looks completely not fun and really tedious.

[Himu]

How’d I do?

[Himu]

Progress:

- gave Sakura droplet, upgraded res
- unlocked sunken valley

[paprikastaude]

Why aren't you using Firecrackers

Waste of time, especially since they are weak to normal fire (as most enemies covered in fabric).

[Himu]

- three...monkeys?

[Baiano19]

- three...monkeys?

And people say this game is harder than Dark Souls... 

[Himu]

- three...monkeys?

And people say this game is harder than Dark Souls... 

Uh

what?

[paprikastaude]

The best boss

spoiler (click to show/hide)

ape escape

[close]

[Himu]

It does own

[Baiano19]

- three...monkeys?

And people say this game is harder than Dark Souls... 

Uh

what?

I liked the novelty, but it wasn't hard. Was kinda disappointed, expected something after finding all monkeys ( that being said I just found the Giant Ape and ohhh boy).

Just watched your fight with Genichiro, amazing job!
 I jumped out of my seat when I beated him.

[Himu]

- three...monkeys?

And people say this game is harder than Dark Souls... 

Uh

what?

I liked the novelty, but it wasn't hard. Was kinda disappointed, expected something after finding all monkeys ( that being said I just found the Giant Ape and ohhh boy).

I mean. Were people using the monkeys as an example of Sekiro being harder than Dark Souls? That's where the confusion comes from. I just mentioned the monkeys and you were like,"And people say this game is harder than Dark Souls...  "

Which is kind of weird.

[Bebpo]

There's a monkey boss?
Or are you just talking about the monkeys you can fight on the way to the old serpent shrine on the way to Sunken Valley?

Might have some time to play this tonight, but if not will get back soon. My gaming schedule lets me play this like once every few days, but then I end up playing like 4 hours straight and get stuck on a boss at 1am and spend until 2am beating it and then am ded next day at work but oh well.

Btw, Miyazaki's gonna put out a substantial expansion pack to this, right? I mean DS1/2/3/BB all had them and some of those were the best parts/fights of those games. Hope Sekiro gets a cool one!

[Himu]

How do you use the mortal blade?

Yes bebpo you have to talk to Kuro. Senpou, main hall, touch the bell. You also need a letter for the girl.

[Don Rumata]

- three...monkeys?

Real-talk: best gimmick boss in Soulsborne series.

Fuck the little summoned terror shits, though.

I disagree that it is a good gimmick boss, but i also agree with Matthewmatosis on bosses in FROM games losing originality, and relying more and more on just being "memorize combos and win" sort of fights, whereas Demon's had the balls to mix it up more.

The Screen Monkeys were something different than just another "dude with sword", but the gimmick itself was pretty poor, i thought.
You have all these things in the area

spoiler (click to show/hide)

, the bell, the dark room, the waterfall,

[close]

but then the fastest way to do them (and easiest) is to

spoiler (click to show/hide)

essentially just bum rush them and kill them off.

[close]

This is mostly because the stealth in the game is extremely bare bones and shallow, but they could've made is a bit trickier, forcing you to be smarter than this.

Incidentally, "dude with sword" fights, were the most fun in the game, probably because that's the one mechanic that sets Sekiro apart (the ability to break the boss' posture) and all the other mechanics were just serviceable.
1 on 1 fights here, are still significantly more enjoyable than Soulsborne games though, so less creative bosses aren't as annoying to me, here.

[Bebpo]

How do you use the mortal blade?

Yes bebpo you have to talk to Kuro. Senpou, main hall, touch the bell. You also need a letter for the girl.

Yeah I didn't talk to Kuro after I beat Genichiro because after Borys talking about some stuff being missable I was afraid it might advance the story and lock me out of something in Abandoned Dungeon since I didn't do that yet. So I went and fought/beat Snake Eyes and warped to Abandoned Dungeon and saved last time I played.

Also I went back to the base temple before saving just noticed for the first time that there's a merchant there now with a bunch of good shit! So what I'd been doing with all my $$$ coins after I bought everything from all the other merchants available is every time I got to a boss, I'd spend all of them on those 10 coin spirit coins because fuck it I'm probably going to die 10 times and lose all 700-1,000 coins anyhow so I might as well spend them on something useful. So I have like 300-400 spirit coins now lol

[Himu]

Merchant asks you to take out samurai at Ashina Castle entrance. If you take out them all out he warps to your camp.

Also mortal blade is a combat art. I see.

[Bebpo]

Yeah I figured that out once I talked to him. I just like never noticed he was there because he kinda blends in.

[Himu]

Missables? Is Borys bs-ing?

[Don Rumata]

Missables? Is Borys bs-ing?

Some boss fights (3 i think) change the state of the world, and there is at least one mini boss that is missable ( i know because i missed him) but you have to do a late-game boss to miss him, so it's a ways off.

[Himu]

Who is it

[Don Rumata]

Who is it

It's one of the long shadow ninjas, there are 3 or 4 i think as proper mini bosses, and one of them you can't do, after you beat a story related boss (just cause you can't access that area anymore).

[Himu]

The purple ninja at hirata?

[Don Rumata]

The purple ninja at hirata?

Same type, but it's the one in Serpent Shrine.

[Bebpo]

The purple ninja at hirata?

Same type, but it's the one in Serpent Shrine.

Wait, not the old serpent shrine above Sunken Valley right? I thought it was odd there's an idol rest point there but...nothing there besides a drop or two and then you jump down and there's another one real close at Sunken Valley start. Maybe I have to go back after talking to Kuro?

Actually, wait, are you talking about the one in Ashino Reservoir by 7 Spears? I've fought purple ninja guy twice so far. Once in Hirata and once there.

[Don Rumata]

The purple ninja at hirata?

Same type, but it's the one in Serpent Shrine.

Wait, not the old serpent shrine above Sunken Valley right? I thought it was odd there's an idol rest point there but...nothing there besides a drop or two and then you jump down and there's another one real close at Sunken Valley start. Maybe I have to go back after talking to Kuro?

Actually, wait, are you talking about the one in Ashino Reservoir by 7 Spears? I've fought purple ninja guy twice so far. Once in Hirata and once there.

It's too early for you to fight him in the first place.
Just go check there when the scenery changes.

But yeah, it's that pathway from Ashina Castle, filled with monkeys, that leads to a wooden hut and a chasm.

[Himu]

[Bebpo]

Really nice run. I went WTF at 1:26 when you closed the gap really fast. I was like how did you do that and then I watched it again and it looks like that prosthetic skill where you throw a shuriken and then slice at the same time? I haven't messed with those skills yet, but now I see I should!

Also what was the item you used at the start of the vit? Didn't notice anything too different. I should use more items before boss fights, I'm just hoarding everything and haven't really used anything.

[Himu]

It allows a follow up attack after using a prosthetic. Shuriken obviously does the furthest damage, a follow up attack allows a long hit box. You can go across the screen and do a follow up attack if they're running away from you. Good tactic to maintain momentum and pressure to not lose posture meter. Shuriken in general is great because it has a short start up allowing long combos. So you can do attack x 3 cancel shuriken cancel follow up and just keep going in a constant loop of pressure.

Whatever anyone tells you about prosthetics being pointless, don't believe them. Another great thing about shuriken? You can spam that shit. Only takes on 1 unit per use. Owns.

Unfortunately ran out of shurikens and was like wtf during mid-fight and ended up dying because I didn't realize i was out. Oh well. Snake Eyes is still a punk.

[Himu]

The item I used was Uko's sugar which increases damage. In my experience it also increases damage done to posture bar. I could be wrong but it was why I used it.

[Himu]

I wasn't talking about you, I've read people say that on reddit. Most of the prosthetics are indeed pointless.

[Himu]

Today was eventful.

Made it to poison area, fought baboon boss, killed purple ninja looking for me in the old well. I love this game.

[Himu]

GUARDIAN APE 

[Himu]

Do Soulsborne games have this type of side questing?

Bebpo don't read if you're not ahead already.

Subtle, world building shit. Like for instance, a lady tells you about fruit: one dry, one wet. And you're not sure what she's talking about. But you're interested. You go down and encounter a snake, you have to survive encounters and then you're face to face with the beast. Then you have to solve a puzzle to get past it. You go in the house it's guarding and turns out it's guarding a heart. I defeated another snake before, and it dropped a dry heart. This one was sopping wet with blood.

Then there's this.



Does Soulsborne have organic side questing/world building like this? I do recall in Dks1, there was a fat knight with a cute outfit guarding a place and there was a quest with a cursed person on the lower deck behind some bars.

[Bebpo]

When you guys are talking about monkeys do you mean the mini-boss with the glutton guy with his monkey buddies in hidden forest? Just did that and got through Mibu village which was creepy as heck. I like that Snake Eyes in Ashina Depths has the same moves as the other Snake Eyes so once you get good at one of them the other is a one try kinda fight. Got the hidden prayer bead on buddha head there and got my VIT to 15 now.

In the area with Ashina Depths Snake eyes there's a wall near the lower save point that's too high and no way to reach?

Also are you supposed to be able to fight the shaman guy at abandoned dungeon at this point? I tried but there was no way to even hit him without building up huge amounts of terror. I even tried using the pacifying agent to reduce terror build up but that whole fight is terror. Feels like I'm missing something.

Also found the 2nd headless mini-boss in hidden forest. Should I do them now? Should I buy the terror reducing gourd for 1800 to use on these fights? I feel like the fights aren't bad but I die from terror.

[Bebpo]

I have like 10 divine confetti at this point.

[Coax]

Terror Gourd is available from the Mibu Village merchant, from memory. Also the anti-terror umbrella is a useful prosthetic upgrade imo but like most prosthetics is more suited to specific encounters (the S. Warriors mini bosses are where it's probably most useful).

[Don Rumata]

Terror Gourd is available from the Mibu Village merchant, from memory. Also the anti-terror umbrella is a useful prosthetic upgrade imo but like most prosthetics is more suited to specific encounters (the S. Warriors mini bosses are where it's probably most useful).

If you absorb their laser and use projected force to send it back to them, you do massive posture damage.

[Coax]

Terror Gourd is available from the Mibu Village merchant, from memory. Also the anti-terror umbrella is a useful prosthetic upgrade imo but like most prosthetics is more suited to specific encounters (the S. Warriors mini bosses are where it's probably most useful).

If you absorb their laser and use projected force to send it back to them, you do massive posture damage.

Saw someone also get an instant deathblow on one of them (from a full health bar) using one of the Lilac moves (deflection?) right beside them just after they went into the air IIRC. Personally hadn't tried that but seems crazy powerful.

[Himu]

Ashina Depths? Hidden Forest? Where is this? What the fuck. How has Bebpo not encountered monkeys yet if he’s fought his way through Sunken Valley?

Bebpo:

Three monkeys - kuro and wolf want to end the divine line. To end the divine line you need the mortal sword. To get it you go to Senpou. In the main hall is a man. Before you beat Genichiro you cannot progress further but this man says to tell a girl something. You have no idea what girl he’s talking about. After Genichiro boss fight go back to Senpou main hall. The Undying man is no longer there. Ring the bell. Fight three monkeys. Continue to sword.

Monkeys - there are monkeys in trees at Senpou near the first Centipede.

Armed Monkeys - progress through sunken valley after killing the snake.

Did you get to Ashina Depths by beating the purple boss in Abandoned Dungeon?

[Himu]

I found that out last night.

I wrecked his shit with mortal blade.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

First form was easy, took three to four tries. Then that second...

[close]

I got spooked after dying and quit the game after that

[Himu]

Ashina Depths? Hidden Forest? Where is this? What the fuck. How has Bebpo not encountered monkeys yet if he’s fought his way through Sunken Valley?

Bebpo:

Three monkeys - kuro and wolf want to end the divine line. To end the divine line you need the mortal sword. To get it you go to Senpou. In the main hall is a man. Before you beat Genichiro you cannot progress further but this man says to tell a girl something. You have no idea what girl he’s talking about. After Genichiro boss fight go back to Senpou main hall. The Undying man is no longer there. Ring the bell. Fight three monkeys. Continue to sword.

Monkeys - there are monkeys in trees at Senpou near the first Centipede.

Armed Monkeys - progress through sunken valley after killing the snake.

Did you get to Ashina Depths by beating the purple boss in Abandoned Dungeon?

The game is very open ended before Genichiro. You can get SUPER far (even you haven't been there yet!) before facing Genichiro. 65-70% of the whole game map area before this fight.

This game

[Bebpo]

Wait, talk about open-ended. I thought I'm on the way to get the Mortal Blade in Senpou Temple. Cindi already has the mortal blade so shouldn't see have gone through hidden forest/mibu village? Or did I miss the branch to the senpou temple somewhere along the way and went in a different direction.

I went and talked to Kuro and then Isshin and then Kuro again and then went to

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Abandoned Dungeon -> Jump into hole -> Ashina Depths -> Hidden Forest -> Mibu Village

[close]

Anyhow I guess I'll buy the purple gourd and see about upgrading my umbrella. 1,800 is just kinda expensive so hopefully it's useful. I'm not made out of money in this game! XP is much easier to grind than money for me at this point.

What about the red burn gourd from the carp guy in Hirata? Is there stuff upcoming where having that would help? Because so far outside flaming bull burn hasn't been an issue and if you do catch on fire you can just use an item.

[Himu]

How’d you get past purple dude??

Hidden forest/mibu is from an exit at Senpou?!

This game

[kingv]

First area I went to after Genichiro was sunken valley I think. I eventually back tracked and did some other stuff, but i found like two prayer beads and two gourd seeds in like 30 mins of exploring.

[Himu]

Is this the abandoned dungeon from Ashina Castle?

[kingv]

It’s basically like off to the side of the bridge right before the castle. Like, where those rifle dudes are up the top of the stairs with the sword samurai guy? Turn around and walk away from that point back to the bridge where the old lady is... praying or whatever she is doing, and then the dungeon is kind of off to the right.

[Himu]

I really did go left and Bebpo went right then

[Bebpo]

Yeah I found Senpou temple. See I got to abandoned dungeon after beating the purple guy where you started in the intro and then past him was the right side of abandoned dungeon which looked like just the shaman boss and bottomless pit. Didn't realize there was another entrance from the castle.

Anyhow, went part way up Senpou but not sure what to do now. Getting to lots and lots of ghost fights and without infinite purchase divine confetti I'm kinda stuck. Right now I've got:

-2 headless fights
-1 shamaniac warrior
-1 ghost O'ren
-1 corrupted monk

On the corrupted monk, is he a ghost? Because I seem to be doing very minor slight damage without divine confetti and when I used divine confetti I didn't notice a difference. But then he appears out of the air and looks like a ghost so idk. I'm not even sure how to beat him because I do very very minor chip damage and he instantly regains full posture even when I deflect his stuff nonstop (which does huge posture damage on me). I feel like I could probably beat him after a long drawn out fight of chip damage for like 10-20 mins while perfectly dodging every attack, but considering Sekiro boss fights are like 2-4 mins long I'm missing something so I feel like I should come back later.

Also I grabbed all the mats and the 1000 coins for the purple umbrella upgrade to fight shamaniac warrior but it won't let me buy the upgrade because I'm missing the last sub-weapon and it's part of the upper tree to the unlock When two trees combine in the upgrade path, do you seriously have to finish out both paths that connect to the upgrade to buy it? Because I bought the flame vent path to the purple umbrella but it won't let me buy the upgrade.

At this point I'm gonna finish Senpou Temple first, then do past the locked door in Sunken Valley which I now have the key before doing all the ghost shit above.

Also for the carp guy, I have 6 scales and the dragon mask half is 7 and the floating technique is 5 and the burn gourd is 2. When I hit 7 carp scales should I just buy the dragon mask? Is the floating technique important?

[Himu]

Ghosts at Senpou?!

[Bebpo]

Ok, first Headless down. Took me a bunch of divine confetti. I guess I'll blow the rest of my divine confetti stock to take out the 2nd one.

Ghosts at Senpou?!

No, ghosts are mibu village.

[Bebpo]

Oh damn, beating the headless in ashino leads me back to Senpou, demon bell. Neat.

[Himu]

How do I get past the purple dude in abandoned dungeon?

[Himu]

Oh damn, beating the headless in ashino leads me back to Senpou, demon bell. Neat.

Ringing the bell is hard mode. Don’t ring it.