Why Sekiro is TOO HARD ¦ Examining the “Skill Issue” 

I died a lot to him too, but that's where the combat really clicked for me and I learnt to be aggressive as well as defensive. After that fight, I wouldn't say the rest of the game was "easy" exactly... but I died a lot less and every fight was so much more satisfying

Same I hate that first grapple

nah monkeh is worse

same dude

I'm currently at this exact spot on my first play through 😂 it's definitely teaching me to "git gud"

I stopped playing the game after the realization that it's basically a rythm game and in the time it would take me to get good I could start playing the piano again and git gud at that and I would actually have a useful skill acquired instead of just a videogame completed.

​@Otto JK cringe. Piano is useful? Lol

@@raijinoflimgrave8708 I'm not religious but my local church always offers good money to pianists to visit summer camps to play a few hymns. And one doesn't need to be even that good to get hired.

@@otto_jk talking bout church camp and pianos in the RU-vid comments there’s no way you’re real

Y'all are killing me fr💀

I have played the more modern Fromsoft games (DS, ER, BB, Sekiro, AC) and what I notice the biggest difference is the other games make you dodge and attack but Sekiro rewards you to face the bosses head on making it very exciting and tactical.

It feels like an anime battle

@@anonfinally1692and bloodborne really rewards trading blows and immense aggression with the rally system

@@Nyarly-san I agree with you it's my second favorite behind Sekiro. It is very good.

Problem is hanbei only teaches you how to parry using the most tame and easy movesets, and won't really prepare you for what's to come ahead. Kind of like how cemetery of ash was nothing more than just a bunch of hollows but then there's Gundyr as a tutorial boss. Only difference is DS3 plays entirely differently.

@@colossaltitan3546 I agree, but there are several gamers who struggle with generals or some common enemies too.

inner genichiro and isshin both help me hella with perfecting deflects

agree 100% i would beat genichiro in memories over and over again even if i won

@@colossaltitan3546 I disagree. Hanbei was crucial for me to understand the way the game works and how it expects you to fight. I went from struggling against General Naomori Kawarada to beating Gyoubu Oniwa on my first try. The key was spending about an hour with Hanbei and practicing the game mechanics, developing a fundamental understanding of Sekiro. He changed my experience from frustratingly difficult to very enjoyable.

Agreed

exactly like an actual life and death sword duel. do it perfectly or die

I played sekiro once 2 years ago and couldn’t fall in love with in. Then elden ring came and quickly grabbed my attention. I then gave sekiro another try and it’s combat system is second to none out there imo

Good advice for any challenge in general

A true Shinobi hones his mind, body, sword and spirit to perfection.

thank you, to really no hit a boss with no DB And Charmless, i had to get in a meditative flow state heavily, any outside thoughts i have will have me fumble😂😂

Are you Chief? Captain? Sheriff? No. I am Marshal. Marshal Arts. Nice to meet you.

@@tydendurler9574😭😭😭

I love Sekiro for the exact same reason, the rhythm, clear headed focus, and most of all pressure required reminds me very much of my kickboxing and Muay Thai spars

I love the moment when you are just in a perfect react mode and suddenly you just flow with the parries, jumps, attacks... its like getting in the zone, you need to enter to that zen state to beat them... its amazing

Ill be on that soon sadly stuck on 7 spears im doomed

Congrats, my brother💪.

I feel i cheese the game. I got through the entire game baiting out certain moves from bosses, stealthing at every opportunity, and spamming the parry button to some degree.

@@RealityBasedits not a cheese when the game hands you the mechanics to do what you do

@@sortasour2964 fair enough

​@@RealityBasedyou probably didn't cheese as much as you think as many are patched Even then, cheesing is more difficult to me at least

Yup. Ghosts of Tsushima felt like an arcade sword game after Sekiro. And I love them both but man the combat of Sekiro is more relentless and fierce.

Less brain power for Sekiro, more coordination and reaction time based. Not really a Soulsborne combat system tbh, more like CoD for Dark Souls. I preferred the more varied combat from before, it gave the advantage to cunning well read players / invaders

I don't like the dark souls gameplay to be honest. But i do love sekiro really much. Wished they had more games like this. I also didn't like the gameplay from Elden ring, i only played the game because I loved the exploration and the beautifull world you're in. This got me through alot of the game

@@tobiasmccallum9697 it's less reaction time and more like learning each enemy combination like a difficult riff in guitar hero.

@@jamesbrains1350 guitar hero is actually a great analogy, both require huge coordination and timing. Dark souls is as much about the time you put in before the fight (builds, play style etc) as the boss fight its self. Its more a game for planning and forward thinking etc, but also more clunky because of that. OnS is either rage quit or cakewalk depending on if you have the right kit / upgrades / build

You’re absolutely right. You read the wall scroll that’s right behind the Elite and it tells you directly how to do it.

Being told how to do it is different from learning a move that goes against instincts at the 3rd phase of a difficult fight It's also kind against the Difficult but fair philosophy of the game. Yes you're suppose to die a lot but learning a boss' patterns also stems from within the fight itself. Death is simply the result of too many mistakes or getting hit by a strong move that was blantly obvious and easy to deal with. All of which is on the player What happened with Lightning reversal was not obvious. And requires a bit of practice. Even as someone who knew Genichiro was gonna do that because I watched video before getting my hands on the game, it still felt kinda unfair. Knowing I would've taken more tries to beat him had I not been on YT

@@potatoesblink3299 How is that not also on the player? It’s almost the exact same way perilous attacks are handled. Only difference is you learn about the reversal through a scroll that explains and even has a painting of how to do it, on a wall. Plus, if you know how lightning works in real life, then it should be pretty obvious.

@InTheMindOfDavid You're so right! When there's a thunderstorm outside I grab my katana and start jumping around so I can throw it away from me. ???? The hell are you on about, dude😂?

@@InTheMindOfDavid Perilous attacks are taught to you gradually against sub bosses that aren't as punishing. You have time to breath in these concepts. The Makiri Counter tutorial in Hirata is up against a basic enemy who has lots of stabs, not to mention you do find out about it early on cuz one of the first skills you learn. Also, initiating a counter by pressing one button at the right time is common in video games, right? BUT purposely getting hit midair is NOT. So it's not an "I can just do that, scenario" You don't have time to breath in these concepts when you're worried about the progress you fought for in an intense boss fight. Not to mention the fact that Way of Tomoe is intimidating as fuck, giving players the mentality not to play around (he's easier in hindsight but no way first time players would know that) So no. Lightning Reversal isn't obvious It's not a difficult concept to grasp, but it's difficult to grasp with the context of Genichiro's encounter.

There are a few boss skips tbf.

@@maximusstorm1215 yeah but they are more so glitches than actual skips.

You can still weasel your way through with kiting, but you have to learn just as much as the normal game Become the one armed weasel

Yeah, like most bosses requiring 2+ deathblows so rly the only cheese you can get is doing one stealthed and the rest is again still up to you

It just hard to CHEESE this game.

Yօʊ ʄʀօʍsօʄᴛ αռɖ ꜱᴏʊʟꜱʙօʀռɛ ꜰαռʙօʏꜱ αʀɛ ꜱօʍɛ օʄ ᴛɦɛ ꜱᴛʊᴘɨɖɛꜱᴛ αռɖ ʍօꜱᴛ ɛʟɨᴛɨꜱᴛ, ʊռᴘʀօɖʊᴄᴛɨᴠɛ αռɖ ʊꜱɛʟɛꜱꜱ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ օꜰ ᴛɦɛ cʊʙɨᴄʟɛ օꜰ ᴅᴏառꜱᴄʟօառꜱ ᴄαʟʟɛᴅ ʀɛɖɖɨᴛ ᴊʊꜱᴛ ʟɨᴋɛ DSP! Yօʊ ɖʊʍʙ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ ꜱɦօʊʟɖ ꜱᴛɨᴄӄ ᴛօ աɦɨռɨռɢ օռ ʀɛᴅᴅɪᴛ, ɨᴛ'ꜱ ᴛɦɛ ᴏɴɛ ᴛɦɨռɢ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ɢօօɖ αᴛ ɨռ ᴛɦօꜱɛ օӼʏɢɛռ-աαꜱᴛɨռɢ ʍɨꜱᴛαӄɛꜱ ʏօʊ ᴄαʟʟ "ʟɨᴠɛꜱ", աօʀᴛɦʟɛꜱꜱ ɨᴅɨᴏᴛꜱ աɦօ ᴛɦɨռᴋ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜱօᴍɛᴛʜɨռɢ, աɦɛռ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜰαɨʟɛɖ αռɖ ᴛօχɨᴄ αʙօʀᴛɨօռꜱ! 🤣

Wait until you are so good at it that you enter a zen like state during combat and can defeat bosses blindfolded.

Yeah, the next step is "I'm getting it" and the next step after that is "the flow". And suddenly you are a sword saint.

Im on my first play through currently as well and I spent 3 hours and over 40 attempts at Genichiro and the combat system finally clicked for me and it became a beautiful dance and I beat him to a pulp and screamed in frustration. You gotta stick through the frustration

For each boss Gyobu: firecrackers (highly recommended) whichever depletes first (posture or health) Lady Butterfly: Shuriken (highly recommended), Whirlwind Slash (recommended), snap seeds (borderline requirement) Genichiro: Ichimonji Double (highly recommended), Axe (recommended), firecrackers (if you want I guess) Way of Tomoe: Mist Raven Feathers (recommended), Sakura Dance (highly recommended) Folding Screen Monkeys: speedrun strategy (requirement) False Monk: snap seeds (borderline requirement), firecrackers (borderline requirement), fist full of ash (borderline requirement) Ape: oil and flame vent (highly recommended), firecrackers (highly recommended), spear (recommended), lazuli umbrella (recommended) Owl: ako sugar (recommended), divine confetti (recommended) True Monk: firecrackers (borderline requirement), fist full of ash (borderline requirement), High Monk (highly recommended) Divine Dragon: a big bag of marijuana (highly recommended) Way of Tomoe: ako sugar (recommended) Mortal Draw (recommended) Sword Saint Isshin: Ichimonji Double (highly recommended), Mortal Draw (recommended), Floating Passage (recommended), Sakura Dance (highly recommended), umbrella (recommended), firecrackers (recommended), raven feathers (recommended), yashariku sugar (recommended), ako sugar (recommended), divine confetti (highly recommended)

@@notproductiveproductions3504bag of marijuana? Xd

Oh cool, I didn't know about the confeiti thing! And I agree. The charm and bell demon are TOUGH.

actually Ongbal showed that you even can PARRY the terror orbs lol.

No thank you :D :D

@@CommandPromptGaming you can deflect the terror beam with divine confetti, you also need divine confetti to do aerial deathblows against the shichiman warriors.

@@CommandPromptGaming anti air skill which you can buy from smoll boy merchant basicly allows you to beat that void boss in 10 sec. As Well as useing finger shinobi tools aginst headless allows you to beat the shit out of them. So there are ways around the bosses, (Well around side/optional bosses) Just In a diffirent way

I also recommended my friends to leave that fight and continue playing the main story. People naturally go to Hirata Estate but it's just a side mission. Once they continue the main game and grind some praying beads and groud seeds, they start having an easier time.

Mine too although I had the fire crackers, spear, & shuriken when I started playing it and left the game for almost a year. Now that I finally finished it realized how useful the umbrella is.

Its really the only way to beat the demon of hatred.​@@sebastianc2077

I cannot live without sabimaru or flame vent

I feel like veterans finds the umbrella so much mire helpful

Okinagas flame vent plus oil is so good. Sabimaru for purple guys on fountain Head. Spears for the ape. I admit my knowledge of prosthetics is lacking even after 5 playthroughs

Stop the cap.

What?

"Cap" is slang for "fabrication" or "lying." 🙂👍

Go play Furi, Celeste and Super Meat Boy ☠️

@@TheHispanicmaid I also beat sekiro as my first from soft game, I doubt they’re capping

The problem is that the instruction isn't clear enough

​@@MadZwe1How is it not? It literally says which buttons you need to press

Yeah, but it only tells you. Practicing the maneuver beforehand would have been nice. I also don't know if the scroll tells you that you have to be in the air to do it. It's a tough counter to hit for the first time.

@@CommandPromptGaming The original scroll tells you to hit the attack button before landing (implying you're in the air). Actually putting it into action though was definitely not easy at first. Fantastic video by the way man. I actually got hard stuck on juzou the drunkard for like 3 hours until I realized I can't weasel out of just practicing the parry timings and being aggressive. My next hard lock was genichiro ashina, for about 4-5 hours. I was even looking up whether it was feasible to beat him with the stats I had at that point. Eventually I learned it was literally just a pure skills issue. After those two, I've never been stuck on a boss for more than 1-2 hours now that I understand what the game was forcing me to understand. I beat first guardian ape on my first try. Getting rid of the instinct to try and dodge attacks was very difficult

@CommandPrompt you can just practice the counter in the genichiro fight 💀 it's not like you are going to best him first time

Yօʊ ʄʀօʍsօʄᴛ αռɖ ꜱᴏʊʟꜱʙօʀռɛ ꜰαռʙօʏꜱ αʀɛ ꜱօʍɛ օʄ ᴛɦɛ ꜱᴛʊᴘɨɖɛꜱᴛ αռɖ ʍօꜱᴛ ɛʟɨᴛɨꜱᴛ, ʊռᴘʀօɖʊᴄᴛɨᴠɛ αռɖ ʊꜱɛʟɛꜱꜱ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ օꜰ ᴛɦɛ cʊʙɨᴄʟɛ օꜰ ᴅᴏառꜱᴄʟօառꜱ ᴄαʟʟɛᴅ ʀɛɖɖɨᴛ ᴊʊꜱᴛ ʟɨᴋɛ DSP! Yօʊ ɖʊʍʙ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ ꜱɦօʊʟɖ ꜱᴛɨᴄӄ ᴛօ աɦɨռɨռɢ օռ ʀɛᴅᴅɪᴛ, ɨᴛ'ꜱ ᴛɦɛ ᴏɴɛ ᴛɦɨռɢ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ɢօօɖ αᴛ ɨռ ᴛɦօꜱɛ օӼʏɢɛռ-աαꜱᴛɨռɢ ʍɨꜱᴛαӄɛꜱ ʏօʊ ᴄαʟʟ "ʟɨᴠɛꜱ", աօʀᴛɦʟɛꜱꜱ ɨᴅɨᴏᴛꜱ աɦօ ᴛɦɨռᴋ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜱօᴍɛᴛʜɨռɢ, աɦɛռ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜰαɨʟɛɖ αռɖ ᴛօχɨᴄ αʙօʀᴛɨօռꜱ! 🤣

LET'S GOOOO!!!! That's awesome news, dude!!!!

Yeah basically how everyone experiences trh game. Genichiro is the stop where you have to learn the game.

@@zakanyimen Exactly, but sword saint isshin is a different story.

By the end of the game you’ll be laughing at Genichiro

Fuck yea, keep on keeping on. There's way more in store for you.

Damn no death run? Touch grass man but sick achievement

@@benjaminwilliam6643 Dude no death run is easily doable compared to no hit runs

the goal of Sekiro is to make you a better gamer, and congratulation for you.

@@benjaminwilliam6643Honestly not that hard. It's definitely by far the easiest From game to no death run as a regular human being. No weapon or build options means that the game is immaculately balanced towards you from the get go, you are basically always optimal, you just have to learn.

Problem with that is you can't learn it through text. It's like explaining someone how to swim, throwing them in the pool and expecting that they'll swim. The better (and usual) way to do it is by introducing an enemy that has that mechanic in a lower stakes context, not putting it as a new moveset in the third and final phase of a boss fight, which happened to be hardest boss at that point in the game. The little note that appears during the fight is adding insult to injury, expecting that the player will split their focus between the fight and the explanation on the corner.

@@QuartoModulado if you know how to read, and then apply it in practice when you fight Genichrio, it’s really not that complicated 😂😂. I’m not tryna sound like an ass, but the game literally tells you how to counter it, it’s up to you to learn how to do it and practice until you master the combat

@@BonzerMrT The game tells you how to do it mid fight it's the whole point, it doesn't stop the game to display the message either. The game gives me opportunities to learn many other mechanics the proper way, but they didn't with this. It's something unexpected (parrying a non-physical attack, I can't parry fire for an instance) and executed unlike any other parry (air only, which is something you can't do for normal attacks unless you buy a specific skill). The game gives you one explicit chance to learn it, a prompt that appears once mid fight while the boss is attacking you. It's not easy and I think if you did it on your first try you either got lucky (on execution or because Genichiro gave you time to read) or you already knew how to do it from a video. But you probably didn't do it on your first try or the second. I think most players didn't know how to do it from that prompt alone. No person can concentrate on two things at once like that. Also I think you did sound like an ass by saying that the only requirement is something easy and obvious (reading).

@@QuartoModulado - I'm not a very good gamer, my reaction time is dead average at ~250ms, I suck at learning combos in fighting games, have too low APM for MOBAs or RTSes, and generally get tunnel vision and have horrible situational awareness. Despite all that, I read the scroll, understood that I simply had to jump, block, release and did correctly the first 2-3 times. In fact, I don't think I've ever failed to do it vs Genichiro, but I have failed several times vs the okami warriors. My point is that difficulty is relative and different people have problems with different elements of a game.

@@AlkisGD agreed 100%. Just like you there were others that did it. I think we can guess which parts tend to cause more problem than others though, and we can also discuss design options with a certain margin of confidence if they were good or not. IMO having that one prompt as the only one that's certain mid-fight was a shitty option. I had read the scroll too and I think it took a while before the scroll and actually fighting Genichiro for me because I ended up exploring other parts of the area before the fight AND died a ton of times before even reaching the third phase. The one time you can actually read how to do it is in a scroll with no context that it's something you'll need, that can be missed and that the game has no way to ensure I'll see it before the fight. For an instance I could've beaten the mini-boss that guards the scroll on a sunday, tried to fight Genichiro and died a couple of times before phase too and then only play again on the next weekend. Proper way to do it is either by showing the player how to do it in a lower stakes environment or straight up pausing the game mid fight to display the text.

i swear barely anyone talks about sekiro winning GOTY 2019 or even ppl hearing about it especially when it came to 2022s GOTY where it was either GOW ragnarok that was going to win or Elden Ring but some ppl were too biased and kept sticking to one game while bashing the other game

I was told it's a cakewalk from Sifu (i call it BS) but as my first souls game it's still doable for me (I'm currently near to isshin at 60 hours)

@@arezeus5289 I went into Sifu after Sekiro. After doing a 20 yr old fresh run in Sifu I came back to Sekiro and I no deathed the entire game fresh save. It is a cakewalk for sure,Sifu is brutal

Huh. I am really good at Sifu and have almost gotten the platinum in it, and then went to Sekiro. But I can’t for the life of me get past even Genichiro. I know, Skill Issue, but man is Sifu easier for me.

Yeah, I didnt learn that instead of blocking/deflecting you can even dodge torward till I fought Owl father

Sekiro is my favorite game too and the main reason would be the same as yours, the feeling of mastery that comes with overcoming the game’s challenges. So i will reccomend another game that is unmatched in that regard when it comes to indies: Furi. It’s a boss-rush action game with a bit of bullet-hell, and it’s the only game that has ever come close to the feeling i get when playing sekiro, even other souls games that i consider as masterpieces (DS1, DS3, BB and ER) don’t give me the same absurdly satisfying feeling that i get when playing Furi or Sekiro. Another reccomendation is Nioh 2, the game is completely brutal, especially in the beginning but when you “get good” you become a completely different player and it’s extremely complex and has a very big campaign + great coop (way better than Souls coop). But yeah Furi is an underappreciated hiddengem and Masterpiece of an indie game that deserves way more credit , praise and attention comsidering it’s quality.

@@minecraftgravityguy I heard of furi before but never got time to play it so I might check it out soon , thanks for recommendation Also there's an indie game coming out soon in june called nine sols it's a sekiro like game and it looks really good with it's combat and artstyle

This. You treated Sekiro like a different game. I think the main reason people found it too difficult is because many tried to play the game like a souls/borne game. I remember in the upcoming weeks of Sekiro's release people were playing bloodborne to prepare for Sekiro because they saw fast pased combat. When the game final came out. I saw many streamers try and play like bloodborne and got their buts handed to them then complain about the game being trash rather than learn the mechanics. Many gave up at Genichiro. Some changed their opinion when they actually learned the mechanics

sekiro IS a diferent game, its not a souls like at all. at most it has some of the most basic similarities, but its in noway even close to ds in anything besides the most superficial aspects.

@@marcosdheleno It originally started off as a new Tenchu game and that's what it reminded me of when I saw the trailers. The devs decided to go in a different direct but the Tenchu element is there. People See Fromsoft game, idols for resting/fast travel and sen (superficial similarities like you said) and think it's like a souls game.

Hell yeah, dude. Now you can take on the world!

they wont sadly

I felt so surprised when i wanted to to know what happened next in the story instead of wanting to fight the next boss. Dark Souls really screwed up my image of story in a fromsoft game.

​@@flirexgaming5549how do you know you know what game fromsoft will do in the future

@@jaygopinath1694 Because Miyazaki or whoever it is said they don't do sequels in that regard for the souls series. Dark Souls share the same name, but they aren't sequels in that sense. He could just be talking, and I know he was specifically speaking about Bloodborne and Sekiro, so who knows. It would be a shame if the only other parry based game even close is Lies of P. Even if it isn't a sequel I think another with that combat system in mind would be great.

yeah but no customization, so its trash compared to Souls games

I swear from all I've played and watched people playing I've never found the prosthetics usefull at all, and I am the type of player that likes to use all mechanics so Ive tried very hard

@@MediateTax Dude i feel you 1000%

@@MediateTax the base game can be beaten without prosthetics at all. It is arguably easier to do so, since you are not distracted from the swordplay. I found the firecracker the most useful, even against human bosses - while spamming it to do damage felt like cheesing, it can create an opening for healing at any time. Shurikens were more useful for mobs/animals, than for boss battles. The shield was great for defense, but it also felt like violating the git-gud principle. I did not understand the mist raven at all, but it could've been used for defense similar to the shield. Lazulite flame-thrower, Phoenix umbrella and Malcontent are necessary for some end-game bosses/mini-bosses. All tools have niche uses that are entirely optional. Ichimonji can keep your posture low. On NG+ charmless, the shield became useless to me - since blocking is useless. The axe was great for one-shoting mobs, which were otherwise tedious. Shurikens can make bosses chase you, interrupting their posture recovery. The firecracker was still the best of them all. Ichimonji can still keep your posture low. On NG+ charmless, bell demon, base health - well timed umbrella/mist-raven are the only way to survive attacks, which cannot be deflected perfectly by sword. The mist raven feels broken. The shield's reflected force is great for damage. The axe can be used in combination with jumping/some combat arts. The firecracker is mostly useless, together with the healing gourd. Nothing can keep your posture low. The people speed-running the gauntlets use a lot of sen-throw and blue firecracker for quick posture damage. And the shield for cancelling slow "push-back" animations. TL;DR - anything other than firecracker for gourd drinking and Ichimonji/Big Damage is optional, depending entirely on how deep do you want to go.

@@MediateTax I find almost every single boss has a weakness to one of the prostetics and find them extremely useful. Gyoubu, both monks, both apes are all weak to the firecrackers. Tons of mini bosses are weak to the flame vent. The shurikens work great for lady butterfly or any long sword battle to chip at posture.

The firecracker felt like a must for the shura ending when fighting against Isshin with his fire sword that would light the whole room on fire. The umbrella was also a lifesaver when it came to the terror enemies. Also the flash attack was incredibly useful for long range enemies. There was very practical uses of different things but they weren't mandatory, they just made the game easier if you used them appropriately.

That *is* what I use if I don't have mortal draw, lol.

Yeah that surprised me. I used stealth at every opportunity during my first playthrough.

@@DawnSentinel I thought the same thing. Stealth in Sekiro felt not essential, but also rewarding. I can't stand to feel like I am being punished for using mechanics the game tells me to use, but stealth in Sekiro is not one of them. You get rewarded heavily for mapping out an attack plan, running away if needed, and getting a stealth deathblow on a miniboss. It's optional, but the rewards are so great I don't know why you wouldn't use it. It's the only FS game like it, and every stealth kill against non-elite enemies is a one shot kill. Sekiro is just so masterfully designed in general it's hard to believe the same studio make Elden Ring. Elden Ring is a good game, but the combat feels so antiquated after playing Sekiro.

Yeah his take on tools and combat arts I cannot agree to at all. They only break the flow of combat if you don’t understand how and when to use them

Yօʊ ʄʀօʍsօʄᴛ αռɖ ꜱᴏʊʟꜱʙօʀռɛ ꜰαռʙօʏꜱ αʀɛ ꜱօʍɛ օʄ ᴛɦɛ ꜱᴛʊᴘɨɖɛꜱᴛ αռɖ ʍօꜱᴛ ɛʟɨᴛɨꜱᴛ, ʊռᴘʀօɖʊᴄᴛɨᴠɛ αռɖ ʊꜱɛʟɛꜱꜱ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ օꜰ ᴛɦɛ cʊʙɨᴄʟɛ օꜰ ᴅᴏառꜱᴄʟօառꜱ ᴄαʟʟɛᴅ ʀɛɖɖɨᴛ ᴊʊꜱᴛ ʟɨᴋɛ DSP! Yօʊ ɖʊʍʙ ᴛʀօɢʟօɖʏᴛɛꜱ ꜱɦօʊʟɖ ꜱᴛɨᴄӄ ᴛօ աɦɨռɨռɢ օռ ʀɛᴅᴅɪᴛ, ɨᴛ'ꜱ ᴛɦɛ ᴏɴɛ ᴛɦɨռɢ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ɢօօɖ αᴛ ɨռ ᴛɦօꜱɛ օӼʏɢɛռ-աαꜱᴛɨռɢ ʍɨꜱᴛαӄɛꜱ ʏօʊ ᴄαʟʟ "ʟɨᴠɛꜱ", աօʀᴛɦʟɛꜱꜱ ɨᴅɨᴏᴛꜱ աɦօ ᴛɦɨռᴋ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜱօᴍɛᴛʜɨռɢ, աɦɛռ ʏօʊ'ʀɛ ꜰαɨʟɛɖ αռɖ ᴛօχɨᴄ αʙօʀᴛɨօռꜱ! 🤣

After hearing those words it was literally the the best 30$ I spent in my life. I am currently on my 5th playthrough shitting on every boss and enemy in the game.

When I first got the game at release, I quit the game for 2 years when I went up against the drunk and ogre. I came back 2 years later and fell in love with the game.

I rage quit for 3 months and then came back and beat the games main ending and shura ending, and now 4 months later im trying to get all achievements

This is exactly what happened to me. I got it on launch rage quit at lady butterfly didn’t play for 4 months. Got back into it and then rage quitted again at the true monk fight for 2 months. Then I was finally able to finish it. Now it’s one of my all time favorite games

Same. I was stuck on lady butterfly for months, then came back and did the cheese on her. But after that I'm flying through the game. After her I've now learned and clicked how the game works, so hopefully revenge will be sweet next time.

it took me a while to realized that there's a certain sound the opponent makes when they deflect that lets you know they are about to follow up with an attack.

I think this is the main thing that isn't explained well enough, I needed to see a video talk about that AFTER I finished the game to realize this, and it completely shifted how I played in new game +, I feel like it's a core mechanic that should be explained better, it's basically an indication that it's not your turn anymore

@@Laezar1 "explained better" it shouldve been told outright lmao, I was really scared not knowing when my opponent will strike after I try attack back, especially with isshin

@@larrytherustyboii7442 It's technically said, but it's very unclear, they tell you opponents can deflect but they don't really explain you the implication and when they tell you that you don't have a very good grasp on the difference between a block and a deflect so you don't even realize they're talking about different things

@@Laezar1 fromsoft really do be treating us like baby chicks XD mother bird: you good bro? ok good, get tf off the nest then YEET!

Did you skip owl father at hirata?? 22 hours is brisk my man.

@@johntomaro7202 yeah, unfortunately, I didn't realise I could fight him there until it was too late :( I plan on doing that on my next playthrough though!

Yeup. It's why games like Sekiro are at least breathes of fresh air.

I had this problem recently, in my current first playthrough of Elden Ring I thought that I was going to have a hard time against the Valiant Gargoyles since I've heard that it gave players a lot of trouble, I beat it in 2 tries and thought that I might've been overleveled since I've explored most of Caelid before the fight.

My experience with this was with Code Vein, the game's level cap is 300, but the recommended level I usually hear for the final boss is ~60-75, in the end I decided to do my first playthrough at level 1, as equipment is not gated based on anything to do with levelling up I figured I wasn't loosing out on anything. Was an absolute blast to do, and I am pretty sure it also skewed my idea of which bosses are hard, since what I generally hear agreed as the two hardest boss in the game I found fairly easy, and one that I usually hear as not too bad was the second hardest to me. By the time I was dealing with the first of the two regarded as hard I already had to learn the lesson it was teaching, while the other I mitigated the worst of with my gear. As for the one I struggled with, the issue was stamina, only being able to fit a few attacks into openings. Probably wouldn't have had half as much fun with the game had I not done this challenge because it was such a breath of fresh air. Then for my New Game + playthroughs for the other endings I levelled up as I went and it was like playing an entirely different game in comparison and gave me the context to make those conclusions about why I formed different opinions of the difficulty than the norm. Levelling up boosts your health, damage, stamina and the power of the NPC ally character you are with, at level 1 things quickly get to the point where the most they can really do is give you enough breathing room to better learn the boss AI by watching, with it being a challenge to keep them alive through the whole fight. Meanwhile at a reasonable level the better ones can nearly solo bosses and are able to actually take a beating. the difference between level 1 and 100 is something like twice the stamina, three times the health and half again as much damage. Wow I rambled hard, still it is interesting just how big a difference there is between playing a game able to out power your problems and having your only option being to out skill them, even if the games themeselves are superficially similar or even the exact same game.

At no point in any Souls game should it be REQUIRED to grind to accomplish something, and yet it often is. Why do I need 30 Souvenir of Reprisal to get Moonlight Blade? Why do I need 30 Dragon Scales to get the Dragon Stone Torso. They're not even hard to get, they're just tedious.

ProTip: In pretty much every Souls game, Elden Ring included, if you only level up using the souls you get from bosses you'll stay more or less right in the sweet spot of the difficulty curve for the entire game. A little less true in ER simply because the game is so big & the definition of a "boss" is alot looser but still.

Fr idk why but i find it easier to parry blades than fist , that ape first phase got me stressed and rage quit a few times then came the 2nd phase and its easy af

You just keep your distance and bait out the right attacks when you follow up you play safe just don’t get your ass kicked in phase 1 by 50%hp he starts doing the leap and it’s very punishable.

only one ape? i take two

@@MrWinczakos dat fight is ez cos the ape already in its 2nd phase, the other ape is basicly a dumb ai version of the male ape

So much truth here. And this may be an unpopular hot take, but it's something Elden Ring completely lacked for me. I've "rage quit" every Fromsoft game at one point, though I always came back to beat them later, as just as you described, I couldn't stop thinking about some other way to beat the bastard who killed me over and over again. I've beaten DS3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro multiple times (Bloodborne only once since it was on my friend's PS--where's the PC remaster, Sony???), and always ended up hugely enjoying them, no matter how frustrated I got with them initially. Elden Ring I apathy quit. I got frustrated with it and stopped caring. I uninstalled the game and basically never thought about it again. I don't know why, but the game just never got me to care in the slightest, compared to all the other Fromsoft games.

Yeah, but is not exactly well presented and many people just ignore it or forgot about it.

@@JermyOS oh I know that I found it unintentionally I was mainly commenting it in order to let others know where to find it tbh

​@@JermyOSwell they do put an item right under the scroll to attract people to it, and often times if your camera is not pointed directly down reading the scroll will be the first prompt. Oh and then they still give you the tutorial anyways after the start of phase 3.

Indeed the reversal of the lightening in the lore of the game is considered a legend

Ppl really ignored that ? Man i search every corner in sekiro

Video games are all about fun man, I agree with you. Btw I completed all the sekiro endings and its the most fun for me. Whenever I beat a boss, it felt like a hit of heroin. Pure bliss

@@yugantbeniwal I get it. It's that way for me when playing through dark souls and bloodborne. Sekiro just isn't a game that's for me.

I beat the game vanilla and HATED it. I got halfway through NG+ and I ended up modding the game to be easier. It absolutely improved the game for me, because the fighting in this game is not satisfying for me. The aggressive blocked attack, deflect, deflect, deflect, deflect, get one hit in, aggressive blocked attack (for five minutes per fight) was so mind numbingly boring for me, when I'd win, I usually zoned out/eyes glazed. With the mods, you can actually fight mobs, buy and use consumables, and I really enjoyed the flow of the game. I finally felt like Sekiro was holding a real genuine sword - and that he was a dangerous shinobi. You might want to try Sekiro-The-Easy mod a try if you hate the vanilla fighting as much as I do.

It still feels a bit out of place. There really is no way of practicing this particular jump and counter without entering the bossbattle, and seeing as it's a 3-phase battle with only the third phase using this particular counter, it comes off as too little too late. What's worse is that you can't really practice it AFTER the bossbattle either until you finally face those lightning enemies in the place with the big fish. Again, too little too late. Though at least here you an get some practice before facing the big dragon, even though the dragon DOESN'T require you to time the lightning counter all that precisely. And after that? It's just Isshin, whose moveset is quite fast and who requires a lot of precise reactions, not to mention it's a huge open area and your vision may be obscured by the grass. I distinctly remember hitting a wall with isshin because of the fact that I hadn't really mastered the lightning counter. Great game though, one of my favorites for sure. But again, some more equal spread for practicing the lightning counter would have been nice.

@@RedFloyd469 the whole point of the game is death and rebirth. You’re supposed to have had played through the fights multiple times to learn the mechanics just like the games prior. Missing the prompt and then not learning the mechanics and blaming the game for not telling you soon enough or to practice is kinda on you.

@@RedFloyd469 I really think the lightning counter was more like a reward. A reward given to you after countering a series of attacks. I probably failed at it about 2-3 times total in the fight with Genichiro and Isshin. Actually I was delighted to find that Isshin is pulling lightning tricks because the failure rate is just so low, and as soon as he jumps in the air I’m smiling

@@liuby33 I managed to beat Isshin relatively quickly and I’m convinced it’s because he basically gave me his last phase by using lightning twice

Glad someone else actually mentioned this.

True, but IIRC you can first get it at Fountainhead Palace and if you already got this far, you definitely have what it takes to take down Isshin. The quitters quit much earlier than this.

Attack Power has diminishing returns, while skill points have exponential costs. I STRONGLY recommend not using the mask until you've unlocked EVERY other skill, or completing the skill trees becomes a nightmare. Even then, since the mask is only available right before the end of the game, the diminishing returns already make it negligible. The time spend grinding for skill points would be better spent practicing the boss you're stuck on in the first place.

@@66maybe66 I personally found 'practicing' Sword Saint to be like beating my head against a wall. At least with increasing Attack Power, diminishing returns or not, there was change. There was an increase to attack power, however small. Grinding out the attack power ups eventually helped shift the tide in my favor and allow me to beat Sword Saint where I was not able to before. I don't exactly recommend the grind for everyone, but if it's the difference between eeking out the win, or hanging up the game forever, unfinished, I would definitely say it's better to commit to the grind. But, that's just me.

@@YamiadraDJ I think the time of someone struggling with the sword saint who wants an edge would be better used getting some candy attack boost candy for the start of each of his phases, and upgrading and learning some of the shinobi tools and combat arts that can help out against him. The umbrella in particular lets you ignore some of his trickier attacks which is nice, and ichimonji double or empowered mortal draw are great ways to punish his own ichimonji for a tonne of damage. Not to say you were wrong for grinding for those extra attack points, just that because grinding in sekiro is very tedious and not very rewarding, for most people it should be a last resort when there are a lot of other lower hanging fruit that the average player can work on first.

I found it on Etsy a while back but I think the person who sells them doesn't anymore more. I can't find it on the site no matter how much I search, lol. Sorry, bro.

Make it yourself, should be pretty easy, print and then frame. It’ll be way more satisfying like defeating bosses with PURE skill.

I was in that boat several years ago but one day I said to myself f it, you can Parry and parrying is a solid option in Bloodborne. And then it just worked. Sekiro though, I call it a rhythm game and I've yet to get the rhythm the game

​​@@zangy3748dude. My first playthrough Maria took me 6 tries and by the end of it it was a straight parry sesh Definitely the intended method I think.

I mean apart from the grappling hook nothing is necessary. You can do everything by just using your sword and honestly in the beginning I pretty much did exactly that. I used my sword and the mikiri counter, plus the occasional confetti, since it is necessary at some points. But I mean in Dark souls nothing is necessary either, you can beat the games half naked using nothing but a wooden stick. But honestly prosthetics and even the combat arts do definitely more than just make a fight look more fun. They can make certain encounters easier by a ton. So I wouldn't say they were just added for style. The spear: Very useful against armored enemies but absolutely destroys the second phase of the giant ape once you knock him by pulling out the centipede. Purple umbrella: Blocks the apes scream and imo is most useful against the Shichimen Warrior. If you also have anti air deathblow you can just sit there behind the umberella and wait until they jump to one shot them. Fire crackers: Those can be used in many situations the bull in the divine palace can be triggered into running into a wall, allowing an immediate deathblow. You can also run towards the giant ape in the first phase and use firecrackers plus mortal draw two times and he is more or less dead before he gets up. In the dual ape fight you can run to the place where the second ape spawns before he is there and start spamming firecrackers which will fill up the posture almost immediately allowing you to kill him before the second one attacks you. Shuriken: Those make the lady butterfly fight easier, since you can throw them to get her down from the ropes, and you can also use them to prevent for example owl, to recover posture. Axe: Cracking shields is obvious but you can also use the fully upgraded one to do serious damage on the illusion of the corrupted monk. Fire umberella: Very good against Isshin Ashina and the demon of hatred. Whistle: The fully upgraded one is a blessing for the demon of hatred. Regarding the combat arts, there are some that mainly look cool and don't have that much actual use because they require too much timing or just aren't that strong. But there are some that make your life significantly easier: 1. Whirlwind slash: You get it early and it really helps against junks of enemies especially early on. 2. (Empowered) Mortal draw: Generally super strong, if you know how to approach bosses, this one does really heavy work. 3. Ichimonji double: Seems to be a favorite of a lot of people and it is just excellent, since it recovers posture but here the timing is of essence you need to find the right windows. 4. High Monk: Does good posture damage, it used to be very broken so they nerfed it, so not as good anymore but still usable against enemies with sweep attacks (which are most) 5: Sakura dance: The most recent one and added later but it makes deflecting lightning even easier and also looks cool, 6. Dragon Flash: Sadly you only aquire this after defeating the final boss but it is super powerful for subsequent runs. You can use it early in fights to chip some health off enemies, Helped me a lot against isshin in later runs.

I agree with the prospetics but u can sorta spam floating passage or Ichimoni

@@mtthew123 You can only spam them against regular enemies and not against bosses, since they require certain windows or will get interrupted. Also prosthetics are strong as hell if the right ones are used.

ill take that over rolling like a dumb ass in heavy armor

@@TheTrueVirus22 great explanations. I will just add that if you jump and use a slow combat art, it won't have a wind-up anymore. Great for Ichimonji, fully charges even a normal mortal draw for maximum damage. Firecrackers allow safe healing in any fight. Mist Raven is slept on, great for getting behind enemies. Ongbal killed 7 Seven Ashina Spears using Mist Raven and Mortal Draw. It also allows for lightning deflection without taking chip damage. Lazulite Axe dispels the illusions of Lady Butterfly, saving you the hustle of using snap seeds.

If you ever find the time in your life to play it you should even on your death bed

True

I remember it tool me ages the first time. I played it again after about a year off and beat him third try. I do miss the struggle sometimes but seeing how much better you can be is super rewarding

17:32-18:00 i've been playing sekiro for quite some months and I just learn that...

Hesitation is defeat

In dark souls, you hit the dodge button when you see an enemy attacking. In seikiro you hit the parry button when you see an enemy attacking. Y'all can go on and on about how they're sooooooo different, but on the whole they're really not 😂

@@ytsuxmuhd4998 "When shaking someones hand you move you arm forwards. When punching someone you also move your arm forwards. Therefore they are the same"

@@ytsuxmuhd4998”in dark souls, you press R1 to hit something, in Sekiro, you press R1 to hit something. They are the same.”

You're right, but I also think that would take away from it's charm just a little bit if it had options like the souls games. The fresh new set of rules is what *makes* Sekiro so unique.

I believe it’s curve is just right because I don’t agree with what you said about the samurai( I’m assuming the optional general at the start of the game) the generals are the best tutorial as they’re strong enough to discourage bad gameplay, but not strong enough to completely dominate you whilst having a big enough moveset to go over all the perilous attacks you should watch out for during the game

It does tell you pretty much the same thing as the prompt, though that boss should be a bit more obvious as it's laughably easy if you can press m2 twice whenever he sheathes his sword. But I guess it goes back to the no handholding

That's what the whole soulsbornekiroring series ends up being for a lot of people. It places challenges in front of them, and through overcoming those, they learn or get reminded that they can overcome the challenges in their lives.

I find it funny how so many git gud type people even bend the knee to Sekiro 😂 I'm amazed by how many people just want a game they can coast through and not be challenged

They could have put more love into training with Hanbei. Beyond sidestep and mikiri, it would have been nice to train the combat loop in a controlled environment.

my problem was that the game design actively encourages you to avoid combat. fighting the goons, especially when there is more than one of them, is a pain in the ass, pair this with the games really fun stealth mechanics and the fact that ninja are cool and shit, my gamer instinct initially told me that fighting my way through is the inferior strategy to taking enemies out with sneak attacks. this means that whenever i got to enemies who don't die to sneak attacks, the game becomes unimaginably difficult since i got basically zero practice on the games combat mechanics. then, when the first boss, who is, according to a conversation between two guards you can overhear prior to the battle, scared of fire, jumped through a bonfire to drop kick my ass, i got so pissed i dropped the game for a few months.

@@windhelmguard5295 you're talking about the literal first boss right after kuro gives you the sword? His overhead two handed strikes are so unbelievably slow and hard to fuck up that I always interpreted it as a tutorial of parrying

@@erich1380 that was a boss fight?

It isn't RPG, that is a huge deal breaker for me.

The sheer conceited arrogance of some people shines right through statements like this.

Sekiro just turned rolling into parry... Or perhaps jumping in rare occasions. Its different in style, but not much in difficulty

Elden Ring was also a game I put down after like 15 hours of fruitlessly trying to enjoy it. I just don't like games like these at all.

@@nousername2942 I mean are you even a fan or familiar with the souls series or the formula of it? Because if not why would you even bother playing it?

or just cheese the boss

Very good advice.

I did this for about a week for the last boss before realising that I wasn't getting mad, but I wasn't having any fun whenever I played. And that even before getting hard stuck I haddent actually enjoyed playing the game since around the guardian ape fight. I don't think it was a bad game, it's just a game that I didn't enjoy but was forcing myself to play because I liked Fromsofts other games

OR...change your approach. Why beat your head against a brick wall when a hammer exists? Every boss in the game has some way of breaking it and turning the odds in your favor. The game loves to cheat, so cheat right back.

Y’all play games like other people work on projects or a job

True.

original take

@@000ArDiLlA000 oh. I actually didn't know their damage increase. Thanks for telling me

W

I mean you don't need lapiz firecrackers, just running and anti air deathblow is enough to turn shichimen warrior into 2 seconds fight

Okay, but they're getting hit in the face repeatedly and just taking it. It looks ridiculous, and more realistic behavior would have them investigating it and not taking shard after shard😂.

@@CommandPromptGaming To be fair they could at least aim their gun towards the direction they got hit from to show them being in an investigative state. So yeah it really does look kinda stupid but at least it's consistent.

I know exactly what you mean. My favorite "secret dodge" is in Father Owl's fight. When he does his gun powder slash you can dodge straight through it if you time it correctly. Such a wonderfully put together game🙏.

@@CommandPromptGaming Probably the coolest way to deal with Owls Firecracker slash is to just do a thrust attack. It will stun him and interrupt the actual slash and move you just far enough forward to be behind the crackers when they explode. In phase 2 it even has the bonus that Owl will not transform into his Owl which he often does after the move.

YOU'VE GOT THIS!!!!

More time? You have infinite time to get comfortable