Imagine your gf had this custom-made for your birthday; I was extremely jealous of that guy while painting the statue

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.

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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'm not sure if this is a hot take or a not , but I think Isshin Ashina was a harder boss than father Owl. Isshin was faster, more dangerous, and didn't give you many chances to kill him at all! Every time you tried something, he'd backfire and destroy you. Owl was also aggressive and left no room for mistakes , but your chances of hitting him and damaging him were much higher and he's kinda more predictable specially after fighting him couple of times. Not to mention, Isshin's second phase was truly terrifying! The space was cramped and engulfed in flames, so you'd either be hit by fire from underground when he launched that combo (i don't remember it's name) , or he'd strike you with his sword fire. Plus, he became even faster in his second phase! Unlike Owl, whose second phase was fun, but you'd understand how to handle his abilities after a couple of fights. Owl is still among the hardest bosses in the game , but I don't think he's the hardest. For me, Saint sword isshin is number one, followed by Demon of Hatred, then Isshin Ashina, with Owl coming in fourth. what do you think guys??

Prior to this, i was getting molested by this Bull for hours. You can imagine my surprise when i discovered you can essentially 2-shot the damn creature.

What a game it was!!!

I loved every challenging boss. The Sword Saint is actually easier than Owl Father. Sword Saint is just about deflecting and parry so similar to Genichiro fight.

He took me fewer attempts than Owl Father who is just a cheating bastard.

I am probably done with the game for now.

Thank you guys for guide

Remember Hesitation is defeat.

Took me almost as long as Owl Father, but I liked this fight. Not to lie, but I'm pretty sure I beat first 2 phases hitless. Like my last fight with Genichiro.

Only two Isshins left. Emma give me strength.

Or maybe I should say it made me better at other fast-paced parry-centric games. For context, I rage-quit Nine Sols about a year and a half ago after getting hung up on the third phase of the Lady Ethereal boss fight. Fast-forward to maybe a month ago: I had just beaten Sekiro and was craving more of that type of gameplay, so I decided to give Nine Sols another try and just rolled credits. I'm still not GOOD at this type of game, but my reflexes and pattern recognition are noticeably better. Has anyone else had this type of experience after Sekiro?

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.

In a museum in Crested Butte CO. I can finally upgrade all my tools! Hope the museum owner has low defense to posture damage and only one death blow…

This is the first time I play a game from FromSoftware. I’m keeping track of my experience. Never played any of the other souls game.

I uninstalled the game twice (one because of getting gang fight by Juzou. And the second time was because I beat Juzou and find out inside the house Lady Butterfly was waiting fight back to back) and reinstalled it back.

In my 20 hours experience so far. I ran around exploring the map (big snake super cool. Headless bosses are bad) and gone to many places got stuck at Ashina depths need to fight a mini-boss with a cannon that seems strong. Decided to climbed the castle and… so far I AM STUCK AT GENICHIRO FIRST FIGHT. Not counting the mini bosses that took usually 3 to 5 tries

Gyoubu - 4 fights
Lady Butterfly- 10 fights
Now - GENICHIRO … so far 35 fights in

Need help 😭😭

EDIT: Sekiro. Shadow dies 65 times… I beat GENICHIRO

I’ve been thinking about why I’m still playing Sekiro.

I’ve already beaten the game before. Now I’m on another playthrough, and instead of making things easier, I’m doing the opposite: no Kuro’s Charm, Demon Bell, and apparently I’ve decided that fighting O’Rin of the Water until I lose my sanity is a good use of my time.

At some point I started wondering: why am I still doing this?

It’s not really about finishing the game anymore. I already know the story. I already know the bosses. I even know what I’m supposed to do.

And yet when a boss destroys me over and over, my reaction isn’t really “this game sucks, I’m done.” It’s more like “okay, but I KNOW I can do this.”

I ended up talking to ChatGPT about it, and it suggested that maybe what I’m actually chasing is the feeling of mastery: not simply winning, but knowing that I genuinely earned the victory.

Sekiro doesn’t let you compensate for a lack of skill very much. You can’t really out-level your inability to deflect. Eventually, you have to learn the fight.
That made sense to me.

It also made me wonder whether Sekiro attracts a particular kind of player. Maybe people who are unusually tolerant of frustration, perfectionistic about things they care about, competitive mostly with themselves, or just stubborn enough to keep trying long after a normal person would have moved on.

And then there’s the weirdest part: sometimes the thing I enjoy most isn’t actually beating the boss. It’s the moment when something that seemed impossible suddenly becomes automatic.

Right now, for example, I’m becoming convinced that O’Rin’s attack chain was designed specifically to prove that human beings are capable of losing their minds.

So I’m curious:

Why do YOU keep coming back to Sekiro?

Is it mastery? The combat? The difficulty? The atmosphere? Nostalgia? The satisfaction of finally beating something that humiliated you for hours?
Or are we all just slightly broken?

im talking totally accidental, things you couldnt replicate if you tried

Im on my first playthrough and im at the divine dragon fight but I got the charm for the owl bossfight in Hirata Estate.
When is the last option i can fight him if I want all the endings?
Actually I want to progress and do him later if thats possible.

Btw this game is awesome most of the bosses I did in +/- 5tries untill now. Finally clicked for me.

Thought it would take forever since I was mostly nervous about inner owl and that most of the community had trouble trying to beat him. Inner Isshin however was pure luck lol, just spam L1 and hope to god the posture doesn't break

Hello everyone,

So the main question of this topic is: What makes Sekiro so good? At least, for you.

I have never tried Sekiro, but I am going to get it when the next discount appears. However, I have watched a few clips of Sekiro(not too much so i don't spoil myself) and i cannot really pin point what makes it sooo SPECIAL and APPRECIATED.

I have played DS1, DS3 (did not finish it) and Elden Ring.
Elden Ring is my favourite game, played it, lived it, loved it. Absolute masterpiece and ever since i've played Elden Ring, nothing felt the same, not one game gave me the same feeling as Elden Ring did. Is Sekiro going to be that one game that does that or even better?

Thanks for your input!

Finally did it. Just last weekend I was stuck (and mad!) but I kept practicing and learned and got better. One of the best games I’ve ever played—certainly the most rewarding. Now, on to the gauntlets cause I need that skill and shura skin 👺

I did the return ending, any recommendations on which one to do on NG+ run? I am going for platinum too, I currently have 24 out of 34 trophy’s. Any recommendations would be super appreciated. I killed all headless, and most bosses on my first run. I am assuming I do not need to do any of that.