Big thanks to Activision for sponsoring this video. In addition to being an excellent game in its own right, Sekiro was a crucial pitstop in From Software's history. Dark Souls III strongly revolves around the concept of burning out so hard that you're left even trying to burn the ashes, and Sekiro was just what was needed to reinvigorate From before moving onto Elden Ring. Tackling new design decisions, different visual styles, and big changes in how the story is related to the player helped mature the unique formula they've been tweaking all this time.
There's something about the way they animated this game, plus the sound design, that just cranks everything to 11. There's an exaggerated movement and fluidity to the animations that gives an intensity to the traversal and combat like no other game. The clanging parry battles ending in thunderous ultra-violent finishers, blended with the graceful acrobatics in unforgettable locations...what a masterpiece of a game.
Absolutely. Personally I had put the wonderful animation down to From becoming masters at beautiful procedural animation gameplay engines. E.g. the feeling of parrying is tuned to perfection: lenient, but not false; snappy, but still smoothed. They have such good feel for enjoyable 3D action game controls.
@@ikeamonkey7372 that's something that i liked about bloodborne and sekiro more compared to dark souls/elden ring. Your character actually looks like they're skilled at what they're doing instead of just heavily swinging their weapon around and rolling all over the ground. Side steps are something i wish would replace rolls entirely, it looks so much better and is more believable imo
@@lanternguy yes my biggest issue with souls/ER is how ridiculous it looks for your character to be rolling around every other second during battle (especially if they’re in a full media armour set). The parrying/side step of Sekiro/bloodborne are both much better solutions
@@TheIcarusEffect I'd like to see a bit of a mix, rolls when out of combat and for some angles of attack (big overhead smashes, AoE attacks like dragon breath or something etc.), sidesteps for more close range combat with relatively human-scale enemies and maybe the odd semi-parry where the player character uses their weapon to deflect as they dodge. Sekiro is a very hard combat system to get used to, but when you get good at it you actually LOOK like you're good at it, not just rolling around/through everything
One additional similarity between Sekiro and Elden Ring, is the dexterous prosthetic arms of both Wolf and Malenia, and the theme of a growing internal disease that is both a curse and a source of strength.
GTA let's you swim in a game that also lets you drive a boat in the water and fly across it. Witcher 3 manages to do the same minus the flying. Edit: whoops. This was a response to a different comment. I must have miss clicked.
melanias arm might be a coincidence, as the prosthetic arm sekiro wears is wayyy different and is inspired by berserk. the curse thing is probably spot on tho
@@mult1versal "inspired by Berserk" Played the games since 2009, and just recently started getting into Berserk - the inspiration is so apparent, it's almost on the face. Not necessarily a bad thing, but damn. Rest In Peace Miura..
@@mult1versal Pretty much every single one of fromsoft's games since dark souls (maybe even as far back as kingsfield) took some inspirations from berserk, due to the latter's dominance in the dark fantasy genre which ds1-3, bb, sekiro and elden ring make use of to create their settings. But i will still admit that malenia's arm with it's wonky proportions are likely moreso there to illustrate deformities as is central to malenia and miquela as a pair, rather than to fit a more dororo-esque power fantasy + revenge plot like wolf's.
@@mangekarp3241 Malenia's proportions are slightly off from a human's because she's a Numen descendant. The Numen corpses (or at the very least Ranni's) on top of the Divine Towers have similar proportions
The reason for that is because in a lot Eastern (especially Japanese) martial arts, blocking is a form of striking, if you're just braced, waiting for the enemy's blow leaves you open to a faint and even if the blow does connect, it's going to hurt a lot more than if you moved against it with force
@@magoshighlands4074 Most sword arts consider blocking and parrying a form of retaliation and offense. Indeed, Sekiro is the one game From has made where the protagonist actually knows how to use a sword in any proper regard.
I'm kinda surprised that Activision is sponsoring videos about an almost 3 year old game, but I'm certainly not complaining because Sekiro deserves every last bit of coverage and analysis it gets, even now with Elden Ring having arrived to the scene harder and louder than Radahn's meteor attack
This makes me think they have something in the works related to Sekiro or just different enough from soulsborne games that they wanted to make that comparison. This is a pre-announcement hype move on their part if you ask me. Too early in development to make any announcements, but they still want to get people to start speculating and craving an announcement
TBH, I'm more interested in this aspect of these videos than the videos themselves. What is Activision planning on doing with this advertising? Companies don't spend money for the lols. Hoping to cash in on some Sekiro sales now that most people have moved on from Elden Ring perhaps?
@@_megla Not necessarily. With Elden Ring warming many new fans to the souls franchise, Activision could just be trying to promote their previous titles and encourage those who have recently finished elden ring to explore the rest of the series. I'd love DLC (or even a 2nd game) but it's hard to say for sure that this means dlc
I wish Swimming made it to Elden Ring, there's so many areas where it would have been useful in ER and would have opened up another avenue to the exploration and biomes of the game.
Sekiro always scared me because there are no shortcuts and barely any cheeses, you just have to get intimate with the games mechanics. That being said, I'm so excited to give it a shot now that I've beaten Elden Ring!
thats what makes the game the most rewarding and least frustating imo. All your successes are yours and they feel earned, but so do the failures so you don't even get mad at the game becasue you know you just suck.
At start your gonna get fucked by the game again and again until you just give up on everything you learned in Dark Souls. After that you will have a blast.
I’d argue Sekiro is loaded to the gils with cheese options. They just aren’t so much based around stacking buff or over-leveling. Literally, every boss and mini-boss is designed to be beatable with just the sword, but is also outfitted with one or more glaring weaknesses to other tools and techniques. Most of the non-boss content is also super easy to run past. If you use a guide or just experiment with prosthetics, you’ll find it’s a very approachable game.
Have fun playing thru Sekiro bud, Its my personal favorite From Soft game and, imo, the best combat in any game ever made. Ps, Guardian Ape is the best boss fight that will ever exist.
Sekiro is just a perfect fromsoft game for me. I wouldn't add or take anything from it, it's just a full, rounded experience. I love the combat system, the setting and the stealth. And it has the best, the most epic final boss.
Agreed. just today I unlocked the Shura costume from the Gauntlet of strength. Basically beat 4 final bosses in a row. It's such an enjoyable game - and very rewarding once the combat system clicks!
The one thing Id change: Make “weapon wheel” mod a standard feature, allowing dynamic swapping between combat arts in the middle of combat without pausing
Even more so than Elden Ring, I think Sekiro is From Software’s first work since the original Dark Souls that will go down as a true milestone game. The term “modern classic” is thrown around so often that it’s lost almost all meaning, but I can think of no better way to describe this masterpiece. It’s *that* good, and I have a feeling it will only grow in esteem as time goes by.
Elden Ring is the end of the souls formula, Sekiro is a new beginning. From Software invented a formula and they developed it to its' natural conclusion with Elden Ring, it's time to move on. The future is with the noble shinobi.
Yeah I liked Bloodborne, but that's mainly for the lore and the world it set up (which I'll never play again without a PlayStation, sadly) as it was really a minor tweak on the Souls formula. Sekiro really blew me away, a real fresh take on their work with a main character and I found the world design to be a step above their other games. Beautiful, detailed and more alive than the others. And, of course, the combat is tougher imo than regular Souls combat, but the payoff for getting it right is so much higher with the blocks, sidesteps and the animations being so fluid and precise that you actually feel like skilled fighter, not a skilled button masher/dodge roller. I'd love to see a sequel or even a return to a Sekiro-style gameplay design in a new continuity. Not sure if it'd be a good choice for open worlds like ER, though, as Sekiro combat really only works well in dramatic one on one duels, fighting a horde of plebs would be brutal. Plus it would be dangerously close to all the other basic open world stealth/combat/suffering/grind games (with heavy side-eye at Ubisoft) just with the difficulty cranked up
Unfortunately it won’t achieve the status you’re hoping for the learning curve is just too steep for most(even many FS veterans couldn’t manage). It is truly a masterpiece and one of my all time favourites but it will always remain a rather niche title.
@@JoeKing69 I remember being in a voice call with some friends whioe trying to beat the final boss. They fully prepared and ate their dinner in the time I managed to cut my coin stack down to 0, and I still took like 2 more hours to actually beat the boss. It got to the point where I could do phase 1 & 2 absolutely flawlessly, but something in phase 3/4 ALWAYS caught me off guard and brought me out of my focus.
I must have replayed some of the bosses a few hundred times with the reflection mechanic they just never get old for me! Last week I finally achieved a no hit kill of every single boss on NG+7
Imagine a game with Sekiro's combat system, Bloodborne's lore, Dark Souls 3's bosses quality, and Elden Ring's open world? Well, Bloodborne sequel is enough to me tho...
My favorite aspect of Sekiro is how historically authentic it is. FromSoft essentially took the real world late Sengoku period and added fantastical elements, along with all of the social effects that includes. I hope they do more of these environments, I would love to see this treatment for a mid-15th century Europe.
It's interesting to realize that the "Ministry" at that time that was invading Ashina was Oda Nobunaga with the introduction of muskets and arquebuz by the Portuguese.
@@gannielukks1811 as many other people said on youtube, I think it's more likely that the "Interior Ministry" is Tokugawa's forces as their Emblem is a bit similar and also because Tokugawa was an Interior Minister
As much as having a billion options in Elden Ring can be quite nice, there's a lot to be said about just focusing on a single mechanic or playstyle and stripping away all the rest. It speaks volumes how many people in this comments section are talking about it being one of their favorite, if not their very favorite, Fromsoft game, and that games don't need to be insanely replayable to be beloved (despite low replayability being seen as a bad thing in a lot of gaming discussion). I would love for Fromsoft to alternate between making larger games with more variety like Elden Ring and making smaller, much more paired-down experiences like Sekiro. It would be, I think, nice.
Sekiro is probably one of my favorite from soft games. Captures ninja mythology and mythical Japan in such a refreshing way, but also familiar. Makes me feel like such a bad ass when I play lol
Great video Zullie , Sekiro was the culmination of everything I had ever wanted in a game and that is what gives it the #1 spot in my book . Hopefully these sponsored videos lead to more people to discover the game and maybe to more sekiro content like DLC or a sekiro 2 ... Who knows , only time will tell!
Yes! They could either make a plot about wolf’s journey to return the dragon blood or they could make a side plot involving the ministry, either as a shinobi for them or against them.
@@In_aw3 Sekiro is based on real life Japan despite being in a isolated fictional place, and the Ministry at that time was Oda Nobunaga, and I don't think they will meddle with too much real life historic events, besides, Nioh already did that.
When Sekiro came out I was uninterested in learning new mechanics, because I was expecting "ninja dark souls". In retrospect I'm glad it turned out the way it did and I can't wait to finally get back into it
Speaking to Games Industry, From Software community manager Yasuhiro Kitao revealed that Sekiro was originally planned as a new installment of Tenchu, the studio's long-dormant stealth-action ninja series. "When we originally set out to create something different from Dark Souls and our previous titles, we thought it would be interesting to make a Japanese themed game. So from that we started going in the direction of the shinobi and ninja, and of course Tenchu was an IP with that history; that was the original impetus for this project," Kitao explained. According to Kitao, From Software approached "a number of companies" with the project, and Activision was immediately on board. As the two studios worked together, the project eventually grew beyond its Tenchu roots and into its own original title. "[A]s we developed and as we partnered with Activision, and started building it together, it started becoming its own thing and the game we wanted to make was no longer just Tenchu, so it really evolved into its own thing," Kitao said.
Most of the time ppl say they loved the first Soulsborne game they played the most...I differ in that aspect, i played DS3 first, and Bloodborne + Sekiro after i already finished Dark Souls series. However i still think Sekiro and Bloodborne are their best works by far, even though medieval fantasy is my favorite theme and architecture, i still found these games overall more enjoyable.
Played in the order of DS3 > DS2 > DS1 > Sekiro > ER > Demon's, and I also think Sekiro is their best game. Unfortunately I don't have a PS4 to play BB on (Demon's was emulated on RPCS3)
@@MrPizzaslice played Demons Souls in 2009-10 and every other Souls game since, even went back and completed all the Kings Field titles. Bloodborne is still my favourite game of all time. When they announced it I was worried about the huge shift in atmosphere to the point where I never even bothered to play it until a year or so after it’s release. I also had no previous interest in Lovecraft or any of the games themes but quickly became obsessed
I still remember my first time seeing the overview of Fountainhead Palace. The lighting and shader design and implementation really made it feel mystical and distinct from the other environments you explore in Sekiro.
Fromsoft is typically known for their complex RPGs, but I'm glad we got to see them do something more condensed and focused. It may just be my favorite from them.
The combat in sekiro stood out the most to me. the clashing of blades was so much more intense than what we had in darksouls and even eldenring. I hope that future fromsoft games will have a similar combat to sekiro.
Literally one of my favorite games of all time, it's just perfect. To have a Sekiro 2 or a game in the same universe with a very similar combat system would be godly.
Seeing such a huge studio finally taking risks was such a breath of fresh air, and I truly hope more Triple-A studios diversify their work and bring us fascinating new games, much like small team/indie devs, but on a better budget and with space and time for more refinement.
Visually, Sekiro is probably my favorite of From's games. There is a kind of bizarre compare and contrast between humans and animals. There were animal/human monstrosities in other From games, but it didn't feel like a consistent theme until Sekiro. It feels like most un-Disney way imaginable of representing the personification of animals in folklore.
My favorite part of Sekiro is that the old adage in the Dark Souls community, “git gud” is actually genuine advice since aside from just simply mastering the mechanics, there’s really no “win build” you can make
It always was genuine advice from most people. Sure, there were the trolls, but a lot of people's best advice really was git gud. Sure, you can make a cheese build and steamroll everything, but telling you to do that is bad advice because it's not fun (at least, not for me, and not for a lot of people, so it's generally not advice given). The best advice, imo, is to simply git gud.
Git gud is extremely shallow, players should actually give advice that can be absorbed than just "git gud". Like "try to dodge this", "try to memorize this parry pattern", "mikiri counter this move", "use that prostethic tool", "fire/poison works well for this one", "use that item", "this combat art is great against it" it's much better advices. Imagine if your teacher while teaching math just ask you to "git gud". Yeah, I you know you need to get good, but it's specially easier if it actually teach you how.
Fantastic video. I am slightly disappointed that Sekiro never included a variant of the moonlight sword, but I still appreciate how the game dared to be different, and followed it's own path without borrowing too much from other games.
I really really really hope they make another game like sekiro, and I hope they apply the stuff that worked better than their traditional games to stuff like elden ring dlc or elden ring 2. I think a bloodborne 2 with verticality in city environments would work so well, almost like an old assassins creed game but with monsters in the streets and hunters on the roof tops
genuinely love the way you said how elden ring shows from at their boundry pushing limits, and sekiro shows the careful craftsmanship they can bring. amazing.
I do like Sekiro's change in setting. It makes me wonder if there'll be more additions to the SoulsBorne series that also use different locales and time periods. Like, what if we got a futuristic 40k type setting (With futuristic "Chainswords" and "Power Klaws" type weapons to incorporate the melee focused nature of the series)? Or a Fallout-esk post apocalypse setting (Given that the games themselves tend to literally be post-apocalypse worlds)? Maybe even an ancient greek setting? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the medival fantasy setting of the Souls series and ER. But it would be interesting to see more games from FromSoft that push them into new settings.
Out of all the from games I’ve played Sekiro hold number one spot for my favorite. From the combat, to the story, to the fact that from diverted from their usual plot structure to give us fleshed out personally enthralling characters, it all just feels right
I love the mobility Sekiro possesses. I had a hard time getting into other From games because of the lack of movement options. Being able to move around more in the environment, for me, makes the experience much more interesting and somewhat less taxing.
Same. Honestly would have really appreciated Sekiro's overall higher mobility and movement options in Elden Ring given it's open world with some platforming. Getting a horse was really nice but only having a literal Skyrim like jump really just made it painful to do any sort of platforming.
From a design point of view, I'd remark that it's way easier to make western medieval imagery your own, but Japanese bushido style is so distinct that it's hard if not impossible, to make your own and deviate from what makes it what it is. I certainly don't remember having seen it done, you can always tell that that's what it is, it's never inspired by, it IS.
Acquire, the studio that made the original 2 Tenchu games went on to make Shinobido for PS2. (Basically Tenchu 3) Fun game, you had a crafting system where you could make your own ninja weapons (things like poisons, bombs and health etc. ) and had a map editor to create your own missions.
I like the mention of main characters interacting with each other which adds a grounding element to them, I never really thought of that, it might be what makes Elden Ring and Sekiro feel a bit more believable to me than something like DS3, or even Bloodborne; the only people that ever felt like actual people to me in Bloodborne were Maria, Gehrman and Eileen, because we either see or learn that they were, or are, active agents in this world whilst everyone else just sort of... is around
Honestly these videos make me want to play sekiro more than any gameplay or anything I have seen. Like the fact that they sponsor a dedicated lore master of the series to discuss "what sets sekiro apart from the soulsborne series" is just remarkable, it shows how truly cared for their games are and how proud of them they are, most game devs would only want big shot youtubers showing off explosive gameplay (though im not sure they didn't do this at all, i dont actually know, but that isn't the point) anyone that doesn't recognize fromsoft for giving their all to craft a wonderful experience is trully missing out.
Great video! While I, personally, didn't really like Sekiro, I can still recognize what a great game it is. The locations are beautiful and the story is just as interesting as you'd expect in a From game. The game play, while not my cup of tea, is tight and focused and really sells the master swordsman fantasy, as well as the silent ninja assassin feel.
You could have removed the "Activision sponsor" part of the video and I would have not spotted or known a single difference in quality on the subject matter. This speaks volumes about your content, Zullie. Every video project you create maintains that seamless and polished quality regardless of your incentives for uploading it. These two were definitely longer and deeper looks into the development of Sekiro, its enjoining history both within its timeline of development and relationship to actual Sengoku era Japan (be that as it may a very loose, mythologically-defined abstraction of that history) Many of my friends fail to see the appeal of your videos, but what I think they're missing is the perspective of viewing them as art or history exhibits. They're not just simply putting things from each game on display, you vivisect each and every concept or asset presented in any of these videos and reveal as many of the gritty details about its purpose or place in each of the FROM games. I hope one day someone catalogues your videos just as much as the games themselves. You are a crucial component of understanding the relationship between FROM and the things they create, and a lot of development history and meaningful design decisions are made much more thoroughly apparent through your critical eye and motivated approach to reveal any and all truths hidden or forgotten. You're a credit to this community, and it is better for your involvement.
In my opinion from are at their best when they do new things. The souls formula has reached it's peak for me now with Elden Ring, as an best of of all frequent mechanics and themes. I honestely don't want another typical souls game but something that breaks the foundation in a magnificent way like sekiro does is simply refreshing.
sekiro and elden ring is epitome of gaming for me . from large maps of elden always gave me sense of exploring more and more with sekiro excelllent conbat + tune ( specially in senpou temple ) the bell and the hare rama tune is just too soothing to hear.
I love the Fountainhead Palace music, and the one from the Divine Dragon fight. That last one has this really powerful conclusion, where the melody goes high up to accentuate the end of the fight, when you finally topple down the dragon to do a deathblow. Is such a beautiful change in the melody and it happens dynamically during gameplay.
From Software are masters of blending real world emotions with fantastical, cryptic settings. The smaller details are weird but the overarching themes are always ones we can understand. Very smart and concise video👌
Thank you for pointing this out! I heard rumors years back that they were making a Tenchu successor so when this game was announced i went crazy! i LOVED Tenchui games as a kid
I want Sekiro 2 so badly. And I want it to continue from the Dragon's Homecoming ending or the Shura ending. I want more weapons, abilities, prosthetics, ninjutsus and customization too.
Zullie getting paid by Activision is genuinely surreal. This is the same person that decided one day to roleplay as a character from DS2 to impress the 10 people that would have seen him. Congrats, you've come a long way!
When you look back, it's surprising how many elements of Elden Ring's gameplay were inspired by or taken from Sekiro. Hell, there is even the Meteoric Ore Blade whose R2 is straight up Ichimonji, and the abnormally high stance damage it does when fully charged makes it even more blatant.
Zullie, your work is really fantastic. The visual scenes you choose that coincide with your well written material and simple yet effective editing show a high level of craftsmanship and care. I can truly say I want to see you grow indefinitely.
I wish you talked more about the parrying. To me, combat is 80% of my experience with these games, and so imo parrying is pretty much the defining difference that makes Sekiro. Love the game. You can partly blame some of Elden Ring's boss and enemy movesets on Sekiro.
The purity of Sekiro combat is literally why it was so amazing for me. Less is more was absolutely the right decision, and a strong reason for Sekiro combat being incredibly cathartic and addictive. I'm generally a 50/50 mix of exploration and combat.
@@AndrewB23 well zullie didn't talk about it. Obviously that's the main concept of sekiro, but zullie chose to talk about other stuff, so there must be *some* difference in opinion
There is something funny that people don’t realize. Out of this amazing catalogue that is the Souls/Miyazaki games. Sekiro is THE ONLY GAME THAT BELONGS TO FROMSOFT. The IP of Dark Souls is owned by Bandai, Elden Ring is no different (correct me if I’m wrong). Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne are owned by SONY. But in the case of Sekiro, it was published by activision BUT RIGHTS REMAINED TO FROMSOFT. So if the world turned upside down tomorrow, Fromsoft will always have the last word on the future of Sekiro compared to their other projects.
That's correct, From Software owns all rights to the Sekiro's intellectual property. Activision only has licensed publishing rights, meaning they don't own any part of the IP, only the rights to publish the game outside of Japan, and even those expire at some point in time.
I remember when the first teaser for Sekiro dropped and I was absolutely convinced it was going to be a new Tenchu game. I would love to play as Rikimaru again! Fortunately Sekiro ended up being an amazing game and is probably in my top three games ever.
On one hand, you being sponsored by Activision gives me hope that a new sekiro game is coming. On the other hand I have this great fear that Activision has hired another Studio to make a sequel instead of from software and that really scares the shit out of me
Imagine how I feel when I hear that the guys that ruined the demon souls remake are hired to make a bloodborne sequel...set in Mayan cliches if the rumors are right...
Activision only acted as a publisher for the western release of the game as well as granting FromSoft access to their professional infrastructure and development talent, in exchange for a portion of the revenue from sales. They hold no rights to Sekiro; From owns it entirely. It would have to be From's decision to allow Activision to make a sequel by granting them a license (or selling the IP, I suppose), so don't worry too much. The most we have to fear is simply that From decides to never make a sequel, which would be a damn shame.
after the release of Elden Ring, I can say, Sekiro is still my favorite FS game...the combat is amazing and the world is beautiful..hoping this "sponsorship" means we will have a DLC for Return Ending :)
For FromSoftware's first foray into an entirely Japanese ascetic, it was done masterfully. I can confidently say that the locales of Ashina are nothing short of breathtaking in their vibrant decay regardless of where I found myself sneaking and deathblowing my way though.
I recently got this game and just finished my first ending. I think it's quickly become my favourite Fromsoft game ever, I thought nothing would top my love for Bloodborne or Elden Ring. But Sekiro has hooked me. I am not that good at timing games and my "parries" are awful. Yet I can't stop trying to get better, I love jumping around and grappling across rooftops and ravines. The fast pace battles with the various tools, trying to figure out which works the best on what enemy. Having to look close and study the movements to know which counter to even use. Victory in this game feels so sweet.
Yet in 2014 Dark Souls 2 was born and it also has its own subtle influence on the later fromsoft releases. Ahhh, I love that game 🥰. A game I finally enjoyed after years since Tenchu 2 and Tenchu Wrath of Heavens.
I really hope From Software makes another game with a specific character and main weapon, like Sekiro, but with a strength build. Make an equally refined combat system for a greatsword. It could be their most Berserk like game yet. Or like a prequel to Sekiro where you play as Roberto's dad. Seeing how good they can make the combat when it's focused on one build, I just wanna see it done with other weapons.
Sekiro is the proof that FromSoft is wasted on Bamco. Every game they made under them has been a total mess full of cut content. Meanwhile Sekiro is easily the most "complete" and finished title they made to date.
Sekiro was my first ever From Software and hold a special place in my heart. It was my introduction to some of the best gaming experiences of my life. Great video as always, very interesting.
Looking back on Sekiro now is the same as looking back on Skyward Sword when BOTW came out. I'm so excited to see what's coming next from From - they're one of the most legendary game studios of all time at this point.
Actually in the middle of Sekiro, having already Platinumed all 3 DS and BB. And it's the first time I rage quite daily!! Sekiro has everything that I should love in a game, but somehow the battle mechanics are a big challenge for me. I want to finish it before starting Elden Rings, and the parallels you draw on this video motivates me to continu.
Sekiro is the culmination of From Software's respect to its roots and traditions and it's predilection towards breaking the mould. Sekiro just flows beautifully, giving you ample time to learn and execute and it truly is one breathtaking experience in the sense that you need to take it all in, the path of countless failures, the few victories that make it WORTH every single second spent on the game. It's one ideal is to strive for perfection and not hesitate in the face of an insurmountable enemy in pursuing that perfection.
After 100h on Elden Ring, Sekiro is definitely the better, smaller but more cohesive game. It never drops and maintains quality throughout the whole adventure, peaking at Fountainhead Palace. Elden Ring sadly takes a massive dip in quality after Morgott’s encounter. Still, neither can touch Bloodborne.
Elden Ring was so good on the first playthrough and now I find myself struggling to get through any consecutive playthroughs. My biggest gripe is the game is big for nothing and the game is backloaded like HELL. Can’t get half the cool loot without trudging through some chunks of the game
@@Time4theJuice collecting smithing stones is a drag on consecutive playthroughs, wish every weapon only requires 1 stone per upgrade like the boss/special weapons
Godspeed to any first time FromSoftware players that then go pick up Sekiro. Adapting to the combat system can be an unforgiving experience. But do not hesitate! *DS3 to Sekiro transition felt even more merciless, I loved it.
Great video as always Zullie. I've often wondered whether Sekiro was made so that FromSoft could test out different features & ideas to see what could be implemented into Elden Ring. For example, Gyobu Oniwa & his horse gave rise to numerous mounted bosses in Elden Ring and might have helped in testing the foundations for Torrent. You also made a very good point about the incredibly varied areas in Sekiro such as Fountainhead Palace & Senpou Temple which will have helped FromSoft when creating Elden Ring areas like Altus Plateau or Siofra River. Sekiro is an incredible game & is definitely a top 3 FromSoft game but as I said initially, I often wonder if it was just used as a testing bed for features & ideas that would later be implemented into Elden Ring.
I wish elden ring did more to break the mould. Its the from soft game ive played the least, simply because it felt like finishing it once was enough. I might not have liked sekiros changes too much(actual QTE combat), but i still played it more because of how different it was. But elden rings gameplay felt too much like retreading ground after ds3, and with the map too annoying large when so many encounters are repeated, it was the most tedious and offputting of the post demon souls from games to me. An incredibly well made game, but far safer than i would have liked from a new from soft IP
I like Elden Ring, but I think they did bowmen and caster archetypes dirty, where both playstyles have barely changed since Dark Souls and ER was a dropped ball in that regard.
I think Elden Ring and Sekiro are great partners because of how they demonstrate good project management. Sekiro was small and refined, which let it massively shake up how it looked, played, and felt, and Elden Ring was huge and ambitious, which meant it needed a strong, reliable backbone to build off of. Trying to up the scale and redefine the core concepts at the same time is a recipe for disaster, so instead we get this pair of games playing into one another.
For as many times as my jaw dropped while exploring Elden Ring, I still think Sekiro's approach lends itself better to FromSoft games. During my first Elden Ring playthrough I tried to explore everything and for the first ~80-100 hours it was amazing, but after that the reused assets/content increasingly marred my experience with the game. They have amazingly designed environments, but like all other open world games not enough interesting content to fill them. Most of the remaining ~150 hours had me walking through variations of dungeons I already cleared and the same or slighlty different versions of enemies I already fought a bunch of times. My 2 NG+ cycles to get the few things I missed were very short, because exploration is a huge part of Elden Rings gameplay loop, so once you explored everything it loses a big part of it's replay value as there is no reason to not just hop onto your horse and ride past everything to get to your next destination.
Sekiro has the greatest potential for people to bounce off of it, because it traded broad appeal for a very specific focus. If what they shaved off to make it is what made you like Dark Souls, then it's going to cause some obvious dissatisfaction with the changes.
If sekiro 2 ever happens i hope a basic combo system like what nioh has is added. One complaint i have with the game is how it feels restrictive sometimes with how you have to enter a menu to use your special moves. Getting rid of spirit emblems entirely as well and making certain prosthetics a consumable like the shuriken would be far better. And to not break the balance add in something like a heat gauge from yakuza or the yokai gauge from nioh 2 to prevent players from spamming stuff
Well thats not entirely true since almost every mini boss shows up at least twice or more and most bosses have a different version ( for example guardian ape with headless ape and corrupted monk with the true monk. Im not saying its a bad thing just that sekiro does in fact have reused enemies and assets.
@@ShapireNW I meant re-used assets in the sense that they were taken from a previous game and just pasted into the new game. I know some level of this is to be expected, however ER does it so egregiously that it starts to hurt.
@@ShapireNW That being said, even if you did only look at the re-used assets within the games themselves ER would easily take the crown for most re-used content in comparison to any other souls game.
@@WelcomeToDERPLAND @Lukecis A lot of the animations have been staples of the series since DeS like the riposte animations. And nobody should really care about a door opening animation being reused or other minor things like the way your character holds a torch. And it would be dumb of the devs to when they can use that time to make new animations like everything with torrent, make new weapon arts and create new enemy types wich there are a lot more of than any other souls game. The sheer size of elden ring makes it mandatory for them to reuse older animations that are honestly perfectly fine as they are. If it bothers you then there sadly isnt much you can do but I really dont think its a valid complaint. Now reused bosses are a completely different subject which I do agree are annoying especially when they are of major bosses like mohg and godrick.
Big thanks to Activision for sponsoring this video. In addition to being an excellent game in its own right, Sekiro was a crucial pitstop in From Software's history. Dark Souls III strongly revolves around the concept of burning out so hard that you're left even trying to burn the ashes, and Sekiro was just what was needed to reinvigorate From before moving onto Elden Ring. Tackling new design decisions, different visual styles, and big changes in how the story is related to the player helped mature the unique formula they've been tweaking all this time.
So uhh.. since activision is suddenly paying you to talk about Sekiro I’m just gonna jump to conclusions and say Sekiro 2 is on the way.
@@Time4theJuice was thinking of the same thing
@@Time4theJuice I'm too high on same copium, I mean what OTHER reason could there be?
@@App1elele SEKIRO REMASTERED lmao
@@Time4theJuice Armored Core is pretty much confirmed to be the next project, don’t expect Sekiro 2 anytime soon.
There's something about the way they animated this game, plus the sound design, that just cranks everything to 11. There's an exaggerated movement and fluidity to the animations that gives an intensity to the traversal and combat like no other game. The clanging parry battles ending in thunderous ultra-violent finishers, blended with the graceful acrobatics in unforgettable locations...what a masterpiece of a game.
I noticed that a lot of the character animations look much better in Sekiro than their other games.
Absolutely. Personally I had put the wonderful animation down to From becoming masters at beautiful procedural animation gameplay engines. E.g. the feeling of parrying is tuned to perfection: lenient, but not false; snappy, but still smoothed. They have such good feel for enjoyable 3D action game controls.
@@ikeamonkey7372 that's something that i liked about bloodborne and sekiro more compared to dark souls/elden ring. Your character actually looks like they're skilled at what they're doing instead of just heavily swinging their weapon around and rolling all over the ground. Side steps are something i wish would replace rolls entirely, it looks so much better and is more believable imo
@@lanternguy yes my biggest issue with souls/ER is how ridiculous it looks for your character to be rolling around every other second during battle (especially if they’re in a full media armour set). The parrying/side step of Sekiro/bloodborne are both much better solutions
@@TheIcarusEffect I'd like to see a bit of a mix, rolls when out of combat and for some angles of attack (big overhead smashes, AoE attacks like dragon breath or something etc.), sidesteps for more close range combat with relatively human-scale enemies and maybe the odd semi-parry where the player character uses their weapon to deflect as they dodge.
Sekiro is a very hard combat system to get used to, but when you get good at it you actually LOOK like you're good at it, not just rolling around/through everything
One additional similarity between Sekiro and Elden Ring, is the dexterous prosthetic arms of both Wolf and Malenia, and the theme of a growing internal disease that is both a curse and a source of strength.
GTA let's you swim in a game that also lets you drive a boat in the water and fly across it. Witcher 3 manages to do the same minus the flying.
Edit: whoops. This was a response to a different comment. I must have miss clicked.
melanias arm might be a coincidence, as the prosthetic arm sekiro wears is wayyy different and is inspired by berserk. the curse thing is probably spot on tho
@@mult1versal "inspired by Berserk"
Played the games since 2009, and just recently started getting into Berserk - the inspiration is so apparent, it's almost on the face. Not necessarily a bad thing, but damn.
Rest In Peace Miura..
@@mult1versal Pretty much every single one of fromsoft's games since dark souls (maybe even as far back as kingsfield) took some inspirations from berserk, due to the latter's dominance in the dark fantasy genre which ds1-3, bb, sekiro and elden ring make use of to create their settings.
But i will still admit that malenia's arm with it's wonky proportions are likely moreso there to illustrate deformities as is central to malenia and miquela as a pair, rather than to fit a more dororo-esque power fantasy + revenge plot like wolf's.
@@mangekarp3241 Malenia's proportions are slightly off from a human's because she's a Numen descendant. The Numen corpses (or at the very least Ranni's) on top of the Divine Towers have similar proportions
I love how in Sekiro blocking is an offensive action. There's nothing better than blocking an attack and immediately having a deathblow opening!
The reason for that is because in a lot Eastern (especially Japanese) martial arts, blocking is a form of striking, if you're just braced, waiting for the enemy's blow leaves you open to a faint and even if the blow does connect, it's going to hurt a lot more than if you moved against it with force
@@magoshighlands4074 true, in karate, taekwondo etc. The 'blocking' actually looks a lot more like parrying then the standard boxing guard
@@magoshighlands4074 Most sword arts consider blocking and parrying a form of retaliation and offense. Indeed, Sekiro is the one game From has made where the protagonist actually knows how to use a sword in any proper regard.
@@magoshighlands4074 European Sword art is also like this
@@buklau837 Yeah, I specifically didn't say "Sword fighting", I meant martial arts as a whole, fist fights included
I'm kinda surprised that Activision is sponsoring videos about an almost 3 year old game, but I'm certainly not complaining because Sekiro deserves every last bit of coverage and analysis it gets, even now with Elden Ring having arrived to the scene harder and louder than Radahn's meteor attack
This makes me think they have something in the works related to Sekiro or just different enough from soulsborne games that they wanted to make that comparison.
This is a pre-announcement hype move on their part if you ask me. Too early in development to make any announcements, but they still want to get people to start speculating and craving an announcement
TBH, I'm more interested in this aspect of these videos than the videos themselves.
What is Activision planning on doing with this advertising? Companies don't spend money for the lols.
Hoping to cash in on some Sekiro sales now that most people have moved on from Elden Ring perhaps?
Alot of people who played Elden ring went looking for other fromsoft titles. Advertising sekiro seems like a bid to catch these players.
in the playstation store I keep seeing Sekiro on sale too. not sure if there is any correlation
@@vod1165 this is what I was thinking too, but here's to hoping for Sekiro 2!!
I wanted more sekiro. More maps, more bosses, more combat arts. The game was fantastic.
Same, by far my favourite from software game.
these sponsored videos probably mean a DLC is coming
@@aidankenealy2231 favorite game, period
@@_megla lol just continue dreaming
@@_megla Not necessarily. With Elden Ring warming many new fans to the souls franchise, Activision could just be trying to promote their previous titles and encourage those who have recently finished elden ring to explore the rest of the series. I'd love DLC (or even a 2nd game) but it's hard to say for sure that this means dlc
I wish Swimming made it to Elden Ring, there's so many areas where it would have been useful in ER and would have opened up another avenue to the exploration and biomes of the game.
The limit of the open world in Elden Ring is the Sea, so it wouldn't make sense have swimming
Elden Ring is already extremely massive, adding underwater navigation and whole entire biome would be excessive
Swimming in a sea of scarlet rot
Fully agreed.
DLC has unlimited potential
Sekiro always scared me because there are no shortcuts and barely any cheeses, you just have to get intimate with the games mechanics. That being said, I'm so excited to give it a shot now that I've beaten Elden Ring!
thats what makes the game the most rewarding and least frustating imo. All your successes are yours and they feel earned, but so do the failures so you don't even get mad at the game becasue you know you just suck.
At start your gonna get fucked by the game again and again until you just give up on everything you learned in Dark Souls. After that you will have a blast.
1-learn to deflect! i don't think you can beat the game without deflect
2-and this is the most important thing, git gud lmao
I’d argue Sekiro is loaded to the gils with cheese options. They just aren’t so much based around stacking buff or over-leveling. Literally, every boss and mini-boss is designed to be beatable with just the sword, but is also outfitted with one or more glaring weaknesses to other tools and techniques. Most of the non-boss content is also super easy to run past. If you use a guide or just experiment with prosthetics, you’ll find it’s a very approachable game.
Have fun playing thru Sekiro bud, Its my personal favorite From Soft game and, imo, the best combat in any game ever made.
Ps, Guardian Ape is the best boss fight that will ever exist.
Sekiro is just a perfect fromsoft game for me. I wouldn't add or take anything from it, it's just a full, rounded experience. I love the combat system, the setting and the stealth. And it has the best, the most epic final boss.
Agreed. just today I unlocked the Shura costume from the Gauntlet of strength. Basically beat 4 final bosses in a row. It's such an enjoyable game - and very rewarding once the combat system clicks!
All I want is the odachi from Nioh.
I don't really want it, but I want it
The one thing Id change: Make “weapon wheel” mod a standard feature, allowing dynamic swapping between combat arts in the middle of combat without pausing
Not enough content is what I’d change. More flexible weaponry, rpg elements. MORE BOSSES, MORE SWORDFIGHTS!
Well personally I would remove the Terror status entirely but I get what you mean
Even more so than Elden Ring, I think Sekiro is From Software’s first work since the original Dark Souls that will go down as a true milestone game.
The term “modern classic” is thrown around so often that it’s lost almost all meaning, but I can think of no better way to describe this masterpiece. It’s *that* good, and I have a feeling it will only grow in esteem as time goes by.
Elden Ring is the end of the souls formula, Sekiro is a new beginning. From Software invented a formula and they developed it to its' natural conclusion with Elden Ring, it's time to move on. The future is with the noble shinobi.
Yeah I liked Bloodborne, but that's mainly for the lore and the world it set up (which I'll never play again without a PlayStation, sadly) as it was really a minor tweak on the Souls formula.
Sekiro really blew me away, a real fresh take on their work with a main character and I found the world design to be a step above their other games. Beautiful, detailed and more alive than the others.
And, of course, the combat is tougher imo than regular Souls combat, but the payoff for getting it right is so much higher with the blocks, sidesteps and the animations being so fluid and precise that you actually feel like skilled fighter, not a skilled button masher/dodge roller. I'd love to see a sequel or even a return to a Sekiro-style gameplay design in a new continuity.
Not sure if it'd be a good choice for open worlds like ER, though, as Sekiro combat really only works well in dramatic one on one duels, fighting a horde of plebs would be brutal. Plus it would be dangerously close to all the other basic open world stealth/combat/suffering/grind games (with heavy side-eye at Ubisoft) just with the difficulty cranked up
Unfortunately it won’t achieve the status you’re hoping for the learning curve is just too steep for most(even many FS veterans couldn’t manage).
It is truly a masterpiece and one of my all time favourites but it will always remain a rather niche title.
Absolutely
@@JoeKing69 I remember being in a voice call with some friends whioe trying to beat the final boss. They fully prepared and ate their dinner in the time I managed to cut my coin stack down to 0, and I still took like 2 more hours to actually beat the boss. It got to the point where I could do phase 1 & 2 absolutely flawlessly, but something in phase 3/4 ALWAYS caught me off guard and brought me out of my focus.
Just bought sekiro and having a blast, its Truly one of their best games
was it on sale for you? its not for me :/
@@jakobn4191 no, not on steam, ive workded most the summer and Just said to hell with and bought it. I think on sale on ps4 tho
How far are you rn?
I must have replayed some of the bosses a few hundred times with the reflection mechanic they just never get old for me!
Last week I finally achieved a no hit kill of every single boss on NG+7
@@JoeKing69 congrats thats very cool. Im having a Hard time Just getting the timing for a mikiri counter
Sekiro is some of the best combat I've experienced in any game I've ever played, I really hope to they continue to do more with those mechanics.
Imagine a game with Sekiro's combat system, Bloodborne's lore, Dark Souls 3's bosses quality, and Elden Ring's open world? Well, Bloodborne sequel is enough to me tho...
My favorite aspect of Sekiro is how historically authentic it is. FromSoft essentially took the real world late Sengoku period and added fantastical elements, along with all of the social effects that includes. I hope they do more of these environments, I would love to see this treatment for a mid-15th century Europe.
It's interesting to realize that the "Ministry" at that time that was invading Ashina was Oda Nobunaga with the introduction of muskets and arquebuz by the Portuguese.
@@gannielukks1811 as many other people said on youtube, I think it's more likely that the "Interior Ministry" is Tokugawa's forces as their Emblem is a bit similar and also because Tokugawa was an Interior Minister
As much as having a billion options in Elden Ring can be quite nice, there's a lot to be said about just focusing on a single mechanic or playstyle and stripping away all the rest. It speaks volumes how many people in this comments section are talking about it being one of their favorite, if not their very favorite, Fromsoft game, and that games don't need to be insanely replayable to be beloved (despite low replayability being seen as a bad thing in a lot of gaming discussion). I would love for Fromsoft to alternate between making larger games with more variety like Elden Ring and making smaller, much more paired-down experiences like Sekiro. It would be, I think, nice.
Sekiro is probably one of my favorite from soft games. Captures ninja mythology and mythical Japan in such a refreshing way, but also familiar. Makes me feel like such a bad ass when I play lol
Great video Zullie , Sekiro was the culmination of everything I had ever wanted in a game and that is what gives it the #1 spot in my book . Hopefully these sponsored videos lead to more people to discover the game and maybe to more sekiro content like DLC or a sekiro 2 ... Who knows , only time will tell!
YES! I hope so too
Yes! They could either make a plot about wolf’s journey to return the dragon blood or they could make a side plot involving the ministry, either as a shinobi for them or against them.
@@In_aw3 Sekiro is based on real life Japan despite being in a isolated fictional place, and the Ministry at that time was Oda Nobunaga, and I don't think they will meddle with too much real life historic events, besides, Nioh already did that.
@@In_aw3 There's the Journey to the West idea too, based on Sun Wukong.
When Sekiro came out I was uninterested in learning new mechanics, because I was expecting "ninja dark souls". In retrospect I'm glad it turned out the way it did and I can't wait to finally get back into it
Speaking to Games Industry, From Software community manager Yasuhiro Kitao revealed that Sekiro was originally planned as a new installment of Tenchu, the studio's long-dormant stealth-action ninja series. "When we originally set out to create something different from Dark Souls and our previous titles, we thought it would be interesting to make a Japanese themed game. So from that we started going in the direction of the shinobi and ninja, and of course Tenchu was an IP with that history; that was the original impetus for this project," Kitao explained.
According to Kitao, From Software approached "a number of companies" with the project, and Activision was immediately on board. As the two studios worked together, the project eventually grew beyond its Tenchu roots and into its own original title. "[A]s we developed and as we partnered with Activision, and started building it together, it started becoming its own thing and the game we wanted to make was no longer just Tenchu, so it really evolved into its own thing," Kitao said.
Still wish Sekiro got DLC. Was really wanting a moonlight prosthetic
Well you got lapis lazuli instead
Tbh i would have prefered Sekiro DLC over Elden Ring if i'm being honest
@@promc2890 So you prefer a dlc of probably 5-10 hours of duration over a massive and awesome new game?
@@itoito7104 its more fun so yeah
Sekiro is cool but... Bloodborne II when? Or at least Bloodborne PC version when? WHEN1?1
Most of the time ppl say they loved the first Soulsborne game they played the most...I differ in that aspect, i played DS3 first, and Bloodborne + Sekiro after i already finished Dark Souls series.
However i still think Sekiro and Bloodborne are their best works by far, even though medieval fantasy is my favorite theme and architecture, i still found these games overall more enjoyable.
I played Sekiro first, then dark souls games in order. Still have not played BB. DS3 is probably my favorite.
Ask anyone who has played these games since 2009/2011 and youll basically find no one who favors BB and sekiro over the souls games.
Played in the order of DS3 > DS2 > DS1 > Sekiro > ER > Demon's, and I also think Sekiro is their best game. Unfortunately I don't have a PS4 to play BB on (Demon's was emulated on RPCS3)
I like ds3 more than bloodborne but I believe bloodborne is the best game of Miyazaki.
@@MrPizzaslice played Demons Souls in 2009-10 and every other Souls game since, even went back and completed all the Kings Field titles. Bloodborne is still my favourite game of all time. When they announced it I was worried about the huge shift in atmosphere to the point where I never even bothered to play it until a year or so after it’s release. I also had no previous interest in Lovecraft or any of the games themes but quickly became obsessed
I still remember my first time seeing the overview of Fountainhead Palace. The lighting and shader design and implementation really made it feel mystical and distinct from the other environments you explore in Sekiro.
Fromsoft is typically known for their complex RPGs, but I'm glad we got to see them do something more condensed and focused. It may just be my favorite from them.
The combat in sekiro stood out the most to me. the clashing of blades was so much more intense than what we had in darksouls and even eldenring.
I hope that future fromsoft games will have a similar combat to sekiro.
Literally one of my favorite games of all time, it's just perfect. To have a Sekiro 2 or a game in the same universe with a very similar combat system would be godly.
Seeing such a huge studio finally taking risks was such a breath of fresh air, and I truly hope more Triple-A studios diversify their work and bring us fascinating new games, much like small team/indie devs, but on a better budget and with space and time for more refinement.
Visually, Sekiro is probably my favorite of From's games. There is a kind of bizarre compare and contrast between humans and animals. There were animal/human monstrosities in other From games, but it didn't feel like a consistent theme until Sekiro. It feels like most un-Disney way imaginable of representing the personification of animals in folklore.
My favorite part of Sekiro is that the old adage in the Dark Souls community, “git gud” is actually genuine advice since aside from just simply mastering the mechanics, there’s really no “win build” you can make
It always was genuine advice from most people. Sure, there were the trolls, but a lot of people's best advice really was git gud. Sure, you can make a cheese build and steamroll everything, but telling you to do that is bad advice because it's not fun (at least, not for me, and not for a lot of people, so it's generally not advice given). The best advice, imo, is to simply git gud.
Git gud is extremely shallow, players should actually give advice that can be absorbed than just "git gud". Like "try to dodge this", "try to memorize this parry pattern", "mikiri counter this move", "use that prostethic tool", "fire/poison works well for this one", "use that item", "this combat art is great against it" it's much better advices.
Imagine if your teacher while teaching math just ask you to "git gud". Yeah, I you know you need to get good, but it's specially easier if it actually teach you how.
@@gannielukks1811 sounds like someone needs to… git gud 😎
@@shylukhaottsa1012 Platinued already
Fantastic video.
I am slightly disappointed that Sekiro never included a variant of the moonlight sword, but I still appreciate how the game dared to be different, and followed it's own path without borrowing too much from other games.
I really really really hope they make another game like sekiro, and I hope they apply the stuff that worked better than their traditional games to stuff like elden ring dlc or elden ring 2. I think a bloodborne 2 with verticality in city environments would work so well, almost like an old assassins creed game but with monsters in the streets and hunters on the roof tops
genuinely love the way you said how elden ring shows from at their boundry pushing limits, and sekiro shows the careful craftsmanship they can bring. amazing.
I do like Sekiro's change in setting. It makes me wonder if there'll be more additions to the SoulsBorne series that also use different locales and time periods.
Like, what if we got a futuristic 40k type setting (With futuristic "Chainswords" and "Power Klaws" type weapons to incorporate the melee focused nature of the series)? Or a Fallout-esk post apocalypse setting (Given that the games themselves tend to literally be post-apocalypse worlds)? Maybe even an ancient greek setting?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the medival fantasy setting of the Souls series and ER. But it would be interesting to see more games from FromSoft that push them into new settings.
So a Armored Core sequel?
Armored core already confirmed a sequel lmfao
@@ivanlagayacrus1891 That's why I brought it up. It's Fromsoft's Metal Gear Solid.
These videos you're producing about Sekiro have helped prompt my purchase. Thank you!
Please give us our Tomoe DLC
Out of all the from games I’ve played Sekiro hold number one spot for my favorite. From the combat, to the story, to the fact that from diverted from their usual plot structure to give us fleshed out personally enthralling characters, it all just feels right
I love the mobility Sekiro possesses. I had a hard time getting into other From games because of the lack of movement options. Being able to move around more in the environment, for me, makes the experience much more interesting and somewhat less taxing.
Same. Honestly would have really appreciated Sekiro's overall higher mobility and movement options in Elden Ring given it's open world with some platforming. Getting a horse was really nice but only having a literal Skyrim like jump really just made it painful to do any sort of platforming.
@@lancehvu They should at least give the ability to climb ledges, but no
@@gannielukks1811 Heavily agreed
Sekiro is my most replayed game, I've gone back to it numerous times.
From a design point of view, I'd remark that it's way easier to make western medieval imagery your own, but Japanese bushido style is so distinct that it's hard if not impossible, to make your own and deviate from what makes it what it is. I certainly don't remember having seen it done, you can always tell that that's what it is, it's never inspired by, it IS.
Acquire, the studio that made the original 2 Tenchu games went on to make Shinobido for PS2. (Basically Tenchu 3) Fun game, you had a crafting system where you could make your own ninja weapons (things like poisons, bombs and health etc. ) and had a map editor to create your own missions.
I like the mention of main characters interacting with each other which adds a grounding element to them, I never really thought of that, it might be what makes Elden Ring and Sekiro feel a bit more believable to me than something like DS3, or even Bloodborne; the only people that ever felt like actual people to me in Bloodborne were Maria, Gehrman and Eileen, because we either see or learn that they were, or are, active agents in this world whilst everyone else just sort of... is around
Honestly these videos make me want to play sekiro more than any gameplay or anything I have seen. Like the fact that they sponsor a dedicated lore master of the series to discuss "what sets sekiro apart from the soulsborne series" is just remarkable, it shows how truly cared for their games are and how proud of them they are, most game devs would only want big shot youtubers showing off explosive gameplay (though im not sure they didn't do this at all, i dont actually know, but that isn't the point) anyone that doesn't recognize fromsoft for giving their all to craft a wonderful experience is trully missing out.
Great video!
While I, personally, didn't really like Sekiro, I can still recognize what a great game it is. The locations are beautiful and the story is just as interesting as you'd expect in a From game. The game play, while not my cup of tea, is tight and focused and really sells the master swordsman fantasy, as well as the silent ninja assassin feel.
You could have removed the "Activision sponsor" part of the video and I would have not spotted or known a single difference in quality on the subject matter. This speaks volumes about your content, Zullie.
Every video project you create maintains that seamless and polished quality regardless of your incentives for uploading it. These two were definitely longer and deeper looks into the development of Sekiro, its enjoining history both within its timeline of development and relationship to actual Sengoku era Japan (be that as it may a very loose, mythologically-defined abstraction of that history)
Many of my friends fail to see the appeal of your videos, but what I think they're missing is the perspective of viewing them as art or history exhibits. They're not just simply putting things from each game on display, you vivisect each and every concept or asset presented in any of these videos and reveal as many of the gritty details about its purpose or place in each of the FROM games.
I hope one day someone catalogues your videos just as much as the games themselves. You are a crucial component of understanding the relationship between FROM and the things they create, and a lot of development history and meaningful design decisions are made much more thoroughly apparent through your critical eye and motivated approach to reveal any and all truths hidden or forgotten.
You're a credit to this community, and it is better for your involvement.
I know this is an ad, but sekiro needs a sequel or dlc
I love that this is effectively a short video essay. Keep up the awesome work Zullie 💜
In my opinion from are at their best when they do new things. The souls formula has reached it's peak for me now with Elden Ring, as an best of of all frequent mechanics and themes. I honestely don't want another typical souls game but something that breaks the foundation in a magnificent way like sekiro does is simply refreshing.
I can’t help but wonder if they’d ever venture into cyberpunk territory; who knows how that would look, but it would certainly be foundation-breaking
I am still playing sekiro , yesterday even after beating the game 10 times I still find new things
Congrats for getting such a big sponsor, you deserve it.
sekiro and elden ring is epitome of gaming for me . from large maps of elden always gave me sense of exploring more and more with sekiro excelllent conbat + tune ( specially in senpou temple ) the bell and the hare rama tune is just too soothing to hear.
I love the Fountainhead Palace music, and the one from the Divine Dragon fight. That last one has this really powerful conclusion, where the melody goes high up to accentuate the end of the fight, when you finally topple down the dragon to do a deathblow. Is such a beautiful change in the melody and it happens dynamically during gameplay.
@@Don_Lobo_ exactly , also the surroundings when you climb the mountain to reach the shrine for divine dragon is so majestic on its own.
Elden ring is amazing, but sekiro is the only fromsoftware game wich i'm proud of that i didn't gave up, and finished this game all by myself!
From Software are masters of blending real world emotions with fantastical, cryptic settings. The smaller details are weird but the overarching themes are always ones we can understand. Very smart and concise video👌
seKINO bros we can't stop WINNING ☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻
Thank you for pointing this out! I heard rumors years back that they were making a Tenchu successor so when this game was announced i went crazy! i LOVED Tenchui games as a kid
I want Sekiro 2 so badly.
And I want it to continue from the Dragon's Homecoming ending or the Shura ending.
I want more weapons, abilities, prosthetics, ninjutsus and customization too.
This explains so much, I had wanted a new tenchu game for so long and when Sekiro came out it scratched that itch. It makes so much sense now.
Zullie getting paid by Activision is genuinely surreal. This is the same person that decided one day to roleplay as a character from DS2 to impress the 10 people that would have seen him. Congrats, you've come a long way!
I enjoyed Sekiro like no other game. True masterpiece
soo far I like the sponsored videos :D
makes you appreciate the games even more
Sekiro the most underrated fromsoft game in my opinion
When you look back, it's surprising how many elements of Elden Ring's gameplay were inspired by or taken from Sekiro. Hell, there is even the Meteoric Ore Blade whose R2 is straight up Ichimonji, and the abnormally high stance damage it does when fully charged makes it even more blatant.
Zullie, your work is really fantastic. The visual scenes you choose that coincide with your well written material and simple yet effective editing show a high level of craftsmanship and care. I can truly say I want to see you grow indefinitely.
I wish you talked more about the parrying. To me, combat is 80% of my experience with these games, and so imo parrying is pretty much the defining difference that makes Sekiro. Love the game. You can partly blame some of Elden Ring's boss and enemy movesets on Sekiro.
Imagine if we could Mikiri counter some of Malenia's moves...
The purity of Sekiro combat is literally why it was so amazing for me.
Less is more was absolutely the right decision, and a strong reason for Sekiro combat being incredibly cathartic and addictive.
I'm generally a 50/50 mix of exploration and combat.
In your opinion.... That's literally the main concept of the game be aggressive and parry
@@AndrewB23 well zullie didn't talk about it. Obviously that's the main concept of sekiro, but zullie chose to talk about other stuff, so there must be *some* difference in opinion
Zullie, these two videos have been spectacular. You always have succh wonderful content.
There is something funny that people don’t realize. Out of this amazing catalogue that is the Souls/Miyazaki games. Sekiro is THE ONLY GAME THAT BELONGS TO FROMSOFT. The IP of Dark Souls is owned by Bandai, Elden Ring is no different (correct me if I’m wrong). Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne are owned by SONY.
But in the case of Sekiro, it was published by activision BUT RIGHTS REMAINED TO FROMSOFT. So if the world turned upside down tomorrow, Fromsoft will always have the last word on the future of Sekiro compared to their other projects.
That's correct, From Software owns all rights to the Sekiro's intellectual property. Activision only has licensed publishing rights, meaning they don't own any part of the IP, only the rights to publish the game outside of Japan, and even those expire at some point in time.
I remember when the first teaser for Sekiro dropped and I was absolutely convinced it was going to be a new Tenchu game. I would love to play as Rikimaru again! Fortunately Sekiro ended up being an amazing game and is probably in my top three games ever.
On one hand, you being sponsored by Activision gives me hope that a new sekiro game is coming. On the other hand I have this great fear that Activision has hired another Studio to make a sequel instead of from software and that really scares the shit out of me
Imagine how I feel when I hear that the guys that ruined the demon souls remake are hired to make a bloodborne sequel...set in Mayan cliches if the rumors are right...
Activision only acted as a publisher for the western release of the game as well as granting FromSoft access to their professional infrastructure and development talent, in exchange for a portion of the revenue from sales. They hold no rights to Sekiro; From owns it entirely. It would have to be From's decision to allow Activision to make a sequel by granting them a license (or selling the IP, I suppose), so don't worry too much. The most we have to fear is simply that From decides to never make a sequel, which would be a damn shame.
Sekiro is Fromsoftware IP
@@1r0zz Who ruined the Demon's Souls remake?
@@Nevecus I think he meant bluepoint
after the release of Elden Ring, I can say, Sekiro is still my favorite FS game...the combat is amazing and the world is beautiful..hoping this "sponsorship" means we will have a DLC for Return Ending :)
For FromSoftware's first foray into an entirely Japanese ascetic, it was done masterfully. I can confidently say that the locales of Ashina are nothing short of breathtaking in their vibrant decay regardless of where I found myself sneaking and deathblowing my way though.
I recently got this game and just finished my first ending.
I think it's quickly become my favourite Fromsoft game ever, I thought nothing would top my love for Bloodborne or Elden Ring. But Sekiro has hooked me. I am not that good at timing games and my "parries" are awful. Yet I can't stop trying to get better, I love jumping around and grappling across rooftops and ravines. The fast pace battles with the various tools, trying to figure out which works the best on what enemy. Having to look close and study the movements to know which counter to even use.
Victory in this game feels so sweet.
We need another Sekiro!!
Yet in 2014 Dark Souls 2 was born and it also has its own subtle influence on the later fromsoft releases.
Ahhh, I love that game 🥰.
A game I finally enjoyed after years since Tenchu 2 and Tenchu Wrath of Heavens.
Same it’s one of my favorites in the series I much prefer it to the game being discussed here by a long shot
I really hope From Software makes another game with a specific character and main weapon, like Sekiro, but with a strength build. Make an equally refined combat system for a greatsword. It could be their most Berserk like game yet. Or like a prequel to Sekiro where you play as Roberto's dad. Seeing how good they can make the combat when it's focused on one build, I just wanna see it done with other weapons.
A game for Unga Bunga enjoyers
I'm happy to see people still talking about sekiro. I'll always love that game.
Sekiro is the proof that FromSoft is wasted on Bamco. Every game they made under them has been a total mess full of cut content. Meanwhile Sekiro is easily the most "complete" and finished title they made to date.
Why do u think Bandai is like dis
Sekiro was my first ever From Software and hold a special place in my heart. It was my introduction to some of the best gaming experiences of my life. Great video as always, very interesting.
I still need to play sekiro
Sekiro was my first and favorite, I can't wait for more
Looking back on Sekiro now is the same as looking back on Skyward Sword when BOTW came out. I'm so excited to see what's coming next from From - they're one of the most legendary game studios of all time at this point.
Actually in the middle of Sekiro, having already Platinumed all 3 DS and BB. And it's the first time I rage quite daily!!
Sekiro has everything that I should love in a game, but somehow the battle mechanics are a big challenge for me.
I want to finish it before starting Elden Rings, and the parallels you draw on this video motivates me to continu.
Sekiro is truthfully so underrated
Great videos, I'm really glad they asked you to make them!
Sekiro is the culmination of From Software's respect to its roots and traditions and it's predilection towards breaking the mould. Sekiro just flows beautifully, giving you ample time to learn and execute and it truly is one breathtaking experience in the sense that you need to take it all in, the path of countless failures, the few victories that make it WORTH every single second spent on the game. It's one ideal is to strive for perfection and not hesitate in the face of an insurmountable enemy in pursuing that perfection.
" Hesitation is defeat "
Man, Sekiro was just... *chef kiss*
Thank you for all your hard work and research ; this mini series was really fascinating!
After 100h on Elden Ring, Sekiro is definitely the better, smaller but more cohesive game. It never drops and maintains quality throughout the whole adventure, peaking at Fountainhead Palace. Elden Ring sadly takes a massive dip in quality after Morgott’s encounter. Still, neither can touch Bloodborne.
Elden Ring was so good on the first playthrough and now I find myself struggling to get through any consecutive playthroughs. My biggest gripe is the game is big for nothing and the game is backloaded like HELL. Can’t get half the cool loot without trudging through some chunks of the game
@@Time4theJuice collecting smithing stones is a drag on consecutive playthroughs, wish every weapon only requires 1 stone per upgrade like the boss/special weapons
i didn't know about the tenchu connection, man that game was amazing. such a different feel from what else was around at that time.
Activision once again continues to keep giving our lovable witch that sweet sweet money.😺
Godspeed to any first time FromSoftware players that then go pick up Sekiro. Adapting to the combat system can be an unforgiving experience. But do not hesitate! *DS3 to Sekiro transition felt even more merciless, I loved it.
Hehe.. do not hesitate
Sekiro and Bloodborne are still their masterpiece. ER just made several footsteps in the wrong direction
Great video as always Zullie. I've often wondered whether Sekiro was made so that FromSoft could test out different features & ideas to see what could be implemented into Elden Ring. For example, Gyobu Oniwa & his horse gave rise to numerous mounted bosses in Elden Ring and might have helped in testing the foundations for Torrent. You also made a very good point about the incredibly varied areas in Sekiro such as Fountainhead Palace & Senpou Temple which will have helped FromSoft when creating Elden Ring areas like Altus Plateau or Siofra River.
Sekiro is an incredible game & is definitely a top 3 FromSoft game but as I said initially, I often wonder if it was just used as a testing bed for features & ideas that would later be implemented into Elden Ring.
I wish elden ring did more to break the mould. Its the from soft game ive played the least, simply because it felt like finishing it once was enough. I might not have liked sekiros changes too much(actual QTE combat), but i still played it more because of how different it was. But elden rings gameplay felt too much like retreading ground after ds3, and with the map too annoying large when so many encounters are repeated, it was the most tedious and offputting of the post demon souls from games to me. An incredibly well made game, but far safer than i would have liked from a new from soft IP
All it needed was weaker sekiro deflect mechanic for small-medium enemies. And 2 ashes of war per weapon, not one cool move only
I liked ER but it's definitely a kitchen sink of a game, they threw everything in. It's unfocused and a bit bloated.
I like Elden Ring, but I think they did bowmen and caster archetypes dirty, where both playstyles have barely changed since Dark Souls and ER was a dropped ball in that regard.
I think Elden Ring and Sekiro are great partners because of how they demonstrate good project management. Sekiro was small and refined, which let it massively shake up how it looked, played, and felt, and Elden Ring was huge and ambitious, which meant it needed a strong, reliable backbone to build off of. Trying to up the scale and redefine the core concepts at the same time is a recipe for disaster, so instead we get this pair of games playing into one another.
For as many times as my jaw dropped while exploring Elden Ring, I still think Sekiro's approach lends itself better to FromSoft games.
During my first Elden Ring playthrough I tried to explore everything and for the first ~80-100 hours it was amazing, but after that the reused assets/content increasingly marred my experience with the game.
They have amazingly designed environments, but like all other open world games not enough interesting content to fill them. Most of the remaining ~150 hours had me walking through variations of dungeons I already cleared and the same or slighlty different versions of enemies I already fought a bunch of times.
My 2 NG+ cycles to get the few things I missed were very short, because exploration is a huge part of Elden Rings gameplay loop, so once you explored everything it loses a big part of it's replay value as there is no reason to not just hop onto your horse and ride past everything to get to your next destination.
I found Sekiro very disappointing. Definitely From's weakest game to me. Blows my mind that people love it so much.
It's by far their most polished title. The gameplay doesn't stick for everyone, but it's definitely the smoothest.
Sekiro has the greatest potential for people to bounce off of it, because it traded broad appeal for a very specific focus. If what they shaved off to make it is what made you like Dark Souls, then it's going to cause some obvious dissatisfaction with the changes.
Same game is booty cheeks just a boring rhythm game with a wooden protagonist
If sekiro 2 ever happens i hope a basic combo system like what nioh has is added. One complaint i have with the game is how it feels restrictive sometimes with how you have to enter a menu to use your special moves. Getting rid of spirit emblems entirely as well and making certain prosthetics a consumable like the shuriken would be far better. And to not break the balance add in something like a heat gauge from yakuza or the yokai gauge from nioh 2 to prevent players from spamming stuff
Sekiro was a joy to 100%. The flow of combat just felt great once you became really good at it.
Love your work Zullie, you deserve all the love and attention this will bring your way
It is a crime against humanity to not have a DLC developed for this game
Great video as always. I'm glad to see that you're getting good sponsors and recognition. Thanks!
Something I appreciated about sekiro I cant say for Elden ring:
Not a lotta re-used assets if any.
Well thats not entirely true since almost every mini boss shows up at least twice or more and most bosses have a different version ( for example guardian ape with headless ape and corrupted monk with the true monk. Im not saying its a bad thing just that sekiro does in fact have reused enemies and assets.
Sekiro is also a much smaller game in comparison.
@@ShapireNW I meant re-used assets in the sense that they were taken from a previous game and just pasted into the new game.
I know some level of this is to be expected, however ER does it so egregiously that it starts to hurt.
@@ShapireNW That being said, even if you did only look at the re-used assets within the games themselves ER would easily take the crown for most re-used content in comparison to any other souls game.
@@WelcomeToDERPLAND @Lukecis A lot of the animations have been staples of the series since DeS like the riposte animations. And nobody should really care about a door opening animation being reused or other minor things like the way your character holds a torch. And it would be dumb of the devs to when they can use that time to make new animations like everything with torrent, make new weapon arts and create new enemy types wich there are a lot more of than any other souls game. The sheer size of elden ring makes it mandatory for them to reuse older animations that are honestly perfectly fine as they are. If it bothers you then there sadly isnt much you can do but I really dont think its a valid complaint. Now reused bosses are a completely different subject which I do agree are annoying especially when they are of major bosses like mohg and godrick.
I'm so incredibly happy you're getting this sponsorship!
Why is Activision sponsoring Sekiro videos after all these years? 🤔 Sequel coming soon?
4:36 You absolutely died taking that shot