This is my first From Software game so I don't have a frame of reference to compare it to the Souls games. I did expect to die a lot, and I have been, but not as much as I thought.

Deflecting is easier than parrying or just framing, so I'm having a blast with it. I'm trying to fly through it to do a new game plus.

Went back to finish AC Odyssey. Might hop back on Horizon Zero Dawn. Or Persona 5. Or Rise of the Tomb Raider. Or Red Dead 2.

Sekiro's got me shook. This from a guy who beat Souls 2 and about 75% of Souls 3 before I got lost.

First mini big boss dude on Sekiro after you get your arm just killed me like 8 times in a row. Deflection, blocking. Couldn't get my timing right. Started wondering if it was time to buy a new controller. I dunno. But I'll probably give it some more run eventually.
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

imo bayo and sekiro occupy similar gameplay spaces and i don't like overlapping. i tend to play 3-4 games at a time, but no two of those games are of similar genres. so i'll play a fighting game, a strategy game like civ or stellaris, a 3rd person action game, and some kind of shooter

i also need to finish bloodborne and dark souls 3 before i start sekiro. i'm right at the end of both but i tend to have trouble closing games out for myriad reasons

I'm like this, except I haven't been able to stop playing the console edition of Stellaris for the past month, which has halted my playthroughs of the Darksider series, Metro series, Red Dead 1.

Do you play Stellaris on PC?

that game has complicated and deep UI. i can't imagine playing it on a controller

I don't feel like I'm being held back by the controller much when doing anything, I imagine the stuff that gets annoying micromanaging is as annoying on PC once you have to many planets and sectors are sectors by the sounds of it, or getting notifications for too many things at once.

We're on an old patch still, 1.7? So we're playing a different version of the game, Utopia is supposed to bring us further along but I don't know if it's meant for us to match.

Learning the game and how everything works can feel daunting but I've made pretty good sense of it now, survived a crisis on my third run. The game definitely has me sucked in right now, I should probably start splitting time with other games soon but every night after work I just want to see what happens next, and how far my robot/droid/android plan for my current race plays out, since I haven't used them before.

>I don't feel like I'm being held back by the controller much
>when doing anything, I imagine the stuff that gets annoying
>micromanaging is as annoying on PC once you have to many
>planets and sectors are sectors by the sounds of it, or
>getting notifications for too many things at once.

there is just a lot of navigating to do in that UI and some very important layers/panels aren't easily accessible even with a mouse. i'm sure they figured it out but playing on a controller seems not optimal

>We're on an old patch still, 1.7? So we're playing a
>different version of the game, Utopia is supposed to bring us
>further along but I don't know if it's meant for us to match.

utopia is a very significant update that will expand your ability to approach the end game. there is a lot of cool stuff in there. i don't think there will ever be pc/console parity

>Learning the game and how everything works can feel daunting
>but I've made pretty good sense of it now, survived a crisis
>on my third run. The game definitely has me sucked in right
>now, I should probably start splitting time with other games
>soon but every night after work I just want to see what
>happens next, and how far my robot/droid/android plan for my
>current race plays out, since I haven't used them before.

the robot plan did not work out for me when i tried it. i went way overboard with it though, to the point where my people just hung out on a few small planets and robots colonized every large planet they could. i'm not exactly sure what went wrong but i needed to either give the robots more rights or strip them of all rights and i made the wrong choice

>>I don't feel like I'm being held back by the controller
>much
>>when doing anything, I imagine the stuff that gets annoying
>>micromanaging is as annoying on PC once you have to many
>>planets and sectors are sectors by the sounds of it, or
>>getting notifications for too many things at once.
>
>there is just a lot of navigating to do in that UI and some
>very important layers/panels aren't easily accessible even
>with a mouse. i'm sure they figured it out but playing on a
>controller seems not optimal
>

Yeah, accessing particular screens feels okay overall, I guess the really annoying part is when you have to back out of multiple layers since we can't quite just x out a panel. Hovering over stuff is trickier, which made learning combat and finding details on enemy ships a bit tricky, but being able to pause helps.

>>We're on an old patch still, 1.7? So we're playing a
>>different version of the game, Utopia is supposed to bring
>us
>>further along but I don't know if it's meant for us to
>match.
>
>utopia is a very significant update that will expand your
>ability to approach the end game. there is a lot of cool
>stuff in there. i don't think there will ever be pc/console
>parity
>

Yeah, I don't expect it, partly because they've said they'll be judging the sales numbers to decide if they even go further than Utopia I think, but even without that, it's possible it makes sense for the console adaptation to just not do everything the same.

>>Learning the game and how everything works can feel daunting
>>but I've made pretty good sense of it now, survived a crisis
>>on my third run. The game definitely has me sucked in right
>>now, I should probably start splitting time with other games
>>soon but every night after work I just want to see what
>>happens next, and how far my robot/droid/android plan for my
>>current race plays out, since I haven't used them before.
>
>the robot plan did not work out for me when i tried it. i
>went way overboard with it though, to the point where my
>people just hung out on a few small planets and robots
>colonized every large planet they could. i'm not exactly sure
>what went wrong but i needed to either give the robots more
>rights or strip them of all rights and i made the wrong
>choice

Hopefully I get it right! :) I have to remember to go check what they're default rights are set at, I assumed it would be favourable based on my starting ethics. I'm still trying not to expand until I have all the tech I want this time, going 'tall' I think they call it.

I was curious what the hell y'all were talking about. So after googling, and the fact that MS had a sale I was able to cop for $30 for XB1.

Love games like this. Learning curve isn't too steep, but I like it so far even though I haven't done much. This scratches my CivRev, Tropico, Cities:Skylines type of itch pretty darn good.
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

I've pulled away from it a bit lately, I'll probably wait until all the planned updates come to xbox and hope the deluxe editions go on sale at some point because I only got the standard version at the start. I got pretty discouraged by the abrupt 'end' to my most recent game, I could probably still go back in and rebuild my fleet and win eventually, but it would be a lot of staring at the screen waiting for production for a while which felt pretty discouraging. It actually made me play some Civ games again instead too, it's reignited my itch for games like that now.

I've gotten through a few bosses and normally I would have been close to finishing it but I'm playing a few other things at the moment that I'm trying to finish as well so this has somewhat become my weekend game.

It's about what you'd expect from them which is a good thing. I think Bloodborne still ranks among my favorite but this is getting really close.

Collection has grown recently but every time I sit down to play a game, I end up booting up Black Ops 4 instead. sigh

I guess I could find the next actual boss somewhere and maybe have a chance since the first actual boss was pretty simple (and, actually, I know who the next boss is and know he is NOT simple), but all the side bosses I'm at other than Lady Butterfly are just wiping the floor with me, and she keeps taking me out with spirits right at the end of the fight to the point I'm just tired of that fight as well.

It's a real bummer because I love the movement in the game, I love the concept of the combat and I love the regular combat with regular enemies too. I also didn't struggle at all with parrys in Bloodborne; Gascoigne, hunters, Bloodstarved Beast, all that was just a handful of tries for me where the bigger stuff like Amelia, Cleric Beast, Paarl, Rom all took me forever.

I've kind of come to resent that this game doesn't give you any way out. The only way to improve your character is to beat bosses, and if you just can't execute and take them down it's a super deflating feeling to have to face the fact you just might not be able to progress in the game. And it's also different than something like Super Meat Boy or Celeste that I don't finish but felt like I got what I wanted out of the game - I want a lot more from this game but I'm starting to feel like I can't have it.

I've been stuck on the Ashina Elite, Seven Spears, Headless and Butterfly since, like, day five. It fucking sucks.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

he was fighting this General dude, really big guy. he had NO CHANCE against him. looked super tough and seems like flawless execution is the only way.

i still havent gone back to God of War to fight those wulvers, lol. I will eventually.

I was almost done with the story. Divine Confetti is too scarce to be wasting on dying constantly. You also don't get prayer beads or memories from them so fuck that.

With Lady butterfly, if you're not using ninja stars, use them. You can hit her out of her jump off the top rope moves with them and she'll fall to the ground for free damage. Also on her 2nd stage just start attacking her so she doesn't get her spirits off. If she does just run around the stage until they disappear.

Ashina? Pray to the parry gods.

If I got stuck on a boss for longer than I wanted, I went into it playing to learn instead of playing to beat it. I was able to pick up on their tells and patterns and was able to parry almost anything after that.

I can take her first form in 30-60 seconds at this point, and Snake Eyes to around 50% health on second pip in about the same time frame, and then I just get hot and lose it.

I took a week+ off from the game and I'm dedicated to beating her and Snake Eyes this week, I'm off between Tuesday evening and Thursday evening and if I don't conquer the majority of these bosses I'm stuck on then, I'll know this game just doesn't want me to beat it and move on for real. Maybe re-install Bloodborne and start a NG+.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Butterfly I found that when she jumps up on that little wire and when you see that red icon over her immediately hit her with your ninja star to knock her down.

Second phase she always spawns need the statue looking thing. Stand close facing the statue and as soon as she spawns in go nuts on her and stay on her ass the entire time. You can sometimes stop her from spawning those shadows by continuing to hit her. If she spawns them when the spirits fly towards you just run until its over. After that it's pretty much trial and error.

Fuck Snake Eyes though! Like for real! I just did that fight a few minutes ago and I had to sneak attack her to get her first health bar down and just run around and stick and move until the second. I lived with no health potions and a slither of health.

I still enjoy the Souls and Bloodborne games more but this is still entertaining. Whoever works at From Software that decides to make some of these fights in extremely close quarters where the enemy has insane reach needs to be dragged into the middle of their work place and shot as an example to the other employees not to do this! The fucking camera angles are ridiculous and half the time I feel like I'm fighting the camera and not the boss. I prefer outdoor fights because at least I can see whats going on half the time.

>Whoever works at From Software that
>decides to make some of these fights in extremely close
>quarters where the enemy has insane reach needs to be dragged
>into the middle of their work place and shot as an example to
>the other employees not to do this! The fucking camera angles
>are ridiculous and half the time I feel like I'm fighting the
>camera and not the boss. I prefer outdoor fights because at
>least I can see whats going on half the time.


If you wind up with your back against the wall with 2 or more people then it's death. And it feels like the CPU *knows* when you're in the corner cause they get extra aggressive.

*Looking at you Blue Samurais and Red Hat Interior Ministry dudes*

my buddy has it ready for me at his place to pick up, but do i want this agony?

but it get's better once you get the hang of it.

Once you get the hang of it, the bosses will take you down a notch. But once you get past the bosses, it's *really* rewarding. I can't put into words how I felt when I defeated Genichiro for the first time.

Then once you get past the bosses you'll be unstoppable on new game plus. you'll feel like a god then

>but it get's better once you get the hang of it.
>
>Once you get the hang of it, the bosses will take you down a
>notch. But once you get past the bosses, it's *really*
>rewarding. I can't put into words how I felt when I defeated
>Genichiro for the first time.
>
>Then once you get past the bosses you'll be unstoppable on new
>game plus. you'll feel like a god then

i have been WAITING to get to Genichiro to reply to you. Lady Butterfly i would say was my worst nightmare so far, before the very first General. I am finally getting solid at parrying, the Ashina Elite samurai boss was a great trainer for parrying. I kept trying to just dodge him.

the first shinobi hunter gave me fits bc I wasn't good at the mikiri counter but I laid waste to him soon enough. Lady B just requires minimal mistakes, what separated me beating her was hiding behind the pillars when she shot the butterflies in round 2.

Genichiro i'm going to commit to parrying and not dodging and I am starting to get his moves down.

before I got to Genichiro I went back to ashina outskirts and just kinda made my way back up all the way to the snake from the beginning and barely got touched, which was nice, bc I really struggled early. i've been reading about Genichiro and first play thru's, once you beat him first run the game opens up and its like you are going "down the mountain" - even tho im sure there are still extremely demanding boss fights. LOVE THIS GAME.

>...I went back to ashina outskirts and
>just kinda made my way back up all the way to the snake from
>the beginning and barely got touched, which was nice, bc I
>really struggled early.

This is where it's starting to click. My homeboy was like you and Sekiro level up together.

During my first playthough, I remember going "I don't see how people New Game + this shit."

My first NG + I bodied Genichiro on the first stage.

I was on NG+ 3 when I activated the demon bell lol

>This is where it's starting to click. My homeboy was like you
>and Sekiro level up together.
>
>During my first playthough, I remember going "I don't see how
>people New Game + this shit."
>
>My first NG + I bodied Genichiro on the first stage.
>
>I was on NG+ 3 when I activated the demon bell lol

I tried doing the Purification ending, but for whatever reason, I had no idea I was supposed to eavesdrop on Emma and the sculptor. so I basically cleared out Fountainhead Palace and now im in the end game. decided to just check and see how Isshin is and i am getting pummeled heavily. I dont want to rely on any prosthetics in his last few stages but seems the way to go is the Umbrella.

this fight may take me a year. but i will beat this motherfucker.

You'll likely parry everything the 2nd go around but it's no point in keeping your spirit emblems fully stocked at the last boss

I'm feeling I but I'm stuck on the drunkard boss. I'm having a hard time getting past his minions first

this game was absolutely brutal.went through a total of 5 playthroughs. hit at least 5 walls where I told myself "i cant beat this game", with the biggest fits of gaming rage i've ever had. but this is definitely one of my favorite games of all time.

someone please play this so I can answer any and all questions please.