It’s bad because I was looking up where I can find two more beads to increase my health bar/posture bar and they are both located in there…
Wait, there is DLC?
There’s some free DLC with a boss rush and stuff.
I think I got to the last boss. Gave it about a dozen tries. A boss with 1 life meter followed by a way harder boss with 3 life meters. Four phases.
I laughed, and then quit out of the game.
Still bummed I missed a whole area of the game which has the side effect of making my character weaker than he could be for the last fight, which I am not really going out on a limb to say is the hardest fight in the game.
I assembled the mask so I could, in theory, grind for hours on end for skill points to pump attack power. Seems like you’d finish a playthrough at attack power of 15 if you were able to defeat all the bosses. My attack power is 13, but could be 14 before the final boss if I didn’t miss that area. Health/Posture strength is stuck at 9 and cannot be increased to 10 (max) because the area I missed has the two beads I need.
Lame.
Holy moly thats impressive! I gave up in that one but still managed the last one eventually. I also missed out on that optional area so I got something to look forward to next time I play through
I looked up the conditions for the endings and apparently I completely fumbled my way into the “True/Final” ending without looking up how to do it, so there is that: ( Dragon’s Homecoming), if I can manage to beat the last boss. I already have both key items required. I wish the girl would give me more rice.
Are you sure going to that area wouldnt have locked out some place you did go and the only way to max out may be on ng+? (I dont actually know, just wondering)
I don’t think so. All the areas I went to are required. To my knowledge it is the only missable area in the game that is tied to one of the endings.
Basically after beating Owl there were a bunch of story dialog sequences queued up when talking to Kuro but only one could be progressed per visit. I literally had to talk to Kuro, travel away, come back, talk to Kuro again, travel away again. Literally repeat like 4 times just to finally get to the dialog to progress the main quest. I didn’t know there was possibly EVEN more stuff queued up after. This extra dialog before being able to continue the main quest was related to progressing towards an ending I unknowingly activated. It’s possible though I didn’t fulfill prerequisite steps for the other ending and so the dialog for the area I missed was never activated.
It’s like they made this game to purposely punish any long time DS veterans. Literally everything I learned in playing DS, DS2, DS3, DeS, and BB is the wrong way to play Sekiro.
My only solace so far is an ogre who fought like a demon souls cave dweller. Thank goodness.
Also, I’m actually playing Sekiro: Shadows Run Back to the Bonfire. Is that a wise strategy when progression seems hopeless?
Correct. None of the previous FromSoft games will really help you with Sekiro.
The stamina bar is gone for one, which is huge. There’s a new bar, for both you and enemies you fight that is not immediately clear. There’s a jump button. There’s lots of unblockable attacks. (Sweeps, Piercing, Grabs) Blocking also is always a non-optimal response to an attack every single time. You actually want to deflect to raise the enemies posture meter, and reducing a bosses health bar to zero in many fights is not really viable. You want to max out their posture meter to trigger a death blow which automatically wipes out their health bar in full, in which they will have at least 2. There’s certainly exceptions here and there. The ogre fight being one of them.
I did this a lot when I was stuck for hours in the early game. Easily 8+ hours stuck between a rock (Ogre) and a hard place (Shinobi Hunter). I would gain lots of experience for skill points and decided to try to escape back to the idol if my prospects looked hopeless. The 1 free rez is helpful in this regard. Lots of back and forth.
For ogre I just did Dark Souls combat. Dodge his attack, hit twice. Repeat until dead. Took a long time and I would still die. (2 hits!)
For Shinobi hunter I didn’t return to until I had to in order to progress due to a locked door. You need mikiri counter.
Spoilers for last boss…
The second phase is a fucking wall and hard as shit. When he is only using his sword. The timing of his attacks is so difficult + combat arts.
Must be fine for some people but not me. How the hell do you deal with his combat art + immediate sweep attack. Also when he does his pierce attack he always makes sure to stagger me first with a blunt attack so I can’t Mikiri counter. If I can actually get past this phase the third phase is much easier for me when he pulls out the spear and fucking gun. His attacks become way more telegraphed and he spams piercing attacks a lot more so I can easily Mikiri counter and punish. If I get to the third phase I usually can get to the fourth phase but then panic, accidentally untarget, fail to jump, and usually get hit or run off the cliff. I need to practice lightning reversal more.
I was also still getting my ass kicked by Genichiro phase one until I switched to High Monk and noticed it interrupts his opening mortal blade slash every time, and if I continue to do the full combo it baits him into doing his long combo. If I can deflect everything and keep posture, he’ll then always do a very delayed pierce attack after. Mikiri counter that then attack again and he is almost done. Almost.
I just want to finish the game but I can’t. Blah. Mikiri counters not working. Getting hit out of the air by sweep attacks. The last half dozen deaths to phase 1. I quit.
It’s definitely the final exam. It demands the same learning process as the other bosses but it takes it up a couple notches. It’s a wall for everyone.
Fucking finally
After I rage quit the game I always come back and dominate. Game done. Weird I didn’t get any achievements. Neither for beating the last boss or the ending.
Well done! Was he harder than demon of hatred? Booted the game up few nights ago and promptly died to the first two pip enemy 🤓
Hard to say as they are totally different. Demon of Hatred is a “dark souls” boss that doesn’t belong in Sekiro, as you have to deplete his health in full x3, which makes him hard. No viable posture damage death blows. The thing though is as long as you’re close to him he can’t really do much. Problem is his dash and general penchant for trying to create distance from you so he can wreck you with fireballs and shit. Demon has one super weakness though. Malcontent ring can stun him three times during the fight. I try to save all three for the phase 3. You still have to work the last quarter of his health.
Both are endurance fights where you have to outlast them, but the last boss is much more complicated and is a Sekiro boss proper where you want to focus on posture damage. The size of their health bar doesn’t really matter. The first phase is basically the fourth phase of a previous boss you fought in the mid-game, with three more phases against the “real boss”. It is just fucking hard and knowing that there are 4 phases can be demoralizing if you keep dying in phase 1 & 2 like me.
It took me a really long time to figure out phase 2. According to the wiki phase 3 is harder, but I didn’t have as much trouble with it. Maybe just my combat style. Fourth phase I actually played the least, but it’s similar to his third phase + the lightning reversal mechanic which is a unique mechanic in this game you just need to learn. If you’re good at it, it actually makes the fourth phase a lot easier as you can stun the boss for a ton of posture and follow up with additional attack. It’s basically free if the boss keeps doing lightning attacks. That said, rice or shaved snow during the fourth phase was the MVP for me. I didn’t worry about healing and just focused on taking him down since I had health regen on steroids being hopped up on that stuff from the child of rejuvenation who already ate two serpent hearts.
As an aside I tried the DLC boss rush thing that becomes unlocked after finishing the game. (seems silly because there is already an option to re-fight any boss)
I beat the horsemen easily but Lady Butterfly still kicked my ass. Seriously, what the hell!
Since I don’t plan on replaying the game I watched all the other endings on Youtube. I definitely got the weird ending that opens the game up for a sequel. Blah! I definitely prefer the ending where Sekiro kills himself to save Kuro. Way better.
Thanks all for the words of encouragement during my struggles. I really appreciate it. And sorry for spamming this thread non-stop. I guess I can move on to Elden Ring now. (not without an interim palate cleanser hmmm)
Way to go, roguefrog! Our awe and respect is your achievement. Verily, your ancestors are smiling down upon you this day. They’re singing tales of your glory in Valhalla or wherever.
P.S. I never believed you when you said ‘I quit.’
For perspective, this game took me much longer to beat than Dark Souls 2 + All DLCs.
A whole lot of dying to bosses (AND mini-bosses!) over and over again. Dozens upon dozen of times. Lady Butterfly alone probably has an easy kill count of 60 on me.
Thank you for sharing! I really love reading people going through these games. Ever since I picked up Dark Souls in 2019 I just want to relive those first magic from playthroughs