Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Tabris said:This is exactly what I did hah! Though it's pretty easy to quickly slaughter all the guys at once avoiding drunken fuckface. With a good deathblow and the dude to tank, he was a cakewalk.
He's a pure nuisance otherwise.
Yeah, a lot of the bosses seem very cheese-able at first, like when he takes a drink, or when others pretty predictably attack and can be dodged for a quick punish, but knowing that and actually blocking, waiting and reacting correctly every time is another matter. It's the old Souls question of can you survive long enough to effectively play so defensively, or are you just losing more slowly?
Currently I'm testing that very question with two new bosses, but I've only made a couple attempts on each so plenty more to learn. You're right about the mobs though, once you get your timing down to a parry/attack or two and a deathblow you can cut through them like butter. The AI is more hesitant sometimes too, more like people might be as opposed to the undead or monstrous beasts. Sometimes though they just don't react, like when you deathblow a guy from behind and his partner leasurely gets up on his feet before actually reacting and attacking. Those guys should fuckin' jump. =)
Bleac said:Eh, it's still limited as far as RPGs go, and I think that is in order to have the player spend as little time as possible in the menus and instead focus on the world, story and the skill based aspects of the elevated combat system.
I would agree with that, and appreciate it too! No time wasted worrying about starting stats that don't really matter in the long run or essentially playing dress up.
Bleac said:This statement causes me great turmoil.![]()

Bleac said:I mean, just because there is a most optimal way to play a game doesn't mean you have to play it that way. The problem with free will in video games in general is pretty much always the same, you're bound by the mechanical constraints of said game.
I'm just saying by the same token it may not be as open as it appears. It's illusory as you put it, speaking of which...
Bleac said:The combat in Souls is fundamentally pretty simple. You have many weapon classes with individual movesets and animations that give you an illusory sense of freedom, but in reality it's all a very grounded system that comes down to 2 pivotal things: spacing and timing. The real freedom in Souls comes from the range of playstyles and builds
In a lot of ways what I think works about the Souls combat is it's essentially dumbfoundly simple, you move around and push R or L buttons to use what's in your left or right hand accordingly, but to the point of being broken in some ways, so there's no truly "optimal way" to play as you put it (there are easier ways of course, but you know what I mean). That's where the freedom to just figure out what works for you comes from, and then they give you a bunch of tools, or toys, to do that with a multitude of combinations under such simple parameters. To me the magic is in how little design there is sometimes: here are the rules, here are the tools, go play. Mario 64 reminds me of that as well, like it was as much a 3D Mario simulator as a game.
Bleac said:seems to have done the opposite. It ditched playstyles and builds to make a better fundamental combat experience. I think it did a pretty damn good job; and don't get me wrong, Souls combat is great, one of the most defining of its genre
For better or worse, Sekiro is much more well designed. It follows the simplification, or focusing, of builds seen with the trick weapons in Bloodborne; from seemingly hundreds of weapons over the Souls series, to a couple dozen in Bloodborne, to literally one sword in Sekiro. It reminds me of Vagabond when a certain crazed swordsman loses an arm, then immediately binds it and muses that it's actually an improvement fighting with only one arm, more purely focused. =)
Of course, if less is more, less design might be more freeing. We'll see!
Bleac said:I just want to make sure you don't mistake its appeal for something else entirely.
Right, I'll continue to watch your back as well to be sure you don't make any such glaring errors.
