Sekiro Is A Masterpiece [A Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Retrospective]

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for watching folks. Here are chapters for your convenience :- 00:00 Introduction 03:38 Combat 11:42 Movement 17:07 Bosses 22:47 Setting & Lore 32:02 What's missing? 36:18 Negatives 38:51 Conclusion

[@solidsalt3412]

Thanks for the chapters, but maybe you should pin the comment so it doesn't get lost in the crowd?

[@megahaogie1784]

First game I ever got platinum trophy on

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

I am excited for the next Armored Combat, as its director is the same as Sekiro.

[@highvoltage7559]

This game came around the time I ended up in a hospital due to Guillain Barre syndrome, a rare disease that destroys nerves. Once I got out, my hands were still incredibly imprecise, clumsy and felt like they were constantly tingling, all the while I could barely walk with crutches. It made playing video games quite difficult for a while. But if there's something I like, I won't let some physical disability stop me from doing it, so I ended up getting the game and tackling it at my own pace, adjusting and adapting to it despite my issues. Some time later and I've now beaten all of the bosses without taking any damage, including the newer Inner Bosses. Love this game, even if my issues cause my performance to be somewhat inconsistent at it at times.

[@JohnnyVector]

That's an awesome story, thanks for sharing. Good to hear you persevered with the game, very inspiring.

[@jass9571]

That's a amazing man...I found it amazingly challenging with no disability...well done mate

[@majeedmamah7457]

Damn bro. Proud of you, you're a true shinobi.

[@patrickmontone2888]

That is an incredible story bro. Much respect on your accomplishments. God bless you on your recovery

[@SaintKines]

Meanwhile there are still guys saying the game sucks or is "scripted" or whatever other BS they can come up with because they couldn't git gud like they did at DS. Sekiro is groundbreaking and greatly improved sword fighting in video games. I couldn't be more impressed with the game and you no damaging bosses while recovering is badass.

[@literallyjustchickensandwich]

One of the greatest things in this game was the learning curve. I went from, holy shit this is impossible to, I’ve mastered this game, but I’ll still die if I don’t pay attention. This shit was so satisfying.

[@robk5437]

I know right. Going from getting your butt handed to you too dominating them. I got my first no hit on genichiro last week. I almost no hit the demon of hatred. He hit me one time in the third phase because I made a mistake. On his ring of fire move. This game is incredibly fun to master. No game has given me the satisfaction of beating a boss or normal npc the way sekiro does

[@hamzashinwary4215]

the best example is Genichiro, notice how seems impossible the first time you fight him in Ashina castle but during the final battle, he's just so damn easy

[@rover5058]

So you're basically saying that you have no life and haven't been outside for a year

[@literallyjustchickensandwich]

@@rover5058 what

[@harsh1174]

@@rover5058 lol what

[@GunkGobbler]

Ongbal’s videos show just how beautiful the combat is if properly executed, and using the various skills and shinobi tools together.

[@JohnnyVector]

Ongbal is incredible. Shows what is possible in Sekiro

[@Howleebra]

yeah because if you dont follow the script the hit you landed with perfect timing wont work because ITS SCRIPTED to be cinematic NOT A tight game thats why they cant do multiplayer

[@exeledusprince9165]

@@Howleebra from software's games are always designed with pve in mind first anyway. The pvp is always an afterthought, that's why its so laggy and janky. Them putting pve first and foremost with no thought for multiplayer is one of the best things about sekiro. I feel they should remove pvp completely from any souls-like games they develop going forward, but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

[@Howleebra]

@@exeledusprince9165 they cant do pvp because its too scripted

[@exeledusprince9165]

@@Howleebra "scripted"? Like, how? It's not any more scripted than other their other games. The difference being how you avoid enemy attacks, which is infinitely more engaging and interesting than every other souls-like by FROM. Imagine if they decided to just give your dodge I-frames and removed the parry mechanic just to put in some laggy, shallow, half-hearted pvp. Sekiro would be a much, much worse game. Just look at all the "balance" changes FROM made in DS3, making some equipment really really hard to use in pve, just to satisfy that same dismal pvp system.

[@ramanand5187]

You know what is baffling? That From Software managed to make one of, if not, the best sword fighting game with having no experience in that field, and having a completely different combat approach as their trademark

[@bengough6772]

Lol they've mastered high fantasy dungeon crawling, shown that horror still has a lot to say, shown that deep combat action can be innovated and 2 months ago showed how open world games should be designed....even though I'd say none of their games are perfect (because even my favourite games aren't perfect) I'd say they are the company I'd trust, more than any other, to create a masterwork and give them carte blanche to do whatever they feel most passionate about. I am in awe of them and it's wonderful that they don't have to pander to aaa like games but can make what they want to make and it always gives us something good to sink our teeth into. Most important video game developer since Valve and Rockstar and much MUCH more consistent and with far greater output

[@AgentLemmon]

nioh series is better, ninja gaiden black is better.

[@opgroundzero2.0]

@@AgentLemmon I wouldn't consider Nioh better than Sekiro in terms of back and forth swordfighting

[@ranaashhad8040]

@@AgentLemmon Nioh doesn't have a better sword combat than sekiro.

[@XcaliBro-21]

@@AgentLemmon L opinion

[@cun_0092]

You know in Sekiro all bosses when they appreciate Sekiro they also appreciate you breaking a 3rd wall of sort. Especially happens when fighting lady butterfly, Great shinobi owl and Isshin. Those moments are spine chilling my favourite when Isshin says "well done Sekiro" congratulating you for completing the game.

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah very true. Isshin's quote "Hesitation is defeat" is a big fourth-wall breaker. It's directed at us.

[@nastronaut8566]

@@JohnnyVector that quote is my favorite in the entire game, because truly, with every enemy, hesitation is death. You have to be quick and decisive with your actions. Even in blocking you need to be certain that it is the right move because there are costs for every action. You cannot hesitate when attacking, dodging, blocking, or any other move in the game because THAT is how you die

[@willmael7914]

Oh this is great. I dont know how I never thought of this. It means that one of the greatest themes of the game lies beyond the fourth-wall, without it being game-breaking or illusion-breaking and still tying itself to in-game canon themes. Great stuff.

[@thisisfyne]

Sekiro is my favourite FromSoft game so far, and definitely one of the most compelling gaming experience I've ever had. Mastering its mechanics is satisfying like _nothing_ else. What a beautiful, beautiful monster. 10/10

[@JohnnyVector]

Well said

[@aleksagrbusic81]

did you ever find anything else similar to sekiro except souls series or nioh?

[@BrokenTooth]

@@aleksagrbusic81 Try Sifu. if you liked Sekiro, you'll likely like Sifu

[@aleksagrbusic81]

@@BrokenTooth i saw sifu but i dont think i would enjoy it tbh,Ip Man type of combat is kinda corny to me.I will just wait for ghosf of ts to get the pc version😂

[@bryangan2224]

Sekiro's combat is as realistic as it gets. I train and study and write about boxing and MMA a lot, and if you ever go to the gym and spar someone, the feeling of both intense focus and anxiety is exactly what it is to be doing battle in Sekiro. And just like in Sekiro, even someone much less skilled than you can bop you in the face if you don't fight/defend properly. And most beginners can still put up a guard to stop your punches, and you have to think about how to attack them, not just blast lots of punches at them and hope they land. Rhythm is also a super important aspect of striking. Finding a good rhythm for yourself and one that just feels wrong for your opponent puts you in a great spot (like how you constantly bash Genichiro while he tries to jump up to shoot an arrow or circle to the side, or land a spin/thrust without you countering it). Alternatively, 'broken' rhythm is used by more advanced strikers to lull you into a certain rhythm, and then attacking during one of the offbeat moments - exactly why Sword Saint Isshin's spear phase is so tricky, because of the delayed strikes in between all the spinning. Posture is also everything in real life striking. Go watch a compilation of KOs in any sport from kickboxing to boxing to MMA. Those highlight reel, one-hit KO shots always happen when the opponent is off balance somehow. His feet are crossed, his weight is extended way too forward or backwards, or he's leaning sideways, or his chin is not above his weight and cannot absorb the shot, etc. Watch how Muhammad Ali circles his opponent and makes them lunge forward and miss and then they're totally of balance, i.e. their posture is broken, then he flurries with a combination of quick strikes to put them down. He isn't a super powerful puncher, but he maintains his posture while breaking yours down. (Muay Thai is also a great sport to watch to understand posture/balance, it's a constant battle to unbalance the opponent and hit them while they are stumbling).

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Really interesting to hear your perspective. I've had the pleasure of watching Muay Thai live in Bangkok's Rajadamnern Stadium. It was great, and now that you mention it, I can definitely see how Sekiro did capture a lot of the subtle nature of real combat really well.

[@bungiecrimes7247]

Thank you for the insight

[@enzocrespin5806]

Great insight. The only thing missing for a perfect analogy is a stamina bar, since real combat tires you very quickly if you're not experienced, and then once you're out of breath you're fucked

[@bryangan2224]

@@enzocrespin5806 agreed. You have to manage your stamina and attack/defend in bursts, make efficient movements instead of leaping and swinging, etc. And yes, once a fighter is tired, no matter how skilled or strong he is, he's fucked. Great point.

[@enzocrespin5806]

@@bryangan2224 I started training in krav maga a year ago, I loved it, though I sucked at it, but then covid happened :(

[@robbieclark1784]

I completely agree that Sekiro has the best combat in any game I've played.

[@robbieclark1784]

Also completely agree about Dragonrot. I also think the Unseen Aid mechanic needs to be reworked.

[@hiimhunter7649]

@@robbieclark1784 Yea, honestly I feel those we're two mechanics they added to kinda test out for future games, I really wish dragonrot honestly killed off npc's or at least made them unable to be spoken with till it was cured

[@taydrew2577]

@@hiimhunter7649 but that what it does, you can’t continue quest lines while an NPC has Dragonrot

[@hiimhunter7649]

@@taydrew2577 quest lines weren’t something that I even felt were needed to be done in sekiro, as much as I love the game they aren’t as rewarding to me at least as they are in bloodborne and dark souls

[@--isaac]

I think that is on top with the Free Flow combat in the Arkham series. Really awesome

[@GamingMediocrity]

"Barely any of the bosses can be cheesed"... ... ... "SEKIRO GURU hErE!"

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha. Okay I admit it, I had to check out Tyrannicon a couple of times when playing. I think it's a Sekiro rite of passage.

[@GamingMediocrity]

@@JohnnyVector Great video by the way. Enjoyed thoroughly.

[@JohnnyVector]

@@GamingMediocrity Thanks a lot!

[@Howleebra]

sekiro IS CHEESE, hardcore government free cheese where your sword can wiff thru the boss and they can hit you even tho you dodged a car length out of their attack animation

[@just9019]

@@Howleebra that's ds2 not sekiro

[@Dattobayo]

I just went back to Sekiro after plat-ing Elden Ring. This game is a true masterpiece. Brutally demanding, punishing, and rewarding. Still need to finish the gauntlets, and I'm dreading the day that I've got no challenges left in this game.

[@noahboyer8815]

I have been a fan of sekiro since its release and would say I'm quite experienced. I'm so glad to see someone capture the beauty of the game in such an analytical way. On a side note the transition screen between different topics was amazing and such a unquie touch especially with the antique map and msuic.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the transitions in particular

[@chiprahn]

It's actually hard to believe that the "nothing special" combat of Dark Souls and the "possibly best combat system ever put in a game" combat of Sekiro were designed by the same people. But what is even more unbelievable is that From Software decided to go BACK to the nothing special combat style for Elden Ring after having made possibly the best combat system ever put in a game!

[@sofern2681]

Apparently both games were in developement at the same time, so they couldnt use sekiros combat style in elden ring. (Just what i heard dont quote me on it)

[@kylenmaple4668]

Who is saying that Dark Souls combat is “nothing special” ???

[@StillWeRide]

My exact thoughts! Fromsoftware really should do a sequel..if any game deserves it..sekiro does

[@Wonkess_Chonkess]

​@@kylenmaple4668 roll hit, roll hit, it's a little more complicated than that but not much.

[@playhard5753]

Well they really couldn’t do that because I think that the hardcore Sekiro fans, one being myself, would rip Fromsoft apart. The combat system in Sekiro is, as put in the video, one of the most key features that make the game so unique. That combat type is only to be held by Sekiro. Elden ring wasn’t meant to be Sekiro 2, I don’t think Elden Ring really could have worked if it had Sekiro’s combat system. It just….. wouldn’t fit the game. After Sekiro I think Fromsoft releasing Elden ring was to bring back a taste of the classic souls games.

[@FancyTophatDude]

It's the most beautiful combat system i can remember. Its dance of blocking, trying to counter and find an in to carefully putting in strike after strike from there, making sure you don't overextend. And the fact that perilous attacks tell you only that they're happening and you have to read the enemies actual striking direction is beautifully diegetic. It's the most any combat system ever felt like a climactic action scene in a samurai movie

[@bloody_outlaw8000]

First time playing it felt like hell .. today i finished my second playthrough of the game and it was a much different experience ..its unbelievable to me that isshin a guy that took me 3 days to beat the first time around.. only took me 2 tries this time.. struggle is what makes these games more enjoyable but unlike the other souls games where if you beat a cool boss quickly you kinda feel disappointed or lucky .. sekiro on the other hand feels totally earned and once you know how to play the game you feel like a master shinobi..i will surely be revisiting the game many times in the future ..mikiri is the most satisfying thing ever ..i will never get tired of it

[@billthegold]

TBH i learnt Sekiro mechanic from Isshin himself. Before i just tanked the damage and spam R1 mindlessly

[@andyscoming4919]

Duuuude the combat finally clicked for me when I first played Sekiro during the Mikiri counter “tutorial” where the guy with the spear is your tutorial for it basically! Getting the hang of it and when you execute it, that sound hits when Wolf kicks down the spear, SICK! Haha

[@Onikame]

Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro all have ideas that the combat was designed around. Dark Souls was choice. A true to form punishing, but play as you wish rpg. Bloodborne was more limiting, designed to force people to play aggressively, after seeing how defensively people ended up playing Souls. It was a response to that. The Sekiro, was designed not just to play differently, but to actively punish Souls players for attempting to play it like a Souls game. Nearly every effective technique and method that is effective in Souls games is the worst way to tackle Sekiro. By design.

[@JohnnyVector]

Very true, great analysis

[@danr154]

They went too far with that imo. Made it less fun. This idea that every souls player turtles behind a shield and deserves to be punoshed for it is pretty silly as well. The entire sekiro experience thus becomes a parry-fest to such a degree its as annoying as constantly having your shield up. It wasnt worth it to trade Aaallllll the choice and cool shit you could do for what? Just to parry and counter over and over and over. Just gimme some different weapons at least so I get less bored of looking at tbe same weapon doing the same thing over and over. And the Shinobi skills were somehow just as maybe even less satisfying to use than Bloodborne bullet magic. And it cost too much to use in both games actually. Got sock of the 2-3 stage boss fights as well. It was just tiring. I had fun exploring the world of Sekiro but did not enjoy many bpss fights. They all felt too hard for the sake of being hard. Not even hard just too much of a grind to fight tbat perfectly for that long because you gave the boss two entire health bars I have to chew through but the game only gives you one health bar worth of resources to use.

[@rick88mota]

@@danr154 Once you get How to play the Bosses, they all became Very easy. This is in some Sense true to Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but not in the same level as Sekiro. If you master the game, you REALLY can pass the most strong enemies without get a hit. So, If you are having ALL that trouble with some Bosses, maybe you still didn't catch How to fight them. I know that my comment may sound like a "Get Gud" statement, but i think the game is design to force the player to master How to play It. The only enemy that i Felt kind of out of the Spirit of the game was the demon of hatred; but even him was beatable.

[@Kokuori]

@@danr154 felt too hard for the sake of being hard is literally the compliant people use for any souls like game. You described not wanting to parry all the time which perfectly tells me you refuse to learn how to actually play the game and force another onto it. No wonder you didn’t enjoy it you didn’t try and play Sekiro as it’s own thing

[@koalatysleep]

Beautiful game but definitely not a masterpiece nor a title deserving game of the year. So many combat arts and tools that are pretty useless or only furfill a single niche against a particular enemy. Its my first fromsoft game so I can't say anything about their other games but I still found a lot of questionable design choices. I personally don't like skipping areas in games but there are a few places where it is ideal to do so. My friends all say the lore for darksouls and bloodborne is superb so I can't say how disappointed I am with the main plot itself. The lore can be very deep as most of the enemies are connected and have a sound purpose behind them but the story is TOO shallow. Was anyone actually surprised when they find out when Owl was the one that stabbed you? The guy literally scars a 10 year old kid with a massive sword was that not a tell? Was anyone surprised at the sculptor being the DoH when you probably died a hundred times and he looks more doom and gloom than you irl? Was one of the worst foreshadowing ever. You run around the whole game finding alcohol to unlock 4 lines of dialogue for 3 different npcs. There's about 10 npcs and half of them try kill you which isn't a problem but the lack of any character development for any of them it is hard to feel any emotional connection when you kill them. The underwater areas are pretty meh, change of pace but nothing fresh and amazing. He is named wolf but should be called dolphin instead consider how bloody fast he is in the water. Also shocking that you take fall damage falling into water. I actually can't remember a game that's done that since possibly play station one days. I've never laughed so hard watching the swimming glitch runs but its just hilarious how he is supposed to be a master shinobi getting shanked by plebs that swing bigger weapons than his much faster. The combat literally carried this game and it carried it so hard that I can say it was great game but it lacks a lot of polish and fundamentals that I'd consider basic requirements in other games. I understand they wanted to make this game really hard but there is roughly 10 tool tips that would be really nice to have known which they don't teach you. Now I get they wanted it to be hard but I get the feeling they just got really lazy. A lot of recycled areas for boss fights is another example. While each boss doesn't need their own arena fighting multiple bosses in the exact same area did feel really bland especially as you go back for the siege story etc. I also found a lot of the aoe attacks and tools very useless. Is there a reason to use the aoe fire axe and aoe spear over sakura dance and mortal blade? Is jumping while using mortal blade to deal double damage an intended mechanic? The game isn't no where near polished enough to deserve goty. I've crashed a few times during the loading screen while trying to fight genchrio constantly. The dragon rot is a dud mechanic too. Who cares if they are sick stopping story progression. If you are constantly dying you are probably on a boss or something anyways. I can't say anything good about stealth as the ai is a joke and it is mechanic that only exists for you to get deathblows. It is not friendly towards beginners at all. Being a new player and completing a shura ending on my first playthrough and then going new game plus was very brutal. I missed a few beads and the posture damage was whack. Discovering that enemies have a few new moves and 7 levels of difficulty is very nice but I don't fault anyone for quitting or refunding the game as it can get frustrating. Not from the combat either. It really is not a game that can be played without a guide. I didn't know which npcs were meant to be killed, which npcs quest line options are better, where do I go next? What to do when you are stuck? It feels as if the game wants to punish you for just being new all the while with a few vauge/poetic lines for clues. Would be nice if you could preview or have a demo of some combat arts instead wasting points on useless arts that requires 2 sec wind up and becomes too impractical for you to use so you only use double ichimoji on a few bosses and take it off most of the. The amount of cheesing available for bosses really makes you wonder did dark soul players just get really really good or did they not test this game at all? So many bosses, same area's with similar cheese makes you really question if it's half intended or did they ONLY focus on the combat? I think there are a LOT of flaws people are choosing to look over or maybe because of my lack of experience with their previous titles I'm just not used to it but the game isn't perfect, and I'd honestly go far and say it is far from a masterpiece. I do really hope Elden ring fails and maybe we get a dlc down the line eventually as I really did have an amazing salty relationship with Sekiro but personally I found a lot of progression very unrewarding like 3 skins? No black mortal blade? 4 different endings for what purpose?Half the players can't tell if Kuro is a boy or a girl. Anything worth using is given afterwards you beat the game and gaunlet runs. Going to get a lot of weebs mad for saying all this but with that all said Sekiro has some of the most amazing boss battle experiences I've had in any video game and the combat too and they have set a bench mark that other games can only imitate for years to come.

[@nowimpanickin7167]

Wolf also regains posture faster while holding block and not being attacked, it’s something that isn’t explained at all and you have to pay attention and try it to really notice. :)

[@JohnnyVector]

Yes true, that actually took me a long time to notice organically when playing first time around!

[@MarkHogan994]

It is explained, actually. One of the loading screen tips mentions it, and I believe you can learn about it from Hanbei as well.

[@randomnobody9229]

Like the other guy said, it is explained in the loading screen. Actually every mechanic is practically explained there.

[@syzygy02]

it's told to you by the game lol

[@Adie-ov2ri]

I actually feel bad for the people who can’t appreciate how much of a masterpiece this game is.

[@Lilgus84]

I’m one of them. I wanna appreciate so badly. But I just can’t.

[@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292]

@@Lilgus84 Why?

[@Alvigger]

@@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292 people that say that has a really-really small issue about the game that really irritated them. I love this game and it’s a masterpiece, but there’s one thing that’s bothering me recently, there’s really nothing to do anymore after you recognized all the boss attack patterns and after getting all endings.

[@yettiluch1]

Better than tsushima ghosts?

[@Alvigger]

@@yettiluch1 same setting/theme but they’re not that close if you compare them gameplay wise, they’re both good in their own ways.

[@TenguHD]

Sekiro - S tier Dark Souls 1 & 3 - A tier Bloodborne - A tier Dark Souls 2 - Mid Demon souls - Mid Elden Ring - MID ASF

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

I mean, with the Juzou, you can just assassinate his cohorts slowly, run away until they stop chasing you and rinse and repeat until he is alone. It really makes the fight easier and you can even sneak behind Juzou himself and deal a stealth deathblow on him, taking one of his health-bars. And there is even an NPC you can trigger to fight with you. It's perfectly fair if you just don't run in and start fighting Juzou headfirst.

[@braxinIV]

The game does this a lot. It presents opportunities to turn normally sticky situations practically trivial, but only if you’re familiar with your tools and the mechanics. When you’re first headed to Senpou Temple from the Ashina Castle Gate (where the old lady is praying), after the bridge there’s a gate where you grapple over are presented with a big guy with a bell and three dogs. If you’re slick, you can kill the furthest dog with a shuriken, have the dogs check out the corpse, snipe those two dogs and that’ll draw the bell guy to the corpses. You then backstab that fool and bam, easy win.

[@CatsLeMatts]

While true, I hated the monotony of waiting for enemy aggro to reset, especially in Juzous fight. It feels like cheese to rely on the enemies' amnesia rather than coordinating a proper stealth route or utilizing a Gachin's sugar just to get that extra bit of stealth so you can get those deathblows. I hated the Snake Eye's fights, they somehow killed me more than Isshin and Genichiro combined, but at least they allowed you to consistently stealth kill all of their back up so you can 1v1 them. Fights like Juzou are far more bearable with the puppeteer Ninjutsu unlocked, and it can be tedious to deal with mini bosses like this before you have access to it.

[@azureascendant994]

I used the NPC to get back attacks on Juzō.

[@redsky5440]

Even easier if you have ninjutsu. But i guess as it's an early area not every player will know about them when they reach it. Definitely helps in subsequent playthroughs though

[@Ghorda9]

@@CatsLeMatts it's faster to just lure juzou out through the hallway and near the pond and then fight him two on one with his second health bar. Its the same with the second general, just lure him near where the note about the headless is and fight him there, you can even use ceramic shards for this. Also about snake eyes, just use a gachiins sugar and grapple your way across the pond near the fallen buddha statue and fight here near the fog gate.

[@David_USC]

Best game I've played in a very long time.

[@DonYoGi8331]

Best game I've played in years

[@deanaicken6259]

I didn't play Sekiro til 2020,before that I only played football games ie Fiffa...but I wanted to try something different so I started with Jedi fallen order which I loved,then I came across Sekiro and wow what a learning curve it was,I loved the game but I wasn't any good at it😤😆 but I never give up on anything and persisted through and so glad I did,this is by far the most satisfying combat game I have ever played and I still love it to this day,I'm 43yrs old now so my reflexes aren't what they used to be and every Yr I still find myself coming back to this absolute gem,I hope there is a sequel on the way in the near future,great review by the way.👍

[@Omgacow1000]

Just played through this game for the second time and I think it might be my favorite in the series now

[@TempleofShaolin]

Is it worth $30? It’s on sale rn

[@suzuzusu]

@@TempleofShaolin go get it asap

[@suzuzusu]

@@TempleofShaolin also there won't be a lower price since it's published by Activision

[@TempleofShaolin]

@@suzuzusu say less. Will start it after I finish my first souls game Elden ring

[@suzuzusu]

@@TempleofShaolin Have fun but keep in mind that sekiro is the hardest soulslike game

[@evancrew1234]

That first fight with Genichiro on top of Ashina castle is phenomenal, it’s the moment when I decided Sekiro was my favourite fromsoft game. The rhythmic flurries of attacks he sends out, the telegraphing of his perilous attacks, the setting, and that surprise 3rd phase where you’re introduced to lightning deflections are all incredible. Another thing I love about this game is the speed at which you can stealth through an area, memorizing enemy positions and optimizing a path through each area is so satisfying, especially when you get into timing yourself on areas.

[@CaptJackAubreyOfTheRoyalNavy]

I've been playing games since the 90s and Sekiro is easily one of my favorite games of all time.

[@austinbruner7498]

Beating this game is my greatest achievement as a longtime action gamer. My friend gave me a copy on PS4 about a month after it came out, but I shelved it for a long time before trying it. When I heard it was a lot different from their usual formula, I gave it a go. I'm more of a traditional action gamer, so I remapped the buttons so Square attacked. Holy fuck. I had never played a more demanding title of its type before. Parrying has always been a weakness of mine, but I soldiered on. Then, when I got to Owl, I gave up. I stopped playing for over a year, and finally picked it back up. After conquering Owl, I made it to the final boss and officially quit. That's never happened to me before. It took me a further 6 months to try again, and finally, in March 2021, I beat the game. I've conquered both Nioh games, all of the Ninja Gaiden titles, the hardest Devil May Cry games, and more. But beating Sekiro surpasses all of those accomplishments. I still have a complicated relationship with the game, because it stressed me out so much, yet I always find myself coming back to it. I'm beginning to make peace with the fact that, yes, I do love the game, even if it pushed me over the edge.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, thanks for sharing. Your experience sounds a lot like mine!

[@andyscoming4919]

I could only imagine the feeling you had when you finally beat Ishin and heard “well done, Sekiro.” Nice job man

[@loganberkheimer1857]

Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, a lesson in quality over quantity. Beat the game for the first time with a time of just over 30 hours. Perfect in my eyes, I really start losing interest when games hit the 80+ hour mark

[@MarkHogan994]

Commenting to try to help the algorithm because even though this video is 2+ months old, it needs and deserves to be seen by more people.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for that, really glad you hear you enjoyed the video

[@MarkHogan994]

@@JohnnyVector It's a fantastic video ! Thanks for making it, not that many people make in-depth content about this game, even though in my opinion it's the most polished and most satisfying From Soft masterpiece.

[@MiguelAlexisArguello]

Probably my favorite of the Fromsoftware games. Bloodborne a close 2nd. Waaay underrated because it deviates so much from the other games. You realize the beauty of the game once you understand the mechanics.

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

It's easily the most in-depth and mechanically consistent of the entire series

[@critical-thinker666]

0 new weapons/armors/builds/classes... beauty how the fuck they got away with that level of laziness.

[@enzocrespin5806]

@@critical-thinker666 And yet the combat is a lot more exciting than in the Souls trilogy. At least here you ain't rolling like a grandpa through every battle

[@critical-thinker666]

@@enzocrespin5806 Well,for me dark souls isnt about combat.. its that amazing lore/locations/atmosphere. sekiro is just pew pew shinobi and another! and on the horse and ..... thats basicly it.

[@enzocrespin5806]

@@critical-thinker666 Sekiro absolutely has amazing lore, location and atmosphere, in fact I vastly prefer it, and Bloodborne, over the more generic looking western medieval setting of the Souls. But to each their own. Good day to you.

[@LonesomeKrow]

I think my favorite part of Sekiro’s combat (which is more prominent in bosses but still applies to most standard enemies) is as you’ve said, Posture. Posture is sorta like a stamina bar, but it governs the threshold of damage one can take before being exhausted/staggered or open to a death blow. And for bosses it’s such a cool reward to whittle down their health and not letting their posture recover so you can get that ever-so sweet deathblow while they still have health. It’s such a nice touch that after a certain amount of health lost, bosses recover posture slowly so you don’t lose progress in their later phases. It sorta pressures you to “finish the job” but don’t get greedy or hesitate. Play smart and play to your strengths.

[@UnrulyJuli]

Great video. What I find really silly about the dragonrot mechanic is that it actually depends on how much you die, not how often you choose to revive your character. The latter option would have justified you feeling guilty because that is a choice you actually make. Like you sucking some of the life out of all humans around you to preserve your own life.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks a lot!

[@alanboodibabudaho9789]

If that was what they intentionally wanted it to be, it would actually made a lot of sense.

[@abhitejvelore]

True. But Sekiro seems work around the idea that either you resurrect at the spot or you resurrect near the idol. But every death is part of the story. And so dragon rot spreads. Atleast that was my understanding.

[@zarc1145]

If you ressurect you steal the life force of the enemies around you

[@jessehendriks2877]

A bit late, but you seem to have left out some key points on the topic of posture. Both you and your enemies posture regeneration scale with remaining Vitality. This is indicated by the changing colour of the posture bar, going from yellow to blood red. At 100% - 75% health you regenerate your posture at 100% speed. From 74% - 50% it regenerates at 66% speed. 49% - 25% at 33% speed, and below 25% vitality you lose the possibility of regenerating posture entirely. After all, being inches away from death isn't a great place to be in for a body. An enemy with a posture bar that regenerates fast might need to be whittled down before you can go in for the posture break, whilst enemies with low health can be easily killed without minding their posture. This creates scenarios where you have to deal with enemies differently, and sometimes even groups of them with different "kill mechanics". My second point is about your own posture. Blocking and deflecting enemy attacks increases your posture, but if you perfectly deflect, your posture will never break. Ofcourse if you were to just block an attack after deflecting 5 or 6 rapid strikes, your posture would be broken, but it incentivises brutal, fast paced combat, and punishes even the slightest mistake very harshly if you play like that. Another thing that incentivises this greatly is Kuro's charm on NG+ By giving him back his charm, you introduce chip damage onto *every* enemy. But here is the catch. Perfectly deflecting an attack reduces that chip damage down to zero. playing even more into the perfect deflects.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks, some really key points made here.

[@alemswazzu]

Only game I've ever 100% completed. I didn't like it all that much at first, but it is a true masterpiece. No fetch quests, no fluff, just you and your skills.

[@Ravill]

The fact that he didnt have anything else to complain about other than dragonrot, shows how this game almost resembles perfection

[@TheAstrobiologistOW]

One thing of note about the Armored Warrior: that armor is actually pulled almost directly from Portugese history and the armor designs of the first samurai plate armor, so he's almost certainly Portugese!

[@pizzatony9190]

Right now I’m at father owl. When I fought Genichiro for the second time I genuinely thought I would never get past him and beat the game, and it was so satisfying when I did kill him.

[@JohnnyVector]

Congrats on getting past Genichiro. Hopefully you'll get past Owl as well!

[@thedamntrain3467]

This was for me the first fromsoft game I finished and it was an amazing experience. Both in terms of being into the story and the setting but also the gamedesign. I felt like the challenge and the sense of accomplishment from beating some of the bosses for the first time was tuned perfectly. Often times starting attempts at a boss felt overwhelming in terms of difficulty but progressively things would snap and just before getting frustrated I'd manage to clear the fight (outside of DoH for the first time when I didn't know about Malcontent's ring) and this difficulty curve never let up. And once you start doing charmless runs you truly start to learn the game and each of the bossfight and more often than not you have to learn to react to each and every attack instead of just a few and once you learn the boss's entire kit and how to react to each attack and perfectly execute a phase it feels like injecting endorphin.

[@BigB70]

Stumbled across 'lone wolf and cub' manga an Sekiro around the same time. Great experience bouncing the two art forms off each other. Nice analysis 👍

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks a lot!

[@solidsalt3412]

How does this not have more views dude it's a great video

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the support, I'm glad you liked the video

[@vaskopoh9512]

It's pretty new for a review of a 2019 game.

[@miki49]

Amazing game. Beautiful thing about Sekiro over all other souls game is that it was fully realized and complete on arrival, no (traditional) DLC required

[@tearfullarc2089]

I really want a sekiro 2. This game has potential for a sequel, more than bloodborne. also they could fix anything that people didnt like in a 2nd game. I mainly just want to have another game with these fighting mechanics.

[@cassetto]

this is one of the best retrospectives on Sekiro I've ever watched. Randomly popped up in my homepage, and I glad it did. Amazing job, I subscribed immediately

[@HidinginPublic]

I overall agree with what you said. I would have liked to see you go further though, and some minor things you mentioned I think I would have a response or be able to expand on. I believe it is a near perfect game. I have beaten it well over 80 times, and feel like I know it inside and out. Almost all of the "criticism" I saw in sensationalists when the game came out are poorly thought through at best, and provably incorrect statements at worse. I'm just happy there is some sort of decently structured video defending it, gives me more peace of mind until I eventually put together my own video on it

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks, I felt compelled to dip my toes into making a longish retrospective after seeing games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls II getting a lot of love on KZbin. I'll keep an eye out because I'd love to see you share your thoughts on Sekiro in a video.

[@danieldancza6171]

Small corretion for 9:29 You take posture damage even if you deflect, though you take more if you just hold block. Also no matter how full your posture bar is, as long as you deflect you won't get posture broken.

[@jesuslikesdualswords8410]

Souls players : Poise is a myth. From Soft : Builds an entire game on poise.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, brilliant

[@allandm]

I love how sometimes you gotta jump, sometimes you gotta parry, sometimes you gotta dodge. Its not just 'roll for everything'

[@mr.potter4622]

GOT adopted these techniques. I love it.

[@NamelessKing1597]

19:13 I'm gonna have to disagree, The two corrupted monk fights provide just enough variation that having to fight it twice doesn't feel lazy or boring, then again I fought the false monk before Ape or Owl so corrupted monk felt fresher for me than it probably did for most. I can see how fighting the real one immediately after the fake one would be annoying but I feel like Mibu was designed to be visited twice (especially since if you go there after ape you have to fight ape again and going there beforehand makes his second fight optional, and two different). The mini bosses on the other hand (specifically Shichimen and Headless) are a different story. I think false monk actually increases the effectiveness of true monk because it lulls you into a false (heh, heh) sense of security. You think you killed the monk but you didn't, you think killing her again will be easy because you already fought her but it isn't.

[@andrew_cunningham]

False monk worked for me because, for some reason, I just had a real bitch of a time beating her. Like, she was actually one of the hardest bosses in the game. I don't know why. But after dying to her like 20 times, True Monk felt like a super cathartic rematch where I could actually hold my own after learning all the patterns.

[@Ghorda9]

@@andrew_cunningham corrupted monk takes a lot less damage without divine confetti, that might be part of it.

[@Torpax_]

@@andrew_cunningham illusion monk is rediculously easy with firecrackers...or snap seeds...

[@littlemoth4956]

19:30 Have to disagree here. The Monk is a fantastic lesson in posture regeneration as her posture bar is massive, regenerates extremely quickly, and goes up very slowly. She is very defensive and the player must take a very different route in beating her. Instead of balancing slices with deflects, the player must deflect attack after attack in a sort of dance, buying time until they have an opening to do damage. It's very well designed in an entirely different way than the True Monk. It's anything but lazy. In what way is it underwhelming? Especially when Folding Screen Monkeys are just a puzzle boss? This is a boss fight like any other in the area: a mystical being with intentions beyond your understanding. She is challenging like O'rin and Snake Eyes Shirahagi. And finally, this fight does not lessen the impact of the True Monk. That's a bit ridiculous. Like you said previously, many of the bosses fought are introduced beforehand and part of the climactic battle is the nature of their character and what the layer knows about them. The True Monk would have just appeared out of nowhere and would have been an impersonal fight with a guardian. Meanwhile, the Illusion Monk fight is impersonal because obviously, you do not know what she is, what she is guarding, or why you are fighting her. In fact, the impersonal nature of the fight fits even more because you AREN'T fighting her. You're fighting her illusion. The Illusion Monk builds up the True Monk, as the Illusion was already tough, the True Monk would obviously be tougher. Not only that, but it provokes the question of "what's so much more important than guarding the Shelter Stone that the True Monk would rather send an Illusion to fight in her place?", further building up the true fight. When you finally fight the True Monk, you understand she was guarding Fountainhead Palace and protecting the source of immortality, that she is a member of the Okami and Senpou Temple, and that you've fought her before. She becomes a sort of rival, blocking you in several important steps of you journey, which makes the fight that much more climactic and inspiring.

[@adityavimal4145]

Well said!

[@methatis3013]

Sadly, I found both monk fights pretty easy. They were the easiest out of all the bosses for me (excluding the dragon). One way in which it did get a bit repetitive is with 4 drunkard/glutton fights. No idea why they went with that choice, it's probably the only thing in the game I would call straight up lazy

[@UltimateHansford]

Sekiro was my first From Software game. It is my favorite gaming experience by far. However, it ruined other From Software games for me. Once I finished Sekiro I quickly jumped into Bloodborne and Dark Souls Trilogy to experience everything I had missed out on. Unfortunately, they did not live up to my expectations and were not nearly as fulfilling as Sekiro. I’m sure I would feel differently had I played those games prior to Sekiro.

[@JohnnyVector]

Interesting to hear from someone who played Sekiro first. Glad you enjoyed Sekiro so much. Hopefully you'll find some other games that'll scratch the Sekiro itch!

[@FredHerbert999]

I feel your pain...my experience was almost the complete opposite tho. I played DS2 first. Then 1, Demon's, 3, BB, and Sekiro. FF7 was my 1st rpg in 1997 at age 9...so it set a really high bar. I feel you lol.

[@benakinnusi2518]

Dude it was my first too, then dark souls 3, then bloodborne

[@toddhennen]

I had the same experience, I still can’t get into the older games because the lack of mobility feels so unnecessarily restrictive

[@grubblewubbles]

I once saw a reply on a discussion thread 9n sekiro that said "sekiro really was a flop" Ahh yes, a flop that won GOTY, outsold ds2, ds1, bloodborne and demon souls, and has some of the greatest combat ever put into a game

[@wizcatcheslightning]

Top 3 game of all time for me without a doubt. Great story, option to play in Japanese, which expands the plot a bit. Amazing boss battles (Looking at you Great Ape and Owl). And the trying to decipher the cyclical symbolism as well as the game's events are rewarding, especially when an entire community of devoted fans are involved. Looking forward to a sequel.

[@JohnnyVector]

I couldn't agree more regarding the community. I loved finishing the game and then searching around the internet for different people's interpretations.

[@moejuggler6033]

I also played in the Japanese language with English subtitles, the way it's really *meant* to be played. But when you say, "expands the plot," I don't understand how you mean. Language or not it *should* be the same plot?

[@wizcatcheslightning]

@@moejuggler6033 Like there are certain Japanese words that can't be translated into English word for word. So multiple English words are used to describe one Japanese word, because translations can never be 100% accurate, generally speaking. Take the Spanish word "denada" for instance. You and I would say this means "thank you" in Spanish. However, this word literally translates to "of/from nothing". When you realize its literal translation, you understand how Spanish can be considered a romantic language.

[@moejuggler6033]

@@wizcatcheslightning Ride on I get that about translations. When you say plot I'm thinking about the overarching story of the game and not the word for word translation. Here's a real question though: are the English subtitles and English dub not word for word? Figured they would be but if not I completely understand.

[@wizcatcheslightning]

@@moejuggler6033 No doubt. I guess I really mean the dialogue, which understanding the dialogue means knowing more about the plot. And no, the Japanese and English versions use different words, or so I've been led to believe. There's a community inside of the Sekiro subreddit that covers this as extensively as possible.

[@nicholas2153]

Ironically Sekiro's combat may prove more challenging to Souls born players specifically. They have it ingrained into their muscle memory to dodge when an attack is coming, they will have to actively fight their instinct to adjust to being able to deflect or even just block most attacks. They might not even know they can punish sweeping attacks since (as far as I remember) it isn't directly mentioned you can do that. Sure, you can do things the dark souls' way, but you'll have a much easier time if you master the parry system. Worse yet their muscle memory will probably work faster than their recognition of the unblockable moves. I remember on more than one occasion where I would see a "perilous" attack and immediately try to jump out of the reach of the attack only to realize I could do the Mikiri Counter or stomp on their head. I would then try to correct that which often would lead to me walking back into the attack since I missed my window of opportunity to counter it.

[@GreenTommason]

Commenting for the algorithm, this video is very good

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the support, I'm glad you enjoyed the video

[@ivanl.8054]

Sekiro is my favorite game of all time but among Fromsoft fans I hardly see people who are even close to my mindset. I always see Bloodborne or Dark Souls 1. Nobody gives enough praise to Sekiro and it really made me sad. I have played the game at least 40 times and each time it got better. It's a masterpiece that doesn't get enough credit. I'm really glad this video exists. It really does a phenomenal job at explaining what makes Sekiro click and how genius it is. Really well done. Good job man

[@joshspinney]

Found this from your ranking video. Thanks for adding the link!

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome, thanks Josh. Glad you enjoyed my FromSoft videos!

[@brunoserra1531]

I understand what you were saying but using "that's cool and all" when talking about Bloodborne shattered the core of my soul.

[@generalkenobidaily4642]

If we ever got a Sekiro 2, I’d love to see it take place in the west, since that’s where the true ending sent Wolf and the Divine Child

[@enzocrespin5806]

Sacrifice is the true ending imo

[@FinneousPJ1]

Do note in this context "the west" is China

[@danielfreezer8469]

@@FinneousPJ1 More likely Korea. The dragon has 4 toes. Chinese dragons have 5. Not a detail From would skimp on.

[@danielfreezer8469]

@@AlexanderDion they cant just make the best combat system in gaming and abandon it. Also, ds is a trilogy

[@bengough6772]

@@AlexanderDion agreed, they didn't even want to do DS 2 and 3 but the demand was high and they took the decision (correctly) because now they have more fame and capital with their shareholders to say, "hey trust us we know what we're doing" AND THEY DO! Elden Ring is an enormous success and on paper could have been so bad....whatever they do next almost certainly won't be a sequel but will take what they do in another direction. Looking forward to it all....and until then maybe I'll play the complete back catalogue

[@MemoriesLP]

I used the shuriken a lot. Its good to send enemies to the ground when they jump, and they are one of the best way to get in range with the enemies by using the fast follow up. The upgraded version you hold is also really good, doing some damage and making the enemey busy parrying it while you close the gap

[@DubiousKimchi]

Hands down my favorite game of all time. No other game comes close.

[@ciscoak9074]

there were mini bosses that were more difficult for me than some main bosses. I also think that this game was designed to be played (correctly) simply with the sword . all the prosthetic add ons add different way to approach situation, or create breathing room to heal ect, but at its core it seems like ALL except one or two (if that) booses/enemies were designed to be fought with the katana along with the parry/posture system! all the fights and phases of every boss fight are designed to be won and lost by that system, all the "extra toys" are just "there" so to speak. every enemy needs to be learned and mastered in order to beat them in a consistent fashion. each boss that seems "impossible or very difficult" at the first encounter, will be able to be beaten once u have either died enough times to "learn" the fight, or play really aggressive n get good at parries n u may get lucky n beat them in 1-3 tries (I did that with genchiro, true corrupted monk, gyobu, the double ape fight,and a bunch of mini bosses) but most I had to die atleast 5+ times(each phase) to learn the fight. there were bosses that took me 10+ tries but it wasn't because they were nessesarily hard per se, most fight I knew I could win If i didn't keep making small dumb mistakes. and only took long because I wasn't playing well (or stoned), or I would keep misreading mikri counter/jump dodge Kanji attacks(I had a real issue with that If I smoked pot or had edibles b4 sessions lol) u have no idea how many "runs" of the hirata memory owl I sabatage by mis timing or misreading his red Kanji attacks!!!... that 2nd owl father fight was the only fight(so far, I still need to fight demon of hatred, ishin sword saint,, and emma and old ishin). that took a over n hour (2 n half).

[@abrahamrangel2326]

in my opinion sekiro is far better than any souls, who needs a "variety" of weapons and armor if changing weapons doesn't affect the gameplay, its all about just rolling and attacking 2 times to roll again, i have found more build variety in the protethic tools, all of them shine and change how you play, not to mention the combat skills, having all of them makes the gameplay so fun and aesthetically pleasing, this game has the best pve in the series, fighting against a regular enemy is already more fun for me than fighting against any ds boss, im already on my 8th run with 99 attack power and i haven't beaten any souls game more than twice

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the comment. Regarding the rolling you're completely correct. I didn't touch upon that in this video but yeah, the roll is so damn good it does reduce combat to rinsing the roll-and-attack pattern.

[@strange63635]

You should try bloodborne, each weapon is unique and viable, while offering vastly different gameplay

[@abrahamrangel2326]

@@strange63635 i already played bloodborne and it felt pretty much like a more flashy darks souls

[@billyboleson2830]

@@strange63635 Not really it's mostly just r1 dodge spam no matter what. At least Sekiro fully knows it's an action game so it tries different things

[@Lucivius27]

@@billyboleson2830 Yeah that's my move from start to finish.

[@Flashlegz]

Completed Sifu, then figured I'd give Sekiro a proper go as it had been sitting in my steam library for a while, both fantastic games and actually somewhat similar.

[@speedcreep2605]

I'm late to the party having just purchased Sekiro a month ago. I just wanted to say that the prosthetics are highly subjective imo. I tend to use the shuriken the most. It's great for taking out packs of wolves, geckos and any enemy who likes to jump; so it absolutely wrecks Lady Butterfly and is useful against the Corrupted Monk. It's also good for pulling an enemy from a group and I believe it'll interrupt the posture regen move from some bosses (which would only be helpful with Owl since he'll do it behind a poison cloud; others can simply be attacked.) Otherwise, I'll use firecrackers, the Umbrella and the flame vent situationally.

[@jefflei215]

Shuriken and firecrackers are my two most used prosthetics, firecrackers are good for obvious reasons but shuriken are incredibly good for most bosses, it's amazing for keeping pressure on a boss's posture while you space yourself or for getting in some chip damage during long combos, the best part still has to be for interrupting the move Owl and some enemies do where they regain their posture.

[@buituyen9484]

Totally agree with Shuriken but my second one is raven feather I learned to master it and it worked well in most situation.

[@methatis3013]

I was really surprised when he said he used the whistle the least. It's probably my most used tool since it is extremely useful for stealthy takedowns

[@komlat253]

This game is the way to feel like a real ninja in the heat of battle with just swords clashing with other worthy enemies . I love it

[@inqoherent4717]

This game deserves a sequel man

[@kingdomsoul8968]

Just like bloodborne

[@kingdomsoul8968]

@shallnotbeinfringed unlessuvotedem Thats your opinion. Sure i want new stuff too but i wish for a second bloodborne at least 😂

[@masonmurphy5402]

@@kingdomsoul8968 too similar to dark souls. Sekiro is way more unique and has so many opportunities of evolution in gameplay

[@StillWeRide]

Yes!!!

[@bjornbjornson4]

It’s pretty interesting that you didn’t find much use for the whistle and shurikens, while you did find the loaded umbrella to be very useful. I actually had the opposite experience and found the whistle and the shurikens to be extremely useful, while I hardly touched the umbrella. I think Sekiro does allow people to use different play styles more than some people may think. Just because there is only one primary weapon, doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t offer players many different options and freedom in combat. I think you illustrated that point very well. Great video. Really appreciate it when someone does a deep dive like this on such a great game.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the comment. Interesting to hear your perspective. I have since seen people make some really good use out of the shurikens online, so I can definitely see how they'd be useful now but you are totally right, there are more ways to play Sekiro than people give the game credit for.

[@_2fcd_978]

22:09 That is actually not true. People have found many ways of using stealth on the Juzou encounter. If you build Juzou's alertness meter to yellow from a distance and then sneak away he will walk to that location. It's a key factor to figuring it out. Love your video BTW.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, maybe my complaints about Juzou were a tad misplaced because he was one of the first mini-bosses I faced on my first playthrough and struggled. Subsequent times weren't so bad but I always held a bit of a grudge haha.

[@benedict6962]

You can also use your other tools like throwing pieces of pottery to lure enemies well into safer territory. You can even just run around killing mobs and hiding away.

[@methatis3013]

​@@benedict6962pieces of pottery don't go out that far from the hiding spot. You will inevitably be seen if you use ceramic for stealth here

[@alexd4566]

I like this game and other soulsborne games because I love challenges. Anyone can pick up COD and learn the mechanics in a couple of minutes (which is totally fine), but not anyone has the patience to “git gud” at Sekiro or Bloodborne. There is a VERY steap learning curve, and you will die countless times, but it feels SO rewarding to progress and beat those bosses one by one. No other games have been able to generate that feeling. I am so excited to relive that experience with Elden Ring

[@Koyu_Ruh]

To be fair the Shurikens are not too useful - until you get the Lazulite ones. They still just cost 1 Spirit emblem, hit multiple times and damage the posture as well as the health, even if the enemy is blocking.

[@JohnnyVector]

I've had chance to use them after a few people disagreed with my take on shurikens. I love them now!

[@eri4122]

@@JohnnyVector also they're a good way to shorten a distance to an enemy with the Chasing Slice skill

[@syzygy02]

you get the hitting multiple times with spinning top and damage thru guard with gouging top. lazulite just gives a small damage buff and looks cooler.

[@Powersd451]

My biggest criticisms are that the menu could be a lot more optimized and several descriptions and mechanics are a bit unintuitive. If you have all prosthetic upgrades, you have access to several dozen versions, but the menu to select them shows 6 at most and you have to annoyingly scroll and look for the tool you want. Several skills, items, prosthetics, and dialogues are either described too vaguely, or are sometimes even misleading in their description. You might think the Malcontent Whistle being described as stunning "apparition-type enemies" would mean it works on the literal ghost enemies, but it doesn't. It instead works on Headless and Shichimen warriors, which aren't what I'd expect by that "apparition" and are never described to be apparitions in-game. A big warrior with impenetrable armor is blocking the bridge? Why, that sounds like a job for the spear prosthetic from an earlier area, which is described as being able to tear armor off of large enemies. But no, the mechanic of tearing off armor does not work on the miniboss literally called "Armored Warrior", but only on a handful of other minibosses which are never clearly pointed out. Many players on their first playthrough never realize you can deflect the charging bull and the Divine Dragons attacks. It really isn't intuitive that you can parry, with just a sword, a 5 ton charging bull with flaming horns, or a giant dragon swinging a sword 10 times your size.

[@littlemoth4956]

"You might think the Malcontent Whistle being described as stunning "apparition-type enemies" would mean it works on the literal ghost enemies, but it doesn't. It instead works on Headless and Shichimen warriors, which aren't what I'd expect by that "apparition" and are never described to be apparitions in-game." The ghost enemies are described to be Illusions, and the Headless/Shichimen are described to be Apparitions. How did you miss this? "A big warrior with impenetrable armor is blocking the bridge? Why, that sounds like a job for the spear prosthetic from an earlier area, which is described as being able to tear armor off of large enemies." Wrong. The spear is described as being able to tear POORLY FITTING armor off of enemies, such as the bell Taro Troop and the Red Guard miniboss. Those bosses clearly have armor hanging off their bellies, which should show that it is poorly fitting. AW's armor covers his entire body and is clearly well crafted. Of course a spear wouldn't work. You could say this is splitting hairs, I call it being precise. "Many players on their first playthrough never realize you can deflect the charging bull and the Divine Dragons attacks. It really isn't intuitive that you can parry, with just a sword, a 5 ton charging bull with flaming horns, or a giant dragon swinging a sword 10 times your size." And why would they? The bull should be beaten using firecrackers, and the Divine Dragon should be beaten by reflecting lightning. The player isn't told how to deflect those attacks because doing so is not necessary at all.

[@artinallforms5718]

Quality analysis dude. Although I disagree slightly about the Unseen Aid mechanic. When playing with No Kuro's charm the chances of death by regular enemies is a lot higher so losing half of your shit is extremely frustrating, (not that I would change it as it adds to the tension) thus when the Unseen Aid characters appear on screen after death, the relief is a really nice feeling.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the comment. Admittedly I didn't try the game with No Kuro's charm actually. I'll have to give that a go and see if it changes my perspective.

[@artinallforms5718]

@@JohnnyVector Thanks for the reply man, yeah you should give it a go I highly recommend it. It changes the way you approach certain enemies/situations, and there is something really satisfying about getting those perfect parries. It gives the game more replayability. I thought i'd pretty much mastered Genichiro until then, But when every parry counts the frustration levels go through the roof haha.

[@Laivasse]

@@JohnnyVector In my experience, those who play without Kuro's Charm and are capable of handing it to some extent, invariably come away agreeing that Charmless is the way the game is 'meant' to be played. Although it's extremely brutal, it has the effect of teaching you just how overpowered blocking is in the base game. Since enemies usually can't punish your posture break very well, blocking makes you extremely safe in vanilla assuming you've learnt how to deal with unblockables. Charmless severely weakens this safety net, which in turn forces you to further refine your perfect deflect timing, forces you to develop flawless pressure gameplay and improve your decision making with regards to when to heal.

[@methatis3013]

Since Kuro's charm is only on NG+, is it really that impactful? By then, you will probably have tons of pouches and a big majority of the skill tree filled out, so I don't see how losing money and experience would matter much. Im currently on my first NG+ with the charm, but Im planning to go without the charm on the next one

[@artinallforms5718]

@@methatis3013 no kuros charm is actually available to give back on NG my dude

[@ThePeteriarchy]

Finally, a "retrospective" video that doesn't just horribly retell a game's entire plot with little to no analysis. Good stuff. I gotta check out more of your videos. I'm glad to see someone else noticing so much about Sekiro that first-time players tend to ignore. Its twists on Buddhist themes, its use of scale and juxtaposition of its Eastern fantasy elements and real-life Japanese architecture, the way it plays with implications in terms of the Central Forces and the foreign knight and what their presence might mean in a place like Ashina. There's a whole mountain of depth to this game's art, lore, music, and design that makes it so much more than just the "Weeb Souls" that some in the Souls community have branded it. I've gotten to play Dark Souls 1 and Elden Ring after this game, but Sekiro for so many different reasons is still my favorite FromSoftware game so far. And hell, honestly, it's become my favorite game full stop.

[@Venerablenesses]

Replaying other FromSoft games after Sekiro made them easier. It was really neat.

[@marthvdr]

Why is this game slept on so hard? I know a few Souls fans who won't even touch this game because of its differences. Me personally, I loved every second of this game, and even got the platinum on Playstation 🏆

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome. I felt like a bit of an idiot saying that Sekiro was underrated because it did receive a few awards and honours but I just felt like it didn't generate the same excitement that DS and BB did for some reason.

[@marthvdr]

@@JohnnyVector I'm still waiting for that Sekiro DLC 🤞

[@edwardnarro3323]

The only game I've ever got a platty on, beat it nearly 20×'s in a row, on ver 1.0, fantastic game!!

[@itcouldbelupus2842]

I agree with your overall analysis. In my opinion, the other souls games are almost unplayable compared to how smooth and responsive the character and controls are, and the camera is never really a problem during fights. It's a masterpiece.

[@jass9571]

I loved sekiro probably one of the top 5 games of my life

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome, glad to hear you love it too

[@davidmichael9275]

I got the bell and went straight to Hirata estate before beating the first level. This was a MAJOR mistake but I didn't know that. I wouldn't say I cruised through Hirata Estate, but I used stealth to knock it out in a couple hours. But then I got to Lady Butterfly........ My god. She is designed as a mid game boss, but because of my mistake she was the 1st proper boss I fought. (The tutorial general boss isn't really a boss. He's a mini boss with a health bar) After 50 attempts I was screaming curses at FromSoft and ready to kill any fan of their games. (I had never played one) I had 2 healing gourds, and no combat arts but I was committed to beating her and quitting the game. 4 days later I got the greatest dopamine hit I have ever received from a video game. Beating her felt as good as any personal accomplishment I can remember. It was amazing. I beat the game 4 times including all the gauntlets, and it is my favorite game of all time.

[@firstclaims30]

Sekiro is almost perfect. And I been playing games for over 35 years. I somehow managed to platinum this game and it was amazing.

[@redsky5440]

I don't think Genichiro would appreciate being called "a local warlord" lol

[@thisisfyne]

Wait til he tells his grand-daddy

[@benakinnusi2518]

Amazing video. Sekiro is definitely the best fromsoft game ever. I had just started playing again now that i got my ps5 and i fell in love again. Genichiro took me less than an hour hopping back in again. I feel like a real swordsman

[@JohnnyVector]

Is it upscaled in any way on PS5? Anyone that sounds great!

[@benakinnusi2518]

@@JohnnyVector yeah bro theres HDR and its also 60 fps

[@kalleb92]

Glad you came around on Sekiro. I feel like too many Souls players initially had those same feelings as you. My friend talked about not wanting to play it because of how different it is from souls games, but honestly its such an amazing game and I love how different it is. It really gets you out of that hang back and poke style of combat, and more into the middle of it. And although the battles with bosses might not be as massive, they are so much more personal, the feelings from the fights with Genichiro and owl father on top of Ashina castle are like right out of a samurai movie. And then the final battle taking place where the first did, but only now your skills are so much higher than when you first started. I'm really hoping for a sequel.

[@RickyG93]

Literally everything you say, from the evolution of the formula, to the brilliance of the posture bar, the change in surprising bosses to dramatically impactful ones, the dynamic settings and visual stylings, and everything you go on to say is EXACTLY verbatum what I tell people when I say Sekiro is From Soft's best game since Dark Souls 1. After Dark Souls 1 this change up and innovation is exactly what I was looking for from Miyazaki and From Software, not another Dark Souls game or a spiritual successor and as much as I liked Bloodborne and its asthetically brilliant world, I was really looking for a bit more of a departure from the Soulslike formula. I honestly disliked the Dark Souls sequels entirely for this reason, as they were nothing new and to me, the Dark Souls 1 Dark Lord ending really made a lot more sense thematically. Whereas Dark Souls 2 and 3 felt like fan service cash grabs and Bloodborne felt like Miyazaki didn't actually wanted to make a new game but really just wanted to make a Lovecraftian world and simply plastered the Souls formula onto it for convienience, Sekiro is a legitimately new experience of masterfully innovative proportions and is easily the best game of 2019 and indebatably a top 5 game of the current generation. I don't think it's a perfect game, and I agree with your takes on Dragonrot and Unseen Aid, but the game is still 100% a masterpiece. One thing I want to add though is ALL the tools are very overpowered when you know what you're doing and know how to use them. The Shuriken is actually one of the best tools for general purposes imo. Anyway, fantastic video absolutely brilliant. One of the quickest like and subscribes of my life.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thank you for the thoughtful comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and I agree with your point about the tools. Having the played the game again recently I love the shuriken now after some other commenters recommend I give it another chance.

[@Lokithebard]

Not to mention the awesome ways one can use the prosthetic tools and the much appreciated realism of the deathblows being aimed at weak points in armor and the like, instead of just sword going through solid plate.

[@JohnnyVector]

I've played again since releasing this video and I love the shurikens now. So many different ways to integrate the tools, it's great.

[@stefal22]

Incredible analysis coupled by very entertaining video content. The depth of Sekiro's combat will be dearly missed and the thought that elden ring won't reflect that kind of mechanics is very discontenting..

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the nice comment. It will be a shame if Elden Ring's combat is a little more shallow but hopefully it'll bring some new ideas to the plate

[@kalega311]

Much respect for actually saying the proper names of the button moves (instead of just "R1", "L1", etc) and also not calling Sekiro a Soulsborne game (it's "soulslike", sure, but not a "Soulsborne" proper technically). And your analysis of pretty much everything is so spot on (although I didn't mind the Dragonrot and Unseen Aid mechanics) and even made me realize some things I was maybe thinking of subconsciously but never consciously came to mind until now. Thank you. I love Sekiro, one of my favorite games ever and I've been gaming for over 30 years. The combat, the world/lore, the aesthetic and presentation. All of it was such a great experience. It made me really eager to play Bloodborne, another more agressive one-shot FromSoft game...but I still don't have a PS4/5. I never liked the Dark Souls games and am very picky about soulslikes in general (I tend to like ones w/ more dynamic combat, like Nioh and Jedi: Fallen Order). But Sekiro's lore and storytelling has warmed me up into eventually trying the Dark Souls trilogy, as I find that lore to be real fascinating. But the dodge/attack -> wait -> attack/dodge -> repeat combat is just so...not for me. But I'll be giving Elden Ring a shot, so we'll see if I warm up (although ER seems more forgiving w/ its stamina management).

[@hubbabubba-tw6gy]

I really loved elden ring but I'll be more excited for another sekiro type game .. hopefully they will make another one!

[@Megamorphism]

I'm 29 years old dude. Sekiro is the best game i have ever been played. BY FAR.

[@FredHerbert999]

I too had a tough time with sekiros difficulty at first. I was used to dodging like DS trilogy. It took many hours to break the dodge and replace with block/ perry. I almost gave up a few times too. But I persevered a d so glad I did. I've played thru the game at least 12 times.

[@JohnnyVector]

That's awesome! I've done it three times to get the multiple endings and get that platinum trophy but I'm looking forward to giving it another go.

[@blmtrejureydepourtment5899]

you don't get used to it you have to grind it out till your character is unlocked from a tissue paper waif with one baseball bat style katana swing and no ability to independantly strafe LOL

[@marcopivetta7796]

I agree with most of your points, and i must say that the combat on sekiro is probably the best combat in any FS game. period. There's nothing more satisfying than landing a flawless parry combo and getting a kill on a boss. the posture system is just genius and i seriously hope they expand on it. either a sequel to sekiro or a new IP with the same combat would be ACE. But a big issue i have with the game is how it's designed to be much more linear than the soulsborne games, to the point it could almost be called a boss rush game. The main event of the game, it's biggest strength are definitely the bosses and mini-bosses. the 1v1 against evenly paired oponents, the "clashing of swords" that the developers claim was the main idea for the game. The rest (the manuvering/platforming and the stealth) are merely fodder. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but i think that the remnants of soulsborne design kind of made them overcrowd the levels with enemies and also stuff that was unnecesary. Like, besides the health pellets and the divine confeti, there's almost nothing in my inventory i used much, if at all. Same with half of the shinobi prosthetics and the completely unnecesary upgrade system. There's people that say they should've given them more stuff to do, but i would've prefered if half of it was cut. I think the game could've been a 10/10 if it decided to go all the way with the minimalist approach and just be a shorter bossrush game with maybe half the platforming and stealth levels and less regular enemies.

[@billyboleson2830]

I'd argue some of the older Armored core games in theory have better combat but ok

[@enzocrespin5806]

I disagree, exploration was a pretty big part of Sekiro and it served the story well. I also think the game was the perfect length.

[@bruhcashmoney]

How does this video not have more views

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks, glad you think highly of the video!

[@HigrationsMintergrund420]

Nothing felt as satisfying as a successful mikiri counter 😄

[@robk5437]

Sekiro is so well done. From the story to the combat is excellent. Even the art Direction is very good. It is the first game that I loved so much that I had to play over and over without playing anything in between. I think I beat Sakura four times before I put another game in. It captivated me and I could not stop playing. I cannot wait for a sequel. I just want to feel that combat again. They did such a good job with the Enemy variety and not making the enemies feel like sponges. They made the player feel powerful

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah, good point about enemy variety. I was a bit worried that Sekiro would be boring because it was a little more grounded in the real-world than Souls but no, plenty of interesting enemies to take on.

[@siddj5091]

Tips for fighting Juzou the Drunkard that removes most of the gank - talk to the NPC samurai in the grass. While he fights the grunts, stealth around behind them and deathblow as many grunts as you can. You can typically get them down to one or two grunts before you face him head on

[@rendred5442]

Personally I loved Sekiro, as someone whos both into souls games and into eastern settings, it was perfect for me. :)

[@karayi7239]

Sekiro's take on stealth mechanics does more harm than good imo. Firstly, It is absurdly easy considering that even when you get spotted you can just grapple away to de-aggro. With gaichiin sugar, you're practically invisible allowing you to chain deathblows to almost everyone. Again, you might need to spend a minute to figure out a path that will allow you to deathblow every one, but even if you mess up, you're always one grapple away from safety. However, this is not the main issue with the stealth system. The biggest issue is that BECAUSE you're intended to backstab the majority of enemies before fighting a mini-boss head on, the 1vs3+ combat feels wildly unpolished. Just try finding a group of 4-5 enemies and sprint towards them and try to fight them aggressively, they'll be harder than isshin himself. Simply put, 1vs3+ head on fight is not viable. Now, let's say you FULLY engage with the stealth system, you kill every enemy using stealth and take the first health bar of mini-bosses using stealth, you arrive to a boss fight and now what? you haven't been practicing parrying or anything for 90% of the game because you were sneaking around backstabbing people which is not an option against real bosses. I think this issue explains why most people think sekiro is super hard. We should've had a modified combat system that kicks in when you're fighting multiple enemies instead of brain-dead low risk unengaging stealth system that handicaps you against real bosses.

[@grizzlybearking1878]

Just wanna say that you can use mountain echo upgrade heard only by the enemy you targeted and kill everyone before fighting Juzou. Beaten the game close to 15 times and that's the strategy I always use.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks! I'll have to give that strategy a try on my next playthrough

[@grizzlybearking1878]

@@JohnnyVector Welcome! Combine it with a Gachiin sugar and you are peachy 🤙🏾

[@wilseal4778]

I know this video was made 2 years ago, but I find this VERY relatable to an experience I had. My first fromsoftware game was Elden Ring, and I played it after 1000 hours of Skyrim feeling amazed. After beating Elden Ring almost 6 times on 3 different characters and NG+, I decided to try out previous souls-like games to see what they had to offer. I bought Sekiro and played approximatley 20 minutes of it before quiting for 5 months. I would re-open the game just to quit again for an even longer period of time. I played WOLONG Fallen Dynasty, which was essentially an easier version of Sekiro with more customizable RPG aspects and loved it, and after beating that game I decided to finally give Sekiro a change, it had won GOTY in 2019 after all. I then realized that I had become addicted, I spent hours on each boss, dying over and over learning their entire movesets, (Genichiro, Guardian Ape, Isshin). I hadn't felt so much adrenaline playing a video game since my first elden ring playthrough, and I LOVED it. Here I am present time, I beat the entire game 4 times, got all the endings seperatly, finished all the gauntlets and reminising on my experience. Although I would get tired of playing it over and over, I will say Sekiro was a 10/10 game for me, and probably my favorite soulslike game to ever be made. I recommend it to everyone who enjoys elden ring or games similar to that, but urge you all to give it a chance even after dying 10 times to the first mini boss at ashina outskirts. I can't wait to get a PC to start modding the absolute shit out of it.

[@johnnyflannigan136]

Game is kicking my ass.. I'm in ashina castle.. I can finally beat the enemies here pretty eaisly..except for the huge guys.. But the samurai bosses I suck at

[@MAVJ]

Modern classic! Shot into my top 5 favorites of all time. Love how the learning curve goes from soul crushing to second nature. Also just how much it pissed off game journalists because of this. Wished it was talked about more

[@dandinkler6315]

Playing this game is really teaching me to stay focused during stessful situations. If you loose your nerve for even a second it spells death, especially with the demon bell turned on. I have told myself multiple times to "stay focused" during tense boss battles and have come out on top bc of it. You get into the flow state with this game i swear.