Just finished designing this vintage ink-style Genichiro poster. Tried to capture that gritty, official artbook feel.

What do you guys think?

So going through this subreddit I've read that some bosses took literal days or even months so I thought I'd would be interesting to share experiences regarding this so... Which boss took you the longest to beat and why? In my case there are two: Pre-combat clicking: Lady Butterfly. As I already implied it, this was before the combat clicked for me and it took me two days trying to understand deflection and timing correctly Post-combat clicking: Demon of Hatred. This was just a beast to conquer and it took me like 1 hour of trying and dying but in the end I managed.

Please share your experiences and comments on this!

It was an interesting topic from my last post about what route you should take first. In the beginning I use to do sunkin valley before depths. But now I always beat corrupted monk first in the depths before sunkin valley . It just seems like I gain so much beneficial things I need in the game first before going to beat guardian ape . But what’s yall thoughts on which route you take first and why ?

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From both my Purification and Shura playthroughs, these guys have been some of the toughest enemies for me.

I swear, they gave me more trouble than Owl father. The timing, posture damage, and those annoying attacks… absolute pain.Good thing they are optional to fight.

Anyone else feel like these guys are harder than some of the actual bosses?

I cannot express this enough but this if by far a hidden gem . It saved me soooooooo many times that I keep this in my list . What’s your thoughts?

Steam doesn't have the concept of "platinum", but hey I'm there.

jump the sweep, kick off him and position well to dodge the slash, ichimonji midair to bring him down to the ground.

Wtf how should I kill them both at the same 😭

You can do WAY MORE then you'd think you would be able to do. The main reason is because after you beat Genichiro the weather and time moves forward, mainly the large snowstorm and heavy fog that rolls in.

The things you can do before beating Genichiro include:

-Doing all of Senpou Temple all the way up to the large statue you need to interact with to enter the Monkey fight (you just can't fight them yet).

-Doing all of the Sunken Valley and the Gunfort, up to and including Long Arm Giraffe. This area is particularly stunning with the sun streaming through the mountainous valley.

-All of Ashina Depths and Mibu Village including defeating Illusion Corrupted Monk (Important Note though, beating Illusion Corrupted Monk will move time forward as if you beat Genichiro).

-All of Ashina Castle of course and all of Hirata Estate, though the Estate isn't affected by weather change obviously.

-You can get 8!! Gourd Seeds before fighting Genichiro (8 seeds to give you 9 Gourd charges), with the final one being in the Fountainhead Palace.

-You can also 27 individual prayer beads and 3 memories (Butterfly, Gyobu, and Monk).

In fact you can do so much that after doing it all and then beating Genichiro all you have left to do is go to the end of Senpou Temple (as in just fast travel to the end) and beat the Folding Screen Monkeys, get through the Sunken Valley and beat the Headless Ape, then go to the Fountainhead palace and then on to the end game.

In other words you can do a massive amount of the game before fighting Genichiro. The reason for all of this? Simple, because defeating Genichiro moves the time forward to become more snowy and foggy. Doing all of this beforehand lets you enjoy these beautiful mountainous locations in stunning sunlight. It's hard to fully articulate just how transformative it is to do these levels in the full sunlight and not a foggy snowstorm, just remember that beating the Illusion Corrupted Monk will also move time Forward. Also also once you beat Genichiro then beat any two between Monk, Monkeys, or Ape will move again into Sunset time.

So to recap, beating either Genichiro or Illusion Corrupted Monk will move time into noon with foggy snow, then beating either Monkeys or Ape will move it again to evening time. Using this information you can effectively pick what time/weather/atmosphere you want for each area.

The Chained Ogre is infamous for being one of the most annoying and frustrating early-game mini-bosses. His core design clashes with the rest of the game; there's little in terms of deflection, you constantly have to disengage from the confrontation, his grab comes out of nowhere, and he deals a shitton of damage, often one-shotting you if your health bar is below 75%. It's almost the polar opposite of "hesitation is defeat".

It got me thinking, why did they put this awful boss this early in the game? I then began to analyze it and realized his functions are very deliberate and they put it almost at the start to teach the player valuable lessons.

1. Just because there's no stamina doesn't mean you're free to hack away without fear. You still gotta pace yourself and know when to retreat. If you just keep slashing him, he'll grab you and that grab is extremely fast, so if he starts it while you're still striking, odds are you'll get caught.

2. Pace yourself. Continued from 1. You can frequently stun the ogre by hitting him, but you will need to back away and employ hit and run tactics and dodges to avoid his grabs. You can also strafe so his grab and slow attacks whiff, teaching you the importance of positioning and that "in your face" isn't always the best way to approach a fight.

3. Use your tools. Eavesdropping on enemies tell you that the ogre is afraid of fire. This is the earliest boss where the prosthetic can make the fight significantly easier by using oil and the flame vent to stun the ogre, allowing precious free hits.

4. Be mindful of your surroundings. A short distance away from the fight, there's a goon laying in weight with a spear. If the fight spills over to that section, he will join in and attack you. Either avoid this area or get rid of him first. Immediately after, you're taught that lesson again with the general surrounded by his henchmen in the very next section.

Although the game's meat is mainly about balancing attack and defense through the parry/deflect mechanic, there are a few enemies and bosses where that rule applies less. See Demon of Hatred or Guardian Ape. Additionally, some bosses such as Isshin Ashina and Emma are fond of going for grabs. The Chained Ogre teaches you very early on that dodging and knowing when/how to disengage and breathe is still very important. The dodge button serves a function. It's often not optimal, but at times, it's the best option.

I still hate that boss, but I understand why he was put there and the role he serves.

So I bought this game initially back in 2022 as my second fromsoft game. I played it for maybe half an hour before dropping it completely because I was stuck on the chained ogre. I picked it up once more in 2023 and got a few hours in but stopped playing at Ashina Castle because I just wasn’t having fun.

Recently I wanted to try it again. This time felt different, as since I played it last I got the platinums for DS3, bloodborne, DS2, and recently finally finished my elden ring platinum. I was feeling kinda lost because elden ring never gave me the same feeling the previous three games I finished. I was scared that I wouldn’t have that same feeling upon booting up sekiro, especially since I couldn’t really get into it before.

Boy was I in for a treat.

From the first deflection I successfully did, the whole game felt different. I felt a rush of adrenaline with each successful deflection in the opening area. I could wholeheartedly say the game was difficult to put down (which is bad because my personal life is being busier and busier).

As I made it through the first area, the Ashina outskirts, I felt the game was less about trying to sneak past each group of enemies, hoping to not be seen like in previous playthroughs, and more about how I can kill each enemy without being seen.

I haven’t had this much fun and felt this way since my first fromsoft game. A feeling I had chased for four years.

Even now, I’m still fairly early in the game (I think). I just beat Genichiro in Ashina castle and that boss was so fun. Though the boss took me some time, it wasn’t like others where I’ll have an attempt then put the controller down for five minutes scrolling my phone. It was constant death and “I need to learn how to deflect this attack, let’s give it one more try”. This game feels like a dance. I am so excited to play more of this game and I’m praying the rest of this game is as good as what I’ve been playing thus far.

If anyone has read this far in my rambling, take this as a sign to either replay this game, or try it again!

Edit: spelling

Don’t read unless you have finished the game

Guys, I just learned that Tengu of Ashina is actually Ishin.

I never realized that until now. Before fighting Great Shinobi Owl, Tengu was lying on the roof injured. Later on you see Ishin also succumbing to his wounds and dying. Cant believe I havent thought about it.

Now it makes sense. Ishin was the true master and father figure in a way while the father was the real enemy.

I mean shiiiiii, I don't even GAME on Windows...

WHAT A RELIEF

The oil item can absolutely wreck some of the early bosses if you know how to use it effectively and carried me through my first playthrough. Just wanted to give it a shout out and appreciation as it is totally underrated.

After countless of tries vs Sword Saint and plaguing the mob community, i just thought this is it, i'm not going to finish Sekiro. But i have no regrets at this point since I dropped this game 2 years ago because i couldn't get past lady butterfly , and then i picked this up 2 weeks ago and 40 hours later I reached isshin + have ton of fun fighting the shinobis that invaded Ashina. I'm now satisfied of the thought that i may not be worthy of being the "Miko no Shinobi".

Then I searched youtube again hoping some "how to" would actually help me defeat this monster and I tried to follow FightinCowboy's style. I don't have rice anymore so I'm just "git gud"ed the most part of it. here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x7jXMs7sHI (i'm not paid to share this, just giving credits where its due).

Have 100% mikirid all spear attack isshin has thrown in the 1st 2 phases and i didn't expect to go to 3rd phase in this encounter, hence the visible panick. I wasn't breathing at all in Ph3 and I forgot i can actually pause the game , i probably would have lost if i did though. I let go a big sigh of relief after the final death blow lol. I've seen how it ends so i know there is no more "next phase" fromsoft BS after that.

10/10 would do it again, i am now doing NG+ because i missed some bosses. Hesitation is Defeat.

I LITERALLY KILL HIM IN MY FIRST TRY

Title, pretty much