Sekiro

[Anteros]

Anyone else playing this? I'm about 10 hours in and I'm loving it so far. It's a Dark Souls game, but the difficulty is due to the combat actually being difficult instead of floaty controls and a bad camera. It's definitely frustrating at times, but it's probably the most satisfying combat system I've ever played. Especially with the harder difficulty where you have to parry attacks instead of just blocking them.

Let's try to keep plot spoilers in tags since the game is only a week old and a lot of people presumably haven't finished it.

[Lord Raziere]

I've been playing it.

Been a bit in a recovery phase since I beat

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Lord Genichiro, Way of Tomoe a couple days ago. That fight was INTENSE for me. I died so many times, I was sweating, I used up so many items, I felt I was going insane, until I finally beat him in what seemed like a trance while at 30% health and all my gourds and firecrackers spent. one of the hardest, if not THE hardest boss I've ever faced in my life, I do not remember ever feeling this way even in other Souls games and I had to take break after such a fight.

but yeah I'm liking it, and once you know certain areas you can do good grinding and its real relaxing once you can do that and just follow the dark souls grind procedure that pretty much always works, and I've been getting skills like crazy so I can do awesome things. helps me master the game as well.

[Dienekes]

Just beat the game yesterday. And I loved it. I also found out by scouring the internet after the fact that I stumbled my way into getting the "secret ending." Apparently my aimless meandering phase where I had literally no clue what I was doing was good for something. But, also, there is a whole other slightly less secret ending with an entire area of bosses and mini-bosses that I haven't even seen. So, I guess this means that I'm gonna have to play through again. Oh bother.

Anyway, in terms of swordplay this game is a close second to For Honor's mechanics. Thankfully, literally everything else in this game is better. This is easily my favorite Souls game from a mechanical perspective. Though I don't think I've ever heard anyone claim Dark Souls controls were "floaty" before. And honestly, the camera in this game messed me up far more than it ever did in any of the Dark Souls games I've played. So much jumping around and trying to get the camera to read the grapple point I know is right there. So many corners to get stuck in and have the camera just bugger out. I mean going back to For Honor for a second, come on FromSoft, even the chowderheads at Ubisoft were able to figure out a workable way to get a camera to lock on, and hold steady through terrain in a way that gives the player all the information they need. You can do it, too.

But enough of that negativity. I loved the game, loved the parry focused gameplay. I did, as I usually do, played the game in a Warrior run, where I basically just used the Combat Arts and swordplay (and the occasional shuriken). Next run through I'm going to focus on using all those neat prosthetics that are basically spells.

As much as I love it though, I do have some minor critiques.

1) Divine Confetti and ghost enemies. This was a terrible idea. It basically ruins certain mini-boss fights. Where if you don't use divine confetti, they take forever and are not fun. And if you do use divine confetti the boss suddenly becomes trivial. Plus they do not drop very often. So if you do use one and mess up, you have to farm for it, for a while.

Which brings me to.

2) I don't like farming for things. I hate grinding for skill points and gold for the equipment I know I eventually will need. I managed to make my way through the first three Souls games I've played never really stopping to grind. It just wastes time, and lowers the excitement of playing the game. But with the new double death= lose half your progress mechanic, whenever I know that a boss or mini-boss is going to pop up soon. If my experience is too high, then I go to a farming spot and grind out the level because as of now the cost of dying is too high. Now, I know this is a Souls game where everything should have a high cost. But the cost should be done in a way to promote fun gameplay. When you died in Dark Souls, it was bad, but you could run in and grab your lost souls. This gave players a, probably false, sense of security to keep pushing because you can always rush back to where your souls are on the ground and get them. So you always had that motivation to be risky and push a little further. Not so with this game, to its detriment in my mind.

At least the healing mechanics don't need to be grinded out (looking at you, Bloodborne).

3) Deflect Dancing (I've heard it called) is too easy, and kind of trivializes some fights. I'm not sure how to avoid this one though. The only way I can think of to get rid of it, would mean they would also have to slow down enemy attacks to compensate, which I don't think is a good trade. The enemy's aggression is already good.

4) Anti-Air Deathstrike. I honestly have no idea what I'm supposed to do to get this ability to work. I've only successfully used it once. On a rooster. And that was after I decided to just sit in front of it to get the thing to work. And that rooster killed me several times before I got that one time. And I haven't been able to do it since.

But I want to end on some good, because man I do love this game.

1) The other types of gourds is a brilliant addition. I hope FromSoft keeps this idea for later games to manage status effects better.

2) The melee combat is so good. It's going to be a pain when I have to go back to rolling around on the ground the next Dark Souls that gets made.

3) Having the stat improvements based off of beating bosses and not experience. Also brilliant, and enforces the idea that grinding shouldn't be the answer to learning how to win the game. If only the rest of the mechanics followed suit.

4) The skill trees are great fun. I kind of wish that some game developer would make a more traditional RPG with Sekiro style combat and various skill trees of the like for the classes. Warriors could get more Combat Arts, Rogues more stealth stuff. That sort of thing. I know just saying you like skill trees is kind of odd. But the stuff in these ones were so good to really tailor your play style.

5) A more direct story, is really fun. With just enough vagueness for it to feel like a FromSoft game. I kind of think there was more depth in the worlds of Dark Souls and Bloodborne. But I'm not complaining.

[Anteros]

Maybe floaty isn't the right word for the Souls game's controls but I'm not sure what word to use otherwise. Parry timings vary arbitrarily instead of being when the blow lands like Sekiro. Your character attacks general areas instead of enemies. You dodge for the I-frames instead of to get your hit-box out of the way. These are just a few of my complaints.

The camera isn't perfect but at least it's not intentionally bad like in the Souls games. It's the difference between not being able to see because your enemy cornered you vs not being able to see because the FOV is set low on purpose and the devs hide enemies behind walls so you can't see them. I guess peripheral vision doesn't exist in the souls universe. The bad camera is very much an intentional part of the difficulty in Souls games and I'm glad it didn't make it over.

If you're finding some fights too easy have you tried the bell, NG+, or Kuro's charm that give's you damage on blocking? So far I've only unlocked the bell. I'm not sure how much difference it makes since I turned it on and haven't turned it back off to compare.

[Rodin]

I've never really found a need to farm in the game. The fact that it saves progress between skill points is pretty nice, and meant that I only ever went to farm to top off a skill point if I was realllly close to a level. Also, I tended to hit a boss I found tough and then go "right, what else is there?" and head down a different path. In other words, I was always making progression and then when I reached a new skill level I would go fight the boss. The fact that you can store your gold sen in pouches also cut down on the death pain. It also helps that there's only a couple skills that I consider essential to playing the game.

The only real farming I've had to do is for Fulminated Mercury, which is a pain in the ass to get and is needed for pretty much all of the top tier prosthetics. Even so, it only took me about 20 minutes of farming to get enough for the tools I intend to use. One bad thing I've read is that, like the final upgrade material in Bloodborne, there is not enough of one of the upgrade materials in the game for you to upgrade all your prosthetics, and it cannot be farmed. I hated it in Bloodborne, and I hate it here.

But let me go back to that whole "progression" thing. This is something I've been wanting them to return to since Dark Souls 1, because that game was the only one that really got it right and even that game fell apart in the end where the end paths fail to connect to one another. Sekiro is interconnected as hell, and I love it. You can honestly progress through the game through so many different ways, and the game is clearly designed to let you do that. Some examples:

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You can go down all 3 major paths once you hit Ashina Castle without opting to enter the castle and fight Genichiro. What's more, you can actually acquire the items! The only one that's locked out is the Mortal Blade.

What's more, the paths to these areas are interconnected. You can get to the Dungeon either from Ashina Castle, or by going through the Resevoir. From there, you can go to the Depths or to Senpou Temple. From Senpou Temple, once you beat the Monkeys you can go to the Sunken Valley and skip the Gun Fort entirely. Once there, assuming you've beaten Senpou you can traverse through to the Depths.

My feeling playing the game was a constant sense of "I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm lost, oh wait...I'm HERE???"

After Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3's mostly linear experiences, it was great to return to a feeling of exploration.

In terms of where I am at the moment...

After getting wrecked by the final boss, I've done another entire playthrough in order to "git gud", which I feel like I have done. I'm back at the final boss with a lot more progression, but before I take on the last dude I want to:

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Beat the Demon of Hatred. This is the "Bloodborne boss" that I mentioned in the other thread. Hoo boy, is this guy crazy. So far I can only get him to phase 2, and a lot of the time he wipes me out very early on. His leaping body slam, his charge, and his 4-hit combo with the stomp are the ones that nail me at the moment. I did read that you can use the Suzaku Umbrella to block some attacks so I think I'll try that next.

Oh, and apparently I missed the boss I need to get Malcontent, so I need to go back and take down that fellow too.

[Togath]

Something I've been curious about, is Sekiro a stealth platformer game?(like Dishonored or Mark of the Ninja) Or more of an action platformer? Been a little confused.

[Lord Raziere]

Something I've been curious about, is Sekiro a stealth platformer game?(like Dishonored or Mark of the Ninja) Or more of an action platformer? Been a little confused.

I have not played either of the games you mentioned as examples of the former. so I can't see what you mean by that.

but I can say that you can indeed stealth the game a lot of the game and has a stealth mechanic. But that you can't ALWAYS stealth.

like, heres the thing, there is a big incentive to stealth through it, to play as a ninja yes, but there are also places where you HAVE to fight and not just with bosses. when you do fight, its generally in a short burst of violence with two people at most before you slink back into the shadows and wait for the other guys to forget you exist then go back in again. often you take care of big groups by whittling them down, running away, hiding then going back and killing whittling another couple. if your doing it right.

if one plays it stupid, they just run into big enemy groups and get killed by multiple attacking them.

getting stealth kills is often what you need to do and sometimes you get multiple stealth kills in a row so you can save health and resources for a fight later.

stealth is a big part of the game....but its not going to win you boss battles, because they require two deathblows. you can stealth to take off half their health, but you need to get good at deflecting and actual combat for the other half. if you deathblow then stealth off, the bosses are just going to recover their health and your right back where you started. and then there are bosses which can't be stealth-killed at all and you have to kill them fair and square.

so its a hybrid of stealth and action that really nails the badass ninja fantasy of "jump out of the night, kill everyone in a flash of motion then disappear". you want to be as quick, aggressive full of counter-attacks/interrupts to your enemy as possible, so that you can end combat as quickly as possible. drawing out combat just gives your enemies more chances to kill you.

so your answer its that its kind of both, because purity of genre wouldn't capture what its doing, and it its awesome for it.

[Rodin]

The big difference between Sekiro and a game like Dishonored is that enemies forget, and forget very quickly. There's no penalty for being seen, other than having to run away and reset.

In addition to that, the enemies in Sekiro are often paired (or more), such that you cannot stealth kill an entire area without being seen.

As an example, here's an area near the start of the game that I had to clear a LOT because the boss whacked me every time. There's a path with tall grass on either side for hiding, and a tall tower at the front. There's also a terrace with some more grass. The boss is patrolling the back of the area, with a torch wielder patrolling the front. There's a bowman in the grass, and two soldiers talking on the terrace - one of whom is an axe-wielder tough enough that I would almost certainly take damage with my level of skill at the time.

The strategy was to wait for the torch guy to patrol away, then use the grapple to go up to the top of the tower and from there across to the terrace. Sneak through the grass, and backstab the axeman. Immediately parry the angry attack of his partner, then quick flurry of blades to finish him while the boss sprints to the stairs. Leap off the terrace and sprint at the bowman at high speed, kill him.

At this point, it's peace out time. Run away until the boss de-aggros, then come back and sneak through the grass to stealth kill the torch dude. If boss aggros again, run away again, then come back and sneak through the grass again to backstab the boss for half his health. Have a glorious 1-on-1 battle, instead of fighting him 5-on-1.

There are times when you can fight multiple enemies and win, but one of the bigger skills in the game is knowing when that's feasible. Even then, it's often better to sprint around an arena quickly killing weak enemies and leaving the strong ones until last.

[huttj509]

The big difference between Sekiro and a game like Dishonored is that enemies forget, and forget very quickly. There's no penalty for being seen, other than having to run away and reset.

In addition to that, the enemies in Sekiro are often paired (or more), such that you cannot stealth kill an entire area without being seen.

As an example, here's an area near the start of the game that I had to clear a LOT because the boss whacked me every time. There's a path with tall grass on either side for hiding, and a tall tower at the front. There's also a terrace with some more grass. The boss is patrolling the back of the area, with a torch wielder patrolling the front. There's a bowman in the grass, and two soldiers talking on the terrace - one of whom is an axe-wielder tough enough that I would almost certainly take damage with my level of skill at the time.

The strategy was to wait for the torch guy to patrol away, then use the grapple to go up to the top of the tower and from there across to the terrace. Sneak through the grass, and backstab the axeman. Immediately parry the angry attack of his partner, then quick flurry of blades to finish him while the boss sprints to the stairs. Leap off the terrace and sprint at the bowman at high speed, kill him.

At this point, it's peace out time. Run away until the boss de-aggros, then come back and sneak through the grass to stealth kill the torch dude. If boss aggros again, run away again, then come back and sneak through the grass again to backstab the boss for half his health. Have a glorious 1-on-1 battle, instead of fighting him 5-on-1.

There are times when you can fight multiple enemies and win, but one of the bigger skills in the game is knowing when that's feasible. Even then, it's often better to sprint around an arena quickly killing weak enemies and leaving the strong ones until last.

"Come back and fight like a man!"

"I'm a shinobi so...no?"

[Anteros]

It's worth noting that you can fight big groups if your parry timings are on point. Mine aren't, but I've seen people playing who are able to just roll through big groups of enemies without taking damage.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

"Come back and fight like a man!"

"I'm a shinobi so...no?"

"A child fights to play, a man fights to win."

- Shinobi saying

[Lord Raziere]

"A child fights to play, a man fights to win."

- Shinobi saying

How oddly unimpressive. fighting implies that your TRYING, when you should DO. the saying should be

"A child fights to play, a man kills to win."

[Anteros]

Y'all remember we're still just playing a video game, right?

[Lord Raziere]

Y'all remember we're still just playing a video game, right?

Yes.

a From Software videogame.

there are games you use to relax, and they are valid things to play. Dark souls or Sekiro are not one of them.

[Dienekes]

The strategy was to wait for the torch guy to patrol away, then use the grapple to go up to the top of the tower and from there across to the terrace. Sneak through the grass, and backstab the axeman. Immediately parry the angry attack of his partner, then quick flurry of blades to finish him while the boss sprints to the stairs. Leap off the terrace and sprint at the bowman at high speed, kill him.

At this point, it's peace out time. Run away until the boss de-aggros, then come back and sneak through the grass to stealth kill the torch dude. If boss aggros again, run away again, then come back and sneak through the grass again to backstab the boss for half his health. Have a glorious 1-on-1 battle, instead of fighting him 5-on-1.

That’s certainly one way to do it, if you’re a coward.

Or you can charge in like a man, fail to get a backstab and then fight them all at once using hit and run tactics to circle around the battlefield and slaughtering your enemies. Ending with no healing gourd left but sweet victory.
...
While internally screaming the entire time and almost having a heart attack.

[Anteros]

Does anyone know if you can throw the game off the rails so to speak? I'm enjoying the exploration more than the boss fights and I'm purposely avoiding the fight on the castle roof. I've wandered pretty far off the main path, sometimes into areas I feel like the game doesn't expect me to be in yet, and I'm hoping it's not possible to skip content or bug the game out.

[Lord Raziere]

Does anyone know if you can throw the game off the rails so to speak? I'm enjoying the exploration more than the boss fights and I'm purposely avoiding the fight on the castle roof. I've wandered pretty far off the main path, sometimes into areas I feel like the game doesn't expect me to be in yet, and I'm hoping it's not possible to skip content or bug the game out.

castle roof? do you mean the second fight against Genichiro? because yes you can avoid that for a while, but there is a key to an area you don't get until after you beat him, and its necessary to progress so....no, Sekiro is actually the most story-focused of the games From has released, and story means facing bosses to get places.

your simply going to have to face that one eventually. you can grind all you want or face mini-bosses to increase health and attack to prepare, but sooner or later thats going to be thing and I had a hard time with Genichiro, harder than most bosses, dying is normal against that one, and by the end I was in trance like state, and thats AFTER I prepared for him in every way I possibly could. I don't blame you for avoiding Genichiro, he is kind of a "harder than Lady Butterfly" boss and is basically the half way point if what I've heard is to be believed. also there are some cool abilities you don't get access to until you beat him. and for good reason: Genichiro is pretty important to the story. kind of the entire reason its happening.

[Anteros]

I was trying to avoid spoilers, but I guess it doesn't matter.

I'm not avoiding him because he's hard, I just don't feel like devoting the time to a boss right now and I'd rather explore. I only tried him once when the cutscene unexpectedly triggered while I was around the back of the building. He didn't seem that hard. I almost got him to phase 2, but I'm sure he goes bonkers in that phase and I just don't feel like spending an hour or two on the fight right now.

Right now I'm at the gunfort which I got to by jumping from a ledge in the monkey area and given that the experience totals suddenly quadrupled, I feel like I'm maybe not supposed to be here.

[Lord Raziere]

"it'll take a couple of hours" just sounds like a different way of saying its hard to me. it took me a bit more than one or two hours to beat the guy.

as for gun fort, thats where the door where that blocks off other stuff is that you need the key for, I did most of my grinding there, so no your not sequence breaking or anything, because thats still within the areas you get without beating Genichiro. thats all I'm saying.

[Rodin]

The fun thing about Sekiro is that the key you get for beating Genichiro allows you to access exactly one area, and the rest of the game can be progressed through without fighting him. You do also need to beat him to find out how to get a plot coupon, but you can beat the area where said coupon resides before even meeting him.

In fact, it feels like the game was deliberately set up this way. Having trouble with a boss? Go elsewhere. Pick up more skill points and Prayer Beads. Come back once you're better prepared and more skilled. The first time I played I did just that - fought Genichiro for a while, got my ass kicked, wandered off and explored for a bit. Came back with another prayer necklace on my belt, got my ass kicked again. Etc.

[Anteros]

"it'll take a couple of hours" just sounds like a different way of saying its hard to me. it took me a bit more than one or two hours to beat the guy.

as for gun fort, thats where the door where that blocks off other stuff is that you need the key for, I did most of my grinding there, so no your not sequence breaking or anything, because thats still within the areas you get without beating Genichiro. thats all I'm saying.

Ok? You're free to play the game the way you want, and I'll play the way I want. I'd rather explore than beat my head against a rhythm game disguised as a boss battle right now. Later, I'll probably feel like fighting him so I'll spend an hour or two (or maybe 12, who knows) getting his mechanics down.

Thanks for answering my question though.

The fun thing about Sekiro is that the key you get for beating Genichiro allows you to access exactly one area, and the rest of the game can be progressed through without fighting him. You do also need to beat him to find out how to get a plot coupon, but you can beat the area where said coupon resides before even meeting him.

In fact, it feels like the game was deliberately set up this way. Having trouble with a boss? Go elsewhere. Pick up more skill points and Prayer Beads. Come back once you're better prepared and more skilled. The first time I played I did just that - fought Genichiro for a while, got my ass kicked, wandered off and explored for a bit. Came back with another prayer necklace on my belt, got my ass kicked again. Etc.

This is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks. Dark Souls games always seem to have a bit of "oh you missed this? Too bad! You can play NG+ if you want it!" I already know there's several endings and you basically need a guide to get some of them. I didn't want to accidentally lock myself out of any content by doing things out of sequence.

[Rodin]

This is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks. Dark Souls games always seem to have a bit of "oh you missed this? Too bad! You can play NG+ if you want it!" I already know there's several endings and you basically need a guide to get some of them. I didn't want to accidentally lock myself out of any content by doing things out of sequence.

You do need to be careful with the endings. One reason I restarted was because I beat a certain boss and locked myself out of a couple of the endings.

In case you're curious, the point of no return is:

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When you defeat the boss of the Fountainhead Palace. After that point, you cannot talk to Kuro any more, and that is required for two of the endings. You need to have proceeded past the point where you need to talk to Kuro on both endings prior to beating that boss. For extra double-spoiler specifics:

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You need to have gained access to the Second Hirata estate memory for one ending, and for the other you need to have eaten Kuro's rice gift in front of him and talked to him afterwards.

[Dienekes]

I've been spending a few days planning my next playthrough. So here's what I've learned about locking yourself out of content.

After you beat the introduction section, the world is already pretty opened up. There is one optional section gained by talking to an old lady who thinks you're her son in Ashina Outskirts. In this secret section you can explore everything. There is a key in this area that unlocks the boss fight of that area. I somehow missed it my first time in the section so I ended up just running around like a chicken with my head cut off until I found it.

But beyond that you can go exploring through most of the game. Nothing you can do in this section can change the outcome of the game or forces you to skip over content. You can explore to your hearts content. This includes the gunfort. However, eventually if you keep exploring you're going to reach a door that requires a key. This key is only found after defeating the boss at the top of Ashina Castle.

After defeating that boss, you will talk to an important character and will be given a mission and a list of ingredients along with the key. This opens up the rest of the map, except for 2 areas. But still nothing is cut off if you go and try to find it.

However, eventually when following the new mission, you'll notice one of the areas you've already unlocked have gone through a massive change. It is a very obvious change kind of impossible to miss. This is your clue to go back and explore that. Reach the final boss of this section and you will now be given a choice. This choice is the first section that locks of areas in the game to explore.

One decision leads to one ending, the other decision leads to the other three endings.

Pick which one you want. The one leading to a single ending basically follows a linear path from that point. The one leading to three endings is where the game starts to get complicated.

You can complete the mission given to you after the boss in Ashina Castle. Doing this opens the last required map, but beating the boss there locks you out of game content and starts end game.

Or you can go a wandering. This wandering reveals that a lot has changed around the maps you've already explored. New mini-bosses. New actual bosses. And the potential to unlock the paths to the other two endings.

Unfortunately explaining how to get these two endings in any meaningful way requires some spoilers

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Secret Ending 1:

*Right after the boss that causes the first divergence of endings, you'll need to eavesdrop on the character right after. You may need to rest before this option is available.

*Then talk to Emma. She will give you a choice, you must choose "I agree. Kuro cannot be allowed to die." Then rest and talk to Emma again.

*Go to the Old Grave Idol go left immediately and talk to the character standing before the graves.

*Go to the Sculptor, he should have a guest. Go behind the building and eavesdrop on them. Again if the guest isn't there, just rest or teleport away and back. Once eaves have been dropped, go talk to the Sculptor's guest, go through all dialogue, you'll get a new item that opens up a secret area, or more accurately alters a different area.

*Run through to beat the boss.

*Complete the game as normal.

Secret Ending 2: Which I've read is the "best" ending, it's the one I stumbled upon by accident.

*The Divine Child at the Inner Sanctum gives you rice at some point. You can give rice to weird ladies who give you hints about the game scattered over the world, or you can eat it yourself.

*Every time you use a rice, teleport back to her and ask her for more. Do this three times and she will get sick and ask for Persimmon.

*Give her Persimmon. I had a few in my inventory already, but I think you can buy them somewhere if you don't have any.

*She gives you rice to give to a different character.

*Give the rice to that character. He will tell you to come back after he's made rice balls.

*Teleport away and back and they should be ready. Eat the rice ball in front of him.

*Go back to the Divine Child, she'll ask about her gift of rice and you two can hatch a plan to get a better ending.

*She'll need an item called Holy Chapter: Infested. Which you may have already given her (it's just on a desk in Senpou Temple). If you didn't pick it up before defeating the boss of Ashina Castle, it'll instead be at the bottom of the lake in Senpou Temple. Very obviously in the middle, if it's not there you already picked it up and/or gave it to her. Apparently, it's possible to get stuck in this section. You can get this back on track by using all your rice to the point she asks for another Persimmon. This should re-trigger her dialogue option and she will send you to talk to a wise Senpou monk.

*Go back to Main Hall Idol of Senpou Temple, go through the caves to the left and search around until you find a corpse in a colorful clothing with an item on his lap. Pick the item up.

*Head back to the Divine Child give her the item. She'll talk about needing Serpent Persimmon. I already had one through my wandering around. But was able to stumble my way into finding the other.

*The one I found first was the Fresh Serpent Viscera. In the first idol of Senpou, you remember that kite with the crank and the toadstool dwarf guy in front of it? Well, at this point you have definitely unlocked an ability that let's you control defeated enemies. Use that on the toadstool dwarf guy and he'll use the crank and send the kite up. You can use this kite to get to the other side of the canyon, but you'll need to run up to the point where you can do that. From here you'll get a Sunken Valley Cavern Idol, and follow a linear path until you reach the dead end with one of the giant Snakes far beneath you. Jump off and perform a plunging execution on the snake.

*Teleport to the Bodhisattva Valley Idol. There's a small passage down from there that leads to a poisoned lake. You'll find a merchant and a tunnel. Go through the tunnel, but be careful, it has a bunch of poison lizards and ghosts, and of course a giant snake. Keep following the path until you get to a fork in the road. On one side is the head of the giant snake, looking at you. On the other is a drop down to a cowering monkey. Use that ability to control defeated enemies on the monkey, he'll distract the snake. While the snake eats the monkey, grapple to behind the snake, and go into the building to find the Dried Serpent Viscera. The snake has blocked the door behind you. You can't kill the snake, sadly. I've tried. But there is a grapple point up to get out.

*Head back to the Divine Child and give her the Snake Parts.

*Leave, return, the door will be closed and you can eavesdrop on her being sick.

*Start completing the main way to beat the game again. But be sure to go back to the Divine Child at some point to pick up the item she gives you.

[Anteros]

Well, I gave Genichiro a few tries. The first 2 dots are very easy at least. It's just a patience game and I can get through them without taking damage unless I do something stupid. The last phase seems a lot tougher and I've died on it about 3 times so far. The problem is that the first 2 modes are just so damn tedious that I don't want to do them over and over to get to the third mode to learn it. I can beat them every time but...between the loading screen, 2 cutscenes, and 2 several minute fights we're talking about 10 minutes just to get to the fight I want to play. It's just so damn tedious. I've never been a big fan of the Dark Souls aspect of making you run through a bunch mindless tedium to get back to the boss you want to fight. It would probably help to turn the demon bell off, but that feels like quitting. I'll come back to it later.

[Anteros]

Has anyone else noticed an issue where sometimes you'll press a button and it won't go off. Specifically with my trigger keys (block and attack). Like, I'll literally be holding the button down and nothing will happen about 5% or so of the time. Is my controller busted?

I didn't notice this issue in other games, but the last one I played was Kingdom Hearts, and it's basically just button mashing where you hardly use the triggers so I probably wouldn't.

[Rodin]

Has anyone else noticed an issue where sometimes you'll press a button and it won't go off. Specifically with my trigger keys (block and attack). Like, I'll literally be holding the button down and nothing will happen about 5% or so of the time. Is my controller busted?

I didn't notice this issue in other games, but the last one I played was Kingdom Hearts, and it's basically just button mashing where you hardly use the triggers so I probably wouldn't.

I haven't noticed anything myself. The only thing I can think of is action queuing maybe? You can queue actions like in Dark Souls, meaning that if you have too much queued your character may not react in time even if you push the button. If you're testing from rest outside of combat, then...I dunno.

[Anteros]

I haven't noticed anything myself. The only thing I can think of is action queuing maybe? You can queue actions like in Dark Souls, meaning that if you have too much queued your character may not react in time even if you push the button. If you're testing from rest outside of combat, then...I dunno.

I can definitely duplicate it outside of combat. Sometimes I'll hold the block button down and it will just literally never block. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem. Maybe I'll buy a second controller and see. I've been meaning to get one for when someone comes over anyway. I've taken to spamming the block button instead of holding it down since I can't rely on it which is better for parrying anyway.

Some things I'm enjoying about the game. I like how this game turns your muscle memory from dark souls against you. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to dodge roll something instead of parrying and gotten punished. I wonder if that was an intentional design choice. Also how unique most of the bosses feel when you first encounter them.

It's funny how drastically the difficulty of certain fights varies from person to person. I blew through the well ninja in 2 tries and the corrupted monk in one. Meanwhile, my friend who is better at these games than me was stuck on both of those fights for hours. He blew through the flaming bull in one try though and I was stuck there forever. It seems like it's never the same fight we get stuck on.

[avensis]

It's been a long time that I had not enjoyed playing a game, I really like the gameplay and the universe but also the few changes made to the experience: the shinobi prosthesis, skills, discretion and above all verticality etc.

[Dienekes]

So, started my NG+ playthrough without Kuro's Charm, and woohoho this is brutal. I love it. Completely negates my criticism about deflect dancing.

[Anteros]

So, started my NG+ playthrough without Kuro's Charm, and woohoho this is brutal. I love it. Completely negates my criticism about deflect dancing.

I can't even imagine. Most of the harder fights like Granny and Genichiro are trivialized by just holding down the block button. It's lazy gameplay, but it works. It's a completely different game when you can't do that. I can't wait to try it and get punished for all the bad habits I learned on my first playthrough.