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

[Bebpo]

I'm reading up on it and everything I'm seeing says

Genichiro -> AP4 -> Abandoned Dungeon -> Sunken Valley.

I'm gonna try Centipede man a few more times and then go do Genichiro and get my AP4.

[Himu]

Why are you reading guides man

[Bebpo]

Nevermind, just beat centipede guy easily lol

Why are you reading guides man

I don't use them for exploring, but if I'm stuck on a boss for an hour I'm going to look up tips for beating them. Otherwise I'll never get unstuck because obviously I'm missing something.

Like on this guy I didn't realize

spoiler (click to show/hide)

his red attack is a jump on head attack, so just parry the 10 hit and try not to get posture-broken and then head stomp, repeat twice and you get a deathblow, repeat 4 times and you win.

[close]

[kingv]

Not really sure how to beat the armored dude. I got his posture broken... but it didn’t work?

[Bebpo]

Found the hidden bead after centipede man, got to VIT14. Time to try Genchiro.

[Don Rumata]

Not really sure how to beat the armored dude. I got his posture broken... but it didn’t work?

There's a gimmick, look at the arena you're in. 

[Bebpo]

Genichiro's a pretty good fight. The only thing fucking me up is his mixups in his red alert moves. I know when he'll do them but he either stabs, sweeps, or grabs. The grab fucks me up the most when I jump thinking he's going for a sweep and he grabs me and does major damage. Otherwise got pretty close.

[Bebpo]

Fuck he's

spoiler (click to show/hide)

got a third part? lol

Fight's still great. I actually did ok on the 3rd part until I got trapped against a wall and the camera went away and I couldn't see anything and died

[close]

Damnit

spoiler (click to show/hide)

fucking had, 4 heals left, full life, down to less than 50% in his final form.

Then he gets me with a combo (not even lightning or anything) and does 100% HP damage and I already had 1 death

If I can just get to the last form without having used my ressurection I got this fight no prob

[close]

[Bebpo]

Ok, beat him.

Yeah that's a damn good and pretty fair fight.

[Himu]

Really hyped to dive in Souls games once I beat Sekiro.

[Bebpo]

Souls games play totally different. Same with Bloodborne which is like a halfway between Souls and Sekiro. I actually tell people who haven't played any to play DS1-3 and Bloodborne first and then Sekiro after.

[Bebpo]

Good progress, Bebpo! You are flying through the game.

Of course you missed a Main Boss for AP4 before Genichiro that's why I said EXPLORE FIRST.

Eh, I doubt the other AP4 boss is easier than Genichiro. Genichiro you can do at AP1, it's just about learning his moves and parrying until he's posture broken. And I explored everywhere outside doing Abandoned Dungeon at this point.

Like even at AP4 I'm trying Snake Eyes again and I can't beat him lol, dude is so annoying and it seems like no way to get a free stealth deathblow on him?
I'm going to kill him eventually and then do Abandoned Dungeon next.

[Don Rumata]

A friend of mine tried that and isn't really enjoying Dark Souls 3. He thought Bloodborne was much better but couldn't even finish that. Finished Sekiro with easy.

I tried playing some DkS3 yesterday, and the slow speed is really hard to stomach, but rolling through attacks is still fun.
I probably wouldn't go back to BB though, because of the 30fps nonsense.

Maybe on PS5, if they upgrade it to 60.

[Don Rumata]

Good progress, Bebpo! You are flying through the game.

Of course you missed a Main Boss for AP4 before Genichiro that's why I said EXPLORE FIRST.

Eh, I doubt the other AP4 boss is easier than Genichiro. Genichiro you can do at AP1, it's just about learning his moves and parrying until he's posture broken. And I explored everywhere outside doing Abandoned Dungeon at this point.

Like even at AP4 I'm trying Snake Eyes again and I can't beat him lol, dude is so annoying and it seems like no way to get a free stealth deathblow on him?
I'm going to kill him eventually and then do Abandoned Dungeon next.

Snakeeyes is a she. 

And yeah, you can stealth kill one bar off of her.

[Bebpo]

HOW

I got 1 deathblow kill on her but it's gonna be the hardest boss in the game so far to try to get two. She fucking stuns me and then shoots me for like 90% damage on VIT 14.

[Bebpo]

For Genichiro all I used was ichimouji to reduce posture a couple times. Otherwise none of the subweapons seemed useful so didn't use anything else.

On snake eyes I'm getting better at parrying her stuff. But the stealth shit never works for me. I have to do this fight with 2 deathblows, the stealth is fucking broken in my game. I run past her onto the bridge she loses focus and I get in stealth next to her but it won't let me deathblow because her default position is too close to the wall and I can't get behind her, only to the side of her.

[Bebpo]

I see the issue. When I parry her attack -> gunfire, the gunfire shot does a shitload of posture damage and after a few my posture breaks from the first attack and she clear shots me with the gun on the 2nd. I can dodge her grab by dashing/jumping away and get like 1 hit in but with her 1-2 combos I never get much damage in, just slowly increase her posture from parrying the first attack of the combo. Not sure what subweapon would be useful. Even parrying with raven's mist it teleports me too far behind her and I can get in and get a hit after the parry teleport. The umbrella is ok for defending but I can't figure out how to use it offensively. I don't have skill where you can reflect shots back.

Might have to move on and do Abandoned Dungeon before Snake Eyes. This fight is just annoying.

[Coax]

I run past her onto the bridge she loses focus and I get in stealth next to her but it won't let me deathblow because her default position is too close to the wall and I can't get behind her, only to the side of her.

Traveling past the bridge to the next idol, resting then backtracking is the common method to get one on her.

[Bebpo]

That's really really far to run from Gun Fort just for 1 attempt that you might die and have to do the run again.

But like I said, I can get to standing 2 feet from her in stealth just sitting there but I can't get her away from the wall in a non-combat way to let me walk behind her and get a stealth attack.


I'm now starting to parry the first hit and side dodge the gun shot and get a slash in which is helping a bit. I can continually get 1 deathblow on her but I can't get to 2. If I could get a stealth attack in I'd beat her no problem at this point but I can't  :'(

[Don Rumata]

Get back from the bridge, that's the method, but you can watch a video to see how to do it properly maybe (and a invisibility sugar may help, too).
I know you can cause i saw it on video, though personally i just killed her normally.
She's tough to fight, yeah.

[Himu]

What the fuck is AP4

[Bebpo]

Beat her. By the end I think I knew the fight pretty well. I use Ichimouji a lot to recover posture when I'm parrying like 95% of the time non-stop.




So here was an earlier attempt where I got her to like 1-2 hits from death on 2nd lifebar and fuck it up by JUMPING OFF A CLIFF and then fuck it up by Resurrecting and not healing or being smart and trying to rush and get that last 1-2 hits to finish her.



Here was the next attempt where I got her to like 1-2 hits away from death on 2nd bar again but fuck it up at the end with 2 gourds left by not healing when I should have



And then here was my final run beating her and I think I did pretty well. That's what like AN HOUR OF RETRYING A BOSS until you have all their moves down tends to do  :'(
Also the reason I ran behind the rock about halfway is if I go over to where she was I'd get shot to death by grunts so I had to pull her back in.

What the fuck is AP4

Attack Power 4, yeah I didn't know what it was either at first when Borys was writing AP3.

[Himu]

Souls games play totally different. Same with Bloodborne which is like a halfway between Souls and Sekiro. I actually tell people who haven't played any to play DS1-3 and Bloodborne first and then Sekiro after.

A friend of mine tried that and isn't really enjoying Dark Souls 3. He thought Bloodborne was much better but couldn't even finish that. Finished Sekiro with easy.

It won’t be my first time playing Souls. I have only played Demons (loved) and Dark (hated). I just didn’t like the way DkS1 was designed but I’m willing to push through Dark Souls 1-3 and BB.

[Bebpo]

Idk, I tend to get hit when I throw them out half the time so if I got the boss patterns down and can parry/dodge all their attacks, it's like why risk it. But that's just me and bad luck with firecrackers.

[Himu]

So wait attack power 4 is missable if you beat genichiro first?

[Himu]

Idk, I tend to get hit when I throw them out half the time so if I got the boss patterns down and can parry/dodge all their attacks, it's like why risk it. But that's just me and bad luck with firecrackers.

 Upgrade them to widen the hitbox space and get the skill that lets you follow up attack after using an item. Firecrackers are op.

[Himu]

Oh ok. I love how freeform the structure is. Unlike Darks Souls 1 I can choose to go somewhere else  if I want to take a break I can always come back. Reminds me of Demon’s Souls. I hated how in Dark Souls they touted it as open world but for the most part you were always rail roaded in terms of progress. It was very linear and despite the “open world” felt more linear than Demon’s. And here Sekiro has the freedom of Demon’s. Lurv.

[Bebpo]

Dark Souls 1 branches out pretty fast...

[Himu]

Not in my experience. Ring the tower, go to blight town, find other tower I think. You find some ruins but can’t do anything because the enemies are ghosts. No likey. Very linear.

[Don Rumata]

Oh ok. I love how freeform the structure is. Unlike Darks Souls 1 I can choose to go somewhere else  if I want to take a break I can always come back. Reminds me of Demon’s Souls. I hated how in Dark Souls they touted it as open world but for the most part you were always rail roaded in terms of progress. It was very linear and despite the “open world” felt more linear than Demon’s. And here Sekiro has the freedom of Demon’s. Lurv.

This is bull, Cindi.
If you take the master key at the start, you can basically explore 40% of the game right off the bat.

It's how i usually went to get my Gravelord Nito's sword right at the start of the game, and 1 shotted some of the early bosses.

Not in my experience. Ring the tower, go to blight town, find other tower I think. You find some ruins but can’t do anything because the enemies are ghosts. No likey. Very linear.

The only thing you "have" to do, is obtain the lord's vessel to open up the final three areas., and you have to beat Sen's fortress before getting to Anor Londo.
Almost anything else if fair game.
Catacombs, Burg, Blighttown, Depths, New Londo Ruins, Ash Lake, Great Hollow, etc.

[Himu]

I see. I’ll keep that in mind.

[Bebpo]

Now I remember what I was gonna say about Sekiro earlier today but forgot,

So I’m in the minority of action game players that didn’t enjoy Metal Gear Rising. I felt the whole game revolves around parries & counters but the parry was easy and incredibly OP, so the combat felt shallow to me.

Sekiro, to me, is basically the same concept, and on paper an entire game where you just parry and counter over and over sounds shallow, yet because it’s much better executed here, it’s anything but. Sekiro is what I wanted MGR to be in gameplay.

[Himu]

Haven’t been able to play and I’m at the temple still. Hoping to play today.

[Bebpo]

Newest patch fixes a lot of speedruning skips :/ Dream of sub 24 minutes is dead :rip

I am kind of missing the game already after Platinuming it... wish they would announce the DLC already.

Yeah, one thing about patches in games like this is sometimes you come late and all the broken strategies people come up with don't work anymore. I've had that happen in games where all the tips and strategies are outdated and it's just like idk.

I do think that patching some of the stuff like boss skips is dumb. No one is legit using them to skip a legit playthrough, they're just fun for stuff like speedrunning and they should leave it alone and let people try to break the game for that stuff.

[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.