Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Retrospective

searo Shadows die twice is the great outlier the black sheep of soulsborne games on the periphery at Treads familiar ground but at its core it offers a notably different gameplay experience boasting a combat system that demands respect in a way that even to this day no other Souls born title does to the same degree this isn't a different take on the formula this is rewriting The Rules of Engagement and the way it all comes together is is brilliant to even include it under the souls born umbrella is a point of contention for some personally I do not care but for the sake of this video I will be doing just that the term Black Sheep often evokes negative connotations but in the case of searo it is quite the opposite I mean it depends who you ask right SEO is my all-time favorite fromsoft game but it's distinct lack of RPG mechanics and how it forces you to learn its combat system with no way of deviating from from it may be disappointing for those who have come to expect otherwise from these titles Souls born games have never been for everyone but searo in particular asks a lot from the player its learning curve is steep and its punishment is brutal but if you persevere the sense of accomplishment it delivers is extraordinary there are very few games that can match it we're closely approaching its 5-year anniversary so let's look back and see what makes it so special searo breaks the mold of standard soulsborne games immediately the intro cinematic actually offers quite a bit of information that leaves no room for doubt this is the end of the sangoku period in Japan where the country is consumed by a state of Perpetual conflict the fighting reaches its end when a now legendary Warrior named Isen ashena leads a coup and defeats the general Tamara seizing control of the land in doing so in the aftermath we see a Wandering Shinobi known as owl come across a nameless orphan on the battlefield owl dubs the Boy Wolf and takes him in as a foster son training him in the ways of the Shinobi and indoctrinating him with the iron code which bids that his father's word is absolute and his master's word is a close second the game takes place around two decades after is's coup wolf is entrusted with the duty of protecting a young Lord named Kuro the Divine Heir whose bloodline is one of mysterious power known as the dragon's Heritage granting him and potentially others immortality kuro's blood is the main driver behind this Game's plot particularly as the ashena clan is now on the brink of collapse searo has a much more clearly defined narrative compared to Dark Souls and all that but I'll only be touching on it here and there this video will mainly focus on gameplay elements speaking of break in the mold searo places emphasis on movement options in its opening level you can jump wall jump shimmy across tight Ledges and Sprint to your heart's content there's no stamina meter in this game at least not in a conventional sense and it's something that should be taken advantage of as much as possible combine all this with a grappling hook and you have the makings of a highly mobile character the game makes use of this in its level design there's a lot of verticality here leading to gorgeous visitors and a tremendous sense of scale the art Direction takes inspiration from medieval Japan but in classic froma fashion there's an otherworldly element that becomes more and more prominent as you go deeper into the game the visual presentation is engaging with differing environments a vast color palette and changes in the weather bringing a distinct feel to each location the verticality of areas leads to a linear structure it's an interconnected world with branching paths and optional areas but usually they'll just take you to a dead end hiding some not entirely useless Loop but pretty close to it there's a wonderful sense of accessibility with the grappling hook but rewards for exploration are limited outside of the occasional prosthetic tool upgrade or rare prayer bead there's really nothing to get excited over in terms of items and it doesn't take long before you're overflowing with ceramic shards and fistfuls of Ash beneficial consumables exist a plenty but a lot of them feel Superfluous and lack any meaning ful impact besides one or two select instances that could just be me maybe I haven't experimented with them enough but movement options are not the only thing emphasized in the opening level stealth mechanics are as well honestly stealth in this game is shallow at best you can hide from enemies in tall grass or by means of the grappling hook and then sneak up behind them for an easy one-hot kill that's about it really I do love the blood smoke Ninjutsu though which allows you to regain stealth after a death blow it's great in the right situation stealth is integrated into the game just fine it's not complex and the enemy AI is about as basic as it gets but in a way I feel this benefits more than hinders stealth is a consistent means of thinning the herd which is good because this game gets awfully messy when you're outnumbered by extension of this it also removes some of the headache involved with respawning enemies and the same applies to the grappling hook you don't always always need to fight fodder enemies head on here if things are getting too hectic In the Heat of battle more often than not you can simply run away or reach Higher Ground allowing you to reset things and regain your composure the benefits you can reap from proper use of stealth and these movement capabilities are substantial to the point where if you know what you're doing you can bypass huge chunks of the game without fighting a single enemy that kind of thing does require a certain knowhow though something you're just just not going to have on your first playthrough I would describe searo as deceptively intricate things are straightforward on the surface but there is a lot of nuance to be found here luckily with experience comes knowledge and it can be used to great effect however to gain this knowledge you must fight your way through the game and this is where things get tricky searo has all the usual trappings you'd expect from a Souls born title we got sculptor's Idols acting as save rest and travel points respawning fodder enemies interconnectivity in its World design an Estus flask esque healing system as well as medicinal pellets that emulate life gems and finally a punishing Adventure that tests your capabilities like few others and in this case that includes every title under the souls born umbrella seo's difficulty is no secret its gameplay experience is notoriously challenging with an extremely steep learning curve so much so that when the game first came out some players and even journalists were calling for an easy mode to be implemented pathetic I disagree vehemently with the notion of an easy mode but I do understand why there were calls for it as I said in the intro this game asks a lot from the player far more than anyone expected I imagine and it all comes down to the way combat is handled so let's talk about it seo's combat system is one of of a singular nature at the start of the game you're given your [Music] Katana this is your primary weapon for the entire adventure and it's another way searo differentiates itself from its Souls born Brethren you eventually gain access to a bunch of secondary tools and even a secondary blade at one point but they are just that secondary Cobi Maru is your go-to for every encounter and the game goes on to explain the basic mechanics of of combat with some convenient popup boxes as a side note I never understood why bloodborne's tutorial messages were sort of hidden away in the Hunter's dream in fact I clearly remember my brother having to explain to me how trick weapons worked on my first playthrough because I completely missed them I guess I only have myself to blame for not exploring the Hunter's Dream well enough but the way searo delivers this information is just better I feel the game tells us that all opponents have POS posture and the key to defeating them is breaking their posture with this in mind all enemies have both a health bar and a posture bar depleting the enemy's health bar will kill them but most of the time it is far more optimal to Target their posture bar instead the design of encounters revolves around this concept and encourages it as you land attacks and deflect enemy attacks their posture bar will increase and when it maxes out they become staggered allowing you to deal a death blow and that is the basic essence of combat obviously there's a bit more to it but at a fundamental level that is it and there is something to admire about its Simplicity it's what allows the game to be so focused as almost everything revolves around this one concept Wolf the player character also has a health and posture bar that acts similarly to the enemies if your health bar depletes you're dead but if your posture bar reaches capacity you become staggered giving the enemy an easy swipe at you the best way to avoid this is to deflect enemy attacks but the term deflection refers to instances where you press the block button just before the enemy's attack lands some people like to call it a perfect Parry holding the block button will put up your guard which you can use to prevent attacks from landing on you but this method does not deal any posture damage to the enemy and it also means you will eventually become staggered deflections on the other hand not only affect the enemy's posture but they also prevent your posture from ever reaching Max Capacity searo is all about the interplay between attacking and deflecting the name of the game is breaking the enemy's posture while keeping yours intact and the way posture is implemented here is The Game's strongest aspect because it turns your defensive toolkit into a means of offense all in all combat is simple to understand attack when you can and deflect when you must however simple does not always translate to easy and searo epitomizes this notion to a t you don't have any special Weaponry or overpowered armor sets to make your life easier here you can't grind for stat increases either the only way to do that is by collecting prayer beads but most of them serve as rewards for defeating bosses and mini bosses there are some potent Shinobi tools and flashy combat Arts which we'll talk about in a bit but otherwise it's just you your sword and the enemy what this all means is you you have no choice but to play the game on its terms and this is where the difficulty arises combat here involves timing reflexes rhythmic execution understanding attack patterns and responding to them accordingly it relies solely on the players's ability therefore succeeding in the face of seo's challenge comes down to individual skill this game is effectively one giant skill check and it is ruthless never letting up or giving any quarter whatsoever ever even for fromsoft standards the level of punishment here borders on cruelty one mistake the slightest misstep or misinput can be incredibly costly this is only accentuated through enemy use of perilous attacks signified by the red Ki symbol appearing above wolf's head there are four types grabs sweeps thrusts and lightning attacks unsurprisingly you want to avoid these and whilst grabs require you to dodge thrust attack attacks can be turned against your opponent via the always awesome mcui counter the same applies to sweeps where you can jump and land on the enemy dealing posture damage in the process as well as the much rarer lightning attacks through a technique called lightning reversal thrust attacks are by far the most common of these four so the makiri counter is essential it is super satisfying to perform not just because it looks great in action but also because it conveys a very tangible feeling of sh shutting down an opponent's attack crucially though it keeps up the pressure it's another defensive tool in Your Arsenal which doubles as an offensive option the seamless blending of offense and defense is where the real beauty of seo's combat system lies it is the Crux of everything that makes combat here so great given how things are set up you need to stay on your toes throughout the entire duration of the fight but the perilous attacks heighten this feeling even further each each one requires a different response no matter what you use whether it's the makiri counter or dodging or jumping or lightning reversal you still need to consider timing and directional inputs to be successful you need to concentrate for this [ __ ] and even in new game plus there were many times where I found myself going for a mcir counter instead of jumping or dodging which almost always resulted in death it is demanding on the player this is a game where you need to sit down and intently study the move sets of enemies through repeated trial and error in a way it feels like they need to be drilled into you so that responding to them eventually becomes a matter of instinct couple this with the extreme levels of punishment and it's easy to see how it can be too much for some people there is an intimacy to each encounter because of all these factors every fight feels like a duel your performance is based on your own skill level so a personal touch extends from the player into the game itself and for those who persevere the reward for doing so is quite special the single biggest payoff for playing this game is the feeling you get after defeating bosses when you overcome its challenge searo delivers a state of euphoria that is unrivaled many games are tough many games have great boss fights and many games leave you with a sense of satisfaction upon defeating them but I can't think of any that deliver on this sensation so potently and consistently quite like SEO and it's not just after you conquer them either you can literally feel the progression as you get better and better with each attempt chaining deflections one after another in a manner that is so remarkably palpable it is exhilarating the final reward is found in subsequent playthroughs if you make it to the end of the adventure you're given the option to start new game plus and because you are so Adept at attacking and deflecting by that point you'll just Breeze through the game it's amazing how comprehensively you are able to defeat enemies on repeat playthroughs bosses that once gave you a hard time are just smacked down almost effortlessly and it feels great I absolutely love the crazy amount of Versatility possible in titles like dark souls and particularly Elden ring in the latter's case it is mindboggling how many different weapons builds spells armor sets and so on and so forth are on offer for the player to potentially utilize SEO is the very antithesis of this but by focusing everything on player ability it ends up being just as engaging if not even more engaging it's impressive stuff that's not to say those games don't rely on player ability of course they do there are just more ways to circumvent any lack of ability compared to this game now there's a bit more to combat we have yet to cover emphasis is placed on the posture bar but that doesn't mean the health bar is doomed to irrelevancy quite the opposite both bars are linked and this is something the game doesn't go out of its way to explain the more Health an enemy has the faster their posture bar recovers and the inverse is also true lowering their health means the speed at which they recover their posture is reduced dramatically as a result the game generously rewards aggressive play Styles in fact it's often the best strategy it places constant pressure on the enemy's posture but it also gives the player a degree of control over the pacing of each engagement when you're the one initiating exchanges you're effectively setting the tempo of the fight and the flow you can achieve off the back of this is tremendously satisfying it's one of the best parts of the game being aggressive also lets you interrupt certain attacks sometimes it feels like you're locking enemies into place and forcing them to repeat the same move again and again allowing you to react with ease every time there is there is a part of me that thinks this was unintentional it only lasts for a limited period but it is easy posture damage and in some cases even perilous attacks can be stopped dead in their tracks I don't consider this cheesing the encounter but it is something I noticed for several bosses at the same time though it is a little inconsistent sometimes enemies will be interrupted other times they won't so there is risk involved as well regardless there are clear benefits to playing aggressively most notably it leads to incredibly exciting super fast-paced adrenaline fueled encounters that are just an absolute Joy attacking and deflecting will always be your bread and butter but additional combat options come in the form of skills and shenobi prosthetic tools the latter are secondary weapons that provide offensive or defensive utility some even offer both getting the most out of the tools requires a lot of experimentation and to the game's credit the results are far-reaching greatly varied and sometimes quite surprising for example when the Headless ape slumps to the ground you can use the spear to rip out the centipede and deal massive posture damage I had no idea this was possible it would never have crossed my mind had my brother not informed me of it it's extremely potent and can rack up posture damage very quickly this is a prime example of how using the right tool in the right situation can provide so much value and there are countless other examples as well but again you need the knowledge of that in the first place all the tools can be upgraded multiple times as well leading to more powerful versions and I appreciate that the game lets you freely choose whichever version you want I've seen some videos of the later versions and a few of them are ridiculous to the point where they almost completely trivialize certain fights more so the mini bosses than the major bosses but I don't think that's too much of a problem here because you have to make it through the game to reach reach those versions getting all the resources necessary to upgrade every prosthetic tool is a lengthy task that takes multiple playthroughs so your very first playthrough the most crucial one is definitely the least susceptible to cheese the game becomes very easy Once you make it to New Game Plus anyway so I don't think some of these tools being overpowered is a big issue still I wish I got more out of them in general I have my personal favorites namely the shuriken the umbrella and the f cracker but when it comes to stuff like Divine abduction soim Maru and the Mist Raven I never use these since this is YouTube I'm assuming some people will be angry at that statement but the prosthetic tools are about as optional as can be none of them are mandatory for progression they're simply a means of complimenting your Katana make no mistake there's a lot to be gained from using these tools I just prefer deflecting everything personally and that also applies to most of the abilities you can unlock there are are some obvious exceptions mcui counter Whirlwind slash which is great in the early game all the passive upgrades and stuff like midair deflections grappling hook attack Etc I get good use out of all of these but big performable abilities like Ash and across or floating passage I don't use much I do love using mortal draw though this technique is just awesome it looks stunning in action and Deals massive damage I adore the inash Aesthetics on this ability although it too may be a bit too powerful for its own good I also think Sakura dance is really fun to perform like the prosthetic tools these skills are completely optional what you choose to employ is up to you but the essence of combat always Remains the Same something I have yet to mention is the resurrection mechanic it works exactly as you would expect upon death the player can choose to resurrect on the spot rather than restarting from the last checkpoint this feature is far more useful in New Game Plus than it is on your first playthrough if you are not very proficient in combat and are unaware of the enemy's attack patterns then the resurrection option more often than not just offers another opportunity to die on New Game Plus however it acts as a buffer giving you a means of recovering from a mistake before then it may as well just be another healing item in your inventory you don't have the skill to get the most out of it cheating death will always be handy in some situations but overall it doesn't make much of a difference outside of stuff relating to specific encounters and some other details I'll get to later the only major issue I have with combat is the camera it's the classic fromsoft camera complaint when you or an enemy are backed up against a wall the camera starts fighting with the lockon function and it can be a serious hindrance in the worst cases doubly so when you must fight in a tight Arena I find myself having more camera issues in zaro than any other fromsoft game because combat is very fast-paced with enemies that love to Dart around swiftly take lady butterfly who is constantly jumping around the arena it's easy to get blindsided and lose track of her I also noticed it quite a lot with gyobu I feel like the elevated position he holds at top his horse makes the camera a bit funky at times bigger enemies particularly those with erratic movement seem to make things worse in this regard the guardian an ape the Blazing bull the demon of hatred etc etc I don't consider it a deal breaker by any stretch but it is something that's cropped up every time I have played this game and I don't like it I also have to say there is no doubt in my mind that combat here shines brightest in one-on-one encounters when you're being swarmed by fodder enemies things can get very ugly very quickly however if you consider the movement options stealth prosthetic tools com combat arts and potentially items as well you have more than enough to deal with every situation it just comes down to utilizing these options to your advantage and if you manage to do so it can be very rewarding for example against juo the drunkard in the harata estate I formulated a strategy to deal with the six or so enemies he's surrounded by this involved stealth killing this guy right here and then immediately running to the bow wielding enemy and taking him out then I chose to run around and wait for an opportunity to mcki counter each enemy so I could land an easy death blow on them once they were all dead I took on the chunky fella in a one-on-one battle and it felt so good defeating him in the end this one section took me almost 2 hours to complete I even have a video file dedicated to just these attempts you may think this an indication of how poor my strategy was but I haven't played this game in many years so I think it just came down to rustiness it's also worth pointing out that I intentionally made things harder for myself this time around and I guess that's something we should talk about searo has two completely optional hard modes which can be enabled through in-game means and here's the best part they stack this is how I played the game for this video because I wanted to recapture that struggle every player experiences on their first run through as much as I possibly could anyway there's a secret area in the game which houses the demon bell ringing it increases the combat stats of all enemies so they deal more damage and receive less damage if you manage to get through the game at least once on your next playthrough you're given the option to hand Kuro his charm at the beginning of the adventure this brings a bunch of negative effects like increased enemy health and posture the player receives 25% more damage and a faster buildup of status effects such as poison the most interesting thing about kuro's charm however is that that it makes the player receive chip damage when blocking attacks the only way to avoid this is to land deflections on paper this sounds like a fairly minor change but it ends up being highly significant because when combined with the demon Bell your posture bar is almost always just below Max Capacity so one mistake WIll stagger you and lead to death even if you don't get staggered though mess up the timing and you'll die anyway from the chip damage it's by far the most difficult thing to adjust to as it requires pinpoint Precision at all times it's no exaggeration to say that this alone can be the difference between life and death and in a way it feels like this is how the game was always meant to be played finally in an attempt to make things even more interesting I played the game with a controller searo is the only fromsoft title where I am more comfortable with a keyboard and mouse it's just what I defaulted to back when it first came out and I figured why not let's try it out with a controller I I knew I was setting myself up for a challenge and that's exactly what I wanted but I think I overdid it because my first playthrough for this video was brutal of course it was nothing compared to my actual first playthrough at the end of the day I know how to play this game still that did not stop the onslaught of enemies from utterly destroying me again and again and again it really was brutal but my God it was so worth it in the end because For the First Time in years I was reminded of that feeling the rush you get when you nail the flow of attacking and deflecting the state of euphoria after conquering bosses it is incredible for those who have beaten this game and haven't played it in a while I think it's absolutely worth it to go back and try again with these hard modes enabled it's the closest thing you'll get to a repeat of your first playthrough just be prepared to suffer before we move on I do want to quickly mention unseen Aid which as a system feels pretty pointless it provides a chance of preventing the player from losing any money or experience points upon Awakening from a true death as in when you respawn at an idol thing is on your first playthrough you're going to be dying a hell of a lot anyway so unseen Aid will likely only trigger when you have negligible amounts of money and experience but when you get to New Game Plus dying becomes a far less frequent occurrence and given that unseen Aid only has a chance to trigger it sort of defeats its own purpose it's rare for unseen Aid to have any meaningful effect and since we're on this topic I may as well include the effects of dragon rot as something else that feels pointless this is a disease that affects certain NPCs based on how often the player has died there's a few cases where it can prevent progression of quests but it's very easy to remedy with a certain item just like unseen Aid it's rare for Dragon rot to have any meaning meaningful impact so it feels almost entirely arbitrary with all that out the way the rest of the video will focus on the adventure itself talking about levels bosses mini bosses and the overall gameplay experience at the end of the opening sequence we encounter giniro ashena the adoptive grandson of isin and current leader of the clan he too is a formidable swordsman and at this stage of the game he is basically unbeatable on your first playthrough anyway this is meant to be fight the player loses a humbling indication of the difference in skill level for both wolf and indeed the player genichiro easily overpowers the Shinobi slicing off his left arm in doing so and leaving him for dead whilst taking Kuru away to make use of his blood wolf awakens sometime later in a dilapidated Temple after being saved by a mysterious fellow known as the sculptor this is The Game's effective starting point with the dilapidated Temple acting as something akin to a home base after testing out the grappling hook we find ourselves in the ashena outskirts where the first hurdles come in the form of two mini bosses General naori and the chained ogre what we have here is a weapon wielding enemy and a flailing Beast enemy broadly speaking these two types of enemies make up almost every encounter in the game with some obvious variations here and there General now Mori is a simple mini boss but he can be quite challenging first time round since the player will still be adjusting to combat he serves as the introduction to some important Concepts perilous attacks being one of them he has two types A grab and a low sweep forcing the player to recognize and respond to each one respectively I praised the pop-up boxes before but here the game throws them out in the middle of combat and it's intrusive another concept introduced here is multiphase fights he has a relatively small move set but in his second phase he becomes much faster and more aggressive with less Windows between his attacks to make up for it the only thing I dislike about him is the way he stops to recover his posture he does this too often and it undermines the fight when he's close to defeat otherwise this is a decent introductory mini boss he's no pushover but he's not excessively difficult either I described the chained ogre as a flailing Beast just now to be clear I think the ogre falls into that category just not to the same degree as the guardian ape or the demon of hatred a common criticism aimed at searo is how the game introduces enemies which primarily require you to dodge as opposed to deflect and the flailing Beast encounters are accused of this the most I do sort of understand what people mean by that and I certainly think weapon wielding enemies are more enjoyable to fight but flailing Beast attacks are deflectable they're just not as easy to read outside of the perilous attacks you can deflect every move the chain ogre throws at you and that applies to attacks from other flailing beasts as well so I'm not entirely convinced this criticism holds much weight with that said I will agree it's not obvious deflecting weapons is clearcut but deflecting an assortment of melee attacks from a 10t humanoid monstrosity is not quite the same dodging is a viable strategy against the chain ogre which is probably what has led to that perception in the first place but deflecting is always the better option due to the posture damage it inflicts either way the chain doer attacks with its fists and its feet using a combination of kicks elbow slams and ground pounds to deal damage dealing with the ogre's grabs is what gives this fight its difficulty though and these must be dodged there's no other way to avoid them in this respect it's important to remain disciplined and not get too greedy when attacking so you can dodge away in time because the window to do so is very tight it's also here where another feature of combat becomes apparent tracking enemies attacks track you with Godlike Precision in this this game and sometimes it is so blatant it verges on comical many grab attacks have such a large range it feels like the enemy is defying physics and it's not just relegated to the chained ogre either this is something that takes some time to get used to you have the tools to deal with the tracking it's just a matter of learning how to use them from the chain doer we grapple up to this balcony and onto the next area where we must take on General tenzen and his horde of goons I was actually stuck on this part for a while because as soon as the enemies start grouping up it becomes a problem there's a lot of value to be gained from using stealth in sections like this and I did find some fulfillment in trying to figure out how best to proceed but overall it was a bit of a mess most things are at this stage of the game General tenzen is basically General naori on steroids his move set is bigger his attacks are faster and he can unleash devastating combos that rip you to shreds it's a very noticeable Step Up in difficulty so taking out the enemies beforehand is essential this guy needs to be fought in isolation afterwards there's a memorable setpiece moment where we stab a giant serpent in the eye before reaching the first major boss gyobu onwa gyobu is something of an anomaly in that he's a weapon wielding enemy at top of horse so he has the crazy movement that flailing beasts tend to have most of the difficulty with gyobu stems from judging when to deflect since he wields a spear there's a lot of range on his attacks and combined with his Swift movements it can be tricky to judge when the correct time to deflect is just take this attack where he spins his spear in a figure of eight pattern this can catch you off guard very easily otherwise he's got a standard three hit combo he jumps in the air a couple times etc etc all this stuff can be deflected and recognizing that is key to defeating him once you wrap your head around his spear he's actually one of the easiest Encounters in the game it still feels great to get past him though upon defeating guobo the game starts ramping up in intensity from here you can either head to the harata estate if you haven't already or continue towards ashena Castle let's start with the harata estate now when I said ramps up in intensity what I actually meant was this is where the game starts getting really [ __ ] hard the first mini boss in the harata estate is the Shinobi Hunter this guy gave me so much trouble my very first playthrough but as soon as you learn how to mcki counter properly the fight becomes a complete joke it almost feels like the Shinobi Hunter's placement here is The Game's way of forcing the player to learn how to deal with thrust attacks and if that's the case it does do its job there's an absolute mountain of enemies to get through on the way to the main buildings and seeing the place engulfed in flames is quite stunning imagery after going through even more enemies we have to take on juo the drunkard I love the fight against juo himself but this encounter is a major pain in the ass getting past the first set of goons killing the fodder enemies surrounding juo and then taking on juo one-onone the repetition of it all is exhausting it's really just the fodder enemies you have to deal with first which is the issue their presence drags this encounter out to nearly absurd degrees and this is a problem people will likely run into on their first playthrough some early game fights brag like nothing else almost as if you're soft locked by The Game's combat system the inherent trial and error that comes with learning attack patterns can lead to many many attempts at the same boss over and over again and it is tiring when this starts happening progressing through the game will come down to whether the sense of accomplishment is worth it or not for me it is but I imagine for others it just won't be but anyway juo has an array of Sword swings that come at you hard and fast but in between them he uses his body a lot a headbutt a palm strike and a Sumo stomp which is probably the hardest thing to deal with the telegraph for that attack is subtle compared to his others and it caught me out several times but it is deflectable all his normal moves are and because he is constantly on the offensive you can achieve a tremendously satisfying flow against him when it all comes together it is brilliant I love this fight I think it's great immediately afterwards is lady butterfly and this is another boss that gave me a hard time on my very first playthrough in contrast to juo lady butterfly attacks with an agile almost elegant move set she is fast and fiercely aggressive using a combination of short blades kicks and projectiles interchanging between them to get right up in your face and destroy you she also repeatedly takes to the air and attacks from above so so camera issues may be a problem here this is the first fight where the benefits of being aggressive really become apparent you want to deflect as much as possible but if you suffocate her with constant pressure you can force her into using the same moves again and again it's the fastest way to break her posture bar by far however just like in bloodborne committing to offense can be a significant hurdle to overcome and even if you do so you still need to be wary of overc committing you need to strike a b bance with aggressiveness in this game but if you get it right it is super rewarding I think lady butterfly is a good encounter I just find her second phase a little disappointing it's essentially the same as the first but with random Spirit butterflies flying after you and illusions that must be dealt with in some form or fashion if you have snap seeds then you can get rid of them instantly but it's very unlikely that you will on your first playthrough you can avoid the Illusions altogether by running around the Arena until they are turned into butterflies but all this really does is break the flow of the fight and that's my biggest problem with her she is a fast aggressive enemy you can achieve a great flow but it's periodically interrupted and I'm not a fan of that she's also an example of the game deceiving the player she only has one death blow indicator so you'd think she only has one phase but in reality she has two and this isn't the only time the game pulls this stunt by defeating lady butterfly we have conquered the harata estate so back to ashena Castle we go unfortunately there exists a gatekeeper in the form of the Blazing Bull and holy [ __ ] this bow Vine bastard is one of the hardest Encounters in the entire game at least relative to its placement it's another flailing Beast enemy and whilst its attacks can be deflected they are difficult to read they still damage you due to the fire and they build up the burn status effect on top of that its movements are extremely erratic leading to camera issues it's constantly running towards you at high speed never giving you a chance to breathe this is a brutal encounter that drove me nigh insane on my very first playthrough I tend to go for the runaround and swing at its ass strategy but apparently the best way to defeat it is parrying its charge and dealing damage before retreating just to do it all again either way this is my least favorite encounter in the game there's no flow to be had against the bull and it feels excessively punishing with that out the way we can make it to ashena Castle proper and this is where the game opens up a bit this is the central hub from here we can reach every other location in the game and there's nothing stopping you from going anywhere really enemies and areas are not level gated so you do have some freedom in this regard we are generally guided towards the top of the castle via smoke signals along the way we can fight General Matsumoto who is basically a beefed up version of tenzen one could easily criticize searo for how it reuses bosses and mini bosses Elden ring got an awful lot of [ __ ] for recycling content but this game seems to get a free pass in this department despite Elden ring being God knows how many times the size of it I don't mind some reused mini bosses because I see them as the game's way of honing your skills but I think this is valid criticism I mean some of them are just straight up repeats with only the slightest of variations still if a boss or mini boss is reused that doesn't automatically make them bad in my eyes is the corrupted monk bad just because of the true corrupted Monk's existence or vice versa in my opinion no I enjoy both fights on their own merits where they're placed in the game and how they differ from one another not just in a mechanical sense either either way certain enemies are here specifically for practice purposes and the next mini boss the ashena elite is one of them he serves as nothing more than a test of your reflexes using the visual cue of his flashing Katana to indicate when he will perform the ashena cross technique forcing you to deflect with precise timing because of how often he performs the Ashen across this is a very straightforward fight where all you need to do is time your deflections and the posture bar will take care of everything else at the top of Ash Castle we have a rematch against genichiro in one of the best fights in the game the ASA Elite May have been a test of your reflexes but gicho is a test of everything you have learned so far and it is ruthless this is one of those fights where you either adhere to the game's combat philosophy or you fail because his move set is specifically designed to punish those who do otherwise while simultaneously preparing you for the rest of the adventure including his Final Phase he has every type of perilous attack in his Arsenal effectively teaching you to recognize them and react appropriately his comically large bow means you cannot run away without the danger of receiving damage nor can you be careless about when to heal he comes at you with an array of Swift sword strikes the deadliest of which being the floating passage technique a combo of seven hits some of which have a noticeable delay on them once more forcing you to deflect with precise timing rather than blocking or spamming the guard button gicho is the very definition of a skill check you can't Brute force your way through him you must play the game on its terms and as such it is one of the hardest Encounters in all of SEO particularly at this early stage but it's also one of the most rewarding not just to overcome but to progress on you can feel it when you're getting better and it is a remarkably satisfying sensation however I do find his Final Phase a little cheeky it's another instance of the game deceiving the player the fight is already already grueling enough as it is but then he pulls out a third phase with new moves and extremely punishing lightning attacks this is the first time you come up against lightning abilities and even though the game tells you how to counter them before the fight putting that into practice is another thing entirely if you can even remember it in the first place you'll likely fail the first couple times and when you do it is seriously deflating I guess to counterbalance this the final phase is a lot easier than the previous two overall but getting lightning reversal right can be the difference by defeating genichiro wolf reunites with Kuro who informs him that he wishes to perform the immortal Severance ritual which would result in his death and ultimately prevent anyone else from fighting over his blood to do so we must gather certain materials and the game is fairly explicit in what they are and where they can be found at least for fromsoft standards anyway first off we must must retrieve the Mortal blade found in the senu temple but before we get to that I want to quickly mention the seven ashena Spears mini boss another difficult encounter this guy is deceptively fast his spear gives him range and he hits like an absolute truck what makes him tricky though is that you have to time your makiri counters with a bit more Precision than usual for the most part when you see a Thrust attack you can dodge towards it and the counter will almost always land assuming you're facing the enemy headon but every now and then comes an opponent where you must delay your counter ever so slightly depending on the attack that slight adjustment can be the cause of many deaths but the true enemy here is the tight space you must fight him in there's barely any room to work around with a very inconveniently placed tree that's sure to get in your way causing camera issues and other Shenanigans not to mention the set of stairs can make positioning awkward I mean I think the fight itself is fine really but but it does showcase how much difference the arena can make the path towards the senu temple is filled with monks who have abandoned their faith seduced by a search for immortality making them hostile I'm not going to waste time and talk about every fodder enemy but I do like how the game uses this opportunity to change things up a bit with monks who are primarily melee Fighters I also think it's a nice change of pace visually with lots of growing flora and a more natural quality to the area soon enough we run into the armored Warrior and honestly I don't have much to say about this fight the way the surrounding Bridge falls apart as he swings at you and the fact that he never loses any health makes what needs to be done pretty obvious I feel this is a fight with a particular gimmick and once you figure it out that's all there is to it and the same applies to the main boss of this area the folding screen monkeys well sort of these monkeys are a reference to the three WI monkeys a Japanese proverb that embody the principles of See No Evil Hear No Evil and speak no evil with the fourth monkey embodying do no evil apparently including the fourth is a variation of sorts so we need to chase down and kill all four of these monkeys the way each one behaves is based on the principle they embody so for example the Purple robed Monkey See No Evil has good Vision but poor hearing the green robed monkey hear no evil has good hearing but poor vision and so on and so forth this is a puzzle boss and whilst I think the idea of it is cool the execution seems a little questionable my experience with the folding screen monkeys is as such I either run around and kill them all by chance or I kill three of the monkeys fairly quickly and then spend the next 10 minutes chasing after the last one this is a puzzle to solve but you don't necessarily have to solve it they've included these specific rooms to help deal with each monkey one with a loud waterfall for the hearing monkey and one where the lights can be extinguished for the seeing monkey but how you're meant to drive any of the monkeys towards any particular room is a mystery to me if it happens great but it certainly wasn't intentional on my behalf because of all this I am completely indifferent when it comes to the folding screen monkeys no doubt it's an interesting concept and I appreciate the change up from the usual combat but I just don't have any strong feelings with this boss afterwards we meet with the divine child of Rejuvenation and draw the Mortal blade in a badass [Music] cutscene the Mortal blade is an odachi capable of slaying the undying or infested beings with this this in hand we must now gather the necessary materials to reach the Divine realm where we will find the final component to complete the immortal sance ritual our next destination is the Sunken Valley which is essentially a massive Canyon we must navigate with the grappling hook in search of a White Lotus Flower the first mini boss we encounter here is snake eyes shirafuji and this is another fight I remember struggling with a lot on my very first playthrough I hear she becomes a complete joke if you use the prosthetic tool soim Maru but that is not something I was aware of when I played the game this mini boss has a tiny move set but her attacks are fast and devastating it's a punishing encounter that demands consistency because one mistake just melts your health behind shura Fuji is a path leading to the gun Fort a place teaming with enemies who possess firearms and they are shooting at you constantly making for an intense sequence as you Traverse the broken bridge and and then up into the fort itself as we go deeper we soon encounter the longarm centipede giraffe I have no idea what this thing is or how it could possibly relate to a centipede let alone a giraffe in fact I think there might be a translation error here but it's another mini boss that serves as a test of sorts this thing comes at you with a flurry of attacks and the only way to deal with it is to deflect if you keep your guard up it'll eventually stagger you and you will die so the game forces you to learn how to deflect properly there's a sweeping motion you must Dodge but otherwise it's two rotations of flurry attacks and that's it once you figure this out the fight is very straightforward still it does feel good to get down and there's something awfully satisfying in the game's sound design deflecting emits a more prominent clang than blocking does and hearing this repeatedly sounds great it's complemented visually as well by a more distinct set of Sparks the only problem with this fight is the tiny room it's held in which will no doubt lead to Troublesome sometimes disturbing camera issues but at the same time this was clearly intentional so the player is forced to stand their ground and learn how to deflect we make it to the sunen valley passage where there's another encounter with the Great Serpent before we grapple our way across a wide Chasm lined with gigantic body SATA statues and once more the sense of scale is quite magnificent at the end of the chasm we must fight the guardian ape and what is possibly the most infamous encounter in the game this hulking Simeon epitomizes the flailing Beast type enemy with erratic movement and unpredictable attack patterns and that's where almost all the challenge lies in this fight it's difficult to read the ape's attacks and respond appropriately as they come at you from seemingly every angle going this thing will throw all sorts of [ __ ] at you including actual [ __ ] what on Earth is going on here besides that the ape is incredibly aggressive and it's another case of a flailing Beast enemy having attacks which are not obviously deflectable but again all of them are this is a tough fight that has rightfully earned its notoriety and when you finally defeat the thing by chopping its head off in an awesome sequence 5 seconds later it picks it right back up and phase two begins it's yet another boss where the game deceives the player with an extra phase I mean they even display the Shinobi execution me Mage The Cheeky bastards honestly this moment is Iconic it spawned all sorts of hilarious reactions and memes across the internet when the game first released the second phase is by no means a pushover but it's certainly a lot easier than the first since the ape now wields the sword that was lodged in its head its attacks are simpler to read and deflect its movements are still erratic just not to the same degree and there are even a couple overhead sword swings that are very generous in their telegraphs which also stagger the AP allowing for an easy followup I do think the scream attack is a bit of a low blow on your first playthrough though there's no way of knowing what this will do so when Terror builds up and you instantly die it feels a little cheap otherwise I enjoy this fight I love the transition to its second phase and it feels like an appropriately climactic end to one of the best areas in the game we retrieve the lotus flower and head back to Kuro who tells us of our next quarry a fragrance Stone within the depths of ashena this has us travel to the ashena depths where we must fight an alternate Snake Eyes mini boss before we have a rematch with the guardian ape this time the ape starts off in its headless phase and has the exact same move set as previously so the fight is easy that is until a second ape appears with the same move set as the guardian ape's first phase and you must deal with both of them at the same time now double battles are always controversial some believe they are lazy an artificial increase in difficulty and I do understand what people mean by that in SEO it's compounded though as combat here is not at its best when dealing with multiple enemies let alone multiple bosses with the camera being hit hard the most due to the aggressiveness of the Apes I think this fight is okay but it is messy my basic strategy here is to run around and try to isolate the two Apes which is somewhat possible if only for a limited time I always take down the brown fur ape first as it is much weaker than the other and the spacious Arena does help in this regard then it just comes down to repositioning and recognizing when to deal damage when to back off and so on and so forth I've never found this encounter too troubling but it does feel like one of the weaker fights overall this game truly shines in one-on-one battles anything more than that is already at a disadvantage and that's not even mentioned this being the same boss twice with a disrupted sense of flow I understand why people have problems with this encounter past the two Apes is the Hidden Forest I'm not going to engage in any of the Mis Noble memes because holy [ __ ] that horse has been beaten to death and then some but by defeating the noble the path to meibo Village becomes available it's here where we must fight Orin of the water who appears to be an apparition of sorts Orin doesn't have a big move set at all but she makes up for that with unconventional sword swings and movement she spins around more than a Beyblade and it's difficult to read her attacks as a result still I found the best strategy is to let her come to you and focus on deflecting this is where I could tell I was getting much better at the game as it only took me two attempts to kill her the deflection timings came naturally and it felt great at the end of meoo Village is the corrupted monk this fight is all about chaining Reflections one after another as consistently as possible because her posture bar recovers very quickly this also means that dealing Vitality damage whenever you can is vital and will go a long way in defeating her the monk wields a naginata so she swings in Long sweeping motions as such her attacks cover a large area but it also means they are explicitly telegraphed the one exception to this is her jumping attack where she either slams the weapon down on top of you or swings it to her left left delaying the attack ever so slightly this is crucial to recognize especially if you're playing the game charmless the monk is very aggressive punishing those who are greedy and those who do not create enough distance when healing but at the same time presenting many opportunities to deflect and mcki counter this is a great fight with a wonderful flow to it I don't think it's quite as good as the true corrupted monk but we'll get to that shortly behind the monk lies a cave where we find what we are looking for the shelter Stone when we get back to ashena Castle we encounter Our Father the great Shinobi owl turns out he too is itching for kuro's blood and orders wolf to renounce his loyalty to the boy this is where you're presented with a choice to either obey the iron code and forsake Kuro or break the iron code and stay loyal to him so this game has four different endings shur Immortal Severance purification and dragon's return shur and Immortal Severance are the most likely outcomes as they occur naturally depending on which option you choose right here these are both considered bad endings in comparison to the other two especially the shorer ending which if selected shortens the game by completely locking the player out of the Fountain Head Palace which to me is just sacrilege but the reason they're considered bad is because of the outcomes themselves to get the purification and dragon's return endings you need to stay loyal to Kuro and then complete a set of extremely obscure prerequisites that I cannot imagine anyone would possibly fulfill without some sort of guide seriously I would never have figured this stuff out on my own but that's a conversation for a different time choosing to forsake the iron code will result in a battle against the great Shinobi owl this is an amazing fight two Shinobi going head to-head swords clashing in an encounter between Father and Son it's quite the spectacle owl isn't as big a skill check as genichiro but he still provides significant Challenge and just like genichiro you need to adhere to the game's combat philosophy to defeat him something of note is the sheer size of his Katana it's huge covering a wide area in front of him so dodging and sprinting away is made very dangerous ow will deflect your attacks and you need to do the same to him while seizing every opportunity to get some damage in due to the Simplicity and singular nature of his move set I found it extra important to recognize certain tails for example if he swings twice and then turns his back to swing again it's always a double swing on the followup if he throws his shurikens twice he will always jump in the air and perform an overhead slash if he throws just one shuriken he will always attack with a massive sweeping motion next understanding these types of patterns can make all the difference as it allows you to respond appropriately the one thing that caught out the most were his firecrackers it's a devastating attack but it follows a similar pattern to the ones I just mentioned it's always preceded by a shoulder bash first and learning that was crucial to avoiding it these are the kind of things you must internalize in this game and whilst the same applies to every boss to an extent this is one of a few encounters where it is particularly prominent his second phase is the same as the first except now he'll throw down poison as well as a charm of some sort which disables healing items when he throws this charm it's possible to get in a couple easy hits and that seems a bit off to me he also creates a puff of smoke which can either be very annoying or completely pointless as he doesn't always follow up on it in the latter's case all this serves to do is arbitrarily disrupt the fight and I don't like it that's the only real criticism I have with this encounter now we've defeated ow we can finally make it to the Fountain Head Palace we do this by heading back to the cave where we found the shelter Stone and praying in the palen this is where an enormous rope which is apparently referred to as a shimwa in Japan picks us up and transports us there before we can enter the place proper we must face the true corrupted Monk and this is one of my favorite fights in the game first off the setting is stunning The vilon Bridge the trees overhead the falling leaves and the way they move with each of the amongst attacks it is majestic I even noticed one of my sword swings cut off a branch here I've never seen that before for the actual fight itself the first two phases are almost exactly the same as the corrupted monk from meoo Village the only difference being she takes more posture damage and her posture doesn't recover as rapidly so this means focusing on deflections and nothing else is a viable strategy and once again there's a wonderful flow to be achieved here then in the third phase the centipede erupts from her body and she becomes extremely aggressive so dodging plays a bigger role she's also rocking new attacks some brand new and others missing from the fight in meibo village and there's something awfully feral about the way she handles herself in this phase I absolutely adore this encounter I feel it encompasses everything great about this game's combat system past the bridge lies The Fountain Head Palace visually it is gorgeous the prettiest area in the game game the giant cherry blossom tree overlooking the great lake with meoo Mana situated at top of waterfall is equal parts romantic and mysterious there's a distinct aura about the place that is unlike any other and I particularly enjoy the way cherry blossoms are constantly falling around you to me it adds a sense of sophistication and Majesty to the place but despite the way it looks The Fountain Head Palace is fraught with danger attempting to swim in the Great Lake will result in death as there's a fell on the other side who pelts you with lightning so we must go through meoo Mana without kuro's charm this is probably the hardest area in the game because the palace Nobles here use an ability which results in enfeeblement rendering you completely helpless for around 30 seconds once we get to the other side we can take down the Okami leader Shizu allowing us to freely explore the Great Lake there's a humongous carp fish here which must be avoided as we swim through a tunnel and towards W the sanctuary at the top of the hill lies a maiden sleeping peacefully and praying here teleports us to the Divine realm this is where we must face the Divine Dragon for we need the dragon's tears to reify the immortal Severance ritual the Divine dragon is one of the easiest fights in the game but in terms of sheer spectacle it blows every other encounter out of the water the visuals are amazing the soundtrack is magnificent and the scale is phenomenal this fight is all about grappling to these trees and using lightning reversal to deal damage there are some attacks to avoid but otherwise that's all you need to do this is not a hard fight at all but it is fun and honestly I find it beautiful some people may dislike it for its lack of challenge I am not one of them upon receiving the gracious gift of Tears we are teleported back to ashena Castle where the sun has fully set and it is now nighttime from here we can do quite a few things one of which being taking on the lone Shadow masanaga I'm not going to go into this fight in detail but something I will say is that I made the mistake of running away too much you don't have a lot of room to breathe here and I found myself suffocated by his constant attacks in such a tight space but running away was not the right move as soon as I stood my ground and started trading blows with him the fight became a lot easier it was just a reminder of how the game wants you to operate no matter who the opponent is and yes that also applies to the demon of hatred although I would not blame anyone for thinking otherwise now for me this has always been the hardest boss it's certainly what I struggled with the most on this playthrough and its mere inclusion in this game is a point of contention for some the most common criticism of the demon of hatred is that he is a bloodborne boss in searo and it doesn't work I think that's an easy conclusion to reach but after facing this boss repeatedly I disagree with it the demon of hatred is is a flailing Beast he has all the characteristics you'd expect from one erratic movements attacks that are difficult to read and so on but once again you can deflect all of his attacks except for those that come from his flame arm which will require you to either Dodge or jump with timing in mind which doesn't seem all that different to the way perilous attacks are handled the one exception to this is the amount of sprinting this fight requires Which is far more than any other the thing about the demon of hatred he has a move set and defeating him comes down to responding to that move set just like any other boss once you understand it the fight becomes surprisingly easy again just like any other boss but the process of learning how to respond is exceptionally tedious this thing has a huge number of attacks each phase introduces new ones that are extremely punishing and destroy you in just one or two hits combine this with its massive Health pool and learning the fight becomes a complete slog this fight drags more than any other in the game and it's easily its weakest aspect this is an encounter I always used to hate but I forced myself to learn it properly for the sake of completing the sh Gauntlet and I've actually grown to appreciate it in recent times not to mention the musical piece is enjoyable and the spectacle is great as well I still think it is too long too punishing and learning it is a tedious slog but I like its inclusion here it only took 5 years to reach this point but reach it I have and so now we can finally end the game we head back to the ashena reservoir and find Kuro under attack by genichiro who somehow managed to get his hands on a second mortal blade one which is black and is said to hold the power to open a gate to the Underworld the final encounter begins with a single-phase fight against giniro way of tomay it's the exact same fight as before except now instead of lightning attacks he uses an empowered mortal draw this is very much the warm-up for once he is defeated he uses the Black Blade to sacrifice himself and revive isin ashena in his prime so that the clan might be restored for all his flaws and delusions you cannot deny that gicho possessed conviction isin the sword Saint is in my opinion tied for the best fight in the game but he is surely one of the very best Final Bosses in all of gaming this encounter is the culmination of everything you have learned throughout your playthrough and serves as the ultimate test by utilizing a sword in his first phase and then a spear and a firearm in his second and third this guy has the most varied move set in all of searo a grand mix of thrust attacks sweeps lightning attacks multi-hit combos Ashen across ichimonji floating passage and a bunch more crazy abilities this is easily amongst the most difficult Encounters in the game and most of that difficulty lies in how flexible and interchangeable his moves are conquering his sword phase is one thing but when he pulls out his spear his attacks become much more Diversified it is a massive difficulty Spike as there is effectively an entire new move set to learn with attacks that combine with those used in his previous phase sword and spear enemies on their own already demand alternate approaches from the player due to the differences in size range damage output the windows between attacks and so on and so forth but isin Blends these things together to form a brutally challenging opponent but the beauty of the sword Saint is if you have made it this far you have the skill required to defeat him it just comes down to putting everything you have leared into practice and goodness me it is glorious once again being aggressive is hugely beneficial especially as you enter his Final Phase where the lightning reversal technique provides so much value as such the flow you can achieve in this fight is amazing there is something special about the sword Saint it's an encounter that exemplifies everything great about seo's combat system because his move set encompasses all its best features it is a spectacular boss fight and again one of the very best Final Bosses you are ever likely to find I'd love to sit here and tell you I was stuck on this guy for hours and hours and I was on my very first playthrough but by the time I reached him on this one I had fully adjusted to the demon Bell the lack of kuro's charm and the controller it only took me two attempts and it was incredible there's still a few more fights to cover so let's go over them by completing a bunch of vague activities for the purification ending we can visit an alternate version of harata estate there's a couple repeat mini bosses here but the main attraction is an encounter against owl father this is basically a faster more aggressive version of the great Shinobi owl with many of the same attacks but some extras thrown in there as well in fact his first phase is almost one for one identical to the previous fight and it's only in the second phase where things change up a bit this comes in the form of an ethereal owl which he will use to either teleport to a location or launch as a fiery projectile both of which are very simple to avoid honestly I have always been indifferent towards this fight because I already spent so long dying to the great Shinobi owl that by the time I reach Al father I know his move set inside out remember how I talked about recognizing Tails from that fight well nearly all of them are present here fundamentally it is the same with some added flare but that flare does bring a couple issues the teleporting L mechanic is a bit of a joke and disrupts the fight the pillars in the arena can get in your way and the flying ow blocks your view on occasion still there are ways ala improves upon its counterpart I enjoy how he can cancel his use of ichimonji and convert it into a sweep forcing you to face him head on and focus on deflecting his move set is faster paced and more varied making him unpredictable and he doesn't leave himself open to easy hits like the great Shinobi does to me this fight is good I wouldn't rate it above the true Monk and definitely not above the sword saint but it is fun choosing to obey the iron code will lead to the Sher ending where you must fight Emma and old man Isen Emma is a simple encounter her fighting style is reminiscent of orin's in that she doesn't have the largest move set and attacks you swiftly with multi-hit combos usually incorporating a delay between them there is something graceful about the way she moves but she's still dangerous with a very large range on her grab and Ashen a cross attack this is another fight where you can completely suffocate The Boss by being aggressive canceling some of her attacks and forcing her into repeating the same moves even without that though by this point of the game this fight should only take a few attempts at most E's first phase is very similar to The Sword Saints first phase and if you have any experience with the latter then nothing in the former will come as a surprise standard attacks all clearly telegraphed stuff you have seen before etc etc there is one exception though occasionally Isen will DOD your attack with a side step and respond with a quick Counterattack or a grab I can't think of any other instance where a boss does something like this besides Al father so it caught me out repeatedly and I like that it's something different although the Counterattack is more effective than the grab without a doubt his second phase is far more dangerous and contains original attacks not seen anywhere else in the game including one mind an insane ability that is reminiscent of Virgil from Devil May Cry it feels great to deflect this technique although one of the slashes always seems to slip through I thought I was doing something wrong but it happens every single time so I'm going to blame the game but the deadliest thing in this phase is fire suddenly is's attacks are imbued with fire so ichimonji comes with a fan of flames on the followup he creates a torrent of flames that travels across the floor and a couple more fire related abilities personally I find this a little underwhelming because the flame attacks are overly telegraphed I feel giving you plenty of time to dodge out the way and it kind of undermines the fight I'm not saying it's easy but I certainly think it's less challenging than the sword Saint and in terms of sheer quality it doesn't even come close especially since this is the final boss of the shorer ending fire may be a neat party trick but this fight just isn't as riveting as the sword Saint although I suppose that's to be expected as Isen is no longer in his Prime anyway this ending will have wolf Slaughter Emma isin and eventually owl as he turns into shur a metaphorical demon of sorts that engulfs the ashena province in flame and bloodshed The Immortal Severance ending has wolf helped Kuro carry out the ritual killing the boy in the process wolf then takes the sculptor's place at the dilapidated Temple and passes time carving Buddha statues just like his predecessor the purification ending has Wolf's sacrifice in himself to purify Kuro of his blood in a Bittersweet but lovely conclusion whilst the dragon's return ending sees the divine child of Rejuvenation sort of absorb Kuro into herself she and wolf then set out to travel West to return the Divine dragon from whence it came and end the dragon's Heritage from returning to Japan I would describe the story of searo as simple but engaging some of it is legitimately fascinating and deserves a hell of a lot more attention attention than I have given in this video but not so much the narrative itself but rather the concepts surrounding the narrative the undying the Mortal blades the Divine realm and the link between those who possess the dragon's Heritage to name just a few I don't think this game's law has the same spellbinding quality that bloodborne's law has but that may just be because I am not as knowledgeable of it compared to that game either way the story does its job of giving purpose to your actions there's a lot of stuff I have admitted but the game is positively bursting with secrets and hidden details that go a long way and given this world its own identity the steps you need to take to achieve the purification and dragon's return endings always make me laugh at how ridiculously obscure they are but they do lead to some of the most memorable sequences in the whole game the absolute highlight for me is slaying the Great Serpent in the Sunken Valley plunging into the Beast head and then ripping it open as blood Rains Down from the sky holy [ __ ] this is metal there's also a few side quests to complete and I want to highlight two of them there's this fellow in the dilapidated Temple named Han the undying who serves as a training partner of sorts a means of practicing your combat skills as his name suggests he is Immortal and craves a way to end his curse well once you get the Mortal blade you can do just that and he expresses a deep gratitude for it upon killing him he leaves behind a hidden tooth which is an unlimited use version of bite down an item that kills you I read a comment somewhere that the hidden tooth resembles a Moler stuffed with bite down and seems to be the result of hanay trying to kill himself countless times just to end his misery this is an interesting interaction all around but the game makes no effort whatsoever to guide you here in classic fromsoft fashion the second Quest involves the great carp attendant and his daughters When You Reach meibo Mana there's a lady here who warns you about the palace Nobles and the dangers they pose if you follow up the conversation she tells you about her father who after becoming a noble has found himself entranced by the great carp the lady then asks you to free her father from the CB's bewitching Powers past meibo Mana you can find the second daughter standing at top the roof of a half submerged building she explains that she is looking for her father and reveals the underwater passage into the palace whilst also requesting that we open the palace doors for her if you do this and return to the place later on you can find the second daughter kneeling over the corpses of Palace Nobles and violently stabbing them repeatedly in her rage she screams about how the Nobles lied to her father and tricked him into doing the great C's bidding for all eternity before she collapses dead on the floor when you speak to the great carp attendant he makes no mention of his daughters and seems entirely FOC focused on the will of the great CP if you feed the great C the truly precious bait it will die and its corpse can be found in the Sunken Valley which makes sense as the Sunken Valley is the area where the Waters of the Fountain Head Palace flow to looting the carp will give you the great white whisker and if you present this to the attendant he is grateful that his duties have finally come to an end you can then return to him one last time to find his remaining daughter kneeling by his corpse the lady says some final parting words before she too passes away I've always had the achievement for killing the great CP but I had no idea there was a quest line involving the attendant daughters linked to it a dynamic world is nothing surprising when it comes to from software but it's always exciting when you discover something new I'm sure there are other quest lines like this but these two have a particular sadness about them and I think they stand out because of that to end this video we shall discuss the gauntlets of strength these are a series of consecutive battles against previously defeated bosses there are three in total and each one ends against an enhanced version of a major boss those are inner giniro inner father and inner isin the swords version during The Gauntlet Wolf's attack power is strictly defined and any items used are reset at the end after every boss is defeated except for the inner variants a sculptor's idol will appear allowing you to rest in between fights so it's it's essentially a Boss Rush mode with rest these fights are completely unchanged from the main game so we don't have to waste time discussing them but because Wolf's attack power is strictly defined they are automatically made more difficult it's highly likely that you will have more attack power on your actual playthrough at least I certainly did the inner variants however are much more challenging alternate versions of their original iterations with brand new attacks and abilities because of this they have are considered separate encounters entirely and are the biggest drawers of the gauntlets if you manage to reach one of the inner variants you can fight them again in a standalone reflection meaning you do not have to beat them to get some practice in which is good because otherwise this would be a n impossible task overcoming these gauntlets basically requires Mastery of every encounter and completing them was one of the most exhausting things I have done in a video game in a very long time there is no nothing more frustrating than going all the way through a gauntlet just to die at the very end I mean look how close I was here this is just sad I knew I could make my life easier by releasing the effects of the demon Bell and kuro's charm but I just thought what's the point of that I've made it this far may as well take it all the way but enough Dilly dallying let's talk about these inner fights now if I had to rank each one from worst to best I would do so as such in a Isen in a gich icho and finally inner father takes the top spot inner Isen is a good encounter on its own merits I just think when compared to the other inner fights it's missing something inner genichiro and inner father offer significantly different experiences from their originals but Ina isin doesn't quite do this to the same degree he's rocking some new moves but fundamentally the fight plays out at an almost identical Rhythm to the sword Saint so these new moves feel like they've just been included to catch the player out I enjoy a couple of the new combo strings but the dynamic of the fight is largely unchanged and that's why I think it falls flat inag genichiro stands well above any other iteration of him because he is far more aggressive he doesn't bring many new attacks to the table I think it's something like three or four in total but he regularly mixes up his combos with quite a lot of variation including reversing your lightning reversal so you must reverse it right back in a Ichiro keeps up the pressure constantly whilst greatly punishing paity I found the best tactic is to match his aggression and when you combine this with his mixups you have the makings of a wonderfully Dynamic encounter this is a great fight but I must say he does suffer from the same issue as several other bosses in that his attacks can often be interrupted but the creme Creme of the inner variance is without a doubt inner father earlier I stated that the sword Saint was tied for the the best fight in the game well this is the encounter it is tied with inner father doesn't have that all-encompassing move set like the sword saint has nor does it serve as the Epic final battle that puts everything you have learned to the test like the sword saint either but it makes up for all of that with sheer speed this is a blisteringly fast encounter even more so if you play aggressively I love the integration of the Mist Raven in his move set it makes for incredibly fun deflection opportunity and keeps up the pace not to mention he has two different types of triple combo strings with the Mist Raven in addition to his normal double slices like genichiro in a father is constantly mixing up his combos leading to a lot of variation he even combines combos to form new attack chains this fight is absolutely thrilling I mean the speed of the encounter alone makes it stand out but all these factors come together and elevate it to something truly special it does suffer from a couple of the same issues as Al father though sometimes the pillars get in the way the AL can block your vision and I certainly think he is too easily interrupted by your attacks even more so than genichiro the amount of times you can just stop him in his tracks seems a bit silly but those are the only criticisms I have to an otherwise brilliant boss fight the reward for completing a gauntlet is a different form for Wolf the tangu and shur outfits are my favorites they look great it's just a a shame they were the very last things I unlocked I can't imagine I'll play the game again for some time so I won't be getting much use out of them if you complete all three gauntlets you unlock the Mortal Journey a mega Gauntlet that pits you against every single boss in a row including the three inner variants and your reward for completing this Gauntlet is Jack [ __ ] seriously you get nothing for doing this and the game straight up tells you as much which I think was a smart move even after 5 years seo's combat is just as brutal intimate and satisfying as I remember what truly makes it Shine though is how posture is implemented when attacking and deflecting both lead towards the same goal offense and defense are Blended together seamlessly so much so that the line between them no longer exists nearly all other facets of combat feed into this and it recontextualizes engagements it is incredibly potent and easily the game's strongest as aspect this concept is then streamlined into the mechanics in a way that puts everything directly onto the player's ability because of this it asks an awful lot but gives so much back in return and it remains my all-time favorite fromsoft title searo Shadows die twice is the great outlier and I hope it's not the last Elden ring may have taken the World by storm but there are still countless opportunities for more tightly focused Adventures I've always vibed more with the likes of bloodborne and SEO than the soul series personally and as much as I love Elden ring I find it easier to go back to those two titles than that one yeah that's just me but a market for these types of games still exists without a doubt and even the most stalwart of Elden ring fans would welcome them I feel people have faith in from software for good reason bloodborne and searo are great examples of what happens when the development team Branch out a bit and the result is two very special titles I hope to see more of that in the future thank you for watching please let me know what you think if you enjoyed this video and want to see more content that goes into detail on games then you should hit the Subscribe button thanks again

Channel: acritical

Views: 156,001

Keywords: acritical, sekiro, sekiro shadows die twice, sekiro retrospective, sekiro review, sekiro gameplay, from software, from soft, soulsborne, sekiro gauntlet, gaming, pc, ps5, ps4, sekiro boss ranking, sekiro ranking, retrospective, review, game review, game retrospective

Id: cZ-Jg4Xg_Q4

Length: 85min 9sec (5109 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 03 2024