• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | OT | Borne of Souls

Don't you hate when you get stuck in a miniboss? I've given Long Arm Centipede Sen'un more tries than it took me to beat Genichiro. I just suck at fights in enclosed spaces.
One of the easiest fights in the game. Just bash the parry button repeatedly and watch his bar fly up, then death blow.
 
That should do the trick. Just remember to be ready to jump as he occasionally goes for that stupid pinch move between the attacks you can exploit.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
How does parrying work if you're guarding all the time? You quickly release the guard and then reapply it at the last second? Sounds harder to successfully deflect this way?

i mean you can either:
1) stand there without your sword up and hit L1 when the attack is coming or
2) already be holding L1, just mashing it again when the attack is coming

the latter will get you refilling your posture bar faster, it refills when you are blocking.

not that you have to fight this way, but it feels easier to me. my finger is already on the button, you know? getting down the perfect deflects is only a matter of getting the timing right on your presses. in that way it's more like a rhythm game. once you know the boss's attack patterns, you know what patterns to hit & when, but all that takes just playing and replaying a fight to learn.
 
Last edited:

Shifty

Member
How does parrying work if you're guarding all the time? You quickly release the guard and then reapply it at the last second? Sounds harder to successfully deflect this way?
Essentially, yes. The game gives you a short window after releasing guard where you'll still block if you get hit, so it's not as risky as it might first seem.

The game will punish you with a reduced perfect parrry window if you mash though, so you can't exploit that particular mechanic for easy wins.

I still run like a chicken to not get hit and that does wonders in keeping your posture bar low.
Your posture bar will still take longer to reset that way though. Running away to create safe distance, then holding guard until the enemy re-engages is the faster way and gives them less time to reset their own bar.
 
Last edited:

Fuz

Banned
Your posture bar will still take longer to reset that way though.
(I'm thinking mostly at my fight with owl and the ape)
My posture bar didn't take any time to reset, since I wasn't blocking at all. Just running away from the blows and around them to hit them.
Trying to do it properly only made my posture bar broken a lot... I suck at parrying. Running like an headless chicken? Worked like a charm.
 
Last edited:

JRW

Member
Uhm so I'm fighting Genichiro Ashina and after 3 hours of trying I've come to realize Lady Butterfly wasn't so difficult afterall lol.. holy crap I'm not even remotely getting the upper hand in this fight. I hope the 144fps mod isnt working against me here (I doubt it?).
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Uhm so I'm fighting Genichiro Ashina and after 3 hours of trying I've come to realize Lady Butterfly wasn't so difficult afterall lol.. holy crap I'm not even remotely getting the upper hand in this fight. I hope the 144fps mod isnt working against me here (I doubt it?).
Genichiro ‘s posture is weak, you need to be aggressive against him. In his first phase after jump attack he always follows up with thrust attack that you can Mikiri Counter but in his second phase he either use thrust or sweep attack, if you can counter them with jumping on him when he uses sweep attack and Mikiri Counter his thrusts then you can do nice posture damage on him.
 

Ivellios

Member
Any tips for
Owl Father on Hirata Estate?

Im stuck hard on him. This is the first boss i cant even get to half of hp after a fair amount of tries, and that is on its first phase...

I dont really need to beat him, since i plan to get the other ending but still the completionist in me wont let me skip him.
 

Shifty

Member
Uhm so I'm fighting Genichiro Ashina and after 3 hours of trying I've come to realize Lady Butterfly wasn't so difficult afterall lol.. holy crap I'm not even remotely getting the upper hand in this fight. I hope the 144fps mod isnt working against me here (I doubt it?).
It may be.

I'm usually all-in on that sort of thing, but skipped out for Sekiro because the forum thread I found it in ended with a bunch of "I uninstalled it, can't deal with the parry bugs".
 
Last edited:

JRW

Member
Genichiro ‘s posture is weak, you need to be aggressive against him. In his first phase after jump attack he always follows up with thrust attack that you can Mikiri Counter but in his second phase he either use thrust or sweep attack, if you can counter them with jumping on him when he uses sweep attack and Mikiri Counter his thrusts then you can do nice posture damage on him.

Thanks I looked him up after my previous message (I usually dont like to) and I definitely need to focus on staying close and Ive been slacking on using Mikri

It may be.

I'm usually all-in on that sort of thing, but skipped out for Sekiro because the forum thread I found it in ended with a bunch of "I uninstalled it, can't deal with the parry bugs".

I remember Dark Souls (original) had a couple minor bugs when using fps mod but if Parry issues exist here that would be bad lol, I'll just remove the mod for now see if anything feels different.
 

Psychostar

Member
My friend is coming over today for a speedrun of the game. If we start a new game am I at risk of overwriting my current game's save/playthrough? i haven't yet unlocked NG+ ( just got to endgame location) so I'd hate to accidentally find that starting a new game has overwritten all my progress xD
 
Last edited:

#Phonepunk#

Banned
No, starting a new game creates a new save. You can load from between your games via the Load screen. So you can have multiple saves going at once

I have two games currently going, one at the last boss fight, one at Genichiro/LB.

Game has massive replay value. Once you really learn the combat it feels so good to take down mini bosses that have you so much grief in one shot
 
Last edited:

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i'm struggling to bring myself to come back to the game.

soulsborne was frustrating but it felt rewarding when you finally beat a boss but with Sekiro i feel nothing after beating them. it's less like "YES! i feel more powerful and know what i'm doing" and more like "THANK FUCK....i can FINALLY move on it." but the thing is....i really don't feel any urge to keep going. when i say soulsborune is frustrating well i mean Sekiro is FUCKING FRUSTRATING :messenger_pouting::messenger_pouting::messenger_pouting:

i'll keep it installed and play it in short bursts. the game isn't bad overall but the bosses are just straight up bullshit and when i gotta cheese them that ruins any enjoyment. i don't mind using strategies to beat a boss but when someone tells you "constantly dodge to the right!" or "go to this place, hang from that ledge, and just keep whackin 'em cause they get stuck in a loop" or "just de-aggro 'em!" that just isn't right and stinks of poor design.
 
Last edited:

#Phonepunk#

Banned
what boss are you having trouble with? they all have different strategies. who are you having trouble with?

remember that blocking is a good way to 1) learn boss attack patterns and 2) build up their posture. to deflect all you have to do is tap the block button whenever they attack you.

just because you can cheese doesn't mean bad design. they allowed room for cheesing, you know they played the hell out of this thing. every boss has logical attacks with tells that can be avoided or otherwise responded to. who are you fighting that is giving you trouble?
 
Last edited:

I_D

Member
Destroys my posture, I'll try using Gokan in my next try

You're not parrying properly. It should barely affect your posture when you parry.

Once you've practiced a bit against regular enemies, literally just stand still and parry over and over again. He'll be dead in under 60 seconds.

at the final boss now, i got to phase 2 of Isshi! only two more to go...
He's the hardest boss in the game, IMO. Took me about 50 tries to kill him. Yet, by the time I got to that final fight, he barely hurt me. It just takes practice.
 
Last edited:
When I first encountered a lot of bosses I thought were total bullshit and I had no chance. You change your tactics, you don't die as quickly. You learn. Failing that, ask for advice. Have a look at a guide.

It's fun discovering the different methods people employ to beat bosses. For example, a friend of mine was having success with firecrackers vs Guardian Ape. I chucked oil at him and torched him.
 
Game is a lot of fun and excellent imo. Combat feels great and impactful. Tracking on some of the enemy attacks is insane though. At the final boss. Gonna take some patience. Can almost beat his second phase, but I end up choking.
 

Verdanth

Member
Stuck in lady butterfly and horse dude. Any tips or skills specifically needed for this?

My attack power is still very low :(
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Stuck in lady butterfly and horse dude. Any tips or skills specifically needed for this?

My attack power is still very low :(
For the horse guy, the firecrackers is very effective against him. As for lady butterfly you can use shuriken when she jumps from wire to make her fall and do your best to deflect her attack for Posture damage.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
He's the hardest boss in the game, IMO. Took me about 50 tries to kill him. Yet, by the time I got to that final fight, he barely hurt me. It just takes practice.

that's what i hear! fine with me, this must be the hardest boss in this, the hardest game ever, i'm sure it will take me a few days doing an hour or so a day. i fought him a bunch tonight, when i started playing i was getting to Isshi with 7 or 8 flasks. by the end, i wasn't even beating him, so i decided i was too sloppy, i should come back to that another day, lol.

so i switched to my other save, at Shugendo, and saw that the message always says "armor stripping prosthetic". wonder if they made that specifically go for this Idol, to troll the player? From are expert trolls, it wouldn't surprise me.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Stuck in lady butterfly and horse dude. Any tips or skills specifically needed for this?

LB is a tough fight. in the second phase, just run around the perimeter of the room and keep an eye out for the floating butterflies and when she summons them again, hide behind a pillar, and they will miss you. bring shirukens and throw them as she jumps off the wire (she will first jump on it, you want to wait til then, then shoot when she jumps again).

Horse Dude make sure you get the hook shot parry attack skill, it is a special skill you must unlock. it will let you grapple onto his helmet after he charges you (just doge/jump out the way & run to keep him in range) then you can fly towards him and get some attack in. as said, firecrackers scare his horse, so those are free hits as well.
 
Man, I just got to the last boss and, yeah. 5 fights in though and I feel like I have Genichiro down pretty easily, first form Ishin is a little trickier, but once I got his thrusts down and kept his unblockables at bay he wasn't too bad. Currently trying to figure how his second form that seems a lot more punishing but seems easier to parry. Do I have a chance?

I'm gonna take a break and do this in bursts cuz I know this is going to be long and frustrating.
 
Last edited:

wzy

Member
Man, I just got to the last boss and, yeah. 5 fights in though and I feel like I have Genichiro down pretty easily, first form Ishin is a little trickier, but once I got his thrusts down and kept his unblockables at bay he wasn't too bad. Currently trying to figure how his second form that seems a lot more punishing but seems easier to parry. Do I have a chance?

I'm gonna take a break and do this in bursts cuz I know this is going to be long and frustrating.

You'll be fine. The last phase of the fight is the easiest. As with every other boss, the main point is just to observe what he does. I mean really watch this dude. You've never seen his moveset before, you have no idea what the tells and cues are. Just sit behind umbrella and try to survive as long as you can without even trying to win. His pattern is elaborate but it's not really worse than Genichiro. The second you can approach the fight with a normal heart rate and just a little bit of mental presence, you'll kill him easily.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
Sekiro taught me that in order to succeed...
> you cant be greedy with attacking but need patience
> you need to be observant and study your foes and learn their many weeknesses.

After learning that you can overcome any enemy the game throws at you,.
 
You're not parrying properly. It should barely affect your posture when you parry.

Once you've practiced a bit against regular enemies, literally just stand still and parry over and over again. He'll be dead in under 60 seconds.

I'm better at dodging than parrying so the lack of space here was killing me. Finally I decided to half-cheese it by parrying his 10-hit attack, kiting him until I got my posture back, and repeat. Worked with minimum hassle.

Now I'm in my way to the Ape. Looks promising help me
 
Last edited:
I'm better at dodging than parrying so the lack of space here was killing me. Finally I decided to half-cheese it by parrying his 10-hit attack, kiting him until I got my posture back, and repeat. Worked with minimum hassle.

Now I'm in my way to the Ape. Looks promising help me
Kite him, too, especially the second part of the fight. Take advantage of the nice big arena. I found throwing oil and setting him on fire made the first part easy.

This is one of the bosses I thought would be impossible after he destroyed me in my first couple of attempts.
 
You'll be fine. The last phase of the fight is the easiest. As with every other boss, the main point is just to observe what he does. I mean really watch this dude. You've never seen his moveset before, you have no idea what the tells and cues are. Just sit behind umbrella and try to survive as long as you can without even trying to win. His pattern is elaborate but it's not really worse than Genichiro. The second you can approach the fight with a normal heart rate and just a little bit of mental presence, you'll kill him easily.

Will the Umbrella protect against everything? I've never really tried it before. And yeah, that's how I've been mentally framing this fight, as a "test run" instead of thinking I'm gonna win this one, I just kinda let each phase play out so I can observe. I can get to the final phase without using any of my prosthetic tools so that I can use them on his last form.

Those 4 health bars seem kinda imposing at first until you realize you don't even need to bother hitting him, you just need to be good/lucky at parrying and he's in deathblow before you know it.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Will the Umbrella protect against everything? I've never really tried it before. And yeah, that's how I've been mentally framing this fight, as a "test run" instead of thinking I'm gonna win this one, I just kinda let each phase play out so I can observe. I can get to the final phase without using any of my prosthetic tools so that I can use them on his last form.

Those 4 health bars seem kinda imposing at first until you realize you don't even need to bother hitting him, you just need to be good/lucky at parrying and he's in deathblow before you know it.
I think this biggest difference from any other Souls/Bloodborne. Most fights in Sekiro the posture is more important than the health bar, in most cases you can kill the boss with almost full health.
 
I think this biggest difference from any other Souls/Bloodborne. Most fights in Sekiro the posture is more important than the health bar, in most cases you can kill the boss with almost full health.

That's what I love about this game. It actively encourages you to play aggressive. I've seen cheese methods of people running in circles and occasionally running in for a single attack when they have a window and the fights can go on for ages cause they're only focused on the health bar (admittedly this is what I did against the guardian ape)
 

Grinchy

Banned
That's what I love about this game. It actively encourages you to play aggressive. I've seen cheese methods of people running in circles and occasionally running in for a single attack when they have a window and the fights can go on for ages cause they're only focused on the health bar (admittedly this is what I did against the guardian ape)
And then they complain that the game is designed poorly :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Does anyone know of a checklist of things you should have done before commencing NG+ if you're going for the platinum? I got the immortal severance ending and since cleaned up missed bosses and some mini-bosses but I think I'm still missing some stuff.
 

wzy

Member
Will the Umbrella protect against everything? I've never really tried it before. And yeah, that's how I've been mentally framing this fight, as a "test run" instead of thinking I'm gonna win this one, I just kinda let each phase play out so I can observe. I can get to the final phase without using any of my prosthetic tools so that I can use them on his last form.

Those 4 health bars seem kinda imposing at first until you realize you don't even need to bother hitting him, you just need to be good/lucky at parrying and he's in deathblow before you know it.

The umbrella will protect against basically everything, if you have the spinning version you can use it to test parries. You'll still take chip damage from elemental attacks (I think his "wind" attacks might count for this), and you'll still accumulate posture while you use it. Four health bars is definitely intimidating but just keep in mind that three of those are super easy. The real challenge is the third phase, everything else is mostly fluff.
 
Last edited:

#Phonepunk#

Banned
there are some different varieties of the umbrella that specialize in protecting against certain damage (fire, terror, etc.) so be sure to upgrade it
 

Nydus

Gold Member
And then they complain that the game is designed poorly :messenger_tears_of_joy:

The problem is when you are shit at parry the game gets really hard and frustrating. In dark souls you could find the playstyle that matched your ability. In Sekiro your just fucked. And if people are legit frustrated then yes, it's somewhat poor design.
 
The problem is when you are shit at parry the game gets really hard and frustrating. In dark souls you could find the playstyle that matched your ability. In Sekiro your just fucked. And if people are legit frustrated then yes, it's somewhat poor design.

It's not the game's fault if someone can't get the extremely generous parry timing down, so no, it isn't somewhat poor design. It's a case of a poor workman blaming his tools.
 
Top Bottom