I’ve been playing this game off and on, starting over since it came out. I was a hardcore Bloodborne player, but also played a lot of elden ring and ds3. Sekiro never clicked, I thought it was slick and the action felt incredible but I just couldn’t get past the beginning. Finally I’ve broken through and am having a blast, and its all thanks to Armored Core 6. Thanks Armored Core 6 (I will not elaborate).
Sekiro is the true “git gud” FromSoft game in my opinion, and I love it for that.
The feeling of finally overcoming that difficult boss that you’ve been struggling against for hours is unmatched.
I love From games and it always bugged me that this one gave me so much trouble. I’m gonna beat it this time, I’m gonna plat this mf
Best of luck! It’s my favorite of them all. Maybe my favorite game of all time.
Thanks! Its amazing, I’m glad I’m getting through it this time. Might try to plat it
Yeah, most FromSoft games just feel intentionally clunky to me. Like the difficulty is artificial, purely because your character’s limbs seem to be full of birdshot. It always feels like the character is directly resisting my controls and fighting against me.
But Sekiro did away with all of that. The character feels snappy. He’s not weighed down. I never felt like I lost a fight because of an animation lock, or because my character was simply too sluggish. Every time I lost, I knew it was because I wasn’t fast enough as a player. And honestly, I prefer that. If I’m going to lose against a boss, I don’t want it to be due to some forced windup animation taking too long.
Sekiro is my favorite game. Nothing beats the sensation of the kling kling KLING effects.
Definitely the best combat From has ever created in a game. I think the worlds of Dark Souls and Bloodborne are more interesting to me but Sekiro gives good universe too.
The fights are so exciting and the action is super slick.
The effects are the reason I haven’t been able to get through the whole game. They literally happen so much and block so much of the action, I eventually can’t see what the fuck the enemy is doing to properly block, dodge or attack because of all the sparks and flashes. 😩
Having played all of them, I don’t get how armored core helped but ok that’s neat. Sekiro is a little different than the other From Software games, mostly because it’s a rhythm game in disguise. Deflect almost everything, and if you do it enough you’ll sail through fights hearing that deflect go dinkdinkdink dink dink, , DINK! I was always a dodge roller in Dark Souls, so I really resisted using deflect, but it’s a must for Sekiro. If you feel like you must dodge try holding the dodge button to sprint away instead - I found the little hop the dodge button does is often not enough. If they have an unblock-able move try jumping over it, that usually works too. This was not useful in Dark Souls so it took me way too long to use that.
The AC 6 part was a joke, but it was the last From game I spent serious time with. As a Bloodborne player I wanted to evade everything, like I knew I was supposed to deflect but I just couldn’t get it under my fingers. Mikiri counters and those low jump attacks were just lost on me, but this time it works.
Maybe ac6 did play a part because its so fast paced and intense. I don’t think I played it that way initially, but by the time I had the platinum and was doing PvP the action was extremely intense and technical. So maybe
Those mikiri counters are clutch. I think of all the upgrade skills to buy those were the most important for me. Definitely a major change of pace after Bloodbourne. I found Sekiro much more difficult, but if you can get through the other From games you can definitely do this. Good luck!
Thanks! Its like the perfect mix of Soulsborne and Tenshu Stealth assassin I used to play on ps1
I’m in the same boat as you were with Sekiro, might actually try AC and see if it helps. I did learn parrying recently playing Thymesia and Lies of P though, might help hopefully
Lies of P is next on my list I think. AC6 is amazing, it was exactly what I wanted.
This made sense to me. Overloading your enemy feels very similar to the posture mechanic where it’s almost more beneficial than dps
That’s a really good point. When I first played ac6 posture was something negative that I tried to avoid happening to me, but by the time I was trying to get S in every mission, I was very much trying to inflict it on enemies. One of my favorite builds for pve was a lightweight with two pistols and two sweet-sixteen mini shotguns: the pistols build up impact until overload, then I stick the two sweet16s right in their face, which did like 220 direct hit damage. Not viable in PvP past maybe c rank but yeah once I figured out that build it def changed my outlook on posture.
And its true, in this Sekiro play through I’m very much trying to inflict posture damage. Although in my previous playthroughs I couldn’t figure out mikiri counters or low sweep kicks
I think the problem with Sekiros dodge roll is that it is way shorter with 18 frames at 60 fps for the forward step and 12 frames for the sideways and backstep. If I remembered correctly dark souls has around 30 so a lot more gracious.
I personally step dodge only attacks which knock you back to easily deal alot of health damage
Sekiro is possibly my favorite game of all time, and for sure my favorite From Software game. I can’t even describe how much I love this game.
The feeling you get when you finally beat a boss that initially seemed literally impossible (looking at you Sword Saint Isshin) is incomparable. Just the biggest dopamine rush ever.
And it’s like riding a bike. Once you get it, that muscle memory stays. I went a year or so without playing it, and within 5 or 10 minutes I was right back where I was.
Truly a gaming masterpiece. Enjoy it. Also, if you find yourself getting stuck on a boss and you find yourself getting into a loop of doing the wrong thing over and over, try giving it a rest for a bit and come back with fresh eyes.
I was struggling on the final boss for hours until I rage quit and went to bed. Tried again next morning and literally beat him on my second try.
Sekiro is so much fun once it clicks. Honestly it took me all the way until >!Sword Saint Ishin!< but suddenly I went all flow state on him, and beasted through the game for all the other endings afterwards.
That sounds epic. I can feel that flow sometimes, looking forward to the rest of the game
Congratulations on gitting gud
I’m not there yet. I want to be, it seems like a really cool game. Gotta give it another try I guess.
I’ve played Ds1-3 and Elden Ring for far too many hours, and beat them all many times. Not one to really parry, so that’s probably why I’m having a hard time.
I’m sure there’s some videos out there that could help? I haven’t looked yet, but will try that before giving Sekiro another go.
Sekiro is a lot more lenient on its parrying than Souls is. Whenever you see an attack incoming just mash the hell out of the block button for 1-2 seconds, more often than not you’ll get the parry. It’s the only Fromsoft game that allows that without punishing it.
For some later bosses you’ll have to actually get their timing down but that’ll carry you far enough through the game for you to get your feet under you.
Huh, good to know. I will keep that in mind when I retry it. Although, realistically, probably won’t be after the Elden Ring DLC haha.
Just out of curiosity, when did it click for you? If I remember correctly it took me all the way to
spoiler
Genichiro ::: till u got the hang of the game.
Is my spoiler tag working? It does not show correctly for me
No. Remove the spaces between the word and the tag on each end
I don’t know if I’ve experienced the “click” yet but I’m progressing which is more than I could say for.previous playthroughs. I used to get stuck right in the beginning at the drunk, or with the spear shinobi hunter in the memory. I had gotten past them on one play through after a great deal of trial, but no further. I’m at Genichiro now, haven’t beat him but I’ve only fought him once and I need spirit things.
Juzou the Drunkard is a brutal fight! I rushed Hirata Estate my first playthrough and got stuck there for a long time.
IMO spirit emblems are cool but ultimately a waste of time–they’re a lot of fun to play with in the open areas, but for ~a boss~ most bosses, it’s faster to just learn the fight than spend time farming tokens to try to grind it out with prosthetics.
You may know this already, but a slightly hidden mechanic is that the parry window is a while .5 seconds if you hold the parry button down–if you just tap it you only get a couple frames, but if you hold it, you will find the window far more forgiving.
The drunkards are a slog, but I found them to be the closest to a dark souls boss. Their long windups means it’s easy to get behind them and stand behind their right leg chipping away at them DS style
Thanks!
but for a boss, it’s faster to just learn the fight than spend time farming tokens to try to grind it out with prosthetics.
Eh not always… Not going to spoil anything but there are bosses that were designed for specific tools to be helpful. As in there are unique animations and effects when you use them on them.
I say let them play like they want to play.
Fair enough–there is one specific boss that comes to mind where a specific prosthetic is supremely useful, as well as some mini bosses. All the “enemy with sword” bosses like Genichiro are pretty straight up, though.
For sure. The game can be beat without prosthetics at all if that’s your bag. I personally found it fun to mix it up with some of the mini boss fights and some of the harder “regular fights”. I don’t think it takes anything away from the satisfaction, because they really aren’t that effective even when you max them out.
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I’m still figuring it out lol. I keep coming back to it but haven’t gotten very far. It’s really good on the Steam Deck though.
I guess keep coming back to it, try AC6 see if it helps lol
I never figured out parrying in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, so I spent the first few hours of Sekiro cheesing enemies by sprinting around them and taking pot shots. This worked up until the Blazing Bull before I got stuck.
I restarted the game, making a point of trying to parry the easier enemies. When I actually tried, I found the timing to be a lot more forgiving than the other games and you can even spam it a bit because the animation is so fast. Once I figured that out, I finally started playing the game correctly and ended up defeating every boss and mini boss.
I got stuck on the bull in one of my playthroughs too. This time he took me a few tries but it wasn’t too bad.
The bull is the one bosses I found dashing behind works for. Once you’re behind him you can sprint after him and get some hits in as he turns around
Playing Sekiro is how I broke the left and right bumpers in my Steam Controller for the first time. Now I’m using the back paddles because those bumpers are wat too flimsy.