I'm finally playing Sekiro and... FROM SOFTWARE games are just... they make me so insanely happy. I don't know how to describe it, because it's a combination of different feelings...

On one level, it's sort of the same feeling I get when I got to an incredible restaurant. It's this sensation of "you're in amazing hands" and every bit of the experience has had thought and catering going into it. It all feels so supremely crafted to the millimeter.

It's like a lot of high-end japanese restaurants, there's no ostentatiousness, no lavish decor, there's this spartan quality and yet utter focus on the beauty of the things that really matter.

And at the same time, it's diving into an immense challenge that require such zen and focus and clarity of goal. But even when the game seems most cruel, it's always FAIR. Whenever I die I know exactly what I did wrong.

And along the way, there are no games better at TEACHING you how to play them through the organic nature of what they demand from you. You don't pass sections til you have them down, once you have them down, you're really are accomplished.

I love these games so fucking much.

I just literally screamed at a moment in a cutscene early on...

So this chained ogre is the first pretty decent test huh... (by the opening standards)

I'm dying A LOT and do I have to we worried about this dragonrot stuff, it seems pretty fucked up and I really didn't like the humanity system in DS1

Okay, I was WAY too worried about the posture meter over his health. Now being more patient. Still getting caught on bad moments. One more go and if not, I'll take a break.

Needless to say I'm still trying to beat him. The fire resource is so small I'm waiting til I get a good run at the start. I'll have a really great rhythm going but there's always one errant spacing I misjudge and it's fucking game over.

Day 2, with a clear head I'm instantly getting really close, but doing that thing where I get too tense or greedy when I'm really close to finishing him. Classic FromSoft error! Gotta get to that zen place where I don't even care when I'm close to winning.

GOD these fights are so thrilling. I had a bad break early, then had him on the run, literally mopping the floor with him, then got too greedy when he reeling, too one extra blade swipe too many. And that was that.

I HAD ONE HIT LEFT AND I GOT GREEDY WITH HIM GOING FOR AN ELBOW IM SO SO SO SOS SO SO STUPID DAMMIT FUCK, FUCK ME

I

just

beat

his

ass

handily

That was just set-up for another boss!?!?!? OH YOU CHEEKY BASTARDS.

Okay, BACK. Facing General Tenzen Yamauchi - So I got my stealth strat that gets me to take out all the guys / get a sneak hit off him. The problem is gotta learn how to play this fucker! And doing the sneak clear out every time is labor intensive! How do I come at this / him?

Okay, he wiped the floor with me on that attempt. I keep using the mikiri counter on the sweep and vice versa.

Also it's sucking up WAY too much time to do all these stealth kills. I can't get into a rhythm to learn!

Okay any attempt to just go in there and learn doesn't work. Not enough time spent fighting. Between the other dudes and the guns blaring I last two seconds. Blurgh.

GOT HIM IN SEVEN ATTEMPTS TOTAL!!!!

Holy crap, once I took the "you lead the dance" mindset it completely clicked. I stayed on him, led the pressure - filled up his posture meter and then got my last stab. Hell yah.

The only thing that even comes close to the feeling of killing a hard boss is OPENING UP A SHORTCUT hell yes.

Okay, going back to the estates to get the fourth prayer bead I didn't, taking on Shinobi Hunter of Enshin of Misen. Feels like I got this, only got got because I'm trying to sneak in four hits instead of three.

Beat him like a rented mule! And oh god I'm just realizing that expression is uniquely horrible! It's funny how going backwards in difficulty can make "hard" people seem like a piece of cake now.

I TALKED TO DADDY

Okay just did some good grinding, picking up some helpful abilities. What I love about this game is the grind feels so much easier? I never thought I'd want a skills tree in a FROMSOFT game, but they really do it quite elegantly.

SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE BIG SNEK NO

NOPE NO NOT OK

I THOUGHT QUAKIES WERE A FEINT

NO THANKU

he got angry

somehow i alive

that was not ok

Okay, Gyoubu Oniwa time... I'm feeling... okay so far? But i'm sort of plateauing. I got good parry timing on his first swipe, I have the grapple attack, but I'm having trouble with "how many hits I can get in" before he swipes again. Also trying not use up all my firecrackers?

I beat him in like... 9 chances????? ... granted I got told the firecracker thing, but holy heck. Something about this one just totally clicked once I got the balance about when to parry and when not. Didn't even die on that one!

I JUST SCREAMED AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS THE LOUDEST SINCE THE DOGS IN RESIDENT EVIL

FUCKING BULL

I can't make heads or tails of this one. It seems like I want to stay behind him, use crackers, but it's just so easy to get side swiped when I'm playing the corners????

I also am having a fuck of a time trying to find time to heal.

Took the "always run" advice and game changer! Beat him in one!

Here lies General Keranosuke Matsumoto

He wasn't no shit.

I do not like Nightjars

AH MONKEYS WHAT THE HELL

I've been getting really confident and sailing along, but I just met Jinsuke Saze and he beat me so badly and so efficiently it would be like if real-life me tried to fight a samurai.

OK, I can see the way through, it's that damn parry timing cause you posture damage in return, BUT HOLY HELL IS THAT LIGHTNING QUICK, MY WORD.

Also this is the first enemy that immediately pounds when you resurrect and that's both fucked and something I was totally waiting for.

This fight is, like, genuinely fucking with my head. ALL my instincts feel wrong. Usually I'm parrying/strafing around. Every time I do, he just fucks me up even if I swear to fucking god my timing is right. Am I supposed to just stay in front on him? Then I cant see the flash!

Okay I'm at a genuine crossroads here. I can keep trying to force my way to get 4 of these insane double parries.

OR it turns out dodging left and moving and chipping away, esp w/ poison, works wonders. I'm getting much closer with that, but I feel shitty I didn't master 1st way

I beat him that 2nd way. And here's the thing... I feel like I'm already really fucking good at the dodge and swipe. Always have been and it's natural to me, especially after bloodbourne. But this fight was trying to TEACH me something else, and I fucking avoided it.

I hate that

I'm letting the game get in my head, so I took a break and cracked open a Hazy IPA to play CIV 5 for awhile and I feel much better about what happened. I actually got pretty okay at the double parry, I just couldn't string it together the whole fight. It's okay!

This is just a random point in the given thread where I feel incredibly thankful that I can communicate with so many kind/thoughtful people as I go through an experience. I reminds me of Twitter before the horror / g-m-rgates, where it felt like a genuine space of commiseration.

Wow, bringing in Nogami Gensai really makes The Drunkard fight a cakewalk huh? Got him in two.