I don't even like any other Miyazaki game
I disagree with some of his philosophies
I primarily plays JRPG's
Sekiro is now one of my favorite games of all time
Why? Well, aside from the setting being right up my alley, the gorgeous visuals and amazing level design, the interesting story, the game actually having cutscenes and characters (that I care about, too), it feels incredibly unique, especially gameplay-wise.
Sure, you can boil down the gameplay to blocking/deflecting and attacking. But that would probably be the most disingenuous statement on Earth. Because every little thing matters; how hard you pressed a button, how you timed pressing the deflect button, how much the enemy's posture gauge has risen, what type of enemy it is, what type of counters it may have, etc. etc. etc. I can't really be assed to properly put it into words but even right before I faced the final boss I was still learning and re-learning some of the countless intricacies of the gameplay.
And then the Arts and the Prosthetic Tools add another insane layer of depth (and with the Prosthetic Tools, I also learned VERY late that it functions differently depending on if you just pressed R2 or if you held it). And then there's the items. I feel like a majority of enemies have secrets to uncover and certain tools/items/arts make them a lot easier to manage and maybe all of them haven't been discovered yet (or maybe they have).
And then there's incredible shit like being able to possess enemies.
And then there's the fucking INCREDIBLE animations that I never got tired of seeing.
And then there's the swimming; maybe I don't have too much gaming experience, but I think Sekiro has the most fun underwater gameplay I've ever experienced.
Exploring in general was so damn fun and I never got tired of the grappling hook. It felt like every time I moved the camera I discovered another 2 paths that lead to some NPC or treasure or what have you.
As for the "design philosophies" that I don't agree with: I loved the game DESPITE the difficulty; not because of it. The game felt kind of unfair at the beginning because it threw mini-bosses with numerous enemies (one of which didn't have an idol right next to them), and in usual Miyazaki fashion all mechanics are obscure and in this game in particular some stuff like stealth work in a weird way. It became a lot more manageable as I went on. However, it felt like the further I got, the worse the camera was during mini-bosses/bosses. Like, holy shit.
I will say it was really fun learning some of the attack patterns so I could deflect until deathblowing, but some of the later bosses were UFFFF ridiculous.
The RPG elements in Sekiro still matter, but to actually make a difference you need to grind for, uh, quite a while (which I did). I personally did that for the final few bosses because I just thought they had way too much health especially considering the amount of vitality and posture damage they inflicted. Grinding is not useless at all, even if just for Attack Power (it just takes a while to see actual results).
Secondly, I absolutely love the fact that this game has actual characters and cutscenes but I wouldn't mind.... some more. Lol. Like maybe 20-30 minutes' worth of additional cutscenes. I just really enjoyed the setting, lore, and characters, and wouldn't have minded having more.
Third, while I enjoyed the cutscenes, I think FromSoft has literally only had 1 cutscene director (gives me the same feel as stuff like Lost Kingdoms II in 2003 and Enchanted Arms in 2006) and... I don't think he/she is very good. Just something about the cutscene direction feels off/dated. If they're gonna keep him on I want to see more gorgeous CGI cinematics like the opening interspersed throughout the experience (that was a lie I want more CGI regardless).
It was a 70-hour-long journey. Which, by the way, is the longest save file I've had for a game. I think the 2nd longest file I've had for a game is something like 62 hours. I'm actually sad that there aren't more locations.
I want a sequel so fucking bad.
I disagree with some of his philosophies
I primarily plays JRPG's
Sekiro is now one of my favorite games of all time
Why? Well, aside from the setting being right up my alley, the gorgeous visuals and amazing level design, the interesting story, the game actually having cutscenes and characters (that I care about, too), it feels incredibly unique, especially gameplay-wise.
Sure, you can boil down the gameplay to blocking/deflecting and attacking. But that would probably be the most disingenuous statement on Earth. Because every little thing matters; how hard you pressed a button, how you timed pressing the deflect button, how much the enemy's posture gauge has risen, what type of enemy it is, what type of counters it may have, etc. etc. etc. I can't really be assed to properly put it into words but even right before I faced the final boss I was still learning and re-learning some of the countless intricacies of the gameplay.
And then the Arts and the Prosthetic Tools add another insane layer of depth (and with the Prosthetic Tools, I also learned VERY late that it functions differently depending on if you just pressed R2 or if you held it). And then there's the items. I feel like a majority of enemies have secrets to uncover and certain tools/items/arts make them a lot easier to manage and maybe all of them haven't been discovered yet (or maybe they have).
And then there's incredible shit like being able to possess enemies.
And then there's the fucking INCREDIBLE animations that I never got tired of seeing.
And then there's the swimming; maybe I don't have too much gaming experience, but I think Sekiro has the most fun underwater gameplay I've ever experienced.
Exploring in general was so damn fun and I never got tired of the grappling hook. It felt like every time I moved the camera I discovered another 2 paths that lead to some NPC or treasure or what have you.
As for the "design philosophies" that I don't agree with: I loved the game DESPITE the difficulty; not because of it. The game felt kind of unfair at the beginning because it threw mini-bosses with numerous enemies (one of which didn't have an idol right next to them), and in usual Miyazaki fashion all mechanics are obscure and in this game in particular some stuff like stealth work in a weird way. It became a lot more manageable as I went on. However, it felt like the further I got, the worse the camera was during mini-bosses/bosses. Like, holy shit.
I will say it was really fun learning some of the attack patterns so I could deflect until deathblowing, but some of the later bosses were UFFFF ridiculous.
The RPG elements in Sekiro still matter, but to actually make a difference you need to grind for, uh, quite a while (which I did). I personally did that for the final few bosses because I just thought they had way too much health especially considering the amount of vitality and posture damage they inflicted. Grinding is not useless at all, even if just for Attack Power (it just takes a while to see actual results).
Secondly, I absolutely love the fact that this game has actual characters and cutscenes but I wouldn't mind.... some more. Lol. Like maybe 20-30 minutes' worth of additional cutscenes. I just really enjoyed the setting, lore, and characters, and wouldn't have minded having more.
Third, while I enjoyed the cutscenes, I think FromSoft has literally only had 1 cutscene director (gives me the same feel as stuff like Lost Kingdoms II in 2003 and Enchanted Arms in 2006) and... I don't think he/she is very good. Just something about the cutscene direction feels off/dated. If they're gonna keep him on I want to see more gorgeous CGI cinematics like the opening interspersed throughout the experience (that was a lie I want more CGI regardless).
It was a 70-hour-long journey. Which, by the way, is the longest save file I've had for a game. I think the 2nd longest file I've had for a game is something like 62 hours. I'm actually sad that there aren't more locations.
I want a sequel so fucking bad.
