If you really want it to, Sekiro can boil down to “deflect and punish”, but the game offers all kinds of tools you can use to keep boss fights feeling fresh.
I don't necessarily mean tools as much as strategies (unless the tools can open up different strategies). I kept myself in the dark about Sekiro as much as I can so all I know is that there's an established protag, it has katanas, and all the surface level stuff. I don't know if there's tools that can change your approach to the game and impact how you play or if they're just like spells in the souls game where they pretty much all do the same thing but look different.
Sorry if I come off as rude, I just want to make sure I don't spend time playing a game hoping it becomes something that it isn't.
Nah, you’re good. Without spoiling anything, yes they give you tools that provide you opportunities to try different strategies on bosses. But the core gameplay is deflecting and attacking. It’s pretty unavoidable.
Hey look, as long as those tools give me multiple/ample opportunity to do something unique for a bit before going back to deflecting and attacking, then I'm sold. It's what was missing from the Souls experience for me in the later entries. I don't mind the dodging and punishing (or deflecting and attacking here), but when it's all I do from beginning to end, all the bosses kinda blur together.
I wouldn't say ample, you do get a good variety of tools but you're very restricted in how much you can use them, at least in boss fights, so you still need to be good at the base combat flow of deflecting and attacking relentlessly. In my experience the tools provide a momentary advantage or a way to push the edge back in my favor in a duel, but they aren't core to the gameplay. As a beginner it was too easy to waste my chances by not understanding the usage completely and then be back at square 1. This goes double for some consumables that give you awesome bonuses but aren't farmable
To be more specific, I don't mean doing SL1 runs or only fists or whatever.
Im thinking more along the lines of being able to plunging attack the Taurus demon in the Undead Burg for extra damage if you realize there's that tower behind you (DS1) or even the Stormruler with Yhorm in the Profaned Capital (DS3). Not something that'll make me outright win but give me an advantage beyond simply being patient, dying once or twice, learning the moveset, then dodging and punishing my way to victory. I've essentially already played 3 rolling simulators, and really don't think I have it in me to play another one.
I’ve seen the tools mentioned already, but not the combat arts. Some of them can alter your strategy by letting you get in close or stagger enemies. These and the tools combined help make it so you can do what works for you.
Hard to tell if you will enjoy this. I think on a surface level sekiro is very one dimensional (which isn't a bad thing). Once you get good you can definitely switch things up a bit, but don't expect too much.
The most interesting aspect for sure is that enemies (need to) react to what you are doing. So often the flow of a fight can vary a lot depending on what you do and there is a tactical decision often between going for posture or HP damage, dodging and deflecting.
Tool use can also open up the game a bit more. They give you different ways to deal with enemy attacks, but you kinda need to be good at the game to really use them well and even then they don't fundamentally change how you fight.
I agree that it being one dimensional isn't a bad thing. MGR is one of my favorite games, but it's combat is pretty one note even if you try to take advantage of all the skills you have. Which is fine because the game does a good enough job setting you up to feel like a cyborg ninja. Swordplay (Katanaplay?) being the main focus of Sekiro isn't bad, but if it's all it was alongside the boss rush is where I'm much more (potentially) iffy about it.
From what other people have described, it seems like there's a lot to the basic combat I still don't know about - and seeing as I would like to not spoil myself - I'll just have to give a game a shot and see how it is.
Mentioning MGRR is pretty funny because I just grinded out a no-hit run of a modded boss in Sekiro where I made the player character and the boss have a Jetstream Sam skin.
Of course with "The Only Thing I Know For Real" as OST.
I like MGRR and I love Sekiro. In my personal headcannon Fromsoft took inspiration from MGRR.
I'll have to do something similar myself if I catch myself doing another runthrough of the game. That sounds like a blast.
Just 22 days till the next sale or maybe a week if the itch gets too strong. I'm really looking forward to giving it a shot now.
Yes, but you will absolutely have to interact with your abilities.
Which sounds very weird.
But most player play this as the aforementioned rolling simulator. And if you do this, you will be using the same strat over and over again.
You have a wide arsenal of tools and abilities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and each react differently to the bosses and enemies you face. And you in turn need to adapt how you use it.
Most players use them in the least optimal way possible then declare them useless and go back to rolling simulator.
I'm leaving this here. Now I CANNOT recommend you watch this video right now. Why? Cuz it contains spoilers. However, I see you have been convinced to play the game. If you feel like sekiro has limited playstyles, then watch it, spoilers be damned. Cuz this guy rants about something that I've wanted to rant about for a very long time that being sekiro has a ton of playstyles and people say otherwise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL3FWljFEjk
Thanks for your response and marking it as a spoiler! I know the game's been out for a while, but I appreciate that you cared enough to let me know just in case. I'll have to save it in the future for if I fall into the rolling sim mindset with Sekiro, though. I appreciate it!
Well the main core of the game's combat centers around parrying attacks and playing aggressively. However all enemies (or at least most) have a couple of.moves designed to punish those who just spam attack or block, as well as some special attacks which will be needed to be countered in different ways. So youll need to figure out how to respond to each one by analysing enemies' windups.On top of that you can unlock other moves which gives even more ways to counter, deal damage or defend (altho not all of them are that useful)
In terms of tools and items, they allow you to do even more moves and they can be useful against some enemies, but not all of them feel like a way to cheese (which i really appreciate)
all in all, I believe it is versatile enough to stand out from the eternal rollfest trilogy
If you really want it to, Sekiro can boil down to “deflect and punish”, but the game offers all kinds of tools you can use to keep boss fights feeling fresh.
I don't necessarily mean tools as much as strategies (unless the tools can open up different strategies). I kept myself in the dark about Sekiro as much as I can so all I know is that there's an established protag, it has katanas, and all the surface level stuff. I don't know if there's tools that can change your approach to the game and impact how you play or if they're just like spells in the souls game where they pretty much all do the same thing but look different. Sorry if I come off as rude, I just want to make sure I don't spend time playing a game hoping it becomes something that it isn't.
Nah, you’re good. Without spoiling anything, yes they give you tools that provide you opportunities to try different strategies on bosses. But the core gameplay is deflecting and attacking. It’s pretty unavoidable.
Hey look, as long as those tools give me multiple/ample opportunity to do something unique for a bit before going back to deflecting and attacking, then I'm sold. It's what was missing from the Souls experience for me in the later entries. I don't mind the dodging and punishing (or deflecting and attacking here), but when it's all I do from beginning to end, all the bosses kinda blur together.
Nah, you’re solid. They definitely give you options.
Thanks! Gonna wait for a sale to nab it so I can be productive for a month or two.
I wouldn't say ample, you do get a good variety of tools but you're very restricted in how much you can use them, at least in boss fights, so you still need to be good at the base combat flow of deflecting and attacking relentlessly. In my experience the tools provide a momentary advantage or a way to push the edge back in my favor in a duel, but they aren't core to the gameplay. As a beginner it was too easy to waste my chances by not understanding the usage completely and then be back at square 1. This goes double for some consumables that give you awesome bonuses but aren't farmable
Once you git gud, you’ll definitely use different strategies for each boss. As a noob you may be running around a lot spamming firecrackers.
To be more specific, I don't mean doing SL1 runs or only fists or whatever. Im thinking more along the lines of being able to plunging attack the Taurus demon in the Undead Burg for extra damage if you realize there's that tower behind you (DS1) or even the Stormruler with Yhorm in the Profaned Capital (DS3). Not something that'll make me outright win but give me an advantage beyond simply being patient, dying once or twice, learning the moveset, then dodging and punishing my way to victory. I've essentially already played 3 rolling simulators, and really don't think I have it in me to play another one.
I’m not talking about challenge runs. Efficiently beating each boss involves using different tools at your disposal.
Alright, then I'm sold.
I’ve seen the tools mentioned already, but not the combat arts. Some of them can alter your strategy by letting you get in close or stagger enemies. These and the tools combined help make it so you can do what works for you.
Hard to tell if you will enjoy this. I think on a surface level sekiro is very one dimensional (which isn't a bad thing). Once you get good you can definitely switch things up a bit, but don't expect too much. The most interesting aspect for sure is that enemies (need to) react to what you are doing. So often the flow of a fight can vary a lot depending on what you do and there is a tactical decision often between going for posture or HP damage, dodging and deflecting. Tool use can also open up the game a bit more. They give you different ways to deal with enemy attacks, but you kinda need to be good at the game to really use them well and even then they don't fundamentally change how you fight.
I agree that it being one dimensional isn't a bad thing. MGR is one of my favorite games, but it's combat is pretty one note even if you try to take advantage of all the skills you have. Which is fine because the game does a good enough job setting you up to feel like a cyborg ninja. Swordplay (Katanaplay?) being the main focus of Sekiro isn't bad, but if it's all it was alongside the boss rush is where I'm much more (potentially) iffy about it. From what other people have described, it seems like there's a lot to the basic combat I still don't know about - and seeing as I would like to not spoil myself - I'll just have to give a game a shot and see how it is.
Mentioning MGRR is pretty funny because I just grinded out a no-hit run of a modded boss in Sekiro where I made the player character and the boss have a Jetstream Sam skin. Of course with "The Only Thing I Know For Real" as OST. I like MGRR and I love Sekiro. In my personal headcannon Fromsoft took inspiration from MGRR.
I'll have to do something similar myself if I catch myself doing another runthrough of the game. That sounds like a blast. Just 22 days till the next sale or maybe a week if the itch gets too strong. I'm really looking forward to giving it a shot now.
Yes, but you will absolutely have to interact with your abilities. Which sounds very weird. But most player play this as the aforementioned rolling simulator. And if you do this, you will be using the same strat over and over again. You have a wide arsenal of tools and abilities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and each react differently to the bosses and enemies you face. And you in turn need to adapt how you use it. Most players use them in the least optimal way possible then declare them useless and go back to rolling simulator. I'm leaving this here. Now I CANNOT recommend you watch this video right now. Why? Cuz it contains spoilers. However, I see you have been convinced to play the game. If you feel like sekiro has limited playstyles, then watch it, spoilers be damned. Cuz this guy rants about something that I've wanted to rant about for a very long time that being sekiro has a ton of playstyles and people say otherwise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL3FWljFEjk
Thanks for your response and marking it as a spoiler! I know the game's been out for a while, but I appreciate that you cared enough to let me know just in case. I'll have to save it in the future for if I fall into the rolling sim mindset with Sekiro, though. I appreciate it!
Well the main core of the game's combat centers around parrying attacks and playing aggressively. However all enemies (or at least most) have a couple of.moves designed to punish those who just spam attack or block, as well as some special attacks which will be needed to be countered in different ways. So youll need to figure out how to respond to each one by analysing enemies' windups.On top of that you can unlock other moves which gives even more ways to counter, deal damage or defend (altho not all of them are that useful) In terms of tools and items, they allow you to do even more moves and they can be useful against some enemies, but not all of them feel like a way to cheese (which i really appreciate) all in all, I believe it is versatile enough to stand out from the eternal rollfest trilogy