I'm getting better at Sekiro (spoilers likely)

[air_show]

I played some Sekiro a while back and got up to GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA before stalling out and bouncing off. I recently started over though and feel like I've nearly gotten back up to where I left off much easier than I got there the first time. In particular remember after you beat the red eyed ogre guy and right afterward there's a general with a squad you can just skip for now if you want but I have to fight because I'm stubborn? Well in my first playthrough it took me many dozens and dozens of deaths to get that guy. But today I got him on my second attempt making a total of three attempts this playthrough. Which feels pretty good.

I've also adopted my policy I acquired in the BB and Souls games of just never carrying losable currency any time I'm going into a tough fight. If I got gold I spend it. On items from merchants first and then anything that remains on spirit emblems. It works surprisingly well. I have more resources to spend freely in tight situations and don't have to deal with that loss anxiety that comes with failure. 10/10 strategy would recommend to anyone who thinks these games require grinding.

Anyway I just did the snake bit and got the axe this morning which puts me almost up to where I left off barring a bit of exploring still in the Hirata estate.

 

[air_show]

ok well, I started getting salty at the fucking spear guy on that flower road past the shield dudes in Hirate Estate. What always gets me is they have that big red symbol that pops up to warn you that an attack you can't just block is coming. Problem is that I don't know if it's a thrust attack or a sweep that's coming, as they have to be reacted to differently. Also the mechanics of thrust attacks confuse me? Like are ALL of his thrust attacks unblockable or just the ones that show the red kanji? Because I could swear that that stabby combo he does is just as unblockable even though it doesn't have any tells. I know for a fact I've beaten this guy before but I can't do it now. He just fucking wrecks my shit, even with Mikiri Counter because it doesn't seem to do enough posture damage for an easy deathblow and then I just get fucking stabbed to death again. Also I'm frustrated by the enemies in his area. I can't seem to take them all out without getting the attention of others and before I know it they're all ganging up on me. My only option is to pick one off at a time and then run away over and over and over again. Which just feels lame, like I"m doing it wrong? But I can't take on that many enemies at once especially with spear asshole there and there doesn't seem to be any way to kill any of them stealthily without setting off the whole crowd.

 

[karzac]

That area of Hirata gave me a lot of trouble too.

In terms of the spear guy, yes the only unlockable attacks are the red kanji ones. Pretty much every non-red kanji attack in the game is blockable. However, if I recall correctly, thrust tend to have tighter windows (or maybe I was just worse at seeing them) so often dodging is a better option. It's worth getting the Militia counter timing down too as as does a bunch of posture damage and will be useful through the entire game.

In terms of groups of enemies, I struggled a lot with that too. I found it best to treat it like a stealth game at those points. Scout out the area and pick off enemies while they're alone. The AI visiin cines are pretty tight. Shurikens are also very handy for picking off weak enemies or kiting them.

Always try to avoid engaging multiple enemies at once, it's really hard.

 

[air_show]

Ok, ok ok ok. SO. I defeated the spear guy and then started going after the big drunk guy in the burning mansion. I managed to defeat him due to jolly cooperation with the nearby npc. Then I fought Lady Butterfly. It did not go well.

When I started getting salty about dying to her over and over again and seeing two Unseen Aids in a row that were effectively useless due to my minimizing loss when fighting a tough boss efforts, I decided to fuck off and find another challenge to face.

So I guess it was time to fight GYOUBU MASATAK ONIWA again. The big huge horse guy who was the brick wall that single-handedly ended my first attempt at running through the game after literal hours of death.

And I beat him. On the first. Try.

I couldn't fuckin believe it. It was clutch too, I had like, no healing gourd charges left and very low health for almost the entire second half of the fight, but somehow I pulled it off. Feels good man. Definitely a mood lifter after getting my ass kicked by an old lady.

I'm getting a little better at blocking. Trying harder to not flinch when a huge attack is coming for me but I still almost always get punked by the perilous attacks because I never figure out what kind is coming at me in time to perform the appropriate counter.

 

[air_show]

Jesus fucking Christ now I"m stuck on the goddamn fucking bull that thing is impossible.

 

[air_show]

Wow the raging bull is actually pissing me off I had to turn off the game because I was starting to rage really bad.

 

[karzac]

The key to the bull is realizing you can parry it's charge.

Lady Butterfly is brutal though, I don't even know how many tries she took me.

I never struggled with Gyoubu though, I found the fireworks to be extremely effective against him.

 

[air_show]

The fireworks are like, BY FAR the most praised tool I've noticed. But they never seem very helpful to me, usually resulting in a stun so brief I don't get to capitalize on it most of the time.

 

[air_show]

I beat the bull. A video showing me how to time the deflect on his charge helped. Again though, fireworks seemed more like a liability than a help. The only way to se them off close enough to hit him meant it was always a risky throw. And the way he rears back makes it super hard to get more than a couple hits on him anyway.

 

[karzac]

Fireworks stun animals for a longer period, giving you a big opening to hit them. I found them useful against other opponents too. But the timing is tricky for sure! I don't think you have to get that close though, they've got a pretty decent effect range.

 

[Adrenaline]

To me the key of the bull was realizing you can just sprint infinitely in this game

 

[air_show]

Ooof, no I tried the infinite sprinting strategy and it is too slow and finicky. Sometimes his shit would still hit me and damage was way too low. I had to deflect his charges or basically never beat him.

It's hard to post about this fucking game and not be in a bad mood when I do it because every single time I stop playing it's a rage quit. I mean I'm old now and don't have the energy for controller smashing or screaming fits but I have to turn off the game because I'm genuinely frustrated and angry. I'm angry at the game for being so unforgiving and ruthless, I'm angry at myself for not "getting it", I'm angry at the controls for not feeling like they're not "working" because of reasons one and two even though I'm sure it's just me.

The worst part is usually after I cool down I go back and play some more and I do start to "get it". Today I wandered around the Ashina Castle rooftops and there were some fucking scary crow dudes up there, and the further up I went the more terrifyingly large I realized their numbers were. I had to spend a lot of time fleeing for my life and even had to rest and start over a couple of times. But then, at this one point, I got into the fuckin zone and was able to take out a shitload of them via stealth and then take on the few I couldn't in straight fights that were as satisfying as they looked fuckin cool. I got up into some high tower full of guys in blue robes. I metal geared a bit of a ways in before two of them saw me and killed me so brutally fast I decided to back off and try something else for now.

But it's like, there on the rooftops I had this feeling of like "hey, maybe I'm finally getting it! Maybe it's clicking!"

And then the Ashina Reservoir ruined everything. I went there because all things considered, it's clearly the "easy" area of the options available to me. The guards are all normal soldiers and a couple of ogres, no fancy scary enemies, and just another good old fashioned armored general at the top of the hill with a very convenient stealth path you can use to confront him that allows you to only kill like two guys per attempt.

And he keeps fucking destroying me over and over. I've acquired three more sick people on him alone I think. I know what I have to do. I know what I'm supposed to do and I can't fucking do it. I can't block at the right time, I can't read his tells on the perilous attacks. ONE time I got into this amazing fucking flow where I attacked him until he deflected and then deflected his big swingy attack and then he did the thrust which I Mikiri countered and then did that like three more times in a row and I got so fucking excited like I'm FINALLY going to pull it off and then he killed me in one fucking hit and then killed me the fuck again when I resurrected. And every single time after that I couldn't even come close to wearing him down again. Whatever magic happened on that one attempt it's gone now and now I'm just fucking baffled at how I'm supposed to have the flawless perfect reflexes necessary to survive at all much less actually fight back enough to beat this guy.

And it's like great, my good mood has been both caused, and ruined, by Sekiro. Fuck.

 

[air_show]

Okay, okay wait...

OKAAAAAAAY...

So that's what they mean by "play aggressively" huh?

 

[karzac]

Yessss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I basically never used the spear, that's quite a cool finisher animation.

 

[air_show]

Well I got Lady Butterfly. Got to her second phase a couple of times that is. I was kinda awesome while doing it too, but then I lost the groove and couldn't find it again. Got killed in her first phase several more times and then gave up.

Explored Ashina Castle some more and discovered a lot more places to go. Didnt fight a whole bunch of stuff but found several buddhas and another vendor which is nice.

Then I decided to go after that general at the top of the stairs, having to kill his gunner squad each time. Many many tries but I got him when I finally managed to jump his sweep several times successfully.

 

[karzac]

Jumping over sweeps and kicking guys in the head is sooo satisfying. That and the mikiri counter are the best parts of the game.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Jumping over sweeps and kicking guys in the head is sooo satisfying. That and the mikiri counter are the best parts of the game.

Those and also getting a stealth deathblow on a miniboss and taking an entire lifebar away from them before the fight even begins

 

[air_show]

Man oh man oh man oh man I am starting to get it.

Tonight, among other things I beat some of those blue guys in the robes in that tower past the rooftops. The first one I beat with a mikiri counter and it was sweet as fuck. I found some kind of poison sword shinobi tool. I fought a guy with a big-ass sword overlooking a creepy pond and despite his new, unique enemy status I beat him on the first try.

There are so many places to go now. Every time I get it in my head to really explore I'm finding at least two or three new buddha statues. I've got plentiful vendor stocks to spend my gold on and I'm leveling my skills slowly but surely.

The skill gains have slowed to an absolute crawl which is causing me to focus way more on survival. I've recently adopted the policy of cutting my losses and running in really nasty situations and been better for it. If I'm more or less guaranteed to fail against whatever foe I'm up against I might as well bug out and rest at the buddha statue to negate even the chance of losing my shit. And those moments where I'm down at low health with no resources but the enemy I'm fighting is ALSO 1-2 good hits from death, hooo BOY, that's where the GOOD endorphins kick in!

 

[air_show]

It's also occured to me that in all this time the only actual Capital B Boss I've defeated is GYOUBO MASATAKA ONIWA, and the only other one I've even encountered is Lady Butterfly. This game is quite a labyrinth.

 

[Adrenaline]

It doesn't have a ton of bosses but they mostly rule

 

[Paul le Fou]

And there are lots of "unique enemy" minibosses to help fill in the gaps, which totally works as far as I'm concerned

Man oh man oh man oh man I am starting to get it.

Tonight, among other things I beat some of those blue guys in the robes in that tower past the rooftops. The first one I beat with a mikiri counter and it was sweet as fuck.

Hell yeah. We all have that moment where it clicks - weirdly enough (or not at all weirdly) mine might have involved the mikiri counter too. I think it was when I went to fight the purple asshole ninja in Hirata estate, and not only was I finally getting the hang of blocking and parrying. I got to use the mikiri counter on him. Not on stab, but on his kick. FUCK, that was so cool.

 

[karzac]

The early game is pretty low on bosses, but the back half has quite a few, and a lot of minibosses

 

[air_show]

Oh my god I did it.

I beat Lady Butterfly:

First attempt since the last time I tried fighting her a few days ago too! It was wild how different it felt coming back to the fight after the experience I've gained since then. I'm particularly proud of the fact that I still have one snap seed left. From what I understand at the point at the game I'm at it's only possible to get a total of six.

Then I beat the guy in the armor which was a super fun fight. Took me only two tries, though I did burn a divine grass to insure my success on the second attempt.

Also last night I beat the Ashina Elite guy, which was a... less fun fight. I just couldn't get the timing right consistently enough to deflect his super fast double strikes without taking massive damage most of the time. The fact that he just flat out damages you through your block if you don't deflect successfully makes it hard to practice. I also read up on a technique involving dodging him and doing health damage instead. But for my money my reflexes weren't any better at that so what I eventually got him with was the armored umbrella. It seemed to do more posture damage than regular deflects and supposedly is more forgiving with the timing (but I still had a very difficult time with it). Also it cost me something in the neighborhood of 200 spirit emblems. Luckily I had over 700 to start with.

 

[air_show]

Ok, so also something I've noticed, in that subtle From Software Storytelling Way, is that to both of the major story bosses I've fought, GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA and Lady Butterfly, when I perform the final Shinobi Execution, Wolf says, "Forgive me."

Then there's Genichiro. I was under the impression, from the mildly spoilery territory I've wandered into the lore of the game, thus far, that he was like, the final boss. The guy who kicks your ass at the start of the game and then you kick his ass at the end of the game. And now I'm coming to understand he is Boss Number Three.

I backed off after he beat me once because I feared defeating him might move the story forward in some fashion and lock me out of certain mini-bosses. Maybe even other major bosses? I think I never actually found the old bell lady's son before defeating Lady Butterfly so I think it's too late to do that sidequest.

Also some very sus guy in a dungeon wants me to lure some poor bastard to him and I've avoided every chance to do so so far. And I've apparently ventured a fair bit off the beaten path because I spoiled that a certain future boss will spawn there IF I go beat that boss's first form somewhere else first. I was just way too curious about what was clearly a boss room that I just waltzed through unmolested and was once again provided with an opportunity to not lure an increasingly entranced knight to the shady surgeon guy. I'm worrying it's setting him up for an even worse fate at the end of these series of denials.

I gave the lonely big guy a job working for my weapon upgrades dealer though.

 

[air_show]

Also regarding the Ashina Elite as being Less Fun... what I mean is I did get salty for a bit and very nearly quit of frustration several times. But it ended up being one of those times where I pushed through it just casually started throwing myself at the challenge over and over again and saying fuck the losses. I think one thing that I was making harder was I still kept trying to just tap the deflects when really I need to be tap-holding every one of those taps if that makes any sense. I feel like I might have been internalizing that the time I actually beat him with the umbrella because I was doing it that way rather than trying to just tap. It was just rough because failure generally meant at least losing most of my health if not all of it at any given time. Even if you just continue blocking successfully he slices off a fair bit of health.

I also did read up on an alternate strategy which seemed just as valid but I couldn't pull it off every time I tried. The dodge and go after his vitality instead method, but that still demanded a fair amount of timing mastery that I struggled with. A good mix of the two methods I'm sure is the ideal way of taking him down quickly and stylishly.

Also I took down that gunner in the poison swamp in a very dishonorable way consisting of letting them poison all their health off in the swamp and then just finishing them off. I have learned many cold cold lessons from the Souls games.

 

[karzac]

The poison dagger is pretty handy against enemies that have a high amount of Posture defense. I found it useful against Genechiro and the Ashina Elite.

 

[air_show]

Whoohoo! I finally got this guy:

Ok, I have explored quite a bit and defeated yet more mini bosses. I tell ya, that Mist Noble was exactly the horrifying and painful experience the internet made it out to be. I was just barely able to survive that ruthless ordeal by the skin of my teeth. Even as a veteran of their games I can definitely say From went too far with that one!

I was super proud of myself for defeating another Drunkard type miniboss on the first try (got a clip of that too). Did hella damage to him by setting him on fire with oil several times. I also explored the Gun Fort and defeated the Centipede on the first try but I had that one spoiled for me that you can basically mash deflect for EZ mode. That other sharpshooter mini-boss gave me a better fight, but I caught on real quick that the poison sword does MAD damage to their posture and health so that only took a couple attempts as well.

I eventually decided it's time to beat another story boss so I went after Genichiro and proceeded to spend at least a solid hour dying to him, but I've definitely crossed over into the zone where pretty much the entire time I was slowly learning and getting better. At first it would take forever to get through his first phase, but then I would start knocking the first health pip off real fast, then I'd start getting better at going more aggressively after the second pip. Sadly in my winning attempt I didn't get to do any cool lightning reversals. I honestly only pulled that off once but on my winning attempt I did well enough at jumping out of the way and hitting him as hard as I could the rest of the time that I took him down. Talked to the kid and stopped there for the night. This has been a very productive weekend for my Sekiro save.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Like you said, Genichiro is the guy who wrecks your shit in the beginning and you go back to fight in the end except it's actually like the third major boss. The best is when, starting on my second playthrough/first NG+, I could pretty reliably always beat him in that opening scene. He's still one of the most fun fights though, I think; something about the rhythms and movements and the attack choreography makes it one of the fights I find most iconic of the game overall, if that makes sense.

 

[karzac]

Endgame spoilers: Genichiro is technically also the final boss .

 

[Adrenaline]

Sort of, unless you get a different ending