Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - From Software and Hidetaka Miyazaki's new game for PS4, XBone, PC

It is a weird balance, when I think about it, between stealth and totally aggro relentless fights required to advance.

So far I've either aced a boss or struggled loads and had to rely on semi-cheesing (deaggroing them then backstabbing)

Tbh I don't remember maintaining stealth very often in this game.

This is probably the least cheese-able game out of all the From games, in terms of bosses. It's been awhile but they all use the mechanics in a slightly different way, and force you to fight on their terms (some are more about doing vitality damage, others are more about breaking their posture, etc). I guess the 'cheese' comes in using items or ninja skills that they're weak to.

Highly recommend checking out some of these silly but informative videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMFJMCWtY-w

Ok I think I'm going to have to start another playthrough :)

that fuckin bull tho.

Half the reason I want to play this again is that I now know you can parry the bull.

The stealth stuff, iirc, involved hiding in tall grass, leaping from roof to roof, etc, then zipping down for a kill, stuff like that.

I did forget that you can often use stealth to get rid of one of some (but definitely not all) bosses' life bars.

yeah, so this was the only way I could beat Juzuo the Drunk (the sumo guy on Hirata Estate).

There's a way to sneak through the building on the left hand side, sneak up behind one of his aids, backstab, run behind the building again until they de-aggro, and repeat. You can then get a cheeky stealth backstab on the boss before fighting him properly (with the help of that fella standing in the water to distract him).

If you don't kill all his aids first, it's a really tough fight. Even if you do, it's tricky as anything. I was subsisting on left-hand dodge rolls and then hitting him in the back a few times. Bu the rhythm would be interrupted when he would push me into a corner or against a rock.

I don't know whether things like the "sneak/backstab/de-aggro/repeat" method is the "right" way to do it, or indeed if it counts as cheesing, but it's in the game I guess? If this is how hard the early minibosses are, god knows what to expect for the rest of the game.

I'm really bad at knowing which moves are being telegraphed, and more often than not I just can't parry or do the correct type of riposte anywhere close to in time. There have been points where I SWEAR I've hit the correct button and just watch as the enemy picks me up and stomps me to an inch of my health bar.

i think in that sort of fight you’re certainly expected to pick off the minions, before tackling the big boss, though that back route feels a bit cheesy, as you say. mainly because they do not react as their mates fall to the ground around them.

my general approach is “absolutely do not care how i achieve beating this boss, the easier the better”.

Great general approach. Anything else is insanity tbh

I started a new game and it's feeling great so far.

You're totally right about there being no right way to win - items, backstabs, 'cheese', whatever. But later bosses might be harder to beat by slowly chipping down their vitality and running away, because they have huge health pools or are really good at blocking/deflecting your attacks. So you'll probably be forced at some point to win by breaking their posture, which requires you to keep on top of them (basically deflecting their attacks, and attacking when they stop attacking, and dodging/countering their perilous attacks - the ones telegraphed by those Japanese symbols and some sort of movement tell).

There have been points where I SWEAR I've hit the correct button and just watch as the enemy picks me up and stomps me to an inch of my health bar.

Yeah, you'll never be able to parry/counter a grab attack, those are the ones where you need to get a sense of the telegraph move and just jump back/dodge/run out of the way.

Man, early ogre grab attack, giant monkey grab attack ...

Also tbf I don't think you're supposed to constantly deflect/parry huge enemies with huge swords like Juzou, because they're huge and cause a ton of posture build-up.

And also once an enemy's vitality gets low, their posture doesn't recover as fast, so maybe you can use the hit-and-run strategy for most bosses? But it will probably take way longer and be harder for some of them, and also it's fun to stay in their face and swordfight. It's definitely an adjustment from Souls, which drill dodging and spacing into you. One of those Saint Riot videos makes the point that a lot of early game bosses in Sekiro (Juzou, the bull, maybe even Lady Butterfly) do in fact require a lot of dodging and spacing, and maybe it would have been good to include more deflection-based fights in the early game.

Ok I'm deeply back into this game now, just got past Genichiro on the Ashina Castle rooftop (and whatever comes after this is a bit of a haze in my memory until the end game). Such a fantastic fight.

Stealth is a *much* bigger part than I remembered, I had gotten used to fighting multiple enemies in Souls/Elden Ring but you really really don't want to do it here. Also using a lot more items and skills than in my first playthrough, I think.

Well, the big monkey still took hours of attempts this time around. I was pretty happy with this run though, even got some spear ripostes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-E5PUOxlk8

Beating big monkey is what eventually gave my controller drift.

Man, I kinda want to search for old reactions from the first people that faced this boss blind.

I got to Lady Butterfly and got in the mood for revisiting Dark Souls. So now I'm stuck on her, the Bull and Ornstein & Smough all at the same time!

Haha, I think a lot should open up once you get past those walls.

I managed to first-try the ape couple, aka Sekiro's version of O&S. Same strats basically, run away (unlocked, with the camera pointed behind you), and attack the more aggressive one when you can!

Thanks to a guide, I'm actually trying a different ending this time, the Purification one. I thought I had already broken it somehow and was about to kill the giant divine lightning dragon, but it turns out I just needed to eavesdrop on my crew a bunch.

The alternate Hirata Estate is no joke, just got to Owl pt. 2 after beating the ninja who keeps summoning dogs and Juzuo and friends pt. 2.

This game is so damn good, and I know I'm still missing a bunch of things (like once again not bothering with most of the Headless/undead minibosses).

Does anyone listen to the Bonfireside Chat podcast? I think it's excellent for listening to people discuss the lore of these games.

That said, I was surprised just how cold they were on Sekiro, and especially the reasons they give for not really loving it, many of which could easily be ascribed to Dark Souls anyway.

Strangely, they also dislike DS3 while stanning hard for DS2, neither of which I've played through much, but I understand goes against popular consensus

I haven't but I hate those opinions. Tbh I don't really care much about the lore though, I just let the vibe wash over me and I mostly care about the action/mechanics/pvp etc.

DS3 = best pvp, it's insane to think about the amount of time I spent on it, wish it was still more active

DS2 = I just can't, I'm glad it has its fans but it just doesn't feel good to me (mostly due to the art/animation/mechanics and timing of everything)

DS1 = best world design and atmosphere, always up for a comfort replay

Sekiro = best single-player game maybe?

Bloodborne = amazing game, love it and have fond memories of the main game + dlc + pvp, but for some reason I've never been able to get through a second playthrough. I usually stall out early on for some reason (maybe because I'm impatient and don't want to farm blood vials?).

And Elden Ring is just kind of the summation of everything, although I haven't felt compelled to go back to the pvp in the last few months.

PvP is something I've barely touched in any of these games.

In Elden Ring it seems to take forever for me to get summoned, even at the coliseums, and I think I've won, like, one match in all my time.

I have no idea how covenants work in Dark Souls either. Is it worth looking into while I'm playing the main story, or more of a post-completion thing? No idea what they are or how they work really.

I tried to get pure white tendency for Demon's Souls but that first NPC you're meant to save got himself killed. I might go back and check out black tendency but it sounds tough and the game is already tough enough!

With Elden Ring I really loved getting deep into the lore. It's so rich and well fleshed-out, and you can watch endless YouTubes about it.

Lore for Demon's Souls felt more obfuscated. I played the whole thing through and I'm still not sure what was happening or why I was doing it or what the various NPCs' motives were, despite watching a good few vids.

Dark Souls, Bloodborne - no clue. Any time I try and read or watch some lore stuff they seem to be talking about later-game events I haven't reached yet. So it feels a bit like it's the kind of thing you play through once, then read up about, then play again with a much better knowledge of what's happening.

The Daddy Owl fight is now my favorite, although it definitely took a few hours to get comfortable with. So great to be able to go back and play a new-to-me boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbFmPCqR4YQ

And with that I think I'm done for this run, at least for awhile. Not particularly interested in learning the Demon of Hatred and Isshin fights again, and I'm still recovering from some tendonitis and this game is making it flare up (so much left hand action with the deflecting).

Just started this and it is sooo much my jam. Don't know why it took me so long. I'm on record as a huge Tenchu stan and this does feel like a worthy successor though I would have liked a bit more stealth. But I won't be greedy. I love anticipating the bosses. I love having to redo little sections and just becoming amazing at them. I love the Japanese. The stances, and how you break break them, reminds me of Bushido Blade. HIGH PRAISE. I even love how the menus etc are sort of nasty and PC-like. It is incredibly responsive. I guess that's.. I dunno frame rate or something, but it's also a decision they made for your guy to be quick.

My only real complaint? The fan on my PS4 sounds like a goddamn AIR CONDITIONER when I'm playing this, even with HDR off. Any tips?? Kinda ruins the atmos

Some people recommend opening it up and cleaning out the dust, but I don't recall my PS4 being that loud when I played this game, or any game, for that matter. I had a Slim.

Huh maybe I'll try that! I also have a slim