Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Good Piece from Noclip on the difficulty / accessibility.

beans

I've a lot of time for Danny's jazz

nix

To be honest, from software are the only big company that makes their games "challenging" and don't have difficulty settings. I'm of the mindset of, if you want them to change that, **** off and play something else.. Sorrrrryyy!

#notelitistjustmyopinion #itsagamenotrocketscience #justlearnhowtoplaythegame #ifyouwantasenseofachievementthenachieve

:pac::pac::pac:

sticker

I'm at Genichiro Ashina. Poxy Boss! - I'm trying to farm for skill points to upgrade but at this point its over 5000 per point.

Any ideas to farm well at this stage of the game? Thanks.

sweetie

sticker wrote:

Any ideas to farm well at this stage of the game? Thanks.

water mill lantern

sticker

sweetie wrote: »

water mill lantern

Sorry but not following that!

nix

sticker wrote: »

Sorry but not following that!

Its down a different route you havent been yet most likely, you would need to watch a youtube video on how to get there specifically, thus likely spoiling some of the game.

Grinding wont help you much for the fight anyway, you're better off just learning how to beat the boss. The only thing that will help you last longer would be finding more gord seeds to upgrade your healing charges.

But in saying that, i did go off and explore a good bit after my first attempt on that boss, so i likely got more vitality. There are a lot of places you can veer off and explore around the castle, so dont be afraid to have a wander.

Also would advise doing the Hirata estate zone if you havent done so already, its an optional area which you can teleport to from the hub, you need an item to access it though which you can get off an npc in one of the first zones you go through..

sticker

nix wrote: »

Its down a different route you havent been yet most likely, you would need to watch a youtube video on how to get there specifically, thus likely spoiling some of the game.

Grinding wont help you much for the fight anyway, you're better off just learning how to beat the boss. The only thing that will help you last longer would be finding more gord seeds to upgrade your healing charges.

But in saying that, i did go off and explore a good bit after my first attempt on that boss, so i likely got more vitality. There are a lot of places you can veer off and explore around the castle, so dont be afraid to have a wander.

Also would advise doing the Hirata estate zone if you havent done so already, its an optional area which you can teleport to from the hub, you need an item to access it though which you can get off an npc in one of the first zones you go through..

OK - Many thanks for the pointers - I'll try that then!

sticker

I just checked a quick guide to the route you discussed and Jesus, it could be missed so easily!!!

I was in the area of the dungeon, and walked right past the entrance. They dont make it easy!

They way I've gone I've not seen a boss proper in ages. Plenty of mini ones though.

EDIT: A lot of the items you pick up are just junk I've not seen a use or a need for so far and I've just hit Riven Cave in sunken valley. The antidote and the stealth gummy bear being exceptions

The items are kinda **** in souls games. You have no scope to test things out as there are a finite number of them.

Thargor

Holy crap the Guardian Ape...

SomeSayKos

Just finished Sekiro tonight. What a fantastic game. Probably my favourite from software game so far. That last boss was insanely difficult. It took me 3 solid evenings of trying. There are plenty of tough bosses in the game, but i rarely spent more than an hour or 2 on em, but I reckon it took me 7 hours of trying to beat the last boss. I'm absolutely buzzing after it though!

johnny_ultimate

SomeSayKos wrote: »

Just finished Sekiro tonight. What a fantastic game. Probably my favourite from software game so far. That last boss was insanely difficult. It took me 3 solid evenings of trying. There are plenty of tough bosses in the game, but i rarely spent more than an hour or 2 on em, but I reckon it took me 7 hours of trying to beat the last boss. I'm absolutely buzzing after it though!

Finally someone else who knows my pain, assuming you’re talking about

Sword Saint

. Legitimately one of the hardest bosses I’ve ever fought, and really makes the rest of the game feel like a pushover. And I don’t say that lightly as the rest of the game is a good old challenge - that final fight is something else though, and may have punched the air when it was finally done!

SomeSayKos

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Finally someone else who knows my pain, assuming you’re talking about

Sword Saint

. !

That's the one!

I had tried so many times that I managed to get to a point where i could kill ginichirio and the first life of Isshin without taking any damage, but his second phase is so difficult to defend against while maintaining posture. I was kind of on autopilot when I realised I had gotten him down to his last health bar. I had 1 gourd use left at this point so i thought to myself "ah, I'm not gonna do it", but i managed to deflect some hits and get some good hits in so I took some damage and a good bit of posture. Then one of his lightning attacks got me and I was a hair away from dying. At this point I was out of gourd so I took some rice and played really defensively until my health bar built up again. His posture at this point was still quite high ( i think his posture in general on his last life regenerates slower, which is handy ). He did his overhead slam so i ran in and got some more hits in, I nearly had him! Then he did he started to build up his AOE attack so I started running away. I ran away so fast and so frantically that I ran off the damn cliff. Oh no! I'm dead... Nope, I'm not dead!! I started back on the cliff with hardly any health and no healing items but he was close to being defeated so I popped an Ako's Sugar and I went in really aggresively . And then it happened, I saw the red circle that I thought I was genuinely never gonna see and I killed him. I jumped up out of my chair and shouted 'Yes!' around 15 times and did a little happy dance. The End

Ugh shame I missed that route. I played NG+ up until the chained ogre. I'm not a fan of NG tbh... I might replay it in a few months.

CiDeRmAn

This game hates me, in a way none of Souls/Borne games did before.

And playing it simply isn't enjoyable at all.

Of course, I know, it's my own fault, just wish I could "Git Gud" a little quicker!

nix

Deleted User wrote: »

Ugh shame I missed that route. I played NG+ up until the chained ogre. I'm not a fan of NG tbh... I might replay it in a few months.

Whats NG+ like? is it rough?

I'm near the end of the game myself and i still have a lot of skills missing, are they NG+ skills only? Also missing a lot of prosthetic upgrades, even though i have the parts, the costs for them are insane

nix

nix wrote: »

Whats NG+ like? is it rough?

I'm near the end of the game myself and i still have a lot of skills missing, are they NG+ skills only? Also missing a lot of prosthetic upgrades, even though i have the parts, the costs for them are insane

Seems similar to the first time around in terms of difficulty. The orge one-shotted me with his grab technique. Enemies up till then were easy enough but similar amount of hits required to kill them as first time around. You keep all your skills and items. Would be impossible to get all the skills on the first playthrough without a lot of grinding.

YouSavedMyLife

I'm playing through NG again to get 100% completion and get every item and upgrade, then im going for an ultra hard mode NG+

Demon Bell increases difficulty across the board, but then you have Kuro's charm. If you give it back to Kuro you will take damage through blocks, so its either you have to avoid damage or deflect attacks. Should be fun

nix

Deleted User wrote: »

Seems similar to the first time around in terms of difficulty. The orge one-shotted me with his grab technique. Enemies up till then were easy enough but similar amount of hits required to kill them as first time around. You keep all your skills and items. Would be impossible to get all the skills on the first playthrough without a lot of grinding.

Ah i know that, but i mean i have unlocked the prerequisite skills for the last skill in one of the trees, but its still "unavailable". Which makes me think its an item or enemy ive to kill somewhere to unlock it. But theres not much left for me to kill i dont think

johnny_ultimate

SomeSayKos wrote: »

That's the one! [/spoiler]

Same as you, I found the first two phases of the fight pretty easy to handle by the end - although I'd still sometimes find myself falling out of the rhythm after a particularly close call and falling to

Genichiro

:P But absolutely on a good run was possible to get through them super-quick while barely taking a hit. Really loved the first phase of the

Sword Saint

fight by the end - good mix between a proper intense duel and a few opportunities for you to get a cheeky upper hand

I resigned myself to the 'chipping away at his health' strategy for the last two phases - taking advantage of the leap attack and running under, as well as the occasional mikiri counter. It was less than elegant and still frankly pretty demanding, but just didn't have the hours to practice a more aggressive approach. But I got there reasonably comfortably in the end: it's just been a very, very long time since I remember spending multiple play sessions on a single fight!

johnny_ultimate

On a more general note, got to say there's some great analysis of the story and themes emerging now. I was so focused on the challenge that I sometimes wasn't fully tuned into what was going on narratively and with the environments, other than picking up hints. But the way it plays around with the concept of twisted immortality throughout is curious and mysterious, and the haunted, corrupted locations such as

Senpou and the Fountainhead Palace

were classic From environmental storytelling.

Here's a good video and a good article on the way it tackles Buddhist themes and ideas, the historical context and more - both obviously contain spoilers!

https://www.bulletpointsmonthly.com/2019/04/02/the-master-swordsman/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEoeUy8KH4

derfderf

Just finished the ape in under an hour. I was dreading him after what i read, but he wasn't too bad. Corrupted monk or seven spears are by far the hardest I've come across so far (although i did cheese the ogre).

Vicxas

derfderf wrote: »

Just finished the ape in under an hour. I was dreading him after what i read, but he wasn't too bad. Corrupted monk or seven spears are by far the hardest I've come across so far (although i did cheese the ogre).

Ape is a pain until you figure out how to manage the second phase.

I think his fight in the cave is worse

I wish NG gave you the option to play at the normal difficulty level. I'd love to breeze through it all to see the other ending.

brianregan09

Right lads I've just beaten the Blazing Bull (finally) where do you recommend I go next , there's a dungeon went down there and got maimed by a blue dude who i'm assuming is a headless, there's a reservoir (7 spears) , there's lady butterfly (still) and apparrently I can go up aswell

SomeSayKos

brianregan09 wrote: »

Right lads I've just beaten the Blazing Bull (finally) where do you recommend I go next , there's a dungeon went down there and got maimed by a blue dude who i'm assuming is a headless, there's a reservoir (7 spears) , there's lady butterfly (still) and apparrently I can go up aswell

I would recommend getting the 7 spears lad out of the way and lady butterfly for some prayer beads and battle memories to level up!

brianregan09

Yeah might go back and fight butterfly , Found 7 spears insanely difficult the few times I tried him

johnny_ultimate

Wrapping up the endgame stuff I missed before. Some of the mini-boss variants are pretty mental. There’s a

red-eye version of the Ashina Castle samurai elite

who hits like a bulldozer. Ditto a

fire-spewing drunkard surrounded by a powerful mob

that I only managed to take down as he decided to charge at me through a door he couldn’t get through :pac: