Out on Steam now! It’s more than $30.
I will almost certainly double dip on this one just to play on Steam Deck, although early reports are that it’s freezing in the menus at times. Otherwise seems to run great.
This new Arenas mode seems like a great way to revisit the game. Lots of combat challenges with various modifiers, none of the other fluff.
I don’t remember how to play at all though. I’m getting my butt kicked.
I’m so horrible. Trying to finish the first level at an age younger than I am in real life…
On the positive, I think I’ll have everything permanently unlocked before I do a no-death first level run. :)
Made it to the second level in my 30s, and I’m not sure I’ll try the first level again… maybe on a second playthrough? Still deciding.
I would press forward until you get stuck, then go back to optimize if needed. You’ll be a lot better at the game at that point.
Well, that makes perfect sense. Thanks!
I’m coming to the sad realization that I’m not going to be able to physically play these games at some point in the not so distant future. I’ve never had the best reflexes, but the reaction time required to decide if I should parry or avoid high or avoid low just boggles my brain. I know part of this can be compensated by really learning the moves, but … . I just hope a Sekiro sequel comes out before I’m relegated to solitaire. :)
I’m annoyed that I don’t have any enemies unlocked in the training mode because you have to defeat them all again after the patch that added the feature. This could have been solved with something as simple as an if statement to check whether I’ve finished the game already.
I’d actually like to use the training mode to practice for the areans, but it’s useless. (Naturally, they were too absent-minded to make the arena encounters unlock enemies in training mode.)
Yeah, that’s seems like a pretty big oversight. I wish training mode put bosses in the arena you fight them in during the game. Does Arena do that? I haven’t even tried it since it suggests finishing the game before trying arena. I’d like to practice bosses in full (phases and the arena) and doing it in training just doesn’t give me the same experience.
Just a large cloudy room similar to the training room.
A lot of the arenas are annoying or difficult but some are just badass, like the hallway. They really did a good job with the themes. It’s the combat that can be frustrating when you try to play it without a lot of practice – or a training mode!
I forgot about the awful save system too. I’ve put down a couple awesome runs in the arena that didn’t get saved. I don’t know if it’s the Epic cloud syncing or the autosave points are poorly done.
A quick Google search turns up other people complaining about it. Good luck to everyone getting into the game.
Oh well, I enjoyed the new mode. This is a good excuse to stop playing it for now.
I finally got through the first level with no deaths (took almost 18 hours). And, as I predicted (feared?), I have all permanent unlocks done already. It didn’t help that I wasn’t really focused on this game. I’d keep trying a couple runs and then going off to do something else.
I did make it to the third level, but then I’d think I need to be younger to take it on and as soon as I started optimizing, I just couldn’t get over the first level.
So one down…
So, funny story… I had forgotten there were difficulty options. After just about giving up on the game, I came upon a post talking about difficulty options and … yeah, much more manageable. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that I spent so much time trying to play at Master.
That’s what I get for being distracted by other games.
I understand that. I get used to a game however I’m playing, and if it feels too hard, I’m more likely to give up than consult difficulty settings.
One weird case was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. I must have started playing at the point after putting in the disc when it becomes playable before it’s fully installed and patched. When I came back to it the next day, it felt jarringly different from the day before. A number of decisions in AC Odyssey had frustrated me, so I thought that maybe I could read about the difficulty settings to understand if this was just some system of the game. When I looked in the options, they were messed up. It was on a “custom” difficulty and all the sub-settings seemed to be randomly picked. That was the one time I clearly recall then adjusting all the dials to make the world and game behave how I wanted. It was well worth it. Maybe it takes a series where I can think that I already experienced the designers’ intent and they are wrong?
I think I am going to dive back into this tonight! I have been studying a different regional style of the martial art featured in the game for about a year now (after having studied a couple others for several years), but I’ve recently begun studying this exact one, which was taught to my sifu by a guy who’s a pretty ferocious martial artist in his own right but also apparently training partners of some kind with the guy who did the mocap for the game. Pretty neat.
Edit: hoo, damn, this looks great on the deck. I’m using the latest GE Proton (8-3) so I hope to avoid the crashes others have complained about. Since I waited so long to play I get to use the Cantonese dub!
I forgot how tough this is (playing on whatever “normal” is, the difficulty before they added difficulties). Tougher than Sekiro. The parry timings are tighter and the orange moves are harder to avoid since you can’t just dodge your way out of them like you could in Sek. You have to actually use the included bob and weave mechanic, which is hard to do.
I have gotten worse at the game since the last time I played. I’m pretty sure I got through the the Squats in the lower thirties last time, but this time I was 42 when I beat Fajar. I thought, “I can do better than that, and I have those keys,” so I ran through it again with the shortcut unlocked.
45
I think the single thing that helped me the most was… a button remap. I remapped parry/block to LT instead of LB and that made a huge difference. Well, other than realizing I’d banged my head against Master for 18 hours before remembering there were difficulty levels.
I really had trouble with the parry timing. It felt like the game wanted me to parry earlier than what the visuals were indicating. Not a reaction time issue, but a visual confusion (at least that’s what it felt like). I never really got that figured out. In Sekiro, I pretty much always knew what I did wrong. I did not feel like that in Sifu.
I watched some video of people playing through some of the arena levels. I don’t even know how they are doing the moves they are doing. Completely different skill level.
I did this same remap last night. Nuts to me that it’s LB by default while Focus (something I never use and forget is even there) is a crucial trigger. Seems like a natural thing for block to be LT when dodge (which is better than I thought it was) is RT.
I also am having a tough time with the parries. The window just seems way tighter than Sekiro and like you I’m not sure where it is. The same is kind of true for the “avoid,” as sometimes I’ll avoid and sometimes I won’t. The “classic” example for me is Fajar’s jumping machete cut out of the bamboo. Sometimes I can void it and sometimes he hits me for massive damage, and I don’t think I’m doing much different. People have complained about inconsistent inputs, and I’d like to complain about it, too, but really I think the windows are just super tight. Maybe I should swallow my pride and do a go around on Student first to avoid frustration…
This is now pretty cheap on Epic (with their coupon), but I’m not into games with punishing difficulty. Looking at the posts above, am I right to think I should spend my quatloos elsewhere?