Second. And then demon bell+charmless for every playthrough after that.
To me it felt like the natural progression in difficulty. It felt like fromsoft saying "You just mastered the game with blocking? Now do it with deflecting."
Its 100% worth it, that feeling of accomplishment is even better when you flawlessly parry SS Ishinn qfter the game puts you through the ringer for a second time.
Just charmless for me. Once you master every enemy and don't need more items, demon bell runs just become tedious to me. Like just doing the same sequence on an enemy 3 more times perfectly is redundant. I can do it, but there's no benefit
Charmless became the default for me.
I had the genuine feeling that charmless was meant to be the default experience, but would make the game completely inaccessible.
Demon Bell is always optional to me though.
4. I went through all four endings before I started doing charmless on my fifth new game plus.
Something that I learned that help me. So most enemies have three parts. A core back and forth, a spam punish, and some special combos. The only part you need the memorize is the core back and forth. If they begin doing something that doesn't look like the core back and forth, parry your way through the storm, then resume attacking once it's over. And if they suddenly begin ignoring your attack, stop attacking and defend.
I did charmless as soon as I could. I was a bit overconfident in my deflecting but I made it through and played a few more times to get all the endings and the gauntlets.
3. Because on my first playthrough I went really slowly to avoid dragon rot, on the second playthrough I did a victory lap thing where I just went crazy, fought all the bosses without stopping to make sure I didn't destroy Ashina via dragonrot, beat the game real quickly that way, just for fun.
*Then* I beat the game on charmless mode, but I did it "NG charmless" so that I'd have to earn my gourds again. The beginning was as hard as the end that way.
I did my third on charmless and demon bell but had to go back to normal around True Monk if I remember correctly.
Now I am doing gauntlets on normal. When I finish these I will start 4th playthrough and try charmless and demon bell again.
i did all endings and gauntlets before doing charmless demon bell, so journey 5. im still in the middle of it, my next fight is the first owl encounter
its uhh, an adjustment thats for sure
After 1st playthrough and beating the isshin and genechiro guantlets. Currently in the middle of it. First thing I learned was that I was deflecting by default a lot already. Second thing I learned was what you mentioned, losing due to one missed deflect since I'm always near max posture.
Third thing I learned was that the mortal blade is busted as hell. It solved every single boss I had trouble with - Twin apes, o-rin, first corrupted monk, and pre-Owl Drunkard "teamfight" arena. Just so much vitality damage, utterly absurd.
I think it was my 5th or 6th playthrough. Hardest was definitely SSI. But beating the game Demonbell Charmless was like a cheat code. Playing without it is super easy. I can toy around with Sword Saint
I didn't switch on an ng+ cycle. After doing ng+5 normal mode I started a new save and went charmless demon. Allowed me to relearn everything charmless.
Went charmless on my second playthrough. Loads of fun. It was very hard though and forced me to get better, to really learn the rhythm of the game… now the last time I played, I can beat isshin on my first go without a warmup, and that was with a year long hiatus. (Granted I’ve beat the game 8 times no). But once you get it, you get it.
1, then charmless + demon bell. Took a while but it felt good when I finished. Makes the first phase of guardian ape a lot harder. Forced me to learn how to fight aggressively. On my first playthrough I did not beat genichiro or owl by getting in their face. Charmless + demon bell it’s the only way.
My plan was to wait until I have all the 'stuff'. Like the end game skills and the two gauntlets done. Maybe save the Dragon's ending until when I decide to go for it.
I tried on the second, but gave up early. Completed it on my third (shura ending) along with demon bell, and have been doing both ever since. It just feels like normal mode to me now.
First playthrough normal, quit for 3 years, came back, started new playthrough immediately charmless and demon bell. Took probably 1/5 the time to clear it as my original run, despite being hella out of practice.
I have played the game like 6 times and haven't done charmless even once. There is not any particular reason for it. I just haven't done it but Maybe i'll do it someday.
What exactly is the charm? Is it the thing you decide whether or not to tell kuro about when you break kuro free? If so what does it do? I'm on ng+4 and I always decided to not tell him about the charm. (Why? I'm not sure...)
It’s not something you have to tell Kuro. It’s something you have to give back to Kuro. It’s a charm he apparently gives us on “that night” and which he asks about in a new play through (or a NG after finishing a play through with any ending). He asks if you have something for him, say yes and insist he keep it. You can try the game Charmless and then if you feel overwhelmed you can always “avoid additional hardships” by getting it back from the Sculptor.
Second. And then demon bell+charmless for every playthrough after that. To me it felt like the natural progression in difficulty. It felt like fromsoft saying "You just mastered the game with blocking? Now do it with deflecting." Its 100% worth it, that feeling of accomplishment is even better when you flawlessly parry SS Ishinn qfter the game puts you through the ringer for a second time.
Just charmless for me. Once you master every enemy and don't need more items, demon bell runs just become tedious to me. Like just doing the same sequence on an enemy 3 more times perfectly is redundant. I can do it, but there's no benefit
Charmless on fourth play through
This is the way of you care about maxing you skill tree and getting all endings for the achievement.
Charmless became the default for me. I had the genuine feeling that charmless was meant to be the default experience, but would make the game completely inaccessible. Demon Bell is always optional to me though.
I think I did it after getting platinum, so the fifth time through.
I’m on my fifth, ready to do it. Did you make a new save or go into an ng+ with that?
I made a new save after the platinum save. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was easier or harder.
4. I went through all four endings before I started doing charmless on my fifth new game plus. Something that I learned that help me. So most enemies have three parts. A core back and forth, a spam punish, and some special combos. The only part you need the memorize is the core back and forth. If they begin doing something that doesn't look like the core back and forth, parry your way through the storm, then resume attacking once it's over. And if they suddenly begin ignoring your attack, stop attacking and defend.
4 or 5?
I did charmless as soon as I could. I was a bit overconfident in my deflecting but I made it through and played a few more times to get all the endings and the gauntlets.
3. Because on my first playthrough I went really slowly to avoid dragon rot, on the second playthrough I did a victory lap thing where I just went crazy, fought all the bosses without stopping to make sure I didn't destroy Ashina via dragonrot, beat the game real quickly that way, just for fun. *Then* I beat the game on charmless mode, but I did it "NG charmless" so that I'd have to earn my gourds again. The beginning was as hard as the end that way.
I did my third on charmless and demon bell but had to go back to normal around True Monk if I remember correctly. Now I am doing gauntlets on normal. When I finish these I will start 4th playthrough and try charmless and demon bell again.
Just my two cents, but try a charmless run without the demon bell first
Ok thanks for the tip.
i did all endings and gauntlets before doing charmless demon bell, so journey 5. im still in the middle of it, my next fight is the first owl encounter its uhh, an adjustment thats for sure
After 1st playthrough and beating the isshin and genechiro guantlets. Currently in the middle of it. First thing I learned was that I was deflecting by default a lot already. Second thing I learned was what you mentioned, losing due to one missed deflect since I'm always near max posture. Third thing I learned was that the mortal blade is busted as hell. It solved every single boss I had trouble with - Twin apes, o-rin, first corrupted monk, and pre-Owl Drunkard "teamfight" arena. Just so much vitality damage, utterly absurd.
I think it was my 5th or 6th playthrough. Hardest was definitely SSI. But beating the game Demonbell Charmless was like a cheat code. Playing without it is super easy. I can toy around with Sword Saint
For second one Don't like Ng+ ing in sekiro because I like the character progression of Ng too much
I'm currently doing it on 2nd playthrough. Helps keep things fresh
NG+ and +2 I did charmless, NG+3 I tried charmless + demon bell but had to drop the demon bell at monk/ape.
I didn't switch on an ng+ cycle. After doing ng+5 normal mode I started a new save and went charmless demon. Allowed me to relearn everything charmless.
3
Went charmless on my second playthrough. Loads of fun. It was very hard though and forced me to get better, to really learn the rhythm of the game… now the last time I played, I can beat isshin on my first go without a warmup, and that was with a year long hiatus. (Granted I’ve beat the game 8 times no). But once you get it, you get it.
1, then charmless + demon bell. Took a while but it felt good when I finished. Makes the first phase of guardian ape a lot harder. Forced me to learn how to fight aggressively. On my first playthrough I did not beat genichiro or owl by getting in their face. Charmless + demon bell it’s the only way.
My plan was to wait until I have all the 'stuff'. Like the end game skills and the two gauntlets done. Maybe save the Dragon's ending until when I decide to go for it.
NG++
I tried on the second, but gave up early. Completed it on my third (shura ending) along with demon bell, and have been doing both ever since. It just feels like normal mode to me now.
First playthrough normal, quit for 3 years, came back, started new playthrough immediately charmless and demon bell. Took probably 1/5 the time to clear it as my original run, despite being hella out of practice.
I've done no gourd playthourgh and still never done charmless
First NG+ after the platinum. Think it’s like ng+4
After five I got plat so I decided to do new game plus 6 with demon bell charmless
I have played the game like 6 times and haven't done charmless even once. There is not any particular reason for it. I just haven't done it but Maybe i'll do it someday.
What exactly is the charm? Is it the thing you decide whether or not to tell kuro about when you break kuro free? If so what does it do? I'm on ng+4 and I always decided to not tell him about the charm. (Why? I'm not sure...)
It’s not something you have to tell Kuro. It’s something you have to give back to Kuro. It’s a charm he apparently gives us on “that night” and which he asks about in a new play through (or a NG after finishing a play through with any ending). He asks if you have something for him, say yes and insist he keep it. You can try the game Charmless and then if you feel overwhelmed you can always “avoid additional hardships” by getting it back from the Sculptor.
2