Board 8 > Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Playthrough Topic *SPOILERS*

(+) Yeah! (+)

It is possible to backstab the random ninja before you fight Vilehand.
also I want to warn you that there now is another miniboss around here that can be missed (if you progress the story too far). He's waiting at the end of the path with all the monkeys.
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Yeah, I saw where the ninja came from, so Im gonna try that. Im not winning if I have to fight both of them at once. Ill also keep an eye out for that mini boss!

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Killed Vilehand. Took out the ninja via stealth, and fought Vilehand like the other long shadow dudes.

I can basically repel up to the top, where I fought Genichiro, and I assume theres a main boss there. Where is this mini boss Im missing?

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Oh nevermind, I think I found him. Another Lone shadow, this time the Spear-Bearer. Was searching for the great serpent shrine idol, and found him

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Took him down, after using a stealth kill for one of his health bars.

Did some more exploring, found an underwater headless because of course there is. Got terror murdered. Will come back to him later likely. Went to the top of the castle, and theres Kuro. And Owl, who of course is alive. He asks me to obey the code and forsake Kuro. Ahhhh this would be that major choice I assume. He seems evil/just wants the dragon blood, so were going to break the iron code and stay loyal!

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You can puppet the other guy during the Vilehand fight and make it a joke

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Aecioo posted...

You can puppet the other guy during the Vilehand fight and make it a joke

That wouldve been amusing.

Owl kicked my ass the first couple times, until I learned his patterns. I got hit by that anti healing grenade more times than Im proud of too. His posture is strong, didnt feel like I was going to deflect enough to bring it up, so I ended up with vitality kills.

Took until try #5, but I got him. Definitely a fun fight, similarish to Genichiro (and in the same place), so that was cool.

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Umm it still has the option of the stone, and wont let me do anything with it. I have the stone. Thoughts?

edit: never mind, had to travel and come back. Dialogue progressing

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It took me a lot more tries than 5 myself.
Owl just sets off my intimidation factor and I kept my distance far more than I should have.
Good job
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Went back to the wedding chamber thing and got lifted by a rope man to fountainhead palace. Well that was super cool.

You know whats not cool? The corrupted monk. 3 health bars, and hard as hell. I can almost consistently get to the third phase, but get wrecked every time. On try #8 or so right now.

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There is a trick to the 2nd phase (with several degrees of useful results), but I assume you want to figure her out yourself first.
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Got her!! Probably took me almost as many tries, if not moreso, than Genichiro. For the second phase, I ended up finding the higher branch that they couldnt reach me on, and she spawned back quickly. That was after running around aimlessly and getting murdered a few times though.

But good lord that third phase. That crazy fast long range sweep, the quick triple twirl in the air, not to mention that fucking centipede puking everywhere to cause terror. And she hits HARD too. Finally killed her, and I really hope thats it for her and I never have to fight her again.

I explore fountainhead a little bit, killing what look like mist nobles. And these very fast warriors. Oh, and I went in the deep water, heard a thunderclap, and got absolutely blasted with lightning. Did it intentionally the second time so I could figure out where its coming from, and saw the dude waaaaay up high. Well, will deal with him later. Got to the next idol, and stopped for now.

That boss likely gave me some of the quickest deaths in memory in this game. Didnt help that I was getting frustrated and couldnt get her thrust tells. Think I may have mikiri countered like, 3 of them in total.

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You were super close to finding the trick on that second phase for Corrupted Monk! From that higher branch, you can see through her illusion and get an instant deathblow from jumping down on her. Funny enough, the first Corrupted Monk was a complete wall for me so by the time I got to Fountainhead, her movements were burned into my brain enough that she went down much more easily.

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Uhhh make sure you don't defeat the next main boss until you progress Emma and Kuro's dialogue, this is the time to do their sidequest.

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Hooooly hell the enfeeblement status is awful. Died a few times to that while wandering around killing nobles and warriors.

I get to the next idol, go exploring some more and WHAT IN THE HELL ANOTHER BULL?! This thing kills me twice, then I figure out to basically stay glued to its ass, get hits in when I can, and dont force anything. Down it goes.

I progress upwards, and wander around, killing lightning dogs/cats, and some other warriors. I make it to the next idol, and find the dude shooting lightning at me from across the map. Suuuuper easy boss fight, I just get in his face and hammer him to death.

I take a spin around the water in that area, get a few of the treasure carps, the huge one makes an appearance again (it destroyed a bridge earlier), and the old woman tells me to get into the palace by way of underwater tunnel. And of COURSE theres another headless. Oh man, and a shichimen warrior too!

Gonna call it for now lol. Progress Emma and Kuros dialogue by warping back and just talking to them both?

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Yup. Pay attention to what they say, and remember you can eavesdrop on Kuro from behind one of the walls when he's standing in the incense room which he should be doing now

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For the second phase, I ended up finding the higher branch that they couldnt reach me on, and she spawned back quickly.

Thats what I always did
Never got the right timing for the deathblow, but I dont mind since that makes the fight less cheap.
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Just had to figure out which way to run as she disappeared. And also not get slashed as I was doing that.

Will play some more tonight hopefully!

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Check that, tomorrow. Life got busy recently.

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Tomorrow for certain. Im participating in Extra Life, so everything else in life gets to chill while my friends and I play games (while chatting on discord)

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Ugh these stupid underwater Headless. I'm trying to kill one, but his buddy keeps shooting me with terror shit as well!

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mccheyne posted...

Ugh these stupid underwater Headless. I'm trying to kill one, but his buddy keeps shooting me with terror shit as well!

They're the worst things in the game!

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They definitely are. I still have to kill like, 5 of them now. Plus a Shishiman warrior from a while back. Will save that for later.

Got past the giant Carp in the cave. He ended up hitting me once, almost one shotting me, but got past and got the idol. Going back to Kuro to see what dialogue I can hear. Kuro gave me another sticky rice ball, and tells me that the Interior Ministry's army is stirring, and that Lord Isshin visits him. Interesting.

Ended up eavesdropping on them. One said "we're almost there" and then "do what must be done." Huh, odd.

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Generally I just swim circles around the damn underwater headless and confetti up my blade before diving in.
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Think I've only ever killed one Headless and never bothered with a single other. I don't believe there's any real gain in disposing of them.

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Emma moved up the stairs, so I talked to her. Apparently they talked of Kuro getting killed by the mortal blade after all is said and done, and I have to do it. But it let me choose whether or not to find another way ("Kuro cannot be allowed to die.") I picked that one, hopefully it was correct!

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Kept talking, she ended up moving to the grave, and then the temple. She said ".....oh you're here, Wolf" when I talked to her there, which was a bit suspicious. Tried to eavesdrop on her and the sculptor, and lo and behold, either Kuro or Wolf has to die for this thing to work it seems. And it seems like that's likely Wolf. She then gave me a bell that fell off Owl's body, to offer to Buddha for a different memory. Is this a "do now" thing, or "do later"?

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I think you can at least visit the memory now.
CassandraCain posted...

Think I've only ever killed one Headless and never bothered with a single other. I don't believe there's any real gain in disposing of them.

Those charms are pretty good tho
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So I did the rest of Fountainhead, got to the top and prayed. And uhhhh now I'm fighting tree people who are vomiting poison. Okay they're all dead. WHAT THE FUCK GIANT DRAGON?!?

Took a little bit to figure out the fight, you basically have to catch the lightning and hit him with it, while avoiding getting nuked and sliced. Died first time, trying again!

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Btw. That boss is the point of no return.
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Did I miss important stuff?

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Well anyway, the place is on fire and I can't travel anywhere. Plus, a bunch of those red asshole ninjas are around, and they're annoying to fight.

Isshin is dead apparently as well, so that's not good. Kuro escaped, so gotta go find him. But I want to activate all the idols first.

In the midst of my exploring, I find another Ashina Elite with a name. Dude murders me 3 times, before I realize I can de-aggro him, then stealth kill him. Then I throw as many phantom kunai at him as I can, slide step dodge his quick strikes and take him down.

More exploring, going backwards normally, and find another of the drunkards, though this dude is of the "Red Guard." I fight him the same as I have the others (taking out his friends first), and he's not too bad to take out.

Now, I'm trying to get back to the outskirts, and am continually getting lost lol.

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I believe you should still be able to use the memory on the budha afterwards.
Though some areas are now offlimits and some vendors with it, but nothing too important.
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Yeah I'll get on that in a bit. Want to explore first.

So uh, I explored, found some stuff, found an idol amidst a bunch of fire. It transported me to another area with a GIGANTIC FIRE BEAST. Demon of Hatred, goddamn. This looks more like a Dark Souls boss. Got him about 3/4s of the way down his first health bar, but damn that fire barrage is crazy. I tried dodging more than trying to deflect.

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That reminds me
how many prosthetic upgrades do you have?
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htaeD posted...

That reminds me
how many prosthetic upgrades do you have?

They're kinda spread out, but I think Ashina Cross is the only one left in one of the trees.

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No I mean the tools like firecrackers etc
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Uhh good question. I think most of them, though not the lapis lazuli ones. I'll look later.

Interacted with the Buddha, and went back to Hirata, but holy fuck is it so much harder. The first ninja boss was super annoying with the dogs, and he killed me a few times. I then realized as long as I attacked him as he was about to use the whistle, then no dogs show up. Then down he went.

Oh look, Juzou the Drunkard is somehow alive again. Thankfully he's still not hard, though I have to get his ninja buddy out of the way. I run my way through the estate, get to the idol, and there's Owl standing in the giant area where Lady Butterfly was. Holy fuck he's way harder. He's fairly unpredictable with his attacks, including some firecrackers, and seems beefy as hell. Got him down to 1/3 of his first health bar before dying.

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Yeah dogwhistler is a big dick. I do find it funny how you've now killed the same ninja twice in separate timelines.
Juzo too.
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Owl of the Past is my favorite boss I think

You may have missed a couple small things but getting the bell was all that really mattered. I will tell you now though, there is one boss you will be missing out on in this playthrough, bc you can only fight him if you choose to follow Owl in the "important decision" which ends the game early. Consider doing that in NG+ before putting the game down, it's worth it.

htaeD posted...

Those charms are pretty good tho

Can't deny that, I just personally have a deep-seated aversion to using consumables in video games, even if they're infinite...

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Up for later today!

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So I go back to the Owl (father) fight. Takes me two attempts, but Im able to take out his first health bar. So he decides to summon A LITERAL FUCKING GLOWY OWL to help him. Little shit flies everywhere, obstructing my view at times, and then human owl disappears, uses the owl to fly around, and comes out of it to try and murder me.

All that is annoying, but then he decides to light the fucker on fire, and send him at me. Im able to jump it, and 9/10 times he does his perilous thrust after, so I can mikiri it. One time, I literally hit him as he hit me, I saw the second deathblow circle, but his hit killed me. I resurrected, and he ended up killing me. I raged pretty hard. Next try, after exhausting all 9 healing gourds, all 3 pellets, and ready to use a divine grass, I put him down.

Good lord what a stressful and dramatic fight. In that second phase, when he threw the two shurikens then jumped in the air to slam his sword down, normally I dodge it, and get in a strike or two. Problem is, those were normally the times he picked to disappear into the bird, so I was forced to run the fuck away.

Ill do a main boss ranking when the game is done, but that one is definitely up there. Never really felt safe in that fight!

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So close to the end!

My favorite topic on b8. Thanks for making me replay this

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Forgot to mention it took about 7 tries I believe.
Aecioo posted...

So close to the end!

My favorite topic on b8. Thanks for making me replay this

Thank you for that!! Sorry about the slow updates recently, real life has gotten more busy, Ive been playing some Final Fantasy 14 too, and havent played this as much as I meant to! Its definitely super fun, and I figure Im fairly close to the end of this! Demon of Hatred fight seems like a sideshow, so I think hes optional? Either way, gonna try and progress some tomorrow and see what else there is.

I will say that Owl fight is easily top 3 at least so far, and is definitely better than the earlier Owl fight. Also, glad to hear youre replaying this! I likely will come back to this one day, after beating it, one of my favourite combat systems for sure

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Completely optional, also (imo) the toughest boss fight in the game.

Fun Demon of Hatred lore you might not have gotten if you haven't been paying attention - it's actually The Sculptor, he's turned into an oni. They actually hint all game, even from your first interaction with him, that he's dealing with something wrathful within himself. You can get other lore from some sake gifts with people but another fun bit is he would have turned a long time ago but he thinks Isshin cutting off his arm stopped him from being able to carry out his bloodlust.

Think I got that right, it's been a minute since I've dove into the lore.

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CassandraCain posted...

You may have missed a couple small things but getting the bell was all that really mattered. I will tell you now though, there is one boss you will be missing out on in this playthrough, bc you can only fight him if you choose to follow Owl in the "important decision" which ends the game early. Consider doing that in NG+ before putting the game down, it's worth it.

oh and yeah next time you play you should just do this. It basically just ends the game once you follow Owl, but you get a really great boss fight. Kind of made me upset while replaying this that there isn't a way to save right before and do both but oh well

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For the PS4 You can always just use a USB stick or cloudsave to force an earlier save back into it
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Didnt do a whole lot tonight, just a bit of exploring. Went back to Ashina Castle, ended up finding an idol in the outskirts (the one partially blocked off by wooden things). Unsure where to go though, as both of my forays take me to the idol that teleports me to the demon of hatred.

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How many gourd seeds and prayer beads you have now?
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9 gourd seeds. Prayer beads uhhhh Ill look when I turn the game on again. Im pretty sure I have 8 or 9 necklaces, but I dont know for sure

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