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ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Yatsu-no-Kami is a piece of shit.

Closest I got was one combo away from killing it. But I was out of elixers myself and then it did that tail spin while I was cornered. Boo.

I need to focus on killing those smaller snake "arms" between each Dark Realm phase, but I don't know if tonfas reach high enough to reliably hit them. Might need to switch to axe or something else.
 
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Noema

Noema

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,904
Mexico CIty
Yatsu-no-Kami is a piece of shit.

Closest I got was one combo away from killing it. But I was out of elixers myself and then it did that tail spin while I was cornered. Boo.

I need to focus on killing those smaller snake "arms" between each Dark Realm phase, but I don't know if tonfas reach high enough to reliably hit them. Might need to switch to axe or something else.

It's probably the hardest early boss and a roadblock for many people. You can also 'kill' the arms before it enters the Dark Realm so you don't have to deal with them there.

Did you break the statues scattered throughout the level to clear the poison in the boss arena?
 

heathen earth

Member
Mar 21, 2020
2,007
Yatsu-no-Kami is a piece of shit.

Closest I got was one combo away from killing it. But I was out of elixers myself and then it did that tail spin while I was cornered. Boo.

I need to focus on killing those smaller snake "arms" between each Dark Realm phase, but I don't know if tonfas reach high enough to reliably hit them. Might need to switch to axe or something else.
The way I handled snek boi was to bait out the attack when he sends his snake arms under the ground, then rush in and get a few whacks on the arms and head. I did my best to burst counter his charge attack and if that failed to attack his body as he charged across the chamber. He has an enormous pile of HP so this method will take a while, but it is reasonably safe. My most frequent mistake was failing to dodge his grab attack, that one is really hard to recover from. In the end, I think it took me eight tries to get him down. If you're still having trouble, I'd be happy to help this afternoon when I'm playing - just let me know in the thread if you need assistance.
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
You can also 'kill' the arms before it enters the Dark Realm so you don't have to deal with them there.
Hence why I said "I need to focus on killing those smaller snake "arms" between each Dark Realm phase". 😜

Did you break the statues scattered throughout the level to clear the poison in the boss arena?
I did, but I had no idea they influenced the boss arena as well. Glad I decided to explore every nook and cranny before going to the boss.

The way I handled snek boi was to bait out the attack when he sends his snake arms under the ground, then rush in and get a few whacks on the arms and head. I did my best to burst counter his charge attack and if that failed to attack his body as he charged across the chamber. He has an enormous pile of HP so this method will take a while, but it is reasonably safe. My most frequent mistake was failing to dodge his grab attack, that one is really hard to recover from. In the end, I think it took me eight tries to get him down. If you're still having trouble, I'd be happy to help this afternoon when I'm playing - just let me know in the thread if you need assistance.
Already took him down. Appreciate the offer, though!

I ended up using the same tactic as you: Bait out the arms attack and sprint towards him the moment he does it. Sprinting lets me dodge the arms no problem and allows me to get 1 - 2 combos in and, with some luck, break its Ki. The tonfas' Ki Pulse follow-up attack in particular usually did crazy damage against both snakes, making them relatively easy to deal with in Dark Realm phases.

For once I also remembered Yokai Shift exists. At one point I broke its Ki, activated Yokai Shift and went ham in Brute mode, including once grapple.

In the end I had 4 elixers left, whereas in my previous attempts I would have expended them all halfway through the fight. It was definitely one of those "everything goes right" fights.
 

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,941
How much stamina you gain back after a Ki Pulse.

That's what I don't really understand... I'm probably reading this wrong but it seems like I attack, and my ki goes down with a darkened bar. When I stop attacking, it refills back to where it was when I started and I pulse to get it back. Doesn't the amount of ki I get back depend on where my stamina was when I started attacking?

Edit: oh I see it actually shortens the recovery segments as I attack I got it now
 

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,314
I did all the new missions and I'm way too OP, they were all too easy. Dammit, I wasn't even trying too, I just soul-matched/tempered a few pieces of gear while I was making my way through NG+, but not even to absurd extents or anything, didn't grind either... lol, oops.

I spent more time fucking around with photo mode than I did on the missions tbh. I hope the DLC will be challenging or I might need to restart a new character...
 

Maledict

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,084
The same thing that killed my interest in Nioh 1 has done it again here. Coming across two bosses in a small room in a mission near the end of the game really does piss me off / it's just not that fun. I'm sure I can look up how to beat them, but it's really just not fun content and kills my desire to play.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,562
The same thing that killed my interest in Nioh 1 has done it again here. Coming across two bosses in a small room in a mission near the end of the game really does piss me off / it's just not that fun. I'm sure I can look up how to beat them, but it's really just not fun content and kills my desire to play.
Gozuki and Mezuki ? This encounter is optional in this stage.
 

EJS

The Fallen - Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
9,176
So the game isn't open world? As in, there aren't side quests? Reviews suggest it's mission select?
 

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,314
So the game isn't open world? As in, there aren't side quests? Reviews suggest it's mission select?
Yes, no, yes

The structure is a world map, and you select missions as they become available. Each mission is a self-contained level. There are story missions, which are mandatory for progression, and side-missions, which are typically much shorter.

Story missions are typically very large levels, on par with the largest Souls levels (think Anor Londo, Central Yharnam, etc), with multiple shrines ("bonfires"), shortcuts looping back, etc. and a boss at the end.

Side-missions are typically much shorter. There's a variety of types, from simple one-room enemy rushes, to 1v1 duels against another warrior, to missions that are shorter, partial remixes of previous maps (slightly adjusted and partial layout of the story maps, with different enemy/item placement, etc). They are an opportunity to gain more XP and loot, but can be skipped entirely.
 

EJS

The Fallen - Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
9,176
Yes, no, yes

The structure is a world map, and you select missions as they become available. Each mission is a self-contained level. There are story missions, which are mandatory for progression, and side-missions, which are typically much shorter.

Story missions are typically very large levels, on par with the largest Souls levels (think Anor Londo, Central Yharnam, etc), with multiple shrines ("bonfires"), shortcuts looping back, etc. and a boss at the end.

Side-missions are typically much shorter. There's a variety of types, from simple one-room enemy rushes, to 1v1 duels against another warrior, to missions that are shorter, partial remixes of previous maps (slightly adjusted and partial layout of the story maps, with different enemy/item placement, etc). They are an opportunity to gain more XP and loot, but can be skipped entirely.
Hm, ok thanks. So it's not like a traditional open-world game that floods a map with a bunch of '?'s' and whatnot.
 

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,314
Hm, ok thanks. So it's not like a traditional open-world game that floods a map with a bunch of '?'s' and whatnot.
No, not at all. :) It's not even open-world in any real sense, to be honest. It's 100% mission-based.

Here's a quick idea of the mission structure (skip to 1:15:18 if the timestamp embed doesn't work), no spoilers, just a glance the world map:


You hover the cursor around and pick the mission you wanna do, ! ones are just newly unlocked ones, and it shows what type of mission it is (story or side) with the main loot reward, recommended level (which can be largely ignored tbh), etc.
 

Fuhgeddit

#TeamThierry
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,699
The same thing that killed my interest in Nioh 1 has done it again here. Coming across two bosses in a small room in a mission near the end of the game really does piss me off / it's just not that fun. I'm sure I can look up how to beat them, but it's really just not fun content and kills my desire to play.

I have this issue too. I hate the small area bosses
 

EJS

The Fallen - Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
9,176
No, not at all. :) It's not even open-world in any real sense, to be honest. It's 100% mission-based.

Here's a quick idea of the mission structure (skip to 1:15:18 if the timestamp embed doesn't work), no spoilers, just a glance the world map:

You hover the cursor around and pick the mission you wanna do, ! ones are just newly unlocked ones, and it shows what type of mission it is (story or side) with the main loot reward, recommended level (which can be largely ignored tbh), etc.

Sweet. That looks cool. Are missions basically - clear all enemies?
 

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,314
Sweet. That looks cool. Are missions basically - clear all enemies?
Nah. Only the "enemy rush" side missions are like that. Regular story missions are big levels that you explore, grab loot, explore side paths, unlock shortcuts etc. and of course fighting enemies, but there's no strict requirement on killing enemies, there's some you can ignore. You do have to beat the boss though of course.
 

catpurrcat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,789
Coming back to this after a month of not playing by getting sidetracked with final fantasy 7. Was only 30 hours in.

Still feels good! Still my GOTY, combat is satisfying and so is the presentation.

Now to get that muscle memory back...

I see there's been a few updates in patches since then. Any idea what those of covered? I googled it and I'm getting a variety of empty information.
 
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Noema

Noema

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,904
Mexico CIty
Coming back to this after a month of not playing by getting sidetracked with final fantasy 7. Was only 30 hours in.

Still feels good! Still my GOTY, combat is satisfying and so is the presentation.

Now to get that muscle memory back...

I see there's been a few updates in patches since then. Any idea what those of covered? I googled it and I'm getting a variety of empty information.

Mostly some light rebalancing and some bug fixes.

Really the most mayor update so far has been the last one which added 9 new post endgame missions.
 

DPB

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,847
I
Mostly some light rebalancing and some bug fixes.

Really the most mayor update so far has been the last one which added 9 new post endgame missions.

Most of those can actually be done before the end of the game, it's only the ones on the last map that unlock after the final boss.
 

heathen earth

Member
Mar 21, 2020
2,007
I've got a question for the tonfa users in the thread: what do you think of Sarutobi's Gunsticks? I just picked these up last night and I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. My go-to is quick attack combo > devastate > demon dance > pulverize and the explosion on the gunsticks tends to push enemies back and interrupt the flow somewhat. However, I'm thinking I can build around burn accumulation and additional damage to burning enemies and really make those explosions do some work.

Side note: I really wish I could make any spirit animal into a brute burst counter. I do not like the way feral and phantom work. That's probably my single biggest complaint about the game, actually.
 

metaprogram

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,174
Just killed Gyuki solo on my first attempt and took zero damage because I accidentally discovered a ridiculous cheese strat.

You lock onto one of his legs and then get in front of him but rotate around him towards the leg you aren't locked onto. Basically you want his body to between you and the leg. He will try to rotate with you so you can't get behind him, but you are faster than he is. While he is rotating though he won't be attacking. So you get around to his side, take a few swings, then keep rotating. Since his body is between you and the lock target, your swing will hit his body, not his leg. You don't even have to guard because he literally never even makes a single attempt to attack you the entire fight, he just keeps rotating. Even when he transitions to Dark Realm nothing changes. Rinse / repeat / be patient and he dies.

wasnt even trying to cheese him, it just happened and after about 10% of his health bar it kinda hit me
 
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ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
The Catwalking + Sneak Thief Scroll combo is super handy. Had to do a corpse run to the final Hollow Fortress Shrine, where I died to the Dark Realm Enki + Koroka gank duo downstairs. Then I remembered I had these unlocked and I could just run past all the yokai. They last quite long as well. Well worth the few points I put in DEX.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,562
I did that for a while, and put many points in Auto grave recovery, then I remembered Summoner's candle existed and I was freeeeeeee...
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Yoshitatsu is defeated, four tries. Wasn't that bad after I got a feel for their attack patterns. Was able to stagger them almost indefinitely in the first phase in fact. Dark Realm was hard at first, but doable once I learned how to bypass that shitty ranged attack they spam in Phantom form. Still almost got stunlocked to death by Feral form later, but I prevailed in the end.

C-658VsXoAo3ovC.jpg

Even now the story is kind of just 'there'. Like the game doesn't know what it wants to do with it either. Many (important) details are relegated to the character illustrations while the cutscenes mostly consist of NPCs saying a few lines while Hide looks on, ever silent. I'm not opposed to heroic mimes in general, but it feels out of place in this game.

I do enjoy the lighter cutscenes, for example the random scampuss at Nobunaga's place and those Kappa and Mujina riding off on Kamaitachi. I think the story would have been stronger if they had focused on one approach exclusively. Either let the world let the story, with some optional background lore provided through character illustrations. Or go all in on the cutscenes with a protagonist that actually speaks.

I did that for a while, and put many points in Auto grave recovery, then I remembered Summoner's candle existed and I was freeeeeeee...
With how often I die they still feel too awesome to use. But since I have seven of them and you can only hold 10 of them, I may want to use them more often.
 

gdt

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,467
ok wierd

I did a brute burst counter, the big gaki was open and stunned for a grapple, and I briefly turned into a yokai and did a cinematic yokai grapple. My gauge was only like 60%....and I turned right back into a human.

How did I do that?
 

Erigu

Member
Nov 4, 2017
2,933
I did a brute burst counter, the big gaki was open and stunned for a grapple, and I briefly turned into a yokai and did a cinematic yokai grapple. My gauge was only like 60%....and I turned right back into a human.

How did I do that?
You very briefly turn when you use a Burst Counter (regardless of your gauge), so if your enemy is stunned and you're fast enough, you can use that to grapple.
 

heathen earth

Member
Mar 21, 2020
2,007
You very briefly turn when you use a Burst Counter (regardless of your gauge), so if your enemy is stunned and you're fast enough, you can use that to grapple.
I think (not 100% sure) that this happens when your burst counter reduces the enemy's ki to 0. I've only done it a couple times.

Finished Dream of the Samurai yesterday, started NG+ today. I replaced everything I had with green gear already. I'm amazed it was that fast. Got a green pair of Sarutobi's Gunsticks, which is awesome. I had most of the Imakomei set to play off the burn effects, but that's all replaced already. It's exciting being able to pick up so much good gear though. I've got tons of stuff in my storehouse if I decide to play a different build.
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Been farming Koroku all night for his armor set smithing text, but dude refuses to drop it. Fucking hell. He already dropped both his kusarigama skills a couple of times now, but I don't have any use for those.

At least I'm getting progressively better at fighting him.
 
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Noema

Noema

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,904
Mexico CIty
Been farming Koroku all night for his armor set smithing text, but dude refuses to drop it. Fucking hell. He already dropped both his kusarigama skills a couple of times now, but I don't have any use for those.

At least I'm getting progressively better at fighting him.

Man, I farmed him for like 2 hours for those kusarigama skills and they just wouldn't drop.
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Man, I farmed him for like 2 hours for those kusarigama skills and they just wouldn't drop.
Desire sensor at its finest. Especially if you did get both smithing texts.

I think I have been farming him for... 4 hours now? Maybe 5? Got the luck talismans, the hunter blessing, I beat him to death in Yokai Shift whenever possible for the soul core item drop bonus... still no dice.

At least the fight is decently fun, even if Koroku sometimes pulls shit on you that makes you shake your head in disbelief. It's one thing to immediately cancel a Ki break by shifting to the Dark Realm or back. It's another to shrug it off and answer with an instant "get hit you're dead" combo. I wish we were allowed do that when an enemy breaks our Ki.
 

DPB

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,847
Man, I farmed him for like 2 hours for those kusarigama skills and they just wouldn't drop.

The drop rates for skills are absurdly low. I killed Imagawa Yoshimoto almost 50 times before the switchglaive skill dropped (a weapon he doesn't even use), and then the spear guy another 50 times for his two skills. This was with my luck and item drop rate boosted as high as I could, along with the hunter's blessing.

And this was all after a patch that supposedly increased the drop rates, I dread to think how long it would've taken before 1.07. I like the idea of getting skills from bosses, but no one would ever find them on a normal playthrough without extreme amounts of grinding.
 

Fuhgeddit

#TeamThierry
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,699
There's one section in these poisonous caves and I cannot progress. I just keep losing all of my elixirs and now it's just bumming me out
 

heathen earth

Member
Mar 21, 2020
2,007
There's one section in these poisonous caves and I cannot progress. I just keep losing all of my elixirs and now it's just bumming me out
Are you talking about the third main mission? I'd be happy to help if you need it. I have some errands to run this morning, but if you need me this afternoon send a PM and we can get a game set up. It's cool if you'd prefer to do it alone though. I just like helping people in these games.
 

Fuhgeddit

#TeamThierry
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,699
Are you talking about the third main mission? I'd be happy to help if you need it. I have some errands to run this morning, but if you need me this afternoon send a PM and we can get a game set up. It's cool if you'd prefer to do it alone though. I just like helping people in these games.

Yes, the 3rd main mission. I can see if I have some time today and I will let you know. I generally try to like to go at these alone. I just really don't understand where to go. And some parts I am walking and one of them snake ladies jumps on me and wipes most of my health. Hard to see them.
 
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Noema

Noema

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,904
Mexico CIty
Yes, the 3rd main mission. I can see if I have some time today and I will let you know. I generally try to like to go at these alone. I just really don't understand where to go. And some parts I am walking and one of them snake ladies jumps on me and wipes most of my health. Hard to see them.

Some accessories have enemy detection so you can spot them on the mini map. Same with the Divination Talisman.

In general it pays of yo be very methodical. Always check the ceiling for enemies waiting to ambush. Once you spot them, hit them with an arrow or a gunshot and that'll deal a ton of Ki damage.
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Yes, the 3rd main mission. I can see if I have some time today and I will let you know. I generally try to like to go at these alone. I just really don't understand where to go. And some parts I am walking and one of them snake ladies jumps on me and wipes most of my health. Hard to see them.
Do you have the 3rd shrine unlocked already? Or the shortcut(s) back to the 2nd shrine at the start of the caverns section? These are a huge help when tackling this level.

I'm kind of tired from fighting Koroku anyway (still no smithing text...) so I could dive into the level and maybe work on a small "walkthrough". Nothing major, just to show the general path you can take to get through the level and help you unlock the various shortcuts and the 3rd shrine.

Make sure to scout with your bow/gun, and not just in this level. The snake women are a pain in the ass to deal with, but they to make a lot of noise when idle, so you can tell when one is close. In general, whenever you see a body with loot lying around, assume there's either a snake woman or slime hanging from the ceiling looking to ambush you.

I try to dodge/dash against most enemies, but I cannot deal with these snake women without blocking. They're just too fast. So take it slow, keep your guard up at all times and only attack them after you blocked their attacks. This should also give you plenty of time to react their burst or grab attacks.
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Yes, the 3rd main mission. I can see if I have some time today and I will let you know. I generally try to like to go at these alone. I just really don't understand where to go. And some parts I am walking and one of them snake ladies jumps on me and wipes most of my health. Hard to see them.
Alright, here we go. Click images for bigger:

ypGuq1t.jpg


9iF2AbQ.jpg


CBtJ7ok.jpg


This is just one example of such an ambush. There are more of them, both in this level and in subsequent missions.

f4iPb47.jpg


Follow the path leads to a large clearing:

0dGQQkS.jpg


Downstairs:

gFQyACD.jpg


There's one Sohaya dude between you and the shortcut to the 2nd shrine

JU9BBAC.jpg


Go back to the entrance to the pit. Take a moment there to scout for enemies and the like.

5uIvbMf.jpg


The view at the 1st snake statue:

2GnPlXm.jpg


Next there's a poison pool with a Nure-Onna in it. You can... ignore it.

afdaSdp.gif


See? She doesn't give two shits about me running past her. This is a super important thing that's true for Dark Souls and also true for Nioh: you can ignore many enemies simply by running past them. As long as you don't come too close, they won't aggro.

Moving on.

fvxgJCN.jpg


Ignore the dark realm for now and fight the Ippon-Datara. Kick down the ladder immediately after. This ladder can be accesses straight from the beginning of the pit (since the Nure-Onna there won't respawn).

Now it's time for the Dark Realm. Noticed the shrine at the entrance of (1) in the image above? Ignore it. Instead...

kPSaHN4.jpg


tpWtIE8.jpg


Now enter the Dark Realm behind it.

kobAZKm.jpg


Stand at the edge of the ledge and look down. Oh boy, sure are a lot of enemies there. Do I really have to fight them all?

Nope:




This is true for the Nure-Onna before the boss room as well. Wait until she has her back turned towards the path and simply run straight past her. Sure the Gaki (and possibly the slime) did aggro, but even then you can outrun most enemies, so I was able to get to the shrine and pray before they became a problem.

With this 3nd shrine unlocked, you can focus on exploring and clearing out all the enemies in the pit if you so please. Do make sure to explore the side caverns in the pit area, since one contains a snake statue that needs to be destroyed.

I hope this helped!

Ue6PQGS.jpg
 

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,276
the Netherlands
Is it normal that the Kodama blessing doesn't show in your status screen? The one with all the bonus effects.

I looted a Kodama Bowl and this should put the blessing at 24% (20% base + (0.20 x 20 =) 4% from the Bowl), but I can't verify it.