Sekiro - A once in a lifetime experience

[STiFU]

So, some of you maybe already read somewhere else how much I loved "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice". It is truly amazing, but after having played it a second time, I realize I will never get to experience something like this ever again, but let me start at the beginning.

The first time I played Sekiro
My first "playthrough" was in early 2019 and it was freaking tough! In the first couple of hours I died tons of times and the bosses took everything from me! As much pain as this caused, the unique fighting mechanics were so much fun. I had been grinding the final boss for as much as two days (!) and I even got him down to one last sword-strike once, but he hit me with a massive combo and I was dead (I actually recorded the 20 minute long fight). The next day I went for a 2-week holiday, so obviously, I did not have the energy to return to such a difficult fight after a two-weeks pause.

But what exactly makes the fighting mechanics of Sekiro so great?
It is simply the first time swordfighting feels real in a video game. You can induce vitality damage (if the enemy does not block)  or posture damage (if he does block). Once you break posture or vitality is depleted, you can hit him with a deathblow. Most bosses require multiple deathblows (as indicated over their health bar) to finish them. The special ingredient here is that the posture slowly builds up again, so you have to be aggressive almost all the time: Attacking, parrying and counter-attacking. The fighting in Dark Souls is damn cowardly in comparison because there you spend 80% of the time evading enemy attacks and throwing in an occasional attack yourself when his back faces in your direction.

My second playthrough
After recently having played the weak Aragami and Sekiro being voted Best Game of 2019, I was in the mood for a good Ninja game again, so I restarted Sekiro. I initially only wanted to play a couple of hours, but I quickly got totally addicted again. However, this time around, I ran through the game like a cakewalk. Let me remind you that the first playthrough dates almost a year back, so I expected to be a lot worse at the game, but it seems like I had already pretty much mastered the fighting mechanics of Sekiro and my muscle memory did not seem to forget. Most bosses were 1st try kills and even the final boss was dead in the 2nd try. FINALLY!!  I even played out all four endings this time.

The sad realization
The fact that I managed to beat this game with so much ease the 2nd time around let me come to the sad realization that learning Sekiro-like fighting mechanics is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There is no doubt many games will copy it (Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order already copied the posture-system), but it will never be as fun and challenging as the first time around!  It is sad, but I will cherish this gaming experience for years to come!  

So, to anyone who is willing to put quite some effort into a game, I can only recommend to experience this yourselves! Even if you're a little afraid of the difficulty, just try it, stick with it a few hours, and you will surely be rewarded!

[Carnage]

That's great that this game gave you such an awesome experience. There are not many more games that do, which might be because of the changing industry or becoming older (but very likely the first because I still enjoy old games). I don't mind difficult games, as long as I have the feeling it's something I can improve with practice and it certainly sounds like that this is the case with Sekiro. It's on my wish list so I'll certainly give it try one day. At the moment I'm playing Fallout NV which I never actually finished and I'm having a blast with it. Another game that I really want to try is TheHunter Call of the Wild. I just love nature and wandering in it and the devs of that game did a great job in creating beautiful enjoyable reserves.

[JackFarmer]

Wow, you have been reverting to this game now on several occasions.

I am very delighted that you love it and I admire you passion.

As reported in other posts, I am not good when it comes to similar games. You think I shold try to master DS (PS3) before I try/buy this game?

 

P.S. Ansonsten schreib mir eine PM. Hab keinen Bock meine Spieler-Historie hier auszubreiten, außerdem bin ich dir da sowieso Jahrzehnte voraus.....

 

[STiFU]

 

On 12/25/2019 at 12:51 AM, JackFarmer said:

P.S. Ansonsten schreib mir eine PM. Hab keinen Bock meine Spieler-Historie hier auszubreiten, außerdem bin ich dir da sowieso Jahrzehnte voraus.....

I hadn't played Sekiro before DS, so no need to master the latter, I guess. As I said, the fighting style is also not really related, so having mastered DS does not give you a huge advantage.

[AluminumHaste]

The fighting style in Sekiro is much more akin to Bloodborne than dark souls.

The trap most people fall into, is trying to play Sekiro like Dark Souls and get frustrated that it doesn't work. You need to always attack and then deflect, it's a beautiful dance back and forth that wears both characters out.

It's at this point that you can strike with a killing blow (deathblow), finishing off your enemy.

It's thrilling and exhilarating when you get it right, and it's downright controller snapping painful when you get it wrong, or your timing is off by just a bit.

I also decided to restart the game after a long absence and didn't die once until I got to the first snake eyes. I even destroyed the headless and Shichimen first try and didn't get hit once.
I've since played it through multiple times but I still have trouble with spear thrust parries and as such, can't beat the Sword Saint final boss, fuck those 4 phases.

[STiFU]

2 hours ago, AluminumHaste said:

I've since played it through multiple times but I still have trouble with spear thrust parries and as such, can't beat the Sword Saint final boss, fuck those 4 phases.

In phases two to four, basically all heavy attacks are spear thrusts, so all you have to do is to press and hold Dodge in the direction of the evemy to pull off the mikiri counter. You can practice it at the temple. I never learned how to distinguish a spear sweep from a thrust though, so for other enemies that do b both types, I almost always just try to dodge heavy attacks. If all else fails, get all parts of the mask, which will make your incredibly overpowered towards the end.

[AluminumHaste]

Yeah, I was thinking about going all glass canon, but decided against it.

[STiFU]

I don't understand. "Glass canon" in the sense that you don't pick up any prayer beads so you don't get more vitality etc.? I was talking about the

Spoiler

three dragon mask parts, which enable you to indefinitely spend 5 ability points for one more attack power.

 

[AluminumHaste]

The mask allows you to trade Vitality for Power, so you can hit harder, but you have less hp. The definition of a glass cannon.

Apparently I misunderstood what the mask did......hmmmmm