I'm glad you had fun OP and found a way to enjoy the game.
All of these changes obviously make the game much, much easier and, honestly, it's super fun! I'm not going to say that I had an equal experience to all of the people who got through the game as it was intended, but the difficulty didn't entirely rob me of what the Sekiro experience has to offer. It's significantly easier, but you still need to engage with the systems and strategies of the game. There are times when you still need to parry, you obviously will still need to lightening dodge and dodge in general. You're not invincible and, while I only died a handful of times, you can still definitely die.
That said I don't entirely agree with the point that you made in the bolded part. Watching your video I just don't think thats true, you were able to ignore major mechanics like the Mikiri Counter and you never had to try and reflect the lightning back either. It also looked like you never really had to learn how to parry properly (which I think you admitted as well). I'm in no way trying to be a gatekeeper I just don't like the idea of an easy mode mod making it so you can ignore major game mechanics and I feel that takes away from the intended design of the combat so you still get a lesser experience overall (even if its something you still enjoyed). I think there would be ways to make the game easier without making it so you can just ignore major mechanics. Not saying thats your fault or that you had that option and again I'm glad this worked for you and you had a lot of fun with the game after trying this mod, thats great.
To further expand on the point I'm attempting to make here in regards to difficulty, I'm reminded of one of my favorite action RPGs Kingdom Hearts 2. KH2 has difficulty modes including a fairly challenging mode called Critical. If you played KH2 on Easy, normal, or Proud you can certainly have fun with the game but a lot of people come away with an opinion of that you can just 'button mash' to win and/or that they didn't like the combat. Yet those who played Critical generally come away with a completely different feeling because Critical is designed much in the way Sekiro and other FS games are designed in that the game is difficult and you have to learn how to use the mechanics of the game properly in order to succeed. Critical in KH2 makes it so you have to learn how to use guard, use magic and other abilities properly and if you don't you will die, a lot. Once you learn how to play the game properly though it really becomes a much more enjoyable experience and the combat shines and it honestly plays like a completely different game.
I just think theres something to be said about the idea of Difficulty in games like these, in the case of KH2 the lower difficulty modes let you ignore the games mechanics and because of that people actually come away with a negative impression of the game. Now granted Sekiro is a much more challenging game then KH2's critical mode is (for the most part anyway) but I do think that designing a games difficulty isn't just about making a game easier to make it so everyone can play it, I mean you can certainly do that but you have a situation like KH2 which when you remove the need to learn the games mechanics the combat itself can't shine and I have to wonder if Sekiro had difficulty modes if the same thing might have happened.
Overall I think the whole issue is a lot more complicated then I think people give it credit for. Just my perspective on the whole thing, glad you enjoyed Sekiro OP!
