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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | OT | Borne of Souls

Shifty

Member
3 hours in and this is easily my favourite souls-like. The combat system is hot fire from the moment you land your first parry instakill, and the open level traversal is great.

I'm not really seeing the difficulty complaint so far, at least with standard enemies and minibosses. Damage is pretty damn high, but hit-and-run tactics combined with a defensive mindset put the difficulty on par with Bloodborne.

The heavy focus on defense and finding an opening to obliterate your enemy is actually reminding me of Ninja Gaiden. Looking forward to playing more.
 

Fbh

Member
Just beat Genichiro.
That was pretty hard but really fun. Only took me like 4 tries (the dude before him killed me like 7 times though) but I think I got lucky with his second form. I went super aggressive and he hardly even used his lightning attacks (just the slow one where he jumps which is pretty easy to avoid).


Does anyone know how you enter the lower levels of the castle? There's a couple of doors that seem the lead inside but they all say they open from the other side. I guess I get there later on?
 
Man, I think the biggest problem I had with Lady Butterfly was that I was a Souls player. Spent so much time trying to figure out where the potential gimmick part was. Turns out there really isn't any (I heard that there's a early game skill that you can pick up to cheese this fight but I didn't have that with me), and the game pretty much forces you to understand the relationship between posture and health.

I did kill her by breaking her posture both times, I think that's actually easier than dodging for the most part. One semi-pro tip: the sweeping lethal attack is better not posture-countered, but instead just land behind/beside her and sink in a 3 hit combo. That's your biggest opening to drop her health by a bit so that she stops regenerating posture. Then parry to victory.
 
I did, and for the first 3 or so hours I thought I wouldn't like the game.

The beginning is somewhat "generic", in a sense that it doesn't have an impact nor gives you the "atmospheric" feel other Souls games do.

But the game really grows on you after the first few areas, and you soon realize it has the same greatness of the other main FromSoftware games... the awe kicks in as well :)


Maybe I should give more time before I send it back..hmmmmm 🤔
 

Golgo 13

The Man With The Golden Dong
3 hours in and this is easily my favourite souls-like. The combat system is hot fire from the moment you land your first parry instakill, and the open level traversal is great.

I'm not really seeing the difficulty complaint so far, at least with standard enemies and minibosses. Damage is pretty damn high, but hit-and-run tactics combined with a defensive mindset put the difficulty on par with Bloodborne.

The heavy focus on defense and finding an opening to obliterate your enemy is actually reminding me of Ninja Gaiden. Looking forward to playing more.
You don’t see the difficulty yet because the first 3-5 hours, depending on how you play, are deceptively easy. Come back and update us after you’ve cleared a major boss or two :)
 

GenericUser

Member
3 hours in and this is easily my favourite souls-like. The combat system is hot fire from the moment you land your first parry instakill, and the open level traversal is great.

I'm not really seeing the difficulty complaint so far, at least with standard enemies and minibosses. Damage is pretty damn high, but hit-and-run tactics combined with a defensive mindset put the difficulty on par with Bloodborne.

The heavy focus on defense and finding an opening to obliterate your enemy is actually reminding me of Ninja Gaiden. Looking forward to playing more.

Oh sweet summer child. My getting my ass kicked level is currently at a 7/10 . Definitely harder then ds3 in my book. Feels like I need to relearn how to play a from game.
 

Ivellios

Member
In just getting wrecked wherever i go now.

I cant even manage to beat any general even with 6 healing and on Ashina castle even the normal enemies are defeating me easily.

I met 2 new bosses (one samurai on a well and another on Ashina castle) and i can barely touch them before i die.

Is there any essencial skill i may be missing maybe? Or should i just practice more and git gud?
 

Helios

Member
Does anyone know how you enter the lower levels of the castle? There's a couple of doors that seem the lead inside but they all say they open from the other side. I guess I get there later on?
If you entered the castle from the window with the bonfire (upper tower - antechamber) , you should be able to go down from there. If I recall correctly there's a room with a few patrolling samurais where you can jump down.
I met 2 new bosses (one samurai on a well and another on Ashina castle) and i can barely touch them before i die.
The Ashina castle one is pretty easy if you kill the mobs near him. I had a lot of trouble with the samurai one, though.
 

GenericUser

Member
In just getting wrecked wherever i go now.

I have exactly the same feeling lol. I have multiple paths available, doesn't matter which one I take, I get my ass handed to me. Lol. I don't want any tips though as I want to know how far I can push without help.
I'm about 10or 15 hours in (can you see gametime in game?) and it still feels as if I'm only scratching the surface of the combat system. With the omission of the stamina bar, there is barely any reason NOT to run around like a freak all the time. Feels goodman.
 

Codes 208

Member
I’m not sure I get the “this game is easy” comments. Outside of trying to be edgy I guess. I’ve beaten all the From games (minus Demon souls) and this shit is like chalice dungeon level of hard and I’m still just stuck at the Ginchiro’s rematch. Meanwhile I easily had to refight phantom butterfly and several random generals how many times. Hell, I already have PTSD flashbacks of the samurai duel just before ginchiro.

This game is fucking hard. I haven’t gotten my ass this kicked since ninja gaiden 2.
But holy shit do I love it.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
In just getting wrecked wherever i go now.

I cant even manage to beat any general even with 6 healing and on Ashina castle even the normal enemies are defeating me easily.

I met 2 new bosses (one samurai on a well and another on Ashina castle) and i can barely touch them before i die.

Is there any essencial skill i may be missing maybe? Or should i just practice more and git gud?

Wolf is a glass cannon, so the difference between winning easily and losing easily comes down to your fundamentals and timing. Practice on single enemy types for a while and learn their move sets. Go for the deflect whenever possible, and be precise with your button inputs. Don't mash.

If a boss is killing you with its unblockables, study its patterns. There are typically only two, maybe three variations and you have plenty of time to react correctly and dodge or counter depending on the type of move. Don't fear death.

Keep pressure on enemies, since any attacks they don't deflect do posture damage on block, or vitality damage on hit. Usually there's a pattern to how many attacks you can land on a given enemy before they'll deflect and go back on the offense, and you don't want to be caught mid-animation on your next attack when they do, so don't button mash.

Flow back and forth between offense and defense. Typically you're looking to deflect as much of an enemy combo as you can manage and block the rest. You can't always time out rapid fire successive attacks, but try to at least deflect the first and especially the last hit of a combo. It'll give you a major advantage -- the enemy is stuck in recovery frames, while you can begin attacking them immediately, usually resulting in a free hit. Flow to offense while they're recovering, 1-3 attacks, but when they've blocked one or two hits, be ready to go back to deflecting and don't over commit, since they can do the same thing back to you by deflecting your big attack and punishing.

Get used to that flow of battle and you'll succeed. You may need to do some trial and error to figure out when to dodge or jump instead of deflecting in order to punish some enemies, and be mindful that a lot of unblockables will track and punish the wrong evasion type. Jumpkick counter sweeps, create distance on grabs, and Mikiri Counter thrusts.

Vitality damage makes it easier to accumulate posture damage, for you and for enemies, so do a mix of both against harder enemies and be mindful about your own health gauge. Holding block recovers your posture gauge faster.

As far as skills to unlock, you want Mikiri Counter and the one that gives you vitality back on deathblow.
 
I know I’m very early on on this game, just got to the idol near the ogre and the first idol in Hirata Estate. I am really enjoying my time with it though. Spent 15 minutes with Henbei ( think that’s his name, the training guy) and it really helped me. Can now beat normal enemies with ease. Just loving the whole aesthetic of the world and the death blows are so gruesome!
 

Ivellios

Member
I have exactly the same feeling lol. I have multiple paths available, doesn't matter which one I take, I get my ass handed to me. Lol. I don't want any tips though as I want to know how far I can push without help.
I'm about 10or 15 hours in (can you see gametime in game?) and it still feels as if I'm only scratching the surface of the combat system. With the omission of the stamina bar, there is barely any reason NOT to run around like a freak all the time. Feels goodman.

In Soulsborne games i just learned to swallow my pride and try to seek help lol.

Wolf is a glass cannon, so the difference between winning easily and losing easily comes down to your fundamentals and timing. Practice on single enemy types for a while and learn their move sets. Go for the deflect whenever possible, and be precise with your button inputs. Don't mash.

If a boss is killing you with its unblockables, study its patterns. There are typically only two, maybe three variations and you have plenty of time to react correctly and dodge or counter depending on the type of move. Don't fear death.

Keep pressure on enemies, since any attacks they don't deflect do posture damage on block, or vitality damage on hit. Usually there's a pattern to how many attacks you can land on a given enemy before they'll deflect and go back on the offense, and you don't want to be caught mid-animation on your next attack when they do, so don't button mash.

Flow back and forth between offense and defense. Typically you're looking to deflect as much of an enemy combo as you can manage and block the rest. You can't always time out rapid fire successive attacks, but try to at least deflect the first and especially the last hit of a combo. It'll give you a major advantage -- the enemy is stuck in recovery frames, while you can begin attacking them immediately, usually resulting in a free hit. Flow to offense while they're recovering, 1-3 attacks, but when they've blocked one or two hits, be ready to go back to deflecting and don't over commit, since they can do the same thing back to you by deflecting your big attack and punishing.

Get used to that flow of battle and you'll succeed. You may need to do some trial and error to figure out when to dodge or jump instead of deflecting in order to punish some enemies, and be mindful that a lot of unblockables will track and punish the wrong evasion type. Jumpkick counter sweeps, create distance on grabs, and Mikiri Counter thrusts.

Vitality damage makes it easier to accumulate posture damage, for you and for enemies, so do a mix of both against harder enemies and be mindful about your own health gauge. Holding block recovers your posture gauge faster.

As far as skills to unlock, you want Mikiri Counter and the one that gives you vitality back on deathblow.

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.

I will re-practice all the fundamentals on the training NPC as well and after that i think the normal enemies on the ashina castle are very good to practice as well.

I already got the 2 skills you mentioned, and sometimes im able to use Mikari counter sucessfully.
 
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Ailynn

Faith - Hope - Love
This game is having me itching to rebuy a PS4 or XBoxOne. Are there any Tenchu fans in here? Is this game a suitable replacement for someone who's been dying for another Tenchu game ever since Tenchu Z?
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
This game is having me itching to rebuy a PS4 or XBoxOne. Are there any Tenchu fans in here? Is this game a suitable replacement for someone who's been dying for another Tenchu game ever since Tenchu Z?

It's not. It's a solid game, but it's an action game with a side of stealth fries. Plus, all the mobility and verticality goes out the window on boss battles.
 

Ailynn

Faith - Hope - Love
It's not. It's a solid game, but it's an action game with a side of stealth fries. Plus, all the mobility and verticality goes out the window on boss battles.

Okay, cool - Thank you so very much for letting me know! :)
The wait for a true spiritual successor continues, it seems...
 
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Dunki

Member
This game is having me itching to rebuy a PS4 or XBoxOne. Are there any Tenchu fans in here? Is this game a suitable replacement for someone who's been dying for another Tenchu game ever since Tenchu Z?
There are rumors and interviews around this topic. Basically it was a new retake on Tenchu but since so much has changed regarding the mechanics etc. They made it their own game in the end. I think you still can see some Tenchu in there. Like the grappling hook and the peeking behind a corner etc.

Also Activision owns the tenchu rights so this makes real sense

PS: Learning the basics is really important. Way more than in Darksouls or such kind of games.
 
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Pejo

Member
Had no idea why my performance was so bad for this game, but I was playing 15 FPS with everything on low and 720p on my new laptop. It runs Dark Souls 2 on max at 1080p, so I had no idea what the hell was going on. Despite this, I eventually slogged through to beat the chained Ogre with the awful lag and horrible response. Then I noticed that the game was for some reason using the laptop's integrated card instead of the nvidia card. FFS.

Switched it, and was then able to run the game on high settings at 1080p and it ran like butter. Now with the added visual fidelity and response time, the game is such a breeze.

I feel like I need to slap myself for not figuring this out earlier.
 

V4skunk

Banned
This game is having me itching to rebuy a PS4 or XBoxOne. Are there any Tenchu fans in here? Is this game a suitable replacement for someone who's been dying for another Tenchu game ever since Tenchu Z?
Sekiro is Soulsborne. If you do not like Soulsborne you won't like Sekiro.
 

Horatius

Member
the inspiration was definitely tenchu though. the project started as a new tenchu, but they quickly realised it was a rights nightmare with different companies helping make it, so they pulled a dark souls and created a new world around the old ideas.

gameplay wise it's not quite the same though, it's definitely more soulsy, but the thought behind the project is basically how would we make a modern tenchu if we could
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I have been liitle busy this few weeks so my progression is kind of slow but I did finally manage to beat that drunken fat guy. This fight was tough, I couldn't barely find opening for my attacks.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
You can kinda sorta see the Tenchu roots, but they started the journey there...definitely didn't end there. A Tenchu game is about stealth first, combat as a distant second. Sekiro wants you to jump into an arena and duel some nasty with a sword. That's the order of the day. Maybe you stealth kill a few dudes on the way to said arena, but the moment you get there stealth flies out the window. You need to get good with the sword fighting mechanics above all else, or you're never getting anywhere.
 

TitanNut88

Member
The game is amazing. I cannot say if better that soulsborne or not, they are "same same but different". I arrived to
Ashina Castle and I am stuck in the Blazing Bull for now. I also completed Hirata Estate, except for Lady Butterfly.
I find the normal enemies a little bit easier than in soulsborne but the bosses harder. Thanks for that game, From Software!
 

Makariel

Member
Sekiro is Soulsborne. If you do not like Soulsborne you won't like Sekiro.
What does "Soulsborne" even mean then? I can't remember much use of grappling hooks and sneaking through bushes in Dark Souls. Admittedly I'm only 6 hours in, but Sekiro has more in common with Metal Gear Solid (minus the cutscenes) at this stage as it has with Dark Souls. The flow of the combat is completely different (there was a comparison to Ninja Gaiden earlier, I think that's closer to Sekiro than "Souls"), there are no wildly different builds to try (Dark Souls 2 was peak build variety) and it is way more fast paced than Souls ever was. Yesterday I was thrown down a cliff by an ogre, just to latch on to a tree with the grappling hook in the last second, saving me from death by falling. Souls was never this dynamic.
 
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Drake

Member
I haven't bothered to cure Dragonrot once. I've not really really needed money that bad and when I do I'll just farm it at hirata estate.

I just watched the IGN review. You can set the in game language to English? It defaults to Japanese with English subtitles. Honestly, I think FROM was right setting that as default. It seems more immersive that way. I don't think I'm gonna change it.
 
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Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
Just reached Mt. Kongo, and for those who say this game is ugly... good lord... This area is pure visual sex...

Game gets better and better as you go on. I still feel Souls is better with its level grind, but this is brilliant now.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i'm trying to play this as blind as possible but i feel like i'm doing something wrong.

1. how on earth do you perform the mikiri counter properly? i have it unlocked but i just can't seem to use it properly.
2. when you use the bell you got from the old woman at the buddha statue it takes you into a memory. am i meant to be doing that right now because i feel like this area is kicking my ass. i've been here for too long now. should i just go back to the area with the old woman?
 
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RedVIper

Banned
i'm trying to play this as blind as possible but i feel like i'm doing something wrong.

1. how on earth do you perform the mikiri counter properly? i have it unlocked but i just can't seem to use it properly.
2. when you use the bell you got from the old woman at the buddha statue it takes you into a memory. am i meant to be doing that right now because i feel like this area is kicking my ass. i've been here for too long now. should i just go back to the area with the old woman?

1. You dodge foward, you don't actually need to move the left sticker at all since dodge will be foward by default., the timing is really generous.
2.It's up to you, if you find that area too hard go back and there's other stuff you can do, when you're stronger you can come back
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
Damn, this game is like a drug.
I am deprived of sleep but cant stop.
Some bosses are piss easy, while others are so hard that i find myself raging from anger.

1. You dodge foward, you don't actually need to move the left sticker at all since dodge will be foward by default., the timing is really generous.
I don’t know, I find myself dodging into the enemy to early most if the time, so i avoid these as often as possible.
 
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Helios

Member
I was not expecting that when ringing the bell. For a second I thought I'm going to fight the Nameless King :messenger_grinning_smiling:
I killed 5 headless total, only one of them is kinda hidden the other are pretty hard to miss. I think there should be 1 more?
How do you kill them? I'm getting my ass kicked by them and run out of consumables. Also, did you kill the caster guy near the pit that also inflicts terror?
 
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i'm trying to play this as blind as possible but i feel like i'm doing something wrong.

1. how on earth do you perform the mikiri counter properly? i have it unlocked but i just can't seem to use it properly.
2. when you use the bell you got from the old woman at the buddha statue it takes you into a memory. am i meant to be doing that right now because i feel like this area is kicking my ass. i've been here for too long now. should i just go back to the area with the old woman?
I haven't beat the area yet either but.
You get a weapon in here that helps a great deal with the Ogre.
The game is hard for me. I just keep going back and forth as I get frustrated.
 
God I just want to say this..

When the fucking monkey grabbed its head and came back I was demoralized and the fight took me many tries. When you find the monkey again I was fucking raging. The perfect end to all that was the body twitching like it was gonna go again.
 

Dunki

Member
Watched an early speedrun Part. IT took him 12 Minutes until He has beaten the guy on the horse at the castle.....
 
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RedVIper

Banned
Damn, this game is like a drug.
I am deprived of sleep but cant stop.
Some bosses are piss easy, while others are so hard that i find myself raging from anger.


I don’t know, I find myself dodging into the enemy to early most if the time, so i avoid these as often as possible.

Make sure you have it unlocked lol. It is really generous since the whole dash animation counts not just the iframes.

I was not expecting that when ringing the bell. For a second I thought I'm going to fight the Nameless King :messenger_grinning_smiling:

How do you kill them? I'm getting my ass kicked by them and run out of consumables. Also, did you kill the caster guy near the pit that also inflicts terror?

I'm not sure how far along you are but you can unlock a flask that reduces terror and that should help
Other than that you just have to deflect their attacks and hit them while you have the conffeti going on, don't worry too much about spending it you can get more later on
The ones underwater don't require conffeti and are pretty easy
Yeah I did, I found the best way to dodge his shit it to literally just run around, then go in and hit him a few times, I killed him underleveled so it took kinda long. You don't need confeti to kill him.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
ok so i've figured out how to do the mikiri counter.

made a bit of progress. now i'm trying to defeat "jozu the drunkard". that big bastard hits hard.
 

Dunki

Member
ok so i've figured out how to do the mikiri counter.

made a bit of progress. now i'm trying to defeat "jozu the drunkard". that big bastard hits hard.
Use the tactic already explained. First of kill all the adds and then go to the NPC who is going to help you. With two people it is really easy to get him down.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Use the tactic already explained. First of kill all the adds and then go to the NPC who is going to help you. With two people it is really easy to get him down.
ah ok. i've already spoke to him but i didn't wait until i had killed the enemies. he died.... am i out of luck?
 
Was beating my head against a boss for what seems like hours last night. Got so close several times but the second phase was hitting way too hard, so I decided to push on until I upgraded my Vit one more time. Sure enough, it was all I needed and finally took down that damn dirty
ape
after two more tries.
Hardest boss in the game so far.
 
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Ivellios

Member
The game is amazing. I cannot say if better that soulsborne or not, they are "same same but different". I arrived to
Ashina Castle and I am stuck in the Blazing Bull for now. I also completed Hirata Estate, except for Lady Butterfly.
I find the normal enemies a little bit easier than in soulsborne but the bosses harder. Thanks for that game, From Software!

This boss is a pain, but it can be done, i basically followed everyone advice here to beat him.

Firecracker really help, just make sure you dont miss it and always go after him and try to manage the camera to and attack from behind him.

I usually stun him with firecracker, hit as much as possible and stun again at the end of a combo. It takes a few tries but you can do it.

I would defeat him first and get more gourd seeds in this region before fighting lady Butterfly.
 
Currently getting my ass handed to me by the Shinobi Hunter. What a dick and it’s so hard to thin out the crowd around him..... may need to use a guide for this after all, timid maid now has dragonrot cause I keep dying 😭
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Currently getting my ass handed to me by the Shinobi Hunter. What a dick and it’s so hard to thin out the crowd around him..... may need to use a guide for this after all, timid maid now has dragonrot cause I keep dying 😭
is that the guy with the spear in the hirata estate memory after the two guys with shields before the bridge?

sneak up on him in the grass for a free deathblow. jump on the tree then up onto the tower down to the grass. after that keep using miriki. i was struggling with him for so long and just got past him.
 
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is that the guy with the spear in the hirata estate memory after the two guys with shields before the bridge?

sneak up on him in the grass for a free deathblow. jump on the tree then up onto the tower down to the grass. after that keep using miriki. i was struggling with him for so long and just got past him.

Yep seems I need to get this Mikiri counter down. Need to train it now!
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Where is this? I found one when you get back to the start but this one sounds different :p
in hirata estate. from the bamboo idol jump to the ledge on the left, into the water, past the bridge, climb onto a branch, break the bamboo at the cave entrance, consecutive jump up. he's up there guarding the temple you get a prosthetic weapon.
 
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