Some of you may recall a thread where I was a tad inflammatory and I do apologize for that; I get in certain moods (especially when my ADHD meds aren't in my system) where I lose my sense of mindfulness and also lose control over my emotions.
Anyways, a couple of weeks ago, I re-downloaded Sekiro and told myself "ok I'll give this game ONE more chance"
I managed to beat the mini-boss I was stuck on.
And eventually got to Lady Butterfly.
Oddly enough, I wasn't discouraged. I died to her like 50-60+ times, but eventually I got to the point where I barely took damage. I found it to be really fun, actually. As of right now all my favorite fights in the game are ones where you're just encouraged to deflect perfectly until their posture is ruined and you can deal the deathblow.
And then it was mostly smooth sailing from there. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I beat Genichiro, I beat the Guardian Ape, and
I even beat the Headless Ape with its stupid Lover Companion on my first try!!
I'm mostly shocked, because I generally don't like hard games. But with Sekiro? Well, though there is some jank in the design, and I kind of hate how it basically requires a walkthrough/online help (unless you want it to take forever, and with me it already has lol. I'm 45 hours in and I definitely have a bit to go). I think it's just a fucking brilliant game in general.
The further I go, the more awed I am. I love the NPC's, I love the design of every location, I love how every location looks, exploring is SO rewarding, and I never get tired of using the hookshot. And it just feels like there's so much effort put into it that I just have to see it through eventually.
Maybe there'll be situations later in the game that'll cause me to think it's insurmountable, but as of right now, I've realized that there's no boss that's impossible; if anything, it's just learning the timing.
Even though I've gotten this far, I can't say I've "gotten good" at all, because that requires:
1. Remembering to not spam any button because that'll screw you over
2. Remembering to be aggressive, but not too aggressive.
And that's really hard, depending on the mood I'm in!
I'm currently stuck on Owl, but I've went from "wtf I can't get one fucking hit in" with my first few deaths, to almost killing him. I'm sure I'll get him eventually.
It's just that the game really does require a LOT of energy. At least for me. I think I've only been able to do this because, tbh, the past few weeks have been the least productive weeks for me in recent memory lol. Not to say that to beat this game you have to be an unproductive person, but for someone like me who isn't used to playing hard games, and is prone to being emotional and super anxious, something like this can really drain your energy.
That said, even if I never beat this game (which I don't think will be the case, because, again, I know that it all comes down to getting timing and movesets down, even if that'll take me 100+ tries), and even though I do think it'd be more enjoyable if I could kinda grind my way through tbh, I still think it's an absolutely brilliant game, and I want to say that it's one of my favorite games of all time at this point. Absolutely everything (except the camera and the stealth mechanic) was crafted with so much care, it's almost unbelievable. And even though there's usually only one way to beat something, there's
MANY ways to make fights a little easier, such as using the Deathblow that possesses an enemy and can distract the boss/mini-boss for a little bit.
It's just so fucking weird and cool. I still have absolutely no idea how to use the Umbrella correctly, but it looks fucking amazing and I love seeing it spin. Some of the animation work in this game is truly incredible. And shit like the Monkey boss fight was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes, if I feel like taking a break from a boss or mini-boss, I'll just boot up the game and re-explore some areas.
I can gush about the game all day long honestly. Even though it's flawed and even though I wish I was better at it.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but at 45 hours in: I'm enamored with this fucking game.
