Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software)

Soygen

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You can bait him into a jumping attack that you can side step and get a mortal draw in. Not sure if it is a bug but you can keep using mortal draw after you are out of emblems.
I just tried again with Mortal Draw and killed him in on the first attempt! Sonofa...
 
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MrHolland420

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Got this in today, I'm so happy that From Software let FuturePress do the Sekiro guide. Wish FuturePress did the DS3 guide. KRA KRA!

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Njals

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The final fight in NG+++ after fountain head is infuriating. One misread attack and you are basically done if it is 2 hits or more. I'll be in phase 3 or 4 and the bastard will pull a sweep out of nowhere instead of a thrust. I swear the first two times against him he never did it and now it seems to be a 50/50 shot when the red prompt shows and if he jumped back in the brush forget being able to tell what the hell he is doing. Still love this game but I don't think it will have the lasting power of Bloodborne or the souls due to the single weapon and minimal active skill choices. If they make DLC for this I hope in addition to a new area it has at least one alternate weapon to try.
 

Folanlron

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Seems that they have gone thru and fixed a bunch of AI exploits wanted too run thru again, can't exploit Sword-Saint(skipping phase 2, he just jumps back now and pulls out the spear), no more cheese Demon of Hatred, and True Monk they fixed the first phase drop attack, but you can still drop attack and skip the 2nd phase.
 

TBT-TheBigToe

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Seems that they have gone thru and fixed a bunch of AI exploits wanted too run thru again, can't exploit Sword-Saint(skipping phase 2, he just jumps back now and pulls out the spear), no more cheese Demon of Hatred, and True Monk they fixed the first phase drop attack, but you can still drop attack and skip the 2nd phase.

Too many ai exploits and out of bounds skips make a game look broken as fuck in speed/stream run. Like, complete and total garbage kind of broken and that hurts future sales. Don’t blame them for patching as much as this shit as quickly as they can, don’t want the game to look poorly made at GDQ this year.
 

Runnen

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Oh man, did they fix the trick where you can have Demon of Hatred fall off the cliff? Bummer, I was looking forward to trying that out for fun..
 

Folanlron

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Oh man, did they fix the trick where you can have Demon of Hatred fall off the cliff? Bummer, I was looking forward to trying that out for fun..


Yep, kinda weird that they fixed Sword-Saint also, the downside was if you messed it up his posture would fully reset, but ah well was fun the 1 time I did it. Never did the Demon fall..

Too many ai exploits and out of bounds skips make a game look broken as fuck in speed/stream run. Like, complete and total garbage kind of broken and that hurts future sales. Don’t blame them for patching as much as this shit as quickly as they can, don’t want the game to look poorly made at GDQ this year.

All they have to do is not patch the game ... *shrug* your still gonna get the fucked boss fights sadly just cause it's faster..
 

Runnen

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Just to make it clear, the last patch definitely did NOT fix the Demon of Hatred cliff cheese, I just did it today on the latest version of the game.
 
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Whidon

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I am surprised few on this board, and basically, no one in the gaming press has mentioned what as I see as the Two big takeaways from this game. The game fights these two main issues with a combination of a new combat system that takes time to learn, A store of goodwill from Gamers and media, a combat system that at it's best can both look and feel amazing. A pragmatic way of seeing the game is realizing the game would be fantastic if they sold it for $30 instead of $60... But overall these things must be said. Anyone who wants to play this game deserves a review that is honest and mentions an NG, or NG+ cycle With both options, and avoiding Shura can be beaten in 3 hours by a rather competent-but mediocre gameplayer once they understand the combat system and get the reactions/rhythm down.

THIS GAME IS CLEARLY RUSHED BY ACTIVISION, AND THE OVERALL LACK OF CONTENT + RE-USING BOSSES, ASSETS, AND ALL THE OTHERS WAYS MAKE IT PAINFULLY OBVIOUS. The biggest and most sad example of this is Mini Bosses and bosses.

  1. For Bosses: The few unique bosses the game has are (mostly) all very good quality fights worthy of a FROM soft game. The issue is there is like a grand total of 7 of them. Gyoubo, LB, Genichiro, Guardian Ape (Folding monkeys don't count), Corrupted Monk, Owl, Demon of hatred. and Isshin. The others are all just variations on those mentioned. added mostly to make the game seem like it had more content.
  2. Now the mini-Bosses are even worse. Not only do we see the same dudes with slightly diff abilities/names but they mostly criminally uninteresting and sometimes like with the generic Ashina general mini-Boss, or Purple ninja mini-boss you fight a slight variation of the same guy a total of over 4x-5x, Overall the mini-bosses feel more like generic enemies just ramped up with greater damage/hp/deathblow counter. Compared to what we might hope for. Even the neat unique ones?, Orin of the water and Armoured Dad. Can't help Feels like. Well, a fish outta water, she seems o have no purpose within the story or gameplay and is just kinda there playing her lute a minute before the corrupted monk.
  3. I can't shake the feeling that the Minibosses are both a combination of unfinished/scrapped ideas/characters like Orin/Armour Dad and maybe a few others. Or as I said previously tuned up trash mobs. Again, they feel like tuned up trash mobs for me.
  4. The game is terribly unbalanced. l won't even get into how all the prosthetics are all borderline OP like Firecracker, or utterly useless aside from situational stuff. Stealth/stealth kills totally ruin the difficulty of the great majority of mini-bosses. Hell, you can even stealth kill 2 of 3 life bars of Corrupted Monk. In terms of general gameplay levels, you can simply run past anything that does not require killing a mini-boss or boss to progress. on NG+ or basically any play through but you're second this is the best way to play the game. Not only for sta
  5. lastly even the general amount of areas in the game is lacking. You spend an enormous amount of time in/around Ashina castle. The game world feels like a fraction of the size of Soulsborne games and the whole grappling hook/stealth just make this worse.
Now as for the supposed difficulty. I don't know if this is because I've just gotten better at playing these type of games as I beat Dark Souls 3 including it's LC's for the first time right after this and stuff like Gael died in two tries with Midir and Friede being my hardest and taking 4-5. but it seems to be the whole "insane difficulty" is just taking a few days to get used to the controls/gameplay. Once you become good at deflecting while incorporating dodge/jumps the game is a relative breeze with the exception of Isshin who killed me 50+ times in GA+ with no Kuro's idol before I got him.
 
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TBT-TheBigToe

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I am surprised few on this board, and basically, no one in the gaming press has mentioned what as I see as the Two big takeaways from this game. The game fights these two main issues with a combination of a new combat system that takes time to learn, A store of goodwill from Gamers and media, a combat system that at it's best can both look and feel amazing. A pragmatic way of seeing the game is realizing the game would be fantastic if they sold it for $30 instead of $60... But overall these things must be said. Anyone who wants to play this game deserves a review that is honest and mentions an NG, or NG+ cycle With both options, and avoiding Shura can be beaten in 3 hours by a rather competent-but mediocre gameplayer once they understand the combat system and get the reactions/rhythm down.

THIS GAME IS CLEARLY RUSHED BY ACTIVISION, AND THE OVERALL LACK OF CONTENT + RE-USING BOSSES, ASSETS, AND ALL THE OTHERS WAYS MAKE IT PAINFULLY OBVIOUS. The biggest and most sad example of this is Mini Bosses and bosses.

  1. For Bosses: The few unique bosses the game has are (mostly) all very good quality fights worthy of a FROM soft game. The issue is there is like a grand total of 7 of them. Gyoubo, LB, Genichiro, Guardian Ape (Folding monkeys don't count), Corrupted Monk, Owl, Demon of hatred. and Isshin. The others are all just variations on those mentioned. added mostly to make the game seem like it had more content.
  2. Now the mini-Bosses are even worse. Not only do we see the same dudes with slightly diff abilities/names but they mostly criminally uninteresting and sometimes like with the generic Ashina general mini-Boss, or Purple ninja mini-boss you fight a slight variation of the same guy a total of over 4x-5x, Overall the mini-bosses feel more like generic enemies just ramped up with greater damage/hp/deathblow counter. Compared to what we might hope for. Even the neat unique ones?, Orin of the water and Armoured Dad. Can't help Feels like. Well, a fish outta water, she seems o have no purpose within the story or gameplay and is just kinda there playing her lute a minute before the corrupted monk.
  3. I can't shake the feeling that the Minibosses are both a combination of unfinished/scrapped ideas/characters like Orin/Armour Dad and maybe a few others. Or as I said previously tuned up trash mobs. Again, they feel like tuned up trash mobs for me.
  4. The game is terribly unbalanced. l won't even get into how all the prosthetics are all borderline OP like Firecracker, or utterly useless aside from situational stuff. Stealth/stealth kills totally ruin the difficulty of the great majority of mini-bosses. Hell, you can even stealth kill 2 of 3 life bars of Corrupted Monk. In terms of general gameplay levels, you can simply run past anything that does not require killing a mini-boss or boss to progress. on NG+ or basically any play through but you're second this is the best way to play the game. Not only for sta
  5. lastly even the general amount of areas in the game is lacking. You spend an enormous amount of time in/around Ashina castle. The game world feels like a fraction of the size of Soulsborne games and the whole grappling hook/stealth just make this worse.
Now as for the supposed difficulty. I don't know if this is because I've just gotten better at playing these type of games as I beat Dark Souls 3 including it's LC's for the first time right after this and stuff like Gael died in two tries with Midir and Friede being my hardest and taking 4-5. but it seems to be the whole "insane difficulty" is just taking a few days to get used to the controls/gameplay. Once you become good at deflecting while incorporating dodge/jumps the game is a relative breeze with the exception of Isshin who killed me 50+ times in GA+ with no Kuro's idol before I got him.

I like your review, it’s fair.

My issue with the game is that it doesn’t necessarily challenge your ability to play video games, just your ability to react to them. It is testing a physical response to the enemies as opposed to a more mental/gameplaying response to the game as a whole, not much in the game was challenging except the deflect timing. It always felt like I was fighting myself instead of the game. ALSO, that issue exists with me because I am getting old and the reflexes ain’t what they used to be and building them up is not a fun chore.

Good game, not great.
 
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Whidon

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I like your review, it’s fair.

My issue with the game is that it doesn’t necessarily challenge your ability to play video games, just your ability to react to them. It is testing a physical response to the enemies as opposed to a more mental/gameplaying response to the game as a whole, not much in the game was challenging except the deflect timing. It always felt like I was fighting myself instead of the game. ALSO, that issue exists with me because I am getting old and the reflexes ain’t what they used to be and building them up is not a fun chore.

Good game, not great.


That's a good point. I never really thought about it that way but it's true and can really feel really frustrating, especially vs trash. Even the best fights like OWl 1-2 and Isshin basically consist of doing the correct reaction to each move and occasionally get in a hit when you can. The fact the game's code makes it so some bosses like Isshin only take damage from the first strike in a two-hit combo makes it even worse.

it's like the opposite of Bloodborne where you want to be proactive and aggressive. Maybe that's why it feels good but never quite as good as it should to me.
 
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Soygen

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I like your review, it’s fair.

My issue with the game is that it doesn’t necessarily challenge your ability to play video games, just your ability to react to them. It is testing a physical response to the enemies as opposed to a more mental/gameplaying response to the game as a whole, not much in the game was challenging except the deflect timing. It always felt like I was fighting myself instead of the game. ALSO, that issue exists with me because I am getting old and the reflexes ain’t what they used to be and building them up is not a fun chore.

Good game, not great.
Agreed. It's most definitely more twitch than other From games and at 43, I'm not getting any speedier in my reactions. That being said, I progress well enough when I actually put time into the game. It's just not keeping me interested like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. It's easily my least favorite From game, but still a very good game.
 
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Folanlron

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The big issue is just the total lack of "builds", it's not a great game like DS/Bloodborne but its a nice break from the normal recipe of FROM games..
 
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Dandai

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I enjoyed it for sure. I’m glad they got a creative breath of fresh air. Hopefully we’ll get something even better next.
 
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TJT

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The big issue is just the total lack of "builds", it's not a great game like DS/Bloodborne but its a nice break from the normal recipe of FROM games..

This. By far this was my biggest concern about the game. That and Sekiro had no labyrinth system/Side B type gameplay. That was the genius of Bloodborne. The weapons were basically playing a totally different game. Get tired of the main story a bit? Go do some good ol' fashioned fucking dungeon crawls son. Even the shit in the labyrinth had tons of variety and bosses that weren't even in the main game.

Since there aren't any builds or crazy weapon variety or additional content... it really doesn't have the fleshed out content of other From games. Great game and a wonderful aesthetic. But it is a far cry from their previous work. I do appreciate that they experimented though.
 
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Njals

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I am surprised few on this board, and basically, no one in the gaming press has mentioned what as I see as the Two big takeaways from this game. The game fights these two main issues with a combination of a new combat system that takes time to learn, A store of goodwill from Gamers and media, a combat system that at it's best can both look and feel amazing. A pragmatic way of seeing the game is realizing the game would be fantastic if they sold it for $30 instead of $60... But overall these things must be said. Anyone who wants to play this game deserves a review that is honest and mentions an NG, or NG+ cycle With both options, and avoiding Shura can be beaten in 3 hours by a rather competent-but mediocre gameplayer once they understand the combat system and get the reactions/rhythm down.

THIS GAME IS CLEARLY RUSHED BY ACTIVISION, AND THE OVERALL LACK OF CONTENT + RE-USING BOSSES, ASSETS, AND ALL THE OTHERS WAYS MAKE IT PAINFULLY OBVIOUS. The biggest and most sad example of this is Mini Bosses and bosses.

  1. For Bosses: The few unique bosses the game has are (mostly) all very good quality fights worthy of a FROM soft game. The issue is there is like a grand total of 7 of them. Gyoubo, LB, Genichiro, Guardian Ape (Folding monkeys don't count), Corrupted Monk, Owl, Demon of hatred. and Isshin. The others are all just variations on those mentioned. added mostly to make the game seem like it had more content.
  2. Now the mini-Bosses are even worse. Not only do we see the same dudes with slightly diff abilities/names but they mostly criminally uninteresting and sometimes like with the generic Ashina general mini-Boss, or Purple ninja mini-boss you fight a slight variation of the same guy a total of over 4x-5x, Overall the mini-bosses feel more like generic enemies just ramped up with greater damage/hp/deathblow counter. Compared to what we might hope for. Even the neat unique ones?, Orin of the water and Armoured Dad. Can't help Feels like. Well, a fish outta water, she seems o have no purpose within the story or gameplay and is just kinda there playing her lute a minute before the corrupted monk.
  3. I can't shake the feeling that the Minibosses are both a combination of unfinished/scrapped ideas/characters like Orin/Armour Dad and maybe a few others. Or as I said previously tuned up trash mobs. Again, they feel like tuned up trash mobs for me.
  4. The game is terribly unbalanced. l won't even get into how all the prosthetics are all borderline OP like Firecracker, or utterly useless aside from situational stuff. Stealth/stealth kills totally ruin the difficulty of the great majority of mini-bosses. Hell, you can even stealth kill 2 of 3 life bars of Corrupted Monk. In terms of general gameplay levels, you can simply run past anything that does not require killing a mini-boss or boss to progress. on NG+ or basically any play through but you're second this is the best way to play the game. Not only for sta
  5. lastly even the general amount of areas in the game is lacking. You spend an enormous amount of time in/around Ashina castle. The game world feels like a fraction of the size of Soulsborne games and the whole grappling hook/stealth just make this worse.
Now as for the supposed difficulty. I don't know if this is because I've just gotten better at playing these type of games as I beat Dark Souls 3 including it's LC's for the first time right after this and stuff like Gael died in two tries with Midir and Friede being my hardest and taking 4-5. but it seems to be the whole "insane difficulty" is just taking a few days to get used to the controls/gameplay. Once you become good at deflecting while incorporating dodge/jumps the game is a relative breeze with the exception of Isshin who killed me 50+ times in GA+ with no Kuro's idol before I got him.

It's odd, I 100% agree with you but still loved the game to the point I finished all the trophies and got to NG+6 before loaning it to a friend. It's no Bloodborne but still better than anything else I've played this year. I think the real test of enjoyment for me will be a year from now if it is still installed along with the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne.
 
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