Mister Jack Posted April 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) Jesus Christ the skill point requirements are getting ridiculous. I went all the way to New Game++, figuring I would get what I need naturally while playing through it again, and I got maybe two or three points through the whole game. As annoying as it is, grinding really is the best way to get more skill points once you reach a certain threshold. If this wasn't the only trophy I needed for the platinum I would consider not even bothering. Edited April 10, 2019 by Mister Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 10, 2019 Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 Lol See that's why I was hesitant about using save manipulation for the endings. I heard the skill points get super grindy, to the point where I've seen people strongly recommend against using them to upgrade attack power. If I'll have to do at least 3 playthroughs anyway, then I might as well just roll with it and do them clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) I finally got the platinum in NG++. By the time I was at the end of the game I still had to grind for about 4 or 5 hours. Mind you, I was using a more difficult grinding route that isn't as safe as the one everyone recommends on YouTube but it gets you much more xp. Never thought I'd 100% a From game but I enjoyed the hell out of this one, minus the grinding at the very end. I'm making that platinum my profile image as a badge of honor. Of course, this means losing my Nioh platinum image since I had that before I got a new PS4 hard drive and I didn't think to back up my screenshots, but I think getting 100% in this game is more of an accomplishment since I see so many people online talking about how they can't even finish it once. Edited April 10, 2019 by Mister Jack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 10, 2019 Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 30 minutes ago, Mister Jack said: Never thought I'd 100% a From game but I enjoyed the hell out of this one Out of curiosity, what was your problem with the Dark Souls games? The complaints I usually hear are about enemies respawning and shit like that and this is all still in Sekiro. If anything, Sekiro is harder (especially early on) given how much faster it is and your limited options to help with bosses. Maybe you should give Dark Souls another shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) It's been a long time but I remember I didn't like how slow it was, a lot of deaths felt like "gotcha" traps, I absolutely hated how Demon's Souls would cut your health bar when you die, the story was too cryptic for my liking, and too much backtracking to get to the boss that just killed you. Maybe I'll give it another shot, though. I got pretty damn good at Sekiro and if that's the hardest game they've made then maybe I can get through Dark Souls this time. Oh yeah, I loathe invasions. Not only am I not interested in pvp, but the fact it's there means you can't pause the game. In my opinion, no degree of "git gud" will ever excuse the lack of a pause function. Sometimes I have to get up to take care of something, you selfish bastards. Edited April 10, 2019 by Mister Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 10, 2019 Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 For what it's worth, in the first Dark Souls you can essentially opt-out of multiplayer by remaining in hollow form. It won't reduce your health and it'll prevent invasions, but you won't be able to summon help unless you return to human form. As for the lack of pause,, it's a valid concern but in practice it's honestly never really been an issue for me. Due to the way enemies behave, if you're in a safe spot then you can often just leave the game unattended. Worst case scenario, you can also just use the quick menu to instantly quit out to the main menu. When you reload, you'll be exactly where you were and IIRC the game state won't have reset (unless you were in a boss fight or something). Dark Souls II brings back the reduced health bar thing but it's never as egregious as in Demon's. It's not an instant reduction, it's gradual with each death and you still get a ring or something to reduce the effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted April 14, 2019 Report Share Posted April 14, 2019 So I haven't been able to jump back into the game in a while, but that might be for the best because I found a special blend of cheese for a certain fiery boss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 14, 2019 Report Share Posted April 14, 2019 I saw the same exploit used on the horse dude you fight in the same area at the start of the game. It never even occurred to me that it might work on Demon of Hatred as well hahaha. I was gonna ignore him on my NG+ run but now i'm thinking I'll give the exploit a shot just for shits and giggles lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2019 That is cheap as hell but I might go back and do that just because it's hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 16, 2019 Report Share Posted April 16, 2019 Man, after spending such a long time stuck on this motherfucker on my first run it was pretty goddamn cathartic to make him fall to his death hahahaha. I forgot that he dropped two lapis lazuli, so my plan to just ignore him wasn't viable, anyway. Hope they never patch this exploit because fuck this garbage boss lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2019 You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference. Spoiler Mmmmm fresh pasta. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 17, 2019 Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 Some frustration during NG+ made me consider giving up on getting all the achievements but I somehow found my second wind in NG++. I powered from the start of the game all the way to Corrupted Monk in a single session, without dying to a single boss once. Curb-stomping Genichiro like a fucking trash mob in, no joke, less than two minutes has to be the most satisfying moment of my entire time with the game. All that's left is to do Shura ending (which I already did but I poorly planned my save-scumming, so I need to redo it for the beat all bosses achievement -_-) and then grinding for the last 20 skill points. I'm not looking forward to the latter but at this point I kinda feel like I have to... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 This is the best way to grind for skill points. It'll still take hours, but fewer hours than it would take otherwise. Spoiler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 17, 2019 Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 Lol, I was really hoping it wouldn't be a late game area. I've been using Fountainhead as my go-to grinding spot (Flower Viewing Stage idol has 3 enemies right behind it that can get you like 3k exp in like 15secs). This seems a bit better and pretty low risk but it looks like I'll have to backup my save and keep going after doing Shura either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 18, 2019 Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 Finally! It wouldn't have taken so long if I had planned out my save scumming a little better but whatever. It was a great game and I definitely got my money's worth out of it. Your grinding spot saved me some serious time, Jack. I had only skimmed the video so I didn't realize it got you like 20k exp per run. Ended up only having to grind for about an hour or so, which wasn't as bad as I expected. No idea if DLC is in the cards for this one but if so then I'll gladly jump back in for another go once it's out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 (edited) It only took you an hour? Which new game+ were you on? It took me way longer than that. Edited April 18, 2019 by Mister Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 18, 2019 Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 NG++, and roughly an hour, yeah. I didn't really pay attention, it might have been a bit more. I only needed 20 more skill points for the last tree (the one that unlocks when you max out all the other ones). At that point, each skill point was around 50-70k exp and at ~20k per run it didn't take very long to get one. Although I'm only talking about my grinding at the very end. I did short grinding sessions throughout the game. Whenever I was close to getting a skill point, I'd go grind a little to make sure I wouldn't lose my progress to a boss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 I still had to fill out a few skills on the other trees first so I guess that would explain it. In an unrelated note, I realized something earlier. Did anyone here ever actually use this particular item? I played through the game three times and never once used the fistful of ash. I have to wonder if maybe I would have had an easier time if I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 18, 2019 Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 Like once or twice really early on, back when I was still struggling with the game. Then I got better at it and just kinda forgot about it (and the ceramic shards, too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted April 19, 2019 Report Share Posted April 19, 2019 Finally sat down to finish this game last night. I farmed Lump of Grave Wax and Fulminated Mercury to get two upgrades with the Lapis Lazuli I had. Considering you need a second playthrough to get all the Prosthetic Tool upgrades, I wanted to ensure I had two of the final four upgrades before NG+. I'm not ashamed of the cheese for You-Know-Who! But speaking of, I learned yesterday from VaatiVidya's video that... unless you gave Sculptor every type of drink, Wolf won't recognize who the Demon of Hatred is. Kinda easy to miss because after facing Owl, Sculptor isn't interested in having a drink. I was missing his Dragonspring dialogue, which I have still, but I used my first one on Isshin. The old lady near the battlefield won't tell you either unless you already know. I was missing 4 Prayer Beads, so I looked up a guide and luckily 3 of the 4 were environment items. The one mini-boss I almost forgot about was the one under Isshin's room (during the final phase of the game). Dude will not give you a chance to heal if you Resurrect. Not difficult necessarily, but again, he doesn't give you any breathing room. There was the hidden room in the same area of Ashina Castle, the cave ledge in Gun Fort, and the river in Mibu Village. I found some other stuff in Mibu Village, so it was worth the trip. That final boss, man. I'll admit, I got flustered at times to where I would go into the "first phase" and do something stupid. The silvergrass sucks because it hides some unblockable attacks, where you need to see how they're holding their weapon. To me, this was a pure Posture damage type of boss battle. I would go through certain phases fast because I wasn't afraid to deflect certain attacks others say to dodge/run around. I only ever made it to the final phase twice. On the second time I popped a Bundled Jizo Statue because the Posture meter was so close and I had 4 uses of the Healing Gourd left. I never thought to use one in battle, and truthfully there's so few in the game that you'd use it only if you were sure it would help. Thing is, I knew he was out for blood and if I stopped to heal, he would catch up to me and kill me. So I popped the Bundled Jizo Statue, he stabs me with that, I Resurrect with more health, heal, just survive his onslaught, and END IT! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 It seems From put out a patch today that buffed several shinobi tools and combat arts in order to encourage usage, as well as reducing spirit emblem costs. Not only that but they reduced the health and vitality of one of the bosses because it was taking too long to fight. No, not THAT boss. Spoiler Blazing Bull So congrats fellas. We officially beat the harder version of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Wait, really? Not Sakura, the first one? It's like one of the easiest minibosses in the entire game lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted April 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 I'm glad they did. It's not very hard but he runs around so much it's kind of tedious to chip his health down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 I found Sakura easier, but it's also near the end of the game and you should have the knowledge and skills to handle essentially the same miniboss. Not to mention it's far easier to get the thing to stun itself than the first version. When I faced the other version on NG+, I could handle it because I had so much in my arsenal. Initially, he's a chunky boy. I believe part of the problem is that the strategy of running around him is flawed and it makes the battle last far longer than needed. I used deflects, firecrackers, and got him to run into a wall which took about 2 minutes max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted April 30, 2019 Report Share Posted April 30, 2019 So I got through my NG+ and did a litle save backup to get both Purification and Immortal Serverance. It took a minute or two, but the Switch Pro Controller is a solid and responsive controller. If I could beat the final boss with it in under an hour, it's worthy of being used on the PC! Now I need to do my Shura run to get the remaining Steam achievements. Considering I farmed in my NG+ run, I don't have to worry about gather XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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