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 (Fantastic art by mischievousart/Lore Cox) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 2019 ninja/Chanbara-styled action game by From Software and directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. Much in the vein of their previous beautiful and maddeningly difficult Dark Souls and Bloodborne games, Sekiro is a case study in masterful worldbuilding, subtle storytelling and gorgeous art direction combined with incredibly difficult to master gameplay that's so satisfying when you do. While mechanically very similar to its predecessors, Sekiro shakes up the From Formula in several key ways: the Western RPG aesthetic has been replaced with one that's thoroughly Japanese, taking place in feudal Japan and soaked deeply in the country's mythology, folklore, and Buddhist traditions. Exploration is made faster and more fluid by allowing the player to jump logically (press a button) rather than stupidly (hold down the run button and press it again) and using Wolf's prosthetic to grapple and fling yourself around. You also actually know what you're doing; you play one specific character, Wolf the shinobi, on a quest to rescue your master, the young but precociously wise Lord Kuro. The game also ups the ante on the difficulty by doing away with the online multiplayer aspects of the previous games (co-op, writing out warning messages for other players, invasions), instead focusing on a single player experience where the player must learn from every single one of their mistakes and fight every vessel-bursting boss all on their own. You also don't have a bevy of weapon options anymore; you have one katana, and aside from a handful of side attachments for your prosthetic that are more for utility than damage, you must do everything with that one katana. Dodging is no longer reliable, and you must instead build up your parry/deflect instincts to survive, especially because reducing enemy posture is far more important than reducing their health. It's no surprise that the difficulty of the game was a major conversation when it came out, what with everyone trying to play it like Dark Souls or Bloodborne when it requires its own muscle memory. But like its predecessors, a headaching first run of the game will eventually give way to a fantastically rewarding experience, as everything From Software does great is on full display. If you gave the game a shot and it completely turned you off, I don't blame you, but maybe with this LP I can convince you to give it another chance. Let us begin. ----------------  In the mountains of Japan lies Ashina, a region on the brink of war mere decades after Lord Isshin Ashina reclaimed the land for his clan. There, a shinobi named Wolf is tasked with protecting Lord Kuro, a young boy gifted with the Dragon's Heritage: the power of resurrection. But with Ashina endlessly caked with blood, Isshin's grandson Genichiro captures Kuro to use his Dragon's Heritage to end all war for his homeland. Wolf must brave the wartorn region to rescue his young master, and there will be more than a few seemingly impossible blockades in his way. Luckily, blessed with Kuro's Dragon's Heritage, this shadow can die twice. Will it stay that simple, though? It never does. ----------------  This is essentially a 100% LP of the game: beating every boss and miniboss, showing how to reach every ending, finding every collectible, going a few rounds in New Game+, and showing off everything the game has to offer. I'm reasonably good at the game... now, but much of the LP was recorded with only my second run ever, so I will vary in skill until we pass the endings. It won't be a constant death-fest at least. Note: a free content patch was added to the game after the LP was finished, so none of its content will be in any video until it gets specifically shown off in Part 33. Joining me on co-commentary are Mugiwara Yoshi and JigglyJacob, neither of whom have played Sekiro but have different experiences with Dark Souls. We have a penchant for silliness, but I try to temper that as we go along; this is a dark, brutal game. I'm also playing with Japanese voice acting and English subtitles, so I've eschewed the usual Edited commentary/Uncut commentary format, and I have a tendency to explain what's happening to emphasize important details to try to keep viewers abreast of what's happening and what should be payed attention to. In short: if you find our constant talking annoying, I won't blame you for that either. If you enjoy this LP, consider supporting my Patreon. Patrons get to see parts ahead of everyone else. ----------------  Content Warnings: Lots of blood, violence and dismemberment; some strong horror themes including body horror and grotesque monsters; abuse and violence against children and animals; and probably a lot more. It may not be Bloodborne, but there's still a lot of dark, horror themes in there. Proceed with caution.                                Except it wasn't the end! Over a year later... 
ThornBrain fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Jan 23, 2022 |
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Oct 12, 2019 20:02
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:19 |
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Time for a 50 minute crash course in Sekiro combat and tactics.
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Oct 19, 2019 20:06
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Polsy posted:Is it only large enemies that refill the resurrection meter or is it just that smaller enemies don't count for much and the meter only displays in 1/8th increments? They all refill the meter in varying increments, but the bigger enemies do refill it more. I think it's randomized whether you get the res energy in general though, so you were probably just seeing me not get any some of the time.
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Oct 21, 2019 04:10
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Don't drink and arson on the job.
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Oct 26, 2019 20:16
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RareAcumen posted:I might've missed it somewhere along the video, what's that attack power thing? How's that get upgraded? That's just your damage output. We haven't shown it off yet, but you upgrade it with an item you get from beating a full boss. We've only beaten minibosses so far, so we don't have one yet, but we will in part 5.
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Oct 27, 2019 03:36
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Do drink and kill everyone around you on the job.
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Nov 2, 2019 20:01
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Keep it spoiler tagged for people who want to stay blind. I'm more concerned with my co-commentators being surprised, but they're not on SA, so we're good there.
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Nov 4, 2019 06:36
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Let's take out two major early game hurdles in one video.
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Nov 8, 2019 21:01
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That snek can fekin wrek
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Nov 16, 2019 21:00
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What a load of flaming bull I said rewatching my boss fights. PS: Lynneth on my Patreon pointed out the Monocular isn't working probably because of my depth-of-field settings.
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Nov 23, 2019 21:01
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IMJack posted:Judging by the number of cuts and wipes in that fight, that dude was kicking your rear end with one arm tied up. I was basically learning when to deflect his attacks in real-time.
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Nov 24, 2019 19:07
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Time for lots of grossness and unpleasantness. Wash your hands, folks.
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Dec 1, 2019 00:07
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Tombot posted:Is there anyone else you could have brought to him? Anyone we don't care about? Jinzaemon and Kotaro are your only options as they're the only friendly big boys in the game.
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Dec 1, 2019 09:29
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anilEhilated posted:What the hell. Had no idea that was a thing. I recorded everything ages ago. Wish I knew that at the time.
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Dec 2, 2019 01:06
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Ah, the quiet dignity of being shot point-blank.
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Dec 7, 2019 21:02
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Them basket hounds, always scared of strangers. SubponticatePoster posted:I found out last night that Snake Eyes in the Depths is not immune to poison. hosed up my sneak and she aggroed on me so I went back up on the platform to try and get her to reset. Well, she never does but she'll also stand in the muck until she gets poisoned. I let her kill herself for being a pain in the rear end Go figure. Turns out the weapon Sabimaru is just what doesn't poison her.
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Dec 14, 2019 21:46
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(You do still have to deathblow her though, just have to get 1 hit in and then do it). It takes a good long time but it does happen.
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There's more than one way to skin a ghost and drat a friend's soul.
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Dec 21, 2019 21:44
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Time to scale the castle and rescue Kuro, and have our rematch with Genichiro. WOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Dec 28, 2019 21:01
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This part is entirely dialogue and exposition. It's important stuff to know, as it's telling us what we'll be doing for the rest of the game, but I'm still putting part 14 up tomorrow so that you won't have to wait another week for some action.
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Jan 4, 2020 21:04
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And here's part 14 to sate your need for blood. And there's no action quite like poisonous vengeance. More like "O'Rinsed"
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Jan 5, 2020 21:00
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Taking another detour to get some more revenge, this time on a couple of those drat headless now that I have plenty of Divine Confetti, and also to meet a new friend before I go to Senpou Temple next week. (Update was delayed due to Patreon not working for no clear reason yesterday)
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Jan 12, 2020 21:25
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The backstory for this place is rough. Viewer discretion is advised. Don't worry, I kill all of them.
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Jan 18, 2020 21:03
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Just jump at them and kill them in the air, Thorn. They even told you in a hint.
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Jan 25, 2020 21:02
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Ashina Castle is just one of the game's passage-of-time points of no return. He's one of the immortals so he probably just threw it in the water to destroy it.
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Jan 27, 2020 08:57
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Rigged Death Trap posted:However do remember this: the current state of Ashina, whether they are in a civil war as well as a war with the Ministry, is all completely irrelevant to Wolf, which is why we dont see much of it, his loyalty is to his Lord and the iron code, not to his Lord and Country. That's one of the funny things about From's approach to worldbuilding and lore: there's a whole lot of it, and the pieces largely fit together if you pay attention, but it doesn't matter. And that makes learning everything even more fascinating with how well thought out it all is, 'cause you can easily miss it.
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Feb 1, 2020 01:34
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"This is a weird level." - Jacob Next week it gets even weirder.
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Feb 1, 2020 21:00
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Yoshi returns to fulfill the prophecy while I prove I can actually play this game by soundly beating two of its hardest bosses. The guys have no idea what's coming.
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Feb 8, 2020 21:02
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We've done everything we can up to this point, so time to reach the next point-of-no-return and rescale the castle to save Kuro from a new threat. Next week will be the first of the endings!
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Feb 15, 2020 21:01
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The LP is going to be delayed at least a week due to troubles with my audio interface. Its power supply failed last week, and while my dad had a backup interface in the garage, it was pretty rubbish and only barely worked with my system. My two attempts to buy a better replacement have both ended up with their own insurmountable issues for either recording or commentating with the guys over Discord. I'm now resorting to buying a generic power supply and hoping that it works with the old interface, which won't arrive until next week, but if that also doesn't work, I'm going to have to buy an entire new replacement and lose at least another week. Either way, Sekiro is going to have to stall here until everything is sorted.
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Feb 21, 2020 01:28
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Audio interface troubles resolved! Had an impressive gauntlet of nonsense to run for two straight weeks but I've finally got a mixer that doesn't have insurmountable problems this time. Should we be able to record a part or two this week, the LP will resume on Saturday. It's a major one, so I'm sorry to have to keep putting it off. In the meantime, Jacob, his partner CJ, and I streamed some Jackbox the other night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOAPivS1D0M
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Mar 1, 2020 09:56
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The LP returns with the first and darkest of the endings. The game pretty clearly tells me I made the wrong decision.
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Mar 7, 2020 21:02
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The Iron Code is easy to break when you fight with STEEL. Plus: the most bizarre and glorious cutscene in the game.
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Mar 14, 2020 20:02
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We're not done with our hazy memory. There's still the question of what happened after Wolf got stabbed through the guts. Hope you enjoyed kicking Dad's rear end last time. Oh, no reason...
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Mar 21, 2020 20:03
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Time to wreak havoc through the place I'vew been hyping up almost the whole LP. It's like a microcosm of Sekiro on the whole: beautiful, treacherous, and monsterous.
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Mar 28, 2020 20:08
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azren posted:So is there a Japanese version of Tai Chi? Because as far as I know, it's explicitly a Chinese art, but the Okami style definitely looks like it's got at least some Tai Chi in it. I was told it's actually Noh dance
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Mar 29, 2020 17:58
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Smile for the camerAGH MY GOD OKAY WOW
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Apr 4, 2020 20:02
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Dance with me
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Apr 11, 2020 20:01
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One of the hardest bosses, if not just outclassed by the final boss. Looks like good weather for an umbrella.
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Apr 18, 2020 20:01
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Some quick cleanup including the last prayer beads and minibosses before we fight the final boss next time. ...Which might be a few weeks, due to a small cavalcade of things preventing us from being able to record more. Hopefully we'll be back in mid-May.
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Apr 25, 2020 20:01
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:19 |
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Our current status is the LP is on a longer hiatus than I'd hoped. We planned to finish recording the last four parts this week, but not all of us ended up having the time like we thought we would. I'm definitely gonna try to get the guys together and record everything before the start of July, though, so hopefully we won't have to wait before long. I can possibly entice folks (or concern them), as I've already decided to follow-up Sekiro with Bloodborne and then Code Vein.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:37
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