• FromSoftware Megathread XV: Soulsborne Dies Twice
    999 replies, posted
I'm so fucking bad with Mikiri counters, I can never land them.
Giraffe can actually be beaten without taking damage. How you're supposed to figure that out quickly is beyond me, especially since the game punishes you for dying.
Over the course of the last weekend I spent most of my time playing Sekiro, as a long time From Software fan I knew I had to play it at some point, luckily I had enough spare time on my hands. Unfortunately, I have a rather mixed opinion on the game and feel like it is a mediocre game that is only being elevated by high production values and the brand name of the developers. So, I just felt like sharing my opinion on the most recent release of From Software, also because it might prove unpopular. I am certainly conflicted regarding this game. -[There are no major spoilers in this, only mentioning a certain death mechanic and a very early game mini-boss]- I would like to judge the game on its own merits without comparing it to much to the previous Souls-like games. I just feel like I should justify myself a bit to give some background. Dark Souls 1 was such a memorable and unique experience to me, I instantly became a fan of the series and spent a ludicrous amount of playing these games. The exploration, combat, bosses, secrets and lore just kept me coming back. The pinnacle for me is Bloodborne, mostly because I sensed some sort of Dark Souls fatigue after playing the second one. Most of the games have a similar formula which resulted in some sort of fatigue to me. The games got so popular and it lost a bit of magic to me. Bloodborne innovated the gameplay by providing a great setting and changes to the combat. It still feels like the most wholesome game to me. Contrary to popular opinion, I disliked Dark Souls 3. It just felt underwhelming, the rethread of old concepts and the rehash of the same themes got me tired. I did not care much about the lore either. What I mean is that I was not looking forward to having another Dark Souls and that every deviation from the established formula is awful. I wanted something fresh. Luckily, Sekiro seemed like a great entry to branch of from the established DkS formula, providing a new challenge and tweaked gameplay. Despite the hype, I was not following the game all that much before the release. It looked solid and I did not go into the game having ludicrous expectations. Before starting the game, the entire cinematic took me by surprise and I immediately got immersed into the world. The visuals and aesthetics are just powerful and a joy to behold, the same can also be applied to the musical score, which is just fantastic. There is honestly not much to talk about here, the world looks amazing and is filled with fearsome samurai and other quirky foes. It just meshes together so well. As always, the entire setting feels refreshing and atmospheric. My issues stem from the gameplay itself and that Sekiro feels directionless, it's a blend of various elements that fail to work together in a coherent fashion. The game design seems inferior in many aspects compared to previous titles, be it in terms of level design, combat or character progression. The game starts out rather strong, it throws you into the world without much clue on what is about to happen which creates an air of mystique. You explore your way around the area, you start to sneak around enemies and get more plot exposition. Combat feels really intense and lethal, at least at the start of the game. Trying to work out the gameplay mechanics is rewarding as usual. As soon as the game opens up, my gameplay enjoyment decreased tenfold and it's somewhat hard to summarize it, so I will try my best. The level design is weak, sure it might look good but it's far less enjoyable to explore. The maps are quite open which is generally a plus. Unfortunately the game does a poor job at directing you towards places or exploring each area, there are no real incentives to scout new areas because there is not any loot. Also, most of the initial areas all look the same without any proper distinction. It all meshes together and sometimes I got lost in those bland castles or cliffs. The game introduces stealth as a viable mechanic and honestly, it's a welcome addition in theory. The maps are filled with tons of enemies and trying to navigate around the areas in order to get some sneaky kills feels rewarding at first. The game encourages you to play stealthy because most enemies can be killed with one single strike. Regrettably though the game punishes stealth quite severely due to the mediocre level design and awful stealth mechanics. Stealth seems rather broken to me, the AI can spot you very easily or seems almost blind to your presence. They also do not seem to care much about noise, especially for a game that boasts about being an agile shinobi that jumps around rooftops, picking off targets silently and generally trying to keep a low profile. The detection seems rather random at times and so is the AI. They will go through great lengths to pursue you while the combat music blears into your ears, despite being hidden in some corner at some cliff. At times the enemy will just kind of be ignorant and forget about you. Often times there was this ridiculous loop where I got detected, ran away, came back to kill a guy, got detected again and so on. It's a cat and mouse game that felt more like exploiting the dumb AI an instant stealth kills than actual subterfuge or sneak tactics. Being detected does not mean that the game is automatically over, combat plays a large role in this game and I am still not entirely sure what to think of it. It has a neat concept and feels quite satisfying at first but once you meet tougher enemies and bosses, it gets really repetitive and tedious. The combat focuses on deflecting enemy blows while trying to break their posture. Breaking a posture results in the enemy staggering, which allows you to execute a brutal deathblow. Those are extremely lethal and rather cool looking. Honestly, I had some great ninja-esque moments where I struck down tons of dudes while dodging enemies and generally looking like a total badass. Sadly, the system falls apart with mini-bosses and bosses. It seems almost impossible to break the posture of strong enemies, resulting in the player constantly scratching the armor of your foes without doing much damage. These fights tend to be long and repetitive and there is not any strategy involved. Overall the combat feels more limited, you can attack, deflect and parry. Additionally, you can equip one skill or use various gadgets on your prosthetic arm. Sometimes I do prefer simple combat systems that are easy to learn and hard to master but Sekiro manages to be infuriating and tedious. Yeah, there are is a jump kick and dodge as well but it does not add much to the overall variety of the combat. During most boss fights, you will dance around enemies barely doing any damage. Most bosses can just kill you with one or two hits, it's just frustrating. Also some of the hitbox detection is really awful, no I would not mind it that much if enemies would not hit like trucks. Dying to a boss because you got grabbed despite not being close is extremely annoying. Difficulty is a very subjective matter and I like to play hard but also easy games, as long as the difficulty suits the style of the game. With Sekiro, I feel like the game is hard for all of the wrong reasons and it somewhat destroys the gameflow. Like previously mentioned, the stealth is quite powerful and allows you to instantly kill enemies or take away entire health bars of bosses. Naturally, I tried playing cautiously, evading guards and taking down enemies in lonely corners. This is rather time consuming but very enjoyable on your first few tries through a new area. Alas it's easy to mess up and get spotted, it's rather hard to know where the enemies are and they are also numerous. Then you usually get ganked or you exploit the weak AI in order to hide and kill them one by one. Overall it is very repetitive considering that you die rather easily, you have to retry the entire area upon death and go through the motions of hiding, killing, rinse and repeat again. It's a test of patience and not one where patient and clever players get rewarded. I am aware that most stealth game work in a similar fashion, they are rather time consuming but the issue is only exacerbated with the checkpoints. Moreover the levels are scattered with minibosses that can kill you rather easily, having to redo the entire time consuming stealth approach hinders the overall enjoyment of fighting the tough enemies. At some point you will just stop caring and rush to the boss, which was to my surprise astonishingly easy. You can just rush past most enemies which literally destroys the entire illusion of the stealth. Rushing past obstacles is far easier and way faster, I know this issue was always relevant in Souls games but here it is ridiculous. To conclude, the stealth is just not worth your time. Another aspect that I disliked was the fast and twitchy character, it's not that I dislike fast character movement but feels too fast for most of the time which renders the jump and run aspects unenjoyable. For some reason all the walls and housings have an awkward height in which your character gets stuck, the attempt to jump on a roof is fiddly. Combined with the overly fast movement, it can be frustrating. Especially if you want to be sneaky and get detected because your character got stuck on some wooden box. Also, why does your character always revert back to the normal stance when you were crouching previously? I honestly felt like I got detected way too often by getting stuck on something or trying to climb over an obstacle. Luckily, the contextual prosthetic arm jumps provide a decent crutch. All of these elements combined don't result in a satisfactory experience. The individual parts all feel mediocre, combined together they feel clunky and stiff. Trying to silently take down a few guards while climbing on some rooftops or escaping a threat was more often challenging due to the controls and cumbersome movement. Especially when you try to combine these elements together. Now, there are instances where the system work and it makes the gameplay really enjoyable but those moments were far too rare. Sekiro is essentially not really an rpg, which would be welcome change if done correctly. It's more akin to Devil May Cry or God of War. There are no complex rpg mechanics or stat distributions. This absence of an rpg system is not a flaw, it's a conscious design choice. Regrettably character progression in Sekiro feels so underwhelming and shallow. You can unlock some moves, you can buy some items with the currency but there is no incentive to really explore to world to gain experience or additional loot. You will be stuck with the same armor and weapon, there is no variety whatsoever. The prosthetic arm gives you some neat tools but honestly it's just a drop on a hot stone. Exploration is suffering from this fact, why should I explore if there is nothing interesting to find. In the end you will only meet new enemies which cut you down like a dog. There are some seeds that give you more healing which is worth it but not much else. A big gripe of many people is the mechanic tied to the dragon rot which Iïm not even going to talk about. It essentially punishes you for dying too much and prevents you from completing npc quests and having dialogues. This mechanic is utterly baffling considering that death is so swift in this game. I can safely say that this is by far the toughest and hardest From Software game to date. Punishing the player is such an arbitrary way is just disheartening. The resurrection mechanic is also uninteresting, you can just revive yourself if you got enough energy from killing monsters. I would like to emphasize that this is more of a personal preference but I dislike the idea of dying and being revived. I always liked the aspect of facing bosses and enemies and coming out on top. Knowing that you died once or twice during the combat takes away from the victory feeling. The limited combat, broken stealth, lacking character progression, weird design choices and brutal difficulty create a polarizing experience for me. There are many things that I like but ultimately it is not enjoyable to play. I feel like some additional patches and tweaking are needed in order to guarantee a smoother experience. I just have no incentive to continue playing. The point where I kind of really knew that I could not bear to finish the game was the chained ogre fight. Luckily the run to the boss is not far with the Buddha statue being so close by. But each time I have to kill the same two dudes, then run up to the ogre and kill another spear guy that stabs you from behind. Then I can finally concentrate on the boss fight. Now due to the somewhat lose design I really exploited the stealth and AI to kill him because fighting him head on is tough as nails. His grabs can hit you despite being miles away, he hits like a truck and with each death you can redo the entire ordeal again. Still the game allows you to remove yourself from the boss fight, wait until he forgot about you, get back from an instant stealth kill which removes a health bar, then fight him head on but also making sure that you farmed enough enemies to revive twice during the fight. After many attempts of setting up this scenario in order just to beat him, I realized how odd this game played. After defeating him, I felt relieved but it was not satisfactory. I exploited the systems so badly in order to win that it is detrimental for the entire game and atmosphere. It is not an awful game by any means but I feel like fans are just gobbling everything up because it's a From Software game and that the Hidetaka name is attached to the game. Some of the praises and reviews seem to talk about a different game. Thank you for reading. I hope that I am not alone with this. Upon reading this again, I realized that I sound very whiny about the high difficulty but I would like to clarify that it's not the difficulty in itself that makes the game unenjoyable but all the individual mechanics. I hope some people can prove me wrong on this. Side note about the performance on PS4. I know that the PS4 is already old, the hardware is not up to date to really deal well with top notch looking games but the performance on the regular PS4 is atrocious. This was already the case with Dark Souls 3. There are some severe framerate issues and stutters which makes the game difficulty to control at times, especially for a game that needs precise and quick reactions. You input feels somewhat laggy and overall it is just unbearable. At least give me some options to tweak my experience. In this case, I always have to commend Nioh for providing two graphics options which allow you to prioritize framerate or the graphics. Sure, the game does not look as great but it plays tremendously better to play, thus increasing my enjoyment.
You agree the game isn't linear and it doesn't hold your hand to show you where to go while enabling it so you can get lost on the map and that's somehow a NEGATIVE to you.......? Also I've found tonnes of useful loot that's hidden away in these alternative routes Yikes, to each their own
It sounds like you just don't like the game at all. I had a very different experience than you. Exploration is rewarded with some really good items. There were several times where I thought "Damn, I needed this!" I've barely used the consumables in the Soulsborne games because you don't really need them but they're essential in Sekiro and can make a fight much easier than without using those at all. Stealth was seriously enjoyable for me and I thought I was playing a Tenchu game at some point. Yeah the AI kinda sucks sometimes but it didn't get as frustrating as some people describe it. The upgrades are kinda awesome, too. Take less posture damage, heal after a deathblow, jump over an enemy to backstab with the ninjutsu so you can backstab another enemy are seriously good upgrades. I feel like most people expect Dark Souls / Bloodborne type upgrades but then you're playing the game wrong. You have to use your upgrades and moves to play well. Parrying is the most satisfying mechanic in this game and you feel like a complete badass when you block every attack on a mini-/boss and get the deathblow without taking a hit at all. I needed a few hours to get that "click" but when you get it, you will appreciate the game for what it does. There were a few times where I fought "fuck this!" but when you take a deep breath and learn the attacks of the enemies, the game gets "fairly" easy. You're essentially playing a DEX character and I get that you'll die in a few hits. That's why they've included the Resurrection mechanic so you'll get that second chance. And I don't get why everyone's bitching about the Dragonrot at all. I had no real issues with it and I still have some Dragon's Blood Droplets left. The only fights that I hated were against the headless mini bosses because they restrict your movement so much, give you terror status (basically a 2 hit kill) and you have to use Divine Confetti which is rare af. I know they're late game bosses but I still dislike them because of those movement restrictions. Other than that, I had a geniunely good time with the game.
Well, I do not want my hand to be hold all the time nor do I expect it but there are some difficulty spikes that really hit hard. Usually once I reach such a wall, I will try to find a new path. To my surprise I found a lot of new ways but they all led me to really tough encounters. I feel like I missed out on some main gameplay mechanics or skills that are vital for progressing. I tend to explore every nook and cranny though. I would be very grateful for some advice or tips on which skills or items are absolutely necessary or make life easier.
The sugar type items and consumable gourds are very important! Loaded Axe against shield type enemies, Firecracker for beast type enemies/bosses, fistful of ash to get a free hit and oil + flame vent for some serious fire damage. Temple Arts for grinding enemies, Ashina Arts for serious posture damage, Shinobi Arts for Mikiri counter posture damage (I love this), Puppeteer Ninjutsu for lots of enemies, Bloodsmoke Ninjutsu for 2-3 times that are close to each other. It basically comes down to personal preference but there are some really cool synergies and you have to try those out for what suits you the best. I can't wait for my NG+ playthrough to make a really cool stealth like backstab build.
How was I managing to parry Lady Maria and Orphan of Kos, yet getting a single deflect against some mong with an axe is like performing open heart surgery Bosses are too difficult I can't even land a hit on them
Thanks for the insight, I have to admit that I seldom use consumables in games. Might be time to change that.
i find it weird that people actually struggled with giraffe considering as far i saw it him and his other long-arm brother BOTH had only 2 moves that were very easy to consistently parry, even with giraffes adds i had no issues
On another note, in which language to you guys play? I initially opted for the original japenese voice lines but I switched to english later on. Some characters sound rather great while the eavesdropping one sound so awful.
Just a tip for trivialising any encounter with the small giraffes. You can jump and to a deathblow regardless of their health. For the big guys they take massive posture damage from deflections. You can almost break their posture by deflecting a full combo. They're the epitome of an enemy that's designed to look intimidating while actually being a pushover.
how to play the game is summed up nicely with a quote from the final boss. "Hesitation is defeat" (just a quote nothing too spoilery really) Just use every tool available, environment, arm skills (can freely swap as there's a real pause menu) and your l1+r1 combat arts. Experiment. Some of the arm moves with their follow up absolutely destroy enemies and im left thinking "wow i should've tried all this stuff sooner" instead of near the end of my second playthrough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6cy_cGO5RY cool!
I like the boss that litterally rips your ass off. Fromsoftware's animators and encounter designers have truely reached their peak.
anyone know of the npc in the house in the village where you can eavesdrop the door pretty sure he wants water of the palace or something no? but I've not picked it up nor remember where it was when playing again
Okay, so I'm a bit confused with this enemy type and I can't fight it effectively. The guys with the double bladed staffs who spin and jump constantly. What's the deal with them? I can't do shit against them and it's the first time in the game I feel a bit unsure of how to deal with an enemy.
Do NPCs die if you wait too long to heal the dragonrot? I've got like 3 bosses lined up in a row to finish and I don't want to use this Droplet until they're all cleared.
Dragonrot does not kill NPCs. At most it prevents them from continuing their questlines, but even then all the NPC questlines that can be halted require items to continue so you may as well leave them until you've gathered up a lot of key items. Anyone like the sculptor, Emma, or vendors will continue to function normally. It's an almost entirely thematic piece of flavour that works brilliantly because it has people freaking out over nothing.
Then I guess Inosuke and his mother were scripted to die? 'Cuz the next time I checked on them they were already dead so I assumed it was the dragonrot that killed them. Thanks for the heads up.
Use your Shurikens when they jump (does a lot of posture damage and stuns them for a a bit) and block their attacks. Try to deal with them one by one. Can be a bit overwhelming when two of those attack you.
What is the worst boss in the game and why is it Blazing Bull?
He's very easy to deal with once it *clicks*. I suffered a few bad losses until I got this down for myself. 1) Always be running 2) Always be circling to your right around the bull 3) Get 1-3 hits in from behind, and keep your distance. 4) Rinse, repeat.
The Bull is probably way easier if you get the firecrackers. Sadly I only found out that those were a tool once I got to the Sunken Valley
I don't think it's hard. I think it's bad. It's a very boring fight where you have to whittle down a stupidly long health bar and there's no variation on what the bull does, it's either swipe its head or charge.
first huge bug in 49 hours. "killed" a headless as it phased out and it ended up stuck permanently invisible
I said worst boss, not hardest boss.
I stumbled into the Bull by accident really early in the game and killed it on my first attempt with the firecrackers. I'm honestly not understanding how people are finding it difficult. Without the firecrackers it might be a nuisance I guess, but it's not like it's required for the fight.
This just sounds like a new version of how all Soulsborne games have allowed the player to mechanically tweak the difficulty. If you didn't want to feel like you were exploiting the system, you could have learnt the attack patterns like you would have in the Souls games, but you also have options to make the game easier if you think creatively and play a little dirty. Personally I have enjoyed fluidly switching between fighting tough enemies head on and sometimes just luring them away from their friends and taking them out one by one as they walk back to wherever they're camping. I do agree that items you find during exploration aren't super exciting due to the lack of outfits and weapons. I think it would have been better if they had put some of the martial arts into the world instead of in skill trees. As it stands I rarely spend skill points on combat arts because I can't know if they're going to be good just from the description, so I tend to end up just saving the skill points instead. I strongly disagree with basically everything else you said.
How do you read the word worst and think someone means hardest?
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