Same, and I have beat every other fromsoft boss without cheesing. That demon broke me to the point I didn’t care to “learn” how to beat him, he straight up punishes you for everything you learned so far. He’s a souls boss, terrible addition to sekiro
@@Glue_Huffer really? I liked the demon of hatred fight, it made me utilize ninja tools at a high level, I mostly used the umbrella with the demon status on it and perfect parried the demon of hatred so I could effectively utilize the umbrella counter move. It was a really challenging fight but I liked that I had to use ninja tools to win since using the sword wasn’t effective on such a massive terrifying demon
@@caravaneerkhed the dopamine/adrenaline rush from finally beating him after 2 days was the most intense shit ever. I'm a fighter (boxing + muay thai) and the feeling was very, very close to winning a match which is also extremely intense. I slowly got further and further into the fight and still had 5 gourds left when I finally beat him. My tactic was the fire Umbrella for his jump attack, then the counter attack, then abused Ceremonial Tanto to keep it up and get Malcontent off in his 3rd phase. I wasn't even paying attention to his health in phase 3 because I was so immensely on edge, so when I saw the last deathblow marker pop up I immediately started screaming FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCKK YOUUUUU YESSSS at 3am and got hyped to the point I almost didn't press it the 2nd time for the actual killing blow lol. It was worth the 10-15 hours of pure suffering against him for that one single moment of release, and it was preceded by Genichiro and then immediately followed by the monster himself, Isshin. Sekiro gave me so many dopamine hits I couldn't believe it, so glad I found Elden Ring and decided to buy this after because it's one of the best games I've ever played. I was super confident going into Isshin after just having smoked the Demon, but quickly got put right back in my place 😂. I did end up umbrella counter cheesing him because I was struggling equally hard, if not worse than I did with Demon and simply didn't have the willpower to immediately repeat that experience.
This was me as well I enjoyed almost every fight in this game and the boss rushes were awesome but the one with demon sucked so bad. The jump sucks as well but well worth the time compared to fighting this misplaced demon.
You mentioned how they portray Wolf getting rusty by missing the tilt of his sword at the beginning and I think it's an even nicer attention to detail how in the Genichiro boss fight at Ashina Castle they do they exact same shot but have Wolf nail it this time.
the 3 times u fight genichiro shows wolf's improvement. the first one he misses his sword's handle the second one he grips his sword perfectly and gets on a defensive stance the third and last one he unleashes his sword perfectly and faster, and he also gets on an aggresive stance, showing more confidence
My favorite detail out off the Genichiro battles takes place in the 3rd fight. Sekiro becomes so focused on the fight he doesn't notice Kuro falling over in the grass beside him.
The rush of endorphins I get from defeating Sword Saint Isshin is so intense that I get a similar feeling of nerves and excitement just from watching someone else fight him. He is easily one of the greatest bosses I've ever fought in any game.
I love all of the souls games, but nothing has felt quite like the fight against Isshin. The primal war scream I let out when I beat him was completely earned.
I would say that about most main bosses in this game, especially the first time or on harder difficulties, but Isshin/Shura Isshin/Father Owl/Demon of Hatred are on another level of intensity.
Oh I know exactly what you mean. First time I went up against Isshin, my palms would get so sweaty that my dualshock controller would get soaked to the point it ceased functioning. Had to put it down, wait for it to dry up.
I just wish sekiro had more rpg freedom like bloodborne. Not really builds or crazy armor variations and spell combos. Raising a new character from the ground up made the souls games soooo replayable
About the Guardian Ape rematch, you mentioned that there's really not a "lore" reason for the boss to be reused, but there actually, at least technically, is. When you fought him the first time, he was guarding the flower he kept for his mate, who has long since passed, but now that we're in his actual den, we get some more info -- the second ape is either his child or a different mate (likely the latter since the second ape sadly sits down and dies if you kill the Guardian first), and there's also the skeleton of what was likely the mate he was keeping the flower for, which you can find in an upper level of the den. More importantly though, at least for the themes of immortality and corruption in the story, is how we first see the headless ape -- he's doing some weird scraping motion against the wall as he holds his neck close to it. Upon beating the boss, you can see that there's a VERY slight trickle of water coming down the wall; the same water that flows through Mibu Village, the water that flows from Fountainhead Palace, the same water that pools in the Sunken Valley. It's safe to say the water in this cave is much less pure than the water pooling where you first fought the Ape (where he likely got infected initially with the centipede), though it does still give immortality, and now, due to his immortality, he's been reduced to a headless corpse, piloted by a centipede, groveling for dirty drops of water. The immortal waters that flow through Ashina are a curse, not a blessing, and anyone who gets a taste of them will be reduced to constantly craving more; you need to sever those whom you love from the corrupting influence of immortality, or they'll lose any semblance of life and love that they once had. Now, whether you find this "lore" explanation to be a good excuse for re-using the boss? That's up for interpretation, haha. Still better than the multiple re-uses of, say, Astel from Elden Ring, though.
@@rhyswhittington8759 Astel going from an eldritch cosmic horror which blocks off the final steps of a wizard's grand plan that you can barely even fathom the details or ramifications of, to "Oh, that guy? Wait, you seriously thought he was, like, important? Dude, that's just Hank, man. He's basically just some guy, there are a couple of em hanging out in caves and shit here on earth." Is a decision so unbelievably baffling that I cannot believe anyone at FromSoft thought it was a good idea. Then again I can say that last part about a lot of things in Elden Ring lmao
@@Quack_attack_same especially near the end, I found elden ring such a chore to play, after the fire giant I was playing just to finish the game, I was so tired because for most of the game, I just had a sense that the game straight up wasn’t fair, that was the first time I felt that way about a fromsoft game. Even when I was stuck on a boss in other games, I rarely got angry, unless I was playing after getting home from school, because I always knew my mistake. In Elden ring, it’s like playing a arcade game, where the game tries subtle tricks to make you lose
@@Chadius_Thundercocksee I just can’t do it for some reason I want to love sekiro but something about it just hasn’t clicked and I’m not spending 50 hours trying to beat some sword sponge. Idk what I’m doing wrong but wolf feels incredibly weak and not in a haha fromsoft style but like I’m not trying to clank off some random mob 20 times or a two dot mini mob like 100 just for their poise to drop to like nothing
@@holysparkbatmanyou’re just not playing it correctly then lol, it’s really not that hard, all you have to do is parry and attack at the right times. There’s definitely tough bosses but if you’re having issues on mini bosses and shit then maybe just not the game for you.
@@wakkjobbwizard a sequel doesn't make sense story wise. They kinda wrapped it all up. A prequel could work I guess or a different story all togather but with the same sword play...
I was extemely frustrated by Genichiro's third phase until I realized that it forces you to really learn how to dominate the first two; it's a valuable lesson before Sword Saint.
Also, mad respect for the "Analyzing gameplay and analyzing storytelling are two completely different skillsets" bit. It's really honest and self-aware of you.
Agreed... but I also feel like many long-form video essayists don't engage with Soulsborne stories in any meaningful way much to their own detriment. The story is a very significant part of the game, after all, and maybe they wouldn't have some of these nitpicks if they just read some item descriptions
@@gavinmcphie6936that’s basically where I have arrived at as well. With so many critical opinions in reviews, including this video, I’m just like “did you even read any dialogue or item descriptions?”
Small correction on the Fountainhead Palace bridge Corrupted Monk fight, her third phase does have another difference he didn't mention. She no longer blocks or deflects any of your attacks like she did previously which changes the tempo of her fight pretty drastically. You even see it in his clip of him fighting the boss. Matthew gets interrupted and hit by attacks he would've most likely deflected had the tempo remained the same, but because the monk now has super armor and attacks through everything, he gets caught off guard multiple times. It makes for some excellent story telling through gameplay, as the monk has abandoned everything, let the centipede have complete control, and attacks you in complete desperation with no regard for her own survival.
This video was no mistake. The length was a joy and I had a hell of a time reliving the Sekiro experience while listening to your insights and opinions. I’m truly amazed the video hasn’t reached 5k views yet.
The thrust attack on Seven Ashina Spears that you think is unmikiriable is actually mikiriable. You just have to wait until the very end. Also, the more you think about the world design, the more impressive it is. You found all of the serpent hearts, right? And found the cave that leads back to the poison pool? That is a great moment.
Just went to test this again and you're right, guess I've always just been too antsy on that attack - thanks for pointing it out. Wish I could correct it in the video now but ah well.
It would make sense the Seven Samurai and Isshin would know how to counter Mikiri counter. It's an ashina Shinobi technique which means they've been beaten by it at least a dozen times. Now the real question is who created the technique? (Also random fun fact: I think part of the Mikiri counter is to look your opponent in the eye to intimidate them. Idk I gotta recheck the animation)
@@artemaniaco293 Probably? I'm scared to though aha, I tried using that editor once before and it was a really bad experience. I'm not sure how it would handle such a long video like this.
Yeah they make it seem like isshin in his prime was the strongest fighter, but old isshin's moves seem much more faster and refined than prime isshin. I honestly thought old isshin was much tougher than prime isshin.
Went into the guardian ape completely blind. Had so much trouble with the first phase that I didn’t expect a surprise second phase. When he grabbed his sword and severed head and got back up…I shat myself. Poop in my pants. One of the most memorable moments in the entire series.
Isn´ t the ogre more a lesson about bringing the right tool to the right situation? A couple of guards mention the fear of the red-eyes to fire, the merchan sells a note that gives you a hint about where the flamethrower is, you pick it up and suddenly the fight is way more even, a lesson that´s further brought up with the firecrackers and gyobus horse, then unto the raging bull. Eavesdropping falls short afterwards, but it still has his place, specially for gaining access to a different ending and being more aware of the story surrounding you. The same thing can be said about the crowd of monkeys and the fishers finger you found inside the guardian ape.
@@VGMatthew I agree with Alberto, as far as emblems they’re only 5 sen at the beginning of the game so that shouldn’t be a problem. Plus I don’t think the idea is to spam it but to incorporate it in your arsenal. I just replayed Sekiro after ELden Ring and I didn’t have to buy them and had enough to proc burn in both twice during the fight
Yeah, I think the Chained Ogre is meant to a) be annoying enough that you'll go to Hirata looking for help, eventually finding the Flame Vent after getting clues from Anayama or the eavesdrop guys b) show that spamming attack is bad. Most enemies will give you a clear signal to stop attacking when they deflect you, but others won't, and you have to stop yourself. This is a big thing that I didn't truly learn until much too late
@@jamesarthurkimbell I think another factor is to show how dangerous perilous attacks are. Before ogre, some people would do perilous attacks, but they're pretty easy to dodge. If you get hit, oops, you take some damage, but you can heal it. Ogre's perilous attacks are HORRIBLE though. One nearly one-shots you outright if you get caught, while the other one slings you into the air (and almost certainly off the cliff). Not to mention his extremely erratic attack patterns (they're well telegraphed, but very different from human enemies, so it has a learning curve). So it's first a lesson to say, "Sometimes removing their health is more important than blocking," and also, "If you can't figure out how to dodge some enemies, this is what happens, and you'll be sad."
@@heychrisfox Yeah, even though the game is dangerous before, any individual attack deals pretty small damage. Then here's an attack that deals a lot... and it'll be a while before you meet someone who can match it, probably Seven Spears or Corrupted Monk, on a single-hit basis
Regarding the narrative reason of the Headless Ape appearing the second time, I think the idea is that after you kill him the first time, he runs away through the Sunken Valley, then the mining tunnel with the White Serpent and then ends up in the cave, where we fight him. There is a somewhat hidden part of that cave that overlooks the arena, where you can find a monkey next to giant ape remains, which was probably the mate of the Headless. And if I remember correctly, the brown ape jumps from that overlook too. Overall it's pretty fitting to find him there, considering the environmental details and how the second fight is still technically in the Sunken Valley, which is where monkeys and apes seem to live. But I think the presentation is at fault here, the developers hint at the fact that Ape is still alive with the item descriptions and a roar sound effect after death but because the body disappears into nothing, it feels very gamey when you see him again. It could've worked better if the body disappeared only after the player entered the cave to pick up the lotus flower, and the roar could be heard after they exit. It also would be more narratively fitting if the player could kill the ape once and for all in the first fight, if they have the Mortal Blade, and as side effect it would add more meaning and variety to choosing which level to do first as you reach the Ashina Castle. As for the Headless Ape questions, I played Sekiro blind and the second phase was a surprise, he seemed like a tough enough boss to have only one health bar, and before him the bull was also an exception to the 2 lives rule. I think the Sunken Valley was my first main area after Ashina Castle, so I didn't know much about centipedes and immortality yet and I just didn't expect the thing to stand up after you cut its head off with brutal deathblow animation ;D The spear trick I found out online after finishing my first run, to me it seems like one of those things people find accidentally. Similarly, you can block Ape's terror scream with a normal umbrella shield, which is not something most people would attempt to do. I personally enjoy when the game has such hidden tricks, but only when the default experience is overall balanced without those tricks in mind, and I believe Headless Ape fight succeeds at that, you don't need the spear or the umbrella to have a decent fight with him and more obvious tools like the firecrackers, the flame vent and some combat arts still work well against him. Also, great video! There is a few things I disagree with but it was an enjoyable watch, which is something of a rarity for me when it comes to Fromsoft analysis videos, your work deserves more attention!
Ha, okay, my thought was always that we were supposed to buy that the Headless Ape somehow went through the small shortcut past the Sunken Valley Great Serpent, climbed through the shortcut, got to the poison pit in the Depths that way, and ended up in the den. Obviously that makes no sense because it's way too small to fit the ape but that was all I could think of - I had no idea that you could overlook the den from that cave. That makes it easier to accept from a lore/logic standpoint, and I definitely agree with your assessment of it. If the body remained in the Valley, but disappeared after you picked up the Lotus or something, that could have been a cool/ominous mystery for you to resolve when going to the Depths. Also interesting to hear about your Headless Ape experience - I actually didn't think about the Bull when writing that bit so that probably does make the one deathblow marker at least a bit more believeable. Thanks for watching and for the comment, glad you enjoyed :)
This is interesting because I didn't know a 2nd Headless Ape fight even existed. Idk why but on my way to the Hidden Forest I came across the same huge room expecting a boss fight, checking all the remnants, and there were none. I'm going to go back to that area to see if that fight is there now, but it certainly wasn't there when I first went through. I'm now very curious as to the circumstances that allowed me to skip the fight, or maybe FromSoft removed it, idk.
@@gameplayerone3917 That fight is only there after you've beaten the Ape the first time. I actually thought that the depths were supossed to come before the valley and the second Ape fight was meant to be there as a cool secret to find or a surprise if you happen to do the "wrong" order.
@@nicudelpapa4056 in my first two playtroughs i didn't find the second combat with the headless Ape, only after returning to that peculiar point in my tird run, i found him. And later on, you can find the seven headed ghost warrior
@@nicudelpapa4056 I believe it depends on what order you do the areas in. I can't remember the order but you can do the ashina depths without fighting the two apes.
As a person that didn't have the monkey part spoiled for me and the fact that the boss killed me many times, I was scared af when I found out I have to fight him again, the fact that he had 1 health bar did raise an eyebrow but wasn't enough to make me think he will resurrect. Also since I was playing super safe I basically dealt with him by chipping damage in both phases and never the posture damage, I used a lot of shurikens that day...
I was able to beat it in one try on my first playthrough by playing it super safe as well (it took a long time though). I was basically just running around him and waiting for an oppotunity to dash attack it. Its phase 2 was easier IMO though since its sword is not too hard to deflect.
@@FourthExile imo the cave fight was easier since both phases were basically the same except and it was simply a matter of killing the brown ape quickly. Oh, and the umbrella prevents you from getting terror from his scream.
I think the first chained ogre was actually supposed hammer in how useful the prosthetic tools can be and how vital it is to explore and talk to NPCs. He's a really tough boss fight until you get the flamethrower (and the game hints at where you can find it several times before this)
Yes precisely. I think the placement of the merchant AND the bell that unlocks Hirata right before the Ogre is indicative of this. I believe the order of events Fromsoft wanted you to follow as a new player goes: 1) Unlock bell 2) Eavesdrop on guards who give a hint that fire is a weakness of red eyed enemies (Ogre), and find the merchant who tells you the flamethrower is in Hirata 3) Find Ogre and most likely die, hitting a sort of wall in progression, but notice his eyes are red 4) Explore Hirata to get flamethrower 5) Bandits in Hirata drop oil pots 6) Find flamethrower prosthetic 7) Stop exploring Hirata after finding next checkpoint before Shinobi Hunter to go back to Sculptor to unlock the flamethrower (and the axe as it is on the path from the flamethrower to the gate that unlocks the checkpoint) 8) And finally, with oil pots and flamethrower equipped, go back to Ogre and clear it much easier than before I think this is precisely why the ogre is a bit of a strange encounter in its mechanics. You don't win by learning his deflects and a lot of his grabs come fast with large hitboxes, with a way to insta kill you if he throws you off the edge. His difficulty is specifically designed to get the player to explore Hirata right then and there, which functions as a sort of tutorial for the player on the importance of prosthetic tools and talking to npcs, like you said
@@asherking159 the part thats so weird about it is that this is pretty much the only time where players get rewarded for backtracking and exploring around them. I didnt get flamethrower or the Axe until i beat Guardian Ape, folding screen monkeys, and genichiro because it is just so unnecessary. You can go to any part of the game at any point and do well off.
It sounds like you're talking about armored core, but that definitely wasn't an experiment. Armored core has been around for a long time with a devoted fan base
@@smitty215ableto be fair, the new armored core definitely has some souls/sekiro dna in so it feels more like an evolution of the franchise rather than a direct sequel
@@cabnbeeschurgrIt isnt actually evolution of Armored Core. It just that there are probably NO people in FromSoftware now who worked on previous AC games..Even FreeQuency music band who made god-tier OST for AC and famous art designer Shoji Kavamori left FromSoftware around 10 years ago. So they have to learn how to make Armored Core in their own way.
The first time I saw the cutscene from genichiro to isshin, I thought the arm bursting out of his neck was the whole cutscene,and you were going to fight genichiro with 3 arms
I am probably one of the few who think this. But I like Sekiro the best out of any FromSoftware game. I love seeing commentaries on the game. To see how other people feel about my favorite game. Good or bad. And when as much effort goes into the videos as this one. It's always captivating and interesting to watch.
@@jagermeister1487 Elden Ring has sold more than double what Sekiro sold. So there's more than twice as many people who played Elden Ring but didn't play Sekiro. Think about that. Elden Ring has more people who like it as their favorite FromSoftware game (because it's their only one) than the amount of people who played Sekiro in total. Not only that but not every person who played Sekiro thinks it's the best. Bloodborne and DS1 have tons more fans. So yea. There are a lot of people who love Sekiro the most. But when compared to the total amount of people playing these games. It's a microscopic percentage. So I don't see why you made it seem like "Ugh Jeez. There's a lot of people who think that. Why even make it seem like there aren't." Because there really isn't.
Same, it was my 3rd souls game. I first played Dark Souls 1, then Eldin Ring then Sekiro…now playing DS3 lol. But of all the FS games I’ve played, Sekiro is hands down my favorite. The combat feels great and incredibly well balanced.
Headless Ape fight was a great surprise. You beat him, there’s a moment of usual triumph… but then, something seems off. I don’t remember how that unease was communicated by the game, but I remember the eerie feeling I sensed before the ape rose again. Maybe it was the fact that the corpse still lay there? Not sure. GREAT moment for me!
I love Dunkey's video showing off the fight. It's pure comedic joy. The whole experience is definitely one of the funniest moments I can remember in any game. You: "Ah, I finally did it, that impossible boss finally dead." The Boss: "Hey buddy, wanna go again?" You: "AHHHHH"
@@derpi3438 aye bro how do I make it out the hirata estate - hidden temple I already beat lady butterfly and found the idle there and the secret and discovered almost everything and etc but I feel like I’m missing one more map and feel like the dad is the one that fights you after he stabs you
@@SF23_ if you beat lady butterfly you done for now (unless you yet to beat the guy hidden away that guards the mist raven) you get another memory later on if you keep exhausting dialogue with Emma every time you see her and that allows you to go back to hirata and things are slightly different with a different boss where butterfly was
A few things: 1. I think people vastly understate just how effective prosthetics are in the game. As said in the video it's not really comparable to things like summons or items in other souls titles, however, it IS comparable to weapons in other titles. The prosthetics are not supplementary to your kit, they ARE your kit and should be treated as such. Many of the enemy dense areas can very easily be taken on with the right set up of prosthetics that allow you to quickly break an enemy's posture like the axe or give you a break to finish off an enemy or two with the fire crackers. This in conjunction with skills such as the vault over or the ichimonji make the game alot more fluid and make some of the seemingly questionable area designs (such as Juzo or the Senpou Straw Hats) very doable. 2. You are a shinobi, not a samurai or a ronin, or any thing else. You are a shinobi and stealth is the over extremely overlooked aspect of this review. The gunfort is not meant to be chaotic, your meant to be a shinobi not a wrecking ball, the traversal options make it obvious that your not supposed to challenge it head on as shown by the hole that drops you from literally taking it on. You are given branches to ascend from the outside and wall hangs next to every enemy to stealth deathblow them. Same can be said for hirata estate. 3. There needs to be conversation about your story perception. The Shura ending isn't poorly written, and makes quite a bit of sense while being in character if you actually spoke to the NPC's. You get alot of booze over the course of your journey up until that point and almost every single opportunity to use it reveals the backstory of Isshin and the Orangutang or Sculptor, to which explains Shura and it's place in the story. It's definitely intended to be abrupt to the true conclusion because it's the obviously "wrong" path, but that does not mean it's narratively weak.
The thing with prosthetics is that you need spririt emblem to use, which will cost you money to refill, and it's the same money you need to upgrade them. And unless you already knew which prosthetic is useful or worthwhile, trying something and if it doesn't work, feel like you've thrown away your hard-earned money. And finally, they only have some very niche use in boss fight, and all bosses are designed around the player not using prothestic. So most people just stick to the normal attack, it's safe, fast, doesn't cost anything to use or upgrade, the prosthetic doesn't worth the hassle
1. I completely agree, I think the moment it clicked just how important the prosthetics can be is during the Headless Ape, where you can use the Loaded Spear to pull out the centipede to deal major posture damage when the ape is on its stomach. 2. Exactly right about stealth. There are so, so many instances with mini bosses where stealth takes off a whole death blow or allows you to remove the ads before the boss can attack you. 3. I completely agree. A large amount of people dislike the Shura ending, but I think it's perfectly normal. If you follow the Iron Code like you're supposed to, that's literally the intended ending in that scenario. And given the ending to the Immortal Severence ending, it really draws out the similarities between Wolf and Orangutang, and we saw how that ended for him.
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx emblems can easily be earned by performing shinobi deathblow on any enemy, even small fries... You probably didn't notice this detail didn't you
@@thienhuynh7962 Let's say I have 15 spirit emblems capacity, and I used all of them in a boss fight without winning, what would I do? 1. going around killing the 15 weak enemies or 7-8 medium enemies to get back 15 emblems or 2. retry the boss immediately and try to win with only normal attack I choose number 2 and i think most people will do the same. Fromsoft design almost all bosses so that most people can reasonably win with only normal attack, and for good reason, farming for anything, whether between boss attempt or in general, is just tedious.
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx emblems are stored in your game menu and is unlimited. However, you can only carry 15 of those at a time. When you kill a boss/mini-boss or rest at the idol or die and revive, stored emblems will refill your emblems capacity so that you don’t have to farm for it. You can see it as a great mechanism for not interrupting the player’s experience when they are fighting bosses but it also serves as a punishment if you die too many times and lose all of the stored emblems. Then you’d have to go and farm again if you want refill
With the guardian ape I was honestly expecting another boss after a few moments cause the fog wall didn’t go away…… Was NOT expecting him to get back up almost like nothing happened so it was a fun surprise for me definitely made him one of my favorite bosses
I just want to point out that the attempt at doing mikiri counter on NG at 5:16 is very relatable lmao 3 hour of Sekiro analysis is just what I needed. Time to watch!
@@jojorulez11 that counts as a hit in the hitless guidelines, to truly do a run hitless, you’re supposed to dodge through it so you avoid the automatic damaged
@@CallMeTy67 Oh didn't know there was a hitless guideline :D . Still he did the fight how it's meant to be fought and only took the lightning damage. That's good enough for my guideline to be 'hitless' ;)
The Guardian Ape phase two definitely caught me off guard. I had had such a difficult time with the Guardian Ape that I figured the one health bar was balanced enough. Was absolutely not ready for him to get back up afterwards.
So I finally beat phase one of the ape and I got excited and did a screen recording, and then immediately went to watch myself kill him. when I exited the video I was at a spawn point and he was alive again. I was so confused so I beat him again and waited, sure enough he gets up again and I shit my pants
Lady Butterfly was my first really tough "git gud" moment in this game. I got to her before I saw Gyobu or the Ogre at all because the first enemy with a cannon gave me a fright and I decided to try to find another area since I was used to the Soulsborne games where you can just find an area you shouldn't be in yet. Little did I know, I was going to the area I shouldn't be in yet
haha same. I beat her and did her remembrance of strength way too early. I mostly wanted to prove to myself that I could do it completely underleveled and with only 3 gourds. It took me days but what's cool is that I can consistently do it without needing to heal, even in her buffed remembrance of strength version.
@@plumfish4765 i will not stand to Lady Butterfly slander. Maybe you fought her when you’re already strong? Condescending comment aside, she was my 2nd main boss and the one who really taught me how to play the game.
I'm going to disagree if you mean the ENG VA because after hearing it a few times, his terrible: NYO YOU CANT BE SHOREA lives in my brain like a sleeper agent
You know, I was really sad that Joseph Anderson never made a Sekiro video but after watching this, you’ve definitely scratched that itch for me. Awesome video!
He recently mentioned in a live stream that he said everything he wanted to say about Sekiro in his Elden ring video. Probably the closest thing we're gonna get to a vid on sekiro
Probably the best final boss in From Soft history. Amazing game. What a gem. I still think Bloodborne is my favourite but you can't deny the proficiency on show here. Great video.
I think the fact that the flame barrel (an item that is super effective against the red ogre in outskirts) is found in hirata estate indicates that the correct way to introduce yourself to the game is to play hirata and outskirts at the same time, and take the lessons from 1 area to the other area when you get stuck in the first. you discover the plot in a very natural way if you do this also, since you meet the one peddler guy in the future and past. it seems like a split extended tutorial meant to give non-souls veterans a way to go somewhere else when they are frustrated with the slightly tougher bosses in outskirts, rather than bashing their heads on the wall until the wall cracks. i think if you take the bosses and compare them they are very similar, outskirts starts with your first samurai, Hirata starts with your first spearman boss, both are architypes your going to encounter alot in the game, then outskirts goes to red ogre and hirata goes to the first drunkard fight, both more traditional soulsy health based bosses, then they end with gyobu and lady butterfly who both give you one last lesson in deflecting, gyobu teaches you the value of deflecting large attacks, butterfly teaches you to learn deflection chains. thanks for the video
Thank you for making this video, I can't understand why there has never been as much discourse on Sekiro as it was the case for other From Software games and it's a shame. I hope this video will make people reconsider Sekiro's place in From's opus as it feels like it was robbed of the credit it deserved. The video itself is stellar as well and I've been longing for this kind of long form matthewmatosis-esque commentary on games other than DeS and DS. I hope you will do one for Bloodborne as well. Keep it up!
@@vincentmartin9667 it wasn't great because it was low quality (poorly researched, assumptive, unfair etc), or because you just personally disagreed with his opinion? Ask yourself that and really think about your answer. Powerful life lesson for you. Separate your judgment of quality or character from your immediate emotional reaction to something. Take a minute, process it and respond rather than in-the-moment reacting. Otherwise we end up with comments like this that bash an objectively high quality and well thought out piece of content over a few select differences in opinion/subjective experience. Chew the meat and spit out the bones, but you would benefit from accepting the different realities other people have and trying to understand and learn from them rather than dismissing them as low quality.
Since I needed 20 or 30 tries to beat the first phase of the Guardian Ape and was really happy and ecstatic when I finally did it, his second phase came as a terrible surprise 😫 And since the game was never consistent with the bosses' phases and deathblow markers, the "Shinobi Execution" pop-up wiped away any doubts I had
I thought it was suspicious that a giant sword was just sticking out of its neck during the first phase. Then, as the second phase started and it picked its severed head up with the left hand and finally wielded the sword with the right hand, that's when it got real.
Dojo genichiro was my “click” moment it took me a solid 2-3 days to beat him and now hes my favorite fight Edit: if you jump and use mortal draw mid air it does the damage of empowered mortal draw
dojo genichiro is easily my fav fight oat bc of the time i spend learning his combos and now i can beat him flawless in any situation (drunk, etc xd) which also goes with how smooth of a flow this boss contributes to the combat, design is on top as well and genichiro has to be one of my fav characters in the game
the contrast in game design and balance between sekiro and elden ring is really interesting to think about. sekiro has less variables and mechanics, so it ends up being an extremely focused game where it's mechanics are properly balanced and integrated into its core gameplay. the enemies of sekiro are designed around this core system, so they're also generally very well integrated into how the player interacts with them. you can go through the entire game using nothing but the basics of deflecting and attacking, and nothing will feel like it's actively going against you or trying to force you to use a specific item (with a few exceptions, like the headless, but these are very few). elden ring is massive and has a lot of variables and mechanics, so a lot of the balance is quite messy. using a certain piece of equipment might make something extremely difficult or easy. using spirit summons or not largely decides how difficult an encounter is. one build might completely stomp something that a different build found extremely difficult. bosses have mechanics that might be extremely punishing or completely ignorable depending on if you found a specific item (think mohg's nihil, malenia's waterfowl and freeze pots). elden ring isn't as tightly focused on a core system like sekiro is, so it has a lot of repercussions on the balance and enemy design. this isn't to say that one is better than the other. i just find it interesting to think about how a focus on a few core systems vs a wide variety of many systems can effect how a game is designed
Man, I've been waiting for a matthewmatosis-like critique of this game. Good job, you made it really easy to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this game.
@@Ytnzy250 That is actually very hard to say. Yes this game is a thrill to play, but it is very unforgiving when you're just learning the combat. It's all about rhythm and until the combat clicks you're going to struggle a lot. I would say start with elden ring or Dark Souls 3? If you really want to go back in time, Dark Souls 1 is always a classic.
I guess it just depends on the person. Sekiro wasn't even out yet by the time I got into the Souls games. I am just saying for someone that's never played a game like this, it is very unforgiving and difficult. But once the combat clicks it is unbelievably fun.@@Duckinsmokes
Hey I know this was a year ago i'm curious, did you ever get the game? Or did you try one of the dark souls games first? Or perhaps elden ring?@@Ytnzy250
Sekiro is absolutely the best. Best combat, best gameplay and best bosses. The core things in any fromsoft game. Hell they even improved in sekiro aspects that fucking sucked in every single other game, like jumping, dog enemy type, camera, and story telling this isn't this obtuse shit that makes you have to look up a vatii video to understand. Sekiro combat is refined to a T because it chooses to focus on doing a couple of things masterfully rather than many to a decent-good level. Instead of many weapons that feel the same it focuses on one weapon that is the fundamental driving force of the gameplay and has wider applications This is also why I'd rank BB above it's cousin souls games Focusing on less weapons in total let it make it's lower amount much more unique than any souls game. And it also changed some fundamental mechanics like making rolling a quickstep and the rally system So I'd have it (best to worst) Sekiro Bloodborne Dark souls 3 Dark souls 1 Elden ring Dark souls 2 Elden ring is more for the explorer boner players and even then once you do it once all that's left is it's inferior boss and combat designs to sekiro and Bloodborne. Ds3 goes above it for having much more fairer bosses that aren't all nameless king clones but even more bullshit. And I don't think I have to explain why dark souls 2 is last/worst.
Regarding optional difficulty at 1:03:16 I have to say that I love the system they came up with. After beating Sekiro, it felt easy to just spam light attacks until victory. With increased difficulty, it made me more aware of my options, so I used consumables, shinobi tools and skill trees allot more. I also think it’s genius to give extra loot and exp with the two modifiers. They are essentially giving you more tools to handle a greater challenge.
This was really good, and made me want to replay the game! I like how you added how new players might react for each section, as well as what the game is trying to teach.
12:50 My feelings about the Chained Ogre location is this: 1.) You find the merchant nearby who was at Hirata Estate 3 years ago, and he clues you into some of that. So then 2.) you would have picked up the bell before entering this area, and by extension would have done Hirata Estate before getting to the ogre and therefore would have the flame tool to combat his weakness.
Most people don't even realize how the side quest works and do this waaaay later, trust me I've watched 10+ full let's plays and more streams. Even more people don't even realize going back to the temple for upgrades is a thing until they are in ashima castle.
I can't believe i sat an watched the whole 3h, this was a very interesting and informational video! I loved playing sekiro and never thought even finishing the game because I used to give up easily. This game truly taught me the life lesson to not give up and keep going despite what life throws at you and learn from it!
i watched this video as i played through the game, pausing every time you caught up to me in the game so that i could progress through a boss or area and then see how you analysed them. what a well put together video, thank you!! im very excited to see where this channel goes from here!
About the Senpou Temple skill scroll: Its ultimate ability, High Monk, used to be to sweep attacks what Mikiri Counter is to thrusting attacks. FROM actually found it to be so good that they heavily nerfed it. It still works to counter sweeps, but the extra posture damage it deals isn't really worth it anymore. A pity, because it is so flashy and cool looking and back then it was such a rush every time you hit it.
A huge element is his PERFECTLY tuned posture bar, you can surprisingly quickly destroy the phases once you feel confident with, he heavily rewards aggressive playstyle in a way genichiro taught you early game
@@Corrupted I was really surprised in my second playthrough by how fast I killed him. I just deflected everything he threw at me and felt like Neo from the matrix. And Sekiro's combat system is so good that purely because the game forces you to git gud and master it's core mechanics, I defeated Owl farther on my 3d try ever and I wasn't being a little bitch mind you no I was not giving him a second to breath. Inner ginichiro put me in my place tho still haven't beat him but I'm getting close
I've watched this and your elden ring reviews and I've really enjoyed them, everything from the objective to your personal thoughts I think it's very entertaining overall. I hope your channel is able to grow because this type of content and the amount of work that goes on it deserves recognition.
On the headless, divine funfetti isn’t required per say, as the lotus umbrella with the projected force skill can circumvent the need for funfetti. I think the headless is meant to be yet another lesson in the power of the prosthetic tools
Excellent critique of From's crowning achievement. Like you, I mostly enjoyed Elden Ring, but I have no desire to fight any of those mid- to late-game bosses again. But Sekiro is near flawless.
Your experience with playing Charmless is extremely common. In fact, I even had it myself. I, as well as most people I've spoken to, did not enjoy playing Charmless for the first time. We went a certain way into our playthroughs and then decided to take the charm back and play normally. In later playthroughs, we all tried again and enjoyed it a lot more. I think this experience of trying the highest difficulty, not making it all the way, and finishing what you started after you've improved is very valuable. It's just one of the reasons I'm so happy they let you reclaim the charm at any time :)
Perfect timing. After finishing elden ring I switched back to Sekiro which i never finished. Genichiro was once again a roadblock. Fun Fact: I needed the Iron Warrior to tell me how to beat Genichiro because there was only parry for this guy. This is a first for me in any videogame.
Wow I listened to this whole thing while working and I saw you only had 8k subscribers. Your video was made very well and you covered my favorite game very well! I agree with most of your points and you captured how I feel about the game perfectly. I'm amazed by how much work you put into this. Great job man! 💜
It's amazing how much stuff anyone can miss in these games, I platinaded this game 2 times already and a I'm stikl learning so much. Also, about seven ashina spears, you can actually mikiri counter his attack where he puts his spear on the ground, is just that the window to counter it is a little delay and his attack where he spins his spear in the air a little bit before the hit can actually just be completely dodged by walking to the righ right beside him, it's a perfect opportunity to use any art/prosthetic that take a bit to charge.
I watched the entirety of this, and I must say I respect the way you go about explaining what you did, while knowing your own limitations on explaining everything. It felt like a very fair critique throughout, and while I have small things I may look at differently- you pretty much nailed explaining the feelings I had at whatever point and it was like playing it for a second time, but with someone sitting next to me. Thanks for the video, subbed!
I personally was a bit shocked when the guardian ape boss came back to life, and it took me by surprise so much that I quickly died to his second phase because I was caught off guard & my brain literally froze. I love this boss. When he appeared for another fight later on with a fried ape, it wasn't as shocking but still a nice surprise.
One thing I love about Sekrio is how similar your character is to the bosses you face. You have a health bar, the boss has a health bar, you have a posture meter, the boss has a posture meter, you have resurrection nodes, the boss has resurrection nodes, you have weapons to attack from afar, the boss has weapons to attack from afar, you have speed to close distance, the boss has speed to close distance, you can block, the boss can block, you can perform aoe attacks, the boss can perform aoe attacks, you can heal health while the boss can heal posture, the only thing the boss can do that you can't is grab attacks but thats countered with the only thing you can do that the boss can't which is parry. You're on such an even playing field and it feels as fair as possible, some excepts are a given.
Sekiro is the game where you feel miniscule(not for me anymore I'm God tier now) because you lack skill, not health or stats like in souls(or elden ring or some) once you gain skill you can make quick work of them.
feeling a torrent of rage after spending hours trying to kill those cheeky purple fucks AND save enough healing gatorade to make it through juzou only to learn this information from a youtube comment with two likes several months after I beat the game
I was very overwhelmed by Sekiro when i first played it because i didn't understand the difficulty. I hated it at first but something about it kept me coming back. Its one of those games that gets better as i play it more and soak all of the mechanics in. Other fromsoft games had the opposite effect. A lot of "wow" factor on the first playthrough, but became stale pretty quickly on subsequent playthroughs.
Agreed - it's a weird phenomenon since you'd expect Sekiro to have the least replayability out of all the Souls games. I remember feeling pretty lukewarm on it for the first 10 hours or so, but had a huge spike in interest after a while and kept coming back for several playthroughs after that.The motivation to improve can really go a long way.
@@VGMatthew yeah, i used to think demon of hatred was the worst boss ever made, but now i can beat him charmless with the demon bell pretty reliably and its satisfying. I used to think Malenia was cool. But after doing 2ng+ cycles i learned that she is in fact bullshit lol. Sekiro just feels really fair and rewarding to learn in comparison.
Have you ever thought about how, in most souls games, cycling through NG+ becomes pretty much rushing to bosses? Sekiro makes me clear every corner every goddamn time. With each NG it gets elegant and more fluid. You start to chain skills into prosthetics into sword fighting into everything. I just think the more you know the game, the experience builds up greatly
@@huckmart2017 I decided to do a modded Sekiro run the other day (the Resurrection overhaul mod). One of the few bosses that (seemingly) wasn't modded was Demon of Hatred, and I killed him first try with little effort. With a bit of positioning, him and Ape are ridiculously easy, and honestly just bore me.
God i loved isshin's third secret gap-closing weapon he gets after he uses his spear. I was so shocked, i knew it was reasonable but i was definitely not expecting it. It was amazingly funny for be and i'tl be hard to forget.
Great video mate, I agree entirely. Sekiro was a demonstration of what fs is able to achieve with a more narrow and refined goal in mind. While I love ER, it takes the opposite approach to Sekiro and after playing both extensively I have to say I prefer the design philosophy of Sekiro over any other FS titles.
Sekiro is absolutely the best. Best combat, best gameplay and best bosses. The core things in any fromsoft game. Hell they even improved in sekiro aspects that fucking sucked in every single other game, like jumping, dog enemy type, camera, and story telling this isn't this obtuse shit that makes you have to look up a vatii video to understand. Sekiro combat is refined to a T because it chooses to focus on doing a couple of things masterfully rather than many to a decent-good level. Instead of many weapons that feel the same it focuses on one weapon that is the fundamental driving force of the gameplay and has wider applications This is also why I'd rank BB above it's cousin souls games Focusing on less weapons in total let it make it's lower amount much more unique than any souls game. And it also changed some fundamental mechanics like making rolling a quickstep and the rally system So I'd have it (best to worst) Sekiro Bloodborne Dark souls 3 Dark souls 1 Elden ring Dark souls 2 Elden ring is more for the explorer boner players and even then once you do it once all that's left is it's inferior boss and combat designs to sekiro and Bloodborne. Ds3 goes above it for having much more fairer bosses that aren't all nameless king clones but even more bullshit. And I don't think I have to explain why dark souls 2 is last/worst.
Elden Ring is a fine game but it's hard for me to accept the near universal praise for it because it feels like an exact regression from the focus that made Sekiro so good.
@@thedoomslayer5863 "The core things in any fromsoft game" Sekiro is my favorite From game as well, but one core From aspect it's not best in is level/world design.
@@shadyminkins5704 eh to me those take a BIG step back from gameplay/combat and even story. I dont mind nor care if ashina looks more samey and not as out there is the worlds of BB and Dark souls the environment to me never mattered too much i only noticed it when it pissed me off with dark souls 1 which is what many gush about its "world/ level design" which personally felt like a slap to the face to me and didnt respect my time
@@pagingdoctorsideburns I like elden ring, but I honestly prefer bb and ds3 combat way more. It was easy for me to get into at first but it got old the fastest imo. The world wasn't as interesting as any of the previous titles, especially sekiro and bb.
What you were saying about O'rin feeling like a major boss with some posture bar tweaking is completely on point. If you play with the demon bell on ng+1, specially charmless, O'rin is I think the hardest boss in the game. Not only do you have to deflect every attack perfectly (without a charm), you also NEED to find every opening to whittle her health down cause her posture regen is the highest in the game.
I actually think Owl is harder than O'rin. Specifically, the first version. O'rin was third hardest for me. I originally had Isshin as my hardest on charmless mode, but I now think it might be Owl. My first attempt at charmless, Owl broke me. I actually gave up the first time. When I redid it I still used every resource in the game to beat him. If I had to what bosses were hardest for me on Charmless, it would be Great Shinobi Owl, Isshin the Sword Saint, O'rin of the Water, and Armored Warrior.
I usually don't comment so early in a video but i have to say this: the axe is one of the strongest prosthetic tools, when you unlock the ability to use prosthetic tools in mid air it becomes the best option after a sweeping attack jump, it deals a lot of damage for free
Tokujiro being at the mist forest actually makes a lot of sense. The phantom enemies fought there are bandits, just as those we encountered in Hirata State led by another rikishi style warrior. Also this one is accompanied by trained monkeys. Would it not be so that the Noble conjuring the illusions with his flute might be feeding off the grim memories (regrets, melancholy altogether) of the warrior, recreating the brothers in arms he lost in battle and misses so desperately as to train monkeys in their instead, if only to feel less miserable? These games are boyant with poetic ambiguity and these types of "movie sins" reviews all but completely eludes its possibilities for meaning. Just as it does makes sense for the Headless Ape to have returned to its den, for there it lies, on a hidden acces to the cave, the carcass of its dead mate, the one he was tending the Lotus of the Palace for, probably without realizing she didn't share his inmortality for she hadn't imbued in the rejuvenating waters. The main problem of this critiques is that they stem from a pre-established opinion not necessarily related nor adapted to the work at hand. One should primarily judge a work of art, specially those of design, by the criteria it establishes for itself: in that sense, the trouble with the grab attack by Shirafuji being deflectable or the spear gimmick for the centipede in the Headless Ape bossfight are indeed fair points of criticism, the most traditional of which would be the appreciation that the small low kick in Genichiro's Floating Passage stays the only attack in the game that's impossible to deflect, which kind of neglects the whole point of the basic combat system but at the same time pushes the player into the compulsory usage of certain prosthetics or skills to counter it. However a more insightful remark could very well recognize that those details come in play in a gaming ecosystem dominated by the wiki-guide dynamic, by virtue of which the subject at play is not only the individual (offline) player but rather a gamer profile inextricably linked, as I said, to a certain UA-cam feeding algorythm, content creators and whatnot, say, "community", which has in and of itself a compounded way of interacting with the game that is to remain challenging and enjoyable. That aspect has to be acknowledged, and that's something From excells at; cannot say the same for the video essays that, in 2022, still prejudice the gaming experience as that of a lonely player floating in a disconnected vaccum of information. That being said, I truly haven't seen such a high quality modding activity pretty much since Skyrim. I know your review is intended for a customary casual audience, but, seeing how you spend almost the entire game with your guard innecessarily and counterproductively up before trying to deflect an (any) attack, I would say you haven't payed that much attention to how unmatched and impossibly nuanced this combat system is. Mods really do make a point for that, specially Resurrection, For the Sake of Ashina and Long may the Shadows Reflect. As a rythm game and choreographical device, Sekiro is the most rewarding, complex and beautiful experience I've ever know of in contemporary videogame history. But I guess that's a topic for another day. Thank you very much for having shared your thoughts on this game.
it means a lot that you made this comment, it expands on the video beautifully. i wish i had more to say. a real shame this was buried over 100 comments down with no likes. i hope your doing well.
He was keeping his guard up because it recovers posture faster, and idk it might just be a thing he does to make deflecting easier for him(despite having worse deflect frames from blocking before hand) I don't really care to talk about the rest of your argument but better posture recovery is a worthy reason to keep up guard.
@@thecyanpanda241 That would be the case if you were to up your guard at a distance while being severely guard impacted. However once the enemy is engaged it all really does is mess up your parry frames because the game has to register you releasing your guard then applying it again to parry instead of just directly parrying at the exact moment, which is the reason why he took so much extra chip damage (which would have also been vitality damage if he were running charmless) in Gyobu's fight, in which you can also clearly see how he keeps his guard up while at 0 posture damage. It's ok, I'm not saying you have to master the intricacies of this game's combat in order to enjoy it, I said you should at least refrain from judging it from a high horse if you haven't even yet understood some of its basic core concepts.
I have to confess: I never learned Sekiro Combat. After watching your video I also understand why. The Ogre, Horse Guy and Lady Butterfly taught me to utilize dodges instead of deflects. Then my mind went "Okay, I need to do health damage and do dodges anyways. Because the enemy's posture is ALWAYS filling faster back up than mine. So I have to learn where the health-damage windows in the enemy's pattern are. The enemy dies when health is at zero, so I can go for health damage from the start." I finished all of Sekiro's bosses with health damage. My fight with Sword Saint Isshin went more than 90 minutes, because he has ONE attack pattern where you can do safe health damage without being at risk. But I did it. I beat Sekiro with pure Dark Souls combat. Now after watching your video I finally start to understand the "dance", reinstalled the game and start dancing. It's fun.
In regards to the Bull, I learned that you can stand away, parry his charge, and always get 2 or 3 hits safely. This makes it feel like a matador fight, but if that's the case, it should've been more clear, the bull doesn't seem very staggered after you parry it.
About an hour in, really enjoying the video. I like long-form analysis videos like this and you definitely know more about what you're talking about than the average reviewer.
This deserve at least 1M views because it's a deep critique about Sekiro, some hate it.. some love it but it's something to definitely tune into and Listen.
26:15 I agree that the Mikiri is awkward at first, but only because it's totally counter-intuitive to step TOWARD the enemy as a defensive maneuver. Quite in the spirit of Sekiro though; when it clicks, it's amazing. There's almost an arrogant feel to it that adds to the satisfaction of pulling it off. Total power move. Good video but I have a solid criticism of it: everything is explained from the point of view of someone who has mastered the game. "This is boring" "this is trivial" "this adds nothing" etc. Most of the time you disregard the feeling of discovery that a first time player would have or the enjoyment of trying new things that a returning player would have,. The are some valid criticisms in there, but I feel a lot of them just arise because you've played the game countless times and now just go through the motion despite loving it. You also keep saying that the areas aren't varied and could be better, like if you were comparing them to some sort of idealized version of what Sekiro could be in your head, instead of actually speaking about what they are. Sure, the version that doesn't exist is flawless and perfect to your taste, but what about what FromSoft actually created?
Yeah it took like 15 mins and the mikiri counter felt like home. Almost like you're pushing forward to grab the enemy sword, it felt natural to dodge forward for it.
when genichiro's third phase popped up i couldnt believe it. I got shocked and died and didnt touched the game until the next day. Also i did not expect the guardian ape's second phase.
The blazing bull is easier if flip that table so *you’re* chasing *it*. I interpreted this as the game saying “You can only fight up close in this game. If any enemy tries to gain distance, don’t let it”
I loved Sekiro so much that I played through it 4 times. The last run I did with Charmless + Demon Bell, and although the frustration of taking chip damage was a net negative at first, eventually it became a net positive as it it forced me to refine my gameplay, and come out with not just a cleaner deflect timing but also a richer understanding of boss attack patterns. Isshin on Charmless + Demon Bell took me 7-9 hours (and that was after already fighting him twice before) on Charmless + Demon Bell but it felt so exhilarating once his second phase "clicked". Here is my fight against Isshin in said run: ua-cam.com/video/iU0L9sg4OIg/v-deo.html. You can see that I got a bit too excited after a smooth second phase, and suffered several mistakes due to nerves on his last phase. But because I was incentivized to deflect and not just block, I now have much more appreciation for the care and attention to detail that went into his brilliant moveset. Also note that my deflection rate is far from perfect, so even after beating Charmless + Demon Bell I still have a lot of room to improve.
Congrats on the Charmless/Demon Bell victory! I could feel your stress in the last phase, still looked like very composed gameplay overall though. Also, I learned something new by watching your clip - at 1:19, you jumped on him to dodge Dragon Flash. I had no idea you could do that, very cool. Goes to show that there's always new stuff to discover in these games.
@@VGMatthew Thanks! Yeah I was kinda stumped against Dragon Flash because its damage is incredibly punishing if not deflected. I experimented with a bunch of reactions before finding that jumping on his head seemed to work the most consistently. More consistent than dodging for me. Not the most natural response to that attack though haha.
This is basically exactly what I did. Isshin in my very first run took about 5 hours. Charmless + Bell on NG+3 took 8! But one of my best gaming achievements.
@@BBQcheese Soul level 1 is much more enjoyable IMO. No charm/demon bell just feels so much more punishing with not as much of the satisfaction. It is a great achievement either way but im currently on the twin princes in ds3 on my souls level 1 run and let me tell you that fight is so satisfying to perfectly dodge. Along with dancer, pontiff, dragon slayer armor. All these fights are so much more satisfying level 1 almost feeling even better than my first playthough of the game!
@@LeoLobstah no charm and demon be combined run just demands perfection basically constantly. It takes away one of your core mechanics being block. So no it's deflect or dodge. No block. While I didn't like a core part of the combat getting yeeted out the window it is infinitely more satisfying than anything any other fromsoft game could make me feel. It's basically pushing you to do a not hit run of the game without you feeling the need to punish yourself like that
A counter point to the chained ogre fight is that using the eavesdropping on the two guards it teaches you that some enemies have weaknesses that can be exploited with your tools, in this case red eyes being weak to and distracted by fire
This video actually got me to play through the game yet again on PC - thanks for sharing your enjoyment of the combat system in particular, hearing about that sort of thing always gets me excited both to play a game like this again and about gaming in general.
If I remember right; after showing Issin the mortal blade, you can eavesdrop on him where he will hint at a second mortal blade and that it was in someone else's possession (Genichiro). It would have been better if there where more hints and lore to build up the second blade as well as Genichiro's third encounter.
An impressive amount of effort went into this video. I always enjoy longform Soulsbornekiro videos, and this one certainly didn’t fail to meet expectations. I feel like it deserves a lengthy response. This video actually caused me to reflect on Sekiro a lot more than I usually would have as I was simultaneously completing a Bell Demon/charmless run, and helped lead me to conclude that it’s my favorite game of all time, so thank you for that. As tight, incredible, and refined as the gameplay is however, my favorite part of it is the nods to Sengoku Jidai history. Things like the 7 Ashina Spears being a real Samurai tradition (google the Seven Spears of Shizugatake) to things like being able to figure out that the Interior Ministry forces are actually the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The red-armored corpses you can find outside of Gyobu’s gate bear the crest or ‘mon’ of the Toyotomi clan, and Hideyoshi was fighting to pacify the Hojo and other clans in the vicinity of the real-life Ashina clan’s territory around 1590. Interestingly though, the soldiers who actually invade Ashina Castle in the final acts bear a strange crest that never actually existed. However, it is nearly identical to the Tokugawa clan’s crest, but sporting only two hollyhock leaves instead of three. Considering that the leaves and the shape of the crest are nearly identical however, it isn’t far-fetched to imagine that the developers intended these invaders to be the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who would famously finish the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate after the death of Hideyoshi. This makes sense, because if Sekiro takes place after 1590, then Ieyasu’s new holdings in Edo in eastern Honshu (modern day Tokyo) would be close enough for Hideyoshi to order him to pacify the Ashina while he was planning his invasion of China and Korea. In addition, Ieyasu did have a famous contingent of crack Samurai clad in red armor known as the Red Devils, led by Ii Naomasa. Most of this is logical conjecture, but it makes sense and it’s cool to have an actual historical backdrop to the events of Sekiro. Another cool bit of history about your favorite area, the Fountainhead Palace, is that the Japanese word for Fountainhead is ‘Minamoto.’ So in Japanese, an alternative translation of the area is the Minamoto Palace. The Minamoto clan, alongside the Taira and the Fujiwara, were the most powerful and influential clans of Japan’s incredibly stable and prosperous Heian era, the era that proceeded the Kamakura period and subsequently the Sengoku period. While this may seem like a coincidence, the architecture of the area is very distinctly Heian era, and the themes of royalty and majesty decaying into stagnation make for some very interesting speculation. I don’t believe it mere coincidence. Anyway, enough rambling about history. I have to disagree with your take on the narrow use of some prosthetics. You highlighted the loaded axe and talked about how it was so slow that it’s really only useful against shielded enemies, but when you unlock the ability to use prosthetics while jumping it’s an universally applicable tool for gap closing and applying a lot of posture damage to most enemies, and it even does good chip damage if you have the flame axe. It’s also useful to punish big openings, like the end of Genichiro’s 7-hit combo. And because it can be used while jumping, it’s a viable alternative to punish any perilous sweep attack. Jump the sweep, do the double jump on their head, then come down with a loaded axe swing. I’d argue that every single prosthetic tool in the game has broad, universal applications across the board with the sole exception of the finger whistle. While it can be used to enrage apparition-type enemies, distract enemies during stealth gameplay, and stun Demon of Hatred, it really doesn’t have any uses outside of that. I also have to slightly disagree with your criticism of Ashina Castle’s layout and the lack of exploration in the area. I feel that they simply chose to go with form over function, creating a believable (mostly) castle layout that feels realistic to Sengoku-era Japan rather than focusing on making an unrealistic castle layout that would be fun to explore. I say mostly believable because it’s sheer size and the number of floors it has makes it much larger than the castles built even by the richest and most powerful figures of that time, like Oda Nobunaga’s Azuki Castle or Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Osaka Castle. It doesn’t seem feasible that a clan like the Ashina would be able to procure the funds, manpower, and material to build a castle of that size. But then again, this is also a game with a giant snake and fish nobles that want to suck your vitality out. As for the discussion on Demon Bell/Charmless, I just finished one of those runs, and I have to disagree with you on both of those modifiers. You stated that you didn’t feel that bell demon was very impactful on a run, because it’s just a numbers increase that doesn’t change how you play. While I agree that it doesn’t change how you play, it does make you play well for a longer period of time, which I think is very valuable. Sometimes you might have gotten lucky on a boss. You were down to no revives, 10% HP and no gourds left, and the boss did that one really easy move that you punished and got you the win. Sure, you killed the boss, but did you really BEAT them? Did you actually learn them and their attacks and the proper punishes to a satisfactory level, or did you just get lucky? Bell demon is a check on that, forcing you to play correctly for longer to really make sure you know what you’re doing with a boss, and I love that. You talked about this in your discussion of the Owl (Father) fight, saying that he was a 100 meter dash instead of a sprint. Playing with Demon Bell makes nearly everything a 100 meter dash, and while it can make fights worse (Blazing Bull) it makes most much better. It’s also applicable to minor enemies as well. I was stunned when I saw you kill a Senpou monk with 3 R1s, because on my bell/charmless run every fight against them takes a lot longer and I actually had to learn how to properly deflect their strings and combos. I feel similarly about charmless runs. You said that charmless removes blocking as a feature, but that’s simply not true. You only take 30% of an attack as chip damage, which is pretty forgiving and tells you: “hey, you didn’t deflect this attack correctly, so try again.” You can back off, heal, and go in again. Blocking isn’t removed as a feature, it’s just more heavily punished and turns from a “just hold the button down and be fine” mechanic to a “this is a way to tell you that you’re messing up, but we won’t outright kill you for it” mechanic. It simply changes form, and in a good way in my opinion. Personally, I’d argue that Sekiro could be improved overall by making charmless the default, but reducing the chip damage to only 10% or 5% as to not overly punish new players, but still force them to improve at the game. So overall, I love both items, and they’re even better when combined. I’m having more fun with my current bell/charmless run than I did on my first playthrough, because I’m actually truly learning the game and mastering it - instead of just scraping by like I did in my first run. If it sounds like I disagree with you too much, I apologize, and that’s only because I’m only elaborating on my disagreements with you. I agree with you on pretty much everything else. Your takes on the death system, the Blazing Bull, Genichiro’s lighting, all of those are very reasonable and I agree with pretty much everything you said that I didn’t discuss above. Lastly, you need to use the Senpou temple arts. Using the High Monk skill to punish sweeps instead of the double jump is peak Sekiro. Altogether a wonderful video and critique of my favorite game, and I can tell how much time and effort it took. And adding on to that - I can tell by how cleanly you were playing near the end of the game that you could complete a charmless/demon bell run if you wanted to. I just finished mine as of writing this, and it made me appreciate the game on an even higher level than before. Cheers!
Your bit about, "but did you really BEAT them?" is exactly why I guided my friend to the Demon Bell on his first playthrough, and why certain design decisions in the game, like being able to backstab mini-bosses, annoys the hell out of me.
I was a relative FromSoft newcomer ( had only played DemonSouls Remake) when I came to Elden Ring, and followed up by playing Sekiro immediately afterward. And I cannot explain what an antidote that game was. Every issue I had with Elden Ring Sekiro seemed to throw into starker relief. Not everyone's going to agree with me, but it proved to me that I'd much rather have a tight, high-quality experience that lasts 40 hours than a broad and expansive yet poorly optimized 100-hour one.
I've found myself in the same boat recently, I've been enjoying shorter, more focused games than super expansive ones. Elden Ring got tiring pretty quickly so going back to Sekiro was a nice change of pace.
Im still so in between on the games. I don't think I could say any of them are my favorite but they are all a part of my favorite series of games. Sekiro amd ER were great games with awesome designs but in comparison to bloodborne or ds3 the replayability wasn't there. I've enjoyed them all but the bosses in this game arnt as satisfying to fight after your 3rd playthrough(for ending achievements) considering its the same weapon every time with the same tools that are useful for the specific boss at hand. Other than gameplay the art design of Dark souls 3 is probably my favorite just for the dungeons and dragons setting and some of the coolest looking bosses but bloodbornes art style was so unique and im so torn on them all. I will say sekiro has the largest learning curve and the hardest final boss in the whole soulsborne series. Sekiro just falls short in constant mini bosses that arnt super enjoyable to fight, like for real I feel some of the mini bosses were put there just to make progression through the game drag out longer. That is also where elden ring falls hard in the ranking because they copy and pasted bosses that could have been fun refreshers as you progress, but instead were just so annoying to see after the 3rd time I intentionally avoided alot of them especially later game after seeing them so many times. I hope for the next game in the series they focus more on enemy variety and design. The bosses are nothing to write home about in elden ring either the designs are awesome visually and horrible mechanically. Many of the bosses are made to punish people who don't use every tool they have, especially the summons. This is where sekiro and ER are almost equal. The bosses can be horrible to fight if you don't use the tools they want you to. Comparing these to Dark souls boss fights feels a little unfair in the sense of satisfaction. IMO the dark souls 3/bloodborne bosses are so much more enjoyable and rewarding to fight because every fight has its own flow that you can beat in many differnt ways at least late game. Compared to sekiro where you are clearly meant to use tools like the phantom umbrella for the final boss. I was never a fan of shields and it breaks the "dance" like fighting sequences that I enjoy so much. All in all though I really enjoyed sekiro I just can't say I have more time in it than the other games in the series because of all the things mentioned.
@@LeoLobstah All your points are totally fair enough; however, I do actually want to pull you up on something: "The bosses are nothing to write home about in elden ring either the designs are awesome visually and horrible mechanically. Many of the bosses are made to punish people who don't use every tool they have, especially the summons. This is where sekiro and ER are almost equal. The bosses can be horrible to fight if you don't use the tools they want you to. [...] Compared to sekiro where you are clearly meant to use tools like the phantom umbrella for the final boss." I couldn't disagree with this more. It's actually one of the areas where I think Sekiro really shines in comparison to Elden Ring. Elden Ring is so expansive and offers so many different varieties of builds and accessibility features to make the game easier for players to engage with. This is a fantastic feature but inevitably makes the game impossible to balance. The endgame needs to be sufficiently challenging so players who use these tools aren't underwhelmed -- even if they use spirit summons and co-op features. That's great an all -- but what about players who don't want to use summons? What about players who don't use greatshields or aren't specced into bleed? This was why Malenia frustrated me so much. It wasn't just that she was hard, she made me feel like I was playing the game wrong by trying to play my way. Don't want to use summons, bleed builds, or Bloodhound's Step? Tough shit. Some builds are just straight up not endgame viable, whilst others absolutely trivialize most of the endgame content. That's really unsatisfying to me. Sekiro, by contrast, is designed impeccably well around a very limited toolset. In Sekiro, there isn't a boss you can't beat right from the start if you are good enough. Shurikens, firecracker, umbrella -- all of these things can help sway the fight in your favor. It can make things easier. However, at the end of the day, you and your sword are all you need. If you master the parrying system and pressure the opponent with controlled aggression -- you can win. Not once during my time with Sekiro did I wonder if I was handicapping myself with my build or my weapon. I knew I had everything I needed to win; I just needed to keep trying. I actually never used a prosthetic tool in my fight with The Sword Saint. Absolutely stomped him. I've actually since completed Bloodborne and I think you're right in the sense that Bloodborne is the more 'complete' experience in terms of atmosphere, story, level design, and replayability. But for me, Sekiro's combat and boss encounters are unmatched. Haven't played DS3 yet though, so that may change.
@@kylecairns2847 I agree with you actually on most of your points. I was not trying to shit on sekiro at all when I mentioned the tool set issue. I probably should have worded it a little differently because you are not wrong, you can beat bosses with none of the tools but deflection. In no way was I meaning that system placed in sekiro is worse or equal to how it works in elden ring, just comparable in a sense. I would not like fights to last so so long because I am playing stubbornly (basically what you said with malenia, blade of miquella) . This is more of the comparison between sekiro and elden ring I wanted to touch on. I will admit I've been playing from soft games for years now and I stubbornly played through sekiro without using most of the tools they gave me until the Guardian ape fight. That fight broke me and my whole sekiro mood for a long while actually. I revisited the game months after I originally played and started a new playthrough with hopes to "get good." Once I hit guardian ape I had a new strategy and that was use my firecrackers and my flame vent more than I had in basically the whole game up to that point. Now this doesn't mean that fight was not fair, honestly looking back I would say it's a good mid point fight in the game that trains you into the mindset of using tools when fights become much more difficult to break enemy posture/posture does not break at all. The intense movement and rapid posture refill makes the fight more of an endurance battle than any others leading up to him. This is where the tools in sekiro really clicked for me because it took my attempts down from 3 minute first phases to around a minute or so for first phase. Now to transition that into isshin, who I believe to be one of the hardest yet most fair bosses they have ever created. Isshin has insanely punishing frame perfect deflections that come out at lighting fast speeds, the ability to catch you almost half way across the arena, and three full posture bars. All those things help make this fight awesome but also make it very difficult in terms of an endurance battle if you can't constantly be on the boss. Backing up for a heal is normally punished unless you run across the whole arena. Aggression is clearly how the fight was meant to be played so fighting him face to face is awesome if that damn aoe wasn't so difficult to dodge. This is where the umbrella comes in to play heavy because it reduces the time you are forced to let his posture recover, therefore, dramatically reducing my number of attempts if I'm being honest. That goes for both versions of isshin. Along with father owl where his whole fit can be trivialized by mortal draw, and a few others with firecrackers/fistful of ashes. What I do feel is that sekiro gave them the confidence to stack all odds against the player who plays these games how they want and not how they were intended. That was the comparison that I really wanted to draw to because elden ring is such a beautiful mess. On one hand the game is gorgeous and the landscapes are awesome. On the other, from software decided to completely throw the past of fair one on one or two on one fights out the door completely because of a lazily designed summon system with insanely strong bleed/rot builds. They want you to dump more time into exploration than the boss fights clearly. I'm super passionate about these games and I would definitely suggest a playthough of DS3 and even DS1 after 3 so you could see where the world design progressed from because DS1 has to have one of the most well connected landscapes of the whole series. The games are all awesome and in no way do I want to throw shade at sekiro because it's part of this companies excellent track record(forgetting DS2 of course😂) Every game in the series is worth replaying at least once but some of them are worth replaying once every few months IMO. The more stubborn you can play the better it feels when you complete that difficult run. Sekiro felt like such a punishing challenge when it came to the demon bell/no charm run where everything had to be frame perfect by late game and they almost were asking too much of the player. DS3 has that nice middle ground to enjoy where there are rings to help you not get one hit by every attack on a level 1 run or to allow for more damage and bring you a little bit of an edge on a playthrough where you intentionally stacked odds against you. That design was brilliantly developed over the course of 4 games and ended up being why I loved the series for so much more than a hard playthrough every couple of years when a new one releases. I have no hate towards any of the games they made I just feel like they are hitting the breaks on mechanics that made them so unique and that is not what I want to see. Sorry for my rants man again it's a big passion for me.
@@LeoLobstah No need to apologize for being passionate about something, man. World needs more passionate people, not less. Funny you mention the Guardian Ape fight; that boss caused a mate of mine to quit the game for six months before returning. I sometimes wonder if I actually did myself a favor by not playing any souls games apart from ER and DemSouls Remake before Sekiro as I had much less to unlearn when trying to adapt to Sekiro's systems. For me, I've absolutely no idea how to feel about Elden Ring. The first forty hours were some of the best gaming experiences I've had in my life. Never experienced joy of discovery like it. By the time I'd finished my first run, I had 130 hours in the game and I was utterly sick of it. I felt like I'd seen most of what the game really had to offer about 60 hours in. That's half of my total run time. Short of Malenia (who was, at the very least, a surprising and unique part of the game) the rest of my playthrough was completely unremarkable. I think I'd have preferred the game if it ended after Leyndell Capital, honestly. I think that's another reason why I loved Sekiro so much. It's tight and focused in all the ways ER isn't. Currently booting up Dark Souls Remastered for the first time after Bloodborne so I'll finally see what all the fuss is about!
59:00 easy fix, just make a regular lightning from the skies hit Wolf while traversing to the top of Achina - add a short popup with how to reverse it once you're hit and let the player slash the lightning into a random mob sitting on a rooftop. This would also explain the weird timing of not having to do anything before getting hit, since it can feel strange that you dont have to use any inputs until you were already struck by a lightning attack
Mikiri counter I found impossible to do consistently until I started dodging INTO the attacks instead of just pressing dodge. I have always considered camera control as part of the challenge in From Soft games. I was completely surprised by guardian apes second phase. The fight was hard enough that I thought it only had one health bar. I never figured out the centipede, spear attack until I saw it on UA-cam.
Spiral spear is the best one to have. U can pull the centipede then follow up with the spiral rush and chasing slice. The quickest method to finish the fight.
I think Ashina Cross and Mortal Draw are both up there with Ichimonji(Double) in terms of usefulness it just all depends on how you use it. For example, I used Ashina cross to interrupt 3rd battle Genichiro's mortal draw and Mortal draw against Sword Saint Isshin at the beginning of his second phase when he first pulled out the spear. The combat arts, like the Prosthetic Tools, are situationa in the sense where they are good in one situation but can turn around and be trash in the next
I will say that while I "clicked" with Genichiro, it was Father Owl that really made me get good at the game. His fast recoveries and attacks forced me from "spam attack and deflect" to take my time to defend and peel apart my opponents, and was a major learning tool when I faced the Demon of Hatred and Sword Saint later. Then I tried doing charmless shura, and Emma had to smack that lesson into my head again. This game is just really good.
I’ve played through this game at least 10 times and I had no idea about the spear prosthetic being useful on the headless ape fight. I thought it was only good on the fat guys with loose fitting armor, since that is what the description says. I’m always amazed that watching videos on these games leaves me learning something new, even when these games have been out for years and I’ve beat them multiple times. Great video, you earned yourself a new subscriber!
There's nothing deep about Sekiro. It's a puddle in both width and depth. If I had to tweak the metaphor, I'd say that though it has the width and depth of a puddle, its water is clear like a polished mirror (or something). The systems at hand at small in scope (few weapons, no magic, etc, as is found in the Souls games) and the mechanics themselves aren't very deep (each weapon only has a few moves, unlike, say the Devil May Cry or Bayonetta franchises). However, it is extremely focused and refined.
“There’s no shortcuts or tricks to make the fight easier”
Me, who lured the Demon of Hatred straight off the cliff 🫣
Same, and I have beat every other fromsoft boss without cheesing. That demon broke me to the point I didn’t care to “learn” how to beat him, he straight up punishes you for everything you learned so far. He’s a souls boss, terrible addition to sekiro
@@Glue_Huffer really? I liked the demon of hatred fight, it made me utilize ninja tools at a high level, I mostly used the umbrella with the demon status on it and perfect parried the demon of hatred so I could effectively utilize the umbrella counter move. It was a really challenging fight but I liked that I had to use ninja tools to win since using the sword wasn’t effective on such a massive terrifying demon
@@caravaneerkhed the dopamine/adrenaline rush from finally beating him after 2 days was the most intense shit ever. I'm a fighter (boxing + muay thai) and the feeling was very, very close to winning a match which is also extremely intense. I slowly got further and further into the fight and still had 5 gourds left when I finally beat him. My tactic was the fire Umbrella for his jump attack, then the counter attack, then abused Ceremonial Tanto to keep it up and get Malcontent off in his 3rd phase. I wasn't even paying attention to his health in phase 3 because I was so immensely on edge, so when I saw the last deathblow marker pop up I immediately started screaming FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCKK YOUUUUU YESSSS at 3am and got hyped to the point I almost didn't press it the 2nd time for the actual killing blow lol. It was worth the 10-15 hours of pure suffering against him for that one single moment of release, and it was preceded by Genichiro and then immediately followed by the monster himself, Isshin. Sekiro gave me so many dopamine hits I couldn't believe it, so glad I found Elden Ring and decided to buy this after because it's one of the best games I've ever played.
I was super confident going into Isshin after just having smoked the Demon, but quickly got put right back in my place 😂. I did end up umbrella counter cheesing him because I was struggling equally hard, if not worse than I did with Demon and simply didn't have the willpower to immediately repeat that experience.
@@Glue_Huffer I was able to download him after so very long, now it’s beyond mind numbing
This was me as well I enjoyed almost every fight in this game and the boss rushes were awesome but the one with demon sucked so bad. The jump sucks as well but well worth the time compared to fighting this misplaced demon.
You mentioned how they portray Wolf getting rusty by missing the tilt of his sword at the beginning and I think it's an even nicer attention to detail how in the Genichiro boss fight at Ashina Castle they do they exact same shot but have Wolf nail it this time.
the 3 times u fight genichiro shows wolf's improvement.
the first one he misses his sword's handle
the second one he grips his sword perfectly and gets on a defensive stance
the third and last one he unleashes his sword perfectly and faster, and he also gets on an aggresive stance, showing more confidence
My favorite detail out off the Genichiro battles takes place in the 3rd fight.
Sekiro becomes so focused on the fight he doesn't notice Kuro falling over in the grass beside him.
The rush of endorphins I get from defeating Sword Saint Isshin is so intense that I get a similar feeling of nerves and excitement just from watching someone else fight him. He is easily one of the greatest bosses I've ever fought in any game.
I love all of the souls games, but nothing has felt quite like the fight against Isshin. The primal war scream I let out when I beat him was completely earned.
It’s like a click moment for me. Most bosses I can just play by ear, but for him I really had to memorize the rhythms.
I would say that about most main bosses in this game, especially the first time or on harder difficulties, but Isshin/Shura Isshin/Father Owl/Demon of Hatred are on another level of intensity.
Oh I know exactly what you mean.
First time I went up against Isshin, my palms would get so sweaty that my dualshock controller would get soaked to the point it ceased functioning. Had to put it down, wait for it to dry up.
I just wish sekiro had more rpg freedom like bloodborne. Not really builds or crazy armor variations and spell combos. Raising a new character from the ground up made the souls games soooo replayable
About the Guardian Ape rematch, you mentioned that there's really not a "lore" reason for the boss to be reused, but there actually, at least technically, is. When you fought him the first time, he was guarding the flower he kept for his mate, who has long since passed, but now that we're in his actual den, we get some more info -- the second ape is either his child or a different mate (likely the latter since the second ape sadly sits down and dies if you kill the Guardian first), and there's also the skeleton of what was likely the mate he was keeping the flower for, which you can find in an upper level of the den. More importantly though, at least for the themes of immortality and corruption in the story, is how we first see the headless ape -- he's doing some weird scraping motion against the wall as he holds his neck close to it. Upon beating the boss, you can see that there's a VERY slight trickle of water coming down the wall; the same water that flows through Mibu Village, the water that flows from Fountainhead Palace, the same water that pools in the Sunken Valley. It's safe to say the water in this cave is much less pure than the water pooling where you first fought the Ape (where he likely got infected initially with the centipede), though it does still give immortality, and now, due to his immortality, he's been reduced to a headless corpse, piloted by a centipede, groveling for dirty drops of water. The immortal waters that flow through Ashina are a curse, not a blessing, and anyone who gets a taste of them will be reduced to constantly craving more; you need to sever those whom you love from the corrupting influence of immortality, or they'll lose any semblance of life and love that they once had.
Now, whether you find this "lore" explanation to be a good excuse for re-using the boss? That's up for interpretation, haha. Still better than the multiple re-uses of, say, Astel from Elden Ring, though.
Very, VERY good notes! I never thought about his strange posture and behavior when entering his second fight but this makes PERFECT sense!
astel was the absolute worst form of a pointless reuse i have ever seen in a video game. still angers me now.
@@rhyswhittington8759 Astel going from an eldritch cosmic horror which blocks off the final steps of a wizard's grand plan that you can barely even fathom the details or ramifications of, to "Oh, that guy? Wait, you seriously thought he was, like, important? Dude, that's just Hank, man. He's basically just some guy, there are a couple of em hanging out in caves and shit here on earth." Is a decision so unbelievably baffling that I cannot believe anyone at FromSoft thought it was a good idea. Then again I can say that last part about a lot of things in Elden Ring lmao
@@LaserFace23 yeah it really takes away from rannis questline and the specialness of it all
3 hour documentary this dude didn't bother understanding the lore lmao.
should watch all vatii sekiro video first
Sekiro is a masterpiece; FromSoft fans who wrote it off for its lack of RPG elements or online play sorely missed out.
It has as much RPG as DS did (not ER)
Unpopular opinion but I like sekiro more than elden ring lol
@@Quack_attack_same especially near the end, I found elden ring such a chore to play, after the fire giant I was playing just to finish the game, I was so tired because for most of the game, I just had a sense that the game straight up wasn’t fair, that was the first time I felt that way about a fromsoft game. Even when I was stuck on a boss in other games, I rarely got angry, unless I was playing after getting home from school, because I always knew my mistake. In Elden ring, it’s like playing a arcade game, where the game tries subtle tricks to make you lose
@@Chadius_Thundercocksee I just can’t do it for some reason I want to love sekiro but something about it just hasn’t clicked and I’m not spending 50 hours trying to beat some sword sponge. Idk what I’m doing wrong but wolf feels incredibly weak and not in a haha fromsoft style but like I’m not trying to clank off some random mob 20 times or a two dot mini mob like 100 just for their poise to drop to like nothing
@@holysparkbatmanyou’re just not playing it correctly then lol, it’s really not that hard, all you have to do is parry and attack at the right times. There’s definitely tough bosses but if you’re having issues on mini bosses and shit then maybe just not the game for you.
I've always said there's never enough 3 hour from soft analysis videos on youtube
Especially Sekiro ones
@@FSVR54 agreed, sekiro is probably my favorite fromsoft game.
I think a lot of people don't realize the potential depth of combat in sekiro. Looking at ongbal's videos is a perfect example.
Let’s pray for a sequel brothers 🙏🙏
@@wakkjobbwizard a sequel doesn't make sense story wise. They kinda wrapped it all up. A prequel could work I guess or a different story all togather but with the same sword play...
I was extemely frustrated by Genichiro's third phase until I realized that it forces you to really learn how to dominate the first two; it's a valuable lesson before Sword Saint.
But genichiro uses lightning in the 3rd phase how is it hard?
@@lucasbeck1391 mostly the increased pressure of another phase and a new move to learn that can easily kill you, I think
@@lucasbeck1391 he's more aggressive so you need to act faster.
if you can make it slow you can make it fast
@@Ghorda9 spamming him kills him pretty easily
Also, mad respect for the "Analyzing gameplay and analyzing storytelling are two completely different skillsets" bit. It's really honest and self-aware of you.
Agreed... but I also feel like many long-form video essayists don't engage with Soulsborne stories in any meaningful way much to their own detriment. The story is a very significant part of the game, after all, and maybe they wouldn't have some of these nitpicks if they just read some item descriptions
@@gavinmcphie6936that’s basically where I have arrived at as well. With so many critical opinions in reviews, including this video, I’m just like “did you even read any dialogue or item descriptions?”
Sekiro adding a boss rush mode alone shows how confident they were in the quality of the bosses and combat. It's my go to when revisiting the game.
Small correction on the Fountainhead Palace bridge Corrupted Monk fight, her third phase does have another difference he didn't mention. She no longer blocks or deflects any of your attacks like she did previously which changes the tempo of her fight pretty drastically. You even see it in his clip of him fighting the boss. Matthew gets interrupted and hit by attacks he would've most likely deflected had the tempo remained the same, but because the monk now has super armor and attacks through everything, he gets caught off guard multiple times. It makes for some excellent story telling through gameplay, as the monk has abandoned everything, let the centipede have complete control, and attacks you in complete desperation with no regard for her own survival.
How have I never noticed that lmao that's pretty cool, thanks for sharing !
This video was no mistake. The length was a joy and I had a hell of a time reliving the Sekiro experience while listening to your insights and opinions. I’m truly amazed the video hasn’t reached 5k views yet.
The thrust attack on Seven Ashina Spears that you think is unmikiriable is actually mikiriable. You just have to wait until the very end. Also, the more you think about the world design, the more impressive it is. You found all of the serpent hearts, right? And found the cave that leads back to the poison pool? That is a great moment.
Just went to test this again and you're right, guess I've always just been too antsy on that attack - thanks for pointing it out. Wish I could correct it in the video now but ah well.
It would make sense the Seven Samurai and Isshin would know how to counter Mikiri counter. It's an ashina Shinobi technique which means they've been beaten by it at least a dozen times. Now the real question is who created the technique?
(Also random fun fact: I think part of the Mikiri counter is to look your opponent in the eye to intimidate them. Idk I gotta recheck the animation)
@@VGMatthew It's not our fault it's so god damn convenient
@@VGMatthew just curious, can't you add text with the UA-cam Editor? good video!
@@artemaniaco293 Probably? I'm scared to though aha, I tried using that editor once before and it was a really bad experience. I'm not sure how it would handle such a long video like this.
I love the set up of isshin in his prime being the strongest warrior, and the payoff of fighting isshin in his prime is awesome
Finally we didn't fight a broken down hero with a fraction of their power
@@lilliesupreme9767 just shows how strong Sekiro really is
@@lilliesupreme9767 never realized this but it’s a good point.
Yeah they make it seem like isshin in his prime was the strongest fighter, but old isshin's moves seem much more faster and refined than prime isshin. I honestly thought old isshin was much tougher than prime isshin.
@@cr0n0us_4 i agree, shura was a harder ending then any othwr for me lol
Went into the guardian ape completely blind. Had so much trouble with the first phase that I didn’t expect a surprise second phase. When he grabbed his sword and severed head and got back up…I shat myself. Poop in my pants. One of the most memorable moments in the entire series.
I can’t tell if you literally meant shit yourself or not
Was gonna comment but this💯🤏
I would pay so much to see that 😂😂
Before the Juzou The Drunkard fight, you can actually stealth past the hordes of enemies by crouching beneath the floorboards of the right building.
Puppeteer ninjustu😏
@@J25-p3h you don’t get that until screen monkeys
Wait what really? That would have saved me from trying to twist my controller in half. Several times.
@@TimWngn Lmao looks like I'm not the only one who instead of smashing/throwing my controller when I rage tries to twist it in half instead.
@@J25-p3h So you did senpou before hirata? I always finish up hirata estate before entering the ashina castle.
Isn´ t the ogre more a lesson about bringing the right tool to the right situation? A couple of guards mention the fear of the red-eyes to fire, the merchan sells a note that gives you a hint about where the flamethrower is, you pick it up and suddenly the fight is way more even, a lesson that´s further brought up with the firecrackers and gyobus horse, then unto the raging bull. Eavesdropping falls short afterwards, but it still has his place, specially for gaining access to a different ending and being more aware of the story surrounding you.
The same thing can be said about the crowd of monkeys and the fishers finger you found inside the guardian ape.
I suppose it could be both. It's good that the Ogre encourages that but I doubt that there are enough spirit emblems for it to last the whole fight.
@@VGMatthew I agree with Alberto, as far as emblems they’re only 5 sen at the beginning of the game so that shouldn’t be a problem. Plus I don’t think the idea is to spam it but to incorporate it in your arsenal. I just replayed Sekiro after ELden Ring and I didn’t have to buy them and had enough to proc burn in both twice during the fight
Yeah, I think the Chained Ogre is meant to
a) be annoying enough that you'll go to Hirata looking for help, eventually finding the Flame Vent after getting clues from Anayama or the eavesdrop guys
b) show that spamming attack is bad. Most enemies will give you a clear signal to stop attacking when they deflect you, but others won't, and you have to stop yourself. This is a big thing that I didn't truly learn until much too late
@@jamesarthurkimbell I think another factor is to show how dangerous perilous attacks are. Before ogre, some people would do perilous attacks, but they're pretty easy to dodge. If you get hit, oops, you take some damage, but you can heal it. Ogre's perilous attacks are HORRIBLE though. One nearly one-shots you outright if you get caught, while the other one slings you into the air (and almost certainly off the cliff). Not to mention his extremely erratic attack patterns (they're well telegraphed, but very different from human enemies, so it has a learning curve). So it's first a lesson to say, "Sometimes removing their health is more important than blocking," and also, "If you can't figure out how to dodge some enemies, this is what happens, and you'll be sad."
@@heychrisfox Yeah, even though the game is dangerous before, any individual attack deals pretty small damage. Then here's an attack that deals a lot... and it'll be a while before you meet someone who can match it, probably Seven Spears or Corrupted Monk, on a single-hit basis
Regarding the narrative reason of the Headless Ape appearing the second time, I think the idea is that after you kill him the first time, he runs away through the Sunken Valley, then the mining tunnel with the White Serpent and then ends up in the cave, where we fight him. There is a somewhat hidden part of that cave that overlooks the arena, where you can find a monkey next to giant ape remains, which was probably the mate of the Headless. And if I remember correctly, the brown ape jumps from that overlook too.
Overall it's pretty fitting to find him there, considering the environmental details and how the second fight is still technically in the Sunken Valley, which is where monkeys and apes seem to live.
But I think the presentation is at fault here, the developers hint at the fact that Ape is still alive with the item descriptions and a roar sound effect after death but because the body disappears into nothing, it feels very gamey when you see him again. It could've worked better if the body disappeared only after the player entered the cave to pick up the lotus flower, and the roar could be heard after they exit.
It also would be more narratively fitting if the player could kill the ape once and for all in the first fight, if they have the Mortal Blade, and as side effect it would add more meaning and variety to choosing which level to do first as you reach the Ashina Castle.
As for the Headless Ape questions, I played Sekiro blind and the second phase was a surprise, he seemed like a tough enough boss to have only one health bar, and before him the bull was also an exception to the 2 lives rule. I think the Sunken Valley was my first main area after Ashina Castle, so I didn't know much about centipedes and immortality yet and I just didn't expect the thing to stand up after you cut its head off with brutal deathblow animation ;D
The spear trick I found out online after finishing my first run, to me it seems like one of those things people find accidentally. Similarly, you can block Ape's terror scream with a normal umbrella shield, which is not something most people would attempt to do.
I personally enjoy when the game has such hidden tricks, but only when the default experience is overall balanced without those tricks in mind, and I believe Headless Ape fight succeeds at that, you don't need the spear or the umbrella to have a decent fight with him and more obvious tools like the firecrackers, the flame vent and some combat arts still work well against him.
Also, great video! There is a few things I disagree with but it was an enjoyable watch, which is something of a rarity for me when it comes to Fromsoft analysis videos, your work deserves more attention!
Ha, okay, my thought was always that we were supposed to buy that the Headless Ape somehow went through the small shortcut past the Sunken Valley Great Serpent, climbed through the shortcut, got to the poison pit in the Depths that way, and ended up in the den. Obviously that makes no sense because it's way too small to fit the ape but that was all I could think of - I had no idea that you could overlook the den from that cave. That makes it easier to accept from a lore/logic standpoint, and I definitely agree with your assessment of it. If the body remained in the Valley, but disappeared after you picked up the Lotus or something, that could have been a cool/ominous mystery for you to resolve when going to the Depths.
Also interesting to hear about your Headless Ape experience - I actually didn't think about the Bull when writing that bit so that probably does make the one deathblow marker at least a bit more believeable.
Thanks for watching and for the comment, glad you enjoyed :)
This is interesting because I didn't know a 2nd Headless Ape fight even existed. Idk why but on my way to the Hidden Forest I came across the same huge room expecting a boss fight, checking all the remnants, and there were none. I'm going to go back to that area to see if that fight is there now, but it certainly wasn't there when I first went through. I'm now very curious as to the circumstances that allowed me to skip the fight, or maybe FromSoft removed it, idk.
@@gameplayerone3917 That fight is only there after you've beaten the Ape the first time. I actually thought that the depths were supossed to come before the valley and the second Ape fight was meant to be there as a cool secret to find or a surprise if you happen to do the "wrong" order.
@@nicudelpapa4056 in my first two playtroughs i didn't find the second combat with the headless Ape, only after returning to that peculiar point in my tird run, i found him. And later on, you can find the seven headed ghost warrior
@@nicudelpapa4056 I believe it depends on what order you do the areas in. I can't remember the order but you can do the ashina depths without fighting the two apes.
As a person that didn't have the monkey part spoiled for me and the fact that the boss killed me many times, I was scared af when I found out I have to fight him again, the fact that he had 1 health bar did raise an eyebrow but wasn't enough to make me think he will resurrect. Also since I was playing super safe I basically dealt with him by chipping damage in both phases and never the posture damage, I used a lot of shurikens that day...
I was able to beat it in one try on my first playthrough by playing it super safe as well (it took a long time though). I was basically just running around him and waiting for an oppotunity to dash attack it.
Its phase 2 was easier IMO though since its sword is not too hard to deflect.
I did the same. the second fight in the cave was a fucking DRRRAAG
@@FourthExile imo the cave fight was easier since both phases were basically the same except and it was simply a matter of killing the brown ape quickly. Oh, and the umbrella prevents you from getting terror from his scream.
I think the first chained ogre was actually supposed hammer in how useful the prosthetic tools can be and how vital it is to explore and talk to NPCs. He's a really tough boss fight until you get the flamethrower (and the game hints at where you can find it several times before this)
Yeah and he can be stealth deathblow by using that stealth candy, it looks little bit awkward but i can be done.
Yes precisely. I think the placement of the merchant AND the bell that unlocks Hirata right before the Ogre is indicative of this. I believe the order of events Fromsoft wanted you to follow as a new player goes:
1) Unlock bell
2) Eavesdrop on guards who give a hint that fire is a weakness of red eyed enemies (Ogre), and find the merchant who tells you the flamethrower is in Hirata
3) Find Ogre and most likely die, hitting a sort of wall in progression, but notice his eyes are red
4) Explore Hirata to get flamethrower
5) Bandits in Hirata drop oil pots
6) Find flamethrower prosthetic
7) Stop exploring Hirata after finding next checkpoint before Shinobi Hunter to go back to Sculptor to unlock the flamethrower (and the axe as it is on the path from the flamethrower to the gate that unlocks the checkpoint)
8) And finally, with oil pots and flamethrower equipped, go back to Ogre and clear it much easier than before
I think this is precisely why the ogre is a bit of a strange encounter in its mechanics. You don't win by learning his deflects and a lot of his grabs come fast with large hitboxes, with a way to insta kill you if he throws you off the edge. His difficulty is specifically designed to get the player to explore Hirata right then and there, which functions as a sort of tutorial for the player on the importance of prosthetic tools and talking to npcs, like you said
@@asherking159 the part thats so weird about it is that this is pretty much the only time where players get rewarded for backtracking and exploring around them. I didnt get flamethrower or the Axe until i beat Guardian Ape, folding screen monkeys, and genichiro because it is just so unnecessary. You can go to any part of the game at any point and do well off.
I unironically first tried. Mainly because I was running around like a little b****.
Wow u geeks think too much. I just killed him. Didn't kill me once on my four playthroughs just git gud scrubs
"I hope more experimental titles like this are in the works" *Miyazaki on top of his desk slamming Gundam models together*
It sounds like you're talking about armored core, but that definitely wasn't an experiment. Armored core has been around for a long time with a devoted fan base
@@smitty215ableto be fair, the new armored core definitely has some souls/sekiro dna in so it feels more like an evolution of the franchise rather than a direct sequel
@@cabnbeeschurgrIt isnt actually evolution of Armored Core. It just that there are probably NO people in FromSoftware now who worked on previous AC games..Even FreeQuency music band who made god-tier OST for AC and famous art designer Shoji Kavamori left FromSoftware around 10 years ago. So they have to learn how to make Armored Core in their own way.
The first time I saw the cutscene from genichiro to isshin, I thought the arm bursting out of his neck was the whole cutscene,and you were going to fight genichiro with 3 arms
Genichiro the Grafted
I am probably one of the few who think this. But I like Sekiro the best out of any FromSoftware game. I love seeing commentaries on the game. To see how other people feel about my favorite game. Good or bad. And when as much effort goes into the videos as this one. It's always captivating and interesting to watch.
same, its the best
Agreed
dude. its a common thing. jesus
@@jagermeister1487 Elden Ring has sold more than double what Sekiro sold. So there's more than twice as many people who played Elden Ring but didn't play Sekiro. Think about that. Elden Ring has more people who like it as their favorite FromSoftware game (because it's their only one) than the amount of people who played Sekiro in total. Not only that but not every person who played Sekiro thinks it's the best. Bloodborne and DS1 have tons more fans. So yea. There are a lot of people who love Sekiro the most. But when compared to the total amount of people playing these games. It's a microscopic percentage. So I don't see why you made it seem like "Ugh Jeez. There's a lot of people who think that. Why even make it seem like there aren't." Because there really isn't.
Same, it was my 3rd souls game. I first played Dark Souls 1, then Eldin Ring then Sekiro…now playing DS3 lol. But of all the FS games I’ve played, Sekiro is hands down my favorite. The combat feels great and incredibly well balanced.
Headless Ape fight was a great surprise. You beat him, there’s a moment of usual triumph… but then, something seems off. I don’t remember how that unease was communicated by the game, but I remember the eerie feeling I sensed before the ape rose again. Maybe it was the fact that the corpse still lay there? Not sure. GREAT moment for me!
The little twitch the corpse does slightly before getting back up had my heart sink to the floor the first time
I love Dunkey's video showing off the fight. It's pure comedic joy.
The whole experience is definitely one of the funniest moments I can remember in any game.
You: "Ah, I finally did it, that impossible boss finally dead."
The Boss: "Hey buddy, wanna go again?"
You: "AHHHHH"
The body didn't disappear methinks
@@derpi3438 aye bro how do I make it out the hirata estate - hidden temple I already beat lady butterfly and found the idle there and the secret and discovered almost everything and etc but I feel like I’m missing one more map and feel like the dad is the one that fights you after he stabs you
@@SF23_ if you beat lady butterfly you done for now (unless you yet to beat the guy hidden away that guards the mist raven) you get another memory later on if you keep exhausting dialogue with Emma every time you see her and that allows you to go back to hirata and things are slightly different with a different boss where butterfly was
A few things:
1. I think people vastly understate just how effective prosthetics are in the game. As said in the video it's not really comparable to things like summons or items in other souls titles, however, it IS comparable to weapons in other titles. The prosthetics are not supplementary to your kit, they ARE your kit and should be treated as such. Many of the enemy dense areas can very easily be taken on with the right set up of prosthetics that allow you to quickly break an enemy's posture like the axe or give you a break to finish off an enemy or two with the fire crackers. This in conjunction with skills such as the vault over or the ichimonji make the game alot more fluid and make some of the seemingly questionable area designs (such as Juzo or the Senpou Straw Hats) very doable.
2. You are a shinobi, not a samurai or a ronin, or any thing else. You are a shinobi and stealth is the over extremely overlooked aspect of this review. The gunfort is not meant to be chaotic, your meant to be a shinobi not a wrecking ball, the traversal options make it obvious that your not supposed to challenge it head on as shown by the hole that drops you from literally taking it on. You are given branches to ascend from the outside and wall hangs next to every enemy to stealth deathblow them. Same can be said for hirata estate.
3. There needs to be conversation about your story perception. The Shura ending isn't poorly written, and makes quite a bit of sense while being in character if you actually spoke to the NPC's. You get alot of booze over the course of your journey up until that point and almost every single opportunity to use it reveals the backstory of Isshin and the Orangutang or Sculptor, to which explains Shura and it's place in the story. It's definitely intended to be abrupt to the true conclusion because it's the obviously "wrong" path, but that does not mean it's narratively weak.
The thing with prosthetics is that you need spririt emblem to use, which will cost you money to refill, and it's the same money you need to upgrade them. And unless you already knew which prosthetic is useful or worthwhile, trying something and if it doesn't work, feel like you've thrown away your hard-earned money. And finally, they only have some very niche use in boss fight, and all bosses are designed around the player not using prothestic. So most people just stick to the normal attack, it's safe, fast, doesn't cost anything to use or upgrade, the prosthetic doesn't worth the hassle
1. I completely agree, I think the moment it clicked just how important the prosthetics can be is during the Headless Ape, where you can use the Loaded Spear to pull out the centipede to deal major posture damage when the ape is on its stomach.
2. Exactly right about stealth. There are so, so many instances with mini bosses where stealth takes off a whole death blow or allows you to remove the ads before the boss can attack you.
3. I completely agree. A large amount of people dislike the Shura ending, but I think it's perfectly normal. If you follow the Iron Code like you're supposed to, that's literally the intended ending in that scenario. And given the ending to the Immortal Severence ending, it really draws out the similarities between Wolf and Orangutang, and we saw how that ended for him.
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx emblems can easily be earned by performing shinobi deathblow on any enemy, even small fries... You probably didn't notice this detail didn't you
@@thienhuynh7962 Let's say I have 15 spirit emblems capacity, and I used all of them in a boss fight without winning, what would I do?
1. going around killing the 15 weak enemies or 7-8 medium enemies to get back 15 emblems
or
2. retry the boss immediately and try to win with only normal attack
I choose number 2 and i think most people will do the same.
Fromsoft design almost all bosses so that most people can reasonably win with only normal attack, and for good reason, farming for anything, whether between boss attempt or in general, is just tedious.
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx emblems are stored in your game menu and is unlimited. However, you can only carry 15 of those at a time. When you kill a boss/mini-boss or rest at the idol or die and revive, stored emblems will refill your emblems capacity so that you don’t have to farm for it. You can see it as a great mechanism for not interrupting the player’s experience when they are fighting bosses but it also serves as a punishment if you die too many times and lose all of the stored emblems. Then you’d have to go and farm again if you want refill
Lady Butterfly blind run was one of the most memorable fights I've ever played. She's where the game journalists jumped off.
With the guardian ape I was honestly expecting another boss after a few moments cause the fog wall didn’t go away…… Was NOT expecting him to get back up almost like nothing happened so it was a fun surprise for me definitely made him one of my favorite bosses
I just want to point out that the attempt at doing mikiri counter on NG at 5:16 is very relatable lmao
3 hour of Sekiro analysis is just what I needed. Time to watch!
Just wanted to salute that no-hit Isshin kill, just in case nobody'd notice. Real cheeky way to end a really great video, congratulations mate
He got hit though…
@@CallMeTy67 He didn't get hit. The lightning counter does unavoidable damage to you. Other than those instances of damage , that was a clean fight.
@@jojorulez11 that counts as a hit in the hitless guidelines, to truly do a run hitless, you’re supposed to dodge through it so you avoid the automatic damaged
@@CallMeTy67 Oh didn't know there was a hitless guideline :D . Still he did the fight how it's meant to be fought and only took the lightning damage. That's good enough for my guideline to be 'hitless' ;)
@@jojorulez11 yeah it’s one of the reasons I hate doing hitless runs in games
The Guardian Ape phase two definitely caught me off guard. I had had such a difficult time with the Guardian Ape that I figured the one health bar was balanced enough. Was absolutely not ready for him to get back up afterwards.
nice that must have been awesome, i unfortunetly knew about phase 2
So I finally beat phase one of the ape and I got excited and did a screen recording, and then immediately went to watch myself kill him. when I exited the video I was at a spawn point and he was alive again. I was so confused so I beat him again and waited, sure enough he gets up again and I shit my pants
Feels good to come back to this commentary from time to time. It is my comfort zone (along with Mathewmatosis critique of Dark Souls 1).
Lady Butterfly was my first really tough "git gud" moment in this game. I got to her before I saw Gyobu or the Ogre at all because the first enemy with a cannon gave me a fright and I decided to try to find another area since I was used to the Soulsborne games where you can just find an area you shouldn't be in yet. Little did I know, I was going to the area I shouldn't be in yet
haha same. I beat her and did her remembrance of strength way too early. I mostly wanted to prove to myself that I could do it completely underleveled and with only 3 gourds. It took me days but what's cool is that I can consistently do it without needing to heal, even in her buffed remembrance of strength version.
@@mangleovania2873 reflection not remembrance
and she isn't buffed
@@lucasbeck1391 haha thank you for the input Lucas
It's interesting because she was the easiest boss in the game for me
@@plumfish4765 i will not stand to Lady Butterfly slander. Maybe you fought her when you’re already strong?
Condescending comment aside, she was my 2nd main boss and the one who really taught me how to play the game.
Kuro's voice actor makes the Shura ending worth it. He's so broken, and it's great delivery 👍
I'm going to disagree if you mean the ENG VA because after hearing it a few times, his terrible:
NYO
YOU CANT BE
SHOREA
lives in my brain like a sleeper agent
@@zenkozenko4989 I'm pretty sure Gwen is referring to the Japanese VA.
@@zenkozenko4989 BUT SHURA CAN
You know, I was really sad that Joseph Anderson never made a Sekiro video but after watching this, you’ve definitely scratched that itch for me.
Awesome video!
He recently mentioned in a live stream that he said everything he wanted to say about Sekiro in his Elden ring video.
Probably the closest thing we're gonna get to a vid on sekiro
Probably the best final boss in From Soft history. Amazing game. What a gem. I still think Bloodborne is my favourite but you can't deny the proficiency on show here. Great video.
I think the fact that the flame barrel (an item that is super effective against the red ogre in outskirts) is found in hirata estate indicates that the correct way to introduce yourself to the game is to play hirata and outskirts at the same time, and take the lessons from 1 area to the other area when you get stuck in the first. you discover the plot in a very natural way if you do this also, since you meet the one peddler guy in the future and past. it seems like a split extended tutorial meant to give non-souls veterans a way to go somewhere else when they are frustrated with the slightly tougher bosses in outskirts, rather than bashing their heads on the wall until the wall cracks. i think if you take the bosses and compare them they are very similar, outskirts starts with your first samurai, Hirata starts with your first spearman boss, both are architypes your going to encounter alot in the game, then outskirts goes to red ogre and hirata goes to the first drunkard fight, both more traditional soulsy health based bosses, then they end with gyobu and lady butterfly who both give you one last lesson in deflecting, gyobu teaches you the value of deflecting large attacks, butterfly teaches you to learn deflection chains.
thanks for the video
Thank you for making this video, I can't understand why there has never been as much discourse on Sekiro as it was the case for other From Software games and it's a shame. I hope this video will make people reconsider Sekiro's place in From's opus as it feels like it was robbed of the credit it deserved.
The video itself is stellar as well and I've been longing for this kind of long form matthewmatosis-esque commentary on games other than DeS and DS. I hope you will do one for Bloodborne as well. Keep it up!
Try Joseph Anderson's videos on the Fromsoft games. His vids on the first two games have aged quite a bit but his newer vids are pretty good
Thank you! I really want to do something on Bloodborne. If/when I ever get a PS5 capture card, that'll be the first thing I do.
@@glowerworm Joesph Anderson's video on Elder Ring wasn't that great. The section on crafting annoying me the most in that video.
@@vincentmartin9667 it wasn't great because it was low quality (poorly researched, assumptive, unfair etc), or because you just personally disagreed with his opinion? Ask yourself that and really think about your answer. Powerful life lesson for you.
Separate your judgment of quality or character from your immediate emotional reaction to something. Take a minute, process it and respond rather than in-the-moment reacting. Otherwise we end up with comments like this that bash an objectively high quality and well thought out piece of content over a few select differences in opinion/subjective experience. Chew the meat and spit out the bones, but you would benefit from accepting the different realities other people have and trying to understand and learn from them rather than dismissing them as low quality.
Another recent commentary I can recommend is Aesir Aesthetics Sekiro video. He has lots of good content on Souls and Silent Hill in particular.
Since I needed 20 or 30 tries to beat the first phase of the Guardian Ape and was really happy and ecstatic when I finally did it, his second phase came as a terrible surprise 😫
And since the game was never consistent with the bosses' phases and deathblow markers, the "Shinobi Execution" pop-up wiped away any doubts I had
I thought it was suspicious that a giant sword was just sticking out of its neck during the first phase. Then, as the second phase started and it picked its severed head up with the left hand and finally wielded the sword with the right hand, that's when it got real.
"Shinobi execution" better than "victory achieved" just sounds so badass
Dojo genichiro was my “click” moment it took me a solid 2-3 days to beat him and now hes my favorite fight
Edit: if you jump and use mortal draw mid air it does the damage of empowered mortal draw
dojo genichiro is easily my fav fight oat bc of the time i spend learning his combos and now i can beat him flawless in any situation (drunk, etc xd) which also goes with how smooth of a flow this boss contributes to the combat, design is on top as well and genichiro has to be one of my fav characters in the game
@@philmnk1581 my dude i have beat him flawless drunk as well💀💀
the contrast in game design and balance between sekiro and elden ring is really interesting to think about.
sekiro has less variables and mechanics, so it ends up being an extremely focused game where it's mechanics are properly balanced and integrated into its core gameplay. the enemies of sekiro are designed around this core system, so they're also generally very well integrated into how the player interacts with them. you can go through the entire game using nothing but the basics of deflecting and attacking, and nothing will feel like it's actively going against you or trying to force you to use a specific item (with a few exceptions, like the headless, but these are very few).
elden ring is massive and has a lot of variables and mechanics, so a lot of the balance is quite messy. using a certain piece of equipment might make something extremely difficult or easy. using spirit summons or not largely decides how difficult an encounter is. one build might completely stomp something that a different build found extremely difficult. bosses have mechanics that might be extremely punishing or completely ignorable depending on if you found a specific item (think mohg's nihil, malenia's waterfowl and freeze pots). elden ring isn't as tightly focused on a core system like sekiro is, so it has a lot of repercussions on the balance and enemy design.
this isn't to say that one is better than the other. i just find it interesting to think about how a focus on a few core systems vs a wide variety of many systems can effect how a game is designed
Man, I've been waiting for a matthewmatosis-like critique of this game. Good job, you made it really easy to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this game.
The amazing combat, some of my favorite boss fights of all time. I will never forget it.
Never played a Souls or Bloodborne type of game, would you recommend this game to an interested newbie?
@@Ytnzy250 That is actually very hard to say. Yes this game is a thrill to play, but it is very unforgiving when you're just learning the combat. It's all about rhythm and until the combat clicks you're going to struggle a lot. I would say start with elden ring or Dark Souls 3? If you really want to go back in time, Dark Souls 1 is always a classic.
@@JJsiN84weird, as my first from soft game I had a way easier and more fun time with sekiro compared to ds3
I guess it just depends on the person. Sekiro wasn't even out yet by the time I got into the Souls games. I am just saying for someone that's never played a game like this, it is very unforgiving and difficult. But once the combat clicks it is unbelievably fun.@@Duckinsmokes
Hey I know this was a year ago i'm curious, did you ever get the game? Or did you try one of the dark souls games first? Or perhaps elden ring?@@Ytnzy250
3 hours of in-depth Sekiro analysis from an underrated small youtuber putting out some actual quality? The algorithm has got my number now, it seems.
Just when I've exhausted every long-form Sekiro critique, this one drops. Cheers.
I’m not the only one who can’t get enough of this game
Sekiro is absolutely the best. Best combat, best gameplay and best bosses. The core things in any fromsoft game. Hell they even improved in sekiro aspects that fucking sucked in every single other game, like jumping, dog enemy type, camera, and story telling this isn't this obtuse shit that makes you have to look up a vatii video to understand.
Sekiro combat is refined to a T because it chooses to focus on doing a couple of things masterfully rather than many to a decent-good level.
Instead of many weapons that feel the same it focuses on one weapon that is the fundamental driving force of the gameplay and has wider applications
This is also why I'd rank BB above it's cousin souls games
Focusing on less weapons in total let it make it's lower amount much more unique than any souls game. And it also changed some fundamental mechanics like making rolling a quickstep and the rally system
So I'd have it (best to worst)
Sekiro
Bloodborne
Dark souls 3
Dark souls 1
Elden ring
Dark souls 2
Elden ring is more for the explorer boner players and even then once you do it once all that's left is it's inferior boss and combat designs to sekiro and Bloodborne.
Ds3 goes above it for having much more fairer bosses that aren't all nameless king clones but even more bullshit.
And I don't think I have to explain why dark souls 2 is last/worst.
Regarding optional difficulty at 1:03:16 I have to say that I love the system they came up with. After beating Sekiro, it felt easy to just spam light attacks until victory. With increased difficulty, it made me more aware of my options, so I used consumables, shinobi tools and skill trees allot more.
I also think it’s genius to give extra loot and exp with the two modifiers. They are essentially giving you more tools to handle a greater challenge.
This was really good, and made me want to replay the game! I like how you added how new players might react for each section, as well as what the game is trying to teach.
12:50 My feelings about the Chained Ogre location is this: 1.) You find the merchant nearby who was at Hirata Estate 3 years ago, and he clues you into some of that. So then 2.) you would have picked up the bell before entering this area, and by extension would have done Hirata Estate before getting to the ogre and therefore would have the flame tool to combat his weakness.
Most people don't even realize how the side quest works and do this waaaay later, trust me I've watched 10+ full let's plays and more streams. Even more people don't even realize going back to the temple for upgrades is a thing until they are in ashima castle.
@@shakeweller yeah it’s not very clear on the first play through. Most people would question why they would do the memory first
This is just an incredibly great video. Truly, truly amazing. I can't even imagine the amount of work you put into this, but it is deeply appreciated.
I can't believe i sat an watched the whole 3h, this was a very interesting and informational video! I loved playing sekiro and never thought even finishing the game because I used to give up easily. This game truly taught me the life lesson to not give up and keep going despite what life throws at you and learn from it!
i watched this video as i played through the game, pausing every time you caught up to me in the game so that i could progress through a boss or area and then see how you analysed them. what a well put together video, thank you!! im very excited to see where this channel goes from here!
About the Senpou Temple skill scroll: Its ultimate ability, High Monk, used to be to sweep attacks what Mikiri Counter is to thrusting attacks. FROM actually found it to be so good that they heavily nerfed it. It still works to counter sweeps, but the extra posture damage it deals isn't really worth it anymore. A pity, because it is so flashy and cool looking and back then it was such a rush every time you hit it.
Sword Saint is such a good fight that even after dying to him 30+ times I had fun on every single attempt
A huge element is his PERFECTLY tuned posture bar, you can surprisingly quickly destroy the phases once you feel confident with, he heavily rewards aggressive playstyle in a way genichiro taught you early game
@@Corrupted I was really surprised in my second playthrough by how fast I killed him. I just deflected everything he threw at me and felt like Neo from the matrix. And Sekiro's combat system is so good that purely because the game forces you to git gud and master it's core mechanics, I defeated Owl farther on my 3d try ever and I wasn't being a little bitch mind you no I was not giving him a second to breath. Inner ginichiro put me in my place tho still haven't beat him but I'm getting close
@@Wonkess_Chonkess you'll love inner father! Great lengthy fight with incredible pacing
@@Corrupted I'm looking forward to it!
To this day it still brings a smile to my face that when isshin gets uncomfortable in phase 2 he whips out a glock
I've watched this and your elden ring reviews and I've really enjoyed them, everything from the objective to your personal thoughts I think it's very entertaining overall. I hope your channel is able to grow because this type of content and the amount of work that goes on it deserves recognition.
On the headless, divine funfetti isn’t required per say, as the lotus umbrella with the projected force skill can circumvent the need for funfetti.
I think the headless is meant to be yet another lesson in the power of the prosthetic tools
you can run out of emblems if you do this, though. I prefer to just use Malcontent to spam them down, since i really don't enjoy fighting them.
Excellent critique of From's crowning achievement. Like you, I mostly enjoyed Elden Ring, but I have no desire to fight any of those mid- to late-game bosses again. But Sekiro is near flawless.
Your experience with playing Charmless is extremely common. In fact, I even had it myself. I, as well as most people I've spoken to, did not enjoy playing Charmless for the first time. We went a certain way into our playthroughs and then decided to take the charm back and play normally. In later playthroughs, we all tried again and enjoyed it a lot more. I think this experience of trying the highest difficulty, not making it all the way, and finishing what you started after you've improved is very valuable.
It's just one of the reasons I'm so happy they let you reclaim the charm at any time :)
Perfect timing. After finishing elden ring I switched back to Sekiro which i never finished. Genichiro was once again a roadblock. Fun Fact: I needed the Iron Warrior to tell me how to beat Genichiro because there was only parry for this guy. This is a first for me in any videogame.
Wow I listened to this whole thing while working and I saw you only had 8k subscribers. Your video was made very well and you covered my favorite game very well! I agree with most of your points and you captured how I feel about the game perfectly. I'm amazed by how much work you put into this. Great job man! 💜
It's amazing how much stuff anyone can miss in these games, I platinaded this game 2 times already and a I'm stikl learning so much.
Also, about seven ashina spears, you can actually mikiri counter his attack where he puts his spear on the ground, is just that the window to counter it is a little delay and his attack where he spins his spear in the air a little bit before the hit can actually just be completely dodged by walking to the righ right beside him, it's a perfect opportunity to use any art/prosthetic that take a bit to charge.
Have re watched this gem of a video atleast 20 times... Everytime I watch it i discover something new, by comparing with my style of play in the game.
I watched the entirety of this, and I must say I respect the way you go about explaining what you did, while knowing your own limitations on explaining everything. It felt like a very fair critique throughout, and while I have small things I may look at differently- you pretty much nailed explaining the feelings I had at whatever point and it was like playing it for a second time, but with someone sitting next to me.
Thanks for the video, subbed!
I personally was a bit shocked when the guardian ape boss came back to life, and it took me by surprise so much that I quickly died to his second phase because I was caught off guard & my brain literally froze. I love this boss. When he appeared for another fight later on with a fried ape, it wasn't as shocking but still a nice surprise.
Fried ape
One thing I love about Sekrio is how similar your character is to the bosses you face. You have a health bar, the boss has a health bar, you have a posture meter, the boss has a posture meter, you have resurrection nodes, the boss has resurrection nodes, you have weapons to attack from afar, the boss has weapons to attack from afar, you have speed to close distance, the boss has speed to close distance, you can block, the boss can block, you can perform aoe attacks, the boss can perform aoe attacks, you can heal health while the boss can heal posture, the only thing the boss can do that you can't is grab attacks but thats countered with the only thing you can do that the boss can't which is parry. You're on such an even playing field and it feels as fair as possible, some excepts are a given.
Sekiro is the game where you feel miniscule(not for me anymore I'm God tier now) because you lack skill, not health or stats like in souls(or elden ring or some) once you gain skill you can make quick work of them.
Both great points. Couldn’t agree more
I love these with the only disagreement at the health/damage ratio. Extremely asymmetric there
Wolf doesn’t have a big ass sword with the reach of a
Glaive though.
@@peaceprinceshaxi5978 and bosses cant just stand there and deflect everything and be literally invincible
For the Hirata estate revisited, you can sneak under the floor panels of the houses and run straight to Juzou without fighting the ninjas
feeling a torrent of rage after spending hours trying to kill those cheeky purple fucks AND save enough healing gatorade to make it through juzou only to learn this information from a youtube comment with two likes several months after I beat the game
@@mrwtfwhya rite of passage for all From games
This is the 1st video I've watched on this channel and he sounds like daily dose of Internet that just critiques games.
It shows how good this game is that a critique 3 years later gets this much attention
I was very overwhelmed by Sekiro when i first played it because i didn't understand the difficulty. I hated it at first but something about it kept me coming back. Its one of those games that gets better as i play it more and soak all of the mechanics in. Other fromsoft games had the opposite effect. A lot of "wow" factor on the first playthrough, but became stale pretty quickly on subsequent playthroughs.
Agreed - it's a weird phenomenon since you'd expect Sekiro to have the least replayability out of all the Souls games. I remember feeling pretty lukewarm on it for the first 10 hours or so, but had a huge spike in interest after a while and kept coming back for several playthroughs after that.The motivation to improve can really go a long way.
@@VGMatthew yeah, i used to think demon of hatred was the worst boss ever made, but now i can beat him charmless with the demon bell pretty reliably and its satisfying. I used to think Malenia was cool. But after doing 2ng+ cycles i learned that she is in fact bullshit lol. Sekiro just feels really fair and rewarding to learn in comparison.
Have you ever thought about how, in most souls games, cycling through NG+ becomes pretty much rushing to bosses? Sekiro makes me clear every corner every goddamn time. With each NG it gets elegant and more fluid. You start to chain skills into prosthetics into sword fighting into everything. I just think the more you know the game, the experience builds up greatly
@@huckmart2017 I decided to do a modded Sekiro run the other day (the Resurrection overhaul mod). One of the few bosses that (seemingly) wasn't modded was Demon of Hatred, and I killed him first try with little effort. With a bit of positioning, him and Ape are ridiculously easy, and honestly just bore me.
God i loved isshin's third secret gap-closing weapon he gets after he uses his spear. I was so shocked, i knew it was reasonable but i was definitely not expecting it. It was amazingly funny for be and i'tl be hard to forget.
Great video mate, I agree entirely. Sekiro was a demonstration of what fs is able to achieve with a more narrow and refined goal in mind. While I love ER, it takes the opposite approach to Sekiro and after playing both extensively I have to say I prefer the design philosophy of Sekiro over any other FS titles.
Sekiro is absolutely the best. Best combat, best gameplay and best bosses. The core things in any fromsoft game. Hell they even improved in sekiro aspects that fucking sucked in every single other game, like jumping, dog enemy type, camera, and story telling this isn't this obtuse shit that makes you have to look up a vatii video to understand.
Sekiro combat is refined to a T because it chooses to focus on doing a couple of things masterfully rather than many to a decent-good level.
Instead of many weapons that feel the same it focuses on one weapon that is the fundamental driving force of the gameplay and has wider applications
This is also why I'd rank BB above it's cousin souls games
Focusing on less weapons in total let it make it's lower amount much more unique than any souls game. And it also changed some fundamental mechanics like making rolling a quickstep and the rally system
So I'd have it (best to worst)
Sekiro
Bloodborne
Dark souls 3
Dark souls 1
Elden ring
Dark souls 2
Elden ring is more for the explorer boner players and even then once you do it once all that's left is it's inferior boss and combat designs to sekiro and Bloodborne.
Ds3 goes above it for having much more fairer bosses that aren't all nameless king clones but even more bullshit.
And I don't think I have to explain why dark souls 2 is last/worst.
Elden Ring is a fine game but it's hard for me to accept the near universal praise for it because it feels like an exact regression from the focus that made Sekiro so good.
@@thedoomslayer5863 "The core things in any fromsoft game"
Sekiro is my favorite From game as well, but one core From aspect it's not best in is level/world design.
@@shadyminkins5704 eh to me those take a BIG step back from gameplay/combat and even story. I dont mind nor care if ashina looks more samey and not as out there is the worlds of BB and Dark souls
the environment to me never mattered too much i only noticed it when it pissed me off with dark souls 1 which is what many gush about its "world/ level design" which personally felt like a slap to the face to me and didnt respect my time
@@pagingdoctorsideburns I like elden ring, but I honestly prefer bb and ds3 combat way more. It was easy for me to get into at first but it got old the fastest imo. The world wasn't as interesting as any of the previous titles, especially sekiro and bb.
your video is awesome and I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers. the algorithm has blessed us today.
What you were saying about O'rin feeling like a major boss with some posture bar tweaking is completely on point. If you play with the demon bell on ng+1, specially charmless, O'rin is I think the hardest boss in the game. Not only do you have to deflect every attack perfectly (without a charm), you also NEED to find every opening to whittle her health down cause her posture regen is the highest in the game.
I actually think Owl is harder than O'rin. Specifically, the first version. O'rin was third hardest for me. I originally had Isshin as my hardest on charmless mode, but I now think it might be Owl. My first attempt at charmless, Owl broke me. I actually gave up the first time. When I redid it I still used every resource in the game to beat him. If I had to what bosses were hardest for me on Charmless, it would be Great Shinobi Owl, Isshin the Sword Saint, O'rin of the Water, and Armored Warrior.
“Deviates the most”
Everyone always forgets Déraciné
I usually don't comment so early in a video but i have to say this: the axe is one of the strongest prosthetic tools, when you unlock the ability to use prosthetic tools in mid air it becomes the best option after a sweeping attack jump, it deals a lot of damage for free
Really enjoyed the video, I thought it was excellently written, concise and well delivered. Can't wait for your upcoming content. :)
Every review/tips video I see says you can’t deflect perilous attacks, YOU CAN! You just can’t block them :)
Damn, bro. Good vid. Sprinkled some blessings on it so this channel grows
Tokujiro being at the mist forest actually makes a lot of sense. The phantom enemies fought there are bandits, just as those we encountered in Hirata State led by another rikishi style warrior. Also this one is accompanied by trained monkeys. Would it not be so that the Noble conjuring the illusions with his flute might be feeding off the grim memories (regrets, melancholy altogether) of the warrior, recreating the brothers in arms he lost in battle and misses so desperately as to train monkeys in their instead, if only to feel less miserable?
These games are boyant with poetic ambiguity and these types of "movie sins" reviews all but completely eludes its possibilities for meaning. Just as it does makes sense for the Headless Ape to have returned to its den, for there it lies, on a hidden acces to the cave, the carcass of its dead mate, the one he was tending the Lotus of the Palace for, probably without realizing she didn't share his inmortality for she hadn't imbued in the rejuvenating waters.
The main problem of this critiques is that they stem from a pre-established opinion not necessarily related nor adapted to the work at hand. One should primarily judge a work of art, specially those of design, by the criteria it establishes for itself: in that sense, the trouble with the grab attack by Shirafuji being deflectable or the spear gimmick for the centipede in the Headless Ape bossfight are indeed fair points of criticism, the most traditional of which would be the appreciation that the small low kick in Genichiro's Floating Passage stays the only attack in the game that's impossible to deflect, which kind of neglects the whole point of the basic combat system but at the same time pushes the player into the compulsory usage of certain prosthetics or skills to counter it.
However a more insightful remark could very well recognize that those details come in play in a gaming ecosystem dominated by the wiki-guide dynamic, by virtue of which the subject at play is not only the individual (offline) player but rather a gamer profile inextricably linked, as I said, to a certain UA-cam feeding algorythm, content creators and whatnot, say, "community", which has in and of itself a compounded way of interacting with the game that is to remain challenging and enjoyable. That aspect has to be acknowledged, and that's something From excells at; cannot say the same for the video essays that, in 2022, still prejudice the gaming experience as that of a lonely player floating in a disconnected vaccum of information.
That being said, I truly haven't seen such a high quality modding activity pretty much since Skyrim. I know your review is intended for a customary casual audience, but, seeing how you spend almost the entire game with your guard innecessarily and counterproductively up before trying to deflect an (any) attack, I would say you haven't payed that much attention to how unmatched and impossibly nuanced this combat system is. Mods really do make a point for that, specially Resurrection, For the Sake of Ashina and Long may the Shadows Reflect. As a rythm game and choreographical device, Sekiro is the most rewarding, complex and beautiful experience I've ever know of in contemporary videogame history. But I guess that's a topic for another day.
Thank you very much for having shared your thoughts on this game.
it means a lot that you made this comment, it expands on the video beautifully. i wish i had more to say. a real shame this was buried over 100 comments down with no likes. i hope your doing well.
He was keeping his guard up because it recovers posture faster, and idk it might just be a thing he does to make deflecting easier for him(despite having worse deflect frames from blocking before hand) I don't really care to talk about the rest of your argument but better posture recovery is a worthy reason to keep up guard.
@@thecyanpanda241 That would be the case if you were to up your guard at a distance while being severely guard impacted. However once the enemy is engaged it all really does is mess up your parry frames because the game has to register you releasing your guard then applying it again to parry instead of just directly parrying at the exact moment, which is the reason why he took so much extra chip damage (which would have also been vitality damage if he were running charmless) in Gyobu's fight, in which you can also clearly see how he keeps his guard up while at 0 posture damage. It's ok, I'm not saying you have to master the intricacies of this game's combat in order to enjoy it, I said you should at least refrain from judging it from a high horse if you haven't even yet understood some of its basic core concepts.
I have to confess: I never learned Sekiro Combat.
After watching your video I also understand why.
The Ogre, Horse Guy and Lady Butterfly taught me to utilize dodges instead of deflects.
Then my mind went "Okay, I need to do health damage and do dodges anyways.
Because the enemy's posture is ALWAYS filling faster back up than mine.
So I have to learn where the health-damage windows in the enemy's pattern are. The enemy dies when health is at zero, so I can go for health damage from the start."
I finished all of Sekiro's bosses with health damage.
My fight with Sword Saint Isshin went more than 90 minutes, because he has ONE attack pattern where you can do safe health damage without being at risk.
But I did it. I beat Sekiro with pure Dark Souls combat.
Now after watching your video I finally start to understand the "dance", reinstalled the game and start dancing. It's fun.
Iron willpower, wooden head
@@Dunmerdog sums it up perfectly.
That’s honestly insane and I love it
In regards to the Bull, I learned that you can stand away, parry his charge, and always get 2 or 3 hits safely. This makes it feel like a matador fight, but if that's the case, it should've been more clear, the bull doesn't seem very staggered after you parry it.
About an hour in, really enjoying the video. I like long-form analysis videos like this and you definitely know more about what you're talking about than the average reviewer.
This deserve at least 1M views because it's a deep critique about Sekiro, some hate it.. some love it but it's something to definitely tune into and Listen.
26:15 I agree that the Mikiri is awkward at first, but only because it's totally counter-intuitive to step TOWARD the enemy as a defensive maneuver. Quite in the spirit of Sekiro though; when it clicks, it's amazing. There's almost an arrogant feel to it that adds to the satisfaction of pulling it off. Total power move.
Good video but I have a solid criticism of it: everything is explained from the point of view of someone who has mastered the game. "This is boring" "this is trivial" "this adds nothing" etc. Most of the time you disregard the feeling of discovery that a first time player would have or the enjoyment of trying new things that a returning player would have,. The are some valid criticisms in there, but I feel a lot of them just arise because you've played the game countless times and now just go through the motion despite loving it. You also keep saying that the areas aren't varied and could be better, like if you were comparing them to some sort of idealized version of what Sekiro could be in your head, instead of actually speaking about what they are. Sure, the version that doesn't exist is flawless and perfect to your taste, but what about what FromSoft actually created?
Yeah it took like 15 mins and the mikiri counter felt like home. Almost like you're pushing forward to grab the enemy sword, it felt natural to dodge forward for it.
when genichiro's third phase popped up i couldnt believe it. I got shocked and died and didnt touched the game until the next day. Also i did not expect the guardian ape's second phase.
I like long videos my friend . Perfect to listen to during work
The blazing bull is easier if flip that table so *you’re* chasing *it*. I interpreted this as the game saying “You can only fight up close in this game. If any enemy tries to gain distance, don’t let it”
I loved Sekiro so much that I played through it 4 times. The last run I did with Charmless + Demon Bell, and although the frustration of taking chip damage was a net negative at first, eventually it became a net positive as it it forced me to refine my gameplay, and come out with not just a cleaner deflect timing but also a richer understanding of boss attack patterns. Isshin on Charmless + Demon Bell took me 7-9 hours (and that was after already fighting him twice before) on Charmless + Demon Bell but it felt so exhilarating once his second phase "clicked".
Here is my fight against Isshin in said run: ua-cam.com/video/iU0L9sg4OIg/v-deo.html. You can see that I got a bit too excited after a smooth second phase, and suffered several mistakes due to nerves on his last phase. But because I was incentivized to deflect and not just block, I now have much more appreciation for the care and attention to detail that went into his brilliant moveset. Also note that my deflection rate is far from perfect, so even after beating Charmless + Demon Bell I still have a lot of room to improve.
Congrats on the Charmless/Demon Bell victory! I could feel your stress in the last phase, still looked like very composed gameplay overall though. Also, I learned something new by watching your clip - at 1:19, you jumped on him to dodge Dragon Flash. I had no idea you could do that, very cool. Goes to show that there's always new stuff to discover in these games.
@@VGMatthew Thanks! Yeah I was kinda stumped against Dragon Flash because its damage is incredibly punishing if not deflected. I experimented with a bunch of reactions before finding that jumping on his head seemed to work the most consistently. More consistent than dodging for me. Not the most natural response to that attack though haha.
This is basically exactly what I did. Isshin in my very first run took about 5 hours. Charmless + Bell on NG+3 took 8! But one of my best gaming achievements.
@@BBQcheese Soul level 1 is much more enjoyable IMO. No charm/demon bell just feels so much more punishing with not as much of the satisfaction. It is a great achievement either way but im currently on the twin princes in ds3 on my souls level 1 run and let me tell you that fight is so satisfying to perfectly dodge. Along with dancer, pontiff, dragon slayer armor. All these fights are so much more satisfying level 1 almost feeling even better than my first playthough of the game!
@@LeoLobstah no charm and demon be combined run just demands perfection basically constantly. It takes away one of your core mechanics being block.
So no it's deflect or dodge. No block.
While I didn't like a core part of the combat getting yeeted out the window it is infinitely more satisfying than anything any other fromsoft game could make me feel. It's basically pushing you to do a not hit run of the game without you feeling the need to punish yourself like that
This is the only fromsoftware game in which I've gotten to ng+6 not because I needed to, but because it was just that fun
Thank you for this video. It was worth all the time and effort you put in. Awesome work!
A counter point to the chained ogre fight is that using the eavesdropping on the two guards it teaches you that some enemies have weaknesses that can be exploited with your tools, in this case red eyes being weak to and distracted by fire
This video actually got me to play through the game yet again on PC - thanks for sharing your enjoyment of the combat system in particular, hearing about that sort of thing always gets me excited both to play a game like this again and about gaming in general.
If I remember right; after showing Issin the mortal blade, you can eavesdrop on him where he will hint at a second mortal blade and that it was in someone else's possession (Genichiro). It would have been better if there where more hints and lore to build up the second blade as well as Genichiro's third encounter.
An impressive amount of effort went into this video. I always enjoy longform Soulsbornekiro videos, and this one certainly didn’t fail to meet expectations. I feel like it deserves a lengthy response. This video actually caused me to reflect on Sekiro a lot more than I usually would have as I was simultaneously completing a Bell Demon/charmless run, and helped lead me to conclude that it’s my favorite game of all time, so thank you for that.
As tight, incredible, and refined as the gameplay is however, my favorite part of it is the nods to Sengoku Jidai history. Things like the 7 Ashina Spears being a real Samurai tradition (google the Seven Spears of Shizugatake) to things like being able to figure out that the Interior Ministry forces are actually the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The red-armored corpses you can find outside of Gyobu’s gate bear the crest or ‘mon’ of the Toyotomi clan, and Hideyoshi was fighting to pacify the Hojo and other clans in the vicinity of the real-life Ashina clan’s territory around 1590. Interestingly though, the soldiers who actually invade Ashina Castle in the final acts bear a strange crest that never actually existed. However, it is nearly identical to the Tokugawa clan’s crest, but sporting only two hollyhock leaves instead of three. Considering that the leaves and the shape of the crest are nearly identical however, it isn’t far-fetched to imagine that the developers intended these invaders to be the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who would famously finish the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate after the death of Hideyoshi. This makes sense, because if Sekiro takes place after 1590, then Ieyasu’s new holdings in Edo in eastern Honshu (modern day Tokyo) would be close enough for Hideyoshi to order him to pacify the Ashina while he was planning his invasion of China and Korea. In addition, Ieyasu did have a famous contingent of crack Samurai clad in red armor known as the Red Devils, led by Ii Naomasa. Most of this is logical conjecture, but it makes sense and it’s cool to have an actual historical backdrop to the events of Sekiro.
Another cool bit of history about your favorite area, the Fountainhead Palace, is that the Japanese word for Fountainhead is ‘Minamoto.’ So in Japanese, an alternative translation of the area is the Minamoto Palace. The Minamoto clan, alongside the Taira and the Fujiwara, were the most powerful and influential clans of Japan’s incredibly stable and prosperous Heian era, the era that proceeded the Kamakura period and subsequently the Sengoku period. While this may seem like a coincidence, the architecture of the area is very distinctly Heian era, and the themes of royalty and majesty decaying into stagnation make for some very interesting speculation. I don’t believe it mere coincidence. Anyway, enough rambling about history.
I have to disagree with your take on the narrow use of some prosthetics. You highlighted the loaded axe and talked about how it was so slow that it’s really only useful against shielded enemies, but when you unlock the ability to use prosthetics while jumping it’s an universally applicable tool for gap closing and applying a lot of posture damage to most enemies, and it even does good chip damage if you have the flame axe. It’s also useful to punish big openings, like the end of Genichiro’s 7-hit combo. And because it can be used while jumping, it’s a viable alternative to punish any perilous sweep attack. Jump the sweep, do the double jump on their head, then come down with a loaded axe swing. I’d argue that every single prosthetic tool in the game has broad, universal applications across the board with the sole exception of the finger whistle. While it can be used to enrage apparition-type enemies, distract enemies during stealth gameplay, and stun Demon of Hatred, it really doesn’t have any uses outside of that.
I also have to slightly disagree with your criticism of Ashina Castle’s layout and the lack of exploration in the area. I feel that they simply chose to go with form over function, creating a believable (mostly) castle layout that feels realistic to Sengoku-era Japan rather than focusing on making an unrealistic castle layout that would be fun to explore. I say mostly believable because it’s sheer size and the number of floors it has makes it much larger than the castles built even by the richest and most powerful figures of that time, like Oda Nobunaga’s Azuki Castle or Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Osaka Castle. It doesn’t seem feasible that a clan like the Ashina would be able to procure the funds, manpower, and material to build a castle of that size. But then again, this is also a game with a giant snake and fish nobles that want to suck your vitality out.
As for the discussion on Demon Bell/Charmless, I just finished one of those runs, and I have to disagree with you on both of those modifiers. You stated that you didn’t feel that bell demon was very impactful on a run, because it’s just a numbers increase that doesn’t change how you play. While I agree that it doesn’t change how you play, it does make you play well for a longer period of time, which I think is very valuable. Sometimes you might have gotten lucky on a boss. You were down to no revives, 10% HP and no gourds left, and the boss did that one really easy move that you punished and got you the win. Sure, you killed the boss, but did you really BEAT them? Did you actually learn them and their attacks and the proper punishes to a satisfactory level, or did you just get lucky? Bell demon is a check on that, forcing you to play correctly for longer to really make sure you know what you’re doing with a boss, and I love that. You talked about this in your discussion of the Owl (Father) fight, saying that he was a 100 meter dash instead of a sprint. Playing with Demon Bell makes nearly everything a 100 meter dash, and while it can make fights worse (Blazing Bull) it makes most much better. It’s also applicable to minor enemies as well. I was stunned when I saw you kill a Senpou monk with 3 R1s, because on my bell/charmless run every fight against them takes a lot longer and I actually had to learn how to properly deflect their strings and combos. I feel similarly about charmless runs. You said that charmless removes blocking as a feature, but that’s simply not true. You only take 30% of an attack as chip damage, which is pretty forgiving and tells you: “hey, you didn’t deflect this attack correctly, so try again.” You can back off, heal, and go in again. Blocking isn’t removed as a feature, it’s just more heavily punished and turns from a “just hold the button down and be fine” mechanic to a “this is a way to tell you that you’re messing up, but we won’t outright kill you for it” mechanic. It simply changes form, and in a good way in my opinion. Personally, I’d argue that Sekiro could be improved overall by making charmless the default, but reducing the chip damage to only 10% or 5% as to not overly punish new players, but still force them to improve at the game. So overall, I love both items, and they’re even better when combined. I’m having more fun with my current bell/charmless run than I did on my first playthrough, because I’m actually truly learning the game and mastering it - instead of just scraping by like I did in my first run.
If it sounds like I disagree with you too much, I apologize, and that’s only because I’m only elaborating on my disagreements with you. I agree with you on pretty much everything else. Your takes on the death system, the Blazing Bull, Genichiro’s lighting, all of those are very reasonable and I agree with pretty much everything you said that I didn’t discuss above.
Lastly, you need to use the Senpou temple arts. Using the High Monk skill to punish sweeps instead of the double jump is peak Sekiro. Altogether a wonderful video and critique of my favorite game, and I can tell how much time and effort it took. And adding on to that - I can tell by how cleanly you were playing near the end of the game that you could complete a charmless/demon bell run if you wanted to. I just finished mine as of writing this, and it made me appreciate the game on an even higher level than before. Cheers!
That's pretty dope ngl
Your bit about, "but did you really BEAT them?" is exactly why I guided my friend to the Demon Bell on his first playthrough, and why certain design decisions in the game, like being able to backstab mini-bosses, annoys the hell out of me.
I was a relative FromSoft newcomer ( had only played DemonSouls Remake) when I came to Elden Ring, and followed up by playing Sekiro immediately afterward. And I cannot explain what an antidote that game was. Every issue I had with Elden Ring Sekiro seemed to throw into starker relief.
Not everyone's going to agree with me, but it proved to me that I'd much rather have a tight, high-quality experience that lasts 40 hours than a broad and expansive yet poorly optimized 100-hour one.
I've found myself in the same boat recently, I've been enjoying shorter, more focused games than super expansive ones. Elden Ring got tiring pretty quickly so going back to Sekiro was a nice change of pace.
Im still so in between on the games. I don't think I could say any of them are my favorite but they are all a part of my favorite series of games. Sekiro amd ER were great games with awesome designs but in comparison to bloodborne or ds3 the replayability wasn't there. I've enjoyed them all but the bosses in this game arnt as satisfying to fight after your 3rd playthrough(for ending achievements) considering its the same weapon every time with the same tools that are useful for the specific boss at hand. Other than gameplay the art design of Dark souls 3 is probably my favorite just for the dungeons and dragons setting and some of the coolest looking bosses but bloodbornes art style was so unique and im so torn on them all. I will say sekiro has the largest learning curve and the hardest final boss in the whole soulsborne series. Sekiro just falls short in constant mini bosses that arnt super enjoyable to fight, like for real I feel some of the mini bosses were put there just to make progression through the game drag out longer. That is also where elden ring falls hard in the ranking because they copy and pasted bosses that could have been fun refreshers as you progress, but instead were just so annoying to see after the 3rd time I intentionally avoided alot of them especially later game after seeing them so many times. I hope for the next game in the series they focus more on enemy variety and design. The bosses are nothing to write home about in elden ring either the designs are awesome visually and horrible mechanically. Many of the bosses are made to punish people who don't use every tool they have, especially the summons. This is where sekiro and ER are almost equal. The bosses can be horrible to fight if you don't use the tools they want you to. Comparing these to Dark souls boss fights feels a little unfair in the sense of satisfaction. IMO the dark souls 3/bloodborne bosses are so much more enjoyable and rewarding to fight because every fight has its own flow that you can beat in many differnt ways at least late game. Compared to sekiro where you are clearly meant to use tools like the phantom umbrella for the final boss. I was never a fan of shields and it breaks the "dance" like fighting sequences that I enjoy so much. All in all though I really enjoyed sekiro I just can't say I have more time in it than the other games in the series because of all the things mentioned.
@@LeoLobstah All your points are totally fair enough; however, I do actually want to pull you up on something:
"The bosses are nothing to write home about in elden ring either the designs are awesome visually and horrible mechanically. Many of the bosses are made to punish people who don't use every tool they have, especially the summons. This is where sekiro and ER are almost equal. The bosses can be horrible to fight if you don't use the tools they want you to. [...] Compared to sekiro where you are clearly meant to use tools like the phantom umbrella for the final boss."
I couldn't disagree with this more. It's actually one of the areas where I think Sekiro really shines in comparison to Elden Ring.
Elden Ring is so expansive and offers so many different varieties of builds and accessibility features to make the game easier for players to engage with. This is a fantastic feature but inevitably makes the game impossible to balance. The endgame needs to be sufficiently challenging so players who use these tools aren't underwhelmed -- even if they use spirit summons and co-op features. That's great an all -- but what about players who don't want to use summons? What about players who don't use greatshields or aren't specced into bleed? This was why Malenia frustrated me so much. It wasn't just that she was hard, she made me feel like I was playing the game wrong by trying to play my way. Don't want to use summons, bleed builds, or Bloodhound's Step? Tough shit. Some builds are just straight up not endgame viable, whilst others absolutely trivialize most of the endgame content. That's really unsatisfying to me.
Sekiro, by contrast, is designed impeccably well around a very limited toolset. In Sekiro, there isn't a boss you can't beat right from the start if you are good enough. Shurikens, firecracker, umbrella -- all of these things can help sway the fight in your favor. It can make things easier. However, at the end of the day, you and your sword are all you need.
If you master the parrying system and pressure the opponent with controlled aggression -- you can win. Not once during my time with Sekiro did I wonder if I was handicapping myself with my build or my weapon. I knew I had everything I needed to win; I just needed to keep trying. I actually never used a prosthetic tool in my fight with The Sword Saint. Absolutely stomped him.
I've actually since completed Bloodborne and I think you're right in the sense that Bloodborne is the more 'complete' experience in terms of atmosphere, story, level design, and replayability. But for me, Sekiro's combat and boss encounters are unmatched.
Haven't played DS3 yet though, so that may change.
@@kylecairns2847 I agree with you actually on most of your points. I was not trying to shit on sekiro at all when I mentioned the tool set issue. I probably should have worded it a little differently because you are not wrong, you can beat bosses with none of the tools but deflection. In no way was I meaning that system placed in sekiro is worse or equal to how it works in elden ring, just comparable in a sense. I would not like fights to last so so long because I am playing stubbornly (basically what you said with malenia, blade of miquella) . This is more of the comparison between sekiro and elden ring I wanted to touch on. I will admit I've been playing from soft games for years now and I stubbornly played through sekiro without using most of the tools they gave me until the Guardian ape fight. That fight broke me and my whole sekiro mood for a long while actually. I revisited the game months after I originally played and started a new playthrough with hopes to "get good." Once I hit guardian ape I had a new strategy and that was use my firecrackers and my flame vent more than I had in basically the whole game up to that point. Now this doesn't mean that fight was not fair, honestly looking back I would say it's a good mid point fight in the game that trains you into the mindset of using tools when fights become much more difficult to break enemy posture/posture does not break at all. The intense movement and rapid posture refill makes the fight more of an endurance battle than any others leading up to him. This is where the tools in sekiro really clicked for me because it took my attempts down from 3 minute first phases to around a minute or so for first phase. Now to transition that into isshin, who I believe to be one of the hardest yet most fair bosses they have ever created. Isshin has insanely punishing frame perfect deflections that come out at lighting fast speeds, the ability to catch you almost half way across the arena, and three full posture bars. All those things help make this fight awesome but also make it very difficult in terms of an endurance battle if you can't constantly be on the boss. Backing up for a heal is normally punished unless you run across the whole arena. Aggression is clearly how the fight was meant to be played so fighting him face to face is awesome if that damn aoe wasn't so difficult to dodge. This is where the umbrella comes in to play heavy because it reduces the time you are forced to let his posture recover, therefore, dramatically reducing my number of attempts if I'm being honest. That goes for both versions of isshin. Along with father owl where his whole fit can be trivialized by mortal draw, and a few others with firecrackers/fistful of ashes. What I do feel is that sekiro gave them the confidence to stack all odds against the player who plays these games how they want and not how they were intended. That was the comparison that I really wanted to draw to because elden ring is such a beautiful mess. On one hand the game is gorgeous and the landscapes are awesome. On the other, from software decided to completely throw the past of fair one on one or two on one fights out the door completely because of a lazily designed summon system with insanely strong bleed/rot builds. They want you to dump more time into exploration than the boss fights clearly. I'm super passionate about these games and I would definitely suggest a playthough of DS3 and even DS1 after 3 so you could see where the world design progressed from because DS1 has to have one of the most well connected landscapes of the whole series. The games are all awesome and in no way do I want to throw shade at sekiro because it's part of this companies excellent track record(forgetting DS2 of course😂) Every game in the series is worth replaying at least once but some of them are worth replaying once every few months IMO. The more stubborn you can play the better it feels when you complete that difficult run. Sekiro felt like such a punishing challenge when it came to the demon bell/no charm run where everything had to be frame perfect by late game and they almost were asking too much of the player. DS3 has that nice middle ground to enjoy where there are rings to help you not get one hit by every attack on a level 1 run or to allow for more damage and bring you a little bit of an edge on a playthrough where you intentionally stacked odds against you. That design was brilliantly developed over the course of 4 games and ended up being why I loved the series for so much more than a hard playthrough every couple of years when a new one releases. I have no hate towards any of the games they made I just feel like they are hitting the breaks on mechanics that made them so unique and that is not what I want to see. Sorry for my rants man again it's a big passion for me.
@@LeoLobstah No need to apologize for being passionate about something, man. World needs more passionate people, not less.
Funny you mention the Guardian Ape fight; that boss caused a mate of mine to quit the game for six months before returning. I sometimes wonder if I actually did myself a favor by not playing any souls games apart from ER and DemSouls Remake before Sekiro as I had much less to unlearn when trying to adapt to Sekiro's systems.
For me, I've absolutely no idea how to feel about Elden Ring. The first forty hours were some of the best gaming experiences I've had in my life. Never experienced joy of discovery like it. By the time I'd finished my first run, I had 130 hours in the game and I was utterly sick of it. I felt like I'd seen most of what the game really had to offer about 60 hours in. That's half of my total run time. Short of Malenia (who was, at the very least, a surprising and unique part of the game) the rest of my playthrough was completely unremarkable. I think I'd have preferred the game if it ended after Leyndell Capital, honestly.
I think that's another reason why I loved Sekiro so much. It's tight and focused in all the ways ER isn't.
Currently booting up Dark Souls Remastered for the first time after Bloodborne so I'll finally see what all the fuss is about!
Dude got me to watch a 3 hour video that's pretty impressive.
The two things that really sold me were the intensity of the fights. The hit boxes and the sword clashing sounds
59:00 easy fix, just make a regular lightning from the skies hit Wolf while traversing to the top of Achina - add a short popup with how to reverse it once you're hit and let the player slash the lightning into a random mob sitting on a rooftop. This would also explain the weird timing of not having to do anything before getting hit, since it can feel strange that you dont have to use any inputs until you were already struck by a lightning attack
That doesn’t feel like a very elegant solution
Mikiri counter I found impossible to do consistently until I started dodging INTO the attacks instead of just pressing dodge.
I have always considered camera control as part of the challenge in From Soft games.
I was completely surprised by guardian apes second phase. The fight was hard enough that I thought it only had one health bar. I never figured out the centipede, spear attack until I saw it on UA-cam.
You're literally supposed to dodge into the attacks. Mortal Draw molests Guardian ape in both phases, so try doing that paired with spear.
Spiral spear is the best one to have. U can pull the centipede then follow up with the spiral rush and chasing slice. The quickest method to finish the fight.
Oh that's funny, I had the exact opposite experience with mikiri counter. I think my main problem was going a little too sideways frequently.
I think Ashina Cross and Mortal Draw are both up there with Ichimonji(Double) in terms of usefulness it just all depends on how you use it. For example, I used Ashina cross to interrupt 3rd battle Genichiro's mortal draw and Mortal draw against Sword Saint Isshin at the beginning of his second phase when he first pulled out the spear. The combat arts, like the Prosthetic Tools, are situationa in the sense where they are good in one situation but can turn around and be trash in the next
I will say that while I "clicked" with Genichiro, it was Father Owl that really made me get good at the game. His fast recoveries and attacks forced me from "spam attack and deflect" to take my time to defend and peel apart my opponents, and was a major learning tool when I faced the Demon of Hatred and Sword Saint later.
Then I tried doing charmless shura, and Emma had to smack that lesson into my head again. This game is just really good.
I’ve played through this game at least 10 times and I had no idea about the spear prosthetic being useful on the headless ape fight. I thought it was only good on the fat guys with loose fitting armor, since that is what the description says.
I’m always amazed that watching videos on these games leaves me learning something new, even when these games have been out for years and I’ve beat them multiple times.
Great video, you earned yourself a new subscriber!
Sekiro is as wide as a puddle and deeper than the Mariana Trench
Ng+17 I feel the game is larger gameplay wise and quality wise including lore than elden ring.
There's nothing deep about Sekiro. It's a puddle in both width and depth. If I had to tweak the metaphor, I'd say that though it has the width and depth of a puddle, its water is clear like a polished mirror (or something). The systems at hand at small in scope (few weapons, no magic, etc, as is found in the Souls games) and the mechanics themselves aren't very deep (each weapon only has a few moves, unlike, say the Devil May Cry or Bayonetta franchises). However, it is extremely focused and refined.