Topic: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (release due: 22/3/19)

[Titi Camara]

Anyone know who LilAggy or Distortion2 are? I follow both as I'm into speed running...they can complete this game in under 20 minutes...all bosses in under 90...and complete the game hitless!

I'm in fucking awe of anyone who can just finish the game...the only souls(like) game I have ever completed is Elden Ring and that took me about 120 hours...but these speedrunners are like next level god gamers...it's fucking sickening they are so good and that I'm shite! 

Well in Pete! Keep on at the fuckers!

[Buck Pete]

Watched a few of LilAggy video’s yesterday afternoon

Insane

He did one full run without using his sword.  No attacks, blocks or deflects. (Only exception was for the death blow).  He had to jump stomp on the chained ogre’s head about 100 times to finish him off. 

Some of the glitches and area skips the speed runners use are mad, but they are still Shinobi gods when they do fight the bosses.

[Buck Pete]

Really struggling to get ISS to click. With every other boss I knew I’d get there eventually. Not this one I’m afraid.

Wish there was a cheese for it.

I’ll keep playing and hope it somehow clicks, but I am even struggling to get to ISS phase 2.  On the rare occasion I get to phase 2 it’s insta-death.

What’s the best method to avoid then punish his phase 2 slam attack guys? That looks to be the best way of getting some health off him.

[BER]

For me it was dodging the slam as late as possible, get some hits in... run like fuck from all his other moves... wait for Mikiru counter>Ichimonji openings to destroy his posture.

Never got to the point i enjoyed fighting him like i did with other bosses and haven't gone back to beat Fire Isshin for the Shura ending... I already beat the game and that's that. 

[Buck Pete]

For me it was dodging the slam as late as possible, get some hits in... run like fuck from all his other moves... wait for Mikiru counter>Ichimonji openings to destroy his posture.

Never got to the point i enjoyed fighting him like i did with other bosses and haven't gone back to beat Fire Isshin for the Shura ending... I already beat the game and that's that. 

The Geni warm-up can still be a bloody pain in the ass and my best phase is defo ISS Phase 1.  I can beat ISS P1 9/10 times.  This means I am getting to phase 2 lots now, and as a result, have reached P3 a few times now.  I'm getting there.

Just like Main-game Geni,  I can't seem to suss that pesky lightning reversal.  I know you have to jump as the pink symbol disappears and mash R1.  Doing it is another matter.

Kind of sussed out the body slam dodge, but the bastard doesn't seem to leave himself open as much for the Mikiri in P3

[Zlen]

I was spending everything I had to get through his second phase. Third one is easier if you just nail one or two reversals, which are nicely telegraphed and more easily avoided than against Genichiro phase three. So yeah, you look to be getting there, soon you’ll combine a good run to phase three, nail a reversal and be at the cusp of killing the bastard.

[Buck Pete]

I was spending everything I had to get through his second phase. Third one is easier if you just nail one or two reversals, which are nicely telegraphed and more easily avoided than against Genichiro phase three. So yeah, you look to be getting there, soon you’ll combine a good run to phase three, nail a reversal and be at the cusp of killing the bastard.

Just watched a vid where the guy baited ISS over to the bridge for phases II and III.  Looks a bit more manageable

might give that a go tonight

[Zlen]

I always fought him in the clear as much as possible. The tall grass does not help to read his attacks.

[Buck Pete]

It's done, guys.  The main man is bloody done.

Some lad on an ISS Reddit thread advised me to step back, turn it off and take a good break.  So, I abandoned my pre-planned late-night gaming session and got an early night.

Amazing what a good night's rest and break from this game can do.

On the very first try this morning, I just beat all 4 phases with absolute ease.   Got two cool lightning reversals off on his Phase III, then punished his electrocuted ass hard with Mortal Draw.

Time to reflect. Back up my save and watch all 3 endings.

Then on to NG+, "Shura" and Platinum.

Wow, right now I feel like a middle-aged Sekiro God (who should be working) 


At his peak, Isshin Ashina devoted himself to deadly conflict in pursuit of strength. A single-minded killing machine of a man.

[BER]

Nice, the ol' 'take a break' trick!

Keen to see how you get on with Fire Isshin. Hoping it might inspire me to go back and beat him.

[Buck Pete]

Nice, the ol' 'take a break' trick!

Keen to see how you get on with Fire Isshin. Hoping it might inspire me to go back and beat him.

Is that "shura" ending?

Surely he's not tougher than what I've faced?  Please no. 

[Zlen]

Get in there Pete! 💪👏

Really enjoyed this journey with you man. Hope it was worth the effort. For me beating Sekiro was one of the absolute highlights of my, not that short, gaming career.

[Buck Pete]

Cheers Zlen.  Been a blast I must admit.  I've not been invested as much in a game since DS. 

Currently on NG+ and just beat the Guardian Ape.  Pretty tough fight again.

I struggled with his headless terror attack for a while, until I started equipping the umbrella and breezed through phase 2.

[Skagger]

Get in Pete!! You'll cruise through this run mate

BER, fire Isshin is probably my favourite boss fight in the entire game, he's worth another play through.

Titi, not long after I'd bagged the platinum and was feeling pretty chuffed YouTube suggested a video of LilAggy where he beat the game where every single enemy was Isshin, a humbling watch haha

[Buck Pete]

Skagger. Did you do the Headless Ape on NG+?

So much more difficult than NG. His brown companion during the second phase makes it really tricky.

[Titi Camara]

Titi, not long after I'd bagged the platinum and was feeling pretty chuffed YouTube suggested a video of LilAggy where he beat the game where every single enemy was Isshin, a humbling watch haha

I'm currently watching a VOD of his on youtube, he's trying for a no-hit run on elden ring where the game bosses, key items and weapons are all randomised. So he can't just rush the established, most powerful build in the game, he has to create a build on the fly. Then he won't know what boss will be in which arena until he's in there lol.....his PB at the minute is 2 hits I think which is fucking crazy...suspect he might get it on this run I'm catching up on now.

If you like your samurai cos-players a bit more metal, Man Vs Game, is fucking hilarious and he can play the fuck our of Sekiro

[Skagger]

Skagger. Did you do the Headless Ape on NG+?

So much more difficult than NG. His brown companion during the second phase makes it really tricky.

I've fought them 3 times now, focus on headless until he does his big scream and then create as much distance as possible, she'll always charge you if you do this and doesn't take much damage to finish her off

[Buck Pete]

I've fought them 3 times now, focus on headless until he does his big scream and then create as much distance as possible, she'll always charge you if you do this and doesn't take much damage to finish her off

Hi Mate

Yep, your right Skaggs.  I beat them just now using a brilliant strat off Reddit.  The step up for NG+ on this boss is a big one.

Destroyed Mr Ape easily in the first phase.

As you say, In the second phase, I didn't attack at all and just ran around until Mr. Ape did his terror scream and I created distance. At this point, I immediately dropped a Yashariku's Sugar.  Mrs. Ape chased me.  I stunned her with Long Spark firecrackers and proceeded to wipe her out with 2 big hits of empowered Mortal draw.  Then finished off Mr. Ape easily as normal

wow, that's the first time I've used Yashariku's Sugar. It's a beast!

No matter how good your reactions and reflexes are, that is a really tricky boss unless you know the strat.

Happy Days!!!

[Dench57]

Decided to finally get round to this after reading the effusive praise in this thread! It feels very fucking hard at the moment, I'm still in a Souls-combat mindset where I'm trying to dodge far too much when I suppose Deflecting really is the game. Just got that skill where you regen health after Death Blow'ing someone which is reaaaal nice since I'm still taking shit loads of damage as I make my way through an area. Defeated about 5 mini-bosses so far I think, up to Juzou the Drunkard in the Hirata Estate which feels the hardest mini-boss so far, slightly dreading facing an actual boss.

[Buck Pete]

Good Luck on your journey.

Completed the game over a week ago and I'm all Sekiro'd out.  Played through NG+ and have been grinding for Platinum.  Will come back to it in the future.

Quite happy to assist with any areas you are stuck though.  As will the other guys in here. 

[Dench57]

Getting into this now. 1-banged that horse guy then spent nearly an hour on Lady Butterfly  . Got her to around 10% in phase 2 so many times but can't quite finish her. I can get through Phase 1 without taking any damage at all, but Phase 2 she never seems to do those lovely telegraphed air-attacks which I've been using Shuriken on to knock her down and chip away at her posture. Just stays on the ground and throws crap at me, and I can't blast her posture down fast enough before she spawns illusions and resets her bar. Should I try to stay on her during the illusions? I've just been running away and then hiding behind a pillar. I'm assuming the Snap Seed is a 1-time only use? As I've only got 1 I've been saving it.

Feel like I've improved a decent amount in the time I've been on her though, it's a good tutorial fight. Helped me to understand the combat mechanics a bit more, especially liberal use of sprint to avoid attacks and then lunging back in. I'm still not entirely sure how often I should be tapping LB for some attacks, sometimes I can tap it twice and it seems to parry a whole long barrage, whereas I thought my deflects had to match the enemy attacks blow-for-blow.

[Dench57]

OK after a short break I got her down easily, key was to knock her off the web in P2 and keep pressing the attack. Probably would've saved myself a lot of time just using Snap Seed once I got P2 down - very cool fight though!

[Buck Pete]

OK after a short break I got her down easily, key was to knock her off the web in P2 and keep pressing the attack. Probably would've saved myself a lot of time just using Snap Seed once I got P2 down - very cool fight though!

I had so much trouble with her.  Nice work.  Wanted to reply but couldn't remember the phase strategy.

I assume you're now off to fight...

Spoiler

Genichiro

[close]

[Dench57]

I had so much trouble with her.  Nice work.  Wanted to reply but couldn't remember the phase strategy.

I assume you're now off to fight...

Spoiler

Genichiro

[close]

If he's at the top of Ashina Castle then yes probably! I've killed the mini-general at the top of the stairs and the Seven Spears dude at the tower in the Reservoir. Maybe I should do the Abandoned Dungeon first? Tried that Headless boss in the cave in the Outskirts but got deleted, I think I need some special items, will go back for him when I'm stronger. I think I might farm some exp in the castle before I try Geni as I would quite like to upgrade my healing potions. Those beaky bastards on the rooftops are fucking annoying though when they all aggro at once.

[Zlen]

You can just run past the rooftop fuckballs and secure the idol. From there you have one miniboss before Geni.

[Buck Pete]

Yeah, looks like your moving along nicely Dench.  You probably pretty much have the maximum amount of prayer beads available so far.

There’s another mini boss at the reservoir you haven’t mentioned yet that drops a bead and there is also a hidden bead located within the Hirata estate. ( No fighting required).

Just checking, but have you been using the defeated main bosses memories to increase your attack power?

As Zlen says, you can do a speed run from Ashina Castie idol, across the rooftops and to the next idol.  Them beaky bastard nightjar ninjas are a good practice for your deflecting.

[Dench57]

Yeah, looks like your moving along nicely Dench.  You probably pretty much have the maximum amount of prayer beads available so far.

There’s another mini boss at the reservoir you haven’t mentioned yet that drops a bead and there is also a hidden bead located within the Hirata estate. ( No fighting required).

Just checking, but have you been using the defeated main bosses memories to increase your attack power?

As Zlen says, you can do a speed run from Ashina Castie idol, across the rooftops and to the next idol.  Them beaky bastard nightjar ninjas are a good practice for your deflecting.

Ah I think you mean the purple swordsman guy down in the cave? I ran him into him early on and got smashed but now that I'm semi-pro *cough* I should make quick work of him. I've just been farming 5 exp levels to buy the healing pot upgrade before I try Geni. I've cleared pretty much up to him I think, killed the Jinsuke elite mini-boss up in the castle, the guy with the crazy sheathed attack. One of those fights where I got insta-killed about 5 times in a row, thinking it required Jedi reflexes trying to deflect his special, before realising I could just hold LB as soon as I saw his sheath glow then tap LB once more when he attacked.

Thanks for the Hirata prayer bead I found one of those doors up in the Castle but missed that one! As for Attack Power yeah, I'm up to 3 now which I guess is about as much as I can get if they only drop off "main" bosses. 13 vitality aswell now so I don't think I've got any excuses if I fail on Geni - it sounds he's the first proper test.

I find that I'm consistently getting fucked by sweeps above anything else. No idea why, they have about the same windup and readability of grabs and thrusts, but something about them makes my reactions malfunction and I do absolutely everything except jump. I'm yet to master the Mario jump-and-bop them on the head.

Would you recommend any particular Prosthetics or Combat Arts? I've found them pretty situational so far - I'm assuming some will come in very handy on specific bosses. Currently using the Ichimonji-Double art which is real nice for Posture damage but I find it leaves me open to attack, really need to time it carefully. Prosthetics I'm kinda switching around a lot, Firecracker seems pretty useful on bosses if I can get it off, just because it gives me time to Ichi-double!

edit: sorry just realised that i wrote a LOT there...needless to say i'm enjoying this a lot

[Malaysian Kopite]

The Purple Swordsman can have one of his lifes removed by doing an aerial sneak attack, there’s a hole above him towards the back of the cave.

[Malaysian Kopite]

Btw if ya’ll are in the mode for more Soulslike games, give Remnant 2 a go. There’s a world that feels straight out of Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne in there.

[Buck Pete]

The Purple Swordsman can have one of his lifes removed by doing an aerial sneak attack, there’s a hole above him towards the back of the cave.

Dench..

Yeah as MK says, many of the mini bosses and some main bosses are vulnerable to a sneaky death blow.  Always try and get a sneaky advantage. There’s no shame in it.

I found I used prosthetics much more on my second play though.

As for Combat Arts.  Mid game you are given an unmissable new combat art that is a beast.

[Zlen]

I almost never used prosthetics aside from the axe for armored enemies. Combat arts, I used the Whirlwind slash for 2/3 of the game because it’s fast as hell, later the Mortal blade. That’s about it. They can help, but I found it easier to just focus on dialing in my swordplay.

[Dench57]

Oh yeah I'm absolutely trying to sneak/cheese that first deathblow on every boss if possible, I'm literally a shinobi/ninja so it's legitimate roleplaying, I think the game encourages it anyway. At least that's what I tell myself.

Felt pretty confident after boxing off that swordsman early doors then had my first skirmish with Geni....he's a spicy meatball. Smashed through his 2 lives first attempt thinking I was some sort of god gamer... then saw he had a Phase 3. Spent the next 30 minutes struggling to reach P3 again.

I've had enough pulls on him - as I do with so many From bosses - where you see how formulaic/scripted it is - I know what he's doing and what I should be doing...but I'm too much of a dum-dum to execute it properly. Very cool fight though, definitely feels doable but I have a feeling I could spend hours on him. I read a poster in the castle that implied I should use his Lightning Attack against him in P3, I think it's timing jump + RB will throw it back at him? I'm yet to consistently reach P3 yet so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

After getting my head kicked in by Geni for 30 mins I went into that Temple/jungle place for some light entertainment, seems like a good place for farming exp/coins.

As for Prosthetics/Arts - yeah Zlen like you said, at the moment they feel almost like flavour/cool/"nice to have" things rather than something that's gonna turn the tide in a boss fight, certainly need to just work on the fundamentals of basic swordplay. Which is a bit of a shame imo, there's so many and it would be nice if they were a bit more impactful. Firecracker feels nice though, seems to stun any boss for like 2-3 seconds.

[Buck Pete]

I could never get the lightning reversal off in P3 and just aggro’d him to death.

You need lightning reversal much later in the game for another tough boss.

Sounds like you won’t be far off beating him.

Once you beat Geni the game path sends you to the temple etc so I’d recommend just keep at Geni.

[Dench57]

Geni down. Took me far longer than I care to admit. What a boss, probably one of my favourites in the whole FromSoft canon.

[Buck Pete]

You’ll be at My fav Sekiro boss soon

[Zlen]

Wait until you play Daddy dearest. 😁

[Buck Pete]

Wait until you play Daddy dearest. 😁

Twice

[Skagger]

With the prosthetics, if they have red eyes they'll despise fire.

Fistful of Ash is a really really underrated consumable.

Well done on getting Geni down Dench, you've got some great fights ahead.

Pete, if you're still planning on doing Elden Ring next maybe find a palette cleanser first, I've got the platinum now and don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it but the combat felt clunky in comparison, it has a lot of other things going for it but I found myself missing the sekiro combat quite a bit

[Buck Pete]

I've got to get Sekiro platinum first

Currently on NG+ and I screwed up my save file.  So I now have to beat the final boss again and then start NG++ to then get all the way to the Shura ending.

At least I don't have to fight Daddy dearest again.

[Skagger]

NG++ took me 10~15% of the time my first go round did, you'll sail through it