What does the Text on the front of the new Merch say? the picture is too small to read :D Edit : also what's the difference between premium pullover and college hoodie?
I recall the first time I played through Demon's Souls back in the day when it released. I had problem with the "Tower of Latria" zone (as I am sure we all have struggled through at some level) and I decided to summon a random person for help. This opened up a dialogue with said person because he had a weapon I liked the look of. This weapon turned out to be the "Magic Sword Makoto" and while the player said that he also liked the weapon he found it a bit hard to use as it drained your HP. I asked him where he got it and he said it was in World 4, a place I hadn't been yet. The conversation stopped there for the most part but we went through the tower and beat the Fool's Idol in the end. Afterwards I decided to go to World 4 and look for the sword myself. I found it and quickly learned that the life draining side-effect was a proper annoyance for my low health character at the time. I used it regardless. As I continued to play I found ways to overcome the entire drain life effect through Regenerator's Ring and/or Adjucator's Shield and kept on playing. At some point I put my own sign down in a few places and got summoned. Dialogue opened again and someone asked me where I got the sword and I told them, now informing them the ways to counter the side-effect that I had found. A interaction that started with me wanting a easier way out of a hard time ended with a experience that I recall till this day, and till this day I will always have a Demon's Souls character wearing the Gloom Set with Makoto in memory of the player that did help me in my struggling days. I can't overstate just how much that interaction meant to forming my relationship to the Souls series and its offspring and spin-off and I would never have made that interaction if I hadn't been struggling in a game and looking for a easy way out.
1st time i played a layed the game down after a few weeks. Too hard. After a replay of bloodborne i played this game again and im hooked. Its a skill based game with zero reconition online. I think a lot off players seek the thril of beating other players online and have a kd ratio and level as some form of "status" . In this game youre the introvert nerd spending ages in becoming better while friends say lay down the stupid game. Its sad they mis out on such a cool game experience.
Got it for Christmas last year. Played got demolished by that chained giant. I finally managed to beat only to find out I was supposed to use some firecrackers to scare him. Meaning I went the hard route only to be stomped by the next general. I haven’t played since last December, but I’ll be back. And I’ll whoop it’s ass.
@@dryboneskirby Kalameet is weak to physical damage and resistant to any magical or lightning. And Midir. Although he may be weak to it I just don't call 20 more points of damage being weak to something. But otherwise every single other one is but it's just idk NOT ALL DRAGONS.
@xBirds So let me get this straight. I'm not supposed to be proud of having acheived something difficult simply because there's an established way to acheive it? Am I reading you right?
@Kelltron Bloodborne doesn't have magic, neither does Sekiro. I insist that tools are not magic, they're too limited and weak to go through the game just with them. You get your soul arrow in the DLC, need I say more? However, I'm not mad, the concepts of those games don't include magic, so it's fair enough. However, DS3 has magic. I wish it didn't. It just sucks so much, it's a disgrace. Same goes for miracles. That's not the main reason why I hate this game, but it's a pretty big reason.
Discovering what that charm did....well let's just say I don't remember how I got to Gyobou because I drank my way there. (Didn't think chip damage added up so quickly and so much on NG and NG+).
@@Healermain15 *flashbacks to when I beat dark souls 3 as a sorcerer because it meant I never had to learn to parry or actually engage with the bosses much
You know I never actually thought that vaati would actually be like really good at games. Like I didn't think he would be bad but it just never registered that he plays alot and is good at them, I just think about lore
@@bishop2286 Dude you can't just do that! You just raised how bad@$$ Vaati seems by like a million percent. I just imagine him using like a basicboi longsword or general basic weapon, and being THAT guy in some anime. Like the side character, who has no god-like ability, but who is just really good. YOU JUST MADE VAATI BATMAN YOU WRETCH
@@icantread1058 It's not crazy it's just practice. People who love games play them a lot. Same thing I hear about music, oh you are so talented, so LUCKY... NO! not lucky, not naturally talented, it's called hard work, sacrifice, and time spent for something you love.
Kuro: "How many times have you died and come back for me? Two, three, a dozen, or more than you can count?" Wolf: "None, my lord." Kuro: "Oh. Well. Good, then."
@@sapphic_sophie well, story wise, you do die at least twice, at the hand of The Owl after you fought Lady Butterfly, and then to Genichiro or Genichiro's nightjar ninja when you lose your hand. So while you can beat it without dying in-game, he will still have died in the story.
when you beat sekiro without dying you still die twice in the story, once by owl, second time after you pick up the mortal blade (whether you die after your arm gets chopped of is debatable). so the title indicates that those who play the game like a shadow will only die twice.
@@dryboneskirby To be fair, purification is a final death. Since you don't get a resurrection after that one, you only get two deaths without consequences.
@@thelvadam5834 yes it is playable , but it is not the same as it running on the ps 4 pro , graphics & controls works and looks best on ps 4 instead of the ps now streaming service on the pc .
@@thelvadam5834 but it is definitly playable without too many problems maybe just a lag here and there , and the output of the video was 720p i think so..technicaly yes, u could play bloodborne on pc, but, on the ps4 u can run bloodborne on 1080p and even the 4k version of the game is supported on pro .
@@TheKnightDrag0n just play it on ps4. You get used to the framerate quite quickly. I actually just finished replaying it on a base ps4 last night. it was great.
Difficulty slider story time. Upon Skyrim's launch, as a joke with my buddies I switched it to Master difficulty. I totally forgot as I became immersed into the world of Skyrim. 80hrs later I am wearing full deadric gear and still getting one tapped by EVERYTHING. I had to learn to become an incredibly defensive healer for Lydia as we fought together, using everything at my disposal to fight the incredibly hard enemies in between healing her and myself. One day I complained to my buddies and one said "didn't you switch it to Master on day one?" Playing it this way gave me a deep appreciation for many things, especially the desperation of always fighting an uphill battle. It was amazing and ball busting all at once.
That's an amazing story, lol. I had a similar experience playing Batman: Arkham Knight on Knightmare difficulty. The game is SO much better that way, you actually have to pay attention to what the enemies are doing, react on time and make the best use of your abilities and equipment rather than mash the counter button and win.
Beating skyrim on master must have been one of the most frustrating things i have ever done :p maybe i just didnt know how to abuse some things, but even a max strength sneak attack didnt always do that much, but if they hit you.. well.. you better run
@@Darqion yup, I hear you there. Dragons were very difficult as they seemed to always one hit. I ended up using that deadra shield that produces a ward when blocking against all the dragons, if you got it up in time you could block any strength breathe and live for another few seconds.
If Skyrim gets a PS4 port I might give it another shot if it's that fun on master difficulty. I remember standing in line at a crowded Gamestop on release day and picked up a copy for the 360. Having been a huge Morrowind fan growing up the game disappointed me, I didn't like the constant hand-holding. As a result I played for about 4 hours and dropped it. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more on the second go-around.
"This game will give back to you, if you give it some time" This.. this is the embodiment Sekiro.. I dont think there will be another game anytime soon that will capture satisfying and rewarding combat like sekiro.. truly if you put in the time, you'll experience some movie quality fights, from a game.
@@SuperRitz44 ugh i dont like monster hunter. Its too slow for me. When i play as 2 dagger wielder, I go behind a monster and try to rampage it but it doesnt feel like anything and the skin of the monster feels like steel and he hits me back so easily. The katana is too frickin slow and i can never land a single hit on a monster. I see other players doing it so easily but never have i ever been able to do it in a similar way, its too hard.
Devil May Cry kinda. The games aren't that challenging really (aside from DMD in 1 and 3... Idk I guess 4 and 5 are tough as well), but DMC 3 and especially 4 and 5 have just an near infinite amount of depth with how maluable the mechanics are and how many options lie at your disposal. It's not about overcoming fights, but about styling on everything as if you were the most invincible fucking badass the world has ever seen. It takes some time to get used to, definitely not as easy to do combos in as Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising or whatever, but once you are in on the fun you'll feel inclined to just practice and practice and it is the greatest feeling ever mastering techniques and combo sequences you yourself come up with. Can highly recommend it if you like singleplayer games that feel rewarding to put a lot of time into
After replaying a lot of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (like 76 hours the past 2 weeks), I think some of the fight-preparation mentality rubbed off on me when I decided to replay Sekiro the other day. I still got smacked a lot, but I went in *trying* to use spirit emblems and consumables as much as I could. No more perma-capped spirit emblems, no more 99 Antidote Powders in storage - consume the consumables. I also had a bit of a side-goal of lasting as long as I could without dying to a boss. I was using oil+flame vent against chained ogre and Juzou, timing shurikens against Lady Butterfly, and the red gourd/dousing powder against the Blazing Bull, to reduce damage taken. Each of these bosses had killed me maybe a dozen times before, each, and I haven't played Sekiro in months - never even finished it, honestly, I'd always get sidetracked and wind up playing something else. But until the kamikaze Nightjars right before Genichiro, I managed to first-try every single boss without dying, to the point where, after Lady Butterfly, I was just going "hello???? Did I finally git gud?" I imagine most of that is based on what you're saying here, taking time to learn and master the mechanics (and also use everything at your disposal - you CAN pause to scroll through your inventory now, after all) for a smoother experience. I also watched InfernoPlus's video 'Is Sekiro Too Hard?' a while back, emphasizing the exploration aspect. You find new prosthetic tools, manageable minibosses (for prayer beads to improve your stats), consumables ranging from status ailment cures/resistances, leveling up and picking up new passives/combat arts, to basically 'extra lives' via the jizo statues. Like, sure, you can just 'cheese' various bosses by getting out of range or out of bounds, but as far as I know, the only cheesy thing I've done so far was use a Stealth Deathblow when available or practical (which is of course, still a intended game mechanic that DOES work on minibosses and some main bosses), but that's a one-off trick anyhow. Even the Sculptor and Tengu of Ashina somewhat refer to this, respectively: "If there's someone that needs killing, there's a proper way to kill them..." in regards to the prosthetic tools, and "The ways of the Ashina blade! It's our school of fighting, but there are no hard and fast rules. You just win your battles." Meta-knowledge is a hell of a drug. It really caught my attention this most recent time playing - Sekiro's 'hard' and has a steep learning curve, but it strikes me as one of those games that "wants you to beat it". Just wanted to give my two-cents, basically.
I never end up using consumables in anything because I want to feel that I am not relying on something else to win me a fight, I never used them in Bloodborne either even while doing the defiled dungeon, or dark souls. I recently got ghost of tsushima because they added the lethal mode and man the ninja tools make that game ridiculously easy even on lethal so I am not using those, or charms there is a parry charm which makes the timing way way easier.
@@authaire I wouldn't say so, it was the most annoying fight to do for me but it was still less than day, although I will admit it is an annoying fight since it seems more like a Lawrence from Bloodborne fight and the mechanics of sekiro don't exactly feel natural in that fight but I think that was the point, to force you to dodge more instead of parry.
@@authaire Demon of Hatred feels so out of place in Sekiro. It feels like a Soulsborne fight which is horrible with Sekiro gameplay. It's the worst fight in the game mechanically if you ask me.
one of the best takes on the difficulty discussion i’ve heard. you put my words into motion better than i could have. i’m hoping my future analysis of this game will touch on some of the points you brought up with a similar degree of elegancy. as always, great content, Vaati.
On the difficulty thing: Animal Crossing requires you to grind out hundreds of hours doing menial chores in order to see its best content. From games also require work to see their best content. It's not about gatekeeping; it's about playing the game. The Animal Crossing community wouldn't be impressed if I had all the best stuff on my island without the grind - because having the best stuff doesn't mean anything unless you got it by playing the game. I don't know why some gamers have no problem with "spend 150 hours, get this cape" but they get annoyed by "beat this challenge, get this cape." I don't have the grind cape because I hate grinding........and if you hate building skill, you can't have the skill cape!!!
A big difference is that you are obtaining quantifiable upgrades in AC. You can clearly see your bells rising and you know they can't be lost, you get items, you're rewarded with villager conversations, etc. . In Souls and Sekiro, there is a cost to almost every action and failing normally means that you gained nothing tangible and lost tangible things (money, consumables, spirit emblems.)
@@8EnfEnEt8 yeah, this is true. The "currency" so to say in souls-like games is not really something physical or even tangible. It is more about the knowledge and experience you've gained, and that is hard to measure. Sure, I can save up souls to spend on items etc. but in the end this will not be enough for me to defeat all the bosses. In order to do that I will need to sit down and grind the currency of knowledge and experience that is only attainable through trying and failing time and time again (or by reading a cheese-guide lol). The funny thing however is that as a person who has played the souls games and similar games over and over and have had a hard time getting into any other games since finding the souls series somehow Animal Crossing, possibly the game with the least similarity to souls games in terms of theme and gameplay out of almost any game, has me completely hooked lol. I haven't been this psyched to play a game since the time I first discovered dark souls. So, maybe there are some similarities between them after all?
@@8EnfEnEt8 The world themes in the fromsoft games are despair and mysticism. So the gameplay is ripe with despair and the currency you grind is barely tangible. I think it fits exceptionally well. If it was any different it would break muh immersion ;)
I don't know why you would pick Animal Crossing for a comparison. I don't know what its best content is supposed to be, because it's all just decoration, that you can do from day one. Just not in any extra rooms in your house. And you really don't need to spend a lot of time to get to that point at all. Less than an hour a day for a few weeks, and that's all you need. Definitely not hundreds of hours.
Not a good comparison. Someone can put hours and hours into a From game and never get anywhere, never see everything it has, whereas in AC you're pretty much guaranteed to get what you want if you keep going. AC is a participation trophy game.
To be honest Genichiro is one of my favorite fights, the only way I can ever accurately describe it to anyone is "It's just so fucking anime it's sick." It doesn't do it justice but when you learn the fight and just play it perfectly it feels so good.
Genichiro is probably one of the best fights in SoulsBorne/Sekiro and even in videogames in general. It teaches you about unparryable attacks, sometimes he does a sweep attack where he's been doing a thrust so you learn to pay attention to the enemy animations. He does fast combos and has a lot of short open windows where you can attack so you learn to capitalize on them. You even learn that being more aggresive helps because the enemy has to defend as well. Made me feel like I was a child becoming and adult (game-wise ofc). Plus, as you said, the fight is beatiful. When you deflect the last hit on his long combo is epic.
@@AleehFM94 I know exactly what you mean about the child becoming an adult thing, sometimes when I first started playing I would struggle defecting some of the faster enemies and everything you've been learning up to that point now comes into play, so once you pretty much learn the fight and can beat it, you've pretty much mastered all the basics of the combat.
"anyone can master these games, if they set their mind to it." "Skill is a factor of time and it's a factor of how dedicated you are to overcoming adversity and your own shortcomings." ... So basically "Git Gud"?
Yes. Basically you have to practice and learn to play better. Git gud is a simple word for it, but it's being used as a mock or a joke based on the context.
Mark Brown from Game Maker's Tool Kit has the best take on easy/accessibility modes: it's okay to have them, so long as you clearly communicate to the players that it is not the intended way to play. He explains it really well in his video "What Makes Celeste's Assist Mode Special?"
Honestly I don't really agree. Celeste is a great game, but the inclusion of the assist mode always felt strange to me because taking an easy way out is antithetical to the entire theme of the game. Its not like Celeste's main story is crushingly difficult anyway
Exactly, and in fact I think it's almost demeaning to players to expect them to lack the restraint and forethought to select a challenging difficulty/gamemode rather than taking the easy way out. Having highly specialized options for difficulty like Celeste's assist mode is, to me, an indicator of trust between the developers and their audience that the latter understands the need for challenge enough to refuse reducing it unless totally necessary for them to experience the game.
The monkey took 3 days of my life, saint ashina took other 4 and almost made me quit the game the very first time I played the game..... today I wish Sekiro had a boss mode.
Petko Fuchalksi best combat game so far, game of the fucking year, a masterpiece that stands tall beside rest of the soulsborne games...and no fucking dlc. SHAAAAME
You always seem to put a great deal of love and effort into your content and it shows, thanks Vaati. I've been a long time viewer now and I was excited to see this from you. Just fought Isshin, the Sword Saint myself; that last battle is just so damn satisfying. So glad I decided to stick with it and beat Hirata estate owl in the same run. Love this game. (edit)-> Just saw your use of senpou kicks in the last fight, I did just the same thing.
You are absolutely right, I loved the feeling of standing toe to toe with someone much stronger than me and not rolling around them constantly and getting a hit in every now and then. Having to be ready for every single attack and counter it perfectly was so thrilling.
3:00 I remember that discussion. There was someone who used a one hit kill cheat and used the "brilliant" argument of "if you remove the challenge from the game and ignore the lore, there is nothing to engage you with". He never realized that if you remove the gameplay and story, then you are not playing a game. It was the most ridiculous rhetoric I have ever seen, but he though that justified his lack of patience and diligence, probably because he didn't have enough of either to review his own arguments.
I had to quit playing after I had spent 3 days on the genichiro fight on the tower. I quit for close to 5 months before picking it back up. It took me 6 hours straight to beat him once I did. Most satisfying thing ive ever experienced in a video game
This is something only From Software games have provided for me as well, starting with Dark Souls. The feeling of finally beating a boss after getting your ass kicked countless times is incredible, almost like a drug. Even progressing in an area you were struggling with before provides this same feeling on a minor scale.
Dunno where this demand comes from how every game has to be "for everyone". Not every food is tasty to everyone. Not every music is appealing to everyone. Either like it or don't like it, it's all good, just don't spoil the fun for others. That's all there is to it really.
The counter-argument here is that it doesn't cost ten million dollars to make a new dish, or an experimental album. Even if it is not made for *everyone,* there is an expectation that a video game will cost around $100 on the high end, so there is a genuine responsibility on developers to give a game a scope of appeal *broad enough* to generate sufficient sales. Otherwise publishers go bust, people's jobs go away, and games of that sort simply don't get made any more. Finding a balance between a sincerity of vision (e.g. an ethic of fair but brutal difficulty) vs. accessibility to potential consumers is, I believe, genuinely important. As a completely separate argument, it's a weird kind of disrespect to your writing staff if you make an ostensibly narrative experience where the game mechanics are difficult enough that it prevents most of the audience from experiencing the story they have written. (I do not think that is necessarily the case in the specific example of Sekiro, however.)
@@Hermaniac8 From Soft has been doing souls games since 2009, and they are still successful, so your argument of 'you need to appeal to everyone to bring in money' seems to be invalid.
@@Hermaniac8 But that's for the developers to decide. If they want to spend ten million dollars on a game that's hard without any way to make it easier - that's up to them. If players don't want to play a hard game, they shouldn't buy it. From Software has decided that they like their games to not be for everyone and they have every right to stick to their design.
No matter the popularity, there are going to be modestly paid QA testers, factory workers, assemblers, and all the more whose livelihood depends on a product selling and selling based on a wide appeal, even if Miyazaki himself doesn't need the money. I don't see that anything was invalidated.
I will soon have platinum trophies is every From software game and i have never looked back. (Still wrapping up Dark Souls 2, want to have them all before Demon Souls Remake come out) But one of my greatest past times with Souls games is HELPING PEOPLE.
You are one of the few last ones who actually do that nowadays, i remember 5 years ago on Dark Souls 2 everyone used to make a reverency for respect, now they just see you and start ganking you with other 4 guys
I always loved helping people in Souls games as well. Did it a ton in DS2, farming Sunlight Medals for the platinum. I even kept doing after having farmed all the medals I needed. Once I get the platinum for the Demon's Souls remake I will also have all the platinums for all Soulskiroborne games.
"I hope Elden Ring has some sort of timed block system, maybe it could give you a free attack or something" It's called parrying, am I having a stroke?
It could be a dodge and hit and then it technically wouldn't be parry anymore. Maybe something like freezing time or telekenisis or damage reflect via some tool or power... Endless possibilities
Lol. No stroke. In Souls games there’s parry and block. Those 2 actions are mapped on 2 separate buttons. So I’m guessing he means he’d like the game to reward you for not “turtling” behind a shield and having a reason not to. Don’t think he thought further than that though. Because depending on the reward for a perfect timed block, that would render parry useless or vice versa. Or you’d have to make the more devastating action harder to pull off. Which, again, kinda makes it useless. So either have a parry or a timed block system imo. Not both.
My favorite from game. The combat is amazing and it made the game feel like the hardest in the series when I didn’t understand it, and the easiest when I’d finally mastered it
I agree. The main reason the combat system is objectively better is that the roadblocks that stand in the way of a new player all go away once you've mastered it. In Dark Souls some bosses still feel like a chore even if you can beat them consistently
I think you're spot on with the "time" aspect. When I first discovered Dark Souls, I was in love with it. But not the actual gameplay, just the atmosphere, lore, and subtle world building. For a long time I would simply watch other players play, and then learn about the lore and worldbuilding of all the Soulsborne games. Eventually I decided I needed to dive in and experience this truly unique series first hand, and for awhile, I enjoyed it. I've long been a fan of RPG's, so the slow progression into increasingly more dangerous areas was truly engaging. But eventually, I just didn't have time. Or rather, I decided that with the precious time I did have, I really didn't want to use it to play such a difficult game that would only cause more stress in a stressful life. Right after I defeated The Bed of Chaos, I decided I just couldnt justify it to myself to give such a beautiful, yet punishing game the time in a day to truly make progress. Simply put, the stress it would put on me to simply progress was just not worth it when other games I also throughly enjoyed didnt have such a brutal side effect. This is not to say I think the games shouldn't be so difficult; I completely agree that the uniqueness of the difficulty is a big reason why the series became so popular. But I do think that for alot of people such as myself, who just doesn't have too much time in a day to play video games, the difficulty stops them from truly giving Dark Souls a chance. So now, while I'm super excited about Elden Ring, I know that im just gonna watch streamers play, since I'm just not cut out for games in the Soulsborne series.
"doesn't have too much time in a day to play video games" is ok man, are u speedrunner? -_- They are the only games I would play again if I could erase my memory, the first time you play and finish them are the best experiences in the world of video games and you waste that first experience watching a streamer just because you don't want to make an effort :P The reason miyazaki doesn't make games easy is because doing so would be an insult to people's intellectual capacity
@@Thomas_1030 Bruh. He explained his reasoning thoughroly. I am still young so I can only go off assumptions, but it makes sense to me that if he works long hours for example and then returns home, he would like to play something in which progress is certain and where fun times can be had. I love the souls series, but I remember spending a ton of time defeating several of the bosses, and I assume that he, as he said, couldn't justify that spent time going up against a certain boss over and over again anymore due to other responsibilities and whatnot. Which is completely fair I'd say. Though I do feel like he is missing out
That’s the thing though. Some people, including me, can’t put in the time. I have a busy job and only have so much time to spend at home and relax. The few hours a week I could put into Sekiro were great. But I couldn’t master the game as with every long interval I went without playing, as sometimes I couldn’t use my free time on gaming meaning I sometimes went a month between sessions, my skill tarnished. I wasn’t able to gradually improve as every time was trying to relearn thr fundamentals. I couldn’t get past Guardian Ape. So isn’t it reasonable to implement ways to make the game easier for people who physically can’t put in the time, so they too can appreciate the game’s other qualities; the story, the atmosphere and level design, the worldbuilding et cetera et cetera. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to pour dozens of hours into a game a week. As much as I do agree that working hard to achieve something is far greater a satisfaction than doing something easy, sometimes it simply isn’t possible. I believe the developers are being overly stubborn and obtuse, limiting the accessibility of their game, gatekeeping this who can’t afford the time. If I had the time, I would certainly play without an easy mode, I would probably ring the bell charm as well. I hope you can see this side of the argument as well as your own. Didn’t mean to go off on this for so long. Sadly I barely got any time off work from Covid as Australia wasn’t hit that hard and I was able to wrok through most of it.
I'm sorry but you telling me you got all the way to BoC and THEN gave up? Dude you were like 85% of the way through the game. That last 15% ain't hard either. Seath is a pushover as long as you have some of those things that I forgot the name of that remove curse and curse build up and you can cheese the 4 kings with wolf ring and havel set + standing as close to them as possible because then you're only getting hit by the hilt of their blade, not the actual blade. And honestly, Gwyn is easy even without parries, just poise cheese or roll through his attacks. This isn't hate but you just gave up on one of the easiest part of the game other than the beggining besides maybe the Tomb of Giants which is easily speedran with no items in the entire place worth stopping for and Nito is barely less of a pushover than Seath. I'ma tell you now that by getting as far as you have (all the actually hard parts of ds1) that you can do it with a modicum of time. Once again, I'm not guilt tripping you into beating it again because that does not help me in any way but I believe you simply lack self confidence and determination as well as time potentially as you mentioned.
Dude that’s totally fair. I get it. I walked away from sekiro early on. I had just got divorced, single dad and was working full time. I’d beaten every souls game. But with sekiro I just couldn’t. But I did come back to it months later and beat it and I’m glad I did. Absolutely deserved game of the year in my opinion. But you’re right it was hard as fuck, and if you don’t want to spend your free time angry I totally get that. Don’t let the soulsbourne elitists discourage you. That’s what is great about gaming. It can be different experiences for different people. You only enjoy what YOU enjoy. I hope you do get the free time to beat one of these games eventually. They really are special. But if not, in reality it’s not the end of the world. Life’s too short to spend it needlessly frustrated. If that’s all those games are for you then don’t put yourself through that.
Sekiro was brutal and I loved it. My absolute FAVORITE fight in any game was the fight with owl on the roof. Beat my ass 15 times first time but when I finally beat him I fucking cheered. I have never played a game that made me cheer with victory
On the topic of difficulty, I absolutely love how Sekiro has an actual hard mode past ng+ stat buffs. Playing the game without Kuro's charm is an experience that demands mastery from the game and is a perfect post game challenge.
People who don't play the game cause its "rough" don't know of its existence Difficulty variable done outside the norm scares normies away If someone's challenged to think outside the box- like a 50/50 chance that persons willing to be flexible These idiots irl are throwing around half-thought opinions as fact leaves a sour taste in my mouth
is there any guaranteed way to get the halberd until the end of the game? unless i'm misremembering theres only a 1/5 chance you get it on any run without discovery boosters. i know there's other easy mode weapons but nothing to the extent of the bkh
Oh man, perfect timing on this... It's been a year, and there's not been any other games that have came out that I want to play. Sekiro, all over again!
Combat in Sekiro feels good because, among other things, it feels like you're actually dueling and outsmarting the bosses instead of rolling through their attacks and hitting their bodies repeatedly until they eventually die. Disclaimer: I love all Souls games equally.
I’d agree with you but the game is way too fast to allow you to make conscious decisions sometimes. The way I see it, the only way to improve at the game is learning enemy patterns off by heart, and there’s no player freedom in that imo
At its core it's still pattern recognition like all boss fights in FromSoft games have been, but the tools they give you in order to manage the patterns are varied enough and really do drive home that feeling of dueling with a boss rather than just slugging through it and dumping estus down your gullet.
@@abudgie6909 While you do have a point, i caught myself repeating muscle memory in my head while watching these Boss fights and sometime i notice that i normally choose better or worse methods than Vaati. Theres always more than one method to counter an attack Dodge, Parry, Jump, Attack i believe for every attack in the game there more than one way to utilize these
Rick_ I think having options is cool, but since the game forces you to use all of them (perilous attacks), it feels less like a playstyle choice imo. The speed is probably my biggest issue though. The design looks smart at first, but I think all those different parts come together to be pretty frustrating overall. Still nice that they innovated.
@@abudgie6909 I've played them all but Demons Souls, and the first time you play Sekiro the game punishes you for playing it like just another souls game. Then there is this point in the game when it forces you to actually "git gud" to advance (Genichiro on top of the castle), during that fight something "clicks" and its beautiful, idk at least it was that way for me, the game doesn't have the same possibilities of builds and stuff, but after said point the combat feels so free, like you have an enormous amount of tools and the only thing between you and defeating your enemy is your own imagination. After Sekiro I've tried going back to other Souls, mostly DS3, and it feels so dated an monotonous, just my 2 cents.
When so many games throw away their identity for accessibility, chasing trends, and mainstream appeal, I'm glad fromsoft sticks to their vision when making a game.
Kinda like how god of war from ps4 threw its identity to copy souls combat. It ended as a crappy version with the camera brutal zoom on kratos' back covering 1/4 screen during battle. Yes i understand he's old and weaker now because his power came from his rage but like terminator's final movie i didn't want to experience a good character ruined due to old age(old sarah conner)
After who knows how many runs as I’m writing this, I have just beat every boss and miniboss(that had beads) without dying in Sekiro. No cheeses, or at least what I consider as a cheese. Thanks Vaatividya for inspiring me to make a no death run of my own.
I picked up this game not know it was a fromsoft game and not even playing a soulsborn game before and I loved it. It was really fun learning the rhythm to combat and I never understood all the controversy around difficultly. All you had to do was learn a boss and it turned into a really great rhythm game.
This tho. Everything follows a rhythm. I hope you get to play Dark Souls 3 one day. They have a boss purposefully designed to break the rhythm and trip you up. Great fight, and you can access it in the first 15 minutes if you choose. Cheers!
Bloodborne too! I felt vulnerable without a shield and it can be nerve wracking playing a more aggressive play style. Such a good game though I still to this day save a game where I go in and see if anyone is still fighting the bosses or clearing certain levels.
Yeah the game is a rythm game but also paying attention helps loads. When someone tells you animals fear loud noises maybe use firecrackers on a boss that has a horse. People saying this game is hard are just rushing trough everything and missing the litteral neon signs of easy mode that the game has placed everywhere.
I love Sekiro. I also have never beaten the final boss. With that in mind, I personally don't think there should be an easy mode or difficulty setting, but I do think the game could have used just a bit more ambient difficulty options ala Dark Souls.
@@aeropostale101nw Not actively, I stopped for a while and then I've gone back and tried every now and then. Last time I tried was probably in April tbh.
I also gave up on the final boss. I played complete stealth through most of the game and that made me completely unprepared for any boss. but after a few months of not playing I created a new character and played with as little stealth as I could. After a month of playing I 100% completed the game. So if you have the time try a new run, you might be able to beat it
As a gamer for almost 20 years, I will never forget how good it feels when I faced Genichiro for the first time and beat him after countless time, I think it's the best boss fight in Fromsoft game.
Love the video! Found Sekiro to be absolutely infuriating at times, however, the moment you understand a boss makes every death worth it. Isshin may have had the first 140, but I HAD THE LAST LAUGH :)
I couldn't agree more, I lost count of the number of times where I faced a boss for the first time and got compleatly recked sometimes without even being able to get a hit in, after that I would just think "How the hell can I beat this guy? This looks impossible..." yet low and behold after trying and trying again I learn and improve. I'm doing my second playthrough right now and I can FEEL how much I improved. Guys that took me hours of trying to beat I now take down without barely taking any damage. This game teaches you how to play, you just need to be willing to learn...
7:18 - I wake up at 6:45am and work my ass off, getting home at 8:00pm (by choice). When I get home I prep for dinner, tomorrow, etc. And here's the thing. I Platinum'd Sekiro. I beat NG+4 without Kuro's charm. I rang the Demon Bell. Time matters, yes, and yes, this game was hard indeed. But this game wasn't THAT hard. You just needed a bit of patience, to observe and learn your timing, enemy behaviour, etc. The problem is that people simply throw their hands and give up at the first sign of resistance. The problem is perseverance and a lust for challenge. No amount of time will help a person who just gives up.
Vaati, you did such a wonderful job of describing the the Souls series. The world-building and immersion you get from seeking out alternative solutions is the spirit of the game.
When I started playing Sekiro I struggled alot. I got actually got stuck on the ogre mini boss for over an hour... But once I understood how important blocking was I started focusing on doing so instead of trying to dodge everything like in Dark Souls. I think most people who think Sekiro is too hard just haven't properly grasped the mechanics.
100% agree on that as a Souls player who just recently beat Sekiro. Pattern recognition and using your deflect, mikiri, and jump wisely, is all it takes. Plus you have Prosthetics for the extra edge. Once you achieve Gud-ness, Sekiro battles are easily the most fun battles that FromSoftware have made to date. They look great and feel incredible. And honestly, I personally think Sekiro is easier than Dark Souls 3.
I managed to pull off the same thing. The fight at the end had me in all new levels of butt clench. I also died to the Divine Dragon... Twice... Well played on the clean run, also agreed. Sekiro's combat is phenomenal.
Ishin the sword saint was the hardest boss I've ever fought. And I Love it. I'm not an elitist, but these games should not be easier. It's what makes them so appealing. Nice job on the no death run.
Agree. Demon's Souls and then Dark Souls wouldn't have made the same impact on the industry if they weren't that challenging, or if players could simply turn the difficulty down as soon as they felt frustrated with the game. It's what made they stand out in an era where most games hold your hand into winning without any effort.
Great shinobi owl was the hardest battle for me. By the time I reached Isshin I have actually gut gud at the game that it was an easier challenge than Genichiro the first time around.
I love that a no death run is visible immediately based on the hud cause the lack of revives As somebody who has initiated a riposte twice (maybe?) In dark souls, I think what makes sekiro work for me was the forgiving timing As long as you're responding correctly you got it so it's a lot easier for me to do the reactions I need versus hitting a specific set of frames. Only thing I might improve is how visible the visual indicators are during combat because I feel like I lost to not being able to see a few times.
Also for difficulty, I realize this isn't an rpg, but from memory, for some reason they don't have one of your counter options immediately unlocked. I wonder how many people quit an earnest attempt because they simply didn't know how well you can counter stabbing attacks. That's weirdly antagonistic Also the yellow item indicator for an important subweapon is obfuscated by fire. Fireworks are so useful and some people never found them. I had to look them up and grab them three bosses through the game and the only reason I knew about it was an early game stream. The latter may very well be an accident but the former seems antagonistic. I like unlocking moves but maybe throw me the one that's basically required.
This game was quite fun to play with an extra difficulty factor: nerve damages. Treated this game as sort of a motivator to help myself recover my hand nerves at least somewhat. They're still not back to normal, but they are recovering.
Just finished my first playthrough of Sekiro, years after I initially tried it as my first souls game and gave up. I remember back then I was half paralizing myself with having too much respect for every enemy and the whole threat of dragon rot was making me too anxious to try. After getting slapped around by Genichiro and seeing the kind of articles you mention, it made me think that maybe I just couldn't do it. That is until last year, when I got Elden Ring in the spur of the moment and with no threat of dragon rot I felt thrilled to throw myself at hurdles over and over again, learning the ins and outs of these kind of games. Deciding to test my limits I committed to defeat Malenia with no ghosts or cheesing and even though it took a week or two it was one of the most rewarding game experiences I ever had. Fast forward a year I now decided to face my fears and attempt Sekiro again, breezing through much of the early game, realizing the game even offers simple ways to deal with most difficulties (such as specific tools etc). Powered by the knowledge that after defeating Malenia, there's probably nothing the game could throw at me that cannot be overcome, I found thrill and excitement where there only was doubt before. Long story short, even if it seems impossible at first, practice always pays off and it does make the success so much sweeter
I was telling my girlfriend about how much I enjoy the combat system because of how it almost feels like a dance with how rhythmic the combat can be and how important momentum is. She then looks me in the face and says “wow sounds like guitar hero”...
Momentum isn't really a factor as far as I remember. Also Sekiro totally is guitar hero (or any other type of rythm game tbh). There isn't much maluability of the mechanics. You just kinda respond with what the game wants you to do in the correct time or you lose. It's pretty fun, but at the same time that rythm game realization has helped me understand why a lot of people said they got bored of Sekiro's combat by the end. It is possible to improve, yes. But there isn't anything to really learn. Because the only thing to really differentiate good players from bad ones is the timing mostly. Whereas in other games you can have people using the same mechanics, but the proficciency of good players making it nearly unrecognizable that the bad players are even going through the same game
destiny spider I agree! I’ve only put 30-40 hours into the game and I’m one achievement away from platinum. My only argument for the momentum is for fights like Genichiro where the 1-2 deflect is the strategy. Fights that keep you on your toes instead of you just passively waiting for an attack you can deflect which is why mechanics wise Genichiro is my favorite fight.
Playing Sekiro brought me back to playing classical music. Just play exactly what is written on the sheet of paper or start from the beginning. But you have to farm items to try again and also have to wait 2 minutes for the score sheet to load. Learn the part, and play it exactly like the other million did before you, do not change one note.
I mean, Fromsoft did a lot to help the player. Tutorials are more frequent and obvious than ever. They give you an NPC in the hub for practicing the combat. They give you the ability to sneak and one-shot backstab enemies with some incredibly potent stealth mechanics. They shower you in useful consumables like pellets (first time we’ve seen lifegems in 5 years), as well as other things like candy buffs for your attack, defense, stealth(!!!), and posture. They give you prosthetics and shinobi arts that are so powerful in their utility that they can trivialize many encounters moreso than any Drake Sword could (I’m looking at you firecrackers, oil+flame barrel, Demon of Hatred whistle, Puppeteer Ninjutsu, etc). Sekiro did almost everything I could want for a single-player Fromsoft game. They didn’t build the game around summons but they did so much to make up for it, and it’s frustrating to see so many people overlook those design accommodations in their misguided critiques. Their vision for the game was uncompromising in its distinct, iconic style and design... but it wasn’t “uncompromising” in its difficulty in the literal sense that people claim it was. Sekiro made plenty of compromises for newer players, not so much to undermine its core vision, but enough to welcome even scrubs like myself into its dangerous and thrilling world. Fromsoft handed us the keys to this new world and said “go get em”. Sure, Giantdad wasn’t there to summon and drive us to soccer practice like he used to. But it was an automatic with heated seating and a rear-view camera, and the drivers manual with all the instructions was sitting in our lap for us to read whenever we liked, and our driving instructor Hanbei was stuck in the passenger seat to guide us anytime we needed it (whether he liked it or not).
Love this video more for the words than for the fact (remarkable as it is) that you managed to complete the game without dying. you gave actually precious life suggestions, starting from "just" a game, and the most important thing you said is that skill is related to time rather than only talent (sorry if I don't remember exactly the words you used, but the idea of time is fundamental!). To me, this is one more proof that videogames are works of art that may convey life lessons, as the ones you pointed out in your speech. I personally found sekiro to be a challenge to try and believe in me, as absurd as it may sound to some, a proving ground. Thanks for your words and, in general, for the sensitivity that gives shape to your contents, I believe it is one of the reasons why you're able to reach to people!! Have a nice day! Hugs
Absolutely have to agree I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with better combat than sekiro period. Especially that feeling of struggling on a boss but then you finally get the rhythm and beat them without getting hit a single time, it’s so satisfying and I don’t think another game could match it’s energy
Dying in a souls game is a part of the journey. Suffer. Struggle. Feel like you're a wave dashing yourself against the rocks. When you finally conquer, when you finally get the rhythm and defeat your adversary, the rush you feel is unlike anything else. And on subsequent playthroughs, you find that your greatest obstacles no longer pose as much of a challenge. For me, being in my teens when I played Dark Souls for the first time, it was a life-changing experience. That's why 'get gud' isn't a dismissal. It's tongue in cheek, but it's important that victory in a Souls game is hard-earned.
I never want a difficulty setting unless it’s like that demon bell that makes it harder, i’ll find myself getting frustrated and turning it down to easy mode, i need to be forced to suffer! It makes it much more satisfying, hence why i love the rush of these games, great vid!
Sekiro literally forced me to get good 😂 and I actually appreciated it honestly. Having so much help allowed me to sorta kick back and suck at the original dark souls. I was great at dark souls 2 and 3 and demons souls but ds1 was difficult to me. And I just summoned someone every single time I had trouble
Another thing I really like about From's souls like games are its death screen (You Died, Death, etc.). It doesnt say "game over" or "failure", it doesnt encourage the player, there are no tips or hints shown to you, its just a cold and abrupt reminder that you died. Then after respawning, you are met with the solace of the bonfire/statue, and that moment is the best time to reflect upon your death.
Spending the time to learn and excel at Sekiro was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of my gaming life. There were times I almost quit but after 2 weeks I beat the game on immortal severance with bell (spent 3 days on sword saint). The next day I did purification with bell in one day without dying until sword saint. The day after I did dragons homecoming with bell with 0 deaths. Every hard-core gamer needs to play this game its like no other.
I'm one of those people who just did not want to invest anymore time in getting good at all the bosses. It felt like every couple steps I took their was just another boss I had to sink an hour or more for the harder ones. Just like one big boss rush.
Thats actually kinda fair. For me it was some of the bullshit design some bosses had, and yes fromsoft fanboys... titles from them are not perfect, theres always a few designs or choices they throw in tha makes you have to just say wtf dude. Now sekiro was fun, but it deep feel tiring having defeated a boss after spending a while to get its moveset down, then needing to do it 7+ times. I also feel some bosses deal WAY too much damage to where it makes learning a fight nearly impossible if they can two shot you quickly.
I beat everything except Isshin at about the 50 hour mark. I have been grinding for about 30 additional hours to stat max and I still can't beat that monster of a boss.
To be fair, you should be cheesing the Demon of Hatred cuz he is a mountain of hp. Just use the Phoenix Umbrella during phase 1 and 2 and then use the Malcontent Whistle during last phase to cheese him. Most people have done it, and honestly, most of our biggest issues are just that the fight gets too drawn out for anyone's taste.
This man honestly gives me hope & inspiration just through digesting his thoughts on the subject of skill and difficulty showing me at least a new......or undersold ideas. What greater immersion is there then using your own skills to define your experience. It can also apply to our world where perseverance,patience and piety are real skills that will show you believing in your self can change the game.
Sekiro was the first souls game I ever played. There were definitely times where I felt like it would be impossible to beat a certain boss but I stuck with it and surprised myself. I agree that the feeling of accomplishment I got from conquering this game was unlike any other game, it was so satisfying. I am by no means a an elite gamer but with lots (!!!) of practice I was able to get the platinum trophy. Definitely one of the most memorable gaming experiences that I’ve had. I’m grateful to FromSoft for the experience.
Sekiro is definitely the best combat among the souls like games. It puts you in the face of your enemy like no other game did before. I am replaying it right now and it's fantastic. Bosses that took me Hrs to figure out before,I am beating on the 2nd or 3rd attempt and it's just my second time playing the game. Just by understanding how it works. It's so fun as well. I am loving it again. Congrats on the no death run!
The artist behind the incredible ink-art featured in this video is Nogi, who is well worth a follow: twitter.com/NogiArt
What does the Text on the front of the new Merch say? the picture is too small to read :D
Edit : also what's the difference between premium pullover and college hoodie?
Vaati, I noticed on your store there are multiple pages for the shirt, one is 25.99 and the other is 26.99. What exactly is the difference?
L8nk doesnt work?
I think her new url is @NogiSanArt
Wow, merch from a youtuber that actually looks good. That artist was a good pick for the task!
The Divine Dragon can actually be really hard okay shut up
who'd have thought
Ok
XD
Lol
Sure sure
Now, do it again. "I beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Without Dying, Twice."
Sekiro: Shadows DON'T Die Twice
Damn I was 8 hours too late to make that joke
This is perhaps the best comment ever
@@johnsentris225 i felt that tbh
Its the fact you get 2 lifes not his deaths yk
Kuro: "How many times have you died and come back to life for my sake...?"
Sekiro: "... wait, what?"
"Once, when all this started. At most."
"Are you saying I'm immortal? I hadn't even noticed"
Sekiro "When I've died time resets my lord"
Kuro "wait what?"
@@shadowrosegaming3566 Sekiro "Daisan no bakudan! Bites Za Dusto!"
"There is sake???"
I recall the first time I played through Demon's Souls back in the day when it released. I had problem with the "Tower of Latria" zone (as I am sure we all have struggled through at some level) and I decided to summon a random person for help. This opened up a dialogue with said person because he had a weapon I liked the look of. This weapon turned out to be the "Magic Sword Makoto" and while the player said that he also liked the weapon he found it a bit hard to use as it drained your HP. I asked him where he got it and he said it was in World 4, a place I hadn't been yet. The conversation stopped there for the most part but we went through the tower and beat the Fool's Idol in the end. Afterwards I decided to go to World 4 and look for the sword myself. I found it and quickly learned that the life draining side-effect was a proper annoyance for my low health character at the time.
I used it regardless. As I continued to play I found ways to overcome the entire drain life effect through Regenerator's Ring and/or Adjucator's Shield and kept on playing. At some point I put my own sign down in a few places and got summoned. Dialogue opened again and someone asked me where I got the sword and I told them, now informing them the ways to counter the side-effect that I had found. A interaction that started with me wanting a easier way out of a hard time ended with a experience that I recall till this day, and till this day I will always have a Demon's Souls character wearing the Gloom Set with Makoto in memory of the player that did help me in my struggling days.
I can't overstate just how much that interaction meant to forming my relationship to the Souls series and its offspring and spin-off and I would never have made that interaction if I hadn't been struggling in a game and looking for a easy way out.
Awesome story!
Damn, Miyazaki made the game, so that WE can have fun and create our own stories
Elder Ring trailer: "I'm about to end this mans whole career"
Wait, so in Demon's Souls you could actually talk to people beyond gestures and communicative actions?
@@stevenneiman1554 no he’s just a really good charades player
I died in Sekiro without beating it, twice.
...so far
Beautiful
1st time i played a layed the game down after a few weeks. Too hard. After a replay of bloodborne i played this game again and im hooked. Its a skill based game with zero reconition online. I think a lot off players seek the thril of beating other players online and have a kd ratio and level as some form of "status" . In this game youre the introvert nerd spending ages in becoming better while friends say lay down the stupid game. Its sad they mis out on such a cool game experience.
Got it for Christmas last year. Played got demolished by that chained giant. I finally managed to beat only to find out I was supposed to use some firecrackers to scare him. Meaning I went the hard route only to be stomped by the next general.
I haven’t played since last December, but I’ll be back. And I’ll whoop it’s ass.
Same
Anyone ever take the time to appreciate From's dedication to consistency? Even in Sekiro, the dragons are weak to lightning
Or maybe they know something we dont.
They definitely know something we dont
Not all dragons were weak to lightning in dark souls
Ser Listogiette examples? Can’t think of any off the top of my head
@@dryboneskirby Kalameet is weak to physical damage and resistant to any magical or lightning. And Midir. Although he may be weak to it I just don't call 20 more points of damage being weak to something. But otherwise every single other one is but it's just idk NOT ALL DRAGONS.
"Ooh, a new Vaati video? What new lore has he got for us today?"
*sees title*
"...oh, he's just flexing on us, never mind"
All the lore videos are him flexing on us also!
He is flexing but did he do a no death run on ng 8 without kuro’s charm ( probably not)
Wouldn't you flex if you beat Sekiro without dying in front of thousands of people?
I fucking would!
xBirds haha “I think being proud of something only shows your insecurity” WHAT?
@xBirds So let me get this straight. I'm not supposed to be proud of having acheived something difficult simply because there's an established way to acheive it? Am I reading you right?
Vaati: "Imagine if Demon's Souls had an easy mode."
Me: *Laughs in Sorceror*
Don't you mean ROYALTY ?
@@Shadepen97 I said what I said
*laughs in firestorm
Running firestorm
@Kelltron Bloodborne doesn't have magic, neither does Sekiro. I insist that tools are not magic, they're too limited and weak to go through the game just with them. You get your soul arrow in the DLC, need I say more? However, I'm not mad, the concepts of those games don't include magic, so it's fair enough.
However, DS3 has magic. I wish it didn't. It just sucks so much, it's a disgrace. Same goes for miracles. That's not the main reason why I hate this game, but it's a pretty big reason.
Vatti: “Sekiro has no difficulty modes.”
Me: Demon Bell of Hatred and no Kuro’s Charm flashbacks
No easy mode, but there are definitely ways to make it even harder
Discovering what that charm did....well let's just say I don't remember how I got to Gyobou because I drank my way there. (Didn't think chip damage added up so quickly and so much on NG and NG+).
Turns out we were playing on Easy all this time
Turns out souls games do have difficulty modes. Just not any that accomodate people who want to tone it down.
@@Healermain15 *flashbacks to when I beat dark souls 3 as a sorcerer because it meant I never had to learn to parry or actually engage with the bosses much
You know I never actually thought that vaati would actually be like really good at games. Like I didn't think he would be bad but it just never registered that he plays alot and is good at them, I just think about lore
isnt it crazy that some people just are good at video games and some people cant play them at all
Well you know what some say, the best warriors are of sound mind and body
@@bishop2286 Dude you can't just do that! You just raised how bad@$$ Vaati seems by like a million percent. I just imagine him using like a basicboi longsword or general basic weapon, and being THAT guy in some anime. Like the side character, who has no god-like ability, but who is just really good.
YOU JUST MADE VAATI BATMAN YOU WRETCH
@@icantread1058 It's not crazy it's just practice. People who love games play them a lot. Same thing I hear about music, oh you are so talented, so LUCKY... NO! not lucky, not naturally talented, it's called hard work, sacrifice, and time spent for something you love.
@@icantread1058 Yeah. However, video game achievements dont matter in real lufe so its not even an important skill to play video games.
Kuro: "How many times have you died and come back for me? Two, three, a dozen, or more than you can count?"
Wolf: "None, my lord."
Kuro: "Oh. Well. Good, then."
On my first no death run, I was really looking forward to seeing that dialogue. I was kinda disappointed to find out it didn’t change.
@@sapphic_sophie well, story wise, you do die at least twice, at the hand of The Owl after you fought Lady Butterfly, and then to Genichiro or Genichiro's nightjar ninja when you lose your hand. So while you can beat it without dying in-game, he will still have died in the story.
@@sambeckettcat There's also a third death when you draw the Mortal Blade for the first time.
Oberyn Martell
Possibly four canonical, necessary deaths, depending on the ending achieved.
@@connorpickens7523 you dont resurrect in the fourth one and i think he asks before mortal blade
when you beat sekiro without dying you still die twice in the story, once by owl, second time after you pick up the mortal blade (whether you die after your arm gets chopped of is debatable). so the title indicates that those who play the game like a shadow will only die twice.
Also in the purification ending
@@dryboneskirby
To be fair, purification is a final death. Since you don't get a resurrection after that one, you only get two deaths without consequences.
David Hong false advertising should’ve been called shadows die thrice 0/10
Well, Owl is optional, so it is possible to beat it just dying once, isn't it?
@@The8BitPianist after beating butterfly owl stabs you
The "Wait, I'm immortal?" Ending.
The only Souls game I haven't been able to beat without dying is Elden Ring
Nice
What a flex
Loki it was meant to be more of a joke
@@TheTEKNOVORE you can joke while flexing. You earned that
Souls??
"then, MODs will save us"
> THOMAS THE SNAKE ENGINE APPEARS
Don't forget chained Shrek and the Donkey Kong bongo support
They always did
There's an online mod on the Nexus. It's in beta and pretty rough, but it somehow has less phantom range than Dark Souls.
don't forget CJ and big smoke mod
I love listening to vaatis videos when I'm trying to sleep, his smooth voice with the lore of the dark souls series makes me sleep like a baby.
Mannnn same.
Dude should just read story books to help adults fall asleep
ill be waiting for sekiro: shadows die thrice hopefully coming out in a couple years
and here I am still waiting for a god damn Bloodborne PC port.
Ps now has Bloodborne on pc
@@thelvadam5834 yes it is playable , but it is not the same as it running on the ps 4 pro , graphics & controls works and looks best on ps 4 instead of the ps now streaming service on the pc .
@@thelvadam5834 but it is definitly playable without too many problems maybe just a lag here and there , and the output of the video was 720p i think so..technicaly yes, u could play bloodborne on pc, but, on the ps4 u can run bloodborne on 1080p and even the 4k version of the game is supported on pro .
@@TheKnightDrag0n just play it on ps4. You get used to the framerate quite quickly. I actually just finished replaying it on a base ps4 last night. it was great.
1 suggestion, change the title to "I Beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Without Dying Once".
Sekiro: Shadows die once. Because if you die once, that's it.
We all beat shadows die twice without dying once but 200 times.
@@Matouken
Obligatory " *rookie numbers* " joke
This went from discussing a no-death run to an introspective on life. Loving it, Vaati!
Difficulty slider story time.
Upon Skyrim's launch, as a joke with my buddies I switched it to Master difficulty. I totally forgot as I became immersed into the world of Skyrim. 80hrs later I am wearing full deadric gear and still getting one tapped by EVERYTHING.
I had to learn to become an incredibly defensive healer for Lydia as we fought together, using everything at my disposal to fight the incredibly hard enemies in between healing her and myself.
One day I complained to my buddies and one said "didn't you switch it to Master on day one?"
Playing it this way gave me a deep appreciation for many things, especially the desperation of always fighting an uphill battle. It was amazing and ball busting all at once.
That's an amazing story, lol. I had a similar experience playing Batman: Arkham Knight on Knightmare difficulty. The game is SO much better that way, you actually have to pay attention to what the enemies are doing, react on time and make the best use of your abilities and equipment rather than mash the counter button and win.
Beating skyrim on master must have been one of the most frustrating things i have ever done :p maybe i just didnt know how to abuse some things, but even a max strength sneak attack didnt always do that much, but if they hit you.. well.. you better run
@@Darqion yup, I hear you there. Dragons were very difficult as they seemed to always one hit. I ended up using that deadra shield that produces a ward when blocking against all the dragons, if you got it up in time you could block any strength breathe and live for another few seconds.
If Skyrim gets a PS4 port I might give it another shot if it's that fun on master difficulty. I remember standing in line at a crowded Gamestop on release day and picked up a copy for the 360. Having been a huge Morrowind fan growing up the game disappointed me, I didn't like the constant hand-holding. As a result I played for about 4 hours and dropped it. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more on the second go-around.
@@gutsthe100manslayer4 pretty sure Skyrim has a PS4 port.
"Besides, if we ever disagree with their vision... mods will save us."
*CHOO CHOO!*
Almost made me do a spit-take; great timing there!
"This game will give back to you, if you give it some time"
This.. this is the embodiment Sekiro.. I dont think there will be another game anytime soon that will capture satisfying and rewarding combat like sekiro.. truly if you put in the time, you'll experience some movie quality fights, from a game.
Bloodborne
I think Monster Hunter also has that quality
@@SuperRitz44 ugh i dont like monster hunter. Its too slow for me. When i play as 2 dagger wielder, I go behind a monster and try to rampage it but it doesnt feel like anything and the skin of the monster feels like steel and he hits me back so easily. The katana is too frickin slow and i can never land a single hit on a monster. I see other players doing it so easily but never have i ever been able to do it in a similar way, its too hard.
Devil May Cry kinda. The games aren't that challenging really (aside from DMD in 1 and 3... Idk I guess 4 and 5 are tough as well), but DMC 3 and especially 4 and 5 have just an near infinite amount of depth with how maluable the mechanics are and how many options lie at your disposal. It's not about overcoming fights, but about styling on everything as if you were the most invincible fucking badass the world has ever seen. It takes some time to get used to, definitely not as easy to do combos in as Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising or whatever, but once you are in on the fun you'll feel inclined to just practice and practice and it is the greatest feeling ever mastering techniques and combo sequences you yourself come up with. Can highly recommend it if you like singleplayer games that feel rewarding to put a lot of time into
@@EBCX Bloodborne's combat was same as dark souls, and if you are stuck somewhere you can just grind so i don't think this applies to bloodborne
After replaying a lot of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (like 76 hours the past 2 weeks), I think some of the fight-preparation mentality rubbed off on me when I decided to replay Sekiro the other day. I still got smacked a lot, but I went in *trying* to use spirit emblems and consumables as much as I could. No more perma-capped spirit emblems, no more 99 Antidote Powders in storage - consume the consumables. I also had a bit of a side-goal of lasting as long as I could without dying to a boss.
I was using oil+flame vent against chained ogre and Juzou, timing shurikens against Lady Butterfly, and the red gourd/dousing powder against the Blazing Bull, to reduce damage taken.
Each of these bosses had killed me maybe a dozen times before, each, and I haven't played Sekiro in months - never even finished it, honestly, I'd always get sidetracked and wind up playing something else.
But until the kamikaze Nightjars right before Genichiro, I managed to first-try every single boss without dying, to the point where, after Lady Butterfly, I was just going "hello???? Did I finally git gud?"
I imagine most of that is based on what you're saying here, taking time to learn and master the mechanics (and also use everything at your disposal - you CAN pause to scroll through your inventory now, after all) for a smoother experience. I also watched InfernoPlus's video 'Is Sekiro Too Hard?' a while back, emphasizing the exploration aspect.
You find new prosthetic tools, manageable minibosses (for prayer beads to improve your stats), consumables ranging from status ailment cures/resistances, leveling up and picking up new passives/combat arts, to basically 'extra lives' via the jizo statues.
Like, sure, you can just 'cheese' various bosses by getting out of range or out of bounds, but as far as I know, the only cheesy thing I've done so far was use a Stealth Deathblow when available or practical (which is of course, still a intended game mechanic that DOES work on minibosses and some main bosses), but that's a one-off trick anyhow.
Even the Sculptor and Tengu of Ashina somewhat refer to this, respectively: "If there's someone that needs killing, there's a proper way to kill them..." in regards to the prosthetic tools, and "The ways of the Ashina blade! It's our school of fighting, but there are no hard and fast rules. You just win your battles."
Meta-knowledge is a hell of a drug.
It really caught my attention this most recent time playing - Sekiro's 'hard' and has a steep learning curve, but it strikes me as one of those games that "wants you to beat it".
Just wanted to give my two-cents, basically.
I wish my cpu was better so I could run MHW, seems like it got alot of features that would be appealing to rpg and souls lovers
I never end up using consumables in anything because I want to feel that I am not relying on something else to win me a fight, I never used them in Bloodborne either even while doing the defiled dungeon, or dark souls. I recently got ghost of tsushima because they added the lethal mode and man the ninja tools make that game ridiculously easy even on lethal so I am not using those, or charms there is a parry charm which makes the timing way way easier.
@@authaire I wouldn't say so, it was the most annoying fight to do for me but it was still less than day, although I will admit it is an annoying fight since it seems more like a Lawrence from Bloodborne fight and the mechanics of sekiro don't exactly feel natural in that fight but I think that was the point, to force you to dodge more instead of parry.
@@authaire Demon of Hatred feels so out of place in Sekiro. It feels like a Soulsborne fight which is horrible with Sekiro gameplay. It's the worst fight in the game mechanically if you ask me.
one of the best takes on the difficulty discussion i’ve heard. you put my words into motion better than i could have. i’m hoping my future analysis of this game will touch on some of the points you brought up with a similar degree of elegancy. as always, great content, Vaati.
On the difficulty thing: Animal Crossing requires you to grind out hundreds of hours doing menial chores in order to see its best content. From games also require work to see their best content. It's not about gatekeeping; it's about playing the game. The Animal Crossing community wouldn't be impressed if I had all the best stuff on my island without the grind - because having the best stuff doesn't mean anything unless you got it by playing the game.
I don't know why some gamers have no problem with "spend 150 hours, get this cape" but they get annoyed by "beat this challenge, get this cape." I don't have the grind cape because I hate grinding........and if you hate building skill, you can't have the skill cape!!!
A big difference is that you are obtaining quantifiable upgrades in AC. You can clearly see your bells rising and you know they can't be lost, you get items, you're rewarded with villager conversations, etc. . In Souls and Sekiro, there is a cost to almost every action and failing normally means that you gained nothing tangible and lost tangible things (money, consumables, spirit emblems.)
@@8EnfEnEt8 yeah, this is true. The "currency" so to say in souls-like games is not really something physical or even tangible. It is more about the knowledge and experience you've gained, and that is hard to measure.
Sure, I can save up souls to spend on items etc. but in the end this will not be enough for me to defeat all the bosses. In order to do that I will need to sit down and grind the currency of knowledge and experience that is only attainable through trying and failing time and time again (or by reading a cheese-guide lol).
The funny thing however is that as a person who has played the souls games and similar games over and over and have had a hard time getting into any other games since finding the souls series somehow Animal Crossing, possibly the game with the least similarity to souls games in terms of theme and gameplay out of almost any game, has me completely hooked lol. I haven't been this psyched to play a game since the time I first discovered dark souls. So, maybe there are some similarities between them after all?
@@8EnfEnEt8 The world themes in the fromsoft games are despair and mysticism. So the gameplay is ripe with despair and the currency you grind is barely tangible. I think it fits exceptionally well. If it was any different it would break muh immersion ;)
I don't know why you would pick Animal Crossing for a comparison. I don't know what its best content is supposed to be, because it's all just decoration, that you can do from day one. Just not in any extra rooms in your house. And you really don't need to spend a lot of time to get to that point at all. Less than an hour a day for a few weeks, and that's all you need. Definitely not hundreds of hours.
Not a good comparison. Someone can put hours and hours into a From game and never get anywhere, never see everything it has, whereas in AC you're pretty much guaranteed to get what you want if you keep going. AC is a participation trophy game.
Hahaha, I laughed so hard in the beginning. Brilliant, as always.
Oh I'm still laughing he killed me with that
To be honest Genichiro is one of my favorite fights, the only way I can ever accurately describe it to anyone is "It's just so fucking anime it's sick."
It doesn't do it justice but when you learn the fight and just play it perfectly it feels so good.
Yeah. Genichiro and the owl made me feel like neo. At one point something snapped and I could see their moves, and avoid and counter them all
Genichiro is probably one of the best fights in SoulsBorne/Sekiro and even in videogames in general. It teaches you about unparryable attacks, sometimes he does a sweep attack where he's been doing a thrust so you learn to pay attention to the enemy animations. He does fast combos and has a lot of short open windows where you can attack so you learn to capitalize on them. You even learn that being more aggresive helps because the enemy has to defend as well. Made me feel like I was a child becoming and adult (game-wise ofc).
Plus, as you said, the fight is beatiful. When you deflect the last hit on his long combo is epic.
@@AleehFM94 I know exactly what you mean about the child becoming an adult thing, sometimes when I first started playing I would struggle defecting some of the faster enemies and everything you've been learning up to that point now comes into play, so once you pretty much learn the fight and can beat it, you've pretty much mastered all the basics of the combat.
No time for "git gud"
To be honest, I never wanted to kill Genechiro as his fight is the most interesting. Your blood comes alive when fighting him on top of Ashina castle
"anyone can master these games, if they set their mind to it."
"Skill is a factor of time and it's a factor of how dedicated you are to overcoming adversity and your own shortcomings."
...
So basically "Git Gud"?
Look, it's not a mocking statement. I genuinely believe that you can succeed if you practice and get better at the game. :P
Yes. Basically you have to practice and learn to play better. Git gud is a simple word for it, but it's being used as a mock or a joke based on the context.
Yep. Get good
Yes. Basically, git gud or git rekt.
Or git rekt until you git gud
I'm playing Sekiro this quarantine time and wanting to learn so much about it. Your videos helps, thanks!
Mark Brown from Game Maker's Tool Kit has the best take on easy/accessibility modes: it's okay to have them, so long as you clearly communicate to the players that it is not the intended way to play. He explains it really well in his video "What Makes Celeste's Assist Mode Special?"
Honestly I don't really agree. Celeste is a great game, but the inclusion of the assist mode always felt strange to me because taking an easy way out is antithetical to the entire theme of the game. Its not like Celeste's main story is crushingly difficult anyway
Exactly, and in fact I think it's almost demeaning to players to expect them to lack the restraint and forethought to select a challenging difficulty/gamemode rather than taking the easy way out. Having highly specialized options for difficulty like Celeste's assist mode is, to me, an indicator of trust between the developers and their audience that the latter understands the need for challenge enough to refuse reducing it unless totally necessary for them to experience the game.
@@bubblegumkk8158 If you want to complete the main game after DLCs, though, Chapter 9 is a thing
What if the designers of a game feel like they want their creation to be experienced in the way that they invisioned it to?
+
The monkey took 3 days of my life, saint ashina took other 4 and almost made me quit the game the very first time I played the game..... today I wish Sekiro had a boss mode.
boss rush mod, it's a great time
Lady Butterfly took me 2 days of non stop losing. Definitely one of my favourite games ever
Demon of hatred took me 2 dayz.
I still can feel his feet stomping on me.
Petko Fuchalksi best combat game so far, game of the fucking year, a masterpiece that stands tall beside rest of the soulsborne games...and no fucking dlc. SHAAAAME
Demon of Hatred was the bane of my existence
Me, a french vaati fan when he says he won on a french dub run :
Le Joy
Séquiro, chado daï touaïsse
@@johnnystonks3970 Lol, excellent.
You always seem to put a great deal of love and effort into your content and it shows, thanks Vaati.
I've been a long time viewer now and I was excited to see this from you.
Just fought Isshin, the Sword Saint myself; that last battle is just so damn satisfying.
So glad I decided to stick with it and beat Hirata estate owl in the same run.
Love this game. (edit)-> Just saw your use of senpou kicks in the last fight, I did just the same thing.
You are absolutely right, I loved the feeling of standing toe to toe with someone much stronger than me and not rolling around them constantly and getting a hit in every now and then. Having to be ready for every single attack and counter it perfectly was so thrilling.
"Skill is a factor of time."
Sounds like something Bill Nye would say
Who is Bill Nye?
@@Phantryx It's a Canadian and American show about science, teachers would play it when they were out of ideas.
@@figaro4533 Oh okay thanks
@ he's an engineer, not a scientist
B-B-But time is convoluted...
3:00 I remember that discussion. There was someone who used a one hit kill cheat and used the "brilliant" argument of "if you remove the challenge from the game and ignore the lore, there is nothing to engage you with". He never realized that if you remove the gameplay and story, then you are not playing a game. It was the most ridiculous rhetoric I have ever seen, but he though that justified his lack of patience and diligence, probably because he didn't have enough of either to review his own arguments.
If you play Mario with a constant invincibility star, there's nothing to engage you
Omg, dying to the divine dragon is actually harder than the run itself
*congratulations*
I had to quit playing after I had spent 3 days on the genichiro fight on the tower. I quit for close to 5 months before picking it back up. It took me 6 hours straight to beat him once I did. Most satisfying thing ive ever experienced in a video game
This is something only From Software games have provided for me as well, starting with Dark Souls. The feeling of finally beating a boss after getting your ass kicked countless times is incredible, almost like a drug. Even progressing in an area you were struggling with before provides this same feeling on a minor scale.
Dunno where this demand comes from how every game has to be "for everyone".
Not every food is tasty to everyone. Not every music is appealing to everyone.
Either like it or don't like it, it's all good, just don't spoil the fun for others.
That's all there is to it really.
The counter-argument here is that it doesn't cost ten million dollars to make a new dish, or an experimental album.
Even if it is not made for *everyone,* there is an expectation that a video game will cost around $100 on the high end, so there is a genuine responsibility on developers to give a game a scope of appeal *broad enough* to generate sufficient sales. Otherwise publishers go bust, people's jobs go away, and games of that sort simply don't get made any more.
Finding a balance between a sincerity of vision (e.g. an ethic of fair but brutal difficulty) vs. accessibility to potential consumers is, I believe, genuinely important.
As a completely separate argument, it's a weird kind of disrespect to your writing staff if you make an ostensibly narrative experience where the game mechanics are difficult enough that it prevents most of the audience from experiencing the story they have written. (I do not think that is necessarily the case in the specific example of Sekiro, however.)
@@Hermaniac8 From Soft has been doing souls games since 2009, and they are still successful, so your argument of 'you need to appeal to everyone to bring in money' seems to be invalid.
@@Hermaniac8 But that's for the developers to decide. If they want to spend ten million dollars on a game that's hard without any way to make it easier - that's up to them. If players don't want to play a hard game, they shouldn't buy it. From Software has decided that they like their games to not be for everyone and they have every right to stick to their design.
No matter the popularity, there are going to be modestly paid QA testers, factory workers, assemblers, and all the more whose livelihood depends on a product selling and selling based on a wide appeal, even if Miyazaki himself doesn't need the money. I don't see that anything was invalidated.
Totally agree, I do respect all game developers equally, but 5NAF, wtf man? Not my cup of tea.
I will soon have platinum trophies is every From software game and i have never looked back. (Still wrapping up Dark Souls 2, want to have them all before Demon Souls Remake come out)
But one of my greatest past times with Souls games is HELPING PEOPLE.
You are one of the few last ones who actually do that nowadays, i remember 5 years ago on Dark Souls 2 everyone used to make a reverency for respect, now they just see you and start ganking you with other 4 guys
I always loved helping people in Souls games as well. Did it a ton in DS2, farming Sunlight Medals for the platinum. I even kept doing after having farmed all the medals I needed. Once I get the platinum for the Demon's Souls remake I will also have all the platinums for all Soulskiroborne games.
xyo68 I love helping people, got hundreds of sunlight medals but i also love ganking people
@@greatshinobi-owl3120 Once a i killed a group of gankers that invaded me, i hate invaders and gankers A LOT
"I hope Elden Ring has some sort of timed block system, maybe it could give you a free attack or something"
It's called parrying, am I having a stroke?
Vaati probably just blanked on the word
It could be a dodge and hit and then it technically wouldn't be parry anymore. Maybe something like freezing time or telekenisis or damage reflect via some tool or power... Endless possibilities
Lol. No stroke. In Souls games there’s parry and block. Those 2 actions are mapped on 2 separate buttons.
So I’m guessing he means he’d like the game to reward you for not “turtling” behind a shield and having a reason not to.
Don’t think he thought further than that though. Because depending on the reward for a perfect timed block, that would render parry useless or vice versa.
Or you’d have to make the more devastating action harder to pull off. Which, again, kinda makes it useless. So either have a parry or a timed block system imo. Not both.
Riposte is to strike after a parry
@@rebeccaconlon9743 The theoretical perfectly-timed block would be the parry, the free hit would be the riposte.
My favorite from game. The combat is amazing and it made the game feel like the hardest in the series when I didn’t understand it, and the easiest when I’d finally mastered it
I agree. The main reason the combat system is objectively better is that the roadblocks that stand in the way of a new player all go away once you've mastered it. In Dark Souls some bosses still feel like a chore even if you can beat them consistently
Don't worry, if you're having trouble with Sekiro's difficulty you can allways ring the funny bell and throw away kuro's charm to make it harder!
0:19 "i'm actually dead...no" is the calmest Fromsoft death reaction ever lol.
This dude's voice is soooooo goddamn smooth
Wait till you see his face
"Skill is a factor of time."
I felt that.
I think you're spot on with the "time" aspect.
When I first discovered Dark Souls, I was in love with it. But not the actual gameplay, just the atmosphere, lore, and subtle world building. For a long time I would simply watch other players play, and then learn about the lore and worldbuilding of all the Soulsborne games.
Eventually I decided I needed to dive in and experience this truly unique series first hand, and for awhile, I enjoyed it. I've long been a fan of RPG's, so the slow progression into increasingly more dangerous areas was truly engaging. But eventually, I just didn't have time. Or rather, I decided that with the precious time I did have, I really didn't want to use it to play such a difficult game that would only cause more stress in a stressful life. Right after I defeated The Bed of Chaos, I decided I just couldnt justify it to myself to give such a beautiful, yet punishing game the time in a day to truly make progress. Simply put, the stress it would put on me to simply progress was just not worth it when other games I also throughly enjoyed didnt have such a brutal side effect.
This is not to say I think the games shouldn't be so difficult; I completely agree that the uniqueness of the difficulty is a big reason why the series became so popular. But I do think that for alot of people such as myself, who just doesn't have too much time in a day to play video games, the difficulty stops them from truly giving Dark Souls a chance. So now, while I'm super excited about Elden Ring, I know that im just gonna watch streamers play, since I'm just not cut out for games in the Soulsborne series.
"doesn't have too much time in a day to play video games" is ok man, are u speedrunner? -_-
They are the only games I would play again if I could erase my memory, the first time you play and finish them are the best experiences in the world of video games and you waste that first experience watching a streamer just because you don't want to make an effort :P
The reason miyazaki doesn't make games easy is because doing so would be an insult to people's intellectual capacity
@@Thomas_1030 Bruh. He explained his reasoning thoughroly. I am still young so I can only go off assumptions, but it makes sense to me that if he works long hours for example and then returns home, he would like to play something in which progress is certain and where fun times can be had. I love the souls series, but I remember spending a ton of time defeating several of the bosses, and I assume that he, as he said, couldn't justify that spent time going up against a certain boss over and over again anymore due to other responsibilities and whatnot. Which is completely fair I'd say. Though I do feel like he is missing out
That’s the thing though. Some people, including me, can’t put in the time. I have a busy job and only have so much time to spend at home and relax. The few hours a week I could put into Sekiro were great. But I couldn’t master the game as with every long interval I went without playing, as sometimes I couldn’t use my free time on gaming meaning I sometimes went a month between sessions, my skill tarnished. I wasn’t able to gradually improve as every time was trying to relearn thr fundamentals. I couldn’t get past Guardian Ape. So isn’t it reasonable to implement ways to make the game easier for people who physically can’t put in the time, so they too can appreciate the game’s other qualities; the story, the atmosphere and level design, the worldbuilding et cetera et cetera. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to pour dozens of hours into a game a week. As much as I do agree that working hard to achieve something is far greater a satisfaction than doing something easy, sometimes it simply isn’t possible. I believe the developers are being overly stubborn and obtuse, limiting the accessibility of their game, gatekeeping this who can’t afford the time. If I had the time, I would certainly play without an easy mode, I would probably ring the bell charm as well. I hope you can see this side of the argument as well as your own. Didn’t mean to go off on this for so long. Sadly I barely got any time off work from Covid as Australia wasn’t hit that hard and I was able to wrok through most of it.
I'm sorry but you telling me you got all the way to BoC and THEN gave up? Dude you were like 85% of the way through the game. That last 15% ain't hard either. Seath is a pushover as long as you have some of those things that I forgot the name of that remove curse and curse build up and you can cheese the 4 kings with wolf ring and havel set + standing as close to them as possible because then you're only getting hit by the hilt of their blade, not the actual blade. And honestly, Gwyn is easy even without parries, just poise cheese or roll through his attacks. This isn't hate but you just gave up on one of the easiest part of the game other than the beggining besides maybe the Tomb of Giants which is easily speedran with no items in the entire place worth stopping for and Nito is barely less of a pushover than Seath. I'ma tell you now that by getting as far as you have (all the actually hard parts of ds1) that you can do it with a modicum of time. Once again, I'm not guilt tripping you into beating it again because that does not help me in any way but I believe you simply lack self confidence and determination as well as time potentially as you mentioned.
Dude that’s totally fair. I get it. I walked away from sekiro early on. I had just got divorced, single dad and was working full time. I’d beaten every souls game. But with sekiro I just couldn’t. But I did come back to it months later and beat it and I’m glad I did. Absolutely deserved game of the year in my opinion. But you’re right it was hard as fuck, and if you don’t want to spend your free time angry I totally get that. Don’t let the soulsbourne elitists discourage you. That’s what is great about gaming. It can be different experiences for different people. You only enjoy what YOU enjoy. I hope you do get the free time to beat one of these games eventually. They really are special. But if not, in reality it’s not the end of the world. Life’s too short to spend it needlessly frustrated. If that’s all those games are for you then don’t put yourself through that.
Sekiro was brutal and I loved it. My absolute FAVORITE fight in any game was the fight with owl on the roof. Beat my ass 15 times first time but when I finally beat him I fucking cheered. I have never played a game that made me cheer with victory
On the topic of difficulty, I absolutely love how Sekiro has an actual hard mode past ng+ stat buffs. Playing the game without Kuro's charm is an experience that demands mastery from the game and is a perfect post game challenge.
"Dark Souls is too hard"
Black Knight Halberd: : excuse-moi
5 shotted every boss after getting that. Kind of ruined the experience honestly
People who don't play the game cause its "rough" don't know of its existence
Difficulty variable done outside the norm scares normies away
If someone's challenged to think outside the box- like a 50/50 chance that persons willing to be flexible
These idiots irl are throwing around half-thought opinions as fact leaves a sour taste in my mouth
is there any guaranteed way to get the halberd until the end of the game? unless i'm misremembering theres only a 1/5 chance you get it on any run without discovery boosters. i know there's other easy mode weapons but nothing to the extent of the bkh
@@ladyinwight I had no extra discovery (Knight Class) and got the halberd from both of the early game black knights that wield it
dark souls isnt hard its a methodical game.
Oh man, perfect timing on this... It's been a year, and there's not been any other games that have came out that I want to play.
Sekiro, all over again!
ghost of tsushima?
@@brightestlight9462 i was going to say the same.
Combat in Sekiro feels good because, among other things, it feels like you're actually dueling and outsmarting the bosses instead of rolling through their attacks and hitting their bodies repeatedly until they eventually die.
Disclaimer: I love all Souls games equally.
I’d agree with you but the game is way too fast to allow you to make conscious decisions sometimes. The way I see it, the only way to improve at the game is learning enemy patterns off by heart, and there’s no player freedom in that imo
At its core it's still pattern recognition like all boss fights in FromSoft games have been, but the tools they give you in order to manage the patterns are varied enough and really do drive home that feeling of dueling with a boss rather than just slugging through it and dumping estus down your gullet.
@@abudgie6909
While you do have a point, i caught myself repeating muscle memory in my head while watching these Boss fights
and sometime i notice that i normally choose better or worse methods than Vaati. Theres always more than one method
to counter an attack Dodge, Parry, Jump, Attack i believe for every attack in the game there more than one way to utilize these
Rick_ I think having options is cool, but since the game forces you to use all of them (perilous attacks), it feels less like a playstyle choice imo. The speed is probably my biggest issue though. The design looks smart at first, but I think all those different parts come together to be pretty frustrating overall. Still nice that they innovated.
@@abudgie6909 I've played them all but Demons Souls, and the first time you play Sekiro the game punishes you for playing it like just another souls game. Then there is this point in the game when it forces you to actually "git gud" to advance (Genichiro on top of the castle), during that fight something "clicks" and its beautiful, idk at least it was that way for me, the game doesn't have the same possibilities of builds and stuff, but after said point the combat feels so free, like you have an enormous amount of tools and the only thing between you and defeating your enemy is your own imagination. After Sekiro I've tried going back to other Souls, mostly DS3, and it feels so dated an monotonous, just my 2 cents.
When so many games throw away their identity for accessibility, chasing trends, and mainstream appeal, I'm glad fromsoft sticks to their vision when making a game.
You see, FromSoft simply flips the bird and says "no"
Kinda like how god of war from ps4 threw its identity to copy souls combat. It ended as a crappy version with the camera brutal zoom on kratos' back covering 1/4 screen during battle.
Yes i understand he's old and weaker now because his power came from his rage but like terminator's final movie i didn't want to experience a good character ruined due to old age(old sarah conner)
@Snails40 Git gud.
@Snails40
Wolf is only inept as the player is, man. :P
After who knows how many runs as I’m writing this, I have just beat every boss and miniboss(that had beads) without dying in Sekiro. No cheeses, or at least what I consider as a cheese. Thanks Vaatividya for inspiring me to make a no death run of my own.
I picked up this game not know it was a fromsoft game and not even playing a soulsborn game before and I loved it. It was really fun learning the rhythm to combat and I never understood all the controversy around difficultly. All you had to do was learn a boss and it turned into a really great rhythm game.
The more you suck at those game the more fun it is .
This tho. Everything follows a rhythm. I hope you get to play Dark Souls 3 one day. They have a boss purposefully designed to break the rhythm and trip you up. Great fight, and you can access it in the first 15 minutes if you choose. Cheers!
Yeah I did recently get around to playing DS3 and had a lot of fun with. Dodging instead of block Definitely took so getting used to though.
Bloodborne too! I felt vulnerable without a shield and it can be nerve wracking playing a more aggressive play style. Such a good game though I still to this day save a game where I go in and see if anyone is still fighting the bosses or clearing certain levels.
Yeah the game is a rythm game but also paying attention helps loads. When someone tells you animals fear loud noises maybe use firecrackers on a boss that has a horse. People saying this game is hard are just rushing trough everything and missing the litteral neon signs of easy mode that the game has placed everywhere.
I love Sekiro. I also have never beaten the final boss. With that in mind, I personally don't think there should be an easy mode or difficulty setting, but I do think the game could have used just a bit more ambient difficulty options ala Dark Souls.
Are you still attempting the last boss?
@@aeropostale101nw Not actively, I stopped for a while and then I've gone back and tried every now and then. Last time I tried was probably in April tbh.
@@EndParenthesis which part is the hardest for you
I also gave up on the final boss. I played complete stealth through most of the game and that made me completely unprepared for any boss. but after a few months of not playing I created a new character and played with as little stealth as I could. After a month of playing I 100% completed the game. So if you have the time try a new run, you might be able to beat it
@@EndParenthesis I'm in the same boat, but I only stopped because of other games.
I'll try it eventually
It was really enjoyable to watch your streams! :) I'm happy I was there!
As a gamer for almost 20 years, I will never forget how good it feels when I faced Genichiro for the first time and beat him after countless time, I think it's the best boss fight in Fromsoft game.
When I feel down in the dumps after raging bull and dying to lady butterfly 20 times, fighting genichiro gives me the will to keep pressing onwards
The three versions of Genichiro are my favorite fights in the entire game. Him and Isshin are such fun enemies to duel, sword on sword.
The moment where you got killed by the snake and the following ragequit is literally the only thing I saw from your stream lol
I can't even get through the title screen without dying and resurrecting at least twice
Replayed Sekiro 9 nine times, that's how much I was hooked on it. Oh, and died to the dragon a few times as well :)
I played through it 17 times
Bro the dragon was hell on my first playthrough, easiest boss in the game my ass.
Love the video! Found Sekiro to be absolutely infuriating at times, however, the moment you understand a boss makes every death worth it. Isshin may have had the first 140, but I HAD THE LAST LAUGH :)
I couldn't agree more, I lost count of the number of times where I faced a boss for the first time and got compleatly recked sometimes without even being able to get a hit in, after that I would just think "How the hell can I beat this guy? This looks impossible..." yet low and behold after trying and trying again I learn and improve.
I'm doing my second playthrough right now and I can FEEL how much I improved. Guys that took me hours of trying to beat I now take down without barely taking any damage.
This game teaches you how to play, you just need to be willing to learn...
7:18 - I wake up at 6:45am and work my ass off, getting home at 8:00pm (by choice). When I get home I prep for dinner, tomorrow, etc. And here's the thing. I Platinum'd Sekiro. I beat NG+4 without Kuro's charm. I rang the Demon Bell.
Time matters, yes, and yes, this game was hard indeed. But this game wasn't THAT hard. You just needed a bit of patience, to observe and learn your timing, enemy behaviour, etc. The problem is that people simply throw their hands and give up at the first sign of resistance. The problem is perseverance and a lust for challenge. No amount of time will help a person who just gives up.
they think they're speedrunners lol
"Skill is a factor of time." Amen !
I consider this the best game of the decade. I was really blown away. Congratulations on your feat!
Kuro: "How many times have you died and come back?"
Sekiro: "None."
Kuro: "..."
Technically lore wise he has died multiple times before I’m sure, especially the two on screen ones at Hirata Estate and drawing the mortal blade
@@dryboneskirby oh yeah. Dammit
Dete it’s okay Kuro is just trying to flex that he can’t even die to begin with
Vaati, you did such a wonderful job of describing the the Souls series. The world-building and immersion you get from seeking out alternative solutions is the spirit of the game.
When I started playing Sekiro I struggled alot. I got actually got stuck on the ogre mini boss for over an hour... But once I understood how important blocking was I started focusing on doing so instead of trying to dodge everything like in Dark Souls. I think most people who think Sekiro is too hard just haven't properly grasped the mechanics.
It's really not that hard, I'm just really apathetic lol
100% agree on that as a Souls player who just recently beat Sekiro. Pattern recognition and using your deflect, mikiri, and jump wisely, is all it takes. Plus you have Prosthetics for the extra edge. Once you achieve Gud-ness, Sekiro battles are easily the most fun battles that FromSoftware have made to date. They look great and feel incredible. And honestly, I personally think Sekiro is easier than Dark Souls 3.
But ogre is more effective by dodging instead blocking
I managed to pull off the same thing. The fight at the end had me in all new levels of butt clench.
I also died to the Divine Dragon... Twice...
Well played on the clean run, also agreed. Sekiro's combat is phenomenal.
Sekiro was the only single player game without online features that was worth every single cent from that 70€ price tag for me
I could name dozens, but aight.
@@rashedyadig for real!
I take it you don't play many single player games
Ghost of tsushima brother fkn beautiful game
Ishin the sword saint was the hardest boss I've ever fought. And I Love it. I'm not an elitist, but these games should not be easier. It's what makes them so appealing.
Nice job on the no death run.
try Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind dlc, contain something great challenging bosses
Agree. Demon's Souls and then Dark Souls wouldn't have made the same impact on the industry if they weren't that challenging, or if players could simply turn the difficulty down as soon as they felt frustrated with the game. It's what made they stand out in an era where most games hold your hand into winning without any effort.
Great shinobi owl was the hardest battle for me. By the time I reached Isshin I have actually gut gud at the game that it was an easier challenge than Genichiro the first time around.
I love that a no death run is visible immediately based on the hud cause the lack of revives
As somebody who has initiated a riposte twice (maybe?) In dark souls, I think what makes sekiro work for me was the forgiving timing
As long as you're responding correctly you got it so it's a lot easier for me to do the reactions I need versus hitting a specific set of frames.
Only thing I might improve is how visible the visual indicators are during combat because I feel like I lost to not being able to see a few times.
Also for difficulty, I realize this isn't an rpg, but from memory, for some reason they don't have one of your counter options immediately unlocked.
I wonder how many people quit an earnest attempt because they simply didn't know how well you can counter stabbing attacks. That's weirdly antagonistic
Also the yellow item indicator for an important subweapon is obfuscated by fire. Fireworks are so useful and some people never found them. I had to look them up and grab them three bosses through the game and the only reason I knew about it was an early game stream.
The latter may very well be an accident but the former seems antagonistic. I like unlocking moves but maybe throw me the one that's basically required.
This game was quite fun to play with an extra difficulty factor: nerve damages. Treated this game as sort of a motivator to help myself recover my hand nerves at least somewhat. They're still not back to normal, but they are recovering.
This game is so good it deserves a sequel.
God, I hope they make a sequel after Elden Ring
Sekiro: Shadows Die Too
I showed up to Vaati's streams of this a grand total of twice and, within 30 seconds of my arrival, I watched 0:25 and 0:31 live.
I think I'm a curse.
I told you to be an eggplant but nooo
eggplants are 1,000% more cursed than lettuce don't @ me
Well done, now time to do a zero hit run!
That one Gecko: Bonjour
The idea is that you beat the game without hitting any enemy
@@davidhong1934 wait thats illegal
Glad to see someone finally use the temple arts move set. It's stupidly underated and the high kick is legitimately overpowered.
Just finished my first playthrough of Sekiro, years after I initially tried it as my first souls game and gave up. I remember back then I was half paralizing myself with having too much respect for every enemy and the whole threat of dragon rot was making me too anxious to try. After getting slapped around by Genichiro and seeing the kind of articles you mention, it made me think that maybe I just couldn't do it. That is until last year, when I got Elden Ring in the spur of the moment and with no threat of dragon rot I felt thrilled to throw myself at hurdles over and over again, learning the ins and outs of these kind of games. Deciding to test my limits I committed to defeat Malenia with no ghosts or cheesing and even though it took a week or two it was one of the most rewarding game experiences I ever had. Fast forward a year I now decided to face my fears and attempt Sekiro again, breezing through much of the early game, realizing the game even offers simple ways to deal with most difficulties (such as specific tools etc). Powered by the knowledge that after defeating Malenia, there's probably nothing the game could throw at me that cannot be overcome, I found thrill and excitement where there only was doubt before. Long story short, even if it seems impossible at first, practice always pays off and it does make the success so much sweeter
I was telling my girlfriend about how much I enjoy the combat system because of how it almost feels like a dance with how rhythmic the combat can be and how important momentum is. She then looks me in the face and says “wow sounds like guitar hero”...
she's not wrong though.
It's pretty much guitar hero
Momentum isn't really a factor as far as I remember. Also Sekiro totally is guitar hero (or any other type of rythm game tbh).
There isn't much maluability of the mechanics. You just kinda respond with what the game wants you to do in the correct time or you lose. It's pretty fun, but at the same time that rythm game realization has helped me understand why a lot of people said they got bored of Sekiro's combat by the end. It is possible to improve, yes. But there isn't anything to really learn. Because the only thing to really differentiate good players from bad ones is the timing mostly. Whereas in other games you can have people using the same mechanics, but the proficciency of good players making it nearly unrecognizable that the bad players are even going through the same game
destiny spider I agree! I’ve only put 30-40 hours into the game and I’m one achievement away from platinum. My only argument for the momentum is for fights like Genichiro where the 1-2 deflect is the strategy. Fights that keep you on your toes instead of you just passively waiting for an attack you can deflect which is why mechanics wise Genichiro is my favorite fight.
Kelltron exactly lol
Playing Sekiro brought me back to playing classical music. Just play exactly what is written on the sheet of paper or start from the beginning. But you have to farm items to try again and also have to wait 2 minutes for the score sheet to load. Learn the part, and play it exactly like the other million did before you, do not change one note.
I mean, Fromsoft did a lot to help the player. Tutorials are more frequent and obvious than ever. They give you an NPC in the hub for practicing the combat. They give you the ability to sneak and one-shot backstab enemies with some incredibly potent stealth mechanics. They shower you in useful consumables like pellets (first time we’ve seen lifegems in 5 years), as well as other things like candy buffs for your attack, defense, stealth(!!!), and posture. They give you prosthetics and shinobi arts that are so powerful in their utility that they can trivialize many encounters moreso than any Drake Sword could (I’m looking at you firecrackers, oil+flame barrel, Demon of Hatred whistle, Puppeteer Ninjutsu, etc).
Sekiro did almost everything I could want for a single-player Fromsoft game. They didn’t build the game around summons but they did so much to make up for it, and it’s frustrating to see so many people overlook those design accommodations in their misguided critiques. Their vision for the game was uncompromising in its distinct, iconic style and design... but it wasn’t “uncompromising” in its difficulty in the literal sense that people claim it was. Sekiro made plenty of compromises for newer players, not so much to undermine its core vision, but enough to welcome even scrubs like myself into its dangerous and thrilling world.
Fromsoft handed us the keys to this new world and said “go get em”. Sure, Giantdad wasn’t there to summon and drive us to soccer practice like he used to. But it was an automatic with heated seating and a rear-view camera, and the drivers manual with all the instructions was sitting in our lap for us to read whenever we liked, and our driving instructor Hanbei was stuck in the passenger seat to guide us anytime we needed it (whether he liked it or not).
Love this video more for the words than for the fact (remarkable as it is) that you managed to complete the game without dying. you gave actually precious life suggestions, starting from "just" a game, and the most important thing you said is that skill is related to time rather than only talent (sorry if I don't remember exactly the words you used, but the idea of time is fundamental!). To me, this is one more proof that videogames are works of art that may convey life lessons, as the ones you pointed out in your speech. I personally found sekiro to be a challenge to try and believe in me, as absurd as it may sound to some, a proving ground. Thanks for your words and, in general, for the sensitivity that gives shape to your contents, I believe it is one of the reasons why you're able to reach to people!! Have a nice day! Hugs
Absolutely have to agree I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with better combat than sekiro period. Especially that feeling of struggling on a boss but then you finally get the rhythm and beat them without getting hit a single time, it’s so satisfying and I don’t think another game could match it’s energy
Dying in a souls game is a part of the journey. Suffer. Struggle. Feel like you're a wave dashing yourself against the rocks. When you finally conquer, when you finally get the rhythm and defeat your adversary, the rush you feel is unlike anything else. And on subsequent playthroughs, you find that your greatest obstacles no longer pose as much of a challenge. For me, being in my teens when I played Dark Souls for the first time, it was a life-changing experience. That's why 'get gud' isn't a dismissal. It's tongue in cheek, but it's important that victory in a Souls game is hard-earned.
I never want a difficulty setting unless it’s like that demon bell that makes it harder, i’ll find myself getting frustrated and turning it down to easy mode, i need to be forced to suffer! It makes it much more satisfying, hence why i love the rush of these games, great vid!
Sekiro literally forced me to get good 😂 and I actually appreciated it honestly. Having so much help allowed me to sorta kick back and suck at the original dark souls. I was great at dark souls 2 and 3 and demons souls but ds1 was difficult to me. And I just summoned someone every single time I had trouble
Another thing I really like about From's souls like games are its death screen (You Died, Death, etc.). It doesnt say "game over" or "failure", it doesnt encourage the player, there are no tips or hints shown to you, its just a cold and abrupt reminder that you died. Then after respawning, you are met with the solace of the bonfire/statue, and that moment is the best time to reflect upon your death.
Spending the time to learn and excel at Sekiro was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of my gaming life. There were times I almost quit but after 2 weeks I beat the game on immortal severance with bell (spent 3 days on sword saint). The next day I did purification with bell in one day without dying until sword saint. The day after I did dragons homecoming with bell with 0 deaths. Every hard-core gamer needs to play this game its like no other.
Vaati: I finished Sekiro without dying
Faraaz Khan: hold my beer
Also Squillakilla about a year ago both.
I'm one of those people who just did not want to invest anymore time in getting good at all the bosses. It felt like every couple steps I took their was just another boss I had to sink an hour or more for the harder ones. Just like one big boss rush.
Thats actually kinda fair. For me it was some of the bullshit design some bosses had, and yes fromsoft fanboys... titles from them are not perfect, theres always a few designs or choices they throw in tha makes you have to just say wtf dude. Now sekiro was fun, but it deep feel tiring having defeated a boss after spending a while to get its moveset down, then needing to do it 7+ times. I also feel some bosses deal WAY too much damage to where it makes learning a fight nearly impossible if they can two shot you quickly.
Snails40 the ignorance that you said in that comment made me shrivel like a ball, just another causal gamer that wants everything hand fed to them.
As a dark souls veteran It hurts my pride that I haven't finished Sekiro. I only have the Demon of hatred and Isshin left too
Same here, we can be ashamed together
go ahead and beat it! you don't want to go hollow, hesitation is defeat!
Ironically it’s the only fromsoft game i platinumed xD
I beat everything except Isshin at about the 50 hour mark. I have been grinding for about 30 additional hours to stat max and I still can't beat that monster of a boss.
To be fair, you should be cheesing the Demon of Hatred cuz he is a mountain of hp. Just use the Phoenix Umbrella during phase 1 and 2 and then use the Malcontent Whistle during last phase to cheese him.
Most people have done it, and honestly, most of our biggest issues are just that the fight gets too drawn out for anyone's taste.
This man honestly gives me hope & inspiration just through digesting his thoughts on the subject of skill and difficulty showing me at least a new......or undersold ideas. What greater immersion is there then using your own skills to define your experience. It can also apply to our world where perseverance,patience and piety are real skills that will show you believing in your self can change the game.
Sekiro was the first souls game I ever played. There were definitely times where I felt like it would be impossible to beat a certain boss but I stuck with it and surprised myself. I agree that the feeling of accomplishment I got from conquering this game was unlike any other game, it was so satisfying. I am by no means a an elite gamer but with lots (!!!) of practice I was able to get the platinum trophy. Definitely one of the most memorable gaming experiences that I’ve had. I’m grateful to FromSoft for the experience.
"Having one true difficulty mode"
*cries in demon bell and no kuro charm.
Divine Dragon..
Always have to die once before killing it
"Died to dragon omegalul" twitchs community is as consistent as FromSoft
Man, your commentary on what makes these games special is so well-said, thank you for such a powerful message! :)
Sekiro is definitely the best combat among the souls like games. It puts you in the face of your enemy like no other game did before. I am replaying it right now and it's fantastic. Bosses that took me Hrs to figure out before,I am beating on the 2nd or 3rd attempt and it's just my second time playing the game. Just by understanding how it works. It's so fun as well. I am loving it again. Congrats on the no death run!