From Software Lyric Suite's own Sekiro corner

[Egosphere]

Mini-bosses are the ones that drop prayer beads. Mist noble is just some shit you have to hit few times to lift the fog.

I mean leave him as a regular enemy without the music or the 2 lifebars. Have him go down in one sneak attack, or 4 regular hits, and he wouldn't stick out at all.

 

[Andnjord]

Mini-bosses are the ones that drop prayer beads. Mist noble is just some shit you have to hit few times to lift the fog.

I mean leave him as a regular enemy without the music or the 2 lifebars. Have him go down in one sneak attack, or 4 regular hits, and he wouldn't stick out at all.

And miss out on the utter confusion the likes of which we saw in Lyric’s own kill of it? Never I say.

I always appreciate a little bit of trolling from the dev’s part, as long as it’s stays rare of course.

 

[Multidirectional]

When I killed him the first time I was just happy that I finally managed to git gud at the game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah i had no idea what the hell was happening lol.

And yeah, he drops neither a Prayer Bead nor does he give you any major XP, around 200 or something if i remember. So definitely not a boss, just a gimmick mob you have to kill to solve the puzzle of this area.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The fact that the villagers are ghostly made the connection for me at once.

I think it's one of those things that you think about but then dismiss out of hand.

Like, yes, maybe it did occur to me that the ghosts were going to disappear too, i just waved that idea aside because this is a FromSoft game and they don't usually make things easier for you like that.

I wonder if you could have missed out on Headless if you went straight to the guy though. Don't think the drunktard would have disappeared as he was on the way to the boss and he was not a ghost, but i think would have been kinda goofy to see Headless stand out there by himself with the mist cleared.

 

[Multidirectional]

Headless doesn't disappear with fog, only the ghosts. Actually cool unique mini-boss awaits you further ahead, go enjoy it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Headless doesn't disappear with fog, only the ghosts. Actually cool unique mini-boss awaits you further ahead, go enjoy it.

Well i'm going to be swamped with work for the whole week. That's one of the reasons i pushed for frequent updates so hard while i still had some free time. I'll get it done though.

In fact i kinda surprised myself at how fast i've been doing this. Uploading screenshots on steam is very easy so it's not been difficult to post a stream of screenshots. Just click upload, copy/paste link, type reduded size and it's done.

Since it's the steam cloud, i'll also hope those screens will stay there for a long time. I've seen some let's plays in the playground forum where all the links to the screens were dead i hope i can avoid that with steam.

 

[Multidirectional]

Since it's the steam cloud, i'll also hope those screens will stay there for a long time. I've seen some let's plays in the playground forum where all the links to the screens were dead i hope i can avoid that with steam.

I was checking out screenshots I uploaded to steam couple months ago, and found ones from games I played like 6-7 years ago. Some of them I even forgot I played. Your screenshots should stay up until the apocalypse comes, so at least couple more years.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The pace has been really impressive. I tip my fedora to you.

 

[cvv]

How do you rate the game so far LS? Compared to other FS titles?

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ In Vino Veritas (Part 1) ~
​

Spoiler

Alright then, time for progress update!

So, after activating the checkpoint, it's now time to take care of a few things. First off, time for some totally useless lore:



I also decide to spend some skill points, as i got a lot (too much to be honest) just redoing those damn ghosts over and over to clear that stupid mist forest. At this point, i got several weapon arts already, some of which i haven't even tried yet, and i want to get familiar with a couple of those before getting more. So first off, i pick this:



I'm usually pretty good in not taking damage and i got a ton of Healing Gourds so at first i thought i was going to ignore this entirely but with the Demon Bell on even regular mooks pack a punch and i'm also starting to find myself short of Spirit Emblems for the first time since i started playing the game, especially after getting that new Ninjutsu ability that extends the range of your blade for a time, which consumes an exorbitant amount of Emblems to use. I could pick skills that add to my maximum number of Spirit Emblems but i decided to opt for increased healing so i can rely more on the Ceremonial Tanto instead.

Next, i also opted for another unorthodox choice (for me anyway):



Definitely a useless skill for me but like i said early on i want to unlock all the skill points until everything in the tree is visible so this was a mandatory choice.

Now, before anything i feel compelled to do something else as well. When i made my way down i happened to spot one of those ninja mini-bosses (or so i thought):



I figured i might as well get rid of this guy before doing anything else. Turns out he was something altoghether different:

So i went in expecting the usual ninja fight turns out this guy is just some kind of downgraded special mook with a new poison attack. His sword attacks are either the same or they are very similar as my finger memory kicked in and was able to deflect everything without issue. The poisonous blade attack was new though and caught me by surprise. Compared to the actual mini-boss version, he seems to have less health and of course only one life.

Spoiler

As i said in the description of my video, it turns out this guy is just a regular enemy, albeit a special one. When i saw how fast he died i went to check if he respawned after resting, and he did! Now, it came to me at this point i can just grind this guy indefinitely to get easy XP. He awards a ton (around 700+) and all it would take is a quick stealth kill. At first of course, this seemed easier said than done. Attempting to sneak on him appears to be near impossible. Up above there also seems to be a dog which i managed to alert a few times:



Of course, i do have one trick up my sleeve:



It still takes a little bit of care, but it's not hard at all:




So basically if i wanted to i could just grind this guy forever and get infinite XP and some decent sens as well. The Sculptor's Idol is like two inches away so the convenience is off the charts it almost feels like a cheat, so much so in fact i refrain myself from taking advantage of it. The rate i've been acquiring skills has been already very fast as it is if i start grinding for XP too i'll have nothing to look forward for in NG+ in terms of new skills. I think i killed him a couple of times to make sure it's really that easy to sneak up on him and then moved on.

Ho, btw, apparently he was guarding one of those carp things for some reason. Also, too fat to fit in here:



Now at this point i remembered i got a bunch of booze with me, so i decided to see what lore i get now before i find more and i get bogged down with a lot of dialog all at once. I make it back to the Dilapidated Temple, and apparently it's now orange for good:



I'm guessing the game is trying to portray the passage of time by changing the time of day, but i spend like a million hours playing in bright day light why would i see the sun go down now lol.

No matter. I go check the cowardly merchant to see if there's anything left in his inventory i could use as i got some sens with me, and turns out he is now selling a new piece of info:



Well, kinda pointless now. The angry spirits with many faces is obviously a reference to the Shichimen Warrior. No idea what the woman crying is about.

I go check on the Sculptor and i found him holding his arm in pain:



I think i may have found him like this once already but i don't exactly remember. No new dialog though. Also, no option to give him any of the booze i have. I suspected this already but i guess this confirms that you can give an NPC one type of booze only. This ought to make it very easy to keep track of what you gave to whom, as you can't give anybody the same type of booze twice.

My next stop is Lady Emma, whom does accept my booze, quite enthusiastically at that lol:





This opens up a wierd lore reveal. I say wierd because Wolf now asks her a question that makes no sense given that he never actually saw Emma use a blade ever:



She acts like she doesn't know what he is talking about:



He still asks her who it was she trained under, and she relents, but tries to downplay how much she has actually learned:




He then comments that her "skill" is no passing interesting:



When did he saw her fighting again? How would he know? How did he even know that she can use a blade? Did i miss out on some lore or something? He then asks her why did she learn (presumably, given that she is a "doctor"). She replies by saying she didn't learn to kill people:



He acts like this concept doesn't compute and asks her what she means. I guess for Wolf not killing people is a nonsensical notion lol. She does clarify what she means though:




She then pretends it was just a joke, but i'm sure this is about the Sculptor and the Shura or Asura that lives in him. I'm now pretty sure she was the one to ward off the Dilapidated Temple with those ofuda notes. The Shura is supposed to have been driven away by Isshin when he cut the Sculptor's arm off but i think it is still likely there.

BTW, i actually went to google this and apparently there's really no explanation for how Wolf knows she can use a blade and could tell she had some skill on top of it.

Anyway, after this i go to Isshin to see if he wants some Monkey Booze. Literally almosts rips it off my arm to get it lol:




He appreciates it too:



I just love this old man. I don't know how Genichiro could turn out to be such a fag with a granpa this cool. He then explains the Monkey Booze also goes by another name:



I knew the second i gave him the Monkey Booze he was going to reveal something related to the Sculptor. No brainer really:




He then goes on to explain what a Shura actually is:






I guess i should take this seriously as sick old man or not this guy seems dangerous:




This booze system is a pretty cool way to get some nice lore. I like it, and i like the unlinearity of it as it's up to you who to give what at any given time.

Porting back to the Malibu Village, i decide to check out what was behind that dog first. As soon as i kill him, the ninja below goes nuts throwing shurikens at me and whistling, which actually calls for a whole bunch of dogs:



I kill them not without some difficutly as i was thrown off guard and right as i was about to heal i get ganked and killed by the ninja who in the meantime had found his way up here. I guess i'll have to kill that guy before coming up here. I'm curious why he didn't call his wolf friends on my first battle with him.

I rest up and after killing the ninja in stealth i go up to kill that wolf and sure enough his friends start coming down again, but this time one by one. Hilariously, they come down so fast they don't even see me, a couple literally ran past me and started looking around like i wasn't there:



This Spiritfall thing is pretty damn good if it makes me that invisible. I use that whistle thing for the rest of the wolves, more for the fun factor of it, and i come to the end of this trail, where i find the usual loot:



Nothing much, just some coin purpse.

Up ahead i see some houses, and in the distance, something rather disturbing:




Snake worshipping people. Great.

Jumping below, i find a merchant, who as usual has one unique line of dialog:



He seems to think that shit is hilarious for some reason:



His inventory is interesting. Has some more booze but i don't have the sens for it now. Guess it'll have to wait for later.

Looking ahead now, i spot what appears to be just a villager from a distance:




Can't talk to the little guy as i gotta go to work now, i hope the people in this place are going to be nice for a chance!

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Come See the Violence Inherent in the System! (Part 1) ~
​

Spoiler

Ok, time to talk to this nice peasant woman. My good lady, mind if i ask a few questions?



As soon as she sees me, she gets angry for no reason and she and her other villager friends start throwing rocks at me:



What the hell did i do? I was just passing through the heck is with this reception. I try to reason with them but they keep flinging rocks at me:



Hey, watch it that actually hurts! At some point that old lady even throws her soup at me, the hell is this i didn't do anything!

I try to move past them but one of them comes at me with a pitch fork or some shit:



Ok i had enough of this shit. Bloody peasants! You asked for it better not complain now:




But as soon as i kill them they come back crawling out of the ground and start throwing shit at me again:




I keep killing them wondering if this will ever stop, but to my relief it does. I now go check those houses where i spotted that loot from above:



Ok so they live in raggedy shacks or literal holes in the dirt. Still no reason to treat strangers like this, sheesh.

Then again, what can you expect from people that worship a giant snake:



Not sure what that crystal is, wonder if it has any meaning (nudge nudge). At this point i quit the game because i had to leave and when i went back all those damn peasants started coming out of the ground again. So you can kill them until they stop resurrecting like zombies, but you can't quit the game unless you just want to kill them all over again. This is gonna get old fast. To shake off the aggro as i don't feel like killing them again, i run towards a broken shack where i suddenly get ganked by this asshole:






Ouch, a bit overkill perhaps? I kill him but now i got the whole town after me so i decide to reset it and do it again.

Sneaking past that early group of peasants, i now see what came after me was this patrol of villagers, who apparently took arms for some reason:



I prowl around the shack and now i see that fucker:



He gets what is coming to him:



But i couldn't manage to kill him without alerting everything in sight. Third time the charm, right? I catch up to that group with their backs turned on me this time, and, do i dare do this?



Fuck it, i need to see what happens. Time for this unnecessary peasant massacre!






Shura my ass the murder must flow!




Wait what was that behind me, that white haired bitch again? Fuck you, asshole:



Get the fuck out of here, old lady, you and your bloody soup!



I don't even get a chance to admire my handiwork that they already rezzed:




Lmao, here's a third batch:



Luckily, they stop coming after that and now i'm free to look at the result:



Ready? Go:



I'll admit i definitely got a kick out of that, but i'm not sure i want to do this again. Is this what the "difficulty" is here? Because those guys are super weak but if i have to kill them over and over i'm pretty sure it's gonna get super annoying after a while. I guess this is how they beat you, they just keep coming until you are too bored to kill them and you begin avoiding them instead.

I now take a full panoramic view of this place while everything is peaceful for the time being:



On my right, i see a separate section of this village:





On my left, there's also a lot more to go:




BTW, what the hell do those guys eat, slugs?



I rope my way up to get a better view from top side, more of those damn villagers:




Just how big is this damn place?







While i'm taking this large overview of the town from this rooftop, i see there's a way to actually enter this shack, where i spot what is likely an NPC:



This place wouldn't be bad to live in if somebody were to fix it up a bit you know?



Anyway, time to talk to this dude, who apparently seems to be hiding his head in a basket:




I always joke that everybody is a lunatic in FromSoft games, but i never expected to meet a literal basket case. As i approach him he starts wailing like a pig then goes back to his litany:



Dude you are not a basket snap out of it:



Erm, yes, sure, why not.



Well, that didn't take a whole lot of convincing. Mind telling me what the hell is going with this place?



You do whatever you want, just start by telling me what's wrong with this damn village:




He says, while wearing a basket on his head. Although considering the standards of this place, i suppose this is as close to actual "sanity" as i'm gonna get here. Go on:




I hope not in here.




Ok but what does this have to do with anything.






Let me guess, the water here is connected to the Fountainhead and the whole Rejuvenation curse:




Is this what's making the villagers crazy?




Ho that's interesting. Maybe i can use that to my advantage.




BTW, let's give all the dialog to this guy, shall we?






Seems like another guy i need to talk to. Where is his house?



Yeah i think i know how to get there. Now tell me about this priest:




And what's the deal with him again?






I'm guessing this "palace" is where the Fountainhead is and it's likely a place where more twisted immortality resides. I don't rememer if Kuro ever talked about this, but it stands to reason the effects of the Rejuvenating Waters must be strongest at the source.

Not sure what the priest is trying to do by forcing the villagers to drink the water here. This guy doesn't even know what being a "citizen" of the palace is. Guess we'll see when i meet him.

 

[Lyric Suite]

How do you rate the game so far LS? Compared to other FS titles?

I would have to finish it before giving it a full review, but right now i'd say this is the most consistenlty good FromSoft game i've played since DS1.

Keep in mind i never played Demon Souls or Bloodborne, so i can only compare Sekiro to Dark Souls 2, 3 and Elden Ring, and compared to those, Sekiro has the great advantage of being both more fresh as well as being more consistent in quality (within what it is anyway).

I'm 100% convinced Miyazaki had no intention of making any sequel to Dark Souls and that clearly affected how Dark Souls 2 and 3 came out in different ways. He handed Dark Souls 2 to what was clearly an hastely cobbled toghether team of inexperienced developers, which resulted in a game that felt like it was made by a completely different company with lower stantards of quality than FromSoft to boot. It's still a good Souls-like but it's janky, strangely designed and while the devs did come around with the DLCs it's definitely a very uneven effort compared to Dark Souls 1.

Dark Souls 3 was a much more polished product, with more professional production values, but also felt quite tired and rehashed. Again, i got the sense this is not a game Miyazaki wanted to make. It's basically a Bloodborne total conversion, with a combat system that felt like it was a poor retrofit of something that wasn't meant to play like Souls (the whole hyperarmor/poise system and the R1 spamming abuse) and from what some people told me it even reuses some of the same assets as Bloodborne. It has some great bosses but the maps were sometimes very bland, and all those gothic castles were a bit much. It also rehashes a ton of stuff from previous Souls, with so many reused characters that it almost felt like fan service at some point.

As for Elden Ring, it's a much bigger and more ambitious game than Sekiro but that actually works against it. It has almost too much of everything and the switch to open world was a big mistake as we all probably agree.

Ultimately, Sekiro stands out compared to all those for having a completely new and fresh combat system and for being more consinstent in quality throughout, much like Dark Souls 1 was. The only thing Souls as a series did better in general is that traversing the levels felt more dangerous. I think Sekiro ruins some of the classic "tension" of Souls with the rope system, the fact falling doesn't resuilt in instant death, the stealth mechanic, the more streamlined level design etc (all though it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be in terms of the latter. It's still very much Souls-like with all the clever enemy placement at least). Of course it's more of an action game compared to Dark Souls so i understand why they went this route.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

lower stantards of quality

Better levels
Better build variety
More robust char progression
Tighter combat

It only falls short compared to DS1 in the aspects of atmosphere, world design and music

strangely designed

Prepare yourself if you're planning on ever trying Demon's Souls

 

[Strange Fellow]

DS2
better levels

nigga pls

 

[cvv]

It only falls short compared to DS1 in the aspects of atmosphere, world design and musi

Only world design in my book. That's an obvious decline from DS1.

There's a distinct vibe to DS2, very different from DS1 but immediately recognizable, unlike the bland, grey, fanservicey slop of DS3. It's kindda wistful and dreamlike.

As for music, in the polls the Majula theme often places in Top3 of all FS games, sometimes no. 1. Many other great pieces too.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Come See the Violence Inherent in the System! (Part 2) ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, time to pick this up again!

So i bolt out of this lunatic's house, and i check if fire can help me against those damn peasants:




Turns out fire does absolutely jack shit. I kill them and when i turn around i see they are all rezzed already:



Maybe the sparkles will scare them off?




Nope, doesn't do anything except startling them for a second. So much for being afraid of fire. I now find the exact spot from where they are rezzing:



So i start killing them, and killing them. In fact this time they rez a lot more than a few times. More like seven or eight:



Like damn it look at this shit lol:



I try the group next to those boats with the same result. I have to kill them over again and again for at least seven times or more. It's not even good XP i could get a full skill point farming the ninja by the time it takes me to clear a single group of those dirty unwashed peasants. I kill them all but i still see something is alerted and i panic for a second thinking they started rezzing all over again, but turns out it was just a stupid chicken:



I jump up there and there's another hole but inside all i find is some useless loot:




I also go to pick up some loot i saw on a boat, and while i'm there i finally realize the light coming out of those lanterns is from fireflies trapped in it. Kinda of cool:



While taking this shot i saw some of those aggressive fishes in the distance. I hate those damn things:



I go check out the backside and suddenly some peasant pops out of nowhere and starts trying to suck my dick:



God damn this place sucks. Get off me asshole!



While i struggle to free myself, i see one of those assassin dudes was about to jump me. I think the idea was that this guy was gonna hold me in place and the white haired ambusher was going to put a knife in my face but the AI fumbled getting around those thin gravestones so he couldn't reach me lol. Fuck off already!



Out frustration i now leap on top of the roof where its safe and i plot my next course of action:





Ok, so that's that. I leap over another shack and get a view of the other side. Looks even worse:




I think i had about enough of those stupid zombie peasants now, so i try to sneak as close as i can, make a run for the loot and bolt the hell out! I slowly creep forward, being as careful as possible not to make much sound:



I'm in position now, all it takes is one small leap forward and... JESUS CHRIST it's the dick sucking zombie again! Not now dude get the fuck off me:



While i'm trying to get this fucker off my legs i start getting gang raped by the peasants:



After freeing myself i make a mad dash to the loot, a Gourd Seed no less, hopping around like an idiot while dick zucking zombies keep popping out of the ground. I'm starting to get PTSD just hearing that damn perilous attack sound. It's just one after the other now. Eventually, one of them actually manages to pull me down while i was doing a jump and grabs a hold of me right in time for two peasants to come smack the shit out of me:



This time i almost got wrecked so i just bolt the fuck out of there when suddenly i run into those zombies by the boats i had JUST killed holy shit:



I kill them in a rush thinking the other group is after my ass and use deathblows to heal myself, and when i turn around it seems i didn't even know the half of it because somehow i managed to aggro that bell dude i saw in the distance:

\

I run to the other side before i get spotted just in time to see the rest of the zombies are returning to their position:



So i make another full round of this house to kill the giant:



And now, literally seeing red from anger and utter frustration, i make a mad charge to clear out the entire fucking group no matter how long it's gonna take me. I kill the dick sucking zombies too until they stop coming just for good measure, and soaked in blood, i now calmly take a look at the aftermath:



Feeling like a battered wife, i now make my way to that field with those giants on the left:



I carefully try to flank them, and i successfully manage to position myself behind them. Yay, things went according to plan for once:



I take out the giant and then move to this shrine, where i find the sake the priest has been offering the villagers:




I wish i could drink this shit for myself right now.

Now it's time to clean this entire field one backstab at a time. In the back of my head i'm thinking, it can't be this easy, right? Thinking maybe more of those dick sucking zombies are gonna show up, or a whole lot a zombies are gonna come out of the ground. Apparently, i underestimated just how much the game was gonna fuck with me, since as soon as i kill the closest target, some stupid peasant, not even the giant, an entire swarm of ghost nightjar bastards literally materializes out of nothing and start raping the shit out of me, and i barely manage to escape by the skin of my teeth:




I decide to go rest up (literally, as i quit the game and came back the next day for this), and i'm now ready to make a more careful approach. Side stepping the field with the dick craving zombies, i skulk my way to the rope point that allowed me to flank the giant:





I'm now behind the giant again, the guy with the lamp and the hat is the one that i need to... erm, wait a second, is that an ass in my face?



Can this game get ANY more disturbing?



Shaking my head while muttering to myself in real life, i kill the giant again, and now i only need to take out this guy with the hat without getting raped by ninjas as a result:



I kill the one with balls in his back and move a little closer, and for good measure, i also add a bit of extra stealth to the mix:



So i make my move and as soon as the deathblow animation is over i rush back and turns out that's all i needed to do. I even manage to catch the guys materializing:



They don't see me, and i'm actually able to sneak behind them. Just perfect:



So long fucker:



Now the next two might be slightly trickier, since they are so close toghether:



So i decide to take out the one further left first. Nice knowing you bitch:



So far so good:



I decide to reapply the Gachiin's Spiritfall buff just in case, and make my third kill, which as expected alerts the other but i don't actually get made:



In fact, i'm actually able to sneak behind the guy while he does his little scouting routine, and make my kill without alerting the peasants or the giant:






After this clearing the rest of this field was a piece of cake.

I'm now super weary as it seems every section of this area has some new kind of nasty surprise, so i'm hoping i can actually anticipate the next one.

I now spot a grappling point next to the shrine where i found the sake which leads me in full view of a large house:





There might be a trap in there, so i take a look on the other side first:



It seems those guys with the hat have something more magical about them. They throw rocks imbued with ghostly energy that can cause terror build up and the nightjar group spawned after i killed one of those so i assume the next trap is here. I careful inch my way to check what's around him:




I now decide to make my entry from behind that large house as if there is a trap it has to be from this side. Turns out it was the best decision i could have made:




Noddy noddy. Before going in i decide to take out the guy with the hat first, just to see what happens. I can always run back to that field i just cleared. I look around for a second and see there's a Sculptor's Idol right there:



Well that's that then. I can now make my way to the guy with the hat. Turns out there were no actual nasty surprises after all:



Well, i guess it's time to remove all the undesirables here. So long bitches:



Fuck this peasant too lmao:



No enemies left that i can see, time to pick up some loot. Every time i loot a Divine Confetti i get worried though:



No sake, just some stupid Mibu Balloon. Gay:



I'm guessing this is part of the priest's plan. He drops sake in those shrines, but sometimes he leaves water too, so that the villagers are exposed to the immortality curse.

Up above i see a stream, likely some carp things in there but for now i need to go elsewhere:



I activate the Idol but now decide to backtrack and go check out that outcast guy first. I could enter this section from this side after killing those silly chickens but i wanna check out the pond first:



As expected there's a bunch of annoying aggressive fishes but i now got quite adept at killing them. Just do a charged attack and that will give you the reach to take them out before they do that jump attack. Just need to get the timing right. While i'm there, i lock on some more but i can't reach them it seems:



Everything related to water in this game is janky as shit i wished you couldn't swim at all. Are those more aggressive fishes? Are they the good carps? Who knows? Can't reach them, can't do anything besides leave them there. Maybe that's why you can't swim in Elden Ring even though it shares the same tech as this game.

Annoyed, i make my way to those boats:



And once up i take the time to take this spooky shot of an hanging scene lit with those knewl firefly lanterns:



Mmmmh, wonder if i could get up there:



Again, i'm determined not to fall for any traps this time, so i carefully assess the situation. First off, there's a patrol making a small round up and down this path flanked by two peasants:




As soon as the spear guy turns his back on me i kill the two peasants then lay an ambush for him and kill him. So far so good:



Up ahead seems clear and that definitely smells like a trap to me. In the distance, i spot a grappling point so i make my way there:




From above i can look at the situation better. Most definitely a trap come on:



Making my way back behind me for a second, i find some loot as expected:



Nothing much i can do now but jump to that house. As soon as i do, there be trap lol:




This one wasn't so bad to deal with as it was mostly tedious. Before roping my way back to that grappling point and basically clear out of this whole place, i pick up the loot, which turns out to be some unique upgrade mat:



Maybe the upgrade i get from this is the one that would have allowed me to deal with those zombies. Too little too late now.

After waiting a while for the AI to reset, i make my way back:



I take out one of the giants but i had to bolt out again and wait for the AI to calm down again. On my way up i discovered there's a third bell giant around a small house on the right but other than that this was just boring. Just some hit and run tactics to take out all three giants in turn then after that it was the usual killing of zombie peasants for the next 20 minutes. I did it, but it felt pointless. I had half a mind of porting back and upgrade the flame vent to see if it made a difference but at this point i'm done with this place so there was no reason to.

So this is the end of this peasant adventure. What started out like a joke turned out to be a total nightmare. Well played FromSoft, well played indeed.

I gotta say this area was kinda of brilliant. You start out with silly peasants who appear to be a joke and you wonder why are you even fighting them. At the end of it you come out brutalized and traumatized.

 

[Lyric Suite]

As for music, in the polls the Majula theme often places in Top3 of all FS games, sometimes no. 1. Many other great pieces too.

Dark Souls 2 is the last FromSoft game where i actually remember the music (or some of it, like the track you just mentioned).

Everything after that just becomes generic sounding to me. Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, Armored Core 6 and even Sekiro, they all have some good tracks and i wouldn't say the music is badly made to the contrary it's very good and professional sounding. But no matter what it just won't stick in my head.

And it's not me that changed at all. I listened to the Demon Souls soundtrack for the first time just recently, when somenbody mentioned how much of it was mangled in the remake so out of curiosity i had to look it up. Despite not having played the game, every single track is now stuck in my head. Just as i'm writing this the Armored Spider theme popped in my brain and i can actually replay the whole track in my head right in this instance, and i literally only listened to it a few times while i was comparing it to the one from the remake (which has been wiped from my brain by contrast). I can't even do that with anything with Sekiro and i'm literally playing the game right now.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Not exactly the same thing, but having "combat music" was a mistake. The stealth/alertness system means you're constantly entering and leaving a combat state, so the part of Sekiro's score that sticks with me is the same musical sting playing over and over again throughout the entire game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ In Vino Veritas (Part 2) ~
​

Spoiler

Leaving those damn unwashed anarcho-syndicalists behind, it's now time to go talk to this bloody priest who is giving sake to everyone. Speaking of which, i make a trip to the merchant to buy some type of sake i hadn't seen before:



After this i decide to pick up this thing, and with this every skill is now revealead:



From now on, i can pick whatever i want although at this point all the trees are already almost filled so it doesn't make much of a difference. Doesn't really feel like there's any real "strategy" if you play like From intended, I.E., not knowing what skills are ahead of the tree until you make your way there, which means picking a number of set skills that are on the way, but since you can't make more than one save and you are supposed to just play the game thorugh NG+ and beyond forever, according to the devs anyway, i guess the illusion you had some choices on how to build your character (even though you didn't) was convincing enough for a first playthrough. I also assume i got way more skill points than most normal people would have had through out this game, given my autism about not losing XP during dangerous boss fights (which meant grinding until the next skill up so dying meant no loss in XP), the constant abuse of the Homeward Idol, and my above average ability with those kind of games which meant i didn't die as much as the average normie would have. I assume the reason the game gives you such a generous amount of XP is to compensate for all the dying you were supposed to do, same as in Souls.

Out of curiosity, i wanted to see if the flame vent upgrade you get with the resin actually helps with the zombies (spoiler: it doesn't), and since i'm close i grind a bit of sens to get to the 1000 i need and make my way to the Sculptor. While there, i decide to give him the Dragonspring Sake:



You bet your ass it is considering how much it costed it me.




This Dogen must have been a rich guy to be able to afford this. Also "dragon" spring i can take a guess where this is actually made.

He now reveals a story about Lady Emma i already knew from one of her own memories, which makes me think i kinda of wasted this sake on the Sculptor:







He now pauses, which makes me think what he says next has some significance:





After another pause, he continues:




I was actually thinking she had to leave the care of the Sculptor because of that whole "Shura" business. It might still be this is what he means when he says Ashina became a dangerous place for the "both" of them. Also the tone of his voice in the second pause seems to suggest he wasn't so happy that Emma ended up in the care of Dogen.

Before leaving, i now pick up the flame upgrade in question:



Which as i said doesn't do anything to help with the zombies. I guess that whole part about them being afraid of fire meant nothing, the sole point of those dialog lines was to direct the player to the upgrade mat itself. Lame.

Anyway, i now take the other sake to Lady Emma, who seems to enjoy this stuff as much as the Sculptor does. Right as i was thinking this, she starts talking about the medical uses of sake, as if embarassed by the love for sake she just displayed to me:



Wolf mentions "purification", and i actually know what he is talking about as drinking sake is actually a rite in Shinto, much like drinking wine is in Christianity during mass.




So she's been training as a doctor since she was a child:





She pauses at this, and i ask her if there's anything wrong:





Ho? Difficult how?





She then drops a possible clue as to whom she is talking about?



She is either making a point of comparison with myself, or she was actually talking about someone important, possibly my father as i cannot think of who else it could be.

I guess it is now time to make my way back to zombie town. After testing the flame vent upgrade a bit (which is when i found out it does nothing), i now come face to face with that forlorn samurai again:




What else is new.




I guess this means a boss battle is imminent.



Simp.

Before doing this, i decide to check out that stream to the left:



While swimming i manage to lock on to some other fish that i can't reach. I'm about done with this crap, so i just keep moving, where i stop in front of a bridge. In the distance, i spot what appears to be a treasure chest:




Inside it, i find this useless thing:



I just realized when i fought the general in the Ashina Castle with those riflemen, i could have made a great joke those guys were actually protecting their stash of "divine" grass. What a missed opportunity.

At this point i'm actually starting to hear music (and no, not from the grass lmao), so i rope my way to the bridge where i get ganked by a ghost samurai:



Get off me dude, i got shit to do!



I don't get what those apparitions mean, but it's significant i guess they all happen to be from the Ashina Castle. Up ahead i see a large house:



I turn around from where i hear the music coming from, and oh:



Is that her? I decide to port back and follow the trail after the samurai, and end up in the same place:



As i move closer, it seems i can actually talk to her. She seems to be crying about something, so i ask why is she crying. Apparently, she is sad that she can't find a certain Lord Sakuza:








I'm pretty sure i know where this is going:




I actually tried the two different responses you can give to her, but it leads to the same result:




After which she attacks me. Ho well, time to see what this bitch can do.

Not too bad of a fight. Pretty comfortable since you can just drop in the river and use the Homward Idol to port back so i didn't have to incur any Dragonrot or anything while i sparred with her. Took me around 6 or 7 tries to get a no hit win all though i did still miss several deflections. The kick skill i got was also pretty good, though i think the posture damage is about the same as a regular jump stomp so it's mostly for show. I might pick up the upgrade for it to see if it makes it flat out better than the stomp (i mean it's harder to pull off surely it should give you an advantage).

Spoiler

After killing her, she drops this:



In combination with the other, this provides a substantial heal when doing a deathblow. I cannot imagine how easy this game would be at this point if i wan't using the Demon Bell.

At the start of her second phase, she says that if Lord Sakuza won't come to her, at "least" something. As she dies, she then adds this:





Ok then. Let's go talk to the samuari to see the end of this nonsense:




Ho maybe he came to his senses now that i killed or banished that ghostly apparition. This might turn out to be a good ending:




Lol i guess not.






I guess he got his wish in the end. Tsk, some people just won't learn.

Before falling into the eternal slumber he has been courting by chasing after crazy ghost women, he hands me special pink babby statue:



This has to be the most vague and nebolous quest in the game, and it doesn't appear to be connected to anything else. The statue reveals little as well. Perhaps just the fact he had it is what drew that apparition to him.

Alright, time to go talk to that damn priest and see what hell is going on around here:



I kill the ghost samurai again, and after following a small wounding trail, i emerge in front of that house:




On my left, i see what's likely the way out of this whole village:



On my right, a small structure:



So it really seems like this is the end of this area. I slowly creep towards that group when i see what appears to be a conversation icon:



I assume those villagers are here to recieve the sake so the priest must be inside. I try to get close to see if i'm supposed to heavesdrop on something or hear some dialog. As i do, i spot what is likely the way in:



While under there, i try to see if i can heavesdrop on any dialog. Nothing on this side:



On the other side however i do find something:



I guess i was just supposed to make it inside. Wow, that's a ton of sake:





Anyway, so this is the priest who has been giving the sake to everybody, infecting this whole village with the curse of undying. He seems to be chugging that stuff himself:



Stop slurping that shit, speak up! As he is lapping the sake like a damn dog, it appears it is doing something to him:




He now starts calling to the people:






Ok, i'm still not getting this. But wait, he has more to say:





Ok, i may be starting to get an idea here.





So from what little i can understand, the people here are drinking the waters because they are trying to make it to the Fountainhead palace and become accepted as citizens of said palace, presumably, after becoming immortal.

Whatever is going wrong with this, has likely something to do with that part about having to "dissolve" something inside. Whatever this is, is likely related to the centipedes i keep finding inside the undying i met so far. I have zero clue where that comes from though. If the effects of the waters is what leads to becoming immortal, what's this about having to dissolve something inside? Is there something else required in the process?

I'm getting an headache from all this exposition and dialog, so i need to get the hell out of here. I suppose the statue here was disfigured on purpose, likely after the priest abandoned what it is he worshipped originally. The loot consists of a woopping five Divine Confetti:




Does this mean i'm about to face another ghostly boss?

BTW, you ain't fooling me game:




It's just this thing, a rare consumable i'll likely never use:



While talking to the priest i had already spotted this:



After picking it up, i turn around, where i spot something altoghether more interesting:



Turns out it's a Shinto altar with a corona of Spirit Emblems and a Prayer Bead inside:



Nice. Making my way around, i spot a couple more goodies:




And i guess it's now finally time to leave.

After crossing the exist though, i emerge into what cannot be other than a boss battle:



Ha shit, i knew it:

Ok, this bitch was one of the strangest fight i had so far. I get it, it's an endurance test between you and her, but breaking her posture took an usually high degree of precision. No fuck ups allowed whatsoever, which means anybody who couldn't get good must have gotten filtered hard here. At first i assumed the idea was to take her health down first, but it's easier said than done as you can only get one hit the rest she just blocks and you can't do any further damage until the next combo stops. Meaning if you are waiting to just chip down her health until it gets below 50% to make it easier to build up posture you are in a long haul. In fact, even for normies the best approach is likely to just get gud as it's the easiest route as far as i can tell.

Another tell tale sign this boss was designed to force people to actually get good at the game is that you can't use counters or weapon arts. If you Mikiri that thrust, she regains all of her posture. Same if you use Ichimonji after dodging it. The only counter that seems to work is the jump stomp. Forget of course about using that kung-fu jump kick she can punish that right away.

So it was literally deflect, deflect, deflect, dodge than sword swipe, deflect, deflect, jump stomp, deflect until i won this war of attrition.

I can also see this game is where FromSoft got the idea of making you fight the first phase of a much harder boss as an "illusion". Definitely curious to see what this bitch can do once i meet the real thing. This was the price i had to pay to beat her btw:

Spoiler

An interesting bit of lore about a quest it's likely frozen stuck for the rest of the game. Is the other surgeon Dogen? I guess i'll never know now.

But never mind that, we now need to talk about this shit:

Spoiler

Where the fuck was this throughout the whole game? How am i getting this NOW? You got to be shitting me there was a way to dive in this game the whole time. Am i supposed to back track to all the ponds and lakes i've been to now? I don't think i even remember how many places with water i've seen so far.

This explains everything i guess. I don't have time to try it now as i gotta cut this short but i'll make it first priority on my next update. Damn game, what the hell.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yep, diving skill is why this area is always my first destination when replaying this game, usually even before fighting Genichiro.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Twenty Thousand Millimeters Under the Bog & Missed in Action ~
​

Ok this update was massive. While i was doing my little diving expedition, i chanced upon a whole quest line that i should have started after beating Genichiro but didn't discover until now. Once i started, it just kept going and going and by the time i caught up with it i realized i should have made it its own separate update but it was done at that point and i don't think it would have made a difference if i had posted two updates back to back so i just kept them fused toghether:

Spoiler

Alright, as i said, i need to take care of this shit ASAP. Frikking game not telling me i could dive right up to almost the end what the shit. So i pop the memory thingy:



And get to work to retrace my steps to find divable spots. I start of course with the nearest waters. Beginning from the very top, right next to the house with the priest, i got barely the time to plunge in that i get ganked by three of those aggressive fishes all at once. I kill them, and see there's actually loot under the water!




That looks like those things the zombie peasants were eating. Maybe later i'll figure out what this crap is so i turn around and swim my way accross this stream when i come accross an actual carp face to face:



I see now i was just wasting my time trying to kill those things from the top. I wonder if you were even meant to kill them and i just cheesed some glitch in the hit box to get them from above before learning how to dive.

I make it down this stream and finally spalsh my way into the actual lake. Wolf literally does a Flipper animation when jumping out of the water it's a bit comical to be honest. As soon as i dive in the lake, i spot something wierd in the distance:



As it gets close i almost half expected a boss battle:



Apparently it's part of a quest which i'll never actually see since it's now stuck in limbo for having refused to send either Kotaro or the simp samurai to the Surgeon:



The "precious" bait thing also mentioned a "master". I think carp scales also talk about this master, whom i assume is the guy in the jar in the Hirata Estate but i could be wrong there.

Not sure what the hell is going on with all those bodies stuck in the bottom of this lake with their face underneath the ground and their assess sticking out:





At the end of this small lake, i find a treasure chest, which is even cooler when you open it under water:




Inside i find a Prayer Bead. Nice.

It's now time to revisit all the lakes, ponds, bogs and pools i've encountered in the game, as much as i remember them. First, the little one in the starting area of the game:




Not much there though, some Mibu Balloon.

Next, is the moat in the Ashina Castle:




Loot is another carp scale. Not bad.

I go under the moat but all it does is take me to the other side:




At least now i know what this was.

I now go to the Ashina Castle lake. Around the bridge i find something:



Some other Mibu shit i forgot, but as i turn around i now come face to face with an unsettling view:



Fuck me not this thing again, and under water of all places!

This guy was such a big event when i first encountered him but now it's getting a bit routine to be honest. This one at least was a little different with new attacks and a different dynamic due to the whole fighting him under water deal. I went to check on the Sekiro wiki how many times i'm going to have to fight this guy and apparently there's two more after this. Like, ok, that's getting a bit to Elden Ring levels of recycling now. While i was on the wiki, i saw you are not supposed to use Divine Confetti on this version, as it does much more damage than intended given you can do normal damage without the Confetti unlike the versions i fought before. Too late now but i think there's another one under water i may try it without a Confetti then. BTW, i tried to use that stealth buff to see if i could get close enough to him to prevent him from using that ranged attack, which did sort of work sometimes, but wasn't super effective. I found that attack annoying because most of the times it led to unavoidable chip damage. I got lucky in the video i posted.

Spoiler

The format of the text on this one is slightly broken. Should be a space between the description of the item and the lore. I guess the translation ran too long compared to the Japanese original:



I check the stuff he was guarding:



Turns out it was just money. In the distance i see more loot:



Just one of those red candies:



Those under water areas are pretty cozy, especially those parts where the sun shines through the water:



I stood there basking in the light while checking out the cool shadows projected by the fishes above me for a few seconds. Feels really nice down here.

I now move to the Dungeon part, where i check out on this guy lol:



He seems to know what's going on too:






That's right bitch, that's what you get for messing with immortality.

I leave him to his deserved fate, and go check out this subterranean pool:



After diving i find what at first i through was two carps, turns out it's just those regular aggressive fishes. The red color was just some trick of the light, lame:



Lot's of loot down here as well though:



But as i'm about to pick it up, i spot what appears to be a secret path:



I check on my right first, nothing but more useless fishes:



So i make my way inside this secret entrance, where i emerge on the other side of the gate blocked by the Surgeon:







The loot contains what seems to be an important quest item:



But i'm pretty sure even if i cure the rot he'll just repeat the same line about me needing to bring him a strong samurai for his experiments. I guess all of this will have to wait for NG+.

I now move to the pond in Mt. Kongo. Just going through all the water places as i've encountered them in the game, at least as i remember:



First thing i find is some cool Buddha statue with a Prayer Bead laying in its lap:




Behind me there's more Buddha statues and shrines with what appears to be another quest item:




In my haste i actually failed to read this properly, and automatically assumed i was supposed to take this to Kuro. Once i go there, he has nothing to say. I go check out on Isshin but he is still stuck on the Mortal Blade dialog. I wish i had given him the sake i'm itching to get more lore out of him. On my way back to the Idol, apparently there was a secret conversation between Kuro and Emma i could have eavesdropped on WAY back. It begins with Emma (i think) saying this:



To which Kuro (honeslty i can't tell which is which they sound the same) replies:




Okay then. I wonder for how long i missed this. I did use this secondary entrance now and then on my way back to Isshin, but the last few times i came in the other way so who knows what this is about and how long ago i could have chanced upon this.

I go back to the Divine Girl to simulate the "passage" of time, and sure enough, she was the one i was supposed to drop this thing on. Apparently, those Divine Children like to sleep alot:



I wake her up and see if i can get some rice back first, just in case i chance on that Old Hag again. Turns out she does have some more for me. Nice. I now hand her the book, but she doesn't have much to say about it, just a couple lines of dialog:




Only piece of new info i got here is something about a "worm", which i assume is the thing that grows into a centipeded if not "melted", and the dragon which i'm sure at one point i'll get to learn more about.

I now go back to see if something changed with Kuro. Sure enough, there is more stuff i can eavesdrop on. I think this is all Kuro saying this:





Definitely seems like stuff i should have discovered WAY back. Decide to simulate more passing of time, so port back to the Idol and continue my diving adventures.

So it's now time to go visit the Sunken Valley. Lot's of water there. I make it to that path on the left from the first Idol, and upon killing that lone rifelman sleeping next to those pyramid Shinto pillars things, three ghost Samurai spawn out of nowhere:



This is starting to get a bit irritating now.

I killed them but it takes me a couple of hit and runs. Boring. I now make it to that suspicious pool where i expected a boss fight but didn't get any earlier. I guess now i know what that was all about. I dive in expecting another under water Headless guy, but instead i see a passage through an under water cave. Before going there, i stand basking in sunlight for a bit again:



Ok, let's keep going now:





Can't say i didn't expect this (i mean i knew because i had read the wiki earlier but still i would have likely not been surprised by now)

Since this is the last of its kind (there's another after this but it's under water so) i decided to give it the best showing i could. No damage either to him or to me, 100% deflection rate. Well i actually did a bit of damage as i hit him with an Ichimonji after his little anus ripping disappearing act but i thought it looked good aesthetically and helped me with posture build up. It's funny i now figured out all you have to do is stand still and turn around at the last second and as soon as you do that he just stops doing his asshole grabbing animation like you caught him in the act or some shit. I thought it was hilarious.

Spoiler

After killing him, he drops another one of those things:



And i also find what seems to be a special upgrade item nearby:



It seems he was also hiding some grass shit behind one of the pyramids. Noddy noddy:




Next, it's the lake where i killed the snek. Some goodies scattered around, including a crap thingy:









Very satisfying hoarding, quick and easy.

Next, is the place where i fought the monke:





So now i got two of those things, whatever they are. Maybe this is the "worm" mentioned in that book i gave to the Divine Girl? Looks like a slug more than a fish.

I now decide to check out that wierd jar guy in the Hirata Estate. Let's see if he is the "master" in question. I go to the Dilapidated Temple to pick this things up, which i still have zero idea of what it does or how to use it:



I'm falling behind with my prosphetic upgrades so i figured i had to pick something. After this, i use the Buddha statue to go back to the Hirata Estate. Before talking to the jar guy, i figure i might as well check out this place too as there was a lot of water here. So i go to the Idol to port to some of the other ponds first, and i just noticed this Estate is in the "Dragonspring":



Which makes sense, since this is where Kuro lived. This place has three diving spots but there's basically nothing in all of them, just a lone carp thing i find in the last one. Disappointing to be honest, every other diving place was a treasure trove of stuff.

I go talk to the guy and he has zero to say about the baits or anything else, he just repeats his line about wanting to become a fish. Guess he was not the "master". While i'm there, i see i got enough carps to clean up his inventory and then some:



Ok, time to go eavesdrop on Kuro again lol:






I think at this point this is all just irrilevant fluff, so i go talk to Emma, whom apparently isn't there anymore:



Sure enough she moved upstairs, where i now discover there WAS in fact a follow up to that whole beheading business. This was probably something i should have seen a LONG time i go i hope i didn't mess up any quests by unlocking this part so late now. I begin by telling her what i heard Kuro say to her while i was eavesdropping on them the first time:





She now has no choice but to reveal what they were discussing:





Better late than never that i'm getting this now. At least the game was indeed gonna aknowledge that "beheading" stuff. Figured it was too big of a thing to just drop like that without comment.




Wolf interjects:



But it seems there might be another way?





I love that she calls me "Master" Wolf.

Wolf comments that the Dragon's Heritage is no ordinary power, and that there could perhaps be such a path. She now asks me if i want to join her in finding such a path. I'm given the choice to refuse or agree. Wonder if this is an important choice and depending on what i pick i might lock myself out of some possible quest or even ending. I like this kid, and it's Wolf's entire reason for being to protect him, so i pick the only logical choice:



She thanks me, and it's now time to find a place to start with this. After a little pause, something comes to her:





Before leaving, she tells me to keep this hidden from Kuro. I guess it's for the best. I try to talk to her again but she only has this little bit of extra dialog to offer:







All well and good, but now i gotta go do some other shit to "pretend" some time has passed and come back here. On a hunch, i go check on the other Divine Child. After all, giving her that book must have done something i doubt all i got for it was some short line of dialog. Sure enough, something new is happening now:



Apparently, she is sick now:



And it may have something to do with the rice she gave me, or least she attempts to say something about it but she is too weak to continue the sentence:



In the description it mentions how the rice is created by the power of the Dragon's Blood, even the "false" one she has, which means she must have used her own blood to create the rice, or something along those lines.

I ask her if there's anything i can do, apparently the solution is right within my grasp already:



So i give her the thing:



Her eating is a little bit more dignified than the Old Hag, i should say:




They actually are i eat them all the time i'm kind of addicted to them lol, but only the soft ones i don't like the ones that are like apples.

I'm kind of shocked how early i was supposed to do this whole quest line. All this just because i missed that conversation between Kuro and Emma after beating Genichiro.

Invigorated, she now wants to give me some extra rice:



Wolf has misgivings about this, but she insists, and i get some extra rice:




But apparently that is not all:




She then hands me some special rice to give to Kuro:



After checking if she had more dialog after this, i now see i can give her more persimmons, including the one Kotaro gave me, but i'm not sure for now. Not that i'll ever use those things but unless it's necessary for the quest i'd rather not part with them just yet. Nothing to do now but port back to Kuro to give him the rice. I hand it to him and explain that the Divine Child of the Senpou Temple wanted him to have it:



He now gets an wholesome little kid reaction:



I explain they are sweet when you bite them, but apparently Wolf forgot that not everyvody lives like animals the way shinobi do:




He then turns his attention to me:



Wolf explains he eats pretty much anything. I'm sure he was raised eating tree barks and shit. Kuro circumvents this obvious attempt at evading the question by inferring that Wolf must not dislike sweet things then! (he seems so excited about this), so now he wants to fix up something nice for me:





This is kind of cute. While i wait, i go check out if the jar guy has new dialog now that i cleaned up his inventory. Nothing other than his usual desire to become an immortal fish, so i return to Kuro:




He then hands me this:



Great, another one of a kind consumable i'll never use. Can't get enough of those.

He explains to Wolf what it is:




And urges him to eat it:



Which of course i don't, given it's a rare consumable, but as i'm turning around to see if there's been an update to Lady Emma's quest, he catches me with this:




I'm pretty sure this was just supposed to be an adorable moment but i'm now wondering whether i should have actually eaten the thing. Nothing new from Lady Emma btw.

I return to the Divine Girl to see if giving the rice to Kuro added new dialog. It seems i didn't even know the half of it as this opened an entire new quest. I tell her that Kuro made sweet rice balls with the rice:



And that he was very enthusiastic about it too:







Is that a spelling error i see? What ghetto translation is this?

Anyway, she seems to be impressed by the fact Kuro is still human and his Divine Heritage doesn't determine everything he does or everything he is. That he is still capable of making his own choices, even if they go against the path ordained for him by his birth.

She then asks me his name and expresses a desire to meet Kuro:




I now resign myself this is just going to be a back and forth affair, so i return to Kuro to see if he has anything new to say. He doesn't, so i make it back to the Divine Girl to see if anything changed, and it appears that it did:



Didn't take me too long to figure out where she ended up though:



I now wonder what the hell it is i got myself into when i first discovered you can eavesdrop on Kuro as there seems to be no end to this now:











Does this mean she couldn't talk to them until now or does she means she can talk to them because i saved her life by giving her a persimmon? With this translation it could be either way.

Now this is getting interesting:




You can do that? Just return the Dragon's Blood?








I assume the birthplace of the divine dragon is in the spirit realm (cardinal directions have a spiritual meaning in a lot of primordial traditions, so the "west" here is not a literal place). I ask her who may know about this:



Or what? Wolf interrupts her before she can finish to ask her about the High Priest:




Ho yeah i think i know what she is talking about. Before setting out to meet this High Priest, she points out that this is a different path from the one Kuro has embarked on:






I'm guessing this is one of those ending choices. Although ultimately i don't see how this differs too much from the one Kuro is on. If the curse of immortality is finally lifted from this world, what difference does it make how it is done? This path even seems like would allow Kuro to remain alive.

The way she adds the last line makes it seem i'm locked with this choice if i go see the High Senpou Priest, but i doubt it, so i go check out the priest, who of course is frozen stiff because he is dead. This time though i notice he was holding something in his lap (yeah i'm writing my own fan fic now about how items that appear where there weren't any before are just things Wolf failed to notice the first time lol):




I got it. So the Divine Girl is the cradle, and i need to give her the dragon tears (whatever those are) and the pair of serpentine fruits (which i already have because i'm doing this quest way later than i should have). She then will give the Dragon "shelter" and allow him to return to the west (the spirit world).

I go back to the Divine Girl, who is now back to the Inner Sanctum, and i tell her i found the priest and that he is dead:



I then hand her the sacred passage i found:







I ask her if she is sure about this, but she appears to be determined. She sees my doubts, so she points out that she is basically immortal:




I think i understand where this is going. The end result between the two quests appears to be similar, the only difference is which child gets to be sacrified in the process, Kuro or this girl.

It is now time to begin the first part of this new quest, which i already solved a long time ago lol:




I ask her where i "might" find what she is asking for:




Pretty sure it was a heart. Honestly this translation is just shit. So i give her the serpentine "fruits":




And i ask her if she is actually going to eat them:






At this point i'm just tired of this massive quest detour, so i just go rest and come back, only to find that she is in terrible pain after eating the serpentine fruits:



After this, it seems i can't progress anymore either with this quest or the one from Lady Emma.

This was a massive detour and it's incredible how much stuff i missed just for not discovering a single conversation between Kuro and Emma after killing Genichiro. Actually, considering how long ago that was i think it might have been worse in terms of how much of those quests i had to catch up on.

FINALLY, all this shit now out of the way, i can continue the game's progress normally. So i enter the "wedding cave":




Before picking that up i had to check. Cozy lol:



Apparently this is all that was left of this place. Time to pick up the thing and return to Laddy Emma to see if she discovered something new:




Before leaving i take a last good look at this place. That's one big ass rope:




Anyway, time to port back to the Ashina Castle and talk to Emma. Except apparently i can't do that anymore. The only Idol i can port to is the one near the Dungeon:



Fuck, did i just lock myself out of those quests, the one from Lady Emma and the one with the Divine Child by failing to discover a way to make them go forward before this point? My last manual back up of my save was from before i fought the Corrupted Monk there's no way i'm going to redo all this. No choice but to keep going. I now pop the Seven Prayer Necklace which i had forgotten to do:



And i guess i can go see wtf is going on now.

 

[Andnjord]

“That’s one big ass rope”

You have no idea, you sweet summer child

 

[Multidirectional]

Discovering both of those quests on first playthrough on your own, damn. Your From-Fu is pretty good.

 

[Lyric Suite]

It was an accident. There was a 50-50 chance i was gonna come back from that side from Isshin as i've been doing that for a while, either go in one way or another. Every time i go back to Kuro i make a round between him, Emma or Isshin. The latter in particular had me suspicious ever since i eavesdropped on him early on (which also put me on the idea i could have done that with the other two as well though i'd would have never guessed the correct position to do this on my own) so i made it a rule to check him every time i checked on the other two and if Kuro is in the library i usually go out that side and often come back in from the same side and this time i caught that eavesdrop icon. Considering how long i've been doing this it was the very definition of a stroke of luck as i jumped on that window many times and never saw it until now, probably going in too fast to catch it.

Everything else seems to have spiraled naturally from that point on.