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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:14 pm
by ThornBrain
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(Fantastic art by mischievousart/Lore Cox)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 2019 ninja/Chanbara-styled action game by From Software and directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. Much in the vein of their previous beautiful and maddeningly difficult Dark Souls and Bloodborne games, Sekiro is a case study in masterful worldbuilding, subtle storytelling and gorgeous art direction combined with incredibly difficult to master gameplay that's so satisfying when you do.
While mechanically very similar to its predecessors, Sekiro shakes up the From Formula in several key ways: the Western RPG aesthetic has been replaced with one that's thoroughly Japanese, taking place in feudal Japan and soaked deeply in the country's mythology, folklore, and Buddhist traditions. Exploration is made faster and more fluid by allowing the player to jump logically (press a button) rather than stupidly (hold down the run button and press it again) and using Wolf's prosthetic to grapple and fling yourself around. You also actually know what you're doing; you play one specific character, Wolf the shinobi, on a quest to rescue your master, the young but precociously wise Lord Kuro.

The game also ups the ante on the difficulty by doing away with the online multiplayer aspects of the previous games (co-op, writing out warning messages for other players, invasions), instead focusing on a single player experience where the player must learn from every single one of their mistakes and fight every vessel-bursting boss all on their own. You also don't have a bevy of weapon options anymore; you have one katana, and aside from a handful of side attachments for your prosthetic that are more for utility than damage, you must do everything with that one katana. Dodging is no longer reliable, and you must instead build up your parry/deflect instincts to survive, especially because reducing enemy posture is far more important than reducing their health.

It's no surprise that the difficulty of the game was a major conversation when it came out, what with everyone trying to play it like Dark Souls or Bloodborne when it requires its own muscle memory. But like its predecessors, a headaching first run of the game will eventually give way to a fantastically rewarding experience, as everything From Software does great is on full display.
If you gave the game a shot and it completely turned you off, I don't blame you, but maybe with this LP I can convince you to give it another chance. Let us begin.

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In the mountains of Japan lies Ashina, a region falling apart from war mere decades after Lord Isshin Ashina reclaimed the land for his clan. There, a shinobi named Wolf is tasked with protecting Lord Kuro, a young boy gifted with the Dragon's Heritage: the power of immortality. But with Ashina endlessly caked with blood, Isshin's grandson Genichiro captures Kuro to use his Dragon's Heritage to end all war for his homeland. Wolf must brave the wartorn region to rescue his young master, and there will be more than a few seemingly impossible blockades in his way. Luckily, blessed with Kuro's Dragon's Heritage, this shadow can die twice.
Will it stay that simple, though? It never does.

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This is essentially a 100% LP of the game: beating every boss and miniboss, showing how to reach every ending, finding every collectible, going a few rounds in New Game+, and showing off everything the game has to offer. I'm reasonably good at the game... now, but much of the LP was recorded with only my second run ever, so I will vary in skill until we pass the endings. It won't be a constant death-fest at least.
Joining me on co-commentary are Mugiwara Yoshi and JigglyJacob, neither of whom have played Sekiro but have different experiences with Dark Souls. We have a penchant for silliness, but I try to temper that as we go along; this is a dark, brutal game. I'm also playing with Japanese voice acting and English subtitles, so I've eschewed the usual Edited commentary/Uncut commentary format, and I have a tendency to explain what's happening to emphasize important details to try to keep viewers abreast of what's happening and what should be payed attention to. In short: if you find our constant talking annoying, I won't blame you for that either.

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Content Warnings: Lots of blood, violence and dismemberment; some strong horror themes including body horror and grotesque monsters; abuse and violence against children; and probably a lot more. It may not be Bloodborne, but there's still a lot of dark, horror themes in there. Proceed with caution.

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Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:00 pm
by ThornBrain
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With the main LP complete, it's time to cycle back and check out some new stuff and things I missed.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:01 pm
by Carpator Diei
It's interesting that FromSoft games usually integrate their difficulty levels into the worldbuilding; the obvious Soulsborne equivalent are summons. Of course, summons make the game easier while the charm and the demon make Sekiro even harder.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:49 am
by Kibayasu
Carpator Diei wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:01 pm
It's interesting that FromSoft games usually integrate their difficulty levels into the worldbuilding; the obvious Soulsborne equivalent are summons. Of course, summons make the game easier while the charm and the demon make Sekiro even harder.
I'm mildly interested to see if Bluepoint are going to make any changes to World Tendency when the Demon's Souls remake comes out. It wasn't the greatest system and hid a lot of stuff behind nebulous, at best, systems but maybe with some time it can be better. If you lost White tendency it was an uphill struggle to get it back even a bit. Though I guess they also had those events of sorts where the levels would be set to a tendency no matter what you did, that was neat.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:22 pm
by theenglishman
Having played Ninja Blade recently, which was FromSoft's last title before they started making Souls games, it's interesting to see them integrate a more aggressive, action-focused combat style into the Soulsbourne genre.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:10 am
by NGDBSS
theenglishman wrote:
Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:22 pm
Having played Ninja Blade recently, which was FromSoft's last title before they started making Souls games, it's interesting to see them integrate a more aggressive, action-focused combat style into the Soulsbourne genre.
Speaking of Ninja Blade is there any chance of you reposting #8 without hitting a copyright wall? I saw the rest of that LP and it's comically bizarre how which whiplash you get between that and Demon's Souls by the same company.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 7:02 pm
by ThornBrain
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What gets harder in NG+ may not be obvious. Save the samurai!

Final part next week.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:57 am
by Kibayasu
Millipede Elephant seems like the point you'd know if you could suffer or not. I imagine not deflecting properly could kill you almost as fast as not blocking at all.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 7:00 pm
by ThornBrain
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Thanks for watching, and look forward to Bloodborne and Code Vein in the future!

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:23 pm
by Carpator Diei
Nice work!

So, how useful are those combat arts actually? Most of them didn't really seem to do more damage than a standard attack combo.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:00 am
by Salted Grump
Well, seeing you lot go through Code Vein is going to be interesting; I marathoned it from start to finish myself, and despite a bit of control jank, loved the concept and the freedom of customization.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:22 am
by NGDBSS
Speaking of Code Vein, do you have any plans to show off mods? Most of what I've encountered is merely cosmetic but they are easy to install like with anything for the Unreal Engine.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:24 am
by Kibayasu
As someone who still has trouble with the Taurus demon it's always terrific to be able to see things Sekiro played out regardless of myself. Great showcase.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:45 am
by ThornBrain
Carpator Diei wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:23 pm
Nice work!

So, how useful are those combat arts actually? Most of them didn't really seem to do more damage than a standard attack combo.
If you're good with the deflect, you probably won't need them. Some of them with wider sweeps are good for crowd control, and the final arts you get are pretty powerful to smaller enemies and can help a lot in new game +, but they'll never be your go-to.
NGDBSS wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:22 am
Speaking of Code Vein, do you have any plans to show off mods? Most of what I've encountered is merely cosmetic but they are easy to install like with anything for the Unreal Engine.
I haven't looked into them but I'll scan them for some useful or amusing choice cuts. Looking at the Nexus right now, the first thing I see is a mod for twinky male bodies with butts too big for their pants, so at least they're marketing to me.

Re: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Wolf Goes Fetch and Kill

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:40 pm
by Carpator Diei
Welp, seems like Sekiro will get a small update after all, though apparently it's only going to be some extra costumes, a Boss Rush mode and an analogue to the Bloodstains system from the Soulsborne games:
https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/12 ... 9116539905