22:21 There's also the fact that you spend the whole game killing ashina's generals, war beasts and warriors in order to get Kuro back, which is pretty insane to realize once the castle is being invaded and they don't have anyone
Dude i only found you today and seeing someone else who appreciates the enemy types in the souls games is really refreshing. Looking forward to this channel getting as huge as it deserves to some day and saying I was here relatively early 💪💪💪
Ashina Castle and Fountainhead Palace are my favorite areas for many of the things you mentioned. I remember returning to the castle my first play through after Divine Dragon and being struck with this regret for taking out Ashina’s strongest soldiers earlier in the game and seeing what was left of their clan fight in vain against the Red Guard. I fought them just to keep the Ashina soldiers alive and would flee before they would attack me. For Fountainhead Palace, as soon as I fought the Okami warriors the first time I assumed Lady Tomoe was one of them just based on Genichiro’s move set and the way Isshin spoke of her. The Okami warriors, Loneshadows and Red Guard are my favorite enemies to fight in the entire game.
I want to play this game so badly, but my AC6 all ending run ist still going and the ER dlc is so very close, I think not a single other video made me more hyped for sekiro, keep up the good work, great video
@@antonioc.5778 I think 1 1/2 years ago I got into the soulsborne community because my friend group started playing Elden Ring, however, I didn’t have a pc or any consol to play it, for 4 months I fantasized about playing it and watched a lot of rankings, I know of the existence of every boss in the series and every area, but after playing Elden Ring, I stoped that, I played BB, DS I, DS II, DS III and AC VI (I finished AC6, absolutely masterpiece 10/10) and now the dlc in a few days, the good part about these videos is, that I just can’t remember what area comes after the next, I only get that while playing, I am always surprised in these games on just what boss or area is next, in terms of story, I always try to skip those parts and npc interactions, I hope that this answer is pleasing, have a great day ^^
No Souls area has the same vibe as Hirata Estate's first half. Feels like Gotham and the flames everywhere and the rain just perfect. It's the closest to the Halo 3 ODST vibe I love so much. YOU CDAN DFFELCT THE SHICIMEN WARRIORS TERROR WHAT YOIU CAN WHAT Anyway, always good to see you rank Soul's games I like. You make the 2nd best ranking lists, #1 is mine cause I'm objectively correct always and everyone knows it. Your lists and reasonings are pretty similar logical and that's what I like about your view on things.
Very much agree on the Gun Fort thing. It's easily my favorite stealth section in the entire game. You can stealth the entire fort, bar one shotgun enemy, and it's incredibly satisfying. That said, I have to disagree about the chained ogre. The reason it's an awful boss is because the game doesn't push you to explore Hirata Estate enough. I actually think it somewhat discourages you from doing so, which I think is a huge problem considering you're seemingly intended to reach at least the first shortcut as soon as you get the bell (for the flame vent and axe).
Wait, I’m confused. Why do you feel like it discourages exploration? Cause I never felt that way. Although, I always get rid of every single enemy in these games, so that makes it a lot easier to look around(once they’re all gone I mean) idk if you’re saying because the flame vent is in a different area from the ogre? But you can get the firecrackers right before the ogre and those do the same exact thing. I’m sure that’s exactly why they made it that way…so you could use the firecrackers against it since it’s not likely that you’re going to go to the Estate area before fighting the big fella.
Discourages exploration to Hirata, not discourages exploration. I think should have stressed that I meant immediate exploration, cause it's really just a matter of when you inevitably visit Hirata Estate. The game encourages exploration very strongly, I just don't think it pushes you to Hirata Estate hard enough to go immediately, which I feel it should. Also, yeah you can use Fireworks, but Flame Vent makes him flinch for longer, pretty sure (definitely if you use oil and hit).
Also, in Hirata estate, there is a random path that leads to the purple shinobi fight, which I found extremely cool because he alone was so hard to defeat there, and when you get to the late game, you can see how much you've improved by beating a lot of them.
i also really love the area where you fight the divine dragon.theres just something about walking on clouds and seeing the highest points of the map stick up that i really like
I love challenging myself to slaughter every single enemy of hirata till the butterfly boss on each ng & ng+, without using any idols to see how far I can get.
Hello Chad! Another great video. However, as a fellow Sekiro player, I have to confess I preferred Ashina Castle to Fountainhead Palace... perhaps it's the DS1 lover in me that appreciates the interconnectivity and enemy variety that the earlier has, or perhaps I was traumatised in my first playthrough by the tougher enemies of the latter, but there we disagree. Cheers!
I dont think you've ever mentioned it so I'm not sure if you're aware but the sakura bull can be bypassed by sneaking up on it and using the fireworks prosthetic allowing you to deathblow it by breaking its posture after it goes through a frenzy from being scared and then laying on the ground from tiring itself out
This game's levels benefit so much from the atmospheric background music. I think it would have done wonders if Bloodborne and even Dark Souls 3 had some.
There is no other way around. Fountainhead Palace just took atmosphere and beauty to the next level when it comes to fromsoftwares level design. It's a cool concept from the very beginning: a japanese temple built around giant sakuras and flooded by a lake with crystal clear waters. Put there a whole microcosm that is the culture of the palace nobels, and you have a masterpiece
8. Abandoned Dungeon - It's kinda cool, and I like the atmosphere and storytelling, but it's just ok gameplay-wise. 7. Ashina Depths - Decent to strong in all the broader elements - gameplay, presentation,and story - but never one of the game's best in any of them. ' 6. Hirata Estate - Very strong story and gameplay, but visuals are decent at best. 5. Sunken Valley - Probably the weakest area in terms of story, but very solid in everything else. 4. Senpou Temple - Gorgeous in the morning and sundown, decent at midday. Story is impeccable, and while gameplay is quite good, I don't personally find it to be one of the strongest in the game. The enemies are a highlight, but the level design and exploration feel pretty limited apart from some of the big branching optional sections. Also, the boss is weak, and yes, I do count bosses to the area's appeal. 3. Ashina Outskirts - Offers some of the strongest gameplay. While pretty linear as a whole, it's a good thing for a starting area, and these linear bits are still layered and open-ended enough to offer variety and options to encounters, with secrets off the beaten path. Visually stunning, the ongoing battle in the late-game really adds to the presentation. 2. Ashina Castle - Best selection of bosses and enemies in the entire series. Very semi-linear and open-ended (for the most part), while also serving as the major hub of the Sekiro world. Lore and storytelling is also unmatched, for obvious reasons. Visuals is the weakest point, as it's VERY similar to the Outskirts and, as a big appreciator of the smaller details in environmental design, I can't deny that once you've traversed two or three rooftops, you've pretty much traversed them all.Still very pleasing to the eyes, tho. 1. Fountainhead Palace - The most gorgeous of them all, extremely fun, and very important narratively. While also having a bit of the "grappled to one rooftop, you've grappled to them all" problem that hurts exploration a mite, there is good variety in the area's broader visual design. The Divine Realm certainly doesn't hurt. Wish it had at least one unique mini-boss (the carp doesn't count and Shizu is a gimmick, if a cool one). To be clear, when I say level design, it's not just shortcuts or optional side-routes. It's also about how layered the different sections are, if they offer options and boons to enemy engagements, whether you can reach the same point through different paths, etc. Great video all in all, mah Chad. If you're planning to do an Elden Ring area ranking, you should probably include the minor and medium legacy dungeons like Castle Morne, Shunning Grounds, and Nokron/Siofra Aqueduct on the list too, since Miyazaki did seem to refer to them as such in a recent interview.
25:13 This didn’t happen to me in Sekrio or any other souls game. But now that you say this I’m actually going to integrate that into the legacy dungeons for Shadow of the Erdtree to not only get a bunch or runes and make sure I don’t miss anything. But also to just go through the area again and fight all the enemies. Cool experience, going to do this with SOTE :)
god i fucking love sekiro so much like dont get me wrong i love all the mainline fromsoft games but sekiro just hits different, everything works for me
Sekiro is probably the single most consistent FromSoft game in my mind - aside _maybe_ from that small poison swamp area with the snipers, I can't think of a single bit I didn't enjoy. I definitely can't claim the same for ER or the Souls games. Hell, even the spooky gimmick area ended up being both atmospheric and fun to explore!
11:13 the solution to chained ogre is simple, don’t stand directly in front of him, his animations are long enough to allow you to strafe to his side and consistently land attacks
10 seconds in, but thank you for valuing quality over quantity in fromsoft games compadre Edit: I can see this reflected in the detail you go into when considering where to rank the areas too
Dang, I'd put foutainhead near the bottom. Aesthetically I agree it's near perfect and I like the NPCs, but Mibu Manor is a godawful migraine if you can't find the optimal route, the Great Colored Carp is the worst stealth section in the game with what could have been a moment even more memorable than first meeting the Sunken Valley Serpent, the trial-and-error "oops you lose" enemy placement for the Nobles, the area not containing a single good mini-boss, and it all ends with a gimmick cutscene boss. The sword and spear warriors in the area are its only upside gameplay-wise, and that to me is nowhere near enough to bring it into the upper half of the areas in the game. (But still a fantastic video and you got a sub from me!)
The enemies of ashina depths actually make perfect sence. Yes they lack originality since most of them are reused but they still fit. The gunmen are in the poison pool because its literally right below the sunken valley, its the same location. the mist Noble is an enemie from fountainhead palace and was most likely placed there by the corrupted monk to protect him, and the villagers are villagers.
i agree that the vibes in fountainhead are stunning, but i hate the okami warriors for some reason. those soccer ball kicking mfs are so annoying to deal with, especially at the flower viewing stage when there’s a million of them. thankfully you can skip most of them by sneaking across the ground.
Man, most of my Sekiro playthoughs end at Fountainhead palace cause i just dont want to leave. Then i get a craving for another playthrough a few months later and have to relearn how to play the game in the toughest area before i can start another NG. 🤣
I ran around for ages trying to find what was hitting me with lightning in fountainhead, i didnt know it was the Okami leader and I killed them and didn't put realise that was the reason I could now swim.
i still feel like ashina castle beats fountainhead, i always hate having to go through mibu manor since it's so punishing to mess up there and the way the palace nobles kill you feels really unsatisfying. also, i would put the sunken valley above ashina outskirts purely for how pretty the bodhisattva valley looks.
@@chadofastora Same. I LOVED Fountainhead, and all, but I thought Morgott was a FAR better final fight than Divine Dragon, and there was more depth, paths, and enemy variety imo.
My least favorite is Ashina castle cus I got lost and had to look up how to reach Genichiro. Favorite is mountain cus I get rice there and rice is precious
Not a fan of fountainhead palace, especially on first play-through. Not sure why they made it so difficult to find the way to the Pot Noble and the Great Carp Bell.
Sunken Valley Gunfort is also for me top tier but the monkey cave isnt as nice as it has a overwhelming amount of greenness and the monkeys and it didnt have good figjts except the guardiwn ape
@@OmegaMetroid93 It’s a move you can unlock called “anti air deathblow”. There’s like a total of 7ish foes in the game that have airborne moments where you’re able to use it on them.
@@OmegaMetroid93you have to make sure to buy the skill from blackhat badger before you progress too far into the game, he’s over by the old grace idol down to the left in the house with the big hole in the roof
Sekiro is my first FromSoft game, and I have zero idea why people hate the Chained Ogre, as I, legitimately, beat him on the first try. Didn't seem that hard to me.
@@monkeyeattail Sometimes it’s a matter of luck, and everyone does things differently. There are some bosses in these games where I thought their difficulty was way overhyped, and then had my ass handed to me on the 2nd playthrough
for me, the big problem of sekiro's areas is the fact that we have to go back to places already seen. 3 time to ashina castel ? it's not normal in my opinion
Chained ogre ain't that bad tbh. Yeah the grab attacks have bad hitboxes but you gotta take that fight slow. The close range grab is too fast to be in any part of the attack but if youre paying attention you just dodge backward. The other grab is shit i admit but it doesnt 1shot so its fine ig.
Says Sekiro focuses on quality over quantity when it reuses almost every main boss and each mini boss is used like 5 times. Otherwise its a great ranking.
This is just wrong. The only ones that are re-used are: The headless The purple Warriors (2) The drunk guys(2) and one has armor and fire Ogre (3) Genichiro only last fase. Generals i guess like 5 Sword ninjas like 4 Centipede guys(2} Monk(2) but The First has less attacks Snake ladies(2) And monkeys (2) Bull (2) BUT The Sakura one is not on The Main Path So The most who are re-used are The minibosses and you are being way too hiperbulous
