Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Been playing this since Saturday after a gaming mate hassled me to give it a go. I'm a souls veteran but I'd been avoiding it until now as I'd heard the difficulty is off the scale and there's no way to mitigate that with builds, levelling up or summoning help.

And that's exactly how I found it. Literally everything one or two shots you, while your hits barely scratch them, the combat system bears no resemblance to any previous game but you need to be a pro at it just to beat early mini bosses and its full of cheap From soft bullshit like losing the target cam at the worst possible moment and having to take out 15 adds every time you want another go at the boss.

I could spend a month on this and not be further than half way.

In contrast I've just completed the underworld and hit max level on Nioh 2 and had hundreds hours of fun.

Game of the Year :lol:
 


Been playing this since Saturday after a gaming mate hassled me to give it a go. I'm a souls veteran but I'd been avoiding it until now as I'd heard the difficulty is off the scale and there's no way to mitigate that with builds, levelling up or summoning help.

And that's exactly how I found it. Literally everything one or two shots you, while your hits barely scratch them, the combat system bears no resemblance to any previous game but you need to be a pro at it just to beat early mini bosses and its full of cheap From soft bullshit like losing the target cam at the worst possible moment and having to take out 15 adds every time you want another go at the boss.

I could spend a month on this and not be further than half way.

In contrast I've just completed the underworld and hit max level on Nioh 2 and had hundreds hours of fun.

Game of the Year :lol:

You definitely would. I posted in here on the 3rd of January about having trouble with the second boss and now I’m at end game. For me it’s not a patch on Bloodborne but can definitely see how it got game of the year.
 
Been playing this since Saturday after a gaming mate hassled me to give it a go. I'm a souls veteran but I'd been avoiding it until now as I'd heard the difficulty is off the scale and there's no way to mitigate that with builds, levelling up or summoning help.

And that's exactly how I found it. Literally everything one or two shots you, while your hits barely scratch them, the combat system bears no resemblance to any previous game but you need to be a pro at it just to beat early mini bosses and its full of cheap From soft bullshit like losing the target cam at the worst possible moment and having to take out 15 adds every time you want another go at the boss.

I could spend a month on this and not be further than half way.

In contrast I've just completed the underworld and hit max level on Nioh 2 and had hundreds hours of fun.

Game of the Year :lol:
My tip for early game is don't be afraid to run away. Almost all the mini-bosses can be backstabbed to lose one of their health bars and sometimes you need to lose the aggro. Also don't button mash block and attack, make a conscious effort to only press them almost in a rhythm. You'll mainly be attacking for 2/3 hits then defending for 2/3 hits, when there is a clang sound and a flash of orange, that is the signal to switch to attack or defence.

I'll have to try Nioh 2 now it's getting the PS5 upgrade, I enjoyed the first one but found it a slog towards the end and too repetitive.
 
My tip for early game is don't be afraid to run away. Almost all the mini-bosses can be backstabbed to lose one of their health bars and sometimes you need to lose the aggro. Also don't button mash block and attack, make a conscious effort to only press them almost in a rhythm. You'll mainly be attacking for 2/3 hits then defending for 2/3 hits, when there is a clang sound and a flash of orange, that is the signal to switch to attack or defence.

I'll have to try Nioh 2 now it's getting the PS5 upgrade, I enjoyed the first one but found it a slog towards the end and too repetitive.

Typically, after bigging up Nioh 2 Team Ninja have nerfed it and ruined the game balance. They have nerfed anima build up which will have ruined my end-game build. Good job I'm finished that game. :lol: :(

Thanks for the Sekiro tips mate. I know backstabbing and running away very well but didn't know the other stuff.

Unfortunately if you run away too far, the feckers get their second life back!

My main combat faults are spamming backstep thinking this will save my skin Bloodborne style and still getting hit (I know I should hold circle and run, but it's muscle memory). Also failing to read the kanji attack and react appropriately, and hitting L1 to deflect far too slowly. It feels like you need the reflexes of a fighter pilot, but I'm knocking 50 and couldn't time parries in Dark Souls. If I played this on PC I would just cheat but I'm on PlayStation.

BTW Nioh 2 is also repetitive after the first playthrough but I don't mind that.
 
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Didn't enjoy it and gave up quite quick. I've platinum Dark Souls 1-3 and Demon's Souls. Sekiro didn't feel like any of them.

Code Vein is the best 'Souls like' game I've played.
 
I haven't. Working through a backlog atm currently on Fenyx Rising

It's brilliant for an Indie game. The difficulty is a bit off, goes from being punishingly hard to fairly easy as you level up shells and weapon but the graphics are great and the atmosphere out-souls Dark Souls.

Only twenty quid too, cos its short.
 
It's brilliant for an Indie game. The difficulty is a bit off, goes from being punishingly hard to fairly easy as you level up shells and weapon but the graphics are great and the atmosphere out-souls Dark Souls.

Only twenty quid too, cos its short.

Nice one. I usually blast through one of the DS games between new games so might have a look into that. Should probably get round to bloodborne too...
 
Typically, after bigging up Nioh 2 Team Ninja have nerfed it and ruined the game balance. They have nerfed anima build up which will have ruined my end-game build. Good job I'm finished that game. :lol: :(

Thanks for the Sekiro tips mate. I know backstabbing and running away very well but didn't know the other stuff.

Unfortunately if you run away too far, the feckers get their second life back!

My main combat faults are spamming backstep thinking this will save my skin Bloodborne style and still getting hit (I know I should hold circle and run, but it's muscle memory). Also failing to read the kanji attack and react appropriately, and hitting L1 to deflect far too slowly. It feels like you need the reflexes of a fighter pilot, but I'm knocking 50 and couldn't time parries in Dark Souls. If I played this on PC I would just cheat but I'm on PlayStation.

BTW Nioh 2 is also repetitive after the first playthrough but I don't mind that.

Yeh, I struggled initially, I always ended up jumping around instead of blocking. Getting used to the Mikiri Counters is a game-changer, try and dodge forward when the kanji symbol starts to disappear.
 
Yeh, I struggled initially, I always ended up jumping around instead of blocking. Getting used to the Mikiri Counters is a game-changer, try and dodge forward when the kanji symbol starts to disappear.

Mikiri counter is great. I was having all sorts of trouble with the spear mini boss on Hirata estate and then simply hit him twice with the axe, with a mikiri counter inbetween and his posture was broken.

It also seems to have a very forgiving window.

The trouble is where the opponent has more than one type of perilous attack. You get a split second to react and it could be one of two attack types requiring different responses. I've practiced for hours with the dojo guy and he still hits me with his sweep attack.

when there is a clang sound and a flash of orange, that is the signal to switch to attack or defence.

BTW this was spot on combat advice. Tried it last night and, while I don't always spot the flash, the change in clang tone is clear and I immediately switch from attack to defence.
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Been getting my arse handed to me for a while now by
Sword Saint

Just went on there on me dinner and tortured him first time. Have that you cheating bastard.
 
Any tips for Great Shinobi Owl?

Genichiro and Ape were tough but this guy has virtually no attack windows.

He seems tough at first as he is so aggressive and it is tough to heal but there are a few openings. When he throws firecrackers you can dodge behind and get some hits in, same when he throws the orb that stops you healing. The best one is when he throws 2 shurikens, he will always jump afterwards and you can dodge to the side or straight forward into it and do a double ichimonji which massively helps with posture management. Once you get his health half down his posture fills up pretty quickly.

Second phase is similar except for the poison which can be a pain. Wait for the jump move again but this time use mortal draw and you can get his health down pretty quick. Red and yellow sugars can be useful for this one.
 

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