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LTTP - Sekiro (also my first From Software game)

Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
WRxA9AS.jpg


Hey all I had another thread asking where to start with From Software games and I got a lot of replies. I appreciate everyone's feedback and the replies were all over the map - pretty much every game they have made was mentioned a few times as being the one to start with. However, I decided to start with Sekiro for two reasons:

1. I really like the world/lore setting
2. A few people mentioned that it may be easier to grasp the combat system because I had not played any Dark Souls games or Bloodborne - having no established habits or expectations.

So, I decided to go with Sekiro! I'm playing on PC with an xbox controller and here are my thoughts so far:

Holy shit this game is fun as fuck to me. I have seen quite a few people mention that Sekiro is really linear compared to other FS games but to me it seems kind of open? Maybe because I don't have anything to compare it to. But I'm at a point where I could explore in 4 different areas right now that being Ashina Castle, the Ashina dungeon, the Senpou temple and also Ashina depths. One of the things I'm liking the most is how much is littered around the areas that you can find by exploring and quite a few things even seem totally optional. Also, I like how there is no map, no icons pointing you to npc's or even a quest log you just kind of have to find the npcs and remember if they are asking for something.

I do find the game hard, which was expected, but it does really add to the feeling of satisfaction once beating a boss? I'm trying to avoid any guides or videos and see how far I can get on my own. I'm not super far into the game I would say, I've beaten 10-12 mini-bosses and 2 actual bosses so far (Lady Butterfly and the first boss at the gate on the horse). I've come across a few other bosses (headless and some guy in Ashina dungeon with a ton of phantom spirits he throws at me) but I haven't beaten them yet and am scared of them to be honest lol. I like how some of the mini-bosses you can sneak up onto them and get rid of one of their health dots with a stealth kill.

In general I'm just super impressed - are the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne also like this where there is a lot of stuff to find exploring and a lot of optional bosses and so forth to deal with if you so choose? After this one I think I'll go to Dark Souls 1.
 
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Lanrutcon

Lanrutcon

Member
Sekiro is great, but it's too light on the RPG side for my tastes. I much rather prefer Dark Souls 1 & 2.

I think Sekiro's greatest achievement is just existing. The massive iron balls required to release a game that unforgiving needs to be acknowledged.
 
Danjin44

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Lanrutcon said:
Sekiro is great, but it's too light on the RPG side for my tastes. I much rather prefer Dark Souls 1 & 2.
Click to expand...
That's because it not RPG and it wasn’t trying to be one. Not every game needs to be RPG and Just because FROM made RPG in their pervious work it doesn’t mean they are not allowed to make an action game. No developers should be stuck making one type of game.
 
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AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Well, you're certainly going to have an interesting time going back to the older games now. Sekiro is way more aggressive, DS1 in comparison is actually very slow and deliberate. I'd actually recommend you do Bloodborne after Sekiro since it's more of a stepping stone back to the old titles.

Glad you're having fun, if you can get past Genichiro Ashina about halfway through, you can finish the game. He's the true "here's what's up" barrier.
 
Armorian

Armorian

Banned
I really liked the game, but because it's so linear in character development and stats I lost all interest in beating the final boss and going NG+. Only From game post DeS I didn't beat.
 
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Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
AV said:
Well, you're certainly going to have an interesting time going back to the older games now. Sekiro is way more aggressive, DS1 in comparison is actually very slow and deliberate. I'd actually recommend you do Bloodborne after Sekiro since it's more of a stepping stone back to the old titles.

Glad you're having fun, if you can get past Genichiro Ashina about halfway through, you can finish the game. He's the true "here's what's up" barrier.
Click to expand...

I've actually been fighting him for the last couple hours and thought I had him, then the lightning phase starts lol. Just learning that phase now I've gotten to it 3 times and am learning those patterns so hopefully later today will get him.
 
AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Serenityinaz12 said:
I've actually been fighting him for the last couple hours and thought I had him, then the lightning phase starts lol. Just learning that phase now I've gotten to it 3 times and am learning those patterns so hopefully later today will get him.
Click to expand...

The lightning reversal thing was weird for me, I found I had to jump and then spam the reversal as fast as I could and hope for the best, rather than trying to time it. If you can get that down though, you're golden, it does so much damage.
 
Sw0pDiller

Sw0pDiller

Member
I'm playing through right now and just finished the shura ending. Reloaded my save and am struggling against the other boss fight. Never killed a boss in my first try btw. the setting and atmosfeer is really too notch and love the way those headless scare the shit out of you just existing. Still have 6 more hours of gameplay after this boss fight so I'm not done yet! Played ds3 before this one and loved it! Played bloodborne and demons souls. Finished both. Think I love bloodborne the most. Never finished darks souls 1 but played a fair bit. But couldn't go back with those horrible last gen graphics. I am hyped up for the rumored demons souls remake for the ps5 as a launch game. I think I will jizz myself seeing that gameplay for the first time... Getting Al giggly from just thinking about it.
 
Vawn

Vawn

Banned
Serenityinaz12 said:
In general I'm just super impressed - are the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne also like this where there is a lot of stuff to find exploring and a lot of optional bosses and so forth to deal with if you so choose? After this one I think I'll go to Dark Souls 1.
Click to expand...

Probably moreso. The others are more RPGish, with lots to find and discover and tons of optional stuff.

The combat is pretty different. What works in Sekiro will not work in Souls, and vice-versa.
 
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#Phonepunk#

#Phonepunk#

Banned
AV said:
The lightning reversal thing was weird for me, I found I had to jump and then spam the reversal as fast as I could and hope for the best, rather than trying to time it. If you can get that down though, you're golden, it does so much damage.
Click to expand...
yeah the timing can be difficult. basically you want them to jump in the air and start gettng the lightning ready, then jump right before they shoot it, then let yourself get hit mid-air, then send it back before landing. it's tough to get down but once you do you'll be golden.

Serenityinaz12 said:
In general I'm just super impressed - are the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne also like this where there is a lot of stuff to find exploring and a lot of optional bosses and so forth to deal with if you so choose?
Click to expand...
yes! they are all wonderfully crafted worlds. anytime you get stuck, go explore and come back later, there is always tons of stuff to discover and explore. this always gets lost in the difficulty discussion. the worlds From creates are always incredible.
CZiB-FCWIAQRaMK.png
 
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Fbh

Fbh

Member
Glad to hear you are liking it. It's an awesome game.

Once you finish it you should definitely give the souls games (and Bloodborne) a playthrough. All the things about exploration that you like in Sekiro are also a big part of the souls games. I'd say exploration is even more rewarding in them because they have deeper RPG elements so there's tons of armours, weapons, accessories, equipment, etc to find by simply exploring. Also, because the combat is still very skill based and equipment is often designed to be different as opposed to "better or worse", almost everything you find is a viable option, which is nice.
 
Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
#Phonepunk# said:
dang the fact you made it past Genichiro is already proof you are a force to be reckoned with. he's a tough one!
Click to expand...

Took me at least 3 hours I think just trying over and over and over. But thanks! I'm looking at some threads on him now seems I didn't do it the way suggested. A lot say keep attacking him and deflecting but I kind of suck at that so I just did a lot of dodging of attacks whittling his vitality down with 1 or 2 strikes after a dodge.
 
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Grinchy

Grinchy

Banned
I almost wonder if you would like Dark Souls after this. Bloodborne and Sekiro go with fast action and skilled timing in a way that the Dark Souls games don't. Dark Souls combat can be a bit cheesy. You can choose to play with parries and skilled timings, but what's the point? People basically just hold their shield up and circle around the enemy until they can backstab over and over.

Unlike Sekiro, the Dark Souls games are just littered with a million weapon types. So, you find the cheapest one, upgrade it to whatever element works best in that Souls game, summon other people to fight the bosses for you, and then go online and complain the game was too easy :messenger_tears_of_joy:

This is what makes Bloodborne and Sekiro so much better. Sekiro, especially. You're on your own and the only way you can progress is if you actually do it yourself. And with only one main weapon, the game is completely tailored to it. There's no such thing as finding some thrust weapon that you just stab enemies with from afar without any danger to yourself.
 
H4ze

H4ze

Member
Great games, all of them, everything FROM (since 2009+) developed was pure joy for me.
Even if I have to admit, that I did quit on Sekiro, somehow it did not rly click with me.
But oh boy, if you are going to play DS1 for the first time, share your toughts with us, you are in for a real treat :)
 
Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
Holy SHIT was this boss a pain in the ass - I had way harder time with him than Genichiro. Fucking hell thank god it's done.


xOYTbzo.jpg
 
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JareBear: Remastered

JareBear: Remastered

Banned
This is the only From game that I’ve beaten. Every time I try a Souls game I always fizzle out around 15 hour mark. Bloodborne lasted me a solid 25 hours until I reached a boss I just couldn’t beat no matter what I tried. I eventually lost that save file and have never gone back to the game even though I liked it a lot
 
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G

Gargus

Banned
Dark souls and bloodborne are more about exploring than sekiro is.

They also have many more secrets to find and discover. More hidden areas. A lot are circumstantial also meaning they have requirements that aren't ever clear. NPCs to meet and find some of which have undefined requirements.

Yes there are optional bosses and optional areas to find.

I loved sekiro a lot but I prefer bloodborne and dark souls better.
 
Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
Well I think I screwed up - sometimes I like picking a bad choice just to see what happens and I chose to side with Owl and forsake the Heir and it saved it right after I made that decision. I did end up after a while beating Emma and Isshin and that was the end of the game, what I'm assuming is the bad ending? It gave me a choice of starting new game plus or exploring some more, guess I will have to start a new game for different ending now.

Now that I've at least beaten the game (bad ending but still) I can say I LOVED this game. Holy shit was it fun, the exploring and finding secrets scattered around and the openness to take with some choice on your end in what order you do it was really cool. I also found the game more addictive than I tend to find regular games, not sure why but had a hard time pulling away from it. Real sense of satisfaction too when killing bosses and so forth. I likely will go back to older titles From has done almost certainly.

I saw the OT thread for Sekiro is still being updated so I'll move to that thread for future updates on my game progress.


4NDcQ0m.jpg
 
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nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
The other FROM games are like Sekiro but you can create your own character and class and there are more RPG elements and equipment/weapons.

Compared to Sekiro they are also slower paced because you are not a ninja.

Dark Souls 1 is great but keep in mind it's an old game with PS3/360 graphics. Level design and atmosphere is still amazing though. Avoid the remastered version, the metallic materials look like plastic. Play the modded PC version instead.

Dark Souls 2 doesn't have as good level design. And for that reason i didn't like it as much and didn't play through the whole game.

Dark Souls 3 is like 1 but with current gen graphics. It also has the biggest quantity of different looking enviroments. IMO it's the best souls game.

Bloodborne is at the same level as DS1 and 3, has a different theme and it's probably the best looking considering it also had the highest budget. But there aren't as many different visual themes as in DS3, it's always the same environments more or less. Also, it's a PS4 exclusive so you are locked at 30fps and some pretty bad frame pacing issues.

Haven't played Demon Souls so can't comment on that.

Another great soulslike game IMO (but not by FROM) is The Surge. It's themes remind me of Robocop (robotics and high violence) but it's more colorful.
 
AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Serenityinaz12 said:
Well I think I screwed up - sometimes I like picking a bad choice just to see what happens and I chose to side with Owl and forsake the Heir and it saved it right after I made that decision. I did end up after a while beating Emma and Isshin and that was the end of the game, what I'm assuming is the bad ending? It gave me a choice of starting new game plus or exploring some more, guess I will have to start a new game for different ending now.

Now that I've at least beaten the game (bad ending but still) I can say I LOVED this game. Holy shit was it fun, the exploring and finding secrets scattered around and the openness to take with some choice on your end in what order you do it was really cool. I also found the game more addictive than I tend to find regular games, not sure why but had a hard time pulling away from it. Real sense of satisfaction too when killing bosses and so forth. I likely will go back to older titles From has done almost certainly.

I saw the OT thread for Sekiro is still being updated so I'll move to that thread for future updates on my game progress.
Click to expand...

Well done! If you're gonna explore more FROM games now I would go to Bloodborne since it's the most similar to Sekiro, it'll help bridge the gap to the Souls games which play quite differently.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Serenityinaz12 said:
Well I think I screwed up - sometimes I like picking a bad choice just to see what happens and I chose to side with Owl and forsake the Heir and it saved it right after I made that decision. I did end up after a while beating Emma and Isshin and that was the end of the game, what I'm assuming is the bad ending? It gave me a choice of starting new game plus or exploring some more, guess I will have to start a new game for different ending now.
Click to expand...
This is the only thing i don't like about these games. You never know where you will end up with your choices and there is no turn back to a previous save.

While i understand the game wants you to deal with the consequences of your actions, since you can start a new game then the only consequence is that you waste time. If you are playing on PC there is an exploit you can do to avoid all this. You can always backup your save file somewhere and when you want to return to that point just use that. You can have a save file backed up before a game changing choice, so you don't have to play the game from start to reach that point again.

Or, you can backup before a boss so you can replay him again even after you beat him. The game doesn't have a boss rush mode or anything and every time you beat one he is basically gone unless you do a new playthrough. Sekiro has some amazing boss fights that i would love to redo, not to mention be able to replay the final boss again and again until i master him. But i only managed to beat him once and now i probably forgot how to beat him again, plus i don't really want to replay the whole game...
 
#Phonepunk#

#Phonepunk#

Banned
That’s the “bad ending” but if you want to push through and beat it to get a better ending I really recommend it. If you haven’t seen the final areas like Fountainhead Palace then you really need to.

Plus on NG+ you have built up all your skills, getting back to that point should be a whole lot easier a second time. After you go through the whole game finding out how valuable parrying is, you can just tear through early bosses. Sekiro rewards aggression if you know what you are doing.
 
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donfonzie

donfonzie

Member
Bigrx1 said:
WRxA9AS.jpg


Hey all I had another thread asking where to start with From Software games and I got a lot of replies. I appreciate everyone's feedback and the replies were all over the map - pretty much every game they have made was mentioned a few times as being the one to start with. However, I decided to start with Sekiro for two reasons:

1. I really like the world/lore setting
2. A few people mentioned that it may be easier to grasp the combat system because I had not played any Dark Souls games or Bloodborne - having no established habits or expectations.

So, I decided to go with Sekiro! I'm playing on PC with an xbox controller and here are my thoughts so far:

Holy shit this game is fun as fuck to me. I have seen quite a few people mention that Sekiro is really linear compared to other FS games but to me it seems kind of open? Maybe because I don't have anything to compare it to. But I'm at a point where I could explore in 4 different areas right now that being Ashina Castle, the Ashina dungeon, the Senpou temple and also Ashina depths. One of the things I'm liking the most is how much is littered around the areas that you can find by exploring and quite a few things even seem totally optional. Also, I like how there is no map, no icons pointing you to npc's or even a quest log you just kind of have to find the npcs and remember if they are asking for something.

I do find the game hard, which was expected, but it does really add to the feeling of satisfaction once beating a boss? I'm trying to avoid any guides or videos and see how far I can get on my own. I'm not super far into the game I would say, I've beaten 10-12 mini-bosses and 2 actual bosses so far (Lady Butterfly and the first boss at the gate on the horse). I've come across a few other bosses (headless and some guy in Ashina dungeon with a ton of phantom spirits he throws at me) but I haven't beaten them yet and am scared of them to be honest lol. I like how some of the mini-bosses you can sneak up onto them and get rid of one of their health dots with a stealth kill.

In general I'm just super impressed - are the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne also like this where there is a lot of stuff to find exploring and a lot of optional bosses and so forth to deal with if you so choose? After this one I think I'll go to Dark Souls 1.
Click to expand...

I would suggest you go with Bloodborne, then the souls game. I think you'll find it easier to transition. Sekiro and Bloodborne are more deflect/counter based then the souls series imo.
 
Laconian Sword

Laconian Sword

Member
So just arrived in Ashina Depths... FROM really couldn't resist yet another poison level :messenger_weary: Doesn't really belong in this game imho.

On the other hand, the Folding Screen Monkeys were a creative and fun touch. Miyazaki was feeling merciful.
 
YukiOnna

YukiOnna

Member
Danjin44 said:
Sekiro is up there with Bloodborne as my favourite FROM game, I especially LOOOOVE the combat and animation.

Click to expand...

I prefer it to Bloodborne primarily on setting alone. More to my tastes in that regard, but yeah Sekiro is not the worst From game at all.
 
DunDunDunpachi

DunDunDunpachi

Banned
I encourage anyone struggling with a boss or elite enemy to simply look up some strategies and attempt again. Out of all the Soulsborne titles, Sekiro rewards meta-knowledge more than any of them. You can either experiment with each enemy type to learn it yourself, or look up some tips. Every enemy and boss suffers from at least 2 - 3 significant weaknesses / recovery frames. The prosthetics and the items have some straight-up broken uses depending on the situation.

Leaping Kicks, Ichimonji Double, and Nightjar Reversal do not cost Spirit Emblems to use and each have very useful properties.

You can also "expand" your prosthetic tools with some of the skills like Fang & Blade or Chasing Slice, turning them into combo-starters or combo-finishers.

And unlike Soulsborne games, you can stealth + backstab 80% of the encounters without unlocking a shortcut or alternate path.

It's a tough game, but there's a lot less of the typical FROM b.s. in Sekiro like unblockable attacks, area-of-effect blasts, huge sweeping attacks that cannot be avoided, etc. The game even flashes a 'Danger' symbol if the enemy is about to use a perilous attack.

I loved my time with it. Nearly finished with my NG+ and I love how the AI becomes more aggressive. I only wish abilities were on a weapon-wheel so that I could switch between prosthetics and arts more fluidly.
 
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Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Gold Member
AV said:
Well, you're certainly going to have an interesting time going back to the older games now. Sekiro is way more aggressive, DS1 in comparison is actually very slow and deliberate. I'd actually recommend you do Bloodborne after Sekiro since it's more of a stepping stone back to the old titles.
Click to expand...
That's really good advice
 
#Phonepunk#

#Phonepunk#

Banned
AV said:
Well, you're certainly going to have an interesting time going back to the older games now. Sekiro is way more aggressive, DS1 in comparison is actually very slow and deliberate. I'd actually recommend you do Bloodborne after Sekiro since it's more of a stepping stone back to the old titles.
Click to expand...
yeah it's funny going back to older games. Sekiro does a lot of things to make the player's life easier, like being able to move while healing, having a jump button, infinite stamina, decoupling money from 'souls', being able to pause, etc.

biggest obstacle for me upon going back to Souls after Sekiro is not having the crutch of that second life. you really get used to it in Sekiro, dying and coming back. i played the game so much that when i tried going back to Dark Souls III i automatically expected to be able to revive. haha nope! in a way it almost makes those games feel harder.
 
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Bigrx1

Bigrx1

Banned
I'm on NG 2 now and it's pretty drastic difficulty decrease from NG 1, hits doing WAY more damage than in NG 1
 
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay

Touch fuzZy. get BizZay

Member
Op, Dark Souls 1 doesn't have to be about shields. You can focus on keeping your equip load under 25% so you are fast and time the invincibility frames on your quick rolls to dodge everything. Slowly advancing with Shields is easier, but you do have the option to play it more "ninja like" and I've always found it to be more fun that way. But do keep a small shield handy for parrying.
 
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