Load Our Last Save: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

@therealturk: Absolutely not, i will be surprised if it makes top 10. Bens the only person who cares for it and hes about 60% through it.

@zengaijin: Red Dead was last year. If you mean the PC port, I don't think that gets it back in the running this year, does it?

Ah, that was awesome. Good job, Ben!

@ryno9881 said:

Huh, that last boss is what pushed Sekiro to be probably my favorite From game. Easily the best boss fight they've ever made, maybe my favorite in any game. I can imagine some frustration if you hit a wall with it, but it's a phenomenally well-made fight.

I've come to accept that these games aren't likely to appeal to enough of the crew for them to make it on a list. Even Bloodborne, which got a lot of praise from them (even Jeff, who hated Dark Souls), got knocked off largely due to some questionable issues raised by Austin. Sekiro may be my favorite of the bunch though, I hope it manages to crack the top 10.

That's where I stopped playing. I keep meaning to go back to it. But seriously, fuck that guy.

I hate the spirit emblem stuff int his game so much, it has the exact same issue as the blood vials from bloodborne so it is a shame from didn't learn from their past mistakes. I ended up using cheatengine to give me 999 emblems in my storage to never have to worry about it ever again.

@roytheone: omg good idea. Yeah certain items it’s fine, like the Mist Raven Feathers would make you invincible if you could do it constantly. But the axe should be free, and everything else should have varying cooldowns essentially. I never really used any prosthetic tools because I would instantly stress out about them depleting my limited Spirit Emblems.

@obikwiet: that’s optional. I didn’t even know you could do that on my first playthrough.

Edit: OMG that mikiri counter. Someone mentioning that in the beginning and then it finally happening was 😗👌

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED"

"He got in your ass"

" HE CANT DO THAT"

@ryno9881: I don't mean to respond with the F Plus internet forum special ("I didn't have that problem. Goodbye!") but to me, the final boss felt like the moment when everything the game had been building up to with its mechanics all came together and "fit" just right. That said, I've heard this issue enough from other people that I'm beginning to think I'm maybe in the minority.

That fight wasn't my favorite in the game, the fight with Gen atop the tower strikes the best balance between punishing and encouraging progress to me. And it wasn't even the hardest (fuck you, Hatred Demon), but I guess I found it to be the best designed? I mean, difficulty and fun are both so subjective; I've NEVER had a final boss in a From game feel as good as this did, so I definitely get the sentiment.

That Kidz Bop bit was probably the hardest I've laughed all year.

I really should finish this. After much struggling, I finally got to the endgame. I only have two bosses to go.

Nelly? More like R. Kelly!

@poobumbutt: It's probably the most satisfying final boss in a FROM game to figure out and master, but getting there can be a right pain especially if you haven't been going out of your way to get those health and damage upgrades. And just the fact that they turned Genichiro from one of the most memorable bosses into an annoying speed bump you have to get through every time you die really sucks the fun out.

Yup. Same. I also never bothered with any specials that use emblems for this reason. I don't care how good they are, or even if they are cost effective. If I have to consume resources to use them, it feels like I'm cheating.

I think the game should punish you for expending Spirit Emblems on repeated runs. In fact, I thought Ben's spamming of the prosthetic tools early in the video makes a good case for having a limited inventory of Emblems. I think it's better if you can't exploit the tools to ease your way past certain fight, on every run. That said, I don't know if it's the most elegant solution for that problem.

someone needs to put Kidz Pop in jail

the mikiri counter gets everyone eventually

"Why does he only do one sometimes, and two other times??"

"To fuck you up."

Jeff really gets these games.

Well I feel like an idiot for beating the game without ever knowing you could hold or feather block to reduce your buildup. At least I knew to get up in that ass and then subsequently stay up in that ass.

Also congrats Ben! Keep on vibin’ and you’ll beat the game in no time!

Ben fundamentally does not understand how to play this game.

Be. Aggressive.

Jesus Christ, Jason and his constant hurr-durr-ichimonji is fucking annoying as shit.

@juanarturo: a family dinner FUCK?? jesus keep that incestuous talk to yourself. dont care what meal or time you guys do it

Omg when P Diddy said the N word and Jeff was like "alright."

Never could get the hang of the counter and parry timing that I ended up doing better by just mashing the button. With that said, I hit the wall with the early boss on the horse, which was the first or second boss.

This is my GOTY and one of my favorite games ever. Watching this really brings it back. It also highlights one of the things I really enjoy about it: It's about being mindful and intentional in your actions. I can't hate on Ben because I was the exact same way in this fight. But the dude saying "to vibe" really wasn't far off: You see how ben is panicking and making things so much harder by doing wrong inputs on the heal items and running around exposing himself to hits. If you stay in the moment and read the rhythm (it really is a rhythm game in many ways), it becomes much more feasible.

FromSoftware stories are underrated. One of the few big studios that tackle deep issues in their games, if you are willing to follow the plot. Sekiro has a really beautiful message about acceptance of death as part of life and the pointlessness of being loyal to your country if others suffer for it. I really love how the gameplay, presentation and dialog all flows together so well in these games. It makes it rewarding to replay and dig deeper into on YouTube/Reddit/etc. But I also like unlike Kojima it's not forcing you to watch 20 minute cutscenes to "get it".

Hesitation is defeat!

Knowing when to be aggressive and when to block OR dodge is key. Everything about this game asks you to be mindful of your actions.

I know this is long over, but it's killing me... you resurrect with half health! HEAL AFTER YOU RES.

lol the second phase

Ben, I love your perseverance, you did it! To me this guy and the last boss were the hardest in the game. Keep at it!

I loved the last boss because of how hard he was. He was like the final exam for what the game had taught you. I was also frustrated for a while and ran out of spirit emblems for the first time in the game. However, I ended up beating him with 5 chugs on the gourd left. Everything just suddenly clicked and nearly all his attacks were being parried. It felt so damn good. Made up for the anger in the end imo.

@janman Did you reroute everything so the songs wouldn't show up in the archive? xD That's great.

Great fucking job, Ben! That fight took me forever. I did it in the safest, most boring way by running around him till I had an opening every time.

I like this new Cast names feature but is there anyway to find all videos with specific people in them?

Goty by far. most clever game in several years.

Giantbomb has never meshed well with games that require you to spend some time thinking for yourself about what to do or where to go next based on only pieces of information.

So they've always had a slightly negative bent towards Souls games because their mentality which is based around work and schedules means that anything that isn't just "Go here next." Tends to put a game at a disadvantage in terms of their judgements I've noticed over the years.

I loved Sekiro, the lore wasn't NEARLY as indepth as Bloodborne's universe but I thought it was a nice little story and some fun little details about the world and how it works.

The hardest fight in the game for me was the Headless ape at 4 hours of attempts. Most bosses took me between 10-15 minutes or an hour to beat, even the final fight. I'm not sure what it was about that goddamn Ape that had me so hung up, but man.

Breaking Ben: Mixlr Edition

Let's make it happen!

@ig3tnasty: It would be less lame if it wasn't an exact copy of Hunger Games, which was already a copy of Battle Royale...which I guess is the full circle that we deserved to make.

Ben NEVER gets mad at a video game.